I am enjoying reading From Eden to the New Jerusalem. It is a well-written introduction to Biblical Theology. So far so good for me. The author is doing a great job grabbing a hold of key biblical themes (dwelling, temple, covenant, etc) and unpacking them within the narrative.
Here is a good example where he is demonstrating that God’s design was to dwell with his people. In the garden his people were to enjoy, worship and magnify him. This looks a lot like the future tabernacle and temple.
By obeying the serpent, rather than God, Adam and Eve fail to maintain the sanctity of the temple-garden. Consequently, they are deprived of their priestly status and expelled from the sanctuary complex. No longer do they have immediate access to God; no longer do they live within the temple-garden. All importanly, their actions jeopardize the fulfilment of God’s blueprint that the whole earth should become a holy garden-city. The very ones meant to extend God’s dwelling place throughout the earth are excluded from his presence. —T. Desmond Alexander, From Eden to the New Jerusalem, p. 27.