God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth

This is another paradigm-shaping book, like that of A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology, by J. Richard Middleton (see my Amazon review of this same date). While both trace the same theme from Genesis to Revelation, their approaches and emphases are somewhat different, and I had the privilege of reading them both back to back. They definitely complement one another, and the topic of God's goal of a transformed and renewed creation as consummated in the New Heavens and New Earth is such a glorious and profound theme that I really couldn't satiate my hunger by reading just one book. Beale begins with the theme of Eden as God's Garden-temple in Genesis 1-2, and how Adam was placed in Eden with a priestly calling to work and keep the garden, subduing the animals and cultivating the earth, and expanding Eden. Instead they failed to guard the garden and were subdued by the serpent. They were in turn cast out. But God's plan for creation did not fail, rather his plan was carried on, eventually focused on Abraham and his sons, and on Moses. All during this time, the concept of a holy sanctuary where God dwells and meets with man is developed and expanded to the tabernacle and ultimately the temple. The temple imagery recurs throughout Scripture. As Israel fails and is taken into captivity, the promise remains alive through the prophets. Ultimately in the Gospels, Jesus is shown to be the true temple of God, and after his resurrection, the church (in Christ) is said to be a true temple, and its members have a priestly ministry. The temple and sacrificial imagery continues. With Jesus death and resurrection, we have the inauguration of the fulfillment of the promises of the prophets, carried on through the ministry of the church, until Christ's second coming. At that time, we see the final consummation of all things--the New Heavens and the New Earth, with the New Jerusalem descending from heaven to earth. And there we see again imagery from the temple, and from the original Garden-temple of Eden, and we see the features from Eden such as the river of life and the trees of life. But there is no physical temple there, for God and the Lamb are the temple, fulfilling what the earthly tabernacle/temple had pointed to and moved toward. As Beale says, "God's glorious presence in an Garden-like temple in Genesis 2 has formed an inclusio or book-end structure around the entire Canon (Gen 2 and Rev 21-22), thereby providing an interpretive key" to the whole Bible. This book will enrich your study and appreciation of the Bible, and cannot be recommended too highly. Instead of spending time worrying about a rapture, or 7-year tribulation, or an earthly millennium, could not our time be better spent focusing on what the Bible clearly focuses on and points to? That final and eternal glorious consummation of all things where God's dwelling place will be eternally with man, with sin eradicated forever?

This is an excellent treatise on Eden, the Tabernacle, Temple, and missions. BUT THE NARRATION!! I want desperately to read the whole book and have been just reading it w/o narration. But I paid for the narration, so I’m just putting up with the narration because of the content of the book. I speeded it up to 1.2 just to get it going. The man’s voice inflections seem flippant, nonchalant and not as though he reverences the topics about which he speaks. A glaring example is his pronunciation of Pentateuch - I’ve never heard anybody pronounce it other than as pen-ta-took. But he just said pen-TA- te-oook. I think that “Audible Studios” ought to scrap it and start all over.

A very deep book. Not for those who want to remain status quo in being a disciple of Christ. If you want to be challenged and be refocused, read and pray for the Spirit’s enablement to expand our minds and hearts to fulfill our Lord’s purpose since creation, to fill the entire earth with Him.

The grand plan is putting it mildly. This book is a must-read for academics and those who desire to understand what (Who) the Bible is about. The Edenic theme of God’s commission to expand His kingdom on earth and thus His Presence among His creation, should help us all who read and study the Scriptures to understand what it means when Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, Holy is Your Name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” The reasoned implication of how this perspective helps us see the canonicity of Scripture is incredible. Personally, I have read the Bible for years seeing glimpses of this and wondering why I had never read any book that brought all this together until now! Thank you to the authors, researchers, and publishers for making this available to people of the Book. I can’t wait to share this with many others. I can already see their eyes lighting up especially as it brings Jesus Christ, His Presence, and His promise to never leave or forsake us into greater focus.

At times, it was a tough read. I had to pause many times throughout the reading to process what I was reading. It is biblically rooted, beautifully written, and life-changing . . . All in less than 200 pages.

This book got me to thinking of Jesus and the wider world as a temple. This would be excellent reading for any lay person in church, which is what I am. To see our mission on earth as expanding the temple of God (image bearers and )His Word to all the earth through witness and sacrifice of our bodies in a daily way is only done through the power of God's Word and prayer.

Eden was created for us to commune with God. The Temple was created for all nations to come and commune with God. It was not until Christ that perfection was made and our God dwelled with us. Now we are the Temple attempting to to allow God’s glory to shine through us.

Love the content, but it was a burdensome read. Fantastic for giving you the underlying thread of the temple through all of scripture from a priestly Adam and Eve to a kingdom of priests.

The book is in great condition and arrived on time. I'm happy.

Very informative book and easy to listen to in the car on longer journeys, rather than reading the book

Llegó rapidísimo, en perfectas condiciones, lo mandaron con envío gratis aun cuando el resto de mi pedido no estaba disponible.

A delightful way to think of God with us.

An mind-blowing explication of God's eternal and sovereign plan, means and purposes in this created order. It causes me to realize how shallow and carelessly I read the Bible.