Genesis, Part 5: Tour of Paradise

6-4-16 Bend

7-9-16 Medford                                  Genesis Bible Study, part 5

 

Introduction – Last time in the series in Genesis (way back in February!), I said we would cover chapter 2 of Genesis that will give us more fundamental information on the nature of mortal human life.

• “We shall err greatly if we treat Adam’s history in Eden as nothing more than a fabled picture of the experience of man; rather is it the root out of which your experience and mine have grown” (Biblical Illustrator).
• We will bypass the first 7 verses that we will cover in a later session in this series and pick it up in verse 8 from the New Living Translation that offers a more vivid description:

SPS – Today, I plan to take you on a tour of the most beautiful place the earth has ever seen and what it portends for the future.

NLT Genesis 2:8-14 Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The LORD God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground-- trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river watered the garden and then flowed out of Eden and divided into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

• We can’t imagine the beauty of this setting.
• The Septuagint word for garden is paradeisos (from which the English word paradise is derived).

THE GARDEN

“When we think of paradise, we think of it as the seat of delight. The name Eden authorizes us so to do. It signifies pleasure: and the idea of pleasure is inseparable from that of a garden, where man still seeks after lost happiness, and where, perhaps, a good man finds the nearest resemblance of it, which this world affords….

“The sweetness of the air, the pleasantness of the smell, the verdure of the plants, the cleanness and lightness of food, the exercise of working or walking; but, above all, the exemption from care and solicitude, seem equally to favour and improve both contemplation and health, the enjoyment of sense and imagination, and thereby the quiet and ease both of body and mind. The garden has been the inclination of kings, and the choice of philosophers; the common favourite of public and private men; the pleasure of the greatest, and the care of the meanest; an employment and a possession, for which no man is too high, nor too low. If we believe the Scriptures … we must allow that God Almighty esteemed the life of man in a garden the happiest He could give him, or else He would not have placed Adam in that of Eden. The garden of Eden had, doubtless, all the perfection it could receive from the hands of Him who ordained it to be the mansion of His favourite creature. We may reasonably presume it to have been the earth in miniature, and to have contained specimens of all natural productions, as they appeared, without blemish, in an unfallen world; and these disposed in admirable order, for the purposes intended. And it may be observed, that when, in after times, the penmen of the Scriptures have occasion to describe any remarkable degree of fertility and beauty, of grandeur and magnificence, they refer us to the garden of Eden” (Biblical Illustrator).

• It is a type of an even greater and more beautiful paradise.
• The Septuagint rendering of garden as paradeisos in Genesis 2 and 3 established the precedent for later meanings of the term. 
• Isaiah 51:3 poetically describes the end time restoration of the land.

 

NLT Isaiah 51:3 The LORD will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins. Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found there. Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.

NLT Ezekiel 36:33-35 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I cleanse you from your sins, I will repopulate your cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34 The fields that used to lie empty and desolate in plain view of everyone will again be farmed. 35 And when I bring you back, people will say, 'This former wasteland is now like the Garden (LXX, paradeisos) of Eden! The abandoned and ruined cities now have strong walls and are filled with people!'

• Ezekiel 37 continues the story of the ultimate restoration of all Israel via the post-millennial general resurrection. 
• Obviously, the earthly paradise that began during the millennium will be "in full bloom" during this time when the bulk of mankind will be raised to physical life at the end of this thousand year period (Revelation 20:5). 
• The original Old Testament scriptures obviously refer to the Edenic beauty of the earth under the righteous rulership of Jesus Christ during the coming the kingdom of God.
• The word paradise (paradeisos) appears three times in the New Testament.
• Probably the one most familiar to us would be the account of the thief on the cross. 

 

Luke 23:39-43  39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us."  40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  41 "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong."  42 Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."  43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

• Could Jesus have had this in mind when he promised the thief on the cross that he would be with him in "paradise?"
• Jesus' promised the man that he would be with him in a beautifully restored earth at the time of the second resurrection when he would have an opportunity to learn and live the way of God for a lifetime in the presence of Jesus Christ. 
• This would have given a truthful yet reassuring answer without introducing theological issues that would have been neither productive nor appropriate during the final hours of the man's life.
• If this is the correct meaning, the man will learn soon after he comes back to life the precious truth that few have been privileged to understand in this life.
• In the movie Field of Dreams, one of the baseball players who come back to life to play on the field asked, "Is this heaven?"  The lead character responds, "No, it's Iowa."  When the man describes heaven, the lead character says, "Then maybe this is heaven." 
• Likewise, "heaven on earth" would certainly be an apt description of the beauty of the earth in the millennium and beyond.
• The New Heavens and New Earth will be the ultimate paradise—literally "heaven on earth."

Isaiah 65:17-25  17 "Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.  18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy.  19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.  20 "No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young!  21 In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.  22 Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.  23 They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed.  24 I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!  25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But the snakes will eat dust. In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

The original paradise of the garden of Eden is a type of this coming paradise that begins during the millennial rule of Jesus Christ and continues during the time of the second resurrection and the new heavens and new earth described in Revelation 21-22.

• So let’s continue our tour for more details that illustrate the point.

