The Bible: A Pleasant Garden to a Precious City (3)
The accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose proceeds from a pleasant garden to New Jerusalem, a pure and perfect city.
Precious materials, including gold, are found in the garden of Eden but they are spread out, not connected. God’s intention is, by imparting His life, to join His believers together, building us together into a corporate expression of Himself.
God’s building process is presented in multiple Bible verses, including Ephesians 4:15b-16. “The Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through 
every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”
In the last part of this quote “growth” and “love” indicate life and are coupled with “building up.” The Body of Christ is a living organism built up with the riches which flow out from the Head, Christ, which becomes the living city New Jerusalem.
The garden of Eden presents the pleasantness of God’s original creation but does not have glory. In contrast, New Jerusalem, built together in and by God’s life, is pleasant but even more “has the glory of God.” Also, in the garden man and God spoke with each other but were separate. On the way to New Jerusalem, God came into man and became one with man in life; this makes New Jerusalem His expression.
Posted by Don on January 31, 2022
