EDEN: ONCE UPON A PARADISE
RETURN TO PARADISE
DR. JIM DIXON
REVELATION 21:1-14
JUNE 29, 2008
John Milton was born one day before me, one day and 337 years. John Milton was born on December 9 in the year 1608. John Milton grew up. He attended St. Paul’s School and then he attended Christ College at Cambridge University. He was a brilliant man and of course he was 59 years old and the year was 1667 when John Milton crafted his masterpiece, the 12-book epic poem called “Paradise Lost.” It is considered today perhaps the greatest epic poem in the English language. John Milton crafted that great work, “Paradise Lost,” because he wanted to explain the fall of the angels. He wanted to describe the fall of man. He wanted to present an understanding of the cause of suffering and pain in this world and on this earth. He wanted to give an apologia. He wanted to give a defense for the goodness of God.
John Milton knew all about pain. He knew all about suffering. He knew what it was like to lose paradise. His fust wife left him after only 6 weeks and he was devastated. Years passed. He fell in love again, so much in love, and his second wife died just 16 months after their wedding day.
When John Milton wrote “Paradise Lost” he was blind and yet he had faith in Christ, faith that heaven awaits the faithful. Of course, four years after John Milton wrote “Paradise Lost,” he wrote “Paradise Regained.” That was 1671. He wrote “Paradise Regained” because he believed that all who believe in Christ will one day find paradise again. All who believe in Christ will one day be returned to Eden.
So, we come to the end of our Eden series and we look at Eden restored. We look at paradise regained. We look at heaven. I have two teachings, two thoughts for you this morning and the first is this. Paradise regained is the church. Eden restored is the church. You might be thinking, “Well, what a bummer!” You might be thinking, “Well, I was hoping for something a little more exciting than that.” You might be thinking, “Well, you know, I would like to think that to regain paradise and to regain Eden and to find heaven is more than the church but take a look at the back of the Bible. Take a look at Revelation, chapter 21 and chapter 22. Take a look at the end of the Good Book. In Revelation, chapter 21 and 22 you see a description of the heavenly, the holy city, New Jerusalem.
Understand that in the Bible God speaks to His people. God speaks to us through a variety of literary genres. Sometimes God speaks through historical narrative but other times God speaks to us through allegory. God speaks to us through parable. God speaks to us through apocalyptic literature and certainly there’s great symbolism in the Book of Revelation. You look at Revelation chapter 21 and 22 and the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, is the church. It’s all a symbol of the church and I promise you scholars are united on this. It’s not controversial. The Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, is the church.
When you look at the New Jerusalem in chapter 21 and it’s called “The Bride” but of course in the Bible the church is called “The Bride.” You look at the New Jerusalem and it’s called “The Wife of the Lamb” but of course in the Bible it’s the church that is the Wife of the Lamb. We’re told in Revelation, chapter 21 that the New Jerusalem will be a Temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The Bible tells us it’s the church that’s the Temple of the Living God. It’s the church that’s the Temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. In Revelation, chapter 21 and we’re told that the New Jerusalem is founded on the apostles but of course it’s the church that is founded on the apostles. In Revelation, chapter 21 you see that the New Jerusalem is served by angels and related to Israel but the church is served by angels and related to Israel. We’re told in Revelation, chapter 21 that the New Jerusalem is to be a “light to the nations” and it’s the church that’s called to be a light to the nations. We’re told in Revelation, chapter 21 that the New Jerusalem will be inhabited by those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life but of course the Bible tells us it’s the church that will be inhabited by those names who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
When you look in Revelation, chapter 22, and you see that the New Jerusalem will be blessed by the River of the Water of Life and by The Tree of Life with the same imagery of Genesis and Eden, that the New Jerusalem will be blessed by the Tree of Life and by the River of the Water of Life. This is true of the church. The River of Life is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and the working and power of the Holy Spirit and the Tree of Life represents eternal life itself. To the church has been given the power of the Holy Spirit and to the church, eternal life. It’s a symbol of the church. When you think of paradise regained … When you think of Eden restored … there’s a sense in which you must think of the church of Jesus Christ.
