The New Eden

And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.  In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Genesis 2:9

If we were to go back to Eden, consider a bit what we would see.  It was a perfect place with perfect peace.  Being jaded was impossible, and God walked the earth.  Sin was entirely absent, work was effortless, and even the scents were all pleasant.  Imagine the most ethereal utopia and you might be close.  And in this place man was given the tree of life.  Without the tree of life man cannot live.

The tree of life
We see the tree of life today in young kids.  Some have changed the name, now calling it the 'fountain of youth'.  This is boundless energy, the lack of ills, glee in simple things, and most notably, innocence.  In kids we see a glimpse of Eden, with the tree of life and without the tree of knowledge.  They have lots of life but are very short on knowledge.  And we could think of Adam and Eve as being much like children before they ate the forbidden fruit.  The forbidden fruit being from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil
Some have wondered why the tree of knowledge was forbidden, or why knowledge might be a bad thing.  Genesis never tells us that the tree of knowledge was a bad thing, just that God commanded Adam not to eat from it.  Far be it from me to understand God's ultimate plan, but certainly what happened happened.  We ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This is why every young kid, entirely innocent and not even knowing what sin is, grows up and learns good and evil.  Along with that learning comes sin.  Those who put their trust in Jesus have the solution for sin, but what does this mean?

"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."  -Jesus
From what Jesus says here I get the sense that entering heaven is much like going back to Eden.  Adam and Eve lived in Eden like children.  We must enter heaven like children.  He guards the tree of life with a flaming sword (Gen 3:24).  Jesus is the way (Jhn 14:6) and the gate (Jhn 10:7) for which to enter in.  Without Jesus, the Word of God, we can never be like children again, and we can never enter Eden again.  But with Jesus, and with the heavenly Father, we can live as children of God, trusting everything to Him.

The New Eden
Also known as the New Jerusalem.  Here is the tree of life, but now it bears twelve crops of fruit every month.  This city, this new Eden, is like the old Eden, except its greater.  The New Jerusalem has everything Eden had, but there's more.  I have no idea exactly what the New Jerusalem will be like.  I don't know if everything in Revelation 21 is a literal description or has figurative meaning.  I do know that it will be beyond anyone's imagination.  We may be able to imagine what Eden was like, but the New Eden will be beyond possibly imagining.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"  1Corintians 2:9