The beginning of salvation history, the Garden of Eden, and the conclusion of salvation history, the New Jerusalem, clearly have at least one thing in common. Neither Eden nor heaven has a temple. St. John writes in this coming Sunday’s first reading: “I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.” There was no temple of course in Eden since Adam and Eve, until their sin, had direct contact with God: “When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Sin clearly and greatly curtailed communication between God and mankind. “Cherubim and the fiery revolving sword” prevented mankind from enjoying the direct communication with God once found in Eden. Now, the human family had to meet God and converse with God and enjoy the presence of God, no longer in gardens but now in temples.
Temples and especially the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem actually served two purposes. The Temple first of all reminded the Jews how far removed they were from God. They did not have ready access to him. They had to travel miles to the center of Jerusalem where the Temple had been erected. They were allowed only so far into the splendid building, then Levites and priests and finally the High Priest had to handle any further transactions with the Lord. Contact with God was certainly not handy in the Temple era.
Yet, the Temple did hold promise. The magnificent temple, built on what was considered to be Mt. Ararat, where Abraham had met God, was indeed a foretaste of things to come. The weary pilgrim approaching the Temple’s splendor might recall the words of Isaiah, “The LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended (Is.60:19).” The brilliance of the Temple building foreshadowed the brilliance of the heavenly world to come.
Jesus sensed the longing that true believers felt for a fuller contact with God than even the Temple would allow. He predicted to the Samaritan woman, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” Jesus knew great things were in store for true believers. In the meantime, Christ would maintain his own presence among believers as a foretaste of the wonderful things to come. St. Matthew records, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” And again, “…behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” True believers would hence be allowed their own provisional temple, so to speak, the Church, where they could, however imperfectly, meet God in the Scriptures, encounter God in the Blessed Sacrament, converse with God in prayer, and encounter God in fellowship.
Happily, for the Christian believer, scriptural promises will lead to a heavenly fulfillment. St. John records, “I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.” The sacred author here sees no need for a temple in the New Jerusalem because the Lord Himself will be the heavenly city’s eternal light dispelling all darkness and unbelief, restoring the direct communication between God and man that our first parents had so greatly compromised in Eden. And this light will never dim for Jesus himself, the Lamb, will be its lamp.
The Jewish Temple in the Old Testament and the Christian Church in the New Testament are both reminders of how far believers still have to go fully to encounter God and yet at the same time how tenderly God has chosen to remain close to sinful mankind. The Jerusalem Temple and the neighborhood church each symbolize both distance and nearness. God is not part of the fabric of everyday life; mankind is still sinful and has to go a distance to encounter God. Yet God is a Father and a Redeemer and an Advocate who seeks out sinful mankind on every street, every corner, every block of this earthly city. In the Heavenly Jerusalem, nearness will conquer distance and the lamp will outshine the darkness.
