Here is something else that is thought-provoking about the account of the New Creation in Revelation: Paradise, the location of the Tree of Life, is not a garden, it is a heavenly city. I think a city is symbolic of the peak of culture, innovation, ingenuity, and even technology. To me it says that all the good and beautiful products of our creative human work on this earth will be redeemed and given their place in the Eschaton, we won’t be restored to a new Eden. So, I agree with Brad that the Bible does not direct us to look back to an un-ruining of perfection, but forward to an eschatological reality that was always part of God’s plan for his good, though not yet perfected,creation,
I was recently reading The God I Don’t Understand by Christopher Wright and he discussed the question, “Would the Son have become incarnate if there was no need to redeem humanity, if there was never a Fall?” Interesting question I had never considered before. Wright thought yes, because it was always God’s plan to unite himself with his creation and bring his Kingdom in all its fullness to humanity.
Michael Bird pointed out in Evangelical Theology that orthodox Christianity teaches that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven as a human. He will return as a human. The reigning Lord of the Universe is a human. That is a very deep thought for me. The idea the it was God’s plan to dignify humanity for eternity by permanently uniting himself with humanity is amazing. It is my answer to all the people who think evolutionary theory debases humanity by linking us to lower organisms. Who cares? God himself permanently exalted humanity when he revealed it was part of his eternal plan to become human forever. Enough theological rambling… the kids are calling for bedtime stories.