Eight days ago, on Saturday, June 21st, 28,000 people gathered at Stonehenge in Britain—28,000 people. June 21st was the dawn of the Summer Solstice, and of course with the coming of the Summer Solstice people wanted to celebrate and 28,000 went to Stonehenge. NBC was there and NBC asked and interviewed many of these people asking, “Why are you here? Why come to Stonehenge?” Many of the people said that they believe that the Summer Solstice is sacred. “We believe that the Summer Solstice is a sacred time as they believed in Druidic times. We wanted to go to a sacred place for the dawn of the Summer Solstice. We wanted to go to a holy place and we could think of no place more holy, more sacred, than Stonehenge.”
I don’t know about you. Sometimes I just marvel at the world we live in. I mean religion is going retro. People are regressing. They’re going back to primitive times. We’ve come through centuries and millennia. We’ve experienced education and enlightenment but people are going backwards into superstition, into Druidic religion and it’s just crazy.
Just this most recent issue of National Geographic has Stonehenge on the cover. It is true that archeologists are united in the belief that the ancient people who created those megalithic monuments were seeking to create a sacred place as they deemed sacred in their primitive times. But today if Stonehenge is the most sacred holy place you can think of… Does anybody think about the church? Does anybody give the church a thought? Does anybody think of the church as holy? I mean would it occur to people around the world, “Hey, if I’d like to go to kind of a holy place, a sacred place, maybe I ought to look for a church.” Did you know the Bible calls the church “holy.” That’s why in Revelation 21 and 22 the New Jerusalem is called “The Holy City.” The church is a holy city, holy.
You might be thinking, “Well, one day the church will be holy. When we get to heaven and we’re scrubbed real good and we’re washed down, we’ll be holy then and that’s true. But, you see, there’s a sense in which the church of Jesus Christ is holy now. The word for holy in the Greek is “hagios,” and hagios simply means, “set apart.”
We speak of God as holy because God is set apart from sin. God is holy. He is set apart from sin. We are not so holy. We are sinners, all of us in need of grace. “There are none of us righteous, no not one.” We have imputed righteousness given to us by the grace and mercy of God through Christ” but we are sinners still. We’re still set apart. We’re still holy. The Bible speaks of the church as holy and Christians as holy because we’re set apart for God. The church of Jesus Christ is set apart for God, set apart, holy. In all the world the church is unique, set apart for God.
We speak of the church as “visible and invisible” and the invisible church is the true church. The invisible church is the true church, the church that’s known only to Christ. He knows those on the earth and those in the world who truly love Him, who truly believe in Him, who are truly redeemed. The invisible church known only to God, the invisible church, but there’s a visible church. There’s a visible church by the will of God, a visible church. The visible church is the local church. It’s congregations who gather in buildings and houses all over the world. The visible church is the church established and instituted and is instituted by the will of God and by the will of Christ.
God has called His people into assembly visibly. In fact, did you know, “ecclesia,” the word “church” means, “assembly.” It means “gathering.” It means, “called out into assembly.” The word “synagogue” in the Old Testament in the Jewish communities also means, “gathering” or “assembly.” “Sunagoge” means, “assembly” or “gathering.” The church is the assembly of God’s people and we assemble. We’re flawed. We’re sinners. We’re messed up. Not everyone in the assembly is even in the true church but we assemble. By the will of God, we’re called to assemble. We assemble on the Lord’s Day as did the early church. We assemble on the Sabbath. We assemble during the week. We come together, the church, and there’s supposed to be a little bit of Eden in the church, a little bit of paradise in the church, a little bit of heaven in the church and of course it doesn’t always seem that way.
There are a lot of people who love to attack the visible church, a lot of people who just love to rag on the visible church. It’s an easy target. The visible church is flawed and filled with flawed people, myself included. It’s easy to criticize the visible church. People talk about how the visible church is self-righteous, filled with hypocrites, legalistic, judgmental, unloving, too doctrinal, too liturgical, cold, all of these judgements of the visible church.
