36-Chapter 4. The Glorified Paradise
Chapter 4. The Glorified Paradise
“He who overcomes, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). The end of history and the beginning of history belong together. The last leaf of the Bible corresponds with the first. Holy Scripture begins with Paradise (Genesis 1:2); with Paradise it ends (Revelation 22:1-21). But the conclusion is greater than the beginning. The Omega is more powerful than the Alpha. The future Paradise is not only the lost and regained, but above all the heavenly and eternally glorified Paradise. In the lost Paradise there was danger: “On the day on which you eat thereof you will die the death” (Revelation 2:17); in the glorified Paradise full security reigns. “There shall be no more curse” (Revelation 22:3). In the lost Paradise the serpent said: “You will become as God” (Genesis 3:5); in the glorified Paradise the Scripture itself says: “His name (that is, His nature) shall be on their foreheads (Revelation 22:4). In the lost Paradise stood a tree of knowledge (Genesis 2:9); in the glorified one it is no longer required (Revelation 22:1-5); for the perfected behold with direct vision the face of God (Revelation 22:5). The lost Paradise had an end through the defeat of man (Genesis 3:24); the glorified Paradise abides eternally for the overcomers (Revelation 2:7). “They shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
There one tree of life (Genesis 2:9); here whole avenues of trees of life (Revelation 22:2; Revelation 2:7). 93
Footnote 93: “The leaves of the tree serve for healing the nations.” It would be wrong to draw from these words the inference that on the new earth the healing process for mankind will still continue, so that for those who before the great white throne might be still not completely justified there would yet remain a hope that, as nations on the new earth, they may at last partake of full salvation. This would mean that even after the great white throne there would still be a salvation for the judged, until at last all, without exception, would experience full redemption. Upon this Dr. F. Dusterdieck remarks: “The expression is just as little to be pressed to mean that a thenstill present sickness of the nations is supposed, as we are permitted to draw the inference from Revelation 21:4 that the tears which God will wipe away from the blessed are signs of then still present pain. It much rather means that just as the tears which they had shed on account of earthly suffering will be wiped away in the eternal life, so the healing leaves of the tree of life serve for the healing of the sickness from which the nation had suffered during their earthly life, but shall never suffer again in the new earth.”
There a river of water out of Eden (Genesis 2:10-14); here a river of life from the throne of God (Revelation 22:1; comp. Ezekiel 47:1-23).
There lordship over the earth alone (Genesis 1:28-30; Genesis 2:19-20); here lordship over the universe (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). There a created sun; here the eternal, the Creator, God Himself the sun (Revelation 22:5).
Thus everything in every respect is a “new creation”; on us—a new name (Revelation 2:17); in us—a new song (Revelation 5:9; Revelation 14:3); around us—a new Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:2); under us—a new earth (Revelation 21:1); over us—a new heaven (Revelation 21:1); before us—always new revelations of the never-ending love of God (Revelation 3:12) 94
Footnote 94: This is intimated by the “new name” of the Redeemer in the perfected condition (Revelation 3:12). The name signifies the nature; and that in the glorified state the Lord will reveal Himself by a new name means that in the future He will give quite new revelations of His glory never before seen, so as by kindness to display in the coming ages the exceeding riches of His grace (Ephesians 2:7).
Truly, He who sits on the throne said: ‘behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).
We behold with worship this age-long plan of God. The record of salvation in the Bible has conducted us from the gate of eternity before all time to the gate of eternity after this time. “The final end is the glorified and eternally new beginning.” The goal is exactly as the commencement (Psalms 90:2), GOD HIMSELF.
“THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL” (1 Corinthians 15:28). But He Himself, the King of the ages (1 Timothy 1:17, lit.), will then bring forth ages upon ages out of His inexhaustible, infinite fulness (Revelation 22:5; Ephesians 2:7, lit.). In heavenly Jubilees will His redeemed creatures praise Him, and through the spheres and worlds of the new creation will ring and resound the triumphant, exultant song:
“UNTO HIM THAT SITTETH UPON THE THRONE, AND UNTO THE LAMB, BE THE BLESSING, AND THE HONOUR, AND THE GLORY, AND THE DOMINION, “FROM ETERNITY TO ETERNITY! Amen” (Revelation 5:13-14).