In the old testament there seemed to be a sharp distinction between heaven and earth. We see this in the temple which was the old covenant house of God. It was divided into three courts. The outer court was for the gentiles only. The inner court was for torah keeping Jews only. Then there was the Holiest of Holies which was for God only. Beyond the veil into the Holiest of Holies was considered the place where heaven touched earth. By Jesus day many believed the temple to a microcosm of the whole earth. The outer court was associated with the sea, the inner was associated with the land, and the holiest, heaven.

We know that when Jesus died the veil the surrounded the Holiest of Holies was torn from top to bottom. After that there is no sharp distinction between heaven and earth in the new testament. Even before His death, Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven being a present reality through Him. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we Christians have through Christ been lifted up into the heavenly places. We also see that God has a new house. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we are the place where heaven touches earth. Have you ever thought of yourself that way?

How can we look around and say that the essence of heaven is already here? There are no golden streets. All of our troubles have not disappeared, and we do not see our loved ones that have passed on. Yet, what is here now that is also in heaven? Communion with God is here. The reality of God giving Himself to us and we giving ourselves back in worship is already here. In that sense the veil has been removed. The realm of God has come to earth through Jesus Christ.

When we talk about heaven, we may speak of many things. We can talk about its awesome beauty. We sometimes call really beautiful places on earth a little slice of heaven. We often hear this about the Ozark Mountains here in Northwest Arkansas. Some people who visit Thorncrown Chapel say we have a little slice of heaven here. I don’t argue with them. It is a beautiful place.

The scriptures speak of streets of gold in heaven. Yet, this may have a different meaning than we think. We are not to take the imagery of the scriptures literally at all times. More often Biblical imagery points to deeper things. The talk of streets of gold in heaven might simply be saying there is a different value system in heaven. We humans think gold is the one of the most valuable things there is. What does God think of it? He walks on it. Jesus spoke of treasure in heaven being far different than treasure on earth and far more valuable. So, I don’t know if the streets are literally made of gold in heaven, but I do know there is a completely different value system there. God wants us to have the same value system of heaven on earth.

We talk of there being no more troubles in heaven, and we sing of laying our burden down when go to be with the Lord. Yet, is that the essence of heaven? No more troubles? To finally get out of here where things are so hard? I don’t think that is the proper perspective on heaven and earth. Paul was torn between going to heaven and staying here. If you look at how hard a life he had, that might seem ridiculous. We will look in future posts at why seeing heaven as the great escape is not the best perspective.

We speak of reunion in heaven. The word reunion means the return of union. We talk of seeing our loved ones again and how wondrous that will be. However, I believe that return of union will be far greater than that. Do you think you might see some of your enemies there? Maybe someone you did not like, or they did not like you? Any divisions between us will melt away in heaven. Reunion will be a far bigger picture than just seeing those who loved us in this life. When we speak of such things, we are getting a bit closer to the essence of heaven.

When we speak of heaven and when we see heaven portrayed in the scriptures, we see that there is a lot of worship going on there. I heard someone say, “Gee, I hope the music is good in heaven!” Or maybe when we get there, we suddenly all develop a taste for harp music.

Worship is far deeper than just joyful or solemn music. The essence of worship is communion. That is why it has a central place in heaven. We see worship in the great scenes around the throne of God in the book of Revelation. There God gives Himself to His beloved, and they give themselves back to Him throwing the very crowns He gave them at His feet. Giving ourselves to each other in love naturally flows from such communion with God. These things are the essence of worship and thus are the essence of heaven.

We have discussed what God wants us to do in light of the new covenant. Our job is to live a grace based relationship with God rather than the performance based relationship of the old covenant. Now, let’s take a look at what God wants us to have. Under the old covenant God’s blessings were primarily material. If you got back to the agreement God had with His people in books such as Deuteronomy and Leviticus, you will see that every one of the promised blessings was material. The foremost was the promised land. With that came material prosperity and protection from their enemies.

