Not to mock Mr. Camping and his bungled prediction of the rapture, but I, like others, have thought recently about heaven and the point to this thing we call life. Add in Rob Bell’s book about hell and my mind has had a lot to process lately.
This morning after having breakfast in bed (why i don’t know, its not Father’s day or my birthday) I am laying here in the bed on this Sunday morning looking out over our back yard I have to ponder. Why do we feel we have to “go” somewhere to heaven? I’m looking out at the majestic specimen oak trees in my yard, I’m overlooking a small 2 acre pond, and I’m listening to the songbirds singing to the skies with our back door open. I can’t help but wonder why we want to leave earth to “go” to heaven. This is pretty nice here.
I understand how people want mansions, they want to walk on gold streets, they want to see water like glass, gates made of precious stones, etc…but what if we’re missing something. What if God isn’t wanting us to come to him but instead he is wanting to come to us?
The guy who started the ministry Answers In Genesis says that even if the answers to everything aren’t in Genesis then at least the root of the answer is in Genesis. So I have to ask what is the answer? What is the root? What is the point to this thing we call life and more specifically what is the end?
You see God created the earth perfect. It was Eden. It lacked nothing. It needed nothing. Every day in the cool of the evening the scriptures tell us God came to the garden and walked with man. He made it perfect and he came here to spend time with us. He didn’t have to take Adam away to him. God came to earth – you know Emmanuel – God with us. Sounds like what Yeshua was trying to tell us too with all his talk of the Kingdom of Heaven.
God with us, here, on earth, every day.
So our mandate is to make sure we bring heaven to earth, not the other way around. We need to create life, we need to remove sin, we need to bring creation and Eden to our world. We need to walk with Adonai every day here and now.
