Paradise: All the saints at the rapture will be translated into paradise. All who have died in Christ will rise and be glorified to enter paradise bodily along with all the saints alive on earth at the rapture. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will all be changed (1 Cor. 15:52), and we will be ushered into that celestial city, the New Jerusalem in heaven (2:7; 22:2). Revelation 7 is our homecoming to heaven. Paradise is that place of beauty and excellence far beyond our earthly imagination, the object of our soul’s homesickness and nostalgia, the place for which we were made, yet our eyes have not seen, the place for which our hungry souls panted all our lives, the place where we will find ultimate and unabated satisfaction in God. Paradise is our heavenly home.
Features: Rev. 7 begins to detail our future experience of that magnificent place: God will spread His tabernacle over us[1] and He will dwell among us (21:3). He will wipe away every tear (21:4). Our every need will be met (21:6; 22:17), because (“for” of 7:17) Jesus will be our shepherd (Ps. 23:1) who will guide us to the springs of the water of life (21:6; 22:1). The end of Rev. gives us the most extensive description of the New Jerusalem. However, Rev. 7 is the first confirmation that we will indeed enter paradise. A great multitude of saints will stand there and will tirelessly serve the Lord (7:9, 15). The story of the Bible is encapsulated in paradise lost and paradise regained.[2] The God who intended good in Eden will fulfill that intention in paradise. He will lavish His blessing on His elect in that city which is to come (Heb. 13:14).