A question was asked in one of our church's youth life groups:
Would you rather be in Eden or here now, on earth?
An interesting question. Let me expand the discussion and add in "or in heaven".
I think the question comes from the point of view that life here on earth is pretty good. We have endless entertainment possibilities. We have a wonderful world to explore, all kinds of food to eat and plenty of places to visit. We have our tech gadgets to play with, we have the Internet, etc. Life on earth seems pretty good.
But life on earth is also mired in sin. We have a sin nature that causes us to do evil. Every day we make poor choices, we hurt friends and family, not to mention ourselves. We get lost chasing dreams and desires, and especially money, and we end up piercing ourselves with many pangs (1 Timothy 6:10).
As C.S. Lewis puts it, wanting to enjoy the earth is like spending time in the slums, making and playing with mud pies while we've spurned the invitation to spend our time at the beach.
God has planned so much more for us! Eden is a foretaste of it. Eden was very good, there was no sin and Adam and Eve spent time with God every day. He walked with them. How amazing. But that's nothing compared to heaven. You see, Adam and Eve's understanding of God was only partial. In Eden, they knew his loving and creative side but they did not fully understand God's righteousness, wrath and justice. They understood that perfectly well once they sinned. Then they experience something else: his mercy and grace in promising them a saviour (Genesis 3:14–15). With the fall, they had a fuller understanding of God.
We too, fallen creatures that we are, understand God better than if we were in Eden. So when we get to heaven, how great the recjoicing will be. We will rememebr our time as sinners and rebels and how we were rescued by God. And we will never want to go back there again. We will never sin again. And we will enjoy God's presence forever.
And heaven's joys and pleasures are indescribable. Just like a baby in the womb cannot imagine what the world outside is like, we simply have no concept of how wonderful heaven will be. In heaven, we will be fully able to enjoy each other and God without sin making a mess of everything. Our lives will be infinitely better. Heaven is not about angels and harps and endless singing. We will spend time with the King of the universe, in his home. How cool is that?
Revelation 21:2-5
And I saw a the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I l am making all things new.”
That's where I want to be.
