PARADISE....THE THIRD HEAVEN

PARADISE…THE THIRD HEAVEN

2 Cor. 12:4 “How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

2 Cor. 12:2  “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.”

Luke 23:43  “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Rev. 2:7 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Rev. 22:2 “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Rev. 22:14 “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

paradise “Paradise” here seems to be synonymous with the “third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2), or more likely some specific part of the third heaven. Although the word “paradise” does not occur in the Old Testament, the Septuagint translators of the Old Testament into Greek did use it to translate “the garden of Eden.” It occurs only two other times in the New Testament. Christ told the dying thief: “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Also, He told the church at Ephesus: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). This statement not only relates paradise back to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22) but also to the future New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:2, 14). Although we cannot now be dogmatic, it seems that paradise (perhaps incorporating also the New Jerusalem now being prepared—John 14:2-3) is that region of the third heaven, where all the departed saints are blissfully awaiting, with Christ, the soon-coming day of His return to earth.