Is the new covenant the same? Is the primary blessing of the new covenant material riches? Some would argue that it is. I have heard folks quoting the promises of the old covenant as if they are still God’s central blessings. If you think that, consider that the central blessing of the old covenant was the promised land. All else revolved around that. Is God’s major will for your life to give you a hunk of real estate in the middle east? No, God’s new covenant blessing is a kingdom not of this world. All else revolves around that.

If we study the blessings of the new covenant, we see a remarkable shift in emphasis. Paul said that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:1-3). Jesus coined the phrase “treasure in heaven,” and he spoke of it as being far more important than earthly treasure. He also said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt. 6:33).”

So, what is the new covenant’s primary blessing? In other words, how would you answer this question: What does God want to give me more than anything? What you believe God wants for you more than anything is the thing you will seek most, so it is important that our hearts are in alignment with God on this matter.

When we read the new testament, the new covenant blessing becomes obvious. The new covenant blessing is Jesus. It is to know Him and to partake of Who He is and what He has done for us.

The old covenant blessing was to participate in a land, a physical nation, and a physical blessing. The new covenant blessing is not a land but a Person. It is to participate in Christ. God wants us to participate in Who Jesus is every day. He wants us to participate in the glory of what Jesus has accomplished in His death and resurrection every day. In the old covenant God filled their stomachs. In the new covenant, He fills our lives with Christ. Just as they grabbed a hold of their old covenant blessing, we are to grab a hold of ours. We should expect God to give us a lot of His Son every day. In the midst of our troubles, in the midst of our enemies, in the midst of our failures and successes, we should expect a lot of Jesus.

In Jesus we see the breaking forth of grace and truth. At the cross we see the fullness of these things. There, instead of cursing those who deserved to be cursed, He became the curse for them that they might be blessed with the promise of the Spirit.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” ), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14

What does this say about our relationship with God under the new covenant? The old covenant framework said that we need to be a person worthy of God’s blessing. The new covenant framework says we are people who deserve a curse, but we have a blessing in Christ instead. We are people who deserve to be far from God, but because of Christ, we are near instead. We are a people who deserve to have nothing, but instead God has given us everything. We are a people not under the Law but grace.

Do you see the difference in relationship with God? God wants a grace based relationship with us under the new covenant, not a performance based relationship. When we can see ourselves as a person who gets far more than he could ever deserve everyday, we have begun to understand grace. Grace is for everyday not just for heaven someday. Grace is the basis of our walk with God under the new covenant.

It is hard to grasp, but trying to be somebody God can accept is actually counterproductive in our relationship with God. Accepted is something we are, not something to we become. Living in that acceptance is how we relate to God.

How do we relate to God? What does He want from us and what does He want for us? I believe if we don’t know the answer to these questions, we are going to have trouble with God. Yet, when we understand the new covenant answer concerning what God wants us to do and what God wants to give, we find a greater peace in our walk with the Lord. These are questions I would like us to explore in our next few posts.

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17

In the above passage we see the difference between the old and the new covenants. The old covenant was based upon the Law. The new covenant is based upon the grace and truth found in Jesus Christ.

The old covenant was in many respects a performance based relationship with God. There was room for mercy in the old covenant, but by and large Israel’s blessing was based upon Torah keeping. The books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are in many respects written like legal contracts between God and His people. God said if they would keep all that He commanded them, they would be blessed, and God spelled out the specific blessings in great detail. However, He also said if they did not keep Torah, they would be cursed. He then laid out the specific curses in great detail.

In Jesus’ day many had the perception that God’s people were being cursed, because they did not keep Torah correctly. And they had good reason think this way. They saw what appeared to be God’s curses before their eyes. One of the great curses mentioned in Deuteronomy was the loss of their land and the triumph of Israel’s enemies over God’s people. That was exactly what was happening. The Romans had conquered Israel, and times were hard.

Some, some such as the Pharisees, thought that better Torah keeping would bring God’s blessing. They thought Sabbath keeping was really important to God, so they developed over the years what is called the oral traditions. These interpreted the Law of Moses to make sure they kept it correctly. For instance, they determined that you could only walk 2000 cubits without entering into work on the Sabbath. They held fast to circumcision making a distinction between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, and interpreted and enforced the purity Laws that kept Israel from touching anything unclean. Moreover, they kept the seven feasts of Israel religiously.

