Mike Focht 7/31/2026
Theologians often talk about heaven as a return to Eden. They speak about the perfection of the Garden of Eden and how God returns our vision to Eden with the mention of the tree of life in the book of Revelation. Man is again in a garden with God. There are other illusions and pictures they use, but the emphasis is the same: in the eternal state, we are back in Eden.
But is that really what the Scriptures teach? A simple reading of the text seems to tell us otherwise. The New Jerusalem, a massive city, is the central scene of the eternal state. Yes, there is a new heaven and earth, and the tree of life is present, but the tree is in a city. Redeemed humanity is flowing in and out of the city, and it is at the heart of the city that God is enthroned.
God didn’t redeem us to get us back to Eden. God knew where He was taking us all along. The new earth and New Jerusalem are not a fallback plan. Eden was the perfect starting point to move toward God’s ultimate goal. Man lives in this present, fallen, and passing world to prepare us for that future, eternal world. The good of this life is heaven for rookies.
In fact, what do we see happening in the fallen world even after sin ruined things? Man, who still retains a broken measure of dominion in this world, quickly learns to use earthly materials to make instruments, craft from metals, and build cities (Genesis 4:20-22). If fallen man could do that, what do we think Eden would have become with an unfallen Adam and sons having dominion? I think the answer is simple: better cities, better tools, better instruments, etc. Unfallen man wouldn’t have kept Eden a garden. Unfallen man would have turned Eden into a glorious city.
God didn’t make a mistake when He made the world and placed Adam in a garden. God knew sin would come, and the curse would destroy. Still, Eden was the perfect starting point. Eden was the best place to get redeemed humanity familiar with something similar to God’s ultimate goal as seen in the New Earth and New Jerusalem. Eden never was, and never is, described as our finishing point. God didn’t make a mistake. The New Jerusalem is not a fallback type of plan B. Known to God from eternity are all His works (Acts 15:18). We are not going back to Eden. We are moving forward to the New Jerusalem, the city of God, capital of the new creation, the true, eternal state of all redeemed sinless men and women.