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Particulars of Christianity:
314 End Times Prophecy (Eschatology)

Addendum: Origins and Destinations

Revelation Chronology: Introduction
Revelation Chronology: Structure in Revelation
Revelation Chronology: Sections 0.01-0.02
Revelation Chronology: Sections 1.01-2.03
Revelation Chronology: Section 2.04
Revelation Chronology: Section 2.04 Continued
Revelation Chronology: Sections 2.05-2.06
Revelation Chronology: Sections 2.07-2.08
Revelation Chronology: Sections 2.09-2.13
Revelation Chronology: Section 3.01
Revelation Chronology: Section 3.01 Continued
Revelation Chronology: Sections 3.02-3.04 and Conclusions

Revelation Renumbered
Genesis 1-2: Integrated Text, Single Chronology
Revelation: Integrated Text, Single Chronology
A Simple Chronological List of the Events in Revelation
Addendum: Origins and Destinations

In our article series on Revelation Chronology we discussed some structural, linguistic, and descriptive similarities between the books of Genesis and Revelation. Such comparisons are important to identify since these two books hold very significant places in our understanding of God's plan for humankind. Genesis and Revelation are the bookends of God's revelation to man of his purpose and goal in creating us. They provide important texts for understanding where we started and where we're headed. This being the case it is important not overlook some overriding similarities that these books make concerning the original state of relationship between God and man and the final state that God will someday bring to completion.

The purpose of this addendum is to highlight one specific comparison, which seems to be overlooked in the church today, and to make it more concretely a part of our understanding of God' plan. That comparison, simply stated, is that Eden and the Heavenly Jerusalem, are in fact, the same thing, the city of God.

We will begin our support of this topic by first taking a look at Genesis 1-3's account of the original state between God and man. There are several important points that are necessary to recognized here:

1. No description of Eden's creation is given in the text. This implies that Eden existed prior to the point in time in which God' planted the garden in it, which he placed man into. This understanding is consistent with Ezekiel 28:13-19, which describes Eden and speak of the angels dwelling there and their interaction with God prior to man's creation.

2. While Eden does contain a garden, Eden is not just the garden, but a larger area that has a garden in it.

3. The garden and Eden are clearly located on the surface of the earth. This is indicated by the fact that the river, which flows from Eden through the garden in the east afterward parts and becomes four actual rivers, which are on the earth. Though presumably the geography of the region has changed since the time of Adam (perhaps significantly due to the Flood), two of these rivers can still be identified today. They are the Tigres (called Hiddekel) and the Euphrates.

4. It is in the garden, which is within Eden, that God walks with and communes with man, but man was NOT created in the garden of Eden. Instead he is created elsewhere and then placed into the garden by God (Genesis 2:8) and later removed from the garden and returned to the place from which he was formed (Genesis 3:23-24).

5. At some point after Adam sins and is expelled, Eden ascends so that it is no longer on the surface of the earth. The fact that the people of the earth perceived that Eden had ascended is clearly indicated in Genesis 11:4, where they build a tower to get back into the presence of God. The idea of building upward demonstrates their understanding that in order to get back to God at this point they would have to go up rather than simply traveling to someplace else on the surface of the earth.

The results of Adam and Eve's sin are also significant. First, they are no longer able to fellowship with God in Eden. Second, they would not remain physically alive in perpetuity (without access to the tree of life) and therefore, their fellowship with God would further be impeded by their eventual physical deaths.

Additionally, these two consequences were enforced by cherubim that God appointed who were to guard the entrance to Eden in the east of the garden. We can understand the jobs of these angels in simple terms as: 1) to ensure that man did physically die and 2) to prevent man from entering back into Eden, where he communed with God.

The duties of the angels being as such, we can ask the question, if man could not enter into Eden and must eventually physically die, where would his departed spirit reside after his physical death when it was separated from his body? As we cover in depth in our study on Bible Cosmology, the answer to this question is simple. After death, men's spirits resided in Sheol, which was a place located within the earth. Furthermore, after Jesus' atoning work, the righteous spirits within Sheol were allowed to ascend into the presence of God in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8, Revelation 6:9). The permitting of the righteous dead to ascend into the presence of God in heaven signifies Jesus' defeat over the angel, which had authority over hell, or Sheol (Matthew 16:18, Revelation 1:18).

As we continue we should note some vocabulary that is used here in Genesis. First, in the phrase "garden of Eden," the Hebrew word that is used for the garden is "gan" (Strong's No. 1588) and it means a garden, enclosure, or an enclosed garden. The Hebrew word for Eden (Strong's No. 5731) means pleasure, luxury, or delight.

