When I was in Africa about twenty years ago, I met a man who had half of his face covered with lesions from AIDS, and the other half blown off by napalm during the Rhodesian War for Independence.
He walked up to me after one of our Bible studies and asked a simple question: “Brother Brady, in Heaven, will there really be streets of gold?”
I knew what he was asking. Revelation is a book of signs and symbols, so when it describes Heaven’s streets as built using pure gold (Revelation 21:21), it most likely isn’t actual gold. Rather, it teaches us that the very area we walk on is paved with the most precious metal on earth.
In other words, it’s gorgeous beyond comprehension.
The reality of Heaven is far greater than gold or silver, but to that man, an image of golden streets gave him the hope he needed to continue pressing on towards Jesus.
He’s most likely passed on by now, but I still think about him and wonder what he thinks about paradise.
Deuteronomy 6:3 isn’t the first time in Scripture that Canaan is described as “a land flowing with milk and honey,” but it’s probably the first one spoken to this generation. They wandered for forty years, fought numerous pitched battles against major world forces, and were finally about to see the land with their own eyes.
Of course, when I was a kid, I thought the land literally flowed with milk and honey—almost like Willy Wonka’s chocolate river that Augustus Gloop falls into near the start of the movie.
As it turns out, the reality isn’t too far off. While rivers of treats aren’t in Moses’ mind, his words do imply that the land “oozes” with these types of gifts. Some honey came from bees, while other varieties were most likely pressed from fruits, and flowing milk is indicative of cows with full udders, ripe for the taking.
The whole imagery is designed to communicate fertility. This is not a barren land of rocks and weeds, but one that is lush, full, and paradise-like.
If you’ve looked at pictures of Israel (or been there yourself), you might think that Moses got it wrong. Today, Israel is still very green, but it also has pockets of desert and dry, rocky terrain.
This is a recent change. Archaeological excavations show that the land in Bible times was overflowing with fruit, cattle, and wheat. There weren’t really limitations; instead, everyone was able to take what they wanted.
It’s possible that the exile is when things changed. Jeremiah 9:10-12 pictures Jerusalem as a land of devastation, where ruins and famine abound rather than cattle. Though Israel would return after seventy years, the land they came back to would be different.
For now, the land is fertile, ready, and waiting for God’s people to take possession. Were they ready?