Heaven On Earth?

FOCUS READING

Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSV)

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’

And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing,‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

DAILY BYTE

One thing we first need to discuss this week before we continue talking about who gets in and who’s kicked out – is what exactly is heaven? What is this place that we’re trying to get into and kick others out of? Write down or talk with a friend about where and what you think heaven is.
What are some of your thoughts?

Standard answers are usually things like – heaven is a place where everything is light, and we spend all our time praising God. We’re with everyone we love who’s gone before us. It’s someplace where everything is good and beautiful. It’s someplace else.

These images give us a beautiful picture of what we can look forward to when we finally get out of the world we live in, but there is one problem. Jesus consistently tells us in the scriptures that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is here. It is not a faraway place but a reality that is breaking into our world now. He tells us that we haven’t seen the fullness of what’s still coming, but we are a part of bringing that kingdom into existence right now.

So as hard as it is in our present day reality, as we look around and see how messed up things can be, I challenge you to try and remember that heaven is here – today.

As you picture heaven breaking into our world right now, go back and read the focus reading from Revelation again. This scripture is often described to be a vision of the ‘end times’ - in other words, in popular culture, what happens at the end of everything when Jesus comes back and we all go someplace else. But, it’s also a vision that we often turn to for comfort when we think about those we love who have died and when we anticipate our own deaths. As you anticipate a future heaven for yourself and those you love, what hope does this scripture give you about witnessing heaven in life right now – today?