Where was the Garden of Eden, and where is it today?
The only directional clue in the Bible is found in Genesis 2:8 that says, “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.” The missing piece is that we don’t know eastward of what location.
Genesis 2:10–14 describes a river that originated in the Garden of Eden and branched into four main rivers: the Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel (acknowledged to be the Tigris), and the Euphrates. In modern geography, two rivers are named the Tigris and the Euphrates, but there are no rivers called the Pishon and Gihon.
Those who look for a location near the modern Tigris and Euphrates rivers as the location of the original Garden of Eden forget that the world’s geography was completely changed by the worldwide flood described in Genesis 7 and 8. Because of the Flood, no geographical location was left unchanged; so we have no way of knowing where the rivers originally ran. Every square inch of the Earth’s surface is now different.
When Noah and his family left the ark, they likely called the geographic features by the names already familiar to them. Those river names, Tigris and Euphrates, have been passed down to us, but they are not the same rivers described in Genesis 2. We see the same thing in history when Europeans moved to North America. They named geographic features in the unfamiliar land after what they remembered from their home. In the United States, there is a Thames River, a Severn River, and Trent River—each named by early residents after the rivers they knew in England.
Another change brought about by the Flood was that layers of sedimentary rock were laid down by water all over the world. Many of those layers are filled with fossils or oil deposits—evidence of the effects of sin, because they are a record of death. So even if a specific location could be pinpointed as the place where the Garden of Eden once was, that spot now rests above layers and layers of death, caused by sin. In other words, that spot is no longer the perfect garden God planted and gave to Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden was undefiled by sin or death, and it’s exact location is unknown. But even if it was known, it would no longer be a holy place, perfect from the hands of God.
So where is the Garden of Eden now? Let’s take a look at how the prophet Ezekiel described Lucifer before he sinned:
“‘… You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering ….’” Ezekiel 28:12–13
The Bible says the abode of God’s perfect angel before he sinned was in Eden, the garden of God. But by the time Satan appears to Eve through the medium of the serpent, he had already sinned. This lets us know that the Garden of Eden on Earth was a perfect reflection or experience of God’s sinless home in Heaven. The true Eden is in Heaven, and not on Earth. Because nothing on Earth was untainted by sin, that perfect reflection of Heaven could no longer remain on Earth.
God first removed human access to Eden—except to look at it from the outside (Genesis 3:23–24). Then, at the time of the Flood, God removed His garden—along with the tree of life—from Earth completely.
No such garden exists today where humans cannot set foot because its gates are guarded by angels. However, we know that the Garden of Eden will be restored on the New Earth, because the tree of life will be in the New Jerusalem, which God will bring down to Earth (Revelation 22:1–5). The tree of life given to Adam and Eve will be restored. We will never find the Garden of Eden on this Earth today, and we do not know where it once was. But we can confidently trust in God’s full restoration.