Seeing that you have been visiting the internet for the past few years I hope that you have not been unduly influenced by the many contradictory views being expressed on the many forums and websites. I was posting for some time on a couple of forums and became concerned with the overall attitude that there is no such thing as “absolute truth” and everyone’s views are equally valid. Anyone who attempted to defend the "truth" was viewed as being narrow minded and opinionated. When the administrator of one forum started to set out to "prove" that there is no heavenly reward I left that forum. Others have started to teach the very opposite, that there is no such thing as the Scriptural hope of living on a paradise earth, but rather that everyone goes to heaven.

There is an abundant smorgasbord of teachings to pick and choose from to satisfy any appetite. It has become just as the apostle Paul foretold, “For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions.” (2 Timothy 4:3,4, Amplified Bible)

You asked about the validity of the hope of obedient mankind living forever on a Paradise earth.

The basic truth is that Jehovah created man, Adam, out of the dust of the ground, gave him a wife and purposed for them to live forever on this earth. He started him out in a beautiful garden that he had prepared for him and gave him the work of expanding that garden to eventually fill the whole earth with the help of his offspring that were eventually going to be born to him and his children.

“So God created man in his own likeness. He created him in the likeness of God. He created them as male and female. God blessed them. He said to them, "Have children and increase your numbers. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Rule over every living creature that moves on the ground.” “Then the Lord God formed a man. He made him out of the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into him. And the man became a living person. The Lord God had planted a garden in the east. It was in Eden. There he put the man he had formed.” (Gen. 1:27,28; 2:7,8; New International Reader's Version)

As you know, Adam did not remain in that beautiful garden. He lost all that because of his rebellion against God. But that did not alter Jehovah’s original purpose. He knew that from among Adam’s countless offspring there would be many who would love him and obey him, unlike their original father. You can be among them. History has recorded the names of many of such persons who proved faithful until they fell asleep in death, looking forward to the resurrection. (Heb. 11:4-32; John 5:28,29) All these faithful men and women of old had no concept of eventually living in heaven.

What Jesus said about John the Baptist makes it clear that the heavenly hope did not exist before his time.

“I tell you that no one ever born on this earth is greater than John the Baptist. But whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.” (Matt. 11:11, Contemporary English Version)

By saying that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist, it goes to reason that John was not among them, not even among the least of them. And since none who has ever lived before John’s time is greater than he was, including the faithful men of old such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, etc., it is clear that none of them could have had the heavenly hope.

Then why does it say at Hebrews 11:10 that Abraham “was awaiting the city having real foundations,” and verse 16, concerning him and his family that “they are reaching out for a better place, that is, one belonging to heaven”?

Because, although Abraham did not understand how Jehovah was going to fulfill his promise made to him (regarding becoming a great nation and have the promised seed descend from his offspring, by means of which all the nations would bless themselves), Jehovah would fulfill his promise by means of the heavenly kingdom, of which the promised seed would be the king. (Gen. 22:17,18; Gal. 3:8,16) Abraham did not need to understand all the details in order for him to exercise faith in God’s promise. For example, did Abraham know and understand that it would be Christ Jesus, God’s own heavenly Son, who would prove to be the promised seed born in his line of descent? We are not told that Jehovah revealed that to him. Yet it can be said that Abraham was awaiting Christ Jesus because he would be the seed by means of whom Jehovah would fulfill his promise. In the same way he was "awaiting the city having real foundations. . . one belonging to heaven," New Jerusalem, although not having any understanding of these details.

It is clear, in view of what Jesus said in regards to John the Baptist that neither Abraham nor any of the other faithful men of old had any inkling about living in heaven. Jesus said it was only “from the days of John the Baptist” that those who had been baptized by John, such as the twelve apostles, were pressing toward the goal of the kingdom of the heavens. (Matt. 11:12)

Throughout the centuries Jehovah kept it as a "sacred secret" that certain ones from among mankind would be chosen by him to rule in heaven as close associates with his Son. He had “foreordained” this arrangement “before the founding of the world.” (Rom. 11:25; Eph. 1:4,5, 8-11) Not that he had foreknown the particular individuals who had not yet been born but rather he determined back in the Garden of Eden the full number of them, when he first spoke of the “seed”. (Gen. 3:15) It is by means of this seed, Christ Jesus and those chosen by God as a bride for him, who make up the “kingdom of the heavens,” that the harm that Adam brought upon mankind will be undone.

The prophet Daniel was inspired to write about the ones who make up God's heavenly kingdom, although he did not understand what he wrote:

“13 I saw in the night visions, and behold, on the clouds of the heavens came One like a Son of man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. 14 And there was given Him [the Messiah] dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed.

“18 But the saints of the Most High [God] shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” (Daniel 7:13,14, 18, 27, Amplified Bible)

In the apostle John's Revelation these "saints of the Most High" are revealed to be chosen from among mankind:

“9 And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!” (Rev. 5:9,10; 20:6, Amplified Bible)

To these chosen ones, who prove faithful, Jesus promised that they will sit down with him on his throne, even as he conquered and sat down with his Father on his throne. (Rev. 3:21)

Simply put, those who will rule with Christ Jesus in his heavenly kingdom over the earth have been chosen only from the time that he arrived as the promised Messiah. (Matt. 19:28) At that time it became necessary for Jehovah to provide much needed information regarding the kingdom, the working of his spirit on the ones he chose and their changed new hope from the natural desire to live on earth to a new heavenly aspiration. That is why the Greek Scriptures put much emphasis on explaining the heavenly calling. But all of God’s faithful servants of old will come back in the resurrection of the righteous and according to their natural hope will live forever on a beautiful peaceful earth. (Acts 24:15) As Jesus promised, “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5) He was in full agreement with God’s promise long ago that “those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth . . . And they will reside forever upon it.” (Psalms 37:9,11,29)

From what the Scriptures say it is clear that Jehovah's purpose for mankind is to live on earth.

“The LORD has kept the heavens for himself, but he has given the earth to us humans.” (Psalm 115:16, Contemporary English Version)

“For thus says the Lord--Who created the heavens, God Himself, Who formed the earth and made it, Who established it and did not create it to be a worthless waste; He formed it to be inhabited--I am the Lord, and there is no one else.” (Isaiah 45:18; Amplified Bible)

Please let me know if this needs any further clarification.
 
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