The Guarded Threshold Opened
Old Testament: Genesis 3:24
And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Old Testament, also: 2 Paralipomenon 3:14
He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and silk: and wrought in it cherubims.
New Testament: Hebrews 10:19-20
Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ; A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
The connection
Eden's exit is guarded, not merely closed: cherubim and a sword turning every way stand between Adam and the tree of life. The tabernacle and Temple carry that same guarded threshold forward bodily, weaving cherubim into the very veil that walled off the Holy of Holies, the place where the mercy seat was overshadowed by cherubim of its own and the blood of atonement was sprinkled once a year (Exodus 25:20; Leviticus 16:14-15, 34). Hebrews takes that veil and names it plainly: Christ's own flesh. Chrysostom reads this exactly, commenting on this verse that Christ's flesh is rightly called a veil, since when it was lifted up, the things in heaven appeared. At the crucifixion the Temple veil itself was rent from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51), the guarded threshold finally torn where it had always stood, and the way to the tree of life reopened.
Moral sense
The soul that fears it is barred from God's presence stands at the same threshold Adam once did; the difference now is that the guard has become the gate.
Anagogical sense
The rent veil looks forward to the New Jerusalem where nothing guarded remains hidden, God's own face seen without a veil between.
The Fathers
St John Chrysostom, Homily 19 on Hebrews (on Hebrews 10:19-20): "'Through the veil' (he says) 'of His flesh.' For this flesh first cut that way... And with good reason did he call [the flesh] 'a veil.' For when it was lifted up on high, then the things in heaven appeared."
Warrant
Hebrews 10:19-20, which names the veil as Christ's flesh, grounds the core of this entry. Reading Eden's cherubim-guarded threshold as the deeper root of that same veil extends Chrysostom's reading of the veil as flesh; he does not mention Eden there, so this part is the entry's own reading rather than something Hebrews or Chrysostom states.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1026.
The verses
Genesis 3:24 · 2 Paralipomenon 3:14 · Hebrews 10:19 · Hebrews 10:20
