What’s the Difference between Paradise and Heaven?

Today, most people think of paradise and heaven as one and the same.  But originally they referred to two completely different places.  How different? In the original languages of the Bible, heaven (or “the heavens”) referred to the atmosphere and everything above it. So we have the “birds of the heavens”(Gen. 1:26, etc.),* “the stars of the heavens” (Gen. 26:4, etc. ), “the angels of the heavens” (Matt. 24:36), and “the God of the heavens” (Gen. 24:7). 

* Sometimes translated the “birds of the sky.” But the original Hebrew word used is heavens (shamayim).

Paradise, on the other hand, referred to an earthly garden:  the Garden of Eden. This came from the ancient Greek translation of the Bible, where “Garden of Eden” is translated “Paradise.”* The word “paradise” comes from the Old Persian pairi-daeza, which came to mean an enclosed garden, in other words, a garden enclosed by a wall.

If Jacob and Moses saw God, how can Jesus say that no one has seen God? (Q&A)

Q:  In Genesis 32:30, Jacob says, “I have seen God face to face.” Moses, too, saw God “face to face” (Exo. 33:11). So how can Jesus say that that “no one has ever seen God” (John 1:18)?

A:  That’s a great question. It’s the same kind of question that the New Testament was written to answer.  How is it possible that people had actually seen God (“And they saw the God of Israel,” Exo. 24:10), but also that he could never be seen (“No man can see me and live,” Exo. 33:20)?  And what can it possibly mean, for example, that the “LORD” (YHWH) stood there with Moses (in Exo. 34:5) while the “LORD” (YHWH) passed by (or over) him (in Exo. 34:6)?  Passages like these are mind-bending to say the least. They led to all kinds of speculation in Israel about the nature and identity of God, including the “two powers in heaven” idea that the later rabbis rejected.