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Will We See Adam and Eve in Heaven?
- Clarence L. Haynes Jr. Contributing Writer
- Updated Nov 22, 2024
Most people are familiar with Adam and Eve. These were the first two people God created and, as you know, he gave them one command about a tree and some fruit that unfortunately they could not keep. When Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden, we know they walked with God. After their sin, God kicked them out of the garden. As you read through the Bible, there is not much mentioned about Adam once you get past Genesis 5.
For the two people who introduced sin into the world by their disobedience, what is their eternal fate? Will we see Adam and Eve in heaven? My immediate answer to this question is yes and I want to present to you some reasons for drawing this conclusion.
In law, when you are presenting your case, you may use circumstantial evidence. This is the definition of circumstantial evidence according to Cornell Law School:
“Circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence that does not, on its face, prove a fact in issue but gives rise to a logical inference that the fact exists. Circumstantial evidence requires drawing additional reasonable inferences in order to support the claim.”
In the question of seeing Adam and Eve in heaven, there is no direct Scripture that says we will or won’t. Because of this, we must put on our legal hats and consider all the circumstantial evidence, which I believe leads us to answer that question with a yes.
1. Adam and Eve Had a Relationship with God That We Have Never Had
Adam and Eve, for however long they were in the garden, enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Lord. They experienced him in a manner in which we never have. You may have had wonderful encounters in God’s presence, but you have never experienced God in a condition of perfection where you walked with him in a sinless state. Adam and Eve had this type of relationship with God when they were in the garden.
It is safe to make the assumption they never forgot that experience and they longed to return to it. For this reason, I believe it is reasonable to speculate they remained true to their allegiance to God once they were out of the garden, because they desired to get back there.
2. Adam and Eve Maintained Their Relationship after They Left the Garden
Every sign from Genesis speaks to Adam and Eve maintaining their relationship with God after the garden. When Eve gave birth to their first son, she acknowledged God in it.
“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man’” (Genesis 4:1).
There is no evidence in the Bible that would suggest that their relationship with God ended when they left the garden.
3. Adam Passed on a Tradition of Faith to His Children
The first two children Adam and Eve had were Cain and Abel. When you read about them in Genesis 4, it is safe to make an assertion that Adam and Eve passed on their belief in God to their children.
“Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering — fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast” (Genesis 4:2-5).
From this passage, you see Cain and Abel deciding to bring an offering to the Lord. They had to learn this from somewhere, and it is logical to assume their parents taught them to do this.
4. Adam Was around When People Started Calling on the Name of the Lord
“Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.’ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:25-26).
When Adam was 130 years old, Seth was born. The Bible tells us in Genesis 5 that Adam lived 800 years after Seth was born. It was during this period of 800 years that people began to call on the name of the Lord.
This is only speculation, but I wonder the conversations Adam and Eve had with those around them about the Lord. Remember, they had walked with him in the garden and had experienced his presence in a perfect, sinless state, so they knew he was real. Could it be they helped to motivate people to call on the name of the Lord? The Bible does not tell us this, but I suspect they may have had something to do with this.
5. The Bible Does Not Describe Adam as a Sinful Man
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
We know from the Bible that sin entered the world when Adam sinned. However, when you read the account of his life in Genesis and in other places of Scripture, it never describes Adam as a sinful man. I am not saying Adam did not sin after the garden because I am sure he did, but the Bible does not mention him as being wicked or unrighteous.
By comparison, consider his son Cain. In Genesis 4, after bringing their offerings, God accepts Abel’s offering but rejects Cain’s offering. Cain was angry over this and eventually ended up killing his brother. However, there is something interesting God told Cain.
“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it’” (Genesis 4:6-7).
By what God told Cain, we can deduce that Cain knew what the right thing to do was and if he did it, God would accept him. Yet we know Cain gave into his sin and did not do the right thing. From this inference, we can also assume that Adam and Eve knew what the right thing to do was. When you search the Scriptures after the garden, there is no mention of Adam or Eve doing the wrong thing or of God rejecting them after they left the garden.
The Verdict
As I stated before, the case of seeing Adam and Eve in heaven is filled with circumstantial evidence, but I believe it is sound evidence. Based on a reasonable analysis of their lives and all that happened after the garden, I believe you can conclude that we will see Adam and Eve in heaven.
Regardless of my deductions, there is only one way to know if I my conclusion is correct or not. You have to wait until we get to heaven. This leads to an even more important question than will we see Adam and Eve in heaven, which is will we see you in heaven? While we can speculate about Adam and Eve, we don’t have to speculate about you. If Jesus Christ is truly your Lord and Savior, then we will see you there, and we can look for Adam and Eve together.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/artcatlab
