Warrior Prophet
May 31st, 2007, 05:19 PM
Heaven, quite Literally on Earth
(Unofficially Heaven, part 4)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
2 Peter 3:10-13
In the world in the past and today there have been those who sought to make Heaven on earth. Depending on the time and historical context, many great leaders have offered optimistic visions of the future that promised a utopia on earth where all men and women, great and small live in a world of fairness, equality and peace. These great leaders have sought to create this world with political and social revolutions. Even when the world is facing trying times, this hope of a greater possible world still inspires even the darkest pessimist. To those who seek this, I have good news and bad news.
This perfect world and utopia is never going to happen this side of eternity. We humans have shown that we can be the worst of all God’s creation. Peace and war have co-existed from the beginning of time, despite our great endeavors to bring peace to mankind. We’ve taken our dominion of creation and abused it to where scientists of all stripes believe we are using up our natural resources. The sins of racism, ignorance, bigotry and discrimination have marked all generations since the fall. Disease and plague are yet to be conquered in the age of modern science. All of our efforts to curtail the world’s ills have come up short.
Here is the good news though. Just as God had a plan to deal with sin’s consequences when it came to human beings (restoring relationship to Him through the atoning death of Jesus Christ and the conquering of death through His resurrection) God also has a plan of dealing with sin’s effects on the creation. Paul tells us in Romans 8:22 and the surrounding context that creation itself is groaning in the awaiting for the revelation of the children of God. This will come at the resurrection, which I referred to last time. When we are resurrected though we will not be resurrected into the same old sinful world that is decaying and given enough time, would become an inhabitable ball or rock and water floating through space.
An oft forgotten truth that many people are not taught is that our ultimate destination as believers is not in the Lord’s presence in the eternal somewhere out there with spiritual bodies. Our ultimate destination is a new creation in which we have physical bodies and where there will be physical places where God has restored the world in the way that it was originally intended before the sins of man. When you read the Old Testament you find very few verses referring to some great after life. What the prophets foresaw was a very real world where God interacted with His people. The plainest teaching of this is in Isaiah 65:17-25. Here Isaiah teaches that there would come a time when God would recreate the earth and heavens (space and such) and then peace would come to the earth. The theme is continued in the New Testament with the verses from 2 Peter cited in the opening and the grand conclusion to the Revelation in chapters 21 and 22. In that book John goes into much more detail about the new creation in which I will not go into here, but for now just take in this truth.
Which is what Peter wants us to do, of course. (Harkening back to the original scriptural citation.) We can study this all day that we want to… the how’s, what’s, where’s and why’s of this truth but Peter doesn’t mince his word. He says that this world and all that is in will burn. That wonderful house, car, high definition television, super charged computer, big bank account will all burn up in a matter of moments. You will only be left with what you put in your spiritual bank account. The only houses that will matter are the spiritual houses that you’ve built in this life. Peter is telling us that we need to have an eternal perspective. In his own words, living out Godly and holy lives, if you don’t know what that means feel free to ask me or any other spiritual leader. What matters is that you take this truth and apply it to your lives everyday.
Wrapping all this finally up, we as Christians are supposed to remember each and every day that we are citizens of Heaven first and foremost (Philippians 3:20.) We are guaranteed that not only will we go to the Lord’s presence if we see physical death before His coming, a resurrection of our bodies to become immortal and free from sin and a new heavens and earth. When we understand this we can truly wake up each day being true optimists, knowing that we do have a good God that will ultimately redeem the effects of sin. Knowing this we also ought to know that God wants us to bring each and every person to this eternal home as we can bring with us. He wants us to live in a way that each of us will be proud of when we are judged. So go out today, knowing that God has a great future planned for us in His eternal plan. Then go tell others about it.
(Unofficially Heaven, part 4)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
2 Peter 3:10-13
In the world in the past and today there have been those who sought to make Heaven on earth. Depending on the time and historical context, many great leaders have offered optimistic visions of the future that promised a utopia on earth where all men and women, great and small live in a world of fairness, equality and peace. These great leaders have sought to create this world with political and social revolutions. Even when the world is facing trying times, this hope of a greater possible world still inspires even the darkest pessimist. To those who seek this, I have good news and bad news.
This perfect world and utopia is never going to happen this side of eternity. We humans have shown that we can be the worst of all God’s creation. Peace and war have co-existed from the beginning of time, despite our great endeavors to bring peace to mankind. We’ve taken our dominion of creation and abused it to where scientists of all stripes believe we are using up our natural resources. The sins of racism, ignorance, bigotry and discrimination have marked all generations since the fall. Disease and plague are yet to be conquered in the age of modern science. All of our efforts to curtail the world’s ills have come up short.
Here is the good news though. Just as God had a plan to deal with sin’s consequences when it came to human beings (restoring relationship to Him through the atoning death of Jesus Christ and the conquering of death through His resurrection) God also has a plan of dealing with sin’s effects on the creation. Paul tells us in Romans 8:22 and the surrounding context that creation itself is groaning in the awaiting for the revelation of the children of God. This will come at the resurrection, which I referred to last time. When we are resurrected though we will not be resurrected into the same old sinful world that is decaying and given enough time, would become an inhabitable ball or rock and water floating through space.
An oft forgotten truth that many people are not taught is that our ultimate destination as believers is not in the Lord’s presence in the eternal somewhere out there with spiritual bodies. Our ultimate destination is a new creation in which we have physical bodies and where there will be physical places where God has restored the world in the way that it was originally intended before the sins of man. When you read the Old Testament you find very few verses referring to some great after life. What the prophets foresaw was a very real world where God interacted with His people. The plainest teaching of this is in Isaiah 65:17-25. Here Isaiah teaches that there would come a time when God would recreate the earth and heavens (space and such) and then peace would come to the earth. The theme is continued in the New Testament with the verses from 2 Peter cited in the opening and the grand conclusion to the Revelation in chapters 21 and 22. In that book John goes into much more detail about the new creation in which I will not go into here, but for now just take in this truth.
Which is what Peter wants us to do, of course. (Harkening back to the original scriptural citation.) We can study this all day that we want to… the how’s, what’s, where’s and why’s of this truth but Peter doesn’t mince his word. He says that this world and all that is in will burn. That wonderful house, car, high definition television, super charged computer, big bank account will all burn up in a matter of moments. You will only be left with what you put in your spiritual bank account. The only houses that will matter are the spiritual houses that you’ve built in this life. Peter is telling us that we need to have an eternal perspective. In his own words, living out Godly and holy lives, if you don’t know what that means feel free to ask me or any other spiritual leader. What matters is that you take this truth and apply it to your lives everyday.
Wrapping all this finally up, we as Christians are supposed to remember each and every day that we are citizens of Heaven first and foremost (Philippians 3:20.) We are guaranteed that not only will we go to the Lord’s presence if we see physical death before His coming, a resurrection of our bodies to become immortal and free from sin and a new heavens and earth. When we understand this we can truly wake up each day being true optimists, knowing that we do have a good God that will ultimately redeem the effects of sin. Knowing this we also ought to know that God wants us to bring each and every person to this eternal home as we can bring with us. He wants us to live in a way that each of us will be proud of when we are judged. So go out today, knowing that God has a great future planned for us in His eternal plan. Then go tell others about it.