Moving to the book of Revelation we can immediately see some striking similarities between Eden and the New Jerusalem (the Holy City, the Heavenly Jerusalem), which will descend from God to earth after the millennial reign of Christ.

1. God will again dwell on earth with man, who now having been resurrected, will live forever physically and reside in his presence in this city (Revelation 3:12, 21:2, 3, 10, 19).

2. Like Eden, the New Jerusalem is has a river that flows in it and has the tree of life (Revelation 22:1-2).

3. Like Eden, the New Jerusalem is described as a mountain (Ezekiel 28:13-14, Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 21:10).

So, clearly there are similarities that exist between Eden and the New Jerusalem. But do these similarities point to something more? Is there biblical indication that the two are not only alike, but in fact, are the same thing? Yes.

Further support comes from Revelation 2:7 where we see the first indication that the tree of life will be in the New Jerusalem. But in this verse the term New Jerusalem is not used. Instead, we find the term "paradise of God."

The word paradise refers to one of two concepts in scripture. First, the dead resided in a place within the earth known as Sheol and the righteous dead resided in a portion of Sheol known as paradise or Abraham's bosom (Luke 23:42, Luke 16:22). Since man was cast out of the garden and denied access to the tree of life this paradise within Sheol where men resided after death would not have had the tree of life in it.

Second, as we note from Genesis 2-3 the garden of Eden does have the tree of life in it. And, as Smith's Bible Dictionary attests, the Septuagint uses the Greek word "paradeisos" to refer to the garden of Eden itself.

"Paradise - This is a word of Persian origin, and is used in the Septuagint as the translation of Eden." - Smith's Bible Dictionary, p. 482

Therefore, the word paradise also denotes a place where the tree of life is, namely Eden. In fact, Revelation 2:7, specifically indicates that the paradise it has in view has the tree of life in it. Therefore, it must be the paradise of Eden itself and not the paradise in Sheol.

Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Furthermore, the early church writers of the first and second century commonly speak of Eden using the word paradise.

"Nor truly are those words without significance which are written, how God from the beginning planted the tree of life in the midst of paradise, revealing through knowledge the way to life,[1] and when those who were first formed did not use this [knowledge] properly, they were, through the fraud of the Serpent, stripped naked.[2]" - Mathetes, approx. 130 A.D.

And when I had quoted this, I added, "Hear, then, how this Man, of whom the Scriptures declare that He will come again in glory after His crucifixion, was symbolized both by the tree of life, which was said to have been planted in paradise, and by those events which should happen to all the just. - Justin Martyr, CHAP. LXXXVI.--THERE ARE VARIOUS FIGURES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT OF THE WOOD OF THE CROSS BY WHICH CHRIST REIGNED.

Men, therefore, having been duped by the deceiving demon, and having dared to disobey God, were cast out of Paradise, remembering the name of gods, but no longer being taught by God that there are no other gods. For it was not just that they who did not keep the first commandment, which it was easy to keep, should any longer be taught, but should rather be driven to just punishment. Being therefore banished from Paradise, and thinking that they were expelled on account of their disobedience only, not knowing that it was also because they had believed in the existence of gods which did not exist, they gave the name of gods even to the men who were afterwards born of themselves. - Justin Martyr, CHAP. XXI.--THE NAMELESSNESS OF GOD.

Do not these words present a manifest and clear imitation of what the first prophet Moses said about Paradise? And if any one wish to know something of the building of the tower by which the men of that day fancied they would obtain access to heaven, he will find a sufficiently exact allegorical imitation of this in what the poet has ascribed to Otus and Ephialtes. For of them he wrote thus:(5) - Justin Martyr, CHAP. XXVIII.--HOMER'S OBLIGATIONS TO THE SACRED WRITERS.

…cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise, because they had transgressed his commandment. - Ireneaus, CHAP. XXX.--DOCTRINES OF THE OPHITES AND SETHIANS.

For by means of the very same hands through which they were moulded at the beginning, did they receive this translation and assumption. For in Adam the hands of God had become accustomed to set in order, to rule, and to sustain His own workmanship, and to bring it and place it where they pleased. Where, then, was the first man placed? In paradise certainly, as the Scripture declares "And God planted a garden [paradisum] eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed."(1) - Ireneaus, CHAP. V.--THE PROLONGED LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS, THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH AND OF ENOCH IN THEIR OWN BODIES, AS WELL AS THE PRESERVATION OF JONAH, OF SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO, IN THE MIDST OF EXTREME PERIL, ARE CLEAR DEMONSTRATIONS THAT GOD CAN RAISE UP OUR BODIES TO LIFE ETERNAL.

