After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve were escorted from the Garden. Genesis says that God placed an angel at the east of the Garden to guard the way to the Tree of Life. This would imply that passage into the Garden was on the east side. Assuming that God set the angel in between the Garden and sinful man, it is safe to conclude that Adam and Eve went eastward as they left the Garden. This is interesting because later we come upon Cain, who, after killing his brother, wandered even further eastward. (See Genesis 4:16.)
A spiritual truth is being illustrated: as more and more sin is introduced, more and more distance comes between man and God’s Presence in the Garden. This is the affect of sin. Sin increases the distance between man and God. Here in Genesis we see sin driving man further and further eastward.
A spiritual truth is being illustrated: as more and more sin is introduced, more and more distance comes between man and God’s Presence in the Garden. This is the affect of sin. Sin increases the distance between man and God. Here in Genesis we see sin driving man further and further eastward.
This eastward migration away from the Garden occurs in the early chapters of the Torah. What’s beautiful is that, by the end of the Torah, we see God leading His people westward toward the promise land. Moving westward, they enter the promise land after a long period of wandering. You can sense the connection. By bringing His people back westward to the promise land, God is essentially inviting man to return to the Garden where they can once again have fellowship. The Torah, then, is the story of God undoing the distance and calling man back into His Presence.
We find this eastward/westward principle playing out on a larger scale. Historically we know the Gospel travels westward. It began in Jerusalem, spread into Europe, sailed to the Americas, and today the Gospel is gaining so much traction in areas like Korea, China, and India. One day in the future the Gospel will find its way back to Israel where it will change the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. Moving westward, the Gospel is trailing the sun. The sun moves west also, at least perceivably. One could say that the Gospel follows the light of the world. And moving westward, the Gospel is, in a sense, showing man the way back to Eden. Because again, Eden is in the west (figuratively speaking). Remember this next time you find yourself marveling at a magnificent sunset in the cool of the evening.
But recall, in Genesis, sin seemed to take man further and further eastward. Why eastward? What is associated with the east? Well we must process this carefully: the eastern sky gets dark first. The eastern sky welcomes the darkness, so to speak. When man sinned and brought darkness into his life, naturally he drifted eastward. But God foresaw this happening, and so it is there, in the east, that God stages the resurrection of His sun. The sun’s ascension drives away the darkness and transforms the east into a site of radiant light and newness. The east symbolizes resurrection––a change from dark to light.
Gazing east to west, we behold the heavens are daily rehearsing God’s victory over darkness. What an incredible thing.
We find this eastward/westward principle playing out on a larger scale. Historically we know the Gospel travels westward. It began in Jerusalem, spread into Europe, sailed to the Americas, and today the Gospel is gaining so much traction in areas like Korea, China, and India. One day in the future the Gospel will find its way back to Israel where it will change the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. Moving westward, the Gospel is trailing the sun. The sun moves west also, at least perceivably. One could say that the Gospel follows the light of the world. And moving westward, the Gospel is, in a sense, showing man the way back to Eden. Because again, Eden is in the west (figuratively speaking). Remember this next time you find yourself marveling at a magnificent sunset in the cool of the evening.
But recall, in Genesis, sin seemed to take man further and further eastward. Why eastward? What is associated with the east? Well we must process this carefully: the eastern sky gets dark first. The eastern sky welcomes the darkness, so to speak. When man sinned and brought darkness into his life, naturally he drifted eastward. But God foresaw this happening, and so it is there, in the east, that God stages the resurrection of His sun. The sun’s ascension drives away the darkness and transforms the east into a site of radiant light and newness. The east symbolizes resurrection––a change from dark to light.
Gazing east to west, we behold the heavens are daily rehearsing God’s victory over darkness. What an incredible thing.
