THIS word in three places in Scripture (Luke 23:43; 2 Con 12:4; Rev. 2:7) is used to describe the blessedness of the immediate presence of God in heaven, which it is the privilege of the believer in Christ to enjoy in spirit now, and in glory to come. It is a word thus used in connection with the new creation which God is now forming, and it is real happiness, which once obtained, has no end, is eternal in its character, that which God has to give, not what man can attain to, neither purchase or obtain by anything of his own, or anything he can do. Often this word is used in reference to earth rather than heaven, and we read of our first parents, Adam and Eve, being driven out of the garden of Eden, in that which our own poet has written in a piece called “Paradise Lost," which fact is also recorded by God Himself in Gen. 3:24.
Now using it as well it a similar way, to present our subject, I think it will be profitable to consider three things-first, how man lost paradise, that is on earth; secondly, how he seeks to have a paradise without God, on the earth; thirdly, how God, in rich grace, has opened the way, not for man to regain the paradise he has lost, certainly not to obtain a paradise without Him, but for him to obtain that paradise which is in heaven, where Christ, the second Man, and the last Adam now is, that to which the word properly refers.
For the due understanding of these three things, we turn to the Bible, the Word of God, which alone is the truth, and where alone we can learn how things are, and how man stands in reference to God, also how you, my beloved reader, stand as to your own position and condition before Him, with whom we have to do (Heb. 4:13). So to turn to our first point, as to how man has lost paradise, and is outside it moreover, whether on earth or in heaven, unless by grace, he be a believer in. Christ.
Well, the first three chapters of Genesis tell the tale God created and made everything at the outset in this earth (Gen. 2:3), and His Word pronounced it very good, then He planted a garden eastward in Eden (Gen. 2:8), and there He put the man (Adam) whom he had formed.
Could more have been done on earth than He had done to make this man happy? And in addition to this God visited him in this earthly paradise, in which he was set. This is just the simple way in which things first commenced here on this earth. A child believing the inspired record can, by faith, understand, and know for a certainty, what was thus in the beginning.
God started man at first, innocent and happy, and the question was would he abide in the estate he was in. To this end, and to prove forever after that he could not stand by himself, yea, could only stand as absolutely upheld and kept by God, a test was ordained in the midst of that beautiful paradise, two trees were made to grow (Gen. 2:9), one called the tree of life, the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and a command went forth, " Ye shall not eat of the fruit of it, lest ye die" (Gen. 3:3). The question was, would man, left to the exercise of his own responsibility, obey God or not. Soon came the answer; tempted by the serpent's lie (Gen. 3:4-5.) Eve, then Adam, took of the fruit which was forbidden, became thus sinners, and lost paradise, being driven out by God Himself, who placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Gen. 3:24).
What a terrible destructive thing sin is, dear reader, only think of it: you might perhaps think lightly of an act similar to that Adam was thus guilty of; simply picking and eating fruit he was told not to. A child in the fruit season of the year might often do so; yet, beloved, Adam lost paradise on account of that one little act.
What is sin? Doing one's own will, disobedience to God's will; whether this is shown out in a little thing or a great thing it is the very essence of sin. Behold then what God thinks about sin, and what must He think about you, who have over and over again, for you must acknowledge it, if you look the truth in the face, done many an act worse than the above.
Is God so particular as that? perhaps you say.
The answer is, He is holy, and reckons accordingly. Yet do not despair: for although man is outside paradise, and you, as one of Adam's race, are born outside it, and away from God, and have sinned against Him, we shall see presently how He has opened a way back to Himself in paradise in heaven, not on earth.
But for the moment I want you seriously to consider your position by nature and by practice; do not refuse the truth, but bow before God in the acknowledgment of it, and behold yourself a sinner driven out of the presence of God, of an outcast race, and one who has multiplied your acts of sin up to this very moment: such, indeed, is the position of every one, who is still away from God, and unsaved.
Paradise is lost on earth forever, and no happiness can be known until the sinner turns back to God, who is alone the source of it, and who is gracious as well as holy. Ah I men do not like this, to look, as they think, at things so strictly and rigidly. Do you, my reader?
Well, God does, and He declares unto us His counsel. He cannot sanction sin, it is an outrage on His majesty; He has in love found a way to put it away, but sanction it He cannot. He may bear with it during this day of grace, but visit it upon the unrepentant in the Day of Judgment He most surely will.
Do you, then, take His thoughts, and let go your own, and do not let prejudice hinder you to the ruin of your soul, as many do. It may seem difficult to you to understand, but, beloved, what I press is this, it is God's account, God's reckoning, and your wisdom is to believe it; it is mercy on His part to make it known. If you do this, you will be led in repentance to own yourself as guilty before Him, and be anxious to know what you must do to be saved.
But, before we answer this question in accordance with our subject, I turn to my second point, and address a few words to help, I trust, some, by showing how in most cases, man, an outcast from the paradise of God, is seeking to obtain a paradise of his own, without Him.
I find that, Adam having lost paradise, no more to regain the same, a son of that very man, Cain, born after his sinful likeness, sought to do this, He, not only sinful by birth, but willfully remaining in that state, for he would not avail himself like his brother Abel, of God's own provision, to meet his case (Heb. 11:4), went out from the presence of the Lord, and built a city, calling it after the name of his son Enoch (Gen. 4:16,17), and his family and descendants became the authors of all that which made his city a pleasant and comfortable place to dwell in (Gen. 4:21, 22).
Having rejected. God, and turned his back upon Him, he and his, use the creatures of His hand, with their own inventions, to make, if it were possible, a kind of paradise of this poor, sinful world, without Him. We see the commencement, on a small scale, of all that is found in the world to-day, that which is comprised in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. What do we see before our eyes? What are men doing? For the most part, seeking to obtain as much of this world as they can, and enjoy it in the way that suits their particular tastes or likings best, seeking happiness or paradise where it is not to be found, for all under the sun is vanity and vexation of spirit (Eccl. 1:14), a just conclusion, that a certain man named Solomon—one who had greater opportunities than any of us—came to.
But perhaps you say there is no harm in these things. I answer, the harm is the use people make of them to shut out God from their thoughts (Psa. 10:4). There is a time, too, found for everything, "but Christ”
(Eccl. 3:1-8), and it is only as a true believer has Him for his object and that he has to take up these things consistently with Him, that he has any liberty to have to do with them, and serve God. But, my reader, let me ask you, if you are seeking now a paradise under the sun, have you not found in some measure, the vanity of so doing. God may allow a man to obtain what he seeks after, to climb step by step to the top round of the ladder in his particular pursuits, and then, to show the vanity of it, death comes— and what then? After death, the judgment (Heb. 9:27). Ah! what shall profit a man, if he gain the whole world, any lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37).
What? I solemnly ask you, my reader. Let not present and temporal gain or pleasure be your choice, at the expense of future and eternal misery.
Perhaps some poor man may say, “Well, I have not much of a time of it on this earth.”
Often such an one thinks that because he has so much trouble and suffering here he will therefore escape judgment in the next world.
But then the truth is, if your circumstances were more prosperous, you would most probably act just the same as your rich neighbor, for in the springs of our nature, all are alike. The one thing, my reader, for you is, whether you are rich, do not let your riches, or whether you are poor, do not let your cares (Matt. 13:22) allow you to go on without God, for paradise is not elsewhere to be found, and every one of us shall give account of himself to Him (Rom. 14:12).
