Chapter 5
5
Paradise
Before we describe the children´s wonderful visions of Paradise we want to show that what the children saw is in line with the Father´s plans for His children, as revealed in His Word.
When the Lord created the first perfect human being and gave him a perfect bride to be at his side he planted a garden ‘in the east, in Eden´.
‘And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.´ (Genesis 2:9)
So right at the beginning God planned for human beings to live in the beauty of nature. He gave Adam and Eve a beautiful home which He Himself had planned and planted. There was no sin, no sickness, no death; there were no thorns or thistles. It was a very different world to the one we know now. It was heaven on earth and human beings could have enjoyed life and happiness there forever.
When sin entered the world, it spoiled creation. Eden and creation were no longer eternal: they became limited by time. Because of sin human beings lost their Eden and the relationship they enjoyed with God.
When human beings are restored they will return to their Eden paradise and to their relationship with God, but it will not be a return to the way things were at creation: a new spiritual order will be established.
The Garden of Eden was a paradise on earth; the Paradise to come is spiritual. But it is just as real. After He was resurrected Christ was real and similar to the way He was before, but at the same time He was spiritual and different. He could still eat and drink with His disciples.1 He had a body which could be touched and hands that could serve fish and bread to His hungry disciples.2 But in His resurrection body the Lord was not limited by the time and space of the material world.
Christ´s resurrection from the dead not only saved fallen human beings: it saved creation too. One day our world with its animals, birds and plants will be reborn. It will be similar to the first creation but it will also be different. No longer will it be subject to corruption and decay. This will be the real order.
‘The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. …the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.´ (Romans 8:19, 21)
So nature and all plant and animal life look forward to being set free. The Bible tells us that those who have been saved by Christ are the ‘first fruits´ of the resurrection life that is to come for the whole of creation.3
Christ Himself is ‘the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation´ (Colossians 1:18). How can this be true unless the animal and plant kingdom will eventually follow and share in this rebirth? Even the earth will take part in this process since ‘in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness´ (2 Peter 2:13). Surely this new earth will have trees and flowers, animals and birds and all the beauty of nation, but they will last forever. On that new earth:
‘The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead
them.´ (Isaiah 11:6)
These things are as certain as the Word of God for:
‘He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.”´ (Revelation 21:5)
John ‘saw a new heaven and a new earth´, and he also ‘saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven´ to the new earth (Revelation 21:1,2).
Just as there was a Garden of Eden on the first earth full of pleasures and delights, so in the New Jerusalem there will be a New Eden. It is already in heaven in the New Jerusalem but it has not come down yet. But it is coming soon. Perhaps this idea will be as new to most of our readers as it was to us. This is because we are so slow to believe what the Scriptures tell us.
We did not teach the children about this Paradise. They taught us. Some of the smallest children, who in the natural knew the least about these matters, were our best teachers. If you compare what they saw with the teaching of the Bible, it is clear that they discovered these truths from the Lord.
The words ‘Paradise´ and ‘Eden´ have the same meaning. ‘Paradise´ is a Persian word which is used in the Septuagint to translate ‘Eden´. ‘Eden´ means ‘a park´ – a place where people can enjoy themselves surrounded by fields and trees. But even the most beautiful parks on earth, with picturesque landscapes, streams, woodland, lovely meadows, flowers, birds and animals, are only pale imitations of the original Garden of Eden. The natural beauty we enjoy so much is a reminder of the Eden that awaits us at the end of our pilgrim journey.
The Adullam children see Paradise
You will be interested as we were in what our Adullam children saw in Paradise. One of the young men found himself in Paradise almost as soon as he entered the heavenly city. There he was met by the two Adullam boys who had died in Hokow. They soon came to a great open space like a huge lawn, surrounded by magnificent trees, which were golden and sparkling. The whole scene was so captivating that the young man said to his heavenly friends: ‘This is good enough for me. There can´t be anything more beautiful than this. I´ll stay right here.´ But the boys said, ‘No, don´t stay here. There are even more amazing things to see.´ They went a little further and came to some even more magnificent trees, some of them bearing fruit. Again, it was so beautiful that we couldn´t begin to imagine it. The young man said, ‘I must stay here. I can´t go on and leave this great beauty. I am so happy.´ But again the boys encouraged him, ‘Come on. There are far more beautiful places to see than this.´ But he replied, ‘You go. I´ll stay here for a while.´ They left him on the smooth, velvety grass under the trees with the great open space in front of him. On earth he had never known such joy and happiness as he knew then.
An angel came walking by, playing a harp and singing. The angel smiled and offered him the harp. ‘I can´t play,´ he said. The angel went on. Soon other angels came, smiling to him as they played and sang.
The angels wore white seamless garments. Their faces were perfect and one was no more beautiful than another. ‘When they smiled – oh, that is impossible to describe,´ said the boy. ‘There is no way on earth to describe an angel´s smile.´
Similar scenes, and even more beautiful ones, were seen over and over again by the Adullam children. They saw trees bearing the most delicious fruit; they saw fields of the most amazing flowers of every shape and colour, giving off the most wonderful fragrance. There were birds with the most glorious plumage and fantastic song. There were also animals of every size and description: large deer, small deer, lions, elephants, rabbits and all sorts of little friendly pets such as they had never seen before.
The children held the pets in their arms and passed them from one to another. Or perhaps they found the lion lying peacefully under a tree. Then they climbed on his back, ran their fingers through his shaggy mane, brushed his face with their hands, and put their hands in his mouth. If they wanted to, they curled down beside him to enjoy the love of their Creator. As we have already seen,
‘The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead
them.´ (Isaiah 11:6)
Little children rode on the small deer while older children rode the larger deer or a friendly elephant. It was a place of perfect love and harmony, full of joy and laughter. Only our Father in heaven could have planned such a Paradise!
When the children were hungry they simply picked the wonderful fruit that grew there or ate the sweet and refreshing manna they found scattered all about. If they were thirsty they drank the water of life from the little streams that trickled here and there through the garden.4
The Bible saints
On the wide open spaces, like huge lawns, groups of the heavenly people would gather and dance and play trumpets with the angels. Sometimes the Adullam children would join in the fun, along with the children, young people and adults, but no one was old. There was so much happiness and joy.
The angels pointed out Abraham, David, Daniel, the prophets and other Bible saints, and those believers who had been martyred. They saw Peter, James, Paul and others of whom the world was not worthy. One of our boys, from the poor Miao tribe, saw his aunt and his own little sister who had died. Our own little Chinese Mary, who died in Kotchiu, joined our boys and took them by the hand.
A vision of a Christian´s death
In his vision the boy saw relatives and friends gathered around the bed of the person who was dying, while an angel stood by waiting for the man´s spirit to be set free. When the time came the angel took the Christian by the hand and led him up to heaven. Evil principalities and powers tried to hinder their progress to heaven but they were overcome by the angel´s faith and praise as they made their way to the heavenly city.
Having been welcomed at the gate, the new arrival was received by a great many angels, singing and dancing with tremendous joy, and together they gave him a royal welcome to the eternal city.
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