There are those within the scientific and philosophical communities who argue that ultimately everything within the universe is meaningless. According to these, often brilliant minds, there is no purpose, there is no morality, and there is no goal or destination for us or for anything! And yet, these super smart people (and I really do believe that these individuals are incredibly intelligent) spend their lives exploring and searching for the deep structures that underlie reality. Kind of ironic, eh?
For those of us who hold to the Christian faith, we believe that all of creation is fueled by purpose and meaning. We have faith that what we do with our lives, really matters. In fact, from the very beginning, the Jewish and Christian scriptures argue that God has a purpose and plan for the entire universe. Let's consider God's final destination for creation, beginning in the beginning.
Sabbath Rest
As well as serving as the climax of the creation narrative in Genesis 1:1-2:4a, God's celebration of the first Sabbath on the seventh day points to God's ultimate goal for all of creation. Throughout the remainder of the Bible, the Sabbath reminds both Jews and Christians that peace and rest will one day come to the Promised Land, the whole world, and in fact, to the entirety of the cosmos. Meaningful work is baked into creation from the beginning, but so is Sabbath rest.
Purposeful Vocation
Sabbath rest is baked into creation from the beginning, but so is meaningful work. We often think of the Garden of Eden as a tropical paradise on steroids - it makes resorts like Sandals appear quaint and under-resourced. And though there is an element of paradise associated with Eden; God doesn't plant humanity in the garden to simply lounge around on hammocks, eating pineapples and drinking Mai Tais. Genesis 2:15 tells us that God placed the man in the garden to till it and to keep it. Humanity is created to engage with the creation around it and to build creatively upon the foundation provided by God. To mix metaphors, women and men are to paint freely upon the canvas of creation that God has established. It is clear that the universe is not simply created for its own sake, and that the cosmos has not yet come to completion. It is as it were, a work in progress. We are called to join God in this work, and we will continue to engage in our purposeful vocations in the age to come as well.
East of Eden
The first 11 chapters of Genesis tell the truest of all true stories, but they are not true in the way a news report about a car crash or a political scandal might be true. However, the truths that emerge out of such newspaper stories are already embedded in the universal truths that emerge from the primeval narratives of Genesis.
A large number of Biblical scholars have noticed that the early chapters of Genesis tell the story of the world in general and Israel in particular through a grand sweeping epic narrative. In particular, the Garden of Eden can be seen to represent the Promised Land of Israel. Just as Adam (humanity) and Eve (the mother of all the living) are banished from the garden, so the people of Judah (the southern kingdom of Israel) are exiled from the Promised Land and sent east to Babylon (589-586ish BC). Throughout much of the Biblical corpus, to be "east" is to be far from home and distant from that which is desired.
After Judah is exiled, much of what else is written in what Christians call the Old Testament is centered around returning to the Promised Land, both geographically, and even more so, spiritually. Eden represents what the world is supposed to be like. The Promised Land of Israel and Judah was also to be a kind of foretaste of the age and world to come. Getting back to the Promised Land or Eden was in part the journey to a renewed creation where stuff finally worked right and where everything and everyone functioned effectively, and people interacted appropriately within their properly defined relationships.
Isaiah 35 describes both the journey and the destination like this: "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come and save you.' Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jakals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (NRSV)
Sounds pretty good, eh? There is more to be said about the goal and destination of creation, but we'll have to do that in the next blog. Until then, let's continue to live into that new reality, even now. - Shay
