If, as I suggest, that we move from creation to new creation / from protology to eschatology it is probably important to understand a little about creation.
We have stories in the first chapters of Genesis that yield profound insights. They carry certain elements in common with other creation myths that come from the surrounding culture. The scientific world-views are, more or less, in agreement. The earth is not a sphere that rotates around the sun, but is flat, and above it is a ‘firmament’ where the sun, moon and stars travel. That firmament is held up by pillars, beneath the earth are waters and above the firmament are also waters. Those views are not ‘corrected’ in Scripture, and we should not try and squeeze what is written there into a more enlightened scientific view. Our stories share the wider culture and historical setting, but when it comes to the theology of those chapters the gap between Genesis and the other myths becomes evident.
Humans tasked with providing food for the gods was a common view in other myths; Genesis disagrees. God provides food for humans and is the one who sets the garden out. The view of God is so different; the view of humanity is likewise in contrast to that which is in other myths. We read of humanity being ‘the image of God’, of being given a mandate for the world.
The scientific view is a flat world but what is described is a home or a house. Scientifically we will disagree with what is described, but theologically we gain incredible insight through the story. We live in a context where there is a roof over our heads (the firmament that is held in place by the pillars). Creation then is God’s gift to humanity, a place for us to live together, benefitting from the good provision of God.
The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to human beings (Ps. 115:16).
God lives in the heavens (his home) and he has graciously given to humanity a house to be nurtured, cared for and developed. Earth is the dwelling place for humanity, but again when we follow the trajectory toward new creation we read that something remarkable happens. What is remarkable is not of humans being removed from the earth to some celestial home, but the reverse:
See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them (Rev. 21:3).
This concept of creation as a house can be seen when we compare two Scriptures in Proverbs. The first Scripture quoted below is a description of how a house is built, it being built by ‘wisdom, understanding and knowledge’.
By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches (Prov. 24:3,4).
And the Lord acted with ‘wisdom, understanding and knowledge’ to bring about creation
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew (Prov. 3:19-20).
A dwelling place for humanity, and more than that, a temple for God’s own presence. All of creation is a temple for God, for we read that heaven is God’s throne and the earth his footstool, the image being of God seated and his presence filling all of creation, therefore no house that could be built should ever be thought of as containing God (Acts 7:49 – Stephen’s speech hence it makes no sense to have an eschatological hope of a literal rebuilt physical temple).
In the ancient near eastern world when temples were constructed the last element placed in the temple was the image of the god. In such cultures it was said that the image had its mouth washed so that the life of the god went into the image. Our Scriptures tell us that there was no carved image made, but of humanity being breathed into and those humans being placed in the garden. A living image. Any carving of images were therefore prohibited for to do so would be to belittle God’s activity, an insult both to God and to humanity.
The first word… a garden with a couple. That garden being a temple where they were to reflect the image of God and to be bearers of the presence of the God in whose image they were.
The last word… a city that has all the garden elements in it, occupied by a company of people who cannot be numbered.
The first word… a God who visited in the evening time.
The last word… a God who now dwells permanently with his people.
In these and other ways we see how there is a move (an eschatological arc) from creation to new creation. A dwelling place for humanity that eventually becomes a dwelling place for God with his people.