Andrew Meredith’s Reviews > Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion > Status Update
Andrew Meredith
is on page 47 of 318
Chapter 5: The Garden of the Lord
This chapter continues the Edenic typological overview covering the topics of animals, trees, and food.
— Jan 26, 2026 05:58AM
This chapter continues the Edenic typological overview covering the topics of animals, trees, and food.
Like flag
Andrew’s Previous Updates
Andrew Meredith
is on page 163 of 318
Chapter 19: A Brief Summary of the Revelation
Revelation is not impossible to understand, but it is extraordinarily deep. One could easily fill multiple volumes exploring the book fully. Thus, this survey will be just that, a thousand foot flyover. The next few chapters will zoom in to cover important symbols within the book, but first, getting the lay of the whole land is necessary.
— Feb 10, 2026 10:52AM
Revelation is not impossible to understand, but it is extraordinarily deep. One could easily fill multiple volumes exploring the book fully. Thus, this survey will be just that, a thousand foot flyover. The next few chapters will zoom in to cover important symbols within the book, but first, getting the lay of the whole land is necessary.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 157 of 318
Chapter 17: Interpreting Revelation and Chapter 18: The Time Is at Hand
There are two problems that confront us when we seek to interpret the Book of Revelation: (1) What checks and controls should we use to ensure that we do not force God's Holy Word into a mold of our own inventions and (too often) our runaway imaginations? (2) What do we do then with what we have learned? These chapters seek to tackle the first.
— Feb 08, 2026 04:02AM
There are two problems that confront us when we seek to interpret the Book of Revelation: (1) What checks and controls should we use to ensure that we do not force God's Holy Word into a mold of our own inventions and (too often) our runaway imaginations? (2) What do we do then with what we have learned? These chapters seek to tackle the first.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 140 of 318
Chapter 16: The Consummation of the Kingdom
The Last Day and the Last Judgment are synonyms. Biblically, they happen at the same time. This should be obvious, but there are only two resurrections: (1) Jesus as the firstfruits, and (2) the (simultaneous) Resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked on the Last Day (Dan 12:2; Jn 5:26-29; Acts 24:15; Rev 20:11-15).
— Feb 07, 2026 03:11AM
The Last Day and the Last Judgment are synonyms. Biblically, they happen at the same time. This should be obvious, but there are only two resurrections: (1) Jesus as the firstfruits, and (2) the (simultaneous) Resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked on the Last Day (Dan 12:2; Jn 5:26-29; Acts 24:15; Rev 20:11-15).
Andrew Meredith
is on page 133 of 318
Chapter 15: The Day of the Lord
Okay, so "the Last Days" are behind us, "The Great Tribulation" is behind us, "the Antichrist" is behind us, "Christ's coming on the clouds" is behind us... All were fulfilled in AD 70. Is there anything actually left to be fulfilled? And if so, how can we meaningfully distinguish it from all the stuff that has already happened?
— Feb 06, 2026 02:40AM
Okay, so "the Last Days" are behind us, "The Great Tribulation" is behind us, "the Antichrist" is behind us, "Christ's coming on the clouds" is behind us... All were fulfilled in AD 70. Is there anything actually left to be fulfilled? And if so, how can we meaningfully distinguish it from all the stuff that has already happened?
Andrew Meredith
is on page 125 of 318
Chapter 14: The Restoration of Israel
The last few chapters have been pretty bleak for the nation of Israel. They have by-and-large been excommunicated, cut off from the vine, and placed under cataclysmic judgment. But this presents us with a serious problem. What about God's promise to Abraham that the patriarch's seed would be established "throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant" (Gen 17:7)?
— Feb 05, 2026 02:30AM
The last few chapters have been pretty bleak for the nation of Israel. They have by-and-large been excommunicated, cut off from the vine, and placed under cataclysmic judgment. But this presents us with a serious problem. What about God's promise to Abraham that the patriarch's seed would be established "throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant" (Gen 17:7)?
Andrew Meredith
is on page 117 of 318
Chapter 13: The Last Days
"The Last Days," "The Latter Times," and "The Last Hour," is the period between Jesus's Life and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Early Church was living at the end of the old age (the aready "obsolete" Old Covenant) and the beginning of the New (Heb 8:13).
— Feb 04, 2026 02:31AM
"The Last Days," "The Latter Times," and "The Last Hour," is the period between Jesus's Life and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Early Church was living at the end of the old age (the aready "obsolete" Old Covenant) and the beginning of the New (Heb 8:13).
Andrew Meredith
is on page 109 of 318
Chapter 12: The Rise of the Antichrist
We tend to think of the Apostolic era as a golden age of healthy, explosive Church growth, and while this is substantially correct, we must also seek to do justice to the rampant outbreak of heresy and apostasy that accompanied it. One of Jesus's given indications for the Last Days was a dramatic rise in falling away and false teachers culminating in the great Apostasy.
— Feb 03, 2026 02:41AM
We tend to think of the Apostolic era as a golden age of healthy, explosive Church growth, and while this is substantially correct, we must also seek to do justice to the rampant outbreak of heresy and apostasy that accompanied it. One of Jesus's given indications for the Last Days was a dramatic rise in falling away and false teachers culminating in the great Apostasy.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 101 of 318
Chapter 11: Coming on the Clouds
For most, what I've said so far sounds strange but fairly plausible on the surface (at least not heretical, I hope). Unfortunately, Matthew 24:29-31 just clearly doesn't work within the interpretation being offered here. It's really quite the insurmountable hurdle because isn't it obvious to anyone with eyes to see that none of what Jesus predicts in this passage has happened yet?
