Praise the Lord for the
month of May. Our second daughter, Sunita, was born on the First of
May. We praise the Lord for her life, for her faith, and for her passion
for Jesus our Lord and His Kingdom. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful
visit to the beautiful city of Boston this past week. In Boston our
grandchildren Micah, Simeon, and Ada live along with their parents. It is
always a treat and a blessing to spend time with our grandchildren. We walked,
we talked, we played, we read books, and we celebrated the simple gifts of the
Lord. I had my doctor's appointment in Boston on Friday, and I had a very
good report from the doctor. Praise the Lord for His tender mercies and His
great power. Thank you for praying for me. We drove back to New York
this past Saturday with grateful hearts and jubilant spirits. The
Lord blessed us in His House yesterday with His abundance and grace. There
was a church wide fellowship hour following the morning worship. It
was all blessing.
One of the readings for yesterday was
taken from Revelation 22: 1-5. This chapter of Revelation - the last
chapter of the last book of the Bible - deals with restoration, with making all
things new. It speaks of the New Jerusalem.
A powerful portrayal of the fall of mankind comes from John Milton’s epic poem, "Paradise Lost". During my undergraduate studies I studied John Milton's "Paradise Lost " and also "Paradise Regained". The theme of "Paradise Lost", comes from the Book of Genesis: God placed Adam and Eve in the paradise known as the Garden of Eden. They had beauty and bounty all around them, and God’s presence was always with them. They experienced ultimate peace and prosperity. They had a perfect life! He warned them that if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would surely die, but they did it anyway. From that time on, humanity has been cursed with toil and pain, conflict and blame, and disease and death. Indeed, Paradise was lost!
This is the cursed world that we continue to live in today. Our bodies wear out . We feel the pain of injuries and illnesses. We bear the burden of broken promises, unfulfilled expectations, shattered dreams, tattered friendships, and tormented societies. The Lord God, the Lord of Creation and Redemption, devised an amazing plan for the redemption of man. The Book of Revelation concludes with the most glorious Good News. In Revelation 22 we see the depiction of Paradise being regained. Thankfully, the Bible ends in the same place it begins: Paradise. Genesis tells us about the original Paradise that was lost; Revelation tells us about the new Paradise that will be regained. In Revelation 22:1-5, the Lord shows us the vision of heaven, which is pictured as a completely restored Garden of Eden. These five verses give us a glimpse of paradise regained. The Lord gives us a glimpse of the River of Life in the New Heaven.
We see “the river of the water of life” which, no doubt, bubbles up from the “spring of the water of life” (Rev. 1:6) and is flowing from the throne of God. In the original Eden a river flowed through and watered the garden, and in Revelation we see that a life giving river nourishes heaven. Ezekiel (47:1-12) prophesied about a river flowing from the temple of the restored earthly Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea and bringing abundant life to the most barren place in the world. This crystal clear river flowing from God’s throne is a symbolic image of eternal and abundant life that Jesus gives in heaven. This image represents abundance, satisfaction, and fulfillment. All physical and spiritual thirst is quenched in paradise regained!
As John watched the river flow down the middle of the main thoroughfare of the city he noticed the Tree of Life growing on both sides of the river. The tree of life in the original Garden of Eden has now become multiple trees of life in heaven, symbolizing an abundance of food for eternity. Normally, fruit only appears in its proper season, but in heaven there will be no seasons—abundant fruit will be available at all times. Just as the river symbolizes the quenching of physical and spiritual thirst, the trees of life symbolize the satisfying of all physical and spiritual hunger. Heaven is a place of abundance, satisfaction, and fulfillment.
Clearly the Bible doesn't tell us which variety of fruits will be produced, but I have to imagine that mangoes will be among them. Not only do the trees of life provide an abundance of food, but their leaves also provide healing for the nations. This symbolizes the physical and spiritual healing that has already taken place in Heaven. There is no sickness, disease, conflicts, or broken relationships in Heaven.
The Garden of Eden had been the place where the curse first entered; but the curse is reversed in the New Heaven and New Earth. There will be no more sin, no more toil, no more pain!
Another blessing of paradise regained is that our relationship with God will be completely restored. In the original Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God. His physical presence was with them all the time. In Revelation 22 we see the throne of God and the Lamb established in the new garden. The fullness of God’s presence will be with us again and we will be able to fulfill the original intention of our creation: to worship, serve, and enjoy him forever.
We will be able to see God’s face in Paradise regained because we will have a right relationship with Him. God’s mark on our foreheads is a metaphor for God’s ownership, status, and protection. We are marked as his people and enjoy all of his benefits. "No more night" pictures the complete end of all of the darkness that was caused by sin and evil. There is no need for a lamp or the sun in heaven because God’s glory radiates from his presence.
We all experience the pain of living in paradise lost, but through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; God offers us the hope of living in paradise regained. Just as the Bible ends in the same place it begins, In the words John Milton. from , Paradise Regained:
Wandring the Wilderness, whatever place,
Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing
The Son of God, with Godlike force indu’d
Against th’ Attempter of thy Fathers Throne,
And Thief of Paradise; him long of old
Thou didst rebel, and down from Heav’n cast
With all his Army, now thou hast aveng’d
Supplanted Adam, and by vanquishing
Temptation, hast regain’d lost Paradise,
And frustrated the conquest fraudulent:
He never more henceforth will dare set foot
In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke:
For though that seat of earthly bliss be fail’d,
A fairer Paradise is founded now
For Adam and his chosen Sons, whom thou
A Saviour art come down to re-install.
Lee Elcov says, “We focus on heaven not as a respite from real life, but to gain strength for real life.”
In C. S. Lewis’ wonderful books "The
Chronicles of Narnia", the characters who have lived in Narnia have
completed their time and work there. In a closing chapter entitled
“Further Up and Further In,” Aslan, the lion who represents Christ, has come
for them in order to take them home. They are headed away from Narnia and
are about to enter Aslan’s country, but they are met with familiar scenes. One
of the characters cries out: “I have come home at last! This is my real
country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for
all my life, though I never knew it till now."
In Christ,
Brown.
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