Well, it is not the true mass center of the earth but it is almost completely surrounded by land. Thus, it is a body of water in the center of land masses. It is bordered by Europe, Asia, and Africa.
We cannot count on the Mediterranean being where it is now, or appearing as it looks now because of continental drift. Scripture indicates that happened at the flood. Hence, the Mediterranean looks much different than it did originally. Scripture agrees that earth was one land mass surround by water. (See my commentary at http://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2016/10/eden-pangea.html). If one looks carefully, scientists have recreated Pangea - ancient Eden, by pivoting Europe counterclockwise, and Asia clockwise off the Mediterranean Sea. If it really did that, then the Mediterranean was the pivot point of the earth, and thus the torque center of the earth's transition.
Many places in ancient writings of sacred literature things similar to the following are written:
1 Adam and Eve 7:2 Then God had pity on them, and said: "O Adam, I have made My covenant with thee, and I will not turn from it; neither will I let thee return to the garden, until My covenant of the great five days and a half is fulfilled."Five-and-one-half days is 5500 years in God's time as explained in an earlier chapter. God's covenant with Adam was that he would return to the Garden at the end of the covenant. Since the covenant was salvation by Jesus, what Adam was saved from was Hell. The place of escape is Paradise - or Heaven. Hence, the Garden of Eden seems to be the Third Heaven where God exists on His throne.
The City of God is New Jerusalem:
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.Guess where New Jerusalem will likely be when it comes down from Heaven? I propose that it will replace Jerusalem. What God does is logical and well-planned. His plan is not haphazard. Jerusalem and New Jerusalem surely share the same name because the new will replace the old.
Jerusalem - the one of the world, is on the Mediterranean. It is the center of the earth. Likewise, New Jerusalem is the spiritual center of the Universe, being the city of God. It makes sense that just as when a sinful person is born-again, that the holy city will be as well! Jerusalem means "foundation of peace". It has been anything but that! When it is "born-again", it will be the foundation of peace. I am implying something here.
In the days of Noah, the earth was washed clean, and a new earth created free from sin. I propose that in the same way, Jerusalem will be washed clean, and become New Jerusalem - and it's character changing from den of iniquity to foundation of peace, more suitable to the meaning of its name.
Likewise, Jesus in the flesh ascended into Paradise, and will return. In like manner, it makes sense because God is the Planner, that the Garden paradise ascended and make its return. It follows that if it returns, the Garden of Eden will come back to earth in the same manner as Jesus. The King needs His throne, and as such New Jerusalem will descend just as Christ will.
Coming full circle, my conclusion, in agreement with sacred literature, is that New Jerusalem now existing in Paradise will come home, so to speak, to Jerusalem. We know from the previous passages that Adam will return home to the Garden. In other words, paradise in the Garden is the same as paradise in Heaven. Hence, New Jerusalem will be located where the Garden of Eden was. That place, according to sacred scripture is Jerusalem, the place where Adam is buried. (This is the premise of my book, The Skull of Adam). Adam's bones, it is believed, are already on Calvary, buried in his "place of the skull" just awaiting the end of days.
I cannot find, to be truthful, the four rivers, described in the Book of Genesis. Since the Kingdom of David was God's Kingdom, I propose that if not the original continent, Eden may have been David's Kingdom. (See map below).
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| From biblehistory.com |
God's Plan is that Adam come home. "Home" is the Garden. Sacred literature says that Adam's bones are on Calvary waiting patiently for his own resurrection. Jesus has already died for Adam's sin, so the "heel" stepped on the head of the "serpent" as God said way back when:
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (her seed) shall bruise thy (the serpent's) head, and thou (the serpent) shalt bruise his heel.
Since Adam represents sin, ironically someday in the Garden, Jesus- her seed will bruise the serpent's (Adam's) head, thus bruising Jesus's heel. I pieced this together because it was a promise. It only could have happened if either the serpent or Adam was buried on Calvary. The name of Golgotha (the place of the skull) places Adam on Calvary, and that agrees with ancient writings.
All sacred literature points toward Jerusalem being the location of the Garden of Eden. Ironically, Dan's (the son of Israel) portion in ancient writings is referred to as "Eden". Therefore, there are three candidates for Eden itself: (1) the entire world, (2) the Kingdom of David, or (3) the land of Dan which is right to the west of Jerusalem, and actually touched it according to ancient maps.
We think of Eden as being the entire Garden. However, we must remember that scripture says that the Garden is thus: "God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden" (Genesis 2:8). That description fits two of the three possibilities: the world or the land of Dan. If it was the entire Kingdom of David, it would have said "west, in Eden" (unless the compass has changed, and some think it has).
According to the Jewish Virtual Library an underground body of water flows from the limestone karsts below Jerusalem. The Gihon Spring emerges East of Jerusalem in the Kidron Valley. The First Book of Adam and Eve describes the four rivers emerging from under the Tree of Life. I contend that the Tree of Life was on Calvary since "The Tree of Life" was crucified there. Hence, the Gihon Spring makes sense as one of the "rivers". That Spring was where Solomon was anointed king, and providesd life to Jerusalem; and has for thousands of years!
