Understanding Mysteries

    Sometimes God is a mystery (Col 1:27); whose mystery is Christ (Col 1:27). Scripture was always about Christ (Ephes 3:9).  The apostle John revealed the mystery of God/the mystery of Christ:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

     One of the most profound things to me is that all Holy Scripture is about Jesus Christ! I didn't always know that, thinking that God and Jesus were somehow One but different. What confused me was the expression "God in three persons" which is common Christian vernacular. "Persons" are human beings. Theologians, in years past, defined God in terms of three personalities. Both definitions are now included in Merriam-Webster Dictionary. God is not  "persons" but indeed He is a personal God in that he deals with people on an individual basis. God became a person when He appeared to mankind in the flesh. He was the Son of Man yet the Son of God. Theologians call Jesus a God-Man.

     God has foreknowledge. He knew that He would come in the flesh (Acts 2:23). In his Plan, God made mankind as He Himself would later appear (Gen 1:26-27; like El and Elohim). Elohim is the plural for God and El the singular. Thus, El represents the One True God and Elohim His three identities which theologians call "homeostasis", or "substances" - essential natures. Mankind keeps defining God in worldly terms! That cannot be done. He doesn't have "essential natures" because God is supra (beyond) natural. Struggle as we might, God cannot be defined but in two words: Existence and Glorious.

     John revealed that Jesus (above: John 1:14) was with God in the beginning (above: John 1:2). If so, where was Jesus in the beginning? He was the Voice walking in the cool of the day (Gen 3:) and the Tree of Life which was in the midst of the Garden (Gen 2:9). There may have been a physical Tree of Life in the Garden, but whether that be the case or not, the Garden may be a metaphor and the Tree of Life a simile. In other words, "the Lord" who was audible to Adam and Eve was as a Tree of Life. That makes sense since the "Tree" is no longer physically in the world but spiritually in Heaven:

Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

     Right now, the Tree of Life is in the midst of Paradise, or Heaven. One of two things happened: (1) physically the Garden of Eden either ascended to a spiritual realm, or (2) the Garden of Eden was both spiritual and physical. With the latter, it's "dust" still exists on earth because it was removed with sin, but it's spiritual aspects still exist in Heaven. In other words, the Garden is in the City of God - the Kingdom of David - which was displaced from the world and made new in Heaven. 

     Jerusalem is "the foundation of peace" and the Jordan River the "river of the Garden". It may be that Jerusalem is where the "dust" of the Garden lies and someday New Jerusalem will come "home", so to speak. 

Rev 2:21 And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

     Therefore, I conclude that the Garden of Eden - God's Holy Paradise - ascended from the earth to the Heaven, and some day it will descend to its foundation. (Just as Jesus ascended physically in Acts 1 and descended spiritually in Acts 2).  From my conclusion, the Garden of Eden would not have been in Iraq but Israel. (Ignore the geography extant today because it has become meaningless since the flood). I believe the Garden of Eden was never destroyed but removed from the wickedness of the world at the same time as the Ark carried off Noah and his line. Since God destroyed "wickedness" from the world, the Garden never died but was saved just as Noah was.      It is important to understand that one of the "mysteries of Christ" is that he is the Tree of Life! Jesus is referred to as the "Branch" (see the following):

Isa 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord...

     In the New Testament, Jesus identifies himself as "the Branch" and people as "branches" in John 15:5. Not all the "branches" are Christians. Some will be cutoff and only the good branches remain (John 15:2). The "good branches" represent the Church and the "Branch" Jesus Christ himself. King David was the "rod" which came out of "the stem of Jesse", and Jesus is the Son of David (Mat 1:1). The stem of Jesse arose out of the Eden and the Branch was regrown where it once was. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Perhaps it was in the midst of the Garden, along with Jerusalem. Perhaps all Israel was the Garden with Bethlehem in it's midst!
     The Branch regrew into the Tree. Isaiah saw it growing long before God planted! God revealed His foreknowledge to Isaiah and Isaiah understood - he knew that Jesus would be the Son of David spoken of in Mathew 1:1. For me, that is exciting. To me, God's Plan from the beginning is a great mystery but if one listens carefully, God's Plan is revealed. It's not secret knowledge for salvation but the salvation plan revealed! Isaiah was one of the many prophets who was part of the foundation of the Church because Isaiah, like all the prophets, knew Jesus firsthand!