The New Jerusalem will also be the paradise of God. According to the Bible there is more than one kind of paradise. Many Christians consider the garden of Eden as a paradise (Gen. 2:8). However, the Bible does not call the garden of Eden a paradise. Thus, in the Bible, there are just two paradises, the paradise mentioned by the Lord Jesus in Luke 23:43 and the New Jerusalem.
To the thief who asked the Lord to remember him when He came into His kingdom, the Lord Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Only by studying a number of other verses can we locate this paradise. Luke 23:43 reveals that immediately after His death, the Lord Jesus went to paradise. Acts 2:27 and 31 reveal that after the Lord Jesus died, He went to Hades, and Matthew 12:40 indicates that Hades is in “the heart of the earth,” where the Lord Jesus went for three days and three nights after His death. In Hades there is a pleasant section likened to Abraham’s bosom, where Lazarus went (Luke 16:23). Thus, the paradise mentioned by the Lord in Luke 23:43 is the pleasant section of Hades. According to the Lord’s word in Luke 16, there are two sections in Hades, and between these sections there is a great chasm. When Lazarus died, he went to the pleasant section of Hades, where Abraham was. But when the rich man died, he went to the section of torment.
Some Christian teachers, such as Dr. Scofield, believe that at the time of Christ’s resurrection the pleasant section of Hades was transferred to the third heaven. The original Scofield Reference Bible has a note on Luke 16:23 to this effect. Second Corinthians 12:2-4 is also used as a ground for saying this. Some interpret Paul’s word in these verses to mean that paradise is now in the third heaven. However, if you read this portion of the Word carefully according to the Greek text, you will see that it proves the opposite. In this chapter Paul was testifying that he had received a complete vision of the entire universe, which is divided into three sections: the heavens, the earth, and the region under the earth (See Phil. 2:10). Paul had come to know the things on earth, the things in heaven, and the things in paradise. This is the correct understanding of 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. (See message twenty, pp. 242-245). Paradise, the pleasant section of Hades, is still in Hades underneath the earth.
The teaching that the Old Testament saints in paradise were transferred to heaven on the day of Christ’s resurrection is not accurate. On the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the Lord’s resurrection, Peter said, “David is not ascended into the heavens” (Acts 2:34). Even at that time, David was still not in heaven. Hence, the traditional teachings regarding this matter are neither accurate nor trustworthy. According to the accurate word of the Bible, there is a pleasant section in Hades, called paradise, where the disembodied spirits and souls of the saved presently are, waiting for the time of resurrection. In principle, for a soul to be disembodied means that it is naked, and no naked person can come into God’s presence. Thus, the spirits and souls of the departed saints are in the pleasant section of Hades waiting for the day of resurrection that they may put on a glorious resurrection body and be clothed again.
The New Jerusalem as the paradise of God is different from the paradise in Hades. The paradise of the New Jerusalem, which is eternal, will be vastly superior to the paradise in Hades, which is merely a temporary lodging. The paradise of God in the New Jerusalem will be a reward to the overcomers in the kingdom age (2:7) and a common portion to all God’s redeemed in eternity (21:7). All the dead saints will be resurrected, will put on a resurrection body, and eventually will enter into the New Jerusalem, which will be their paradise.