Genesis 2:8-10
[8] The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
[9] Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[10] Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is 49th Lecture on Genesis.
In the last lecture, I explained about the Garden of Eden.
Do you understand the difference between Eden and the Garden of Eden-
To help you understand better, I’ll give you this allegory.
The city of Seoul and the Seoul Grand Park are surely different, aren’t they-
The Seoul Grand Park is one of many parks with Seoul in its name.
Seoul and the Seoul Grand Park are different in sizes and their purposes.
By the same token, Eden and the Garden of Eden are so different.
The Garden of Eden is a special place located in Eden of the 2nd Heaven.
It is the place that God prepared for Adam and his descendants to live in.
There are also other special spaces in addition to the Garden of Eden in Eden of the 2nd Heaven.
For example, the place where the saved souls and the Lord will have the ƍ Year Wedding Banquet’ is located not in the Garden of Eden, but in Eden.
I mentioned about the natural environment of the Garden of Eden in the last lecture.
I said that there are no clear distinctions among different seasons, that there is no night, and that the time flow can be noticed through the change of temperature.
I also told you that there are no houses for an individual or a family, but that they all take a rest in beautiful tents.
In addition, even though most of them stay naked, they have no problems because they have no evil at all.
Then, why do we put on clothes in the Heavenly Kingdom where there is no evil-
It is because the Heavenly Kingdom is the place for the people who received human cultivation on earth.
They will never commit sin even if they don’t wear clothes, but it is natural for them to put on clothes because they did on earth.
In addition, the clothes they put on in the heavenly kingdom represent their rewards and glory, too.
There are some people in the Garden of Eden who do wear clothes.
They are in the leadership positions.
Since the Garden of Eden is so vast and the population is huge, they have their own organization and social order.
They are grouped in numbers, and each group has its leader.
Those who belong to a group obey the instructions of their leader, and they live in harmony.
These leaders put on clothes so that they can be distinct from others.
In the Garden of Eden, clothes are no more than a way to present the position of a leader.
They don’t wear clothes to hide their shame nor to adorn themselves.
Dear brothers and sisters.
The natural environment of the Garden of Eden is similar to that of the earth.
There are various flowers and trees, and there are also many animals.
There are many different animals, birds, insects, and fish.
It is safe to think that the plants and animals which were created on earth during the 6-day Creation are also in the Garden of Eden.
However, even though they are the same species, their colors are very different from the colors of the animals on earth.
Both in the earth and in the Garden of Eden, there are white doves.
Even though they are both white, however, their colors are completely different from each other.
The white doves in the Garden of Eden are a dazzlingly bright and clean white.
But the doves on earth are not like that.
To help you understand the difference of the colors, let me give you an illustration.
Say, you take a picture of the same flower under the same condition with two different cameras, one regular and one high definition.
Which camera’s picture will look more beautiful-
It would probably be the one taken with the high definition camera.
Likewise, the colors of the plants and animals in the Garden of Eden are far more beautiful than those on the earth.
It is because the Garden of Eden is a spiritual realm where there is no evil at all.
Since nothing pollutes and nothing decays, it is the same as it was when it was first created by God.
It has maintained its originally clean, pure, and beautiful environment.
In the Garden of Eden, there are no high mountains like the earth.
Hills with gentle sloping are scattered to make its topography seem to undulate[|ʌndƷəleit].
Since the high mountains on earth make the scenery beautiful, is the scenery of the Garden of Eden plain and dull-
No, it’s not.
In the Garden of Eden, it is the clouds that create beautiful scenery.
They change into various shapes and create beautiful scenes.
Have you ever looked down at the clouds from an airplane-
Sometimes they create a maritime scene, and other times they look like mountains. They constantly change shape.
In the Garden of Eden, much brighter and prettier clouds than clouds of the earth make beautiful scenery.
I will explain more about the environment of the Garden of Eden in the upcoming Genesis Lectures.
Now, Genesis 2:9 says, “Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
As I told you before, there are countless plants in the Garden of Eden just as there are on earth.
There are also fruit trees that yield fruit.
And so, verse 9 says, “the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food.”
The people in the Garden of Eden eat these fruit.
By the way, among the countless trees, there are two somewhat special trees located in the center of the Garden of Eden.
They are the ‘tree of life’ and the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’.
The center of the Garden of Eden is higher than other areas, and thus these two trees can be easily seen.
The Seoul Tower in Seoul can also be easily spotted.
And if you look out from the observatory of the Seoul Tower, you can see the entire city of Seoul.
