Pilgrimage to Paradise—Introduction

Jeremiah was known as "the weeping prophet." The situation facing his people was a dire one and the message from God that he was called upon to deliver to them was not always encouraging. He wept because of the sin that had brought about God's judgment and because of the pain that God's judgment would cause. But here and there throughout the prophet's message were words of hope, the assurance that the day would come when God's people would be exactly that: God's people, people who would follow Him wholeheartedly once again. 

Jeremiah 50:4, 5 gives us one of those rays of hope: "'In those days, at that time,' declares the Lord, 'the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.'"

In the Old Testament Zion represented the place where God dwelt—a physical site in Jerusalem. In the New Testament, the symbolism is the same but with a difference. Zion is the place where God dwells but it is not a place made with human hands, but with heavenly ones. The place where God dwells is Heaven. Jeremiah looks forward to the time when the everlasting covenant with God will be sealed with the blood of Christ, the ultimate and last Lamb to be sacrificed for the sin of mankind.

Then, as Ezekiel 11:19, 20 says: "I will given them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws, they will be my people, and I will be their God."

The psalmist describes what will happen as those with hearts of flesh turn their eyes toward God in Heaven and begin their journey toward  their ultimate reunion with Him.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go on from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion. —Psalm 84:5-7

Those who are believers in Jesus are travelers, pilgrims on a journey, as the dictionary says, heading to "a sacred place for religious reasons." Their goal is to please God, and to please God they must know Him. Their goal is to glorify Him and to glorify Him they must know what it is that brings glory to Him. They want to be like Him. The journey is not an easy one and they need signposts to help them along the way. In Pilgrimage to Paradise we learn from those to whom Peter addressed his first letter. We walk alongside those who were "scattered abroad" but who were encouraged to look like Jesus in the same world that had crucified Him, to bring the living water of Christ to the parched wilderness of sin despite the cost. Their journey parallels our journey toward that glorious reunion with Jesus that awaits all who believe in Him.