CROSSING THE RIVER OF GOD

   Continuing in the Book of Genesis, is “degeneration.” Heretofore, all had been about generation. The end, “regeneration” was revealed to John. Adam’s sin is degeneration of mankind. What is known of the Garden’s “demise” is ambiguous in scripture, but the “Garden of Eden” exists to this day.

  A fair assumption is that the “Promise Land” is the limits of the former Garden “eastward in Eden” (Gen 2:8). The question arises; What is Eden? I had concluded that “Eden” is the entire land mass of the world, which at the Creation, was one mass of seven parts. Scientists call the mass of land before continental drift, “Pangea.”

  If anyone examines Pangea, there are many configurations, but all are nearly the same; there was a rotation around the Mediterranean Sea. That very word means “middle of the earth.” Perhaps continental drift occurred exactly at the center of the land mass at that time. Where would that be? Jerusalem, the “foundation of peace” and the “navel of the world, as well as the celestial axis.

  Whatever its limits, the middle of the Garden of Eden is Jerusalem. The Tree of Life was in the “midst of the Garden” (Gen 2:9).

  The Garden was eastward in Eden. If Eden is the world’s land mass, then Jerusalem is indeed, eastward, and so is the “fertile crescent.” The implication herein is that the fertile crescent is evidence of Paradise. (See figure #1 for the fertile crescent).

                                              Figure 1: The Fertile Crescent (Wikipedia)

The fertile crescent corresponds well with the Promise Land (see figure #2)

 

Figure 2: Promise Land (Wikipedia) 

  Hence, the middle of the Garden is indeed Israel and the fertile crescent corresponds to the Promise Land. Directions near the “navel” at the Creation are meaningless. Hence, the Euphrates, rather than eastward, could have been “northward.” Sacred literature (Conflicts of Adam and Eve with Satan) identifies “North” of the Garden as Satan’s territory. That would mean Iraq, which since Nimrod, has been the pagan center of the world and remains so to this day! Now study the key verses:

KEY VERSES: ²² And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: ²³ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. ²⁴ So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Gen 3:22-24)

  Adam was sent forth from the Garden of Eden. To do what? To till the ground outside the Garden. The actual “Garden” consisted of Trees and vines. Adam would till the ground, not cut trees. That was God’s responsibility. The Hebrew word translated, “create” is literally “cut wood.” Adam surely remained in the Promise Land but was cast out of the Garden portion. God had blessed Adam when he provided a coat of skin to wear in his new home, indubitably, out of His sight/site and away from the middle of the Garden.

  Rather than a previous hypothesis that I have made; that the Garden of Eden was the entire Promise Land, my new hypothesis, based on more knowledge, is that the Garden of Eden was not the entire Promise Land but only Israel — Israel at the time of Jesus. Jerusalem, therefore, would be nearly the exact center (midst) of the Garden of Eden in Israel, as it is to this day. In other words, God came back to the middle of Paradise to regenerate ‘adam (Hebrew for “man”) just as He had generated Adam in the beginning.

  I am going somewhere with this. My friend, pastor Matthew Lemster, asked what I knew about “The City of Adam.” I knew little, but that city is mentioned only in Joshua 3:16. It is where the water stood up southward of which Joshua would enter “Paradise” (the land of milk and honey) with the Hebrews. By that time, continental drift had changed directions and Joshua entered from the east.

  Perhaps the City of Adam was where Adam lived outside Paradise. The present-day city of Damia (the city of Adam) is outside Israel in Jordan on the east side of the “Naral Ha Yarden” or “River of the Garden” (the Jordan River). That makes sense since Adam was sent out of the Garden.

  By the way, Adam was not cast out but “sent out.” That implies that Adam was not forbidden re-entry into the Garden but went out of his own volition. That would mean that by grace, Adam was free to re-enter since he wore the “Way” on his shoulders, to wit: Flesh from the Lamb of God. That is the “Way” back to Paradise to this day! (The spiritual “flesh” of Jesus is the Holy Ghost of Jesus. The Holy Ghost is the “coat” that God sent to provide Comfort and Safety to Christians.)