The Garden is described well in 1 Adam and Eve 10. Northward of Eden was a sea. That was likely the Mediterranean. It was "clean water" - perhaps salt water. On the south side of the Garden were aromatic trees. On the west of the Garden was where Adam dwelt because there was much land there. On the east were oceans, as far as the eye could see, and all over the world. If we knew what the earth really looked like then, it would help locate Eden, but we don't. Although maps of Pangea (the original world) shows land masses rotated around the Mediterranean as the pivot point, scientists did not rotate Israel itself. That doesn't make sense! We can't use today's directions to describe pre-historic Israel.
If Israel did rotate, the Mediterranean would have been on the north, as the "sea" was, and the Gihon would have flowed southward, providing water from the Tree of Life - the locations of the rest of the trees. Adam and Eve lived on the west side of the Garden where the gate was. The oldest gate of Old Jerusalem was the "corner gate" mentioned several places in scripture. It was built before all the others. That first Jerusalem Gate may very well correspond with the Gate of Paradise which was guarded by seraphim as it was on the same side. It was on the northwest corner, certainly in agreement with the Gate of the Garden.
Everyone has been looking for extant rivers and in modern-day places. Scientists have found a dry river bed running through Saudi Arabia. They propose that this is one of the missing rivers. It ran, if memory serves me right, from present-day east to west. We don't know how the Tigres and Euphrates coursed in those says because of continental drift. However, I would bet that future research will point more and more toward Jerusalem as the location of the Garden of Eden! Scripture does:
All sacred literature points toward Jerusalem being the location of the Garden of Eden. Ironically, Dan's (the son of Israel) portion in ancient writings is referred to as "Eden". Therefore, there are three candidates for Eden itself: (1) the entire world, (2) the Kingdom of David, or (3) the land of Dan which is right to the west of Jerusalem, and actually touched it according to ancient maps.
We think of Eden as being the entire Garden. However, we must remember that scripture says that the Garden is thus: "God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden" (Genesis 2:8). That description fits two of the three possibilities: the world or the land of Dan. If it was the entire Kingdom of David, it would have said "west, in Eden" (unless the compass has changed, and some think it has).
According to the Jewish Virtual Library an underground body of water flows from the limestone karsts below Jerusalem. The Gihon Spring emerges East of Jerusalem in the Kidron Valley. The First Book of Adam and Eve describes the four rivers emerging from under the Tree of Life. I contend that the Tree of Life was on Calvary since "The Tree of Life" was crucified there. Hence, the Gihon Spring makes sense as one of the "rivers". That Spring was where Solomon was anointed king, and providesd life to Jerusalem; and has for thousands of years!
The Garden is described well in 1 Adam and Eve 10. Northward of Eden was a sea. That was likely the Mediterranean. It was "clean water" - perhaps salt water. On the south side of the Garden were aromatic trees. On the west of the Garden was where Adam dwelt because there was much land there. On the east were oceans, as far as the eye could see, and all over the world. If we knew what the earth really looked like then, it would help locate Eden, but we don't. Although maps of Pangea (the original world) shows land masses rotated around the Mediterranean as the pivot point, scientists did not rotate Israel itself. That doesn't make sense! We can't use today's directions to describe pre-historic Israel.
If Israel did rotate, the Mediterranean would have been on the north, as the "sea" was, and the Gihon would have flowed southward, providing water from the Tree of Life - the locations of the rest of the trees. Adam and Eve lived on the west side of the Garden where the gate was. The oldest gate of Old Jerusalem was the "corner gate" mentioned several places in scripture. It was built before all the others. That first Jerusalem Gate may very well correspond with the Gate of Paradise which was guarded by seraphim as it was on the same side. It was on the northwest corner, certainly in agreement with the Gate of the Garden.
Everyone has been looking for extant rivers and in modern-day places. Scientists have found a dry river bed running through Saudi Arabia. They propose that this is one of the missing rivers. It ran, if memory serves me right, from present-day east to west. We don't know how the Tigres and Euphrates coursed in those says because of continental drift. However, I would bet that future research will point more and more toward Jerusalem as the location of the Garden of Eden! Scripture does:
Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.The throne of God mentioned here would be high on a hill, perhaps Calvary where the Tree of Life stood. We can see in heaven that same "river" flowed from under the Tree of Life just as Gihon Spring does. Both are holy water which provides life! The "Tree of Life" is plainly Jesus because His death provided "healing of the nations". In other words. the Tree of Life in the Garden was representative of Jesus, and I believe both (Jesus and the Tree of Life) stood on Calvary right where the tree on which he was crucified stood.
Revelation 22:14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.We know that Adam and Eve deserved death and were placed outside the Gate to the Garden. It was guarded by seraphim. There was one Word which would someday provide a pass to re-enter the Gate. The pass-Word was the "Tree of Life" or Jesus. Likewise, to return to heavenly Paradise, the same password is required.
This heavenly city is the New Jerusalem. It will return to the dust from which it came someday right on the "foundation of peace" - the land on which Jerusalem now stands! I am wowed at God's Plan. There are no loopholes. Rather than looking for the Garden on earth, God wants us to look for Paradise in Heaven. If we find the latter, the former is obvious.
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