The Lord’s Prayer 4: On Earth as It Is in Heaven

 

On Earth as It Is in Heaven

I have never believed in a place called “Heaven”! Or one called “Hell”, for that matter.

But the “Lord’s Prayer,” as we have had it handed down, and as proposed in answer to the plea by his disciples to teach them how to pray, includes this phrase, or something very much like it. So, we can understand that along with the earth, there is also “heaven.” And, rather than focusing on these as solely physical entities, we would be better understanding them as domains and dimensions. We also know that there will be “New Heavens and a New Earth”

In Psalm 115: 16-18, we read “The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to humans. It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence; it is we who extol the LORD, both now and for evermore.” (NIV, my emphases.) Or, as the Apostle’s Creed rehearses for us: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth…” and from the very first line in the Bible we get the picture: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty [void], darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering [brooding] over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2 NIV)

Therefore, not only is there a “Heaven” but, in fact, there are “heavens”! Maybe, even seven! As the Bible is “God-breathed” – inspired – then it will reflect something of the nature of God, God’s nature, and God’s works. To this extent, it needs to be read on several different levels and registers, echoing the God who is Spirit, and the works of God, which are spiritual and material and, sometimes, simultaneously spiritual-and-material! (The late Beatrice Bruteau explores this in her amazing book God’s Ecstasy, Crossroad, 1997) The focal point is what is described as “the throne of God”: “Who is like the LORD our God,” we read in Psalm 113:5-6, “the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth…” or, in Psalm 103:19 – “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”

Now we are getting close to the goal of the “Lord’s Prayer”: that what is ruled and effected “in heaven,” is also reflected and registered “on earth.” As Jesus pointed out to Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” (Matt.16:19, NASB. The original tense is the future perfect passive, indicating a future event already completed. Most other translation incorrectly use a future simple form, reflecting the translator(‘s)’ incorrect theological understanding.) This stems from the fact that Jesus, himself, insisted that he only did what he saw the Father doing, and he only spoke what the words I hear my Father speak.” And as we abide in Him as He does in us, so the same modus operandum applies.

One last point, before I land this “on earth as it is in heaven” thing.  Paul was very conscious of the conundrum we face in this body of flesh - as we are absent from the Lord in the sense of any face-to-face presence, a fully embodied encounter which he saw as being ours after death. Though in several places he explains how we are in God, and God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell in us as a “Temple” of the Lord and, moreover, along with Peter, he shows how we are “living stones,” joined together as a “Temple” of the Holy Spirit. He is also no Gnostic fool: he is aware of the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory; but also, our very earthy reality and ministry. In 2 Cor.5: 1-10 he explains our dilemma:

            For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

            6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (ESV)

And our job description is as ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven, wherein we derive our citizenship, as agents of the reconciliation obtained through the Father and Spirit’s presence in Christ Jesus as He reconciled the world to Himself. (I suggest reading carefully, prayerfully, and contemplatively 2. Cor. 5:11-21.) The Church is God’s Embassy.

This is the same Paul who had such an extraordinary out-of-body experience he wasn’t quite sure how (or if) he could explain it:

            “It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.  I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows.  And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.  On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.” (2.Cor 12: 1-7 NRSV)

So, when I said at the beginning of this post that I have never believed in Heaven, it is clear that there is - are – a heaven and heavens. And I gladly and gratefully believe in those dimensions. What I don’t believe in is some geographical location in the stratosphere, or the Universe beyond to be obsessed with as our escape destination from a soon-to-be incinerated earth. Moreover, I believe there is a human being (The Son of Man) in heaven, indeed, on a throne at the right hand of the Father whose name is Jesus the Christ who reigns until all is subject to Him and he hands over the humbled and victorious “kingdom” back to His Father. And we are seated with Him in Heavenly places!

And inextricably bound to this heaven is also this earth and all that are in it. And so, I pray daily – sometimes more than once – that God’s kingdom will come, His will be done – as in heaven so also on earth.” It is us, as the Church, the Body of Christ to be the agents of that fusion of heaven and earth. Mystically, it means we are the builders of the New Jerusalem that will come down from heaven to earth and a wholly renewed heaven-and-earth will be God’s dwelling place “unto the Ages of Ages.”

Probably the world’s foremost living scholar on these matters is NT (Tom) Wright. The fusion of heaven and earth is the leitmotif, the seam of gold that runs through the strata of all his work over the last 50 years. On Earth As In Heaven(SPCK 2022) is a book put together and edited by his son Oliver, that highlights thematic passages from many of his books. There are, literally, hundreds of references to heaven and earth and the oft-repeated point is that we are not going to heaven by way of escape; but that we are bringing heaven together with earth to form a “new heaven and a new earth.”

Trying to explain the meaning of Jesus’ Ascension, he ties it together with this business of heaven and earth:

            “[H]eaven and earth are not a long way apart. They are meant to overlap and interlock and finally to be joined fully and forever. And the whole point of Jesus’ identity, all along, is that he has been a one-man walking Temple; he has been, already, the place where heaven and earth have met, where people on earth have come into contact with the life and power of heaven. So, for Jesus, ‘going to heaven’ isn’t a matter of disappearing into the far distance. Jesus is like somebody who has two homes. The homes are right next door to each other, and there is a connecting door. One day the partition wall will be knocked down and there will be one, glorious, heaven-and-earth mixture.” (From Simply Jesus 195-97, cited in On Earth As in Heaven, p45)

Oh Abba Father,

May Your Name be hallowed,

Your Kingdom Come

And your will be done –

As in Heaven, so also on Earth…

AMEN!

 

Fellow Wayfarers, ambassadors of the King and His Kingdom: let us walk the walk and talk the talk until every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus, the Christ is LORD.