Finding Eden

1st of April, 2024

The location of the Garden of Eden has captivated the hearts and imagination of Bible believers for millennia.

Despite much searching, she has managed to keep her location hidden. Some say that we simply will never be able to know it.

Now, the garden itself is no longer there, that much is true. It became desolate a long time ago. But not only can the location be known with certainty, it can even be visited, albeit with some difficulty!

Are you ready to discover this remarkable truth? Strap in as it’s going to be quite a ride! We recommend not spoiling the surprise by skipping ahead to the end. The reveal is worth the wait.

The first clue as to its location can be found by joining a few scriptural dots.

Genesis 2:9… The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden …

Revelation 2:7“… To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

2 Corinthians 12:2-4I know a man in Christ who … was caught up to the third heaven … he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

From the Genesis verse we learn that the tree of life was in the midst of the Garden of Eden. From Revelation we see it is also in the midst of the Paradise of God. Therefore the Paradise of God is the Garden of Eden. As Paul was caught up to Paradise, which he also calls the third heaven, it is evident that the Garden of Eden was not in this world.

This is a great start because we can already eliminate a lot of possibilities. Virtually every possibility that has ever been suggested, as a matter of fact!

As an aside, don’t get caught up with the names of rivers and places in Genesis 2. Doing so has led many astray. It is common practice for migrating humans to re-use names when moving from place to place. Adam and Eve more than likely just named prominent features in their new home based on names from their old one.

Let’s take it a step further.

Genesis 2:7-8And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

When God formed man He made Him from the dust of the ground and placed him in the Garden. When man was expelled from the Garden, it was to till the ground from which he was taken (Genesis 3:23)—showing that the ground from which he was taken was not the same as the ground in the garden. That is to say, he was taken from one place (the earth, Genesis 2:7) and put in another place (the Garden, Genesis 2:8), but when he sinned he was sent back down to the world from which he had been taken. We see a similar thing in Ezekiel 28:13 and 17, referring to Satan: You were in Eden, the garden of God; … I cast you to the ground

When the Bible speaks of dust, it is the earth to which it is referring. Isaiah 66:1 says Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. The dust of the earth is the dust beneath His feet.

We can further surmise, then, that the Paradise of God, the Garden of Eden, is also the place of God’s Throne.

Confirmation of this can be found at the end of Revelation:

Revelation 22:1-2And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life…

The previous chapter shows this was inside the New Jerusalem. So we can now also equate the New Jerusalem with the Paradise of God, the Garden of Eden, and the Throne of God. And they are all located in what Paul called the heavenly places, or the third heaven.

In Revelation 21:2 John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

Paul also mentioned this city when he said the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26). This too is a reference to the New Jerusalem, which is above (in the heavenly places). The reference to it being the mother of us all is clearly pointing to it being the Garden of Eden, the birth place of Adam and Eve, the progenitors of the entire human race.

When Jesus left after His first coming He told the disciples:

John 14:2In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

In Revelation 21:2 when John saw the New Jerusalem it was prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. It is the place Jesus went to prepare after His first coming. This also confirms it is where the Throne of God is located, for we see that depicted in Revelation 4 and 5. And there’s the testimony of Stephen, who, when he was stoned, said “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:56).

The New Jerusalem itself is quite massive:

Revelation 21:16The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs [stadia]. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.

The exact length of a Biblical stadia is unknown, as the ancients had no fixed reference for measuring distance. However, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth quite accurately around 240 BC, using a value of 5,000 stadia for the distance between Alexandria and Syene, a distance of about 790 kilometres. This would make a stadia about 158 metres, and the size of the New Jerusalem about 1,900 kilometres in each direction.

The city is laid out as a square, but it is not a cube.

Zechariah 4:7-9“ ‘Who are you, O great mountain?  Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!  And he shall bring forth the capstone  with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

“The hands of Zerubbabel  have laid the foundation of this temple [house];  His hands shall also finish it.  Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.”

The foundation of a building, the first stone to be laid, is known as the cornerstone. It’s the stone from which every other measurement is taken. In this passage Zerubbabel is used as a type of Jesus, the builder of the heavenly temple. Peter confirms this for us:

1 Peter 2:6-7Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion  a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,  and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

Jesus laid the first stone, and He will also lay the last one, the capstone in Zechariah 4:7. A cube does not have a capstone, but a pyramid does. The New Jerusalem will be pyramidal in shape.

Zechariah 4:7 also makes mention of a great mountain. Peter referred to Zion, a mountain in Israel, but that was symbolic of this great mountain. We see this terminology used in other passages too, for instance:

Psalm 48:1Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.

We’ve already established that the city of our God is the New Jerusalem, and it is in His holy mountain. This is further confirmed by the same phrasing being used in Revelation:

Revelation 21:10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, …

And just in case any more evidence were needed, we also have a witness in the book of Hebrews:

Hebrews 12:22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, …

These places we have discussed are all one and the same. The New Jerusalem, the Paradise of God, the Garden of Eden, The Throne of God, Mount Zion, Heavenly Jerusalem, the City of God.

We hope that explains why all attempts to locate the Garden of Eden on earth have been fruitless. Because it’s not on earth; it’s in heavenly places.

But where exactly is that?

The key to finding it is in understanding what a mountain is.

Prophetically, a mountain can be a number of things. It can be a kingdom, such as in Daniel 2:35 and 44. In Revelation 17:9 the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and these are most likely the seven continents. Neither of these is an adequate explanation for what we have been discussing.

