Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.—1 Corinthians 2:9.
Heaven is a school; its field of study, the universe; its teacher, the Infinite One. A branch of this school was established in Eden; and, the plan of redemption accomplished, education will again be taken up in the Eden school. . . .
Between the school established in Eden at the beginning and the school of the hereafter there lies the whole compass of this world’s history—the history of human transgression and suffering, of divine sacrifice, and of victory over death and sin. Not all the conditions of that first school of Eden will be found in the school of the future life. No tree of knowledge of good and evil will afford opportunity for temptation. No tempter is there, no possibility of wrong. Every character has withstood the testing of evil, and none are longer susceptible to its power.
“To him that overcometh,” Christ says, “will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7.) The giving of the tree of life in Eden was conditional, and it was finally withdrawn. But the gifts of the future life are absolute and eternal. . . .
There, when the veil that darkens our vision shall be removed, and our eyes shall behold that world of beauty of which we now catch glimpses through the microscope; when we look on the glories of the heavens, now scanned afar through the telescope; when, the blight of sin removed, the whole earth shall appear in “the beauty of the Lord our God,” what a field will be open to our study! There the students of science may read the records of creation and discern no reminders of the law of evil. They may listen to the music of nature’s voices and detect no note of wailing or undertone of sorrow. In all created things they may trace one handwriting—in the vast universe behold “God’s name writ large,” and not in earth or sea or sky one sign of ill remaining.
There shall be nothing to “hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:25.) There humanity will be restored to its lost kingship, and the lower order of beings will again recognize its sway; the fierce will become gentle, and the timid trustful.—Education, 301-304.
From Homeward Bound - Page 389
Homeward Bound