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Amazing Facts

Joe Crews

Eden to Eden

Scientists have often contended that life exists on other planets in our solar system.

It's now known that at least 1 world outside our own planetary system is definitely inhabited.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz and the Amazing Facts broadcast, facts which affect you.

You know, friends, many wise men in the world have been bold enough to predict the annihilation of civilization through atomic war.

But even the wisest of the wise cannot see beyond that veil of death that described the hereafter.

The great question in the hearts of men everywhere is concerning life and the eternity of the future.

I have not found anyone who is not interested in going to heaven.

But most people have only a vague idea about the dwelling place of God.

It seems to be like some mystical isle of somewhere, such as we sing about.

Today we are concerned about 2 great questions.

Is the home of the saved going to be a real material place, and will it be inhabited by real beings?

The answers to these questions can only be found in the great source book, the Bible.

We could speculate and theorize without ever arriving at the truth.

But the Word of God is the 1 eye which can see through that veil of death.

It has fallen my lot to conduct many, many funeral services.

I never have liked that because it really breaks me up.

Not long ago it was my duty to stand beside the grave of a very dear friend of mine, 1 whose life had been like a light on a hill.

Oh, it made me think of that home of the saved.

I want to know what's reserved for those who faithfully follow Jesus and then fall asleep in death.

Our first Scripture today is found in Isaiah 64, verse 4.

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." Now, you will notice, friends, since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor seen.

Now the Prophet intimates here that men once did see, hear, and know of these wonderful things God has prepared.

In fact, God gave man a plan for the way he wanted the world to be back there.

He wanted the world to be like Eden, the Garden of the Lord.

But sin came in and changed everything, of course, and God had given those 4 wonderful gifts which should have lasted forever.

Let's think of those gifts now and how they were lost through sin.

Man was granted life, a righteous character, a beautiful home in Eden, and then dominion over the earth, and all those blessings were conditioned on obedience to the simple test of that forbidden tree.

They were to last forever if our first parents would only obey the Word of God, and that was the way God intended to make the human family eternally happy.

Well, it was a sad day when all those gifts had to be taken away because of sin.

Adam and Eve began to die according to the pronouncement of God.

Their dominion passed for the time at least under the hands of Satan.

The image of righteousness was marred within them, and they were driven out of their garden home.

The first 3 chapters of the Bible present the picture of this great loss.

The entrance of sin, the story of the fall of man is all graphically told in Genesis 1, 2, and 3.

But The last 3 chapters of the Bible picture the exact opposite by telling about the restoration of all things, the exit of sin and Satan, the removal of the curses, all depicted there in Revelation 20, 21, and 22.

Now today we are mainly concerned with the home that is to be restored.

Is it possible that even the perfect joy of Eden can become a reality once more?

Jesus made that beautiful promise in John 14, 1-3.

He said, I go to prepare a place for you and then if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." Now those are the words of Jesus, and he was talking about something that was real.

Now New York is a place, of course, and the home of God's saints will be just as real as New York.

Compare the text in the Gospel of John with Hebrews 11-16.

But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly.

Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he had prepared for them a city." Now here is the identification of the place that Jesus mentioned.

The mansions of John 14 are to be found in the city of Hebrews 11, 16.

Now Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Now where did he go?

According to the Bible record, he ascended into the sky until the disciples lost sight of him.

God's home, then, must be high up in the heavens somewhere above the stars and planets.

Paul referred to that place as the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12, and also as paradise in verse 4.

Now from this account we must conclude that there are 3 heavens.

If I speak about the third house on a certain street, I most assuredly imply the existence of the first and second.

And since a third heaven is mentioned, we are more than justified in concluding that there are 2 others.

And the Bible, of course, is abundantly clear in this matter, too.

The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven, where the birds fly.

The second heaven is the stellar heaven, where the sun, moon, and the stars are located.

But high above them and the third heaven is the paradise of God.

Now, can we be sure that paradise is the true dwelling place of God, friends?

Revelation 2-7 speaks of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

And then Revelation 22-2 says that the Tree of Life is beside the River of Life, which flows out from the throne of God.

Thus, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, we know that paradise, then, is the home of God where His throne is also located.

When will the righteous inherit the city?

In a previous broadcast, we read about the great reunion in the air when Jesus comes.

With immortal bodies, all the saints of God are caught up to meet Jesus when He comes in the clouds.

And then He takes them to that place He's prepared, that beautiful city located in the third heaven, and what a trip it will be to pass up through those great open spaces of the sky on the way to Paradise.

But here's something to remember, friends.

The Scriptures nowhere tell us that Paradise is going to be the permanent home of the righteous.

On the contrary, the New Jerusalem is going to come right down to this earth, just as the Prophet saw it in Revelation 21.

And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Now you may wonder how that pure and holy city could ever find a place on this sinful earth.

Well God's going to prepare a place for it, friends, by purifying the earth with fire.

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Why the very elements of the earth are going to melt, friends, and the curse of sin will be gone.

God will make a new earth, just like the original home of Adam and Eve.

His plan will still be carried out for those children of His.

Even the home will be restored through Christ.

Then the words of Jesus and the Beatitude will really come to pass, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Matthew 5.5.

But now let's consider the nature of those saints who will inhabit this new earth throughout the ages of eternity.

Will they have real bodies or just be vague spirit-like forms that sort of flit around from cloud to cloud?

Now friends, the City of God and the New Earth will be a real place for real people.

Notice what John wrote in 1 John 3, 2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Yes, we'll be like Jesus after his resurrection.

Our bodies will be just like his body was at that time.

On Sunday evening after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to those fearful disciples, you remember, in the upper room.

At first they thought it was a spirit or ghost, but Christ reassured them.

In these words, He said, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Luke 24, 39.

So the picture of ethereal spirits sitting on clouds and strumming harps forever just doesn't fit in with the Bible record.

We'll have bodies that will do things in the eternity of the future.

For example, read Isaiah 65, 21, And they shall build houses, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

They shall not build, and another inhabit, they shall not plant, and another eat, for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the works of their hands.

Oh, yes, we are going to build, and plant, and reap, but without the heartbreaking toil of this world.

The body will never grow weary and weeds will not come in to ruin the harvest.

The fact is that there we can carry out our very highest ambitions that were denied in this world because of lack of time or maybe ability.

Some may want to study music for the first 10, 000 years, and others may be interested in the study of nature's secrets and the natural sciences.

But whatever we do will never become boring, friends, and there will continually arise new thrilling subjects to challenge our immortal minds.

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Eden to Eden

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