  On the east side of the River of the Garden is “Damiya” — the classical city of Adam. That would be Adam’s “city.” Perhaps Damiya is the exact location of the “gate” to the Garden that the cherubim guarded! Joshua (“Jesus” in English) was allowed entry. Scripture identifies it as holy water. The cherubim caused the water to stand up for “Jesus” so to speak. Joshua stood still in the riverbed on dry land. God had opened the “gate” for Jesus!

  Jesus entered the Promise Land. Not carnal “Jesus” but the Promised Savior. The “seed of Abraham” entered the Way to the Tree of Life, and in their seed, the “Seed” would be born. The Voice who spoke in the Garden two-thousand years before had returned home, and he would take on flesh two thousand years later. The hypothesis is that Damyia, the original city of Adam, is the exact location of the Gate to Paradise, and that Joshua walked the Way to the Tree of Life. For just a short time, the cherubim allowed entry of God’s chosen people. Then two thousand years later, Jesus would be baptized near the City of Adam.

Figure 0: "Crossing the River" by Learn Religions

  That is not all! “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” (Rev 2:7). The Tree of Life was replanted in the “midst of Paradise” — in the middle of Israel in Jerusalem. There remains to this day, part of the Garden of God … the Garden of Gethsemane, and nearby stood two “trees” — the Cross “tree” from which Jesus was hung (Acts 5:30) and the real tree from which Judas, with Satan in him, hung himself. Rather than saved by grace, Judas perished by the work of his own hands on the “Judas Tree” which makes sense was a fig tree.

  The Sacred Cross was believed to be from the very acacia wood from the poles of the Ark of the Covenant with the gold stripped off.  The tree that carried the Ark across the River of God would be the same wood that carried Jesus to heaven. By poetic justice, that would be in Adam’s face, in front of ‘adam city and atop Adam’s skull, respectively. The city of sinful Adam would not be a great city, but the city of Jesus would be! As usual, God ignored the law of primogeniture and left His inheritance to the second Son, the “Second Adam,” or Jesus.

  The Tree of Life is symbolic for Jesus and points the Way to Paradise. He still stands (and sits at times) not on the River of the Garden but in the midst of it. The river entrance is on the Way to the Tree of Life just as it guards the entrance. That “gate” is still standing and will be in the end. John saw that “gate” in another realm.

  John saw and wrote about the Way to the Cross, “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle” (Rev 4:6-7).

  The ”sea of glass” is an transparent barrier in eschatology. It may mean the cosmos between God and man. In symbolic terms, it could also mean the “sea” around Israel, to wit, the Mediterranean and the Jordan. Cherubim, the angels that guard the “Way to the Tree of Life,” are described by John. In the end, the Way remains guarded by the very same angels, and entry to Paradise, the midst of the Garden, is still across the Jordan. It was not the Promise Land that Abraham was promised, but the Promise of Paradise in Heaven. However, after the Promise, it too will be land when Heaven comes down. According to the Secrets of Enoch, the Third Heaven and Israel coexist, albeit in different realms.

  Adam adored his own face instead of the Face of God. But by grace, God seems to have placed re-entry to Paradise near the abode of Adam. Since that time, many dynasties have fought for that land and are withstood by the crossing of the Jordan. Only evil spirits would cross into Israel, and that allowance was to test God’s chosen people. In other words, just as Satan was allowed entry into Paradise for testing purposes, Satan in Islam and other pagan religions were allowed to cross the Jordan to test the Israelites.

  By the time of the end, the testing will be complete when the Beast is cast into the bottomless pit, perhaps the one beneath the Foundation Stone. Then only the righteous can cross the Jordan as in the days of Joshua. Of course, the Way to the Tree of Life is through the death of God’s Flesh on the Cross, but the spiritual Way is across the “sea of glass” unto the Third Heaven. The spiritual River of God is that Way.

  Just as Jesus was the only one to have the “Living Water” remain on Him (John 1:33) when He was baptized in the Jordan near the City of Adam, then only by Living Water, or the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, can sinners cross the River of God into heavenly Paradise.