God, who made the heavens and the earth, and formed man, and placed him in paradise, - Ireneaus, CHAP. XXX.--ABSURDITY OF THEIR STYLING THEMSELVES SPIRITUAL, WHILE THE DEMIURGE IS DECLARED TO BE ANIMAL.

He is just; He is good; He it is who formed man, who planted paradise, who made the world, who gave rise to the flood, who saved Noah; He is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of the living: - Ireneaus, CHAP. XXX.--ABSURDITY OF THEIR STYLING THEMSELVES SPIRITUAL, WHILE THE DEMIURGE IS DECLARED TO BE ANIMAL.

But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise "they were both naked, and were not ashamed,"(3) - Ireneaus, CHAP. XXII.--CHRIST ASSUMED ACTUAL FLESH, CONCEIVED AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN.

Wherefore also He drove him out of Paradise, and removed him far from the tree of life, - Ireneaus, CHAP. XXIII.--ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION TO TATIAN, SHOWING THAT IT WAS CONSONANT TO DIVINE JUSTICE AND MERCY THAT THE FIRST ADAM SHOULD FIRST PARTAKE IN THAT SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL BY CHRIST.

but they remain in that Adam who had been conquered and was expelled from Paradise: - Ireneaus, CHAP. I.--CHRIST ALONE IS ABLE TO TEACH DIVINE THINGS, AND TO REDEEM US: HE, THE SAME, TOOK FLESH OF THE VIRGIN MARY, NOT MERELY IN APPEARANCE, BUT ACTUALLY, BY THE OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, IN ORDER TO RENOVATE US. STRICTURES ON THE CONCEITS OF VALENTINUS AND EBION.

The corruption of man, therefore, which occurred in paradise by both [of our first parents] eating, was done away with by [the Lord's] want of food in this world.(4) - Ireneaus, CHAP. XXI.--CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF ALL THINGS ALREADY MENTIONED. IT WAS FITTING THAT HE SHOULD BE SENT BY THE FATHER, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, TO ASSUME HUMAN NATURE, AND SHOULD BE TEMPTED BY SATAN, THAT HE MIGHT FULFIL THE PROMISES, AND CARRY OFF A GLORIOUS AND PERFECT VICTORY.

From these quotes we can see that the Greek word that is translated into the English word paradise (in Revelation 2:7) was used by the Church to refer to the garden of Eden, in which is the tree of life. This being the case when we see Revelation discussing the city of God in heaven which comes to earth with the tree of life in it and calling it paradise, we know that this is not simply a similarity between Eden and the New Jerusalem. Instead, the two are one and the same place. In addition, this is confirmed by the fact that the New Jerusalem not only has the tree of life in, but also has a river flowing out of it. In biblical terms there could be no clearer way in the Greek language of the New Testament (and the Septuagint) to refer to Eden.

And this understanding is fully supported by the scriptural declarations that God's plan is to make all things new. This inherently includes a return to long life spans for mankind during the millennium (Isaiah 65:20), the removal of the curse (Genesis 3:17, Revelation 22:3), the resurrection of the righteous dead to dwell with God on earth forever in resurrected bodies, the reestablishing of access to the tree of life (Revelation 2:7, 22:2), and the return to earth of the city of God with the tree of life and a river flowing through it. So, why should it be shocking to think that through Jesus Christ's redemptive work God is restoring man to fellowship with him in Eden?

And as we have discussed, the authority of the angels who were appointed to keep fallen men from living forever (therefore ensuring their physical deaths) and from entering into God's presence in Eden (requiring them to enter into Sheol when they died) was overturned in Christ Jesus. So why wouldn't we expect that redeemed man is again allowed access to Eden and unending physical life in God's presence there?

More detail could be added to this study, but since this is meant only as an addendum we will curtail our comments to those we have already mentioned here believing them to be sufficient to prove the case that Eden and the New Jerusalem aren't just similar, but are, in fact, one in the same. Thus, Revelation perfectly parallels and completes the plan of God as it is described for us in Genesis with man being restored to perpetual fellowship with God in a physical body on earth in God's city through Jesus Christ our Lord who alone is the way by whom man can regain fellowship with the Father in the paradise of God on earth.