It is said even the coastal waters of Incheon can be seen when the weather is good.
God put these easily-spotted trees in the center of the Garden of Eden.
These trees have abundant leaves, and yield much fruit.
The fruit from the trees of the Garden of Eden have much better taste, smell, and color than the fruit of the earth.
But, among all of them, the fruit from these two trees stand out from the fruit of the other trees.
The difference is clearly visible.
The fruit from these two trees are too big to be held in one hand.
Among the fruit of the earth, a 9 to 10 inch melon is pretty close to that of the fruit from these two trees.
The color and the shape of the fruit from the tree of life and the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil are different from others.
First, the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil is pink and has a shape similar to a peach on Earth.
And the fruit from the tree of life is similar to an apple, and it too has a red color.
It’s not flaming red; it has just a little of the red color, but it is beautiful
The fruit of life is not only in the Garden of Eden, but also in the heavenly kingdom.
Revelation 2:7 says, “I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.”
And Revelation 22:2 says, “in the middle of its street on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.”
From these verses, you can see there are many kinds of the ‘tree of life’.
There are 12 kinds in New Jerusalem.
From the tree of life in New Jerusalem, 12 kinds of fruit of life are continuously yielded.
So, among those many kinds of fruit from the tree of life, the one in the Garden of Eden has a shape and color similar to that of red apples on earth.
Since God created the shapes and colors of the fruit of life and the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil to be clearly different, there is no possibility of confusion.
You can surely distinguish the fruit of life from the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Among these two fruit, God told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
However, Adam eventually ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Since the two fruit are different in shapes and colors, he cannot make the excuse saying, “I was confused. I ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge by mistake.”
While you are living on this earth, you will always come across good and evil, and spirit and flesh.
You can easily discern which one is good and which one is evil; you can easily see which is spirit and which is flesh.
It is almost impossible to choose good thinking it is evil, or to choose spirit thinking it is flesh.
In John 6:63, Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
When you stand at a crossroads, I hope that you will always choose the side of goodness and spirit.
The Holy Spirit who dwells in you will help you discern good and evil.
Whenever you choose spirit, He will rejoice, and He will add grace and strength to you.
Dear brothers and sisters.
The fruit of the heavenly kingdom have fresh and deep fragrances and tastes.
Once you bite into it, it feels like it’s melting in your mouth.
They have unique smell and taste that cannot be compared with the fruit of the Earth.
When God gave me the revelation about the heavenly kingdom, God once allowed me to sense the taste of the fruit in the heavenly kingdom.
From head to toe, my whole body was drenched in its taste and smell, and I soon became full of the breath of life.
If you go to the heavenly kingdom in the future, you can taste this fruit of life as much as you please.
The fruit of life in the heavenly kingdom has much stronger smell and taste than the fruit in the Garden of Eden.
In the heavenly kingdom, of course, the fruit in New Jerusalem is much tastier than that in Paradise.
And I said that there are 12 different kinds of fruit of life in New Jerusalem.
I hope that all of you will go to New Jerusalem and check the smell and taste of the fruit yourselves.
Now, let me explain Genesis 2:10.
It says, “Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.”
And from Genesis 2:11 and onward, it mentions the names and the area where those four rivers flow.
It says that the source of four rivers is Eden.
It is not the Garden of Eden.
The river which flowed out of Eden flowed into the Garden of Eden.
Then, where did the water of the source of the river come from-
With the expanse in the middle, waters were divided into two; the waters above the expanse and the waters below the expanse.
The waters below the expanse became the seas of the earth on the 3rd day of the Creation.
And the waters above the expanse were moved to the 2nd Heaven.
At this time, the waters which were moved to the 2nd Heaven became the source of the river of Eden.
The river which flowed out of Eden flows throughout the Garden of Eden.
Just as the River of Life in the Heavenly Kingdom flows out of God’s throne and flows throughout the entire Heavenly Kingdom, there is also a river that flows throughout the Garden of Eden.
The natural environment of the Garden of Eden is so similar to that of the earth that it definitely needs water.
The animals and plants in the Garden of Eden receive the fullness from this river, and they maintain their lives thanks to this river.
Adam and his descendants who were to live in the Garden of Eden would also need water.
Even though they are living spirit, their bodies were made of the dust from the ground.
Blood circulates in their bodies.
It means that their body requires water.
The Garden of Eden needs water in this same way, and thus God moved the waters above the expanse into the 2nd Heaven, and made it become the source of the river of Eden.
