Paradise, Eden, and the Kingdom of God

PARADISE, EDEN AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

1-16-2019

The Garden of Eden as described in the book of Genesis has generated a considerable amount of speculation in both religious and secular circles.  Was it an actual place created by God at the beginning of creation for Adam and Eve or is it merely symbolic imagery representing a perfect area of the world?  Of course, most people consider Eden a metaphoric addition to the Genesis record but let’s suppose it was a real place.

If Eden was an actual area of land, which is a high possibility, then it would be the model for the Kingdom of God or a window through which heaven would come to the earth.  The earth was to be an expression of heaven and the will of God, but this was to come as the earth progressed from chaos to the appearance of the garden.  The Garden of Eden is/was also called “paradise”.  God placed Adam in the orchard or garden of Eden and instructed him to care for it and to maintain it. Afterwards He created Eve from a part of Adam so that both Adam and Eve would be of one body.

Paradise began as a small limited piece of real estate. Some claim it was possibly located in the northern Iraq/Turkey area.  Adam and Eve were called to increase the Kingdom until it filled the whole earth. If Adam had been able to do so, all things would have been put “under his feet” (Psalm 8:6).

Psalms 8:4-6 NET Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them, (5) and make them a little less than the heavenly beings? You grant mankind honor and majesty; (6) you appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority

However, Adam failed, and so this calling was transferred to the “last Adam,” which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:45 NET (45) So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living person"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

The gateway to the Earth of the paradise of Eden is Jesus Christ.  It is prophesied by Isaiah that the world will eventually become a replica of the Paradise of Eden.  However, it will not instantly occur at the return of Jesus but only after a period of time when all people have been resurrected and instructed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Millennium lasts for a thousand years.  At the end of the Millennium all remaining people will be resurrected and reeducated by the fire of God.  At this time will be the possible restructuring of the earth into the paradise of Eden occur.

When the Kingdom of God transforms the entire earth in the paradise of Eden, some animals will no longer be lethal to each other or to people.

Isaiah 11:6-9 NET A wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small child leads them along. (7) A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together. A lion, like an ox, will eat straw. (8) A baby will play over the hole of a snake; over the nest of a serpent an infant will put his hand. (9) They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the LORD's sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.

Other Old Testament millennial prophecies include:  Zechariah 14:8-21; Joel 3:18;  Psalms 46:4; Micah 4:1; Isaiah 65:17-25; and Isaiah 66:18-24.

The animals will eventually become as they were at creation, tame and docile.  Genesis 2:19 seems to indicate that all the animals, including birds, willingly approached Adam to be given a name.

Genesis 2:19 NET The LORD God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

The finale of the Kingdom may be found in Revelation 21.  John envisioned a “new heaven and a new earth”.  The exact definition of this statement (new earth) is unknown.  Most commentators doubt that a new planet will appear to replace the original earth.  It could be that a transformation of the earth will present the appearance of a new earth. 

Revelation 21:1-3 NET Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. (2) And I saw the holy city -- the new Jerusalem -- descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: "Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.

“And the sea existed no more” It is thought that the original earthly creation did not contain surface water, with the water all being underground within the earth.  During the flood of Noah, Genesis states that it actually rained but the majority of the water came from under the ground. In the new earth the oceans and seas may again become underground reservoirs.

The word “Jerusalem” is said to be a plurality designating two Jerusalems.  The old earthly Jerusalem is supposedly prophesied to be destroyed according to Isaiah 26 but the New Jerusalem will perhaps be created by God on the new earth although it is said to descend from heaven.  As the city of the glorified saints it will be as a bride for Jesus Christ, who is the husband.

Genesis 2:24 KJ3  Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh (or one family).

As previously stated, the transformation of the earth to Paradise will not happen suddenly.  It was perhaps take about 1000 years.  The glorified saints of the first resurrection will be given authority to subdue the nations to Christ during the Tabernacles Age which will also be the seventh or Sabbath Millennium and there will be no debts or servitude.  The end of the seventh Millennium will also witness a war consisting of unbelievers attacking the people of God.

Revelation 20:7-8 NET Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison (8) and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea.

The mentioned, God and Magog, may be similar people but are not the same people of Ezekiel 38 and 39 which has already been mostly fulfilled by the Khazarian Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe and ended with the state of Israel in 1948.

At the Great White Throne judgment all remaining people will be resurrected at the second resurrection.  Each will confront the court of judgment and they will receive the judgment of God.  The law requires that all law breakers will be symbolically sold to various masters or redeemers as a version of mandatory subjection.  Their redeemers will be granted the responsibility to teach each of them righteousness.

Isaiah 26:9 NET I look for you during the night, my spirit within me seeks you at dawn, for when your judgments come upon the earth, those who live in the world learn about justice.

Adam’s sin prevented him from completing his calling which was to subdue the earth into a paradise as an expansion of the Garden of Eden.  He was given the Fruitfulness Mandate but was unable to fulfill it.  The Mandate may have been passed down through all the generations after Adam but it was definitely given to Abraham by God.  Then it was given to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, etc.  At the second coming Jesus Christ will attain the Fruitfulness Mandate and it will then be totally fulfilled.

Genesis 1:28 NET God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground."