The Times... They Are a-Changing. Back To The Future (Part 6)

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,  to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12: 22-24 NIV

We belong to and in Eden... a heavenly Eden, but thanks to the curses initiated by Adam, Eve and that seductive old serpent, they were expelled from the eternal residence of Father God, disrobed of their immutable, glorious bodies, that were transformed into corruptible earthly ones.   

The transformations that occurred to their bodies after the fall were a total change from their previous heavenly bodies to more corruptible earthly ones, subject to disease, pain, injury, and spiritual as a well as physical death. 

The fall of Adam initiated an age of spiritual death, that would reign over creation until Christ's resurrection, some  4500 years later.  1 Corinthians 15:35-44 (NIV) tells us that the resurrection is a kind of return to Heaven's Eden. Consider that for a moment, and the price of Adam's sin becomes a bit more focused... 4500 years of death, millions of Adam's descendents condemned to Sheol, AKA  Hades... every single person, whether righteous or unrighteous, went to Sheol at death.

At its earthly level, the record in Genesis chapters 2and 3 is an allegory about two (spiritual) children growing up.  When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this act signified that Adam and Eve had reached the age of knowing right from wrong.  Now knowing right from wrong, Adam and Eve then lost the innocence that pardoned them of sin in their youth (Isaiah 7:16, Romans 5:13).  They were then, therefore, guilty of their sins. Their story is also our story. 

The saints that lived under the Old Covenant had to wait for their redemption in Sheol, or the underworld, the realm of the dead. (see Luke 16:19-31) But.... we who are living in the Age of The Gentiles, those who outlive the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are unbelievably privileged  to receive our resurrection bodies and enter the portals of Heaven upon death. This fact is implied in Revelation 14:13: “’Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’  ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them.’”  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 echoes this idea: 

Millions of Christians today live in the deep shadow of the false teaching of End Times preachers and teachers. I have tried to encourage a number of friends who live with the fear that we are still to go through, at sometime in the near future, the horrors of the tribulation. Many "end-timers" love to dwell on the falsely prophesied deaths of millions of the "unsaved". It's almost as if this event will be something to be celebrated 

The New Jerusalem is the Christian church (the Bride of Christ).  And like the New Jerusalem, the Christian church is, of course, also present in heaven and earth.  There are Christians in heaven because the resurrection of the saints in the Old Covenant Age occurred in the first century; "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people". Matthew 27:50-53 NIV

Believers, after the "last days" (of Israel) are resurrected directly to heaven after death without a lengthy stay in Sheol first.  Because the Christian church is present both on earth and in heaven and because the Christian church on earth is destined for heaven, the New Jerusalem is the church described in the likeness of the Jerusalem that is in heaven, a Jerusalem that Christians see surprisingly literally after death.  See Revelation 21, Revelation 22, Isaiah 60, Isaiah 65, Isaiah 66.

All end-times prophesies, as recorded in the Book of Revelation, happened leading up to, and were fulfilled with the destruction of Israel in A.D.70. We are blessed, today, to enjoy unfettered access to Father God, Christ our Saviour, and Holy Spirit. We should rejoice  because, as in the words of the ancient psalmist, “You will show me the path to life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forever more.” Psalms 16:11 NIV

We have returned to the home of our ancestors, Heavenly Eden.   

 

 

I will cover more about other fulfilled End Times prophesies in a future series.