Lenten Meditations on the Cosmic Riddle, Part 5

 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, 

That the mountains would tremble before you! … 

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, 
You came down, and the mountains trembled before you. … 

Yet you, LORD, are our Father. 
We are the clay, you are the potter; 
We are all the work of your hand. … 

Oh, look upon us we pray, 
For we are all your people. … 

Will you, O LORD, hold yourself back? 
Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure? 
-Isa. 64:1-12 


My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there for oever, and David my servant will be their prince for ever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them for ever. 
-Ezek. 37:24-28 


Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling-place is now with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 
-Rev. 21:1-4 


God’s dwelling-place is in heaven, and our dwelling-place is on earth; and in between lies a great vault that divides us (Gen. 1:6-8). We are trapped here in on earth, prisoners of our own wickedness, and there is no escape. For who could cross from earth to heaven? Our only hope is that God might, somehow, come down and rescue us. But who would cross from heaven to earth? This is “The Cosmic Riddle.” 


And of course, Jesus is The Cosmic Answer. 


But our problem has not yet been solved! Before, we were in our proper dwelling-place (the earth) but separated from God. Now we have fellowship with God, but we are aliens in our own dwelling-place. We have been re-nationalized, and like Jesus, our citizenship is now in heaven. But Jesus, our Savior, came only for a short visit before returning to the heavenly realm from whence He came. We are still parted from Him and from our Father, although we are NOT (thanks be to God!) parted from the Holy Spirit. 

Like the prophet of ages ago, we still yearn for God, our Father, to rend the heavens, and come down, and be with us, His people. Attend to this word carefully, because I find it deeply satisfying. I don’t think that the strongest groanings of our human heart are to leave the earth behind and be with God. God has created the earth for us, and us for the earth. Despite being citizens of heaven, the earth is still our proper dwelling-place. We belong on the earth, and our heart knows it. You see, the problem is not that we aren’t in our home. We are IN our home. But we’re not AT home, because God is our home, yet He is not here. 

No, what we really long for is for God to come down to us, to be with us in our dwelling place. Wouldn’t that be “the best”?!? We don’t contemplate this very much, and I think the reason is because we have so thoroughly taken for granted how thoroughly ruined by sin this earth has become. We have wrecked it so much that it seems beyond repair. And let us be clear; without God, this is exactly the state of affairs here on earth. But what if it could be repaired?


What if there was a specific city where you could go with any offense done against you, stand before a perfectly righteous King who always dispensed justice with perfect grace and perfect fairness, and plead your case … being assured that perfect justice would be done?  

What if every seed anyone planted grew and produced more than enough food to eat … for everyone on the planet?  

What if you could live with your family, and your spouse’s family, and your entire extended families, and Republicans, and Democrats, and Mexicans, and Russians, and Iraqis … in perfect harmony, with no fear of ever feeling hurt?  

What if you could create any piece of art, build any kind of structure, study any subject, prepare and eat any food, accomplish any feat, play any game, talk to any person, see anything you ever wanted to see, and do anything you ever wanted to do?


This is exactly what Scripture promises will happen at the end of time. We will not “go to heaven.” Rather, heaven will come to us. Just as God the Son came down in the person of Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost to remain within His people, so at the final resurrection God the Father will come down and make His eternal dwelling on earth.  God With Us.  And He will wipe every tear from our eyes. He will be our God, and we will be His people. And there will be no more mourning, no more death, no more crying, no more pain. 


Finally, at long last, we will be at home, in our home.



[The End]