Discussions

“Most people think great God will come from the sky, take away everything and make everybody feel high.  But if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth.”  – Bob Marley

“The idea that you actually have to go to heaven to enjoy your reward is like imagining that you have to spend your life savings in the bank where your account is held.”  – David Lawrence

If you heard a group of young men say something like “lets go get high”, would you assume that they were heading to the mountains?  Directional words work qualitatively. – me!

Some of the myths I’d like to dispel in this post are:

1. “The big guy upstairs”
2. “Set your thoughts on things above”
3. “heaven is the end goal”
4. “can’t wait to go to heaven”

The early Christians never hoped that they would go to heaven, in fact, nowhere in the Bible does it say that we go to heaven after we die.  The hope of the early Christians was not that they would go to heaven but that heaven would come to earth.  When we talk about hope, our hope must be rooted in God or it is no hope at all.  If I hope for something that God doesn’t hope for then I have no hope.  They say that the first few paragraphs of a blog are the most important.

Heaven

The word ‘heaven’ occurs 641 times in the Bible and so I will not be able to go through every instance.  However, I will be able to broadly categorize the two different ways that it is used among those 641 appearances.  The meaning of the word ‘heaven’ in the world of the Bible can carry either one or two meanings.  In the Bible, heaven refers to the atmosphere which hovers above the earth(clouds, sky, stars) and it is also refers to the location of God, (Our Father in heaven).  Below I have listed the two meanings and have given an example of usage.

1. Earthly heaven:  The atmosphere above the earth.  Genesis 15:5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them”
2. Spiritual heaven:  The location where God is. Ecclesiastes 5:2 Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.  (italics mine for emphasis)

The Location of Heaven

The clouds, sky, stars (definition 1) earthly heaven exists above the earth but where does the spiritual heaven exist?  The earthly heavens are above the earth but does that mean that the spiritual heaven is also above the earth?  If we say that the spiritual heaven exists above the earth then are we saying that God doesn’t exist on earth?

Where the heck is heaven?

Matthew 3:2 Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.

- Is it close to earth?

Mark 11:30 Johhn’s baptism-was it from heaven, or from men?  Tell me!

- Jesus is asking if an earthly event was from heaven?  Good question Jesus.

John 3:31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.  The one who comes from heaven is above all.

-         Jesus was from heaven and yet he was spatially on parallel footing with others?

Ephesians 4:10  He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.

-         Does filling the universe include the earth?  I think so.

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

-         We eagerly await a Savior FROM there?  I’m surprised it doesn’t say that we are eager to go there?

Revelation 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

-  Heaven seems to be a storehouse of gifts coming to earth.  Exciting?

Spatial Setting of Heaven

Could the spiritual heaven be closer then we think?  We know from several Old Testament passages that God also lives in places other than heaven.  One dictionary notes “Most of the references to heaven which are important for Israel’s faith speak of Yahweh’s dwelling in heaven. A simple presentation of the relevant instances, however, would give a very one-sided picture. For there are in fact other statements which call, not heaven, but the innermost sanctuary of the temple, or Sinai, or the ark, or other sacral places, the place of the presence or even of the dwelling of Yahweh, and which cannot be brought under the slogan שָׁמַיִם(heaven).”^[1] In the Old Testament God was present in various different places such as gardens, deserts, mountain tops, in the middle of a war, and the very presence of people.[2] Therefore, it follows that if God was present in places which were not above but instead on dry land then heaven might need to take on a different outfit.  If God is in heaven AND God is also on earth then can we argue that heaven exists on earth?  Or further, could we argue that heaven has the potential to be on earth?  What would this sort of thinking do to our Bible reading?  Dallas Willard defines heaven as any place where God’s rule and reign are perfectly enforced and abided by.

Heaven as a Sphere:

“The most helpful way of understanding the meaning of ‘heaven’ when it appears in the Bible is as ‘the dimension in which God exists.’

• Ecclesiastes 5:2 God is in heaven and you are on earth.
• Jesus prayed to his Father who was in heaven and yet his prayers were spoken as if God could hear him loud and clear from where he was at.
  • Therefore, location is not a big deal for Jesus.  He speaks of God being in heaven but he doesn’t denote the locality of heaven.
• We see over and over again in the Bible as heaven being “up”.  However, this does not necessarily denote geography, rather it communicates a sense of holiness.
• Jesus was a bridge between the visible and invisible.  “No one has descended but him who ascended.”

Is Heaven Popular Because Earth is a Loser?

Often time’s heaven is viewed as a better place then earth.  Earth is apparently God’s accidental step child who doesn’t belong.  Earth is full of rust, decay, evil and all sorts of other incumbents that reign against the good way of heaven.  But the question remains, has God given up on earth in favor of heaven?  Perhaps we could refresh our Biblical image of the earth.

Physical World Goodness

Genesis 1 and 2 have much to say about the creation of the earth.  So let us look at what the Creator thought of his creation.  God created a physical world which he deemed good.  God created physical things and felt that they were good.  Next, being the generous God that he is, he decided to create people who would rule over the earth.  Does the Bible say anywhere that the earth is bad because it needs someone to rule over it?  In Gen. 1:26, there is no mention of the earth being bad and therefore needing someone to rule over it.  Is a baby evil because it needs someone to take watch over it?

Things Not Mentioned in Genesis 1 or 2

1.  The earth is a temporary holding place.

2.  The earth is bad.

3.  The earth is a problem.

4.  The earth is a burden to God.

I understand that Genesis 3 takes a turn for the worst.  The created order suffers incredible harm at the hands of an intruder who looks to disrupt the vibrant created order which God deemed good in Genesis 1 and 2.  The intruder is successful in his attempt to overthrow the created order for the time being BUT let’s make a list of things that the intruder was not successful in.

