Christian music is full of biblical references which encourage, inspire and inform the worship of our awesome God. One theme, the theme of heaven and our part in it has inspired songs like “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me, “Home” by Chris Tomlin and the old favorite of Southern Gospel circles “This World is Not My Home;” it is that last title that I want us to think about more carefully today.
Jared Wilson in his book titled “The Story of Everything” offers a perspective on the lyric “this world is not my home” that few seem to have considered but which the Bible makes clear ~ this world actually is your home.
Hopefully those of you whose jaws just hit the floor will pick them back up and read on; the statement really rests on this question ~ where is heaven anyway?
You see, our music and our minds are full of faith in the fact that “we have a future in heaven for sure, there in those mansions sublime (Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled my Soul)” but isn’t heaven wherever God is – like home is where the heart is?
I understand the lyric of the hymn to mean that the world system or mentality, it’s way of doing and thinking and it’s morality is not where Christians abide ~ that we are in the world (as in , on the planet) but not of the world (as in agreeable to the ways of worldliness). But what if the planet called earth, the terra-firma, the globe ~ what if this world really IS to be our home? What if the grand plan of our Lord is to take us all back to the place that in the beginning He called good and perfect; what if the New Heaven and New Earth of (Revelation 21) is the reconstitution of Eden?
By sin Adam in the garden of Eden and subsequently mankind as a whole fell short of God”s glory (Rom. 3:23) and the glory of creation likewise faded. The creation of God which He called “good” as He completed it was cursed along with sinful Adam and Eve because of their choice to rebel against God. Do you remember what the Lord said to Adam in [Gen. 3:17] – “cursed is the ground” because of you and from that point on creation has groaned and its glory suffered decay – that is what Paul wrote in [Romans 8:18-22]:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
Creation in a sense fell from glory when we did or perhaps better put – the glory of the Lord departed from both man and creation when man chose to disobey God and ever since, creation at least has groaned for the Lord and His Glory to return.
God created not only to showcase His power and display His glory – He created a place where He in His glory might fellowship with those He created. In Genesis we have the glorious beginning and the tumultuous fall and, in the end, in Revelation we have the conclusion – [Rev. 21:3-5]:
“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.””
God does not remake a person into something different when they come to Him in faith – He takes the old us and gives us new life (2 Cor. 5:17). He did not give us a different shape, hair color, age or anything else but he did give us a new nature by which we may offer Him praise and glory – imperfectly now but one day when our body catches up with our nature (1 Cor. 15:53) – perfectly; likewise the earth which now groans will be restored to the glory when at first the Lord created it and He will dwell among us.
Yes, most likely, every believer reading this blog will go to that nebulous place which Paul called “the third heaven” in (2 Corinthians 12:2) to begin with ~ whether at the time of our deaths or at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) but only until God’s will – that which Jesus prayed about in (Matthew 6:10) on earth is done. Then, as pastor David Jeremiah once said, “what’s up there will come down here.”
Eventually, the Eden which God created in perfection will be reconstituted and re-inhabited by those sons and daughters of Adam and Eve whom the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed by His blood.
The reality IS that this world WILL BE our forever home ~ heaven will be on earth because the Lord God will be there dwelling among His people [Revelation 22:1-5]:
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”
One day, it will be on earth exactly as the Lord intended it in the beginning…all glory, honor and praise be to His name!
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