What is your raison d'etre? Why do you exist? The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647) says: "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." Apart from that, though, why did God put you on this earth? Later, when your time here is over, what will you be doing in Heaven? Will you be sitting on clouds, strumming harps and eating Philadelphia Cream Cheese? What can life in Eden tell us about life in heaven?
Before the fall, God gave man an assignment: to care for the garden that God created as man's residence.
One could make a similar observation about companionship. Before the fall, God said that man should not be alone and made a partner to enjoy life with him.
Understanding these similarities of life on earth and life in heaven, there are two purposes (in addition to glorifying and enjoying God)5 that He intended for man since creation.
Before the fall, God gave man an assignment: to care for the garden that God created as man's residence.
Gen 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.After the fall, that assignment changed venues and became considerably more difficult, but it remained essentially the same.
Gen 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19a By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.... 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.While giving glory to God is paramount, evidently, work—engaging in productive activity—was part of God's original design for man. Hence, heaven may include further opportunity for productivity,2 albeit without the curse of "thorns and thistles" and without the need for arduous, sweat-producing labor.
One could make a similar observation about companionship. Before the fall, God said that man should not be alone and made a partner to enjoy life with him.
Gen 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."After the fall, man's need for companionship remained essentially the same, and Jesus reiterated the abiding nature of the marital relationship.
Matt 19:5 ...a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one fleshGod has also placed us "in families" (Ps 68:6a), marked both by physical and spiritual commonality. Likewise, in heaven, man will not be in isolation but with those who are also part of God's family.3 While having a relationship with God is paramount, He designed us to relate to others as well, others with whom we will experience and enjoy eternity.4
Understanding these similarities of life on earth and life in heaven, there are two purposes (in addition to glorifying and enjoying God)5 that He intended for man since creation.
- God created man to be productive not idle.6
- God created man to be interactive not isolated.7
For the Endnotes see the pdf here.
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Relevant and civil comments are welcome. Whether there will be any response depends on whether Dr. Manuel notices them and has the time and inclination to respond or, if not, whether I feel competent to do so.
Jim Skaggs