Heaven and Earth - Night 1

The Wineskin talks kicked back into gear in the usual 'Monday-night-x-4' format tonight...

This first night only Mark Strom presented, but on the next three weeks, he'll be joined by three other new staff members at Laidlaw College.

The first part of the evening (before the cuppa+bite break) consisted of a survey of the biblical 'data' regarding 'heaven' and 'earth' (subsequent shorthand for these shall be 'H&E'). Here, Mark highlighted the diversity and complexity of these texts, reminding us that every system which tries to incorporate all the Bible-verses always leaves out (or downplays!) a few that 'just don't fit'... The key concept here was God's choosing to reveal Himself by way of a story - and the thing about stories is that they unfold. You don't get all the info up front.

Here is a listing of the verses he touched on (with some of his passing comments in parentheses)... Again, the point here was (mainly) to show how confusing and complex these verses can seem (Mark had no intention of this part 'making sense', per se)...

Old Testament
Genesis 1:1 (the start of the story - even heaven created!), Jeremiah 10:12, Proverbs 8, Isaiah 6 (the earth is filled with God's glory), Psalm 8, 1 Kings 8, Isaiah 51 (H&E shall vanish, etc.) --> Isaiah 65 (a New Heaven & New Earth)['NH&NE'], Psalm 16, Ecclesiastes/Job/Psalms (various passages which show their uncertainty of what lies beyond 'the grave')...

New Testament
Matthew 5 (sermon on the mount - the meek shall inherit the earth...), Matthew 6 (Lord's prayer), other sayings of Jesus - "store up treasures in heaven..." (as opposed to 'here'?); "what you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven..."; "H&E shall pass away..."; "all authority in H&E has been given to me...", other sayings about heaven and/or 'the world' - John 1, the world didn't know Him; Jesus from above (as opposed to 'below'); Jesus - "my kingdom is not of this world"; John 11 (1st century Jewish hope of resurrection, Lazarus rising and Jesus as 'the resurrection'); Jesus on cross says to repentant thief "you will be with me today in paradise" (Mark asks - was Jesus in paradise on that day?), Paul 1 Cor - "the form of this world is passing away", "new creation" in Christ, Resurrection in chapter 15 (earthly and heavenly 'bodies'), 2 Corinthians 5 (tent-bodies and house-bodies?), Romans 8 (groaning as waiting for redemption of bodies), Ephesians 1 (all things in H&E brought together under one head), Hebrews 12 (we have come to Mt. Zion - the heavenly Jerusalem), Galatians 4 (physical Jerusalem akin to 'Arabia'), Peter (inheritance kept for us 'in heaven' - and living as 'aliens and strangers'), 2 Peter (H&E reserved for fire - wait for NH&NE), Revelation 21-22...

After the break, Mark used a progression of diagrams (which I won't attempt to reproduce here!) to present the unfolding interaction between H&E throughout the Biblical narrative.

A few points he made along the way:

-Creation is the 'temple' and we are the 'image' of God. Idolatry doubly offensive in that it demeans not only the greatness and glory of God, but also his image-bearers - us!
-H&E 'parted' by a 'blockage' (Genesis 3)
-Heaven moves toward earth - in judgment & promise (e.g. Noah)
-Earth moves toward heaven - in hubris & longing (e.g. Babel fiasco and Abraham)
-Heaven's presence a fearful thing on earth - Disclosure & redemption (e.g. Burning bush, Exodus, Sinai, Covenant, Temple)
-The lingering possibility of the joining of H&E - example Psalms (remembrance of creation, possibilities of grace as intimacy and redemption)
-The prophetic hope of something even better than Genesis 1 (new 'shape' in renewal of all things)
-Heaven's FULL movement to Earth in the Incarnation of Jesus (also - if that wasn't clear enough - in Baptism and Transfiguration)
-The death of all hope of renewal (Mark conscious here of controversial-ish point) - at the cross...
-The Resurrection and Ascension as the New Earth being taken into heaven, etc.
-The giving of the Spirit as the ongoing presence of Jesus (the 'heavenly man') on earth (in those strange groupings of Jesus followers - wretched and radiant - always succeeding and always failing at imaging Jesus)
-Final renewal - H&E fully 'overlap' one another.

Whew! That's a lot just in summary form!

Any thoughts out there?