Much is said about mountains in the Book of Enoch. For instance, this passage:

1 Enoch 18:5-10I saw the paths of the angels. I saw at the end of the earth the firmament of the skies above. And I proceeded and saw a place that burns day and night, where there are seven mountains of magnificent stones, three towards the east, and three towards the south. And those towards the east were of colored stone, one of pearl, one of jacinth, and those towards the south of red stone.

But the middle one reached to the skies like the throne of Elohim, of alabaster, and the summit of the throne was of sapphire. And I saw a flaming fire. And beyond these mountains is the terminus of the whole world; there the heavens were complete.

Here’s another passage. This is a fairly long one, but worth reading in its entirety as it combines and confirms much of what we have already said.

1 Enoch 24:2-25:5I went on beyond it and saw seven magnificent mountains, all differing one from another. And the stones were magnificent and beautiful, magnificent as a whole, of radiant appearance and splendid exterior: three towards the east, one founded upon the other, and three towards the south, one upon the other, with ravines, deep and rough, not one joined with any other.

The seventh mountain was in the midst of these though it excelled them in height, resembling the seat of a throne. Fragrant trees encompassed the throne. Amongst them was a tree such that I had not yet smelled; neither was any tree among them like it. It had a fragrance beyond all fragrance, and its leaves and blooms and wood wither not forever. Its fruit is beautiful, resembling the dates of a palm.

Then I said, ‘How beautiful is this tree, and fragrant; its leaves are fair and its blooms very delightful in appearance.’ Then answered Michael, one of the great and holy angels who was with me. Michael was their chief.

He said to me, ‘Enoch, why do you ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree and why do you wish to learn the truth?’ Then I answered him saying, ‘I wish to know about everything, but especially about this tree.’ And he answered saying, ‘This high mountain that you have seen, with the summit like the throne of Elohim, it is His throne! Here is where the holy Shaddai, YHWH of Glory, the Timeless King, will be seated when He descends to visit the land with good things.

‘As for this fragrant tree: no mortal is permitted to touch it until the great judgment, when He will take vengeance on all and bring everything to its consummation, and forever. It will then be separated and given to the righteous. Its fruit will be food for the elect. It will be transplanted to the holy place, to the Temple of YHWH, the Timeless King.

The tree in this passage is the Tree of Life. But it is the mountains we will consider here. They are exceedingly high. They are of different colours. Nothing joins them to each other. There is a place that burns day and night in their midst. Beyond them is the end of the heavens.

What Enoch saw was the solar system. And the mountains he saw were planets. Planets from a distant time, before the catastrophic upheavals that have happened in the heavens took place. But they are still recognisable today as being the planets of our solar system.

God’s throne was in their midst, for Enoch says The seventh mountain was in the midst of these though it excelled them in height, resembling the seat of a throne and it was like alabaster. Alabaster is a whitish stone, like this:

Folks, allow me to introduce you to:

The place of God’s Throne;

The Paradise of God;

The site of the City of God, the New Jerusalem;

The Holy (Set Apart) Mountain of God.

The Moon

As we said in the beginning, the truth has been staring us in the face all along. Every time we’ve looked up at it, in fact!

This is the exceedingly high mountain where the devil took Jesus when He was tempting Him, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory (Matthew 4:8).

It’s where Jesus ascended after His resurrection.

It’s where He’s seated in the heavenly places.

It’s why He told us when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28).

We’re sorry for how corny this is going to sound, but there really is a Man in the Moon, and His name is Jesus.

Although scientists disagree on how the moon came to be, one of the more compelling theories is the Great Impact Hypothesis [LINK]. This theory posits that in the distant past, a large object collided with the earth causing parts of the earth to be ejected into space, which later became the moon.

That event is mirrored in the Garden of Eden account, where God formed the woman by taking her out of the man’s side.

The moon represents the woman (a bride adorned for Her husband) and the earth represents the man. By taking the moon out of the side of the Earth, God was foreshadowing His plan to create woman from the side of man. Remember, the luminaries in the heavens were created for, among other things, signs.

It gets even better. The Wikipedia page linked to above also states Analysis of lunar rocks published in a 2016 report suggests that the impact might have been a direct hit, causing a fragmentation and thorough mixing of both parent bodies. Thus, the moon is a combination of both man (represented by the earth) and God (represented by the object that collided with the earth). Just like Christ’s Bride, who when she is glorified, will be made like Christ Himself, being both man and God.

Only one problem remains—that of geometry. A sphere is not a pyramid, no matter which way you look at it!

But what if the moon is hollow, as some claim, and the City of God is inside? Is that even possible?

Each side of the New Jerusalem is 1,900 kilometres in length, so the diagonal distance across its base can be calculated from Pythagoras’ theorem as being 2,687 kilometres across.

To fit that inside a sphere requires a sphere with a minimum diameter of 2,840 kilometres (these are rough calculations).

The moon's diameter is 3,474 kilometres.

If the moon is hollow, and the New Jerusalem is contained inside, the surface “shell” of the moon could be up to 317 kilometres thick, as illustrated in the following diagram (drawn to scale).

The moon represents the Bride, and now, the veil that has been covering her face has been lifted.

You know what that means?

We’re about to have a wedding!

David BowieThere's a star man waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a star man waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile…