In the Book of Genesis, the Paradise was not mentioned, though the Garden of Eden was described as if it was a paradise where food, and plants are abundant. A place where life seemed comfortable.
I. Garden in the East of Eden
Location:
The Garden was placed in the east of Eden.
Eden was being watered by a river that flows to four heads:
- Pishon river – encircles the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold that’s good, beryllium and onyx stone.
- Gihon river – encircles the whole land of Ethiopia.
- Deklat (Tigris) river– flows east of Assyria
- Euphrates river
Genesis 2:8,10-14, LBP (Lamsa)
“₈ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
₁₀ And a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it divided and became into four heads.
₁₁ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which encircles the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
₁₂ And the gold of that land is good; there is also beryllium and the onyx stone.
₁₃ And the name of the second river is Gihon, the one which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia.
₁₄ And the name of the third river is Deklat (Tigris); it is the one which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.“
Because of the geographical location mentioned here, we could conclude that the paradise in the Garden of Eden is located somewhere in the Earth. However, it could be difficult or almost impossible to find them especially if the maps that we have aren’t accurate or the places we know now is no longer they were originally called. Moreover, after the encounter of Satan and Eve on the Garden it has been protected to protect the tree of life, which makes it inaccessible.
What’s in the Garden?
1. Trees in the garden
The garden has a lot of trees.
Kind of trees in the garden
- tress pleasant to see and good for food and may freely eat
- tree of life -located in the middle of the garden
- tree of the knowledge of good and evil – prohibited to be eat for those who consume it will die
Genesis 2:9, 16-17, LBP Lamsa
“₉ And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
₁₆ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
₁₇ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.“
2. Adam and Eve
God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden
Genesis 2:8, 15 – LBP
“₈ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
₁₅ And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it.“
3. Serpent is in the garden
Even and the serpent had spoken in the garden, when the serpent was luring Eve to eat it
Genesis 3:1-24, LBP – Lamsa
“₁Now the serpent was more subtle than all the wild beasts that the LORD God had made. And the serpent said to the woman, Truly has God said that you shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
₂ And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of all the trees of the garden;
₃ But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
₄ And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die;
₅ For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.
₆ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that the tree was delightful to look at, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and she also gave to her husband with her; and he did eat.
₇ Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
What happened to Garden of Eden
Tree of life is guarded by a cherubim and a flaming sword. So Adam and descendants can’t go in there
Genesis 3:24, LBP – Lamsa
“₂₃ Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
₂₄ So the LORD God drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the path to the tree of life.“
II. Where Can We See the Garden of Eden? Is Garden of Eden the Paradise?
To have a clue where the garden of Eden is, we could look where we could find what’s unique and most important in the Garden of Eden – and that is, the tree of lIfe. In the Book of Revelation, the tree of life has been mentioned again along with the river. It states in Revelation 2:7 that the tree of life is located in the midst of the paradise of God which seems to suggest that the paradise of God is the Garden of Eden, because the tree of life located at the Garden of Eden, or if it’s not particularly the Garden of Eden, then probably, the paradise is Eden. If we go back to Genesis, the Garden of Eden is just located at the eastward of Eden.
| Verse | Content | Content | Verse |
| Genesis 2:9 | tree of life in the midst of the garden | LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden | Genesis 2:8 |
| Revelation 2:7 | tree of life, in the midst of the paradise of God |
Genesis 2:8 LBP (Lamsa)
₈ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 2:9 LBP Lamsa
“₉ And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Revelation 2:7, Lamsa
“7He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches: To him who overcomes, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of my God.“
Revelation 22:14, 18-19, Lamsa
“14 Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
18 I testify to every man who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his portion from the tree of life, and from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.“
Revelation 22:2, Lamsa
“2 In the midst of the great street of the city, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve kind of fruits, and each month it yielded one of its fruits; and the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the people.”
III. Christ mentioned the Paradise as a place He would go to
Christ himself mentioned about the paradise before he died and said it to the person crucified next to him.
Luke 23:39, 40-43 Lamsa
“39 Now one of the malefactors who were crucified with him, blasphemed against him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and save us also.
40 But the other rebuked him, and said to him, Do you not fear even God, for you are also in the same judgment?
41 And ours is just, for we are paid as we deserve and as we have done; but he has done nothing wrong.
42 And he said to Jesus, Remember me, my Lord, when you come in your kingdom. 43Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise.“
IV. Paradise in the Third Heaven
Paradise is in in third heaven or paradise is the third heaven, and the body, and according to Paul it’s indescribable whether the person he saw there was in the body or without the body.
2 Corinthians 12:1-4, LBP
“₁ Boasting is proper, but there is no advantage in it, and I prefer to relate the visions and revelations of our LORD.
₂ I knew a man in Christ more than fourteen years ago, but whether I knew him in the body or without the body, I do not know: God knows; this very one was caught up to the third heaven.
₃ And I still know this man, but whether in the body or whether without the body, I cannot tell; God knows;
₄ How that he was caught up to paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
Heaven Strongs’ Number is G3772 which refers to ouranoj, pronounced as “oo-ran-os’:. It is said to be similar to 3735 because of the elevation idea; the sky; by extension, heaven (as the abode of God); by implication, happiness, power, eternity; specially, the Gospel (Christianity):–air, heaven(-ly), sky. In Hebrew Strong: H410 H776 H4791 H7549 H7834 H8064, it means the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings. Also, it refers to the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it that is (1) the universe, the world, (2) the aerial heavens or sky, the region where the clouds and the tempests gather, and where thunder and lightning are produced, (3) the sidereal or starry heavens.
Paradise Strongs’ Number: G3857 which refers to paradeisoj pronounced as “par-ad’-i-sos’:. It is of Oriental origin (compare 6508); which means a park, that is (specially), an Eden (place of future happiness, “paradise”):–paradise. H6508. In Hebrew Strong: H1588 H5731 H6508. It means (1) heaven, (2) the upper regions of the heavens. According to the early church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, neither on the earth or in the heavens, but above and beyond the world (3) the part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of pious until the resurrection: but some understand this to be a heavenly paradise (4) among the Persians a grand enclosure or preserve, hunting ground, park, shady and well-watered, in which wild animals, were kept for the hunt; it was enclosed by walls and furnished with towers for the hunters. (5) a garden, pleasure ground – grove, park
References:
- Lamsa Bible Translation
- Strong’s Concordance
- Heaven definition retrieved from God Rules godrules.net/library/strongs2b/gre3772.htm
- Paradise definition retrieved from God Rules. godrules.net/library/strongs2b/gre3857.htm
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The book of Genesis described the garden of Eden as if it was a paradise. Christ himself mentioned about the paradise before he died and said it to the person crucified next to him. In The book of Revelation paradise is still mentioned. From the beginning, at the middle and in the end of the bible, paradise was mentioned, hence it means that there is indeed a paradise that we haven’t seen yet. But is the bible talking about one paradise only? We’re not quite sure and so we just listed below how the paradise/s in the bible are described. Though we itemize the paradise/s mentioned in the bible here, we are not suggesting they are different or the same. We merely presenting how they were described in the bible. Should we gain more wisdom about paradise, we will update this post.
Everlasting 