Cain made the city a pleasant place, his sons made the country so (Gen. 4:20), and men do the same to-day, and have their religion too, but it is condemned in the epistle of Jude as the "way of Cain." Oh, my reader, may you put yourself and course to the test in the solemn light of God's revelation. A mistake on this point involves eternal issues. Do not think these are the particular views of any one, but look into God's own Word, and see them verified; weigh up all now in the balances of the sanctuary, do not put it off with the thought that you will take your chalice, and you will get on as well as others, when God is speaking plainly to you, and may be your conscience is feeling the truth of it. I press this momentous question upon you, ere it be too late. Hearken to the warning note, that you may have an ear open to hear the note of grace and love, God sounds in the Gospel to meet you just where you are, to save you, to show you the way back to Himself, to land you in the paradise of His presence, and to deliver you from whatever man vainly endeavors to persuade himself is happiness and a paradise without Him.
If now, you understand from these simple words, how Adam lost paradise at the first, and Cain's family seeks it away from God, and Solomon in all his glory could only conclude that all under the sun was vanity and vexation of spirit, let me call your earnest attention to the third thing, named at the commencement of this paper, how God has opened the way for man, for anyone who may see these lines, to obtain that paradise which is in His presence in heaven, where Christ is.
Think of Calvary, where the Son of God was crucified between two thieves. What do we see there? Look at those three crosses erected outside the walls of Jerusalem: on the center one hung Jesus, the Son of God, on either side of Him was a thief, two transgressors suffering the penalty of their crimes amongst their fellow men; these two thieves represent simply the two classes of the whole human race, to one of which you, my reader, at this very moment belong; both were sinners, exceedingly, not fit to live here; both at first railed on the Lord of glory (Mark 15:32); one whilst hanging there said in the unbelief of his heart, " If thou be Christ, save thyself and us" (Luke 23:39); the other, just as he was, a poor wretched dying thief, by faith was brought, with the fear of God upon his soul, to repentance, to own himself a sinner, and that they were suffering justly the due reward of their deeds (Luke 23:41), accompanying the acknowledgment of his own state, with the confession of Jesus as Lord (v. 42), saying to Him, " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." There was repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelief characterized the one, faith the other, and Christ was the object.
Christ is God's way back into His presence in paradise above. We present Christ to you.
Which thief are you like? We, as those two, are alike, as to ourselves, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). What then, made the difference? One thing, mark it well, it was a question of faith or unbelief. There was the Saviour, the one confessed Him, trusted Him, believed. in Him, died, and according to the word of Jesus Himself, went with him to paradise on high (Luke 23:43); the other died with an "if" on his lips, and in the thoughts of his heart, unbelieving, and for such the lake of fire for eternity is the portion (Rev. 21:8).
What think ye of Christ, now raised and glorified in heaven? I ask you. You, as a sinner, need a Saviour; here is one, God sets Him forth (Rom. 3:25). Do you be persuaded to trust Him, and you shall be saved, and paradise shall be your portion for eternity; if not, let the truth be told and pressed home, the lake of fire must be. Now think of the crucified thief, how he was fitted for paradise. I dare say he was the worst man outwardly on earth of his day, or one of them; when nailed to his cross he was, as the other, a railer against Christ. He could do nothing for salvation, bound. up hand and foot as he was, he was not baptized, neither dill he take the Lord's Supper, he never did any good religious works, but just as he was, on account of what Another by his side, Jesus Himself, did, and finished, he went straight there and then, and in company with the Son of God to the best place in heaven, and found Christ to be the way to the very paradise of God's presence.
Such, beloved, was, and is still, the efficacy of the finished-work, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we invite you to trust it and prove it for yourself; without this, you must die in your sins (John 8:21-24), and perish eternally.
Solemn thought. Just now, trusting it, you will thus find your way back to paradise, by the way God has Himself in love opened up through the blood shedding of His own dear Son. May you, seeing this, the only way open, decide for Christ, be found believing in His precious Name, and though the flaming sword of the cherubim, turning every way, guarded the gate of Eden, and barred. the way back to paradise below (Gen. 3:24), yet you shall know what it is to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God in heaven above (Rev. 2:7).
“The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may you, as vile as he,
Wash all your sins away.”
J. S. C.