telling the story ~ this is our home (ii)
Composition version: yes (partial).
lyrics (incomplete)
fire in Your hand
as You come down from heaven
fire in Your hand
setting this world to rights
new heavens, new earth
no sorrow, no curse
a world full of wonder
a sky full of sound
forever this is our home
this is our home
this is our home. . .
Spirit will blow
bringing His life
to everything
cripples will dance
mute ones will shout
and all will sing:
gloria!
gloria!
gloria in excelsis Deo!
gloria!
narrative
You've probably heard the Christian hope described as "heaven." And perhaps, if you've been exposed to some of the more arcane Christian terminology, you may have heard of something called "the beatific vision" - the privilege of seeing God as He is in Himself.
There are elements of truth in both those concepts, but in terms of the biblical story, they are somewhat misleading. The idea of heaven, when isolated, tends toward a notion of an eternal disembodied bliss - and that is not the biblical hope. Similarly, the language of "beatific vision" suggests a sort of passive contemplation of the depths of God's being.
The truth of the matter is that God's goal is not to discard the present creation in favour of "heaven"; nor is it to dismiss our bodies so that we can be pure spirits and therefore able to see Him better.
Rather, the trajectory which God set from the beginning was to glorify that which He had begun with. The biblical anticipation is not the obliteration of earth and the absolutization of "heaven"; rather, it is a renewed heaven and renewed earth, brought into a correspondence so close that it may be said that heaven will dwell upon earth.
And so too with the body. Remember that Jesus is the representative Man. His resurrection is not a strange one-off event that occurred to make a point. No, it is the triumph of man over death, through the Spirit-empowered gift of God's grace ("favour," especially undeserved). And that means that the bodies of His people are destined to become like His own body. His body is not ethereal; it has "meat and bones." But it is a renewed body; it is the human body brought to its ultimate perfected glory.
We look forward to home. If the world we have known - indeed, if the unfallen world as Adam and Eve knew it - has been wonderful and enchanting, this world in the age to come will be far beyond it. It will truly be home, even more beautiful, more wonderful than the Garden of Eden.
And what of the "beatific vision"? Will we "see God as He is in Himself"? Perhaps that sort of language is too abstract. More importantly, we will know God as truly and richly as any creature can possibly know Him, and we will share in the rich life which our Head enjoys. That life will not simply be idle contemplation, but in all the unending movement of happy productivity and activity, we will be perfectly in God, and He in us.
This is our home forever.