I have a book here called “The Shack.” How many of you have read “The Shack”? Let’s see your hands. A lot of you. It’s a best seller. It’s made all the best-selling lists, USA Today, New York Times, etc. It’s a big seller and it’s written by a guy named William Young. It tells the story of “Mac”. Mac’s a guy who kind of grew up in the church and hated it. He grew up in the church and tried to play by the rules. It was a fundamentalist church. He tried to live by the rules. He couldn’t stay within the lines. He felt judged. He felt condemned. He even went to seminary, but he messed up and his life was messed up. He was a sinner and he felt judged. He found a wonderful wife, had some kids and then one of his kids, his daughter Missy on a vacation camping trip, was kidnapped, raped and murdered and Mac would never be the same. He entered into what was called the “great sadness.” He was devastated to the core and he had a crisis of faith.
He had a crisis on every level but then one day God sent him a note. God sent him a note saying, “Mac, meet Me in Oregon at the shack where your daughter was abused.” Mac thinks, “Well, does God send notes? I don’t think so,” but he’s desperate and he’s curious and so, he goes to the shack in Oregon and he meets God. God is there, the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Father is called “Papa” and He’s portrayed as a large matronly African-American woman, and Jesus is there and He looks like a Middle Eastern Jew. The Holy Spirit is there, and she is an Asian woman and her name in Sanskrit means, “wind” or “air.”
Some people don’t like that view of the Trinity. They don’t like the gender deal, the fact that two parts of the Godhead are represented by women. Personally, I don’t have a problem with that. God is Spirit. God is not some cosmic guy. I know in the Bible, the Bible refers to God as “He” but I hope you understand God is Spirit. He could appear as a woman or as a man or whatever He wants. But, male and female, we’re created in the image of God. That’s not my problem and I think on many levels the story is wonderful. I cried. I mean I had three or four times I kind of lost it. I was so touched. Of course, as time goes by, I’m a wuss more and more. But honestly it was touching. It was very touching and moving. At times the image of God is just beautiful in the book and the healing and the reconciliation and the forgiveness and the love is beautiful.
On the other hand, there’s a lot of doctrinal and theological problems in a book like this. You can’t take this and tag it onto the back of your Bible. You can’t treat this like Holy Scripture. Based on scripture there are a lot of doctrinal and theological errors in this book. The author, William Young, creates false polarities. He’s got this false polarity between authority and relationship. If you have authority or hierarchy, you can’t have a loving relationship. That’s a false polarity. He argues in the book, Papa argues in the book, that in the Trinity, in the Godhead, there is no hierarchy, no authority and by the will of God there would be no authority on earth, no hierarchy on earth. But because man is fallen and sinful it has a will to power and man has created all this stuff.
The problem is it’s contrary to the Bible. The Bible says there IS a hierarchy in the Godhead. Did you know that? There is hierarchy in the Trinity and one day the Son will relinquish all things to His Father. By the will of God there is hierarchy in the angelic realm, Archangels, angels, principalities, powers, Cherubim, Seraphim, hierarchy by the will of God and on earth hierarchy, authority. God has established governments, Romans 13. They exist by the will of God and are ordained of God and yet there can still be loving relationships, loving relationships in the midst of authority and hierarchy. That’s a false polarity. There’s that kind of stuff in the book.
I would love to go through, if we had the time, all of the theological and doctrinal issues that I think are problematic in the book but one thing that does disturb me I want to mention is his view of the church. It’s virtually non-existent. Whenever he mentions the church it’s critically, because obviously he was damaged by his church experience and by those in authority so he doesn’t like church and he doesn’t like authority. This is true in the life of Mac, the lead character in the book, and it’s also true of William Young in his real life. He felt damaged by the church and by authority so he kind of demonizes the church. The only guy that goes to church in this book is Mac’s dad and he’s an elder at church. He’s an alcoholic and he’s a bad drunk. He beats his wife and beats his kids and he’s the only guy who goes to church.
The church is kind of demonized and stigmatized and it’s viewed as this institution that is judgmental, self-righteous, unloving and legalistic and has limited God to the Bible and has claimed authority over the Bible’s interpretation and just this view of the church that, in his perspective, is negative.
I read so much stuff like that. This is not uncommon. There are so many books like that. So many people talk like that about the church and I just want to say, “Give it up!” I know there are bad churches and I know there are problems in every church. I hope you know that. It would be a lot easier when you see a problem here. There are problems everywhere but most churches are simply trying to serve people and Christ and we’re just doing what God said which is to establish the visible church and to assemble.