1. Not successful in getting God to turn his back on creation.
2. Not successful in getting God to devalue creation.
3. Not successful in getting God to forego his plans for earth and start dreaming of a heavenly realm.
4. Not successful in making the earth a problem rather than a prize.

Further Examples that God Loves the Earth

1. The flood.  The earth was not destroyed, it was reorganized.  Evil people were destroyed but not the earth. (OT)
2. Romans 8 The creation waits not for destruction but for freedom. (Paul)
3. Physical resurrection demands a physical earth.  (Paul)
4. In Second Peter, elements are dissolved by fire but does that mean they are destroyed?
   1. Shedrack, Meshack, Abendgo, in the furnace yet NOT destroyed.
   2. Fire destroys evil doers, not good things.  Good things survive fire in the Bible.  Psalm 97:3 thematic
   3. Peter put the fire in the same context of the flood, the flood, as noted in point number 1 did not destroy the earth.
      1. Henry Alord “ The flood did not annihilate the earth, but changed it; and as the new earth was the consequence of the flood, so the final heavens and earth shall be of the fire.”
      2. Important distinction with respect to the word NEW in the Bible.  Two different words which have different meanings.  Kainos “that which is better than the old” Neos: that which has not yet been, that which has just made an appearance.

God Regrets Making Mankind

In Genesis 6 we see that God is deeply grieved over the state of mankind.  Does this grieve indicate that God does not value the earth?  Couldn’t the intensity of his anguish toward the earth reveal the bright future it was created for?  Perhaps it is a sign of his love for the created order and his anger toward a distortion of that created order.  *Note The flood does not destroy the elements or the fabric of the earth.  Rather it cleanses the earth.  Humans are still kept alive so that they can order and take care of the earth.  The earth is still in tact.  A big difference between cleansing and destroying.

Earth Theology

God made promises to Abraham and his descendants that his offspring would be great and we tend to focus in on that part of the promise but there is another part of the promise which we might easily miss.

Genesis 12: 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on EARTH will be blessed through you.” (caps mine).

It is important to remember that the Biblical land trajectory which God promised to his people went something like this. Eden à Jerusalem à The Ends of the EARTH.  Initially Eden was the place where God dwelled with his people and sustained them.  Eden didn’t work out so well and so the people began to dream of another Eden.  That place was Jerusalem and then God did the unthinkable.  He showed up in Jerusalem to kick it with his people but his people rejected him.  One early follower of God said “He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him.”  The amazing thing was that he was crucified in Jerusalem and so that place didn’t end up fulfilling the promise he had long since made to Abraham either.

Controlling Questions:

1. If Christian hope is for a resurrected body which is physical then shouldn’t the home of that physical body be a physical place?  Doesn’t a physical resurrection naturally imply a physical location for it to benefit from?
2. What is more important, what the Bible ACTUALLY says about the afterlife or what we hope for the afterlife to be like?
3. Could a person love heaven and hate the world/earth?

Resurrection is Distinctly Christian

1. Buddhist believe you float off into nothing.
2. Hendu’s believe you get reincarnated into something else.
3. Atheists believe you are obliterated.

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Conclusion

Over the past few years I have been flooded with a flurry of conflicting thoughts regarding the notion of heaven.  I have been confronted with many contradicting strands of thoughts about heaven and mainly; a biblical view of heaven.  What does the Bible say about heaven and what does the Bible mean when it uses the word heaven?  When I think about the story of the Bible, I try to relate the parts to the whole.  I recognize that God’s intention since the fall (Genesis 3), was to redeem the creation.  Naturally, one should be able to see all the different parts of the Bible through one gigantic lens, namely, the restoration of the fallen creation which includes but is not limited too: the earth and all its inhabitants (animals, plants, humans, sea creatures, video game players, flirts and all the rest).

Even though for most of our lives we’ve been taught that heaven is some far off place where we will float on the clouds and listen to angels playing harps, I think we’ve missed the point.  If heaven is some distant future then our lives here are wasted away, awaiting that special day.  It is a lot like the parents who are waiting for their child’s report card in hopes of straight A’s but never taking the time to encourage their child.  Sometimes it isn’t about what you secure or where you are going but the process in which you take to get there.  I do believe that the full realization of heaven is in the future but in the mean time God has called us to pray for heaven to invade earth.  Jesus himself said “let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Perhaps then, we ought to spend more time entertaining the possibilities of bringing heaven to earth rather then escaping here.

So how does one bring heaven to earth?

It all depends on how you define heaven.  One quaint definition I heard was that “heaven is a place where God rules, and hell is a place God doesn’t rule.”  It is really simple, let me explain.  When something happens here on earth as it happens in heaven, then, heaven has invaded earth.  When something happens here on earth as it happens in hell, then, hell has invaded earth.  Each day we have decisions to make about whether we are going to bring some heaven, or bring some hell.

Does anyone remember the force field the Ninja Turtles would put up around themselves?  Oh did you say no?  No worries, I found a photo on ninjaturtles.com. The force field was a secret hide-away.  Once the force field went up nobody could get to the Turtles.   In the picture you see Rapheal courageously trying to bust into the force field and enter into another realm.  Heaven is a thin film between our reality and ultimate reality.  Our job is to catch a piece of ultimate reality and bring it back to our world.

If any of this made no sense to you,  that is okay.  I’m not quite sure I have it all worked out.  Actually I think I understand it very well but it isn’t easy to communicate.  Let me know if you got the idea.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Earth, Eternity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.