In the beginning the creation was both spiritual and material. There was "light" prior to the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. There was the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent was able to speak.

But when Adam and Eve rebelled against the will of God the spiritual life was withdrawn. Only the lifeless material creation remained.

The material creation still is under the curse of God; still is void of God's holy Life. The spiritual activity of the world, to a great extent, is that which proceeds from wicked, rebellious spirits.

At the present time the Kingdom of Heaven is "not of the world."

The material forms we see about us, the people, trees, grass, mountains, valleys, and so forth are the forms of the eternal Kingdom of God. These forms will be greatly improved and glorified when the Kingdom of Heaven comes. Yet they are the forms of the Kingdom. Individuals who in vision have seen Paradise describe much the same forms of nature as those to which we are accustomed.

It is the spiritual environment that must be changed.

If God were to fill the earth that we have now with His Holy Spirit, driving out the spirit of Satan, then Paradise would have come to earth.

This precisely is what the Scriptures state will take place. It is the coming of the Kingdom of God.

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. (Numbers 14:21)

. . . for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)

In order for the spiritual environment to be changed there must be a change in the spiritual personages who are attempting to create the earth and its people in their own image. The coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth is just such a change. It is a change of the kings who sit on the spiritual thrones that control the world.

The purpose for the first resurrection, that which will occur when the Lord Jesus returns, is to bring spiritually perfected saints into glorified material forms so they can ascend to the spiritual thrones that govern the world, and also live and move among earth's peoples.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6)

To be continued.