THE INTERMEDIATE HEAVEN, EDEN

Rev. Bonnie MacDonald, SW Washington

 

              When we die and go to Heaven, we go to the Intermediate Heaven because we don’t go into the New Heaven and the New Earth until the end of the age when Jesus returns, we get a glorified body, and we go into the Millennium.  When Jesus told the thief on the cross that “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) He was referring to the Intermediate Heaven.

The word paradise comes from the Persian word pairidaeze, meaning “a walled  park”or“enclosed garden”.  It is also used to describe the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8, Ezekiel 28:13).  Later, paradise became the word to describe the eternal state of the righteous and the Intermediate Heaven.

Genesis 3:24 tells us that man was driven out of Eden after the Fall and that God stationed cherubim and the flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of Life (Rev. 2:7).  Eden was not destroyed.  What was destroyed was mankind’s ability to live in Eden.  The presence of the tree of life in the Intermediate Heaven suggests that heaven too has physical properties and is capable of containing physical objects.

WILL WE HAVE PHYSICAL BODIES IN THE INTERMEDIATE HEAVEN?

              It is possible – though certainly debatable – that between our earthly life and our bodily resurrection at the end of the age, God may grant us some physical form that will allow us to function as human beings while “between bodies” awaiting our resurrection.  For instance, Rev. 6:9-11 talks about the martyrs in Heaven as having white robes.  Disembodied spirits don’t wear clothes.  It appears the Apostle John had a body when he visited Heaven, because he is said to have grasped, held, eaten, and tasted things (Rev. 10:9-10).  He also saw things that had bodies.

This we know for sure – we do not receive resurrection bodies immediately after death.  We do know that we receive a new body when Jesus returns (John 5:28-29).  Catherine Marshall in her book “A Man Called Peter” talks about when she asked God to show her Peter, she saw him tending roses in a garden.  Read Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21:1.

We long for a return to Paradise – a perfect world, without the corruption of sin, where God walks with us and talks with us in the cool of the day.  Because we’re human beings, we desire something tangible and physical, something that will not fade away.  And that is exactly what God promises us – a home that will not be destroyed, a kingdom that will not fade, a city with unshakable foundations, an incorruptible inheritance.  Read 2 Cor. 5:20, Matt. 12:36, 1 Cor. 3:14.

WILL WE BE ABLE TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING ON EARTH WHILE IN THE INTERMEDIATE HEAVEN?

              It is possible.  In Rev. 6:9-11 after their deaths, martyrs are pictured in Heaven crying out to God to bring justice on earth.  Read Acts 7:55-56 and 2 Kings 6:17.  These passages show men looking into heaven.  However, in Rev. 19:1-5 it shows saints in Heaven observing what is happening on earth.

              Because Heaven’s saints return with Christ to set up His millennial kingdom (Rev. 19:11-14), it seems unthinkable to imagine they would have remained ignorant of the culmination of human history taking place on earth (“Heaven” page 69, written by Randy Alcorn).

              “Many books on Heaven maintain that those in Heaven cannot be aware of people and events on earth because they would be made unhappy by all the suffering and evil; thus Heaven would not truly be Heaven.  I believe this argument is invalid.  After all, God knows exactly what’s happening on earth, yet it doesn’t diminish Heaven for Him.  Likewise, it’s Heaven for the angels, even though they also know what’s happening on earth.  In fact, they see the torment in Hell, but it doesn’t negate their joy in God’s presence (Rev. 14:10).  Abraham and Lazarus saw the rich man’s agonies in hell, but it didn’t cause Paradise cease to be Paradise (Luke 16:23-26).  Surely then, nothing they could see on earth could ruin Heaven for them.  (“Heaven” page 72).

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