Lenten Meditations on the Cosmic Riddle, Part 4

 But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

-Phil. 3:20-21


If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  So it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit." ... The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.  As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.  And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
-1 Cor. 15:44-49


[Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham] were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country -- a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
-Heb. 11:13-16


This is the post I've been really looking forward to writing.  And I'm really excited about it!

Now, if you've been tracking with the flow of thought since the beginning, the very first sentence in the Philippians 3 passage should be a surprise, if not a shock.  You should be saying to yourself, "Wait ... what?!?  That's not right at all.  What is Paul talking about?!?"  Citizens of heaven?  God is a citizen of heaven.  The angels are citizens of heaven.  Humans are decidedly NOT citizens of heaven.

Now you're getting it.

When a person places saving faith in Jesus Christ, something cosmic happens inside that person.  Actually, it's something extra-cosmic, but heaven lies outside our cosmos.  We are transformed, a new creation.  We -- i.e. the real "us," not the physical body, but our soul or whatever it is inside us that makes us who we are -- are made citizens of heaven rather than of earth.  We instantly become expatriates, foreigners, aliens.  The world is NOT our home any more.  And it's always been like this for people who placed saving faith in God, even Abel and Enoch and Noah.  We've been made like Jesus, at least in part, who was also a citizen of heaven and a stranger, a sojourner, a temporary resident while on earth.    

What does this mean?  It means that every Christian is a cross-cultural traveler, just as every Christian is a missionary (the only question is what kind of missionary you are).  I may still have my white skin.  I was still born in Mauston, WI.  I still carry an American passport.  The American government still considers my body to be American.  But I -- the real me -- is no longer an American citizen.  I am a citizen of heaven.  And one day, at the resurrection, my body will catch up with the "real me."

As we grow in Christ, we ought to feel a greater and greater sense of disconnection from this earth, I think.  But not just because our home is in heaven.  Remember, "home" is not just a "what" but a "who."  Our home is with God and in God; even as Jesus is "God with us," and the Holy Spirit is "God in us."  

Just contemplate that for a second.  God With Us.  Isn't that a wonderful thought?


[to be continued]