https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=yhINSf_Qso4
Alright, so David Flores says, what is the symbolic significance of the East? This coming week we have been encouraged to pray the East for Christ’s return. Whoever Cain went East away from Eden. How should we view the meaning of East? The East is the place of the rising sun, right? That’s the way to kind of understand what the East is. You can see it in a bunch of ways. Sometimes you can see it in opposite ways, which is interesting. So you have the sun comes up in the East and then it goes up towards the zenith and then it comes back down, or at least not totally towards the zenith, but like let’s say in the direction of the zenith and then it comes down in the West. So one of the aspects of the West, let’s say, that is positive is that the West is like incarnation, you could say. It has to do with like a landed part. So that’s why the temple and the tabernacle have the Holy of Holies in the West. Because it’s the place where you could imagine the light lands there, right? So if you’re going away from that, then you would be going East. So I think that that’s why Cain is going East is because he’s moving away from the Holy of Holies, which is in the West and receiving the glory of God or receiving the light, you know, the light of the sunrise or the light coming up. And so I think that that’s why he’s going East. So it’s an interesting idea and it can have multiple symbolism. And so Tolkien seems to see the East as the place where the shadows start to grow when the sun is past the zenith. And so it’s as if when shadows appear in the East, then it means that the world is ending, right? It means that the world is ending. In some ways, it’s like the shadows in the East are like an image of the worst darkness, right? Because in some ways, they’re there after the sun reaches the zenith. But at the same time, the glory comes from the East, right? And so it’s like the glory comes from the East or, you know, the sun comes from the East and lands in the West. And so the East also has a very positive aspect, right? That’s why in Ezekiel, you know, he sees the Messiah, he sees the one that comes coming from the East. Because he’s coming from the East to the West, into the Holy of Holies, like I said, like the sun. And so Christians ultimately, because the notion is that Christ, there’s a verse that says that Christ, the Son of Man comes like a lightning bolt from the East to the West, right? So that’s the movement of Revelation is like East to West, you could say. So that’s why we look to the East, because that’s out of where Christ will come. You know, and so that’s why our churches are reversed from the Tabernacle and the temple, actually, because we have the Holy place in the East. So hopefully that makes sense. But it’s not that one is good or one is bad, it’s that they have characteristics. And sometimes either one can be good or bad, depending on the context of the story. So you could imagine that going to the East could also be kind of going towards desolation, because the land is in the West, like the good land is in the West. And so think about it like the story of Jonah has a version of that. Like Jonah goes in some ways too far to the bottom of the world, he goes too far West. And so it’s interesting, like instead of going East, he goes West. And so then he goes into the waters, he goes down, and then God spits him out of the fish and says, go East, to go to the land of, you know, go to the city. And so he goes East, and think about it, like even in that story, the city is East, Cain is East, like it seems to make sense. He goes East, but then after God saves Nineveh, then he goes too far East, he goes out of the city, and then goes to the place where the sun is beating on his head, you know, he doesn’t have the cover of the city or of the waters, and then basically he wants to die because he’s uncovered and the sun is beating on his head. And so it’s funny, like this book of Jonah is hilarious. It’s like really written like a joke, right? He goes from the bottom of the waters to the place where the sun is beating on his head, and just complaining the whole time, you know, both are too much for him. So anyways, hopefully that answers.