PARADISE – The place of rest for the departed in Christ. The original Paradise, seen in Gen. 2:8 14, will be restored in its fullness following the Second Coming of Christ. (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 2:7; 21:1.)
The word Paradise means a garden. It is the name given to the fair and blissful abode of the first man, described in the book of Genesis as like a garden. For the body it was material, a visible and blissful abode; but for the soul it was spiritual, a state of communion by grace with God, and spiritual contemplation of the creatures. (Greg. Theol. Serm, xxxviii. 42; J. Damasc. Theol. lib. ii. cap. 12, ยง 3.)