As It Is In Heaven
Week one - Heaven Meets Earth
Genesis to Jesus
Heaven - broadly considered good
Our understanding of heaven - often super lame (clouds…robes…lots of singing…too many “precious moments”)
Heaven = new creation, creation as it was intended, i.e. all things good
What is heaven all about????
Big picture of scripture -
Creation
Fall
Redemption
New Creation
*our ultimate destination is resurrected bodies on a new earth
So, where does heaven fit in?
In part, heaven is the intermediate state for Christians between death and resurrection because Jesus makes a way for us to be with Him. (“Today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43)
In the bigger picture, heaven is a whole lot more.
Heaven is life after life after death. —NT Wright
From the beginning…
Genesis 1:1 - God created the heavens and the earth
“Heavens” in the Bible often refers broadly to the sky
But also, “heaven” is used to describe God’s holy realm
Created order = two distinct realms of
And yet - throughout scripture we get this super interesting interplay between heaven and earth
In Exodus, Moses is commanded to build a tabernacle with very specific instructions. It was a tabernacle that the writer of Hebrews would explain as a “copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” (Hebrews 8:5)
Essentially, we have an earthly tabernacle mirroring the heavenly tabernacle, creating a gateway of sorts between the two realms.
When Moses describes the tabernacle, we see that it’s not only a copy of the heavenly tabernacle, but also a re-creation of the Garden of Eden (i.e. fruit-bearing trees, angels, gold, and other images meant to recall the garden - see Exodus 25)
Not only that, God’s instructions to build the tabernacle are given in seven speeches, mirroring God’s seven-speech acts of creation, both of which end by talking about the Sabbath. (Genesis 1, Exodus 25-31)
In the garden, heaven and earth overlap - God dwells in both heaven and on earth, and Adam can access heaven. And God wants this pattern to multiply throughout the earth - instructions to Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful and multiply.”
So, God created the heavens and the earth. But the end goal of creation is the eventual union of heaven with earth.
Only, the Fall happens (whomp whomp)…
The rest of Genesis focuses on the increasing distance between sinful humans and God, and between earth and heaven.
The message of Genesis is clear: by rebelling against God, man has forfeited access to the heavenly realm. The two spaces no longer overlap as they did in Eden. Our best efforts at creating that access point are embarrassing and paltry, driven by hubris and riddled with yet more rebellion against the Creator. If heaven and earth are to unite again, God must act from heaven for earth.—Sam Emadi
*our best efforts - think Tower of Babel
As soon as the Fall happens, God begins the work of redemption (putting the pieces back together…)
Abraham
Land of Canaan will become a new Eden, a beachhead of heaven (think about Jacob at the borders of Canaan when he falls asleep and sees angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth - Genesis 28:12-13)
So, we have this people (offspring of Abraham) and God creates a connection - Temple (holy of holies)
How does this turn out? Sin keeps getting in the way.
*Something (SOMEONE) more is needed!!
Jesus is the great unifier of heaven and earth - in His actual body, he holds together and unites heaven and earth.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. —John 1:14
*translation - Jesus literally “tabernacles” in our midst
There is none like Jesus.
He goes on to say to Nathaniel -
Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. —John 1:51
Jesus is Jacob’s ladder - the kingdom of heaven is at hand! (Matthew 3:2, 4:17)
Heaven invades earth!
And then, Paul explains what happens next in one of his letters like this -
Through Christ, God has reconciled to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. —Colossians 1:20
Because of what Jesus does - His life among us, His death, His resurrection, His enthronement in heaven - we are citizens of
***We (the church, the gathered community of believers, empowered by the Holy Spirit) are the outposts of heaven on earth
AND YET, we still wait the full and final union of heaven and earth.
And so we pray as Jesus taught us, “that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven.” (Luke 23:43)
(graphics created by Sam Emadi)