By the way, Genesis 2:10 says, “¡¦and from there it divided and became four rivers.”
In this verse, “from there” refers to the source of the river of Eden.
It is the source of the waters in the 2nd Heaven.
The waters above the expanse, which were moved into the 2nd Heaven, are also the source of the river in the Garden of Eden and also the source of the four rivers.
By the way, these 4 rivers are not in the Garden of Eden, but on earth.
The waters which were moved to the 2nd Heaven poured down onto 4 places on Earth and became big rivers.
I said that atmospheric phenomena began to take place after the 4th day of Creation, and that it started to rain on the land.
Before then, there were only sea waters; there was no water on the land.
Only after the rain, flows of waters came into being.
But I also told you that there were no rivers where lots of waters flow.
Generally speaking, thin brooks in valleys gather to make a stream, and many streams gather to make a river.
However, the four big rivers that affected the spreading of the human civilization were not made like this.
God made the four rivers by pouring down the waters in the 2nd Heaven into 4 places on earth.
When the localized torrential rainfall comes down, it seems as if waters were being poured down from the sky.
When God made the 4 rivers on earth, He opened the doors of the 2nd Heaven, and poured down into 4 places from the waters which were the source of the river in Eden.
Another incident like this is mentioned in the Bible.
During the Flood of Noah, the doors of Heaven opened, and the waters in Eden were poured down on to the earth.
And the sky was opened on the whole earth, and it rained for 40 days.
As its result, even the highest mountain on the earth was completely submerged under the waters.
I will tell you about this in greater detail when we get to Chapter 7.
Now, why did God make the four rivers on earth-
It involves in the spiritual meaning of Number 4.
Number 4 primarily means ‘suffering.’
It was for about 400 years that the Israelites lived as slaves in Egypt, and for 40 years that they lived in the wilderness after exodus.
Our Jesus also fasted for 40 days before He began His public ministry.
Number 4 is also the number relating man and the earth.
When you refer to the whole surface of the earth, you say ‘all the 4 directions of the earth.’
God could have made 3 rivers or 7 rivers.
But since the number 4 is the number relating the earth and the number of man, He made 4 rivers.
After Adam was driven out to the earth and human cultivation began, people started to flourish around these 4 rivers.
These 4 rivers are identical to the cradle of ancient civilizations.
In order for a man to survive, water is a must.
Not only for drinking, but also for all areas of life, water is a necessity.
It is essential in farming as well.
This was why people gathered around rivers, and they formed a village and its size grew and grew.
As you can see, rivers have very special meanings to human beings.
When God Himself made these 4 rivers, all the conditions for human cultivation were set.
By the way, the shape of these rivers has changed greatly from the original shape that God created.
As countless years passed by, the topography of the land changed, and thus the location of the rivers also changed.
You should not misunderstand that the original locations and shapes of the rivers were the same as of today only because their names are the same with their current names.
If you interpret the Bible only literally without considering this fact and try to explore the rivers, you can make errors.
It is because God made these 4 rivers a very long time ago from our current age.
God created Adam of the dust from the ground, led him into the Garden of Eden, and then made the 4 rivers on earth.
Adam lived in the Garden of Eden for countless years while giving birth to his descendants.
Therefore you should remember that the 4 rivers also have very long history.
From the next lecture, I will tell you the spiritual meanings of the 4 rivers and their rough locations today.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Tonight, I told you about the natural environment of the Garden of Eden, the 2 special fruits, and the river which flowed out of Eden.
The river which flowed from Eden flows throughout the Garden of Eden, and brings life and fullness to the plants and animals in the Garden of Eden.
In addition, the waters which were the source of the river of Eden also poured down to 4 places of the earth to form big rivers.
Rivers provide man with waters which are must for survival.
Thus, people gathered around rivers and developed civilization.
Like this, God Himself made rivers in 4 places of the earth where people could get water which is a necessity.
Just as man cannot live without water physically, man cannot survive without water in a spiritual sense as well.
Man can become blessed only when he has the word of God, which is the spiritual water.
Psalm 1:3 talks about the blessing which can be enjoyed by the one who meditates on the word of God day and night.
It says, “He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”
In this Year of Harvest, 2010, it is now physically a time of harvest as well.
What kinds of fruit have you yielded- And how abundant has your life become-
How prosperous are you in all things you do-
If your body and heart have always been in the word of God, you must bear much fruit and all things must prosper.
I pray in the name of the Lord that more of you will become blessed in the future and give glory to God with beautiful and perfect fruit!
[Amen!!!]
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