KNOWLEDGE That Leads To Everlasting LIfe

LIFE IN PARADISE

What the Bible says about the future of the earth and mankind might be summed up in one word-Paradise!  Jesus Christ spoke of it when he told a dying man:  "You will be with me in Paradise."  (Luke 23:43)  The mention of Paradise no doubt brought to that man's mind the happy state of our first parents, Adam and Eve.  When God created them, they were perfect and lived in a garden like park that the Creator had designed and planted.  It was fittingly called the garden of Eden, which name denotes pleasure.

How delightful that garden was!  It was a real paradise.  Among its beautiful trees were those bearing delicious fruit.  As Adam and Eve explored their domain, drank from its sweet waters, and gathered fruit from its trees, they had no reason to be anxious or fearful.  Even animals posed no threat, for God had placed the man and his wife in loving dominion over all of them.  In addition, the first human pair had vibrant health.  As long as they remained obedient to God, an eternal, happy future lay before them.  They were given the satisfying work of caring for their wonderful Paradise home.  Further, God gave Adam and Eve the mandate to "fill the earth and subdue it."   They and their offspring were to extend the borders of Paradise until our entire planet became a place of beauty and delight. -Genesis 1:28.

When Jesus mentioned Paradise, however, he was not asking a dying man to think about the distant past.  No, Jesus was speaking  about the future!  He knew that our entire earthly home would become a paradise.   God would thus fulfill his original purpose for mankind and our earth.  (Isaiah 55:10, 11) Yes, Paradise will be restored!  And what will it be like?  Let God's Word, the Holy Bible, answer.

Next time: LIFE IN THE RESTORED PARADISE

From the Book-KNOWLEDGE That Leads To Everlasting Life, 1995