Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, .... And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
- Revelation 21:1-3 (ESV)
"Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man."
You might have thought that the reverse was true, well you would have if you grew up in the same Christian circles as I did. You know the ones, where we prayed, "Our father who art in heaven, ... your kingdom go and take us with you!" We sang about leaving the earth, made movies about leaving the earth, and somehow along the way forgot to read the Bible, or at least, to pay attention to what we were reading.
The very notion that God would be interested in coming back to live with humanity on earth was not even considered. God lived in 'heaven' and he had promised to come back and take us to himself, which was obviously a statement about leaving the planet to go to 'heaven'. Though leaving the planet earth and going to 'heaven' was always a tricky topic and not one to think about too hard, since 'heaven' was ... not very easy to locate. But that's okay, Jesus is the way!
However, after reading through Israel's scriptures as an adult, reflecting on my linguistics training, and 12+ years of continuing education in biblical studies, the reality is God wants to live amongst his people on earth.
The fact that the biblical canon ends with God coming down to live among his people, bringing a city with trees and river, corner stones and gates, all point to the larger biblical narrative of Genesis, Exodus, Jerusalem and Jesus. The narrative of God's work ends with Eden restored on earth, bookending the whole of history.
Therefore, the best place to start when thinking about what the Bible is on about, is with the restoration of the creation that God created in the first place. In the final vision of the end, we see the plan of God to live with his people laid out for all to see. The plan that he began with Adam and Eve, he still has in store for those who commit to him.
I hope to show, in an upcoming blog post, that the meaning of creation points in fact to this very reality! Again, the name of the blog is a clue ... and it will solve the mystery of why God would care at all about redeeming this old rock!
