No 8

(Paradise)

The word paradise has been used to describe a great experience we might have had or being with someone very special or any other enjoyable situation here on earth; there is even a town by that very name in the Amish area of Pennsylvania. The dictionary defines it as:“The abode of God, the angels and the righteous; heaven”. The Hebrew word for paradise is“pardes” and it means a garden with a fence around it; the word appears twice in the Old Testament but it is not rendered paradise: Neh 2 : 8 “king’s forest” Eccl 2 : 5“orchards”. It appears only three times in the New Testament and each time that it is used, the writer was describing heaven and only once eschatalogically (Rev 2 : 7).

They are :

1) The criminal on the cross - Luke 23 : 43 “today shalt thou be with me in paradise”

2) Paul’s dream - 2 Corinthians 12 : 4 “How that he was caught up into paradise”

3) Where the tree of life is at - Revelation 2 : 7 “Which is in the midst of the paradise of God”

There is a sense in which the Garden of Eden is paradise because in Genesis 2 : 9, it contains the tree of life (Rev 2 : 7). Therefore, paradise is another name for heaven and it will be the final resting place for all true Christians because “…I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare and place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also!” (John 14 : 2b, 3)