We all know the story of Eden as a former place of paradise on earth from where Adam and Eve were evicted by God because of sin. But where can we find paradise in the Bible now that mankind has lost it?
Today’s short take from Scripture will take us on a brief journey we find in the New Testament.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:56b NASB – a final witness of Stephen before the Sanhedrin
Jesus also gives us several glances at life after death in the Gospel. And we could be taken up into John’s vision of heaven in Revelation.
But today’s Short Take on Paradise comes from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.
Could this have been at the moment when Jesus met this man on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus? Paul later writes about his own imminent death as if he prefers it!
among the Persians a grand enclosure or preserve, hunting ground, park, shady and well watered, in which wild animals, were kept for the hunt; it was enclosed by walls and furnished with towers for the hunters
a garden, pleasure ground
grove, park
the part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of pious until the resurrection: but some understand this to be a heavenly paradise
the upper regions of the heavens. According to the early church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, neither on the earth or in the heavens, but above and beyond the world
heaven
Let’s Talk of Jesus and our possibility in Paradise
Want to know my opinion from Scripture and experience?
7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
This then, is really the beginning as far as man is concerned; but we must ask more. Man, we ask: what did Moses mean to say about the first man of flesh created by God?
So God [‘elohiym] created man [adam] in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
References to God are plural, not singular. Yet the One God is not consulting with other gods (a concept we shall not explore here).
We are like God, not like the animals of God’s creation.
Creation references to man, translated from ‘adam’ include male and female.
God creates a perfect world, giving men and angels the freedom to obey and serve. But we don’t obey and therefore no longer live in a perfect paradise.
What is paradise?
Paradise would be a place where all men and women, all creatures of earth and all angelic beings live together in harmony with God. We take our cultural meaning of paradise from the Greek word παράδεισος, but in the definition of Eden differs.
Adam in Eden
Continuing in Genesis 2:8
The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed. 9 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food…
Do you know what it means, ‘Eden,’ that is?
Pleasure. And man’s role was to care for the garden of our pleasure.
Garden of Eden Jacopo Bassano, 1570-73 Oil on canvas; Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome
15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
Yes such a pleasurable work, tending the perfect place where the Lord walked with man. Follow the Lord’s command and have eternal life (although in Adam’s bliss he knew of no alternative.)
16 And the Lord God commanded the man,
“You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
A Helper
Moses then continues with the separate account of the creation of woman from man; that is, Eve. Much is made of her, ‘the female of the species made in God’s image.’ For as Moses testifies:
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.”
v.22 KJV And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Think of it dear brother, the Lord filled our emptiness of existence without a ‘helper’ at our side with one like us and for us. Therefore she is created as our ‘better half,’ as we become one.
23 And the man said:
This one, at last, is bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called “woman,”
for she was taken from man.
24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.
The Knowledge of Good and Evil
Paradise, an illustration of Eden: man, woman, plants and animals, food and meaningful work. The created heavens above and bountiful beautiful earth in every direction. The Lord walked and talked with them!
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.
Paradise but for one generation due to just one bad decision.
One command from God to man and everything else filled with the freedom of eternal joy in Eden on earth. Paradise.
Again, recalling from Genesis 2:17 “..but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…”
Why not, you ask? Ah, but we are already sinners questioning God every day.
For Adam did not have to ask what to do, just obey the Lord’s one command. Think about it, the definition that he did not need was that of good and evil.
God’s simple command to Adam could easily be defined:
But of course, we all do… and it is sin, by definition, evil.
The moment Adam and Eve made their decision to disobey God, the moment Adam and Eve knew that that had chosen evil over obedience; our lives and existence began to overflow with needless questions and numerous wrong answers.
Do not blame the serpent or others, demons or even your parents and our first parents, Adam and Eve.
We were created for obedience to God who defines good. Yet we all choose to go against God of our own free will, just as Satan and various angels had disobeyed.
God IS God! And we are not.
Original and Continuing Sin
In Disaster From Disobedience – 3 we examined the fall of the Tempter and will not dwell on his role in Eden. We now carry the burden of the knowledge of good and evil, we carry the burden of our own sin.
Next we will examine the progression from Adam’s one command from God to the man’s disobedience through the generations. Evil and sin will lead us to the requirements of the Law and convictions of our disobedience.
Why should a series whose subject is apocalypse and disaster begin with the paradise of Eden?
The obvious answer may escape the eyes of a perishable mortal facing a life-ending disaster. In an instant we may wonder what’s next, yet in accelerated times we may not have considered what was before.
What was before me, even before man? How did I get here? Even more importantly, why am I here? Why, and what does my life have to do with my death?
Certainly disaster will ensnare many: accidents, seemingly random events which bring an unexpected end to an already brief life. That death should overtake a man or woman should not ambush any.
Yet have you considered your death, the death of man, the death of the earth upon which we walk?
If so, you may also have considered the beginnings of the same. Our hesitant conclusions about our beginnings may logically lead toward answers to our existence and inevitable conclusions. So from before Eden and paradise we begin.
Before we move forward with creation let’s just take a minute to consider what we believe. Do you believe in God?
Can you define God? In fact, you may ask, ‘Why God?’
In these last days man has observed both creation and destruction of distant universe of which we have but minuscule evidence.
DNA strand & computer-sequenced 5.5 petabits of data [Harvard research]We have mapped mysteries of our flesh, split the stuff of our existence with fearful explosion of devastation. Yet our awestruck wonder of creation fails to comprehend —the impassable great divide
We shall consider man next and even the angels and spirits, but first consider the primordial soup of stuff from which great power formed the beginnings of all.
If you must ask what inertia from nothingness moved hydrogen twice into oxygen, then consider the power to bring both into existence. No logic states, ‘in the beginning was water’ or rock or atoms.
Who created atoms and universe? In the beginning was… something: yes, One more powerful and more intelligent; yes, even One more wise and more good than all of which we wonder in awestruck human observation.
If you must deny that things cannot create themselves, then you deny the very purpose for which God, Who IS and Was and Will BE forever, created you for this brief flash of life in our human flesh.
You are not here for nothing any more than you were created by nothing from nothing. In the beginning, God created …
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
Let us confess that NO man or alien from planet yet uncreated from nothingness and NO mathematically improbable coincidental collision of primordial matter could possibly have done this!
Do you see the the light is good and must be separated from the darkness to define the glory of the light? Will you consider separating darkness which brings disaster from that light with which your life is blessed?
We with eyes to see know the glory of our creation and the defining darkness which beckons our countenance back toward the deep dark chaos opposing the light of of this life.
The LORD speaks the beginning into existence
5 God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and He called the gathering of the water “seas.”
And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good.
13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.
Light separated from darkness to celebrate God
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. 15 They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.
The Beginning of Life on earth
20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 So God blessed them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds.
Yet have you considered your death, the death of man, the death of the earth upon which we walk?
What is man that you remember him,
If you must ask what inertia from nothingness moved hydrogen twice into oxygen, then consider the power to bring both into existence. No logic states, ‘in the beginning was water’ or rock or atoms.
21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 So God blessed them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.