If Abraham had salvation in Jesus, His death and resurrection three days later for propitiation of sin - then why did Abraham sacrifice a ram instead of Issac?
Is there any verse in the old testament that God would sacrifice His Own Son for propitiation for the sins of mankind?
Also, why did them you say had salvation, without Jesus having died for their sins and rose again from the grave overcoming death - do animal sacrifices? Even so, in the temple?
And don't you say that if another temple is built where sacrifices are done would be an affront to God? Because salvation is based on the shed blood of Jesus, and not animal sacrifices.
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Abraham and all in the old testament did not have salvation - they had hope for salvation, and they had faith in God which righteousness, not salvation, was credited to them.
The story of Lazarus and the rich man, Abraham and Lazarus were not in heaven, but paradise.
When Jesus brought back Lazarus from the dead, did Lazarus testify of what it was like in heaven?
Lazarus never departed this life. He simply slept until Jesus spoke to him.
After the penitent thief requested that the Lord would
“remember” him when He comes into
“thy kingdom.” The Lord immediately responded
“Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
Right from the outset, we see the definite connecting of entering paradise with entering the heavenly kingdom. To say otherwise is to butcher the text. Why would Jesus promise this thief paradise when every other believer since the fall went direct to Abraham’s bosom upon death?
Was Abraham’s bosom not paradise?
We need to 1st rewind the tape to the beginning and remember that God’s perfect will for man was that he would abide in paradise forever. This represented perfect uninterrupted communion with God. When man fell he was separated from God. That perfect communion was broken.
As we look at the Old Testament we see that fallen man could not handle the holy presence of God after this, even when he was forgiven. There were only intermittent manifestations of the Shekinah glory. Generally, this glory was hidden behind a curtain in the temple, and was only experienced once a year by once person – the high priest.
Abraham’s bosom was not God’s perfect plan. Hades itself was
“prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
There is not one single passage Old or New Testament that describes Abraham’s bosom as Paradise.
Why would Abraham’s bosom not be Paradise?
Even the Old Testament believers going there was a result of the fall and a constant reminder of the victory Satan secured over man in the Garden.
Abraham’s bosom was not Paradise. After all: Paradise is where God is. Paradise is where there is perfect peace, perfect order and perfect uninterrupted communion with Him. It is where the will of God is supreme.
Abraham’s bosom was God’s permissive will and was a reality that had to be rectified. After all the Old Testament redeemed were still separated from God – something that did not constitute Paradise.
Paradise is a Persian term meaning a royal garden or a hunting-park. It gradually over the years became a synonym for Eden. The
Hebrew word pardes (פרדס) occurs three times in the
Old Testament, but never directly in the context of Eden. However, every time it refers to orchards / gardens. It can be found in the
Song of Solomon 4:13,
Ecclesiastes 2:5 and Nehemiah 2:8.
Genesis 2:8-9:
“And the LORD God planted a garden (paradeisos)
eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God 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 (paradeisos),
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
The Greek word for paradise (paradeisos) is used 27 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint). The first thirteen times are in Genesis 2 and 3, all references to the Garden in Eden, of course. Other references in the Old Testament to the Garden in Eden use this same Greek word. But it is also employed to refer to a beautiful Royal garden in Scripture.
The Greek New Testament that Christ and the Apostles often used which was written in the 3rd century BC.
It is in the Jewish
apocalyptic literature and in the
Talmud that Paradise gets its association with the Garden of Eden (and its heavenly prototype).
Genesis 3:23-24: “
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden (paradeisos)
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden (paradeisos)
of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
This was Paradise lost!!
Man was not allowed to go into the presence of God – only under certain circumstances.
The priest once a year on the day of atonement.
New Testament
Paradise was lost right up until the cross.
In the
New Testament Paradise becomes synonymous with heaven and the New Jerusalem.
When Jesus prophesied to the dying thief, in Luke 23:43,
“Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise”
How could Jesus promise this thief Paradise when every other believer since the fall went direct to Abraham’s bosom upon death?
Was Abraham’s bosom paradise?
He was about to secure the victory that would allow the redeemed Old Testament saints to enter direct into Paradise.
He was announcing a massive change in the location believers went to upon death since the beginning of time. He was revealing something absolutely new. Through the work of Christ, God’s people at death would now be taken into the holy presence of God. It took the transaction of the new covenant to realise that.
It was this same place that Paul the Apostle testified, in 2 Corinthians 12:4. After the cross, after the emptying of Abraham bosom, Paul testified in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4:
“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. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
Paradise = the third heaven.
If we compare the location of “the tree of life” in Revelation 2:7 (paradise) and Revelation 22:2, 14 (New Jerusalem), we see that paradise is clearly the New Jerusalem. Revelation 2:7 says,
“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.”
Clearly “the tree of life” in Revelation 2:7 resides within Paradise.
In Revelation 21:2
“John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
In Revelation 22:2, 14 he further describes,
“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life … 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.”
We can safely deduce that the word Paradise is used as another name for the heavenly abode, and particularly the New Jerusalem. No one would surely doubt the location of “the tree of life” here in Revelation 22:2, 14. It is located in the New Jerusalem.
Paradise = the third heaven = the New Jerusalem.
