Hey Friends!
Shabbat Shalom to you all! Today I just wanted to share the work that went into "Scene 2: Exile from the Garden" and why we made the decisions we did.
The first thing you will probably notice in this scene is Simon's incredible rendition of the Cherubim guarding the entrance to the garden. The angels appearance is taken from the book of Ezekiel chapters 1 & 10 for those who are curious where their striking description came from. Given the awesomeness of these creatures, it seems a little excessive to place these in the garden only to protect it from humans. Actually, I believe it is plausible that these divine beings were probably protecting it from Satan and his angels, which is why you can see two of these Cherubim forcibly removing Satan from the garden, while Adam and Eve are gently being shown the exit.
The next thing you will notice is the sword floating in the middle of the scene. I had always imagined that the sword in this passage was being held by one of the Cherubim, but the text is very clear that the sword is floating and guarding the tree of life by its own volition. This highlights one of the aims of our project, which is to better "visualize" what scripture is actually telling us so that we can understand Gods word more consistently. The word of Yahweh is described as a sword. In fact, the New Testament writers describe it as a living sword, that's sharp enough to cut through our souls. Yikes! Words are powerful and Yahweh's word is the most powerful of all. Gods word is the sword that comes from Yeshua's mouth in Revelation, which judges the world. Gods word teaches us what sin is and how to be live righteous and holy lives.
The location of the original Eden seems to have been somewhere in the Fertile Crescent since the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were said to be in it. It goes without saying that the garden has never been located and I think that is because Eden was a special place and a type of bridge between the physical and the spiritual realms. I think Tim Mackey does a good job explaining the relationship between heaven and earth and the uniqueness of Eden if you are interested in this topic. Ever since the fall of mankind, which brought sin into the world, that bridge has been destroyed. It is my belief that one day, the veil between the physical and the spiritual will be removed and we will once again commune with Yahweh in the same manner that Adam and Eve did.
Lastly, you might notice, we threw in some dinosaurs into the scene as well. This is controversial because some believe that dinosaurs never existed and that believing in dinosaurs is contrary to Christian traditionalism. The argument is that believing in dinosaurs suggests you also believe the earth is millions of years old, which is a no-no since the Bible says God created the earth in 6 days and the Bible only really accounts for about 6000 years of human history. In short, Yahweh knows the answers to all of these issues and it is important that we not get so caught up with fitting God into our limited scope of understanding. I believe dinosaurs did exist because they are epic and Yahweh is epic. I think they probably walked the earth at some point. Did dinosaurs coexist with humans? Maybe, I think so, but it really doesn't matter at the end of the day, it is just fun to think about. The only thing that matters is believing is Yahweh and Jesus his son.
Blessings and Shalom,
Luke