I’ve said this before but you get a few people together who believe in Christ, they’re new Christians, and they say, “Hey! Why don’t we meet? Let’s meet. Let’s get together every week.” “Okay. When do you want to get together?” “Let’s get together at my house each week.” “Okay, when?” “We’ll get together at my house on Wednesday nights.” “Cool. What are we going to do with our kids?” “We’ve got room in the basement. Let’s get a little program going for the kids down in the basement.”
Do you realize what just happened? They just instituted the church. The word “institute” simply means, “to establish.” The moment you establish a meeting place you’ve got an institutional church. It doesn’t do any good to demonize it. It exists by the will of God so let’s try to make it better and let’s try to bring a little bit of paradise to the church. Let’s do what God intended. Let’s have a little bit of Eden here so you come here and maybe you make friends. Maybe you begin to experience eternal relationships and eternal friendships. You come here and you find grace and you find love and you find mercy but also truth. As you come into the church, you experience eternal life already. You don’t have to wait until heaven to experience eternal life. If you become a Christian, you have it now. I have eternal life now. Barb has eternal life now. All of you who believe have already got eternal life. There’s a sense in which there’s a little bit of Eden already here, a little bit of paradise already here. We need to be the family of God, sons and daughters of God, and love each other despite all of the problems that do exist in the church.
There’s a second teaching and that simply is that Eden restored is heaven. This is the more traditional thought, isn’t it? Eden restored is heaven. Paradise regained is heaven. In the New Testament the word paradise is generally synonymous with heaven, but we need to understand that in the Septuagint—you know, the Septuagint is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Old Testament. The word Septuagint means, “seventy” and that’s because of the belief and the tradition that in the 2nd century before Christ, the Ptolemaic Empire instructed seventy Jewish rabbis from Jerusalem to come to Alexandria near Pharos in Egypt and translate into the Greek the Hebrew Old Testament. Supposedly these seventy Jewish scholars came, rendered the Hebrew to Greek in Alexandria, Egypt and they did it in seventy days so the Septuagint, “the Seventy.”
As you look at the Septuagint, you see the word “garden” 15 times, and it’s rendered by the Greek word paradise, which is actually a Persian word, “paradeisos” adopted by the Greeks. But it’s the equivalent of “garden.” When you look at Genesis, chapter 2, Garden of Eden, and you see the word gone and of course you see the word Eden and Eden has a root meaning of “delight.” It’s translated in the Septuagint as “paradeisos tes tryphes” which in Greek is “Garden of Delight” or “Garden of Eden.” Of course, paradise then becomes another name for Eden.
You look at Luke, chapter 23, and Jesus is on the cross. He says to one of the thieves on the cross, “Today you’ll be with Me in paradise.” That means “heaven,” but it also carries the image of Eden, the Garden, and Eden restored, a return to Eden.
Then in Revelation, chapter 2, Jesus addresses the church at Ephesus and Jesus says, “To all who are faithful, I will grant you to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the paradise of God. Again, the Tree of Life, an obvious reference to Eden, but the word paradise which is also a reference to both Eden and heaven, all of this being joined, and so, “I will grant you,” Jesus is saying to the church at Ephesus, “Eden restored, paradise restored, the Tree of Life in the Garden of God, the Paradise of God.”
You look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 5, and Paul say that he had this mysterious experience, whether in the body or out of the body he didn’t know, but he was raptured into what he called “the third heaven.” He saw things he was not permitted to describe, heard things he was not permitted to say, but he was “raptured into the third heaven” and then returned to earth. In the Greek thought, the first heaven is the atmosphere of the earth. The second heaven is the cosmos and the galactic systems, but the third heaven is the dwelling place of God so Paul is saying he was “raptured into the dwelling place of God, the third heaven.” What does Paul call it? Paradise, the Garden, so Paul is returning to the thought of Eden. There is a sense in which Paul is claiming to have had a little glimpse of Eden restored.
People want to know what it’s going to be like when we get there, when we get to the third heaven, when we see Eden, when we see paradise, when we see heaven and in which sense is it going to be a garden? People try to imagine heaven as a garden.
