From Eden to the Stars: Biblical Narrative of Expansion

From the Garden’s Edge

The Bible begins not with a city, but with a garden. Genesis 2 paints a picture of Eden as a place of beauty, provision, and intimate fellowship with God. Yet Eden was never meant to be the limit of human habitation. God’s first words to humanity, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28), hint at movement. Adam and Eve’s calling was not to stay put forever, but to extend Eden’s order and life outward into the uncultivated world. The rivers flowing out of Eden in four directions (Gen. 2:10-14) symbolized that this blessing was meant to spread.

This is the seed of the biblical narrative of expansion. From the very start, God wove into humanity a dual impulse: to abide in His presence and to move outward, bringing His order and glory into every corner of creation. Eden was the prototype; the world beyond was the mission field.

The Story That Stretches Outward

If the first chapters of Genesis give us a garden, the rest of Scripture gives us a journey. Humanity’s movement from Eden outward is not merely geographical. It is covenantal and redemptive.

In Genesis 9, after the flood, God reaffirms the creation mandate to Noah and his family: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. The plan has not changed. Even in a broken, post-Eden world, God intends for His image-bearers to spread and steward creation. Later, God calls Abram and promises that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). The movement is now explicitly missional. Expansion is tied to blessing, not just inhabiting.

From Abraham’s descendants, the people of Israel are given a land, not as an end in itself, but as a base for displaying God’s glory to the nations (Deut. 4:6-8; Ps. 67). The prophets look forward to a day when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). The biblical storyline consistently moves from a point of origin toward the ends of the earth, from Eden’s garden to Zion’s city, from one man’s family to a multitude no one can count.

From Earth to the Heavens

Psalm 8 marvels that God has set humanity over “the works of Your hands”, not only the sheep and oxen, but also “the birds of the heavens…the fish of the sea”. And in a poetic leap, it includes “the moon and the stars”. The dominion humanity is given is not bounded by atmosphere. As we saw in earlier chapters, the “earth” in the cultural mandate belongs to a creation that includes the heavens. The biblical imagination leaves room for human stewardship to reach the planets and stars.

In the New Testament, the trajectory doesn’t shrink. Jesus’ Great Commission, “Go…and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19), is given by the One who claims “all authority in heaven and on earth”. The sphere of His reign is cosmic, and so is the scope of the mission. The early church in Acts moved from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, then to the ends of the earth. If human migration extends beyond Earth, the Commission does too.

Theological Architecture of Expansion

Theologically, the movement from Eden to “the ends of the earth” can be seen as the outworking of two intertwined mandates:

The Cultural (or Dominion) Mandate. Humanity is to fill and cultivate creation, exercising wise stewardship that reflects God’s own reign (Gen. 1:28). This mandate is creation-wide in scope, intended to unfold as human civilization multiplies across geography and generations.
The Great Commission. The Church is to fill creation with disciples who obey Christ (Matt. 28:18-20). This is the Cultural Mandate renewed and redirected through the redeeming work of the “Last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45), so that the expansion of human presence is also the expansion of worship.

Historically, Protestant evangelical theology has emphasized that these two are not competitors but companions. Dominion without gospel witness becomes empty expansionism; gospel proclamation without stewardship neglects our creational calling.

Herman Bavinck’s insight that the Imago Dei can only be fully expressed through a humanity “spread over the whole earth” applies equally if “earth” is understood as the full creation. A redeemed, worshipping humanity scattered across worlds would be a fuller display of God’s image than one confined to a single planet.

Why This Matters for Mars

Mars is simply the next chapter in this biblical narrative of expansion. As Chapter 5 showed, the forces, technological, cultural, and political, that will carry humans to the Red Planet are already in motion. The first settlers will bring their values with them, consciously or not. In biblical terms, they will be carrying seeds, seeds of governance, community, and meaning, to plant in Martian soil. The question is whether those seeds will be nourished by the water of life, or whether they will grow in the arid dust of human pride.

For the Church, the moment is unprecedented. We have the ability, for the first time in history, to accompany humanity’s physical expansion with intentional gospel presence from the very beginning. This is a reversal of many past patterns, where exploration and settlement preceded mission by decades or centuries.

Biblical Patterns for Cosmic Contexts

The Scriptures give us several patterns that can shape our imagination for gospel expansion beyond Earth:

Eden as Blueprint. The goal is not just survival but cultivation. In Genesis, Adam’s work is to “work and keep” the garden (Gen. 2:15). On Mars, this might mean building life-support systems that serve community and creation, not merely efficiency.
Exile as Preparation. Israel’s time in Babylon showed that God’s people can live faithfully in alien contexts, seeking the peace of the city (Jer. 29:7) while holding fast to their identity. Martian believers will likewise be cultural minorities in a place far from their homeland.
Acts as Launch Manual. The church in Acts moved outward in relational, reproducible ways, forming communities that could stand without constant outside supply. In an off-world colony, such self-replicating gospel communities will be essential.

The Garden-City Trajectory

The Bible’s final chapters bring the story full circle. In Revelation 21-22, Eden’s garden has become a city, the New Jerusalem, with the tree of life at its center and the glory of the nations brought in. It is still lush with life, but now structured for human habitation and radiant with God’s presence. The whole creation is home.

This “garden-city” vision shows that the end goal of expansion is not sprawl for its own sake, but the filling of creation with God’s glory, mediated through redeemed human culture. Whether on Earth, Mars, or among the stars, the mission is the same: to cultivate places where God dwells with His people.

Writing the Next Chapter

We stand at a hinge point in history. The distance from Eden’s gate to a Martian dome may seem infinite, but biblically it is a straight line, the same story unfolding in new terrain.

If the Church takes seriously the biblical narrative of expansion, we cannot be content to watch Mars become just another human project. The same Lord who sent His people from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth now sends us to the edge of the solar system. Our calling is not only to bring tools for survival, but the Word of life; not only to plant crops, but to plant churches; not only to build habitats, but to build communities of worship.

This will require collaboration between theologians, engineers, mission agencies, and spacefaring nations. It will demand that we prepare leaders who can pastor in pressurized domes, disciple across interplanetary time delays, and preach the gospel under alien skies. It will take vision to see beyond immediate logistics to the long arc of God’s glory filling creation.

From Eden to the stars, God’s story is one of outward movement, not to escape His presence, but to extend it. The Red Planet is next in line. The question is whether we will go as mere settlers, or as stewards and heralds of the King whose kingdom knows no horizon.