Blue Moon Devotionals: Mistaken Paradises

When Beverly and I were in the West Indies in the lesser Antilles archipelago on the island of Saint Kitts in the capital city of Basseterre back in May of 2015, we were on a tour that started from Porte Zante and headed for a private residence at a higher elevation that claimed to have a great view of the island. We would descend another way to a resort area and then head back to the port.

Heading for the clouds

Basseterre is the capital city of two islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, though they are separated from each other by a channel that is less than 2 miles wide [~1.86 miles or 3 km] called, “The Narrows.” These two volcanic islands combined comprise a landmass of 162 square miles. Some have likened these two separate landmasses to a bat and ball.

Shaped like a bat, Saint Kitts, the larger of the two islands, is 104 sq. mi., while Nevis, the ball-shaped island, is 58 sq. mi. The area of St. Kitts & Nevis, for comparative purposes, is similar to the area of the city of Montgomery, Alabama at 161.9 sq. mi.1 The highest elevation of St Kitts is Mount Liamuiga, formerly referred to as Mt Misery, at 3,793 feet above sea level. At Nevis, Nevis Peak reaches a height of 3,232 feet above sea level. Population estimates from July 2017 are 52,715.2

We boarded a vehicle that was open-aired but had a fiberglass top to shield us from the

sun. It held about 10 people. Beverly and I were sitting cramped behind the driver’s cab in a seat for “two.” I should have worn knee pads. On our way to the “house,” the informative driver went silent for a brief moment until we drove by the graveyard on our right side; he spoke up,

“Here is our graveyard; the old people are running away from here while the young people are running to it.”

Graveyard

Our Kittitian tour guide did not expand upon his comment. None of us questioned him as to what he meant. Perhaps, it was the great apparent in all cultures. I think it was the most succinct and profound thing he had said during the whole tour. He provided a peek into his homeland without further scuffing up any tourist's romantic notions of island living.

View from House

Ironically, it was the one spiritual perspective I took away from this leeward island; I was reminded once again that there is no paradise wherever sin and death are present. I understood this theological truth from Scripture long ago, but our driver/tour guide’s words seemed to throw this truth in sharp relief amidst the rugged beauty of this island.

As followers of Christ, it really helps us to see the world as God does and keep things in a Scriptural perspective. Isn’t this the whole point of maturing in the faith and having the mind of Christ? There is joy, peace, and happiness in Christ. He filled a vacuum where no pursuit of any personal interpretation of happiness could ever remove. It is not found in people, places, or things but only in our Creator God. We are in the world but not of the world. In the world, there are beautiful people, places, and things, but sin and death live in all landscapes.

View from House

Many people are mistaken or deceived about the meaning of paradise. How can we call a place paradise if sin and death are there? The natural or sensual man, the man without the Holy Spirit living within the heart (Jude 1:19), will not understand or entertain that spiritual idea (1 Cor 2:14), but the supernatural man will ponder and understand because the Holy Spirit is living in his heart.

Nevis Peak in far background

Because of Adam’s disobedience (Rom 5:12), the side effects of sin are on earth and beyond (Rom 8:22). Before then, the only true paradise in God’s eyes was the Garden of Eden in a sinless world. Adam and Eve were barred for life from the Garden Paradise for disobeying the one and only prohibition. Life here was really a long time. We do not know when Eve finally died, but Adam lived to be 930 years of age before he died (Gn 5:5). Adam’s age began at the moment of disobedience, not when he was created (Gn 2:7).

The cherubim guarding the Garden (Gn 3:24) were relieved of their duties when Paradise Lost was eventually destroyed by a massive flood of global proportion. The waters receded, and land emerged differently than it was before, but sin and death remained everywhere (cf. Rom 8:22). Water cannot wash away sin and death (eternal separation), only faith in God’s provision for salvation, Jesus’ death on the cross for the penalty of man’s sin, can do that. It reminds me of that old Gospel song, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus” (cf. 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Jn 2:2; 1:7; Rev 5:9).

Super Freeway

Fred

As we made our way up the long and winding and very narrow mountain road to the house, there was some spectacular scenery. The views from the house proved to be awesome, given its location nestled among the trees. After a box lunch and some local refreshing fruit concoction, we made our way down the mountain by going another way than how we ascended. Unlike our single lane paved road going up, our driver took some meandering dirt “road,” through the farmland better suited for animals and off-road vehicles (see super freeway pic). We never spotted any of the numerous monkeys running freely on the island even in the more tropical surroundings. They were probably at higher elevations than where we were visiting. Before returning to the ship for a day at sea and visiting the island of Aruba the following day, we spent some time on our tour at a large inlet for some relaxation.

We know that there is no place on earth where we can go that is characterized by complete bliss, delight, and peace and the absence of sin and death. We learn from the past in Genesis that sinless man could not handle a sinless paradise (Gn 2:16-17; 3:6); we also learn in Revelation before the future millennial reign of Christ that Satan will be imprisoned in hell (Rev 20:2, 3) and released at the end of the thousand years to deceive the nations once again.

Road Circling the Island

Railroad Tracks

Since the tempter will be imprisoned in hell during the millennium, man cannot blame his wayward ways or sinful behavior on the devil or his environment like so many do today! Sinful man will still rebel against God in his heart though living in a utopian-like environment (Rev 20:7, 8, 9, 10). The problem is and has always been within the heart of man (Jer 17:9), not moving to another location or creating a better environment or getting educated and technologically savvy. It is precisely the heart of the matter that makes the Bible so relevant in any age.

There is nothing wrong with getting away for some R&R; God knows we all need to “get away,” from time to time, but realistically, there is no paradise on planet earth to be found that is not fraught with decay, death, and destruction because of sin, no matter how beautiful or idyllic the setting. True happiness, delight, and peace that passes all understanding reside nowhere else but through the Holy Spirit living within the heart which is a byproduct of salvation (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 8:9, 11; 1 Jn 3:24).

Exotic locations are nothing more than mistaken paradises. The real paradise for the believer, where no trace of sin and death can be found, is coming (Jn 14:3). <><