Immortality

 Certainly, if the ancient serpent did not speak the same language with Adam and Eve it will not be able to lure the couple gifted with eternal life to commit what they did. It goes without saying then that in heaven everybody speaks the same language as God. The orangutan can speak with the giraffe. The dog can speak with the cat. The crocodile and the vulture can compare notes about their avarice and voraciousness.

The pattern of the image and likeness of Adam and Eve is the Creator who is God. Therefore, Adam and Eve were gods. Of all the living creatures God made, they were the only creatures with the image and likeness of God. They were the only persons among the animals, the birds and the beasts. They were likewise bestowed with an intellect and free will of the highest order among all the creatures. Most importantly, their claim to godliness and their oneness with their Creator is the gift of eternal life or immortality. The only divine attribute God did not share with the persons He created was the creative and transforming power of His word. No creature is greater than its Creator or no slave is greater than its Master. Such is the basic relationship between God and man. It has not changed.

Immortality or eternal life is synonymous with incorruptibility or indestructibility. It is such kind of life that Adam and Eve were bestowed upon their creation. They were given a kingdom where they have dominion over the lesser loved creatures that God made. Nevertheless, it is an often overlooked Scriptural fact that there is only one language in heaven between God and all His living creatures. Did not God, Adam and Eve and the ancient serpent talk among themselves in the garden after the treachery committed by the two immortal persons gifted with eternal life? Certainly, if the ancient serpent did not speak the same language with Adam and Eve it will not be able to lure the couple gifted with eternal life to commit what they did. It goes without saying then that in heaven everybody speaks the same language as God. The orangutan can speak with the giraffe. The dog can speak with the cat. The crocodile and the vulture can compare notes about their avarice and voraciousness. The turtle and the snail can compete and debate about their vaunted speed. Watching some cartoon shows then on high definition cable television is just like catching a glimpse of what life is like in an immortal world where God reigns supreme.

As the assigned king and queen in the garden, Adam and Eve lord it over all the other created beings. Such enviable position was accorded to them because they were the only creatures with the image and likeness of God. They were gods. The ancient serpent did not have the image and likeness of God along with the pit bull, the elephant, the penguin and all the species of animals and birds. They were inferior creatures subject to the authority of Adam and Eve. The couple gifted with eternal life can penalize or punish the ill-tempered bear that knocked out a clowning laughing hyena. They can do that in heaven primarily because God gave them dominion and authority plus the fact that they all speak the same language. There is no reason for any living creature in heaven to say they do not understand what is being said or talked about. There is oneness and unanimity in heaven because it is the kingdom of God.

Adam and Eve can say and do anything in the garden provided they do not eat the forbidden fruit. God does not tolerate dissent in heaven. The rebel angels attempted it. They got foiled. They lost their place in heaven permanently and forever. However, it was not only heaven that they lost. They lost the image and likeness of God in their beings. They have become beasts. They are such for all eternity. That is a biblical fact. (Revelation 12: 7-9)
Eve committed a lie in heaven but God the Creator did not penalize her for it. She told the ancient serpent that they were not allowed even to touch the forbidden fruit. She lied. The Creator did not include the act of touch in His commandment at the garden. Secondly, God the Creator specified the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The woman did not specify it in spite of her verbosity. Clearly, there was enough democratic space in heaven. They can do everything or anything except eat what is forbidden by His word. God did not tell them: “Do not lie.” So, when the woman lied. It was no big deal.

Adam not only lied. He was an arrogant braggart. He did not wait for God to formally give him the woman. It is clearly stated that God brought the woman to the man. Then, the man exclaimed: “Now, this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken from man.”  The man should have waited for his Creator to speak first before he did. He was only a creature. He gave the name woman to the rib taken from Man without asking the permission of his Creator. Besides, he lied. It was not from him that the woman was taken. It was from Man, the person with the complete set of ribs. Adam was the man with the incomplete set of ribs. It was not from him that the woman was taken. The man was a mere mutant of the person named Man. Be that as it may, there was no commandment against boasting and lying in heaven. It was no big deal for the Creator. He tolerated the imperfections of the most loved persons He created. There was enough freedom in the garden.

Recall too that eating was not a basic necessity for survival in heaven. Because of the gift of immortality, no person dies of starvation or malnutrition in heaven. Eating is just a mere hobby or amusement in heaven. Compliance with the word or command of God is the prerequisite for celestial survival. That is common knowledge among the faithful. Raphael the Archangel who was commissioned to help the family of Tobit revealed the truth about heavenly life to Tobit and Tobiah before he ascended to heaven after the accomplishment of his mission. He said, “even when you watch me eat and drink, I did not really do so; what you were seeing was a vision.” (Tobit 12:19). The inhabitants of heaven are far too different from the earthly tenants. Persons in heaven do not need terrestrial food. They do not need shelter and clothing. They do not need oxygen to breathe. Hence, such is the reason why the human person cannot buy its heaven even with the tons of money it has. It is not a necessity. Fasting and abstinence is a ritual that unites the human person with its celestial counterparts the reason why it is being asked of the believer.

Oxygen is an element not found in heaven so that when a person sleeps in heaven just as when the person named Man was made to sleep (Genesis 2:21) it was not breathing or there were no respiratory excursions. It appears like a dead human person but it is not dead. There is no death in heaven. After the Son of Man shouted at the top of His voice on the cross, “It is finished!” He did not die. He just slept as a divine Person that needs no oxygen to breathe. He woke up later and assuaged the doubt of one of His disciples by allowing him not just to see the nail marks and the stab but to touch and probe it. He was the Person who was crucified and He did not die. He was God every step of the way.

The Son of Man, from the beginning of His conception up to His ascension, showcased the kind of life that awaits the human person in heaven if it follows His word. However, instead of following Him in spite of the innumerable exhibitions of divinity, the human persons of the time He got entangled with not only rejected Him out right. They slaughtered Him. Likewise, today all the Christian religions thought and taught that He just died on the cross just as any human person when it is very evident that He just slept it out just as the God or the Divinity that He is. Remember that the prerequisite for celestial survival in heaven is total compliance with His word. How can the human person survive in heaven when in this terrestrial world it does not follow His word? Their diverse and various religions change it altogether for their terrestrial and not celestial survival. He just slept but they insist He died. God never imposed the curse of death upon His loyal angels or subjects. Surely, He did not impose it upon Himself.

Heaven, from a strictly Scriptural perspective, is the kingdom and celestial abode of eternal bliss of the immortal God and those who follow His word. When He visited this world in the divine Person of the Son of Man, He did not leave His immortality behind in heaven. He showcased it in more ways than one. It was ignored. Today it is being downplayed as mystery and not revelation. Nothing has changed. How then can we expect to share in the sacred banquet once this life that is not eternal has passed?