Going to Eden
Adam and Eve had it made…they had the perfect life.
They walked with God, they saw Him, and He gave them everything they could ever want or need. Want. Or need.
They had the perfect love. They experienced God’s love, and loved one another. Their love was full, satisfying, and not marred by selfishness, greed, envy, anger, self-protective ways (i.e. hiding feelings, building walls, cold shoulder, looking out for number one, fear, etc).
They never had to work in ways that felt like work. Their food had no adverse reactions in their bodies (no high cholesterol, no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no obesity…) Work was fun. Work was enjoyable, and shared, as they tended the garden.
There was no fear. Ever. Of anything. (not lions, tigers, or bears)
All through the OT, God addresses the longing inside man that wanted to return to Eden. Perhaps this is why Isaiah 51:3 has resonated in my heart for years, in which God promises to turn all our “waste places” like Eden. Total redemption, as He will make everything crummy in my life perfect and whole and beautiful (keep in mind that I am not saying this promise has been fulfilled in my life, but that I know it will be fulfilled one day).
How does God address this longing? What is the longing? Sometimes we have numbed our souls to the point of not noticing the longing, or believing that we long for temporal things (like food, a party, a promotion at work, a vacation, a new wardrobe, perfect children, a perfect marriage, the home all our neighbors envy…you know what you wish for, it may or may not be in this short list).
While reading through Revelation it hit me. The promise Jesus proclaims He will fulfill as He ushers in the new heaven and new earth is that He will be our God, we will be His people, and He will dwell among us. There will be no fear, He will grant the security we have always wanted. We will experience unbridled joy and peace, and will not know pain or suffering or hatred or anything else opposed to love.
He will dwell among us, and our access to Him will be continuous, it will be the full and satisfying relationship we have been made to enjoy. As I pondered this, I could not help but think of Adam and Eve, as they walked in the garden with God, and talked with Him. During some of the darkest times in my life, all I have wanted was to crawl up into my heavenly father’s lap, to speak with Him freely as Adam and Eve must have; and this is the promise that those longings will be fulfilled.
God with us.
Our hope, heaven; far better than a return to the garden of Eden. A new Eden. One that can never be marred. With love that can never be ruined. When we shall see Him, and be like Him…
Does this encourage your soul? There are days when my honest answer to that question is “NO!” We numb our souls, and the effect is to not know what we were made to enjoy. To not be able to hope. We hope in what is sure, not what we are not sure will happen. Hence this promise, all through Scripture…and finally here in Revelation Jesus tells us the fulfillment of that promise is coming soon…
So for some reading, check out this non-exhaustive list of places to find this promise in Scripture:
Exodus 6:7, 29:45; Leviticus 26:11-13
Jeremiah 7:23; Jeremiah 11:4; Jeremiah 24:7; Jeremiah 30:22; Jeremiah 31:33
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