Andrew Meredith’s Reviews > Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion > Status Update

Salvation restores man to his original purpose. There are other things that it does, yes, but this is surely at the very heart of it. What was man's original purpose? In the beginning God created man in His Own image in order that man would rule by exercising dominion over His good creation, beginning in the Garden of Eden and extending outward to the entire world.

That image and corresponding mandate was not lost at the Fall (Gen 9:6), but it was twisted and marred, broken because of man's sin. The earth, which was planned to be a Garden-Temple, has instead become a hostile wilderness of thorns, scarcity, danger, and death, and the dominion man takes of it is often exploitative, damaging, and cruel.

Besides losing the ability to take dominion properly, man was also banished from the Paradise of God, forbidden to enter the Garden again under the penalty of sword, fire, and death, and sent off into exile to live a hard life until he returns to the dust from which he was formed.

But, that thankfully isn't the end of the story. In the midst of the judgment on their sins, God foretold that one day the woman would bring forth a seed who would crush the Serpent's head. He was here promising the Messiah, Jesus (1 Jn 3:8). Christ is the Second Adam, who, when tempted in a garden, placed Himself between His bride and the Serpent and took the punishment that she deserved upon Himself while clothing her with Himself. Where Adam was cast out, Christ entered once again and anchors us eternally to the presence and favor of God.

Here we meet with the definitive-progressive-final pattern Scripture so often uses. Christ destroyed the works of the Devil, is currently undoing the curse of the Fall, and is bringing the cosmos to it's eschatological fulfillment to be completed on the Last Day when death itself will be undone. Redemption, then, must be as comprehensive as the sweep of sin. The whole cosmos shall be saved and remade into the Garden of God (Isa 11:9).

Humanity's return to the Garden from exile is an architectonic theme that runs throughout all of Scripture. Goshen, the land the Israelites were granted in Egypt, is described as a garden (Gen 45:18; 47:5-6, 11, 27), there they were fruitful and multiplied (Ex 1:7). The Promised Land is repeatedly described in garden terms (e.g., Ex 3:8; Deut 6:11, etc.). When the OT authors spoke of the coming Messiah and His blessings, they spoke in Eden-restoration language (Isa 51:3; Eze 36:33-36; etc.) Upon His resurrection, Jesus, the Last Adam, is first found in a garden and even mistaken to be a gardner (Jn 20:15). The New Jerusalem is described as a garden-city (Rev 21-22).

The march of history is from Paradise Lost, to Paradise Restored, to Paradise Eternally Consummated. As renewed image-bearers refashioned after the image of the Last Adam and, covenantally acting as His hands and feet in the world, we are sent forth once again on our initial task to take dominion and fill the world with the beauty of Paradise.

This sounds like a great book!

Indeed! For me, it was paradigm shifting and is a big reason I'm where I am now.

But, even if you don't buy all Chilton's post-millenial conclusions like I did, "Paradise Restored" still teaches you to read the Scriptures imaginatively and typologically, which opens up both a newfound coherence and an awe-inspiring depth to them.