You see, God is a painter. God is an artist. Heaven is His work. I like the image of fresh paint because when you start looking at God’s promises about heaven, the message God gives us is, “Behold, I make all things new.” It’s all about newness. Heaven is all about all things being new and so, He’s going to paint something new and it’s really going to be cool.
As we close today, I want us to take a look at a little bit of the newness of heaven. First of all, you get into heaven through the New Covenant. That’s how we get into heaven is through the New Covenant. What is the New Covenant? It’s the blood of Christ. It’s the blood of Jesus. It’s His body broken and His blood shed. It’s everything we celebrate at Communion. We get into heaven through the New Covenant and the promise of God is this. In the New Covenant, here’s what God decrees and what God declares if we come to Him in faith and we accept His Son as our Savior and our Lord. Then our sin is forgiven us, completely washed away, and we are brought into the family of God. We become children of God, sons and daughters of God and we are brothers and sisters in the church and we are bound for eternal life, bound for Paradise, bound for Eden, bound for Heaven all because of Christ and His work. Through His grace and His mercy, He is Savior and Lord.
Of course, we live by new commandments. That’s not only going to be true in heaven. That’s supposed to be true now. We live by a new commandment and what is that commandment? It is love. A new commandment. Jesus said, “I give unto you that you love one another” and this is kind of new in the world because the world is so fallen and how sad it is that somebody like William Young went to a church where he didn’t feel loved. How sad that people like Mac in the book go to churches where they don’t feel loved. I hope people feel loved here and if they don’t feel loved here, we’re the only ones who can do anything about that. We need to become more loving. We need to be more friendly. We need to be more caring, more compassionate, because we live by a New Commandment and it’s just not for the future. It’s NOW! It’s right now!
We’re promised that we’ll be made into new people, a new creation, and we’ve been given new natures. I’ve already been given a little bit of heaven right now and if you’re a Christian you’ve been given a little bit of heaven right now. It’s called the “new nature.” The moment you accepted Christ and the moment I accepted Christ, a new nature was given unto us and the Holy Spirit came to dwell and reside into us. Christ came into us through His Holy Spirit with a new nature. Of course, the problem is we still have the old nature so I have this new nature in Christ but I also have the old nature and they’re kind of at war at times—my sin nature and my new nature which is in Christ Jesus. They’re kind of at war.
As an illustration I’ve used from time-to-time about this struggle between the old and the new nature concerns the first dogs that Barb and I purchased. Actually, I don’t think we had to pay for them. We got them at the Dumb Friends League. We were only home for a couple of weeks and realized that WE were the dumb friends! This was more than 33 years ago, and we were childless and dogless and we thought, “Maybe we should go a get a couple of dogs.” We went to the Dumb Friends League and we got these two mutts. They were not purebred, just mutts. They were both about the same size. We don’t know what they were but one looked like a werewolf. They were real little and we called one Gretel and we called one Shiloh. We brought them home and we were dog people.
Time passed, and Barb and I went on vacation. We were going to be gone four days and we thought, “What do we do?” We were kind of new to Colorado and didn’t really know people. We didn’t want to burden people. We thought, “Well, maybe the dogs will be fine if we just put out more food and more water.” I know PETA wouldn’t have liked that, but we didn’t know about PETA back then. We put out more food and more water and we took off. Four days later we came back and you’ll be glad to know the dogs were alive. They were alive but one was doing better than the other. One dog had become dominant and had eaten all of the food so one dog had gotten huge and the other one had shriveled up.
We had to kind of take care of that, but this is illustrative. There’s an object lesson here because, you see, you’ve got to decide what you’re going to feed and what you’re going to starve. What you feed is going to grow and what you starve is going to shrivel up so you’ve got an old nature and a new nature. I have the old nature and the new nature. I have the sin nature, but I have this new nature in Christ and the question is, “What am I going to feed?” It has to do with what I read, has to do with what I watch, has to do with who I hang out with, who I hang with, it has to do with my thought life, it has to deal with all of that stuff. If we’re really citizens of heaven and we have this eternal destiny and we’re in the church and we’ve got a little bit of Eden here, we’ve got to take this pretty seriously and seek sanctification and feed the new nature.
