In this week’s Church at Home, we’re looking at the phrase “heaven and earth.” Most of us have trouble thinking about the concept of heaven the way the Bible actually describes it. We tend to imagine it as a beautiful place where we go after we die, but it’s so much more than that. Heaven and earth—God’s space and humans’ space—were originally united as one. When humanity chose to go their own way, those two spaces were driven apart. But Jesus made a way for the two spaces to be one again. Right now we can experience the overlap between heaven and earth, but one day soon we will see the two spaces fully reunited again. As we wait, we are invited by Jesus to live out this prayer, “Father let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In this week’s study, we’ll explore and practice the hope of this reality together. | |||||||
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Video Question How did this video explanation expand your view of heaven? |
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Matthew 19:28-30 Read here The new heavens and earth is not some strange world we can’t begin to understand. When Jesus talks about the new creation, he mentions things we are familiar with like family, homes, and places of work (fields). But things will also be different than the world we know now. The future earth will be so permeated with God’s own life and love that death will be no more and power structures will be turned upside-down. What happened to Jesus on Easter morning is what God has in store for the whole universe. Everything will be renewed.
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Romans 8:18-22 Read here While we wait for the new creation, we have to deal with evil, death, and chaos. But when Paul reflects on the future hope of the world, he says the earth will be “liberated from its bondage to decay.” Paul says that creation is groaning like a woman in childbirth. The new creation is taking form, being knit together in our midst, even when we can’t see it. But we see hints of it. Every now and then we see movement on the surface, and one day soon it will be pushed forth into fullness of life.
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