“THE RIVERS. A river is a beautiful object. A river of clear water winding through a garden, meandering among flowers and trees, presents to the eye a lovely scene. And then, besides the beauty of a river or stream in itself, which may be called its direct contribution of beauty--much of the remaining attractions of the garden through which it passes is to be ascribed to it. The flowers and the trees are quickened and refreshed by it. Through its aid the flowers assume their fair and gorgeous array, and the trees spread out their noble arms, and are covered with foliage and fruit.

“There was a river in the paradise of Eden. The benignant Creator did not leave the primeval home of man without the advantage and the ornament of a river. In the future paradise, there is also a river” (Biblical Illustrator).

TNK Psalm 46:5 There is a river whose streams gladden God's city, the holy dwelling-place of the Most High.

NLT Revelation 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

“Two things are to be noted concerning this river--the water of it, and the source of it. The water is pronounced to be “water of life, clear as crystal.” We cannot be at a loss, with the Bible in our hands, for the interpretation of this…. The water of life is no other than the joys and privileges, and blessings of that life eternal, which is the appointed portion of the redeemed. It corresponds to the new wine which Christ and His people drink together in the kingdom of God. And it is a river of water of life, because, as the flow of a river goes on continually, so shall there never be an end of the celestial happiness. The river, also, is pure, and clear as crystal, because the future state will be a state of unmixed felicity.

“The river proceeds “out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” In the throne of God and of the Lamb it has its source. The throne of God and of the Lamb. A single throne is meant, which is occupied by God and the Lamb. The lesson is, that the joys and blessings of the future paradise are to be traced, in the first place, to the sovereign love of God; and, in the second place, to the redeeming work of Christ. The river proceeds out of the Father’s throne. The whole life, and grace, and glory, which the Church … arrives at, … are connected with, and spring out of, that which was done in the beginning, when God, in the greatness, the freeness, and the sovereignty of His love, pronounced the decree of salvation. The throne of the Lamb alone could not have originated this river.... The spring and first fountain of all our blessings, and of that river which shall gladden the paradise of God, is in the Father’s throne. But the throne, whence it comes, is not to be viewed as the Father’s throne merely. It is the throne of God and of the Lamb. Without that work of the Son, which the name of the Lamb suggests, and on account of which the Lamb has a seat on the Father’s throne--without what is done by Him as the second Man, the Servant of the Father, and our covenant head, neither grace nor glory could be ours. His death has made openings for … the joyful waters that flow in the river of paradise.

NRS John 7:37-39 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive” (Biblical Illustrator).

“THE TREES. The paradise of Eden was adorned and enriched with trees--“every tree,” we are told, “that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” The beautiful trees and the noble stream together must have made an exquisite scene... It had wonderful trees. The new paradise is not behind. It has many stately and fruitful trees. There are trees of righteousness without number, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. And there is, besides, one matchless tree, that is in the midst of that paradise of God.

NKJ Revelation 2:7 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise [paradeisos] of God."

“There is the tree of life, which bears twelve manners of fruits, and yields her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. With its river of the water of life, and its tree of life, the paradise, on which the Church’s hope is fixed, is, indeed, a paradise of life” (Biblical Illustrator).

THE GENERAL STATE OF THE INHABITANTS.

1. The state of man was, in the old paradise, and will be in the new, a state of honorable service.

 Malachi 3:16-18  16 ¶ Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.  17 "They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him."  18 Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.

NLT Matthew 20:25-28 But Jesus … said, "You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Romans 14:17-18  17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

2. The state of man, in the garden of Eden, was a state of enjoyment and privilege. But the second paradise, also, will have enjoyment and privilege. It will have such enjoyment and privilege as to afford no occasion of regret for what has been lost…. The contrast between the first and the second paradise will draw no such tears from our original progenitors. They shall have the richest social delights. They shall dwell together, the incorporated members of a family, having God the Father as their Father, [Jesus Christ] the Son as their Brother, and the Spirit of love resting on them all. They shall see God.

NLT 1 John 3:1 ¶ See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

3. The pristine state of man was a state of power and glory. He was a king. The earth was His kingdom; the fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth were His subjects. Believers will be kings…. They are kings, who are not yet of age, and who must wait a little for the actual commencement of their reign. A kingdom is prepared for them. They shall be greater kings than Adam was, and have a wider and more illustrious dominion. Their kingdom shall be immovable and undecaying. They shall be enthroned with Christ. They shall be crowned with righteousness and glory. And ‘they shall reign forever and ever’”

Revelation 1:4-6   4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,  5 ¶ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,  6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Conclusion – That concludes our tour.

• I hope that it has given you a brief glimpse of what lies beyond what the Bible calls the present evil world—a future paradise that we and all of God’s people will be privileged to enjoy for all eternity.
• You can read more details in Revelation 21-22.
• But even that is but a brief description.
• I’m sure that God has a lot of pleasant surprises planned for when it becomes a reality.
• In the meantime we need to be inspired by our destiny as motivation to get through the trials and tribulations of the pleasant life, because as the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:18 (NIV), “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

NRS 1 John 3:3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.