We’ve been promised a new body. This doesn’t come until we get to heaven. As time goes by, this sounds better and better to me, a new body. When you’re young, maybe you’re in your 20’s or your teen years, you look in the mirror and you’re kind of studly and you feel bulletproof. I look in the mirror now and I feel like I’ve been riddled with bullets! It’s just one of those deals where time goes by and you’re really looking forward to that new body. We’re told it will be a body just like the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We’re told in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, that that body will be a heavenly body, “epouranios,” “fit for the heavens,” “appropriate to the heavens,” “designed for the heavens.” These bodies are appropriate for earth. We’re going to get a body that’s fit for the heavens. We’re told in that same passage that our new bodies will be indestructible. The Greek word is “aphtharsia,” “no longer subject to decay,” “incorruptible.” What a body! These bodies are so frail, aren’t they? Life is such a vapor.
This last Wednesday we had a memorial service in the chapel. Barb and I went to it. It was a memorial service for Judie Erickson. Judie had volunteered in our Inklings Book Store and Judie had volunteered in our Women’s Ministries and with our mentoring program for gals and Judie loved Christ and was a great gal. Judie and her husband Bob had been married almost 50 years. Bob is on our Building Staff here and he’s a prince of a guy who loves Jesus Christ. Bob is devastated today because he’s lost his partner, his best friend, his wife. He’s lost her.
I didn’t do the service because I don’t really do funerals anymore, but Ramona gave the message. Carson opened it up. Marcia sang and it was wonderful. Barb and I just wanted to be there. It was painful too because there’s such a sense of loss. It’s so hard to see the devastation of people who have lost their mom or grandma, their wife, their friend, so you look forward to the day when death will be no more. When God says, “He’ll wipe every tear from our eyes and death will be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, no pain anymore.” It’s all about newness and one thing we’re getting is that new body and that new body is “aphtharsia.” It’s no longer subject to decay.
Judie had bone cancer. We prayed over her two years ago as an elder board and some miraculous things happened. Then she came down with shingles and they were trying to find medicine to help with the pain. Somehow, she had a big seizure and suddenly she was gone but she’s with Jesus but there’s pain here on earth. We look forward to the day when we’ll have these new bodies and they will be indestructible and powerful and we’re told “spiritual.” These bodies are kind of governed by the flesh, the “sarks.” Those bodies will be governed by the Spirit and then “glorious,” “worthy of praise.” All of these things we’re told about the new body.
Of course, we’re promised a new heavens and a new earth, a new universe. God says, “Behold, I will create a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell and you will rejoice and be glad in that which I create.” Isaiah 65. A new heavens and a new earth and of course a New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is not simply a symbol of the church. There really is a heavenly city and the Bible makes that clear and we’re bound there. I believe that heaven is so awesome. I believe that as God gave Adam and Eve in Eden dominion over the Garden and mankind dominion over the earth, I believe that in the life to come God will give His people dominion over the cosmos, over all the works of His hands and “we will reign and rule with Him” the Bible says “forever and ever and ever.”
I don’t know what that’s going to look like. I just think it’s awesome and I believe that we’re going to gather into the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, regularly. We’re going to assemble. We’re going to gather. We’re going to do church and we’re going to fellowship and we’re going to have great community and we’re going to worship and love and fellowship and laugh. Yes, I believe heaven is also appropriately symbolized through a garden gone, paradise. The beauty of Yellowstone, the beauty of Yosemite, the beauty of the Butchart Gardens are nothing compared to what God has prepared for us in paradise. So, while we don’t know every detail, we know it’s awesome. We know God’s the painter and it’s beautiful and it awaits its people. Eden restored and Paradise regained, heaven itself. In the meantime, we live for Him.
If we really believe, shouldn’t we have an unquenchable joy? Shouldn’t we seem almost weirdly happy if we really, really believe? Don’t we have a purpose like the rest of the world could not possibly fathom? We have King and Kingdom. We have a cause to live for. We have the cause of heaven on earth and what an opportunity. Of course, heaven awaits. Let’s close with a word of prayer.