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Monday, September 30, 2013

How Do We Know That The Paradise Mentioned For the Future Earth is Literal and not Figurative?



It is evident that the restoration prophecies recorded by the Hebrew prophets include elements that will also
find a physical fulfillment in the restored earthly Paradise. There are features that Isaiah recorded in Isaiah 35:1-7, for example, such as the healing of the blind and the lame, that did not have a literal fulfillment following the restoration from ancient Babylon, nor are they fulfilled in such a manner in the Christian spiritual paradise.

So it would be inconsistent for God to inspire such prophecies as those of Isaiah 11:6-9, Ezekiel 34:25, and Hosea 2:18, with the intention that they have only a figurative or spiritual meaning, without having a literal fulfillment of these things in the physical experiences of God’s servants.

In other words, these recorded Bible prophecies described LITERAL paradise-like conditions that will find fulfillment in a future restored earth.

Note what these Bible scholars say concerning this:

Joseph A. Seiss said, “The whole earth under the Messiah must then ultimately become . . . what it . . . would have been if Adam had never sinned.”

In the commentary The New Testament for English Readers, Henry Alford wrote: “That kingdom of God . . . shall work onwards till it shall become actually a kingdom over this earth, and its subjects shall inherit the earth . . . , finally in its renewed and blessed state for ever."

And famous scientist and keen student of the Bible Isaac Newton wrote: “The earth shall continue to be inhabited by mortals [humans] after the day of judgment and that not only for 1000 years, but even for ever.”

Recommended Related Articles:

Paradise - Links to Information (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)

The Bible’s Viewpoint - Will Earth Be a Paradise? (ip-1 chap. 28 pp. 369-381; Watchtower Online Library)

What is the Paradise that Jesus promised to the evildoer who died alongside him? (Insight-2 pp. 574-577; Watchtower Online Library)

Life in a Restored Paradise (JW.ORG)

THE BIBLE’S VIEWPOINT - Paradise (JW.ORG)



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