Paradise: God's Eternal Plan for People and the Earth

By Jeff Mann

What will eternity be like?

You are an eternal being created by God to enjoy Him and the rest of His creation forever. God doesn't want you guessing what your eternal future will be like; He has recorded the important details about eternity in the Bible so that you can make informed decisions in this life that wi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Encounter Ministries
• Release date: Apr 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736883914

Jeff Mann

Jeff Mann is a professor of creative writing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is the author of numerous books, including Endangered Species: A Surly Bear in the Bible Belt; Redneck Bouquet: Gay Poems from Appalachia; and Purgatory: A Novel of the Civil War. He also coedited LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia.

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Copyright © 2020 by Jeff Mann

Paradise: God’s Eternal Plan for People and the Earth

by Jeff Mann

Unless otherwise indicated, all italics in Scripture quotations are added by the author.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The AMPLIFIED Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987, 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition), Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBNs: 978-1-7368839-0-7 (Print)

978-1-7368839-1-4 (E-book)

Introduction

The Bible says that God has planted eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Think about that. When God created our spirits and knit us together in our mothers’ wombs, He wired us to know instinctively that we will live for ever. Why?

First, God wants us to know that we will never cease to exist. We are eternal beings made in the image of the eternal God. God built us to live forever, and nothing can ever change that. Death is not an end; it is a doorway through which we transition into eternal existence in heaven or hell. God has given us this life to choose where and how we will spend our eternal existence.

We are eternal! We are not temporary projects for God to play with and then discard. He made us with the dream of enjoying us forever. As a loving Father, God designed us to be His children and enjoy life with Him forever. Therefore, we were built to last!

Second, God wants us to seek Him. Why would God implant within us an instinctive awareness of our eternal nature? He intends that our instinct for true knowledge of the afterlife would cause us to seek Him. In response, the eternal Father reveals Himself to us, leading us into a glorious relationship with Him.

Third, God wants us to know the details about eternity. God doesn’t intend for us to live in the dark concerning what eternity will be like. For this reason, He has implanted the awareness of eternity in the human heart and recorded the important details about eternity in the Bible for us to learn. God is the only one who really knows what eternity is like because He is the only one who has been there. Everybody else just makes their best guess, but God speaks from perfect knowledge. He wants us to know the basic facts about eternity so that we can make informed decisions in this life, not random guesses about how we should live.

When it comes to the subject of eternity, ignorance is not bliss. Some people prefer to ignore the warning in their heart about eternity because they are afraid of the truth. However, ignoring reality doesn’t make it go away; it only leaves us unprepared for the inevitable. Ignoring eternity leaves us condemned to a life of foolish choices and an eternity of painful consequences.

Fourth, God wants us to know that there is a direct correlation between the choices we make in this life and how we will spend eternity. Knowing the truth about eternity is wonderful! It empowers us to live with insider knowledge about the long-term consequences of our present choices. Contemplating what the Bible says about life in heaven thrills the soul and emboldens us to persevere in right living with the joyful expectation of eternal rewards. Arming ourselves with understanding about the horror of hell motivates us to turn away from sin and sacrificially share the way to avoid hell with others. Those who stay mindful about the brevity of this life and the eternal significance of their everyday choices live each day with an enormous sense of destiny.

Moses prayed, Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom (Psalm 90:12). The purpose of this book is to empower you with biblical understanding of God’s eternal plan for people and the earth so that you can live wisely in light of eternity.

1: Why Study the End Times?

The end times, or eschatology, as theologians call it, is the study of the return of Jesus, the events that lead up to His return and the events that will follow His return. There is a growing number of people in the world who are hungry for truth on this subject. They see the crazy things happening in society and instinctively know that something important is going on, but they don’t know what it is or how to prepare for it. They have real questions. They are scared, confused, longing for substantive hope, and searching for answers. They are wondering, Why are these things happening? Is there a powerful God who can protect me, give me peace and purpose, and help me make sense of this storm? If so, where is He? How can I get in touch with Him? Can anybody explain to me what is happening and give me hope? I’ve heard hints of prophecies in the Bible that talk about stuff like this. Is this stuff mentioned in the book of Rev elation?

This is a massive open door for evangelism! These questions are turning people’s hearts toward eternity and ripening the harvest right before our eyes. We need to be equipped to give solid, biblical answers to their questions and point them toward following Jesus and living in His unshakable kingdom.

I experienced this firsthand when I met Say Tong, an Asian teenager from a Buddhist family, who knew very little about the Bible. He sat with me in a local park, along with two of his friends, asking me questions about the end times. One of his friends, Eh So, had briefly shared the gospel with him a few weeks before. By his own admission, Say Tong had listened politely, but was mostly disinterested in the subject until God visited him in a dream shortly afterward, awakening an earnest desire in him to learn more about Jesus.

Of all the questions he could have asked me to learn about God, Say Tong began with What is the mark of the beast? We opened the Bible to Revelation 13 and read what it says about the mark of the beast. I explained, "An evil, demonized man will arise in the future and demand that people worship him as God. He will insist that people willingly accept a mark on their bodies as a sign of their loyalty and devotion to him. He will demand that those who refuse to worship him and take his mark be killed, and nobody will be able to buy or