Apparently also among early centuries' Christians there were some who believed in an earthly paradise and in physical blessings, just like modern JWs do.
And I found amusing how the following criticism by Church Fathers, pointing out the basic hedonism behind such beliefs, looks very much like comments often directed against JWs:
"(...) at this time Cerinthus, the author of another heresy, made his appearance. Caius (...) writes as follows concerning this man: "But Cerinthus (...) says that after the resurrection the kingdom of Christ will be set up on earth, and that the flesh dwelling in Jerusalem will again be subject to desires and pleasures. And (...) he asserts, with the purpose of deceiving men, that there is to be a period of a thousand years for marriage festivals". And Dionysus, who was bishop of the parish of Alexandria in our day (...) mentions this same man in the following words: "(...) the doctrine which he taught was this: that the kingdom of Christ will be an earthly one. And as he was himself devoted to the pleasures of the body and altogether sensual in his nature, he dreamed that that kingdom would consist in those things which he desired, namely, in the delights of the belly and of sexual passion, that is to say, in eating and drinking and marrying, and in festivals (...) under the guise of which he thought he could indulge his appetites with a better grace." - Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 28, 2,5
"Certain persons, then, refusing the labour of thinking, and adopting a superficial view of the letter of the law, and yielding rather in some measure to the indulgence of their own desires and lusts, being disciples of the letter alone, are of the opinion that the fulfilment of the promises of the future are to be looked for in bodily pleasure and luxury; and therefore they especially desire to have again, after the resurrection, such bodily structures as may never be without the power of eating, and drinking, and performing all the functions of the flesh and blood, not following the opinion of the Apostle Paul regarding the resurrection of a spiritual body (...) and they think that they are to receive the wealth of the nations to live on, and they will have control over their riches (...) And these views they think to establish on the authority of the prophets (...) and many other scriptural illustrations are adduced by them, the meaning of which they do not perceive is to be taken figuratively. then, again, agreeably to the form of things in this life, and according to the gradations of the dignities or ranks in this world (...) they think they are to be kings and princes (...) And to speak shortly, according to the manner of things in this life in all similar matters, do they desire the fulfilment of all things looked for in the promises, viz., that what now is should exist again. Such are the views of those who, while believing in Christ, understand the divine Scriptures in a sort of Jewish sense, drawing from them nothing worthy of the divine promises."
People don't seem to change much, after all.
Behemot