The Way Back To The Garden

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is known as the holiest and most solemn day of the year. According to Leviticus 16:29-30, it is to be kept on the 10th day of the 7th month and it is a day where you shall afflict your souls. In this message, we went on a journey throughout history in God’s Word to get a deeper understanding of the heart behind this.

Our journey began with a garden. In Genesis 2:8-10, we see that the LORD God plants a garden eastward in Eden and made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There was also a river that went out of Eden to water the garden.

Man Put In The Garden

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it (Genesis 2:15). Tend (‛âbad) means to work, serve, labor and keep (shâmar) means observe, to watch, protect, to guard. Adam was given the authority to take care of and watch over the garden. He was then given a specific instruction of what not to do. "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17). Adam was given the authority to watch over the land and the people, so when an influence comes into the garden, how does he handle it? The serpent deceives Eve into doing the one thing God said not to do and Adam goes along with it because he ate of the tree too.

Man Driven Out Of The Garden

After this act of disobedience, then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). God did not want them to stay in that fallen state forever, where He would not be able to dwell among them anymore, so out of love, "He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24). God placed cherubim and a flaming sword to guard (shâmar) the way to the tree of life. The way back to God’s direct presence was now guarded and completely restricted.

So, now what? Does God just banish them and give up on humanity or do you think God has a plan for man to return back to the garden? God was not surprised that this happened, but He has declared the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), so He knew this was going to happen. In fact, since the beginning, God already had a plan to get us back into the garden.

God Makes His Plans Known

So, after the fall, we see that the first murder, the great flood, and the scattering from the tower of Babel takes place, but then God makes part of His plan made known through a man named Abraham. God says to Abraham, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (Genesis 22:18). God promised Abraham that all nations would be in a position to receive from God (blessed). Restoration of the way back to the garden would occur through Abraham's seed.

Had God Abandoned His Promise?

So, generations pass by (Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph) then Abraham’s descendants find themselves in slavery within Egypt for 400 years. Had God forgotten His promise? The circumstances did not look like all nations would be blessed through Abraham's seed. We might ask, "Why is it taking so long?", but God is not slack at His promises (2 Peter 3:9), it is according to His divine timing. God heard the cries of the people in bondage in Egypt (Exodus 2:23-25) and uses another man (Moses) to deliver His people.

God Dwells Among Men With Restricted Access

So, God uses Moses to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt. God did not only deliver the people to do whatever they want, but instead to bring them to Himself (Genesis 19:4). God has been trying to do this the whole time, He wants to dwell with His people, so He says in Exodus 25:8-9, "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it." God instructed them to build the Tabernacle according to a specific blueprint (that was patterned after heaven).

The Veil That Guards The Way

In Exodus 33:20, God says to Moses, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” Man could not be in direct, manifested presence of God or we would die, so God set some boundaries. One of those boundaries was the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. In Exodus 26:31, it states, "You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim." This connects directly with what we saw in Genesis 3:24 (where the cherubim guarded the way). We can see that God is slowly restoring access to Himself.

Temporary Access Through Blood

In Leviticus 16:1-2, Moses was told by God to warn Aaron to not to come into the Holy of Holies at just any time, lest he die. God’s manifest presence was not accessible at any time, as not even the High Priest was allowed past the veil at just anytime, but there was specific instructions to follow. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, only the High Priest was allowed to push past the veil into God's presense to atone for the sins of the people. This was something that was completed year after year because as Hebrews 10:4 says, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." So, did God just stop here and leave us in this state or did He want to continue to push us towards full restoration of our connection with Him?

Yeshua Restores The Way

"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). The blood of bulls and goats can’t take away sin, so God provided the perfect sacrifice, Yeshua (Yahweh is salvation), His only begotten son. Because of this perfect sacrifice, Yeshua does not need to offer up daily sacrifices, instead He did once for all when He offered up Himself (Hebrew 7:27). Isaiah 53:6 tells us that "the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" which was done in order to reconciled us to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:18). Once Yeshua yielded up His spirit on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51) which showed that the way to God was made available and that access was restored.

Israel Looks Upon The One Whom They Pierced

Praise God for His perfect plan of restoring connection back to Him, so is that the end of the story? Well, there is a problem, Israel still does not accept the way that Yeshua has made. So, there is still prophesy that is yet to be fulfilled. In Zechariah 12:10, it states, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." It will be at this time, that Israel will look upon the Messiah, whom they pierced, and accept the atonement nationally and corporately repent before God. Once this takes place, it says in Zechariah 13:1, that "In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." Why is this fountain opened? Because they will finally accept the sacrifice of the Messiah and then cleansing will come. Yeshua already accomplished the Day of Atonement 2,000 years ago, but this event is when the Day of Atonement is officially fulfilled. Then this leads into the thousand-year reign of the Messiah where the nations will come to worship the king and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14). But there is one more step to complete restoration.

Man Returns Back To A Restored Garden

After the thousand-year reign of our Messiah, the heaven and earth will pass away and God will create a new heaven and a new earth with a New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-2). In the new Jerusalem, the tree of life is restored and we shall see God's face (Revelation 22:1-4). This is the moment when man returns back to a restored garden and we can dwell with God for all of eternity according to the way He originally intended.

Follow Yeshua Into The Presense

Yeshua says in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." So, if we are to follow Yeshua, where do we follow Him to? Hebrews 6:19-20 states, "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." Yeshua is the forerunner. A forerunner is the first person to make a way through, but people are expected to follow. So, we are expected to follow Yeshua into "the Presence behind the veil" meaning pressing past the veil into the throne room with the Father.

Discussion Questions For Self-Evaluation:

1. What have you been doing or need to start doing to deny yourself and follow the forerunner?

2. What barriers have prevented you from "having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Yeshua"?

3. Have you looked upon the one whom they pierced and believed that is God's way to get us back into the garden?

4. What part of the word came alive to you from this message?