Hello everyone.
In our previous video, we learned that the Bible never actually says that we go to heaven. This can be difficult for many to accept because they’ve grown up with the idea that heaven is a place where the righteous go to live. That idea becomes even more confusing when we hear Jesus say things like this:
“Rejoice in that day and leap, for, look! your reward is great in heaven, for those are the same things their forefathers used to do to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22).
But in a parallel recording of that by Matthew, we find a slightly different rendering:
“Rejoice and leap for joy, since your reward is great in the heavens; for in that way they persecuted the prophets prior to you.” (Matthew 5:12)
But in the same context, Matthew also records Jesus telling us that we will inherit the earth.
“Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)
So, maybe we need to stop thinking about heaven as a physical location. Maybe it’s something else. I mean, what if we’re being shaped by church mythology, and yes, I’m including Jehovah’s Witnesses when I say, church mythology. What if heaven isn’t a place you go to? What if heaven is something else, something that comes to you? For that matter, what if paradise is also not a location or a place, but something else. What if, within the context of Christian belief, there really isn’t much difference between heaven and paradise?
Let’s start with heaven. If we view it as a place, a spiritual geographic location, we immediately run into some serious problems. What is the promise that God has made with those who love him and obey him? Is it not that they will form a kingdom of priests and rule on the earth? That’s what Revelation 5:10 promises to those whom Yehováh has adopted as his children. His promise, made solid as a covenant or contractual agreement which God has sworn to, is that his children will rule with Jesus as a kingdom of priests.
But to what end? What was the role of a priest in Israel? Remember, the Mosaic Law was a shadow of things to come, so the priesthood under the law was foreshadowing something greater.
When someone sinned, they went to the priest with an offering. The priest acted as a mediator between the sinner and God so their sins could be forgiven. Where did this take place? Right there—where the sinner was.
So how could we serve as priests if we’re far away in some distant heaven? If heaven is a place, then to be there, we’d have to stay there. And if we leave that place, we leave our reward behind. I live in Canada. If I travel to Mexico, I leave Canada. I don’t bring Canada with me. But what if I could? Let’s stop thinking in physical, fleshly terms and begin to see with spiritual eyes.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
The way to what? To heaven? No, to God.
“No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Jesus didn’t come to offer us a highway to heaven. He came to restore our way back to God.
This was all foreshadowed in the law code. Moses was given detailed instructions for the tabernacle, which included the Most Holy chamber, where God’s presence was said to dwell. God was with the Israelites during their journey in the wilderness. In the promised land, when Solomon replaced the tabernacle with the temple, God’s presence filled the Most Holy place. A curtain separated the Holy from the Most Holy.
And what happened when Jesus died? That curtain was torn in two symbolizing that the way was now open for us to be with the one who dwelt in the Most Holy. Jesus didn’t come to sell us some celestial real estate. He came to restore us to a personal father/son relationship with our Father, Yehováh.
The fleshly mind has trouble with this. The fleshly mind thinks in fleshly terms, three-dimensional terms. It fixates on locations. So when the fleshly mind reads scriptures like this one, it sees geographic places:
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3 ESV)
Did Jesus leave to build us houses in heaven?
We’ve been awaiting his return for centuries, but when he comes, it will be to rule as king on the earth. So are the “places” he’s preparing literal homes in heaven, or is he referring to roles in his future administration? Let’s keep reading.
“And you know the way to where I am going.” (John 14:4 ESV)
No, we don’t. Not if we’re talking about heaven as a place we go to. We don’t have the road map to heaven, do we? What we do know is how to get into the kingdom of God, because that’s not a place we go to. It’s a position that we secure for ourselves by listening to and obeying our Lord.
At that moment, Jesus’ disciples hadn’t yet received the holy spirit—the spirit that would guide them into all truth (John 16:13). So it’s understandable that they were still thinking in literal, fleshly terms, as Thomas’s question shows:
“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
Jesus tried to show Thomas he has to stop thinking about travelling to some location.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6, 7 ESV)
The way isn’t to “heaven”—it’s to the Father. Jesus isn’t offering material rewards or houses in the sky. He’s offering something far greater: a restored, living relationship with our Heavenly Father. And the way to step into that is very clear.
Jesus says:
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him….If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:21, 23 ESV)
Hold on, hold on! We don’t go to God. We little, insignificant, dust-of-the-earth, puny humans, do not go to God. God comes to us and makes his home with us?!
Wow!
