WAITING

WAITING FOR THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODIES
In the 2nd century AD, Irenaeus distinguished paradise from heaven. In Against Heresies, he
wrote that only those deemed worthy would inherit a home in heaven, while others would enjoy
paradise, and the rest live in the restored Jerusalem
Origen likewise distinguished paradise from heaven, describing paradise as the earthly
"school" for souls of the righteous dead, preparing them for their ascent through the celestial
spheres to heaven.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jehovah's purpose from the start was, and is, to have the
earth filled with the offspring of Adam and Eve as caretakers of a global paradise. After God
had designed this earth for human habitation, however, Adam and Eve rebelled against
Jehovah, so they were banished from the Garden of Eden, or Paradise.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the wicked people will be destroyed at Armageddon and that
many of the righteous (those faithful and obedient to Jehovah) will live eternally in an earthly
Paradise. (Psalms 37:9, 10, 29; Prov. 2:21, 22). Joining the survivors will be resurrected
righteous and unrighteous people who died prior to Armageddon (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15).
The latter are brought back because they paid for their sins by their death and/or because they
lacked opportunity to learn of Jehovah's requirements prior to dying (Rom. 6:23). These will be
judged on the basis of their post-resurrection obedience to instructions revealed in new
"scrolls" (Rev. 20:12). This provision does not apply to those that Jehovah deems to have
sinned against his holy spirit (Matt. 12:31, Luke 12:5).
One of Jesus's last recorded statements before he died were the words to an evildoer hanging
alongside him on a torture stake, "You will be with me in Paradise."—Luke 23:43. Witnesses
believe scriptures such as Matthew 12:40 and 27:63 and Mark 8:31 and 9:31 show that Jesus
himself expected an interval of three days between his own death and resurrection, making
impossible a reunion in Paradise on the same day as Jesus's "you will be with me in Paradise"
statement.
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