Paradise Regained

“Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,
And faithfulness the belt about His waist.” Isaiah 11:1-5

You may be familiar with the famous book, Mutiny on the Bounty, and its infamous captain, William Bligh. In 1787 at age 33, Captain Bligh was given command of the HMS Bounty, a three-year-old merchant ship. The Bounty set sail on December 23, 1787. In April, 1789 the famous mutiny took place, led by Bligh’s one-time friend, Fletcher Christian. The following is an extract taken from Bligh’s logbook entry for April 28 (original spelling and capitalization: “Just before Sunrise Mr Christian and the Master at Arms...came into my cabin while I was fast asleep, and seizing me tyed my hands with a Cord & threatened instant death if I made the least noise...”

Bligh and 18 other crew members loyal to him were set adrift on April 28 in an open boat. In most cases such an act would have led to certain death for the men aboard, but Bligh was a magnificent seaman and landed in Timor, Java, without any loss of life on June 14. The journey of 3,618 nautical miles took them 47 days. Captain Bligh returned to England to report the crime. Many guilty sailors were found and hanged. Several, however, could not be found.

Twenty years passed, and the whole incident was forgotten until a sailing ship discovered a quaint settlement on a remote island (Pitcairn Island). When the crew landed, they could hardly believe what they had found - an utter utopia. There was no disease, no crime, no drunkenness, nothing but grace and harmony. When the crew learned the reason for the modest behavior among the islanders, they were amazed. Nine of the Bounty’s sailors had fled to this island with a number of Tahitian men and women after the mutiny. The sailors quarreled with each other over what to do with the Tahitians. As a result, the Tahitians revolted, and, within a few years, all but one of the sailors, Alexander Smith, had died. In desperation, Smith (alias John Adams) had rummaged through all of the other men’s belongings, looking for more whiskey. In his search, he found a Bible. He read it, believed it, and became a Christian. He introduced the entire population of the island to Christ, and they, with him, believed and obeyed the Word of God, transforming their society.

I am reminded of the words of America’s second president, John Adams, when he said, “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God...What a utopia, what a paradise would this region be.”