But isn’t that exactly what the Tabernacle was? A physical structure with a most holy place where God’s presence dwelt among the Israelites? Isn’t that what Solomon’s temple symbolized? The tearing of the curtain at Jesus’ death didn’t represent a way into a distant heaven—it represented access to God. Heaven is wherever Yehováh is.
With that in mind, let’s take a serious look at paradise. Jehovah’s Witnesses are constantly encouraged to remain loyal to the instructions of the Governing Body. They are warned about the danger of leaving the Organization. If they do, they’re told they’ll miss out on living in a paradise earth.
Most Christians associate paradise with the Garden of Eden. Yet in the Hebrew Scriptures, the term “paradise” is never used to describe Eden. It only appears in the Septuagint—a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures made in the 3rd century BCE. The Greek word παράδεισος (parádeisos) is of Persian origin and means a garden or cultivated enclosure.
Today, we have many beautiful gardens, but that’s not what most people picture when they think of paradise. And yet, we do associate Eden with paradise. But why? What truly made Eden paradise? Let’s not assume—let’s look at the evidence.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe they already have the answer. Their publications teach that the entire earth will be restored to a garden-like state. The term “earthly paradise” has been used thousands of times in Watchtower literature. This hope of a physical paradise earth motivates millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses to remain loyal to the teachings of the Governing Body.
With the constant repetition of this message, you’d expect to find the concept of a paradise earth all over the Christian Scriptures. But surprisingly, neither Jesus nor any New Testament writer ever speaks of living on a paradise earth. In fact, the word “paradise” only appears three times in the Christian Scriptures. Let’s examine each one closely.
We’ll start with the final mention, found in Revelation:
“Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations: To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7 NWT)
You’ll remember that Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life and living forever (Genesis 3:22–24). But is this verse in Revelation talking about a literal garden on earth?
Let’s consider who it's addressed to. This message is directed to the congregations—specifically, the seven congregations mentioned in Revelation—each composed of spirit-anointed disciples of Christ. Even JW.org admits this.
In a Watchtower article titled “Does the Bible Promise an Earthly Paradise?”, we read:
This figurative “paradise of God” is in the invisible heavens. (w83 10/15 p. 4)
Okay, so paradise doesn’t refer to a literal garden. Let’s move to the next occurrence where we find Paul defending his apostleship against false apostles seeking to steal the congregation away for themselves.
“I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell” (2 Corinthians 12:1-4 NIV).
In Jewish thought, heaven was often described in three layers:
First heaven – the sky or atmosphere (where birds fly)
Second heaven – outer space (sun, moon, stars)
Third heaven – the spiritual realm where God dwells.
So when Paul says he was caught up to the third heaven, he’s describing an extraordinary spiritual encounter—an experience of being in the presence of God.
Again, we’re not talking about a gardenlike earth, but a spiritual state.
Now, ask yourself: what do the Garden of Eden, Paul’s vision of paradise, and the paradise in Revelation all have in common?
The answer: the presence of God.
Adam and Eve were at peace with God. Yehováh was their Father, and like any loving father, He walked with His children, taught them, and guided them.
Look at Genesis 3:8:
“And they heard the sound of the [Yehováh] God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” (Genesis 3:8 NKJV).
Paul, at the time of writing to the Corinthians, was also a child of God. And John’s message in Revelation was directed to congregations filled with anointed children of God.
So what makes a place “paradise”? Not the greenery. Paradise is being in the presence of God—at peace with Him—as His beloved children. That’s why Eden was a paradise. Not because of its beauty, but because Yehováh dwelt with them. The spiritual and the physical overlapped.
Heaven is where God is. And when our Father makes His dwelling with humankind, then heaven and earth will overlap, and we’ll be in paradise. Jesus and his co-heirs will rule on earth as a kingdom of priests to restore fallen humankind back into the family of God. The tent of God will be with humanity. The New Jerusalem will descend to earth.
When will all this occur?
We find the answer in Paul’s words to the Corinthians:
“But when all things will have been subjected to [Jesus], then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
What a wonderful thought that is. God is not yet all things to everyone. But when Jesus finishes his work, when inherited sins is no more, and all people have accepted their adoption as God’s children, then Yehováh will once again be all things to everyone.
He will dwell with us. Teach us. Talk with us. Just like a loving Father will always do with His children.
That’s paradise!
This brings us to the third and final mention of the word “paradise”—a verse that has puzzled many for a long time. I’m referring to the moment when Jesus spoke to the evildoer being executed beside him, telling him he would be in paradise, as recorded in Luke 23:43. But we’ll explore that in the next video.
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