1) The Bible begins with a man and a woman in a garden. This is of course Genesis.

2) Then it continues with a man, a woman, flitting between a garden and a city. This is Song of Songs.

3) Finally, the Bible ends with a Bridegroom, a Bride and a Garden-City, i.e. the New Jerusalem. This is Revelation.

~ Adam sinned, humanity fell and the first couple were given an eviction notice. That notice has been passed down, through the generations, to us. We live our lives as Eden interrupted. We live our lives East of Eden. We are in exile.

In the OT, we see the tabernacle and a number of temples (the cubes!). In all of these, no one could enter the Holy of Holies area except for the High Priest and that too, just once a year.

Until . . .

Until, Good Friday when:

“And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38).

~ The curtain was torn, meaning that we can now enter the temple, i.e. the Holy of Holies, i.e. the cube-shaped City. i.e. New Jerusalem, whose “… length and width and height are equal” (Rev. 21:16).

Jesus’ death resulted in the curtain being torn into two and now any believer can enter. And it is not just that anyone can enter, now the temple comes to us.

“And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband …

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long” (Rev. 21:2, 15-16).