Then Jesus came and threw a monkey wrench in the whole thing. He blessed people who were supposed to be cursed such as the tax collectors and prostitutes. He touched people that were considered unclean such as the lepers. He even blessed the most accursed of all, the gentiles. That is not the way it was supposed to work. All Jesus did pointed to the fact that a new way of relating to God was breaking forth. It was a new covenant that was not performance based but grace based. More on this in my next post.

It is interesting how the book of Ephesians is divided. The last three chapters paint a picture of Christians should live. It covers all of our relationships. It talks about how we should treat each other in the church, how we should keep our unity, how husbands should treat wives and visa versa, how we should relate to the government, how children should behave, and how we should walk with God staying away from all impurity. There are are all kinds of commands in Ephesians chapters four through six.

Most sermons preached from Ephesians come from its last three chapters. How many times have you heard messages about what Paul says concerning husbands and wives in Ephesians? How many times have you heard exhortations about staying away from the sins of the world, or about the importance of loving one another? Sometimes our sermons are a weekly pep talk to redouble our efforts in doing these things.

Yet, Ephesians does not begin with chapter four does it? The first three chapters are all about seeing. Chapter one begins with the great prayer that God’s people would see who they are because of what Jesus has done. Chapter three ends with another prayer that we would see just how much God loves us. There is not one command in the first three chapters of Ephesians. They are all about who Jesus is and who we are because of Him.

Paul understood that all doing must begin with seeing. All overcoming must begin with seeing that Christ has overcome all things, and because we participate in Him, we are overcomers. We don’t create our own victory, we live in His. Likewise, all loving God as we should, and all loving our neighbor as we should begins with seeing how much God loves us. It is only in seeing who Jesus is and what He has done for us that we can be what we are supposed to be.

We sometimes get the idea that the early church was made up of perfect people. They certainly didn’t have the problems we have in our church life and in our personal lives. Right? On the contrary, they were every bit as human as we are.

The early Christians had their fights and disagreements just like we do. The fist century church was made up of Jews and Gentiles. Bringing those two groups together was an enormous task. The Jews, for the most part, held fast to their Jewishness. They still kept the Sabbath, circumcision, and the feasts and festivals. And that was alright. Paul never demanded that the Jews lose their Jewishness. In fact, when Paul was among them, he too kept the Jewish customs and even had Timothy circumcised. What he wanted them to understand was that all their traditions were not ends in themselves. Nor were they a means to God’s approval. Rather, they led to Christ. He was the Law’s purpose.

On the other hand, Paul did not want the gentile converts to embrace the Jewish traditions that their faith might be in Christ alone. Paul’s greatest opponent was the Judaizers who believed the gentiles must become Jewish and believe in Christ to be saved.

You can imagine the conflicts that arose as these two very different groups sought to follow Christ. The Jews thought God liked them better because they kept circumcision and Sabbath. The gentiles thought God liked them better because they did not keep such things. Paul answered that they were both wrong.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Gal. 5:6)

We might think that the early Christians did not face the temptations that we do, and if they did, they never failed a test. This is another myth. The Jews faced the temptation to fall back into the old covenant. It often seemed the safest thing to do especially when faith in the new covenant led to persecution. Then there was what they saw with their eyes. The old covenant world seemed to be firmly intact. The old covenant temple was still in full operation with all its traditions and rituals. Jesus said God was going to tear it down, but He certainly was taking His time about it. Those who held onto the old covenant seemed to prosper while those with faith in Christ often suffered.

Many of the gentiles came out of paganism. They faced a whole different type of temptation. Immorality and paganism went together. For example, there was the cult of Dionysus, who was the god of wine. You can imagine what worship of such a god would entail. To them drunkenness was part of worship. Other pagan cults incorporated immoral acts in their worship that are too lewd to talk about in this blog. The gentiles who came out of paganism faced the lure of the pagan temples and foreign gods. Some went back, just as some Jews went back to the old covenant.

How do you keep such people on track? Paul’s answer is again about seeing.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14-19)

More on this in my next post.