— Feb 02, 2026 10:25AM
For most, what I've said so far sounds strange but fairly plausible on the surface (at least not heretical, I hope). Unfortunately, Matthew 24:29-31 just clearly doesn't work within the interpretation being offered here. It's really quite the insurmountable hurdle because isn't it obvious to anyone with eyes to see that none of what Jesus predicts in this passage has happened yet?
Andrew Meredith
is on page 91 of 318
Chapter 10: The Great Tribulation
Scripture interprets Scripture. We must not seek for authoritative interpretations of Scripture's meaning anywhere outside the Bible itself. This to say, the Bible was not dropped from the sky in the twenty-first century. Now, with this in mind, let's tackle "The Great Tribulation." It's actually not that difficult to understand.
— Feb 01, 2026 08:38AM
Scripture interprets Scripture. We must not seek for authoritative interpretations of Scripture's meaning anywhere outside the Bible itself. This to say, the Bible was not dropped from the sky in the twenty-first century. Now, with this in mind, let's tackle "The Great Tribulation." It's actually not that difficult to understand.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 81 of 318
Chapter 9: The Rejection of Israel
The constantly used imagery of the people of God as a "vineyard" in both the OT and the NT has an obvious direct connection with the idea of the Garden. Israel was a garden planted, watered, and tended to by Yahweh (Ps 80; Is 5). This is an important concept when reading one of Jesus's most striking parables: the story of the Wicked Vinegrowers (Matt 21:33-39).
— Jan 31, 2026 05:37AM
The constantly used imagery of the people of God as a "vineyard" in both the OT and the NT has an obvious direct connection with the idea of the Garden. Israel was a garden planted, watered, and tended to by Yahweh (Ps 80; Is 5). This is an important concept when reading one of Jesus's most striking parables: the story of the Wicked Vinegrowers (Matt 21:33-39).
As stated earlier, man still has a (now) twisted form of dominion (Gen 9), but with it, his relationship with animals is far more adversarial. Throughout redemptive history, when people turn away from God, He uses wild beasts as a form of judgment (Lev 26:22; Num 21:6; Deut 28:26; 2 Ki 2:24; 17:25; Eze 5:17; 14:15; 32:4; Rev 6:8). When a culture departs from God, He surrenders it's people to the dominion of wild animals in order to prevent them from freely exercising an ungodly dominion over the earth.
Typologically pointing to the future restoration, again and again in history God protects His people from dangerous animals (Deut 8:15; Lev 26:6; Ex 23:29-30; etc.). We can see God's appointed leaders Samson and David exercise (rather violent in some cases) dominion over beasts. God's prophets Elijah (1 Ki 17:2-16), Elisha (2 Ki 2:23-24), and Daniel (Dan 6) are protected from and helped by beasts (but see what happens when a prophet disobeys! 1 Ki 13:23-32). Finally, we see The Prophet and The King, Jesus, exercising His Own dominion over the wild animals (Mark 1:13).
In Christ, man's just dominion is being restored (Ps. 8:5-8; Heb 2:6-9). When the Gospel has permeated the world, an edenic-like state will be restored prophetically characterized by once wild animals becoming tame (Isa 11:6-9; 65:25).
No doubt due to his hand in the Fall, the Serpent/Rahab/Dragon (heb: tannin) becomes an especially important symbol of Satanically inspired, rebellious pagan culture who are the "Serpent's seed" striving against the "woman's seed" (Jer 51:34; Isa 51:9-10; Ps 74:13-14). In this regard, Satan's typological head has been crushed by the righteous Seed/offspring over and over throughout redemptive history (Jud 4:21; 5:26-27; 9:50-57; 1 Sam 5:1-5; 17:49-51; 2 Sam 18:9; 20:21-22; Ps 68:21; Hab 3:13).
Definitively, the Serpent was defeated, disarmed, and bound at the cross (Isa 27:1; Col 2:15; Mat 12:29). Progressively, the implications of Christ's victory are being worked out by His people in time and on earth (Jn 16:33; 1 Jn 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5; Rev 12:11). And at the Last Day consummation, the Dragon will at last be destroyed forever (Rev 20:7-10).
Of course, besides the animals, the most basic aspect of the Garden of Eden was the trees. They were placed in the Garden specifically to provide our first parents with abundant food (Gen 2:15,19-20). Part of the curse (and as a result of being cast out of Paradise) food became a scarcity, resulting with the major part of human labor now be invested in obtaining food. From here on, in passages too numerous to list, abundant food is equated to blessing, and famine/scarcity is equated to cursing.
Israel was commanded to hold feasts before Yahweh, celebrating the bounty of His provision. An important feast in this context is the annual Feast of Booths where Israel sacrificed 70 bulls (Num 29:12-38) for the 70 nations (Gen 10). The feast celebrated the future ingathering of all nations into God's Kingdom (Hag 2:1, 7-9; Zech 14:16-20) by the outpouring of God's Spirit (Jn 7:37-39).
As for trees themselves, godly men are mentioned living near them early and often (Gen 18:4, 8; 30:37; Jud 3:13; 4:5; 1 Ki 19:5; Jn 1:48, etc.). In none of these cases are the trees themselves in any way essential to the narrative other than God seems to be intentionally associating His people with a garden-like setting.
The Tabernacle had a stylized almond tree (the lampstand) sitting in the Holy Place, and the Temple carried this even further with the cedar walls displaying carvings of gourds, flowers, palm trees, and cherubim. Walking into the Tabernacle/Temple complex was reentering the Garden.
When man fell, he lost access to the Tree of Life. At the end of Revelation, the Tree of Life reappears in the New Jerusalem (Rev 22:1-2).