HEAVEN
as an image flowing through the Bible
according to the design of the LORD God
(with a few personal comments)
A place of last resort
There wasn’t much conversation about heaven in the Old Testament. There was, of course, the understanding that man once had access to the Garden of Eden. This was a matter of the understanding of God’s perfect Creation; that at one point, mankind too was perfect. This is the initial state of all infant creatures, such as was mankind at its beginning. In the Genesis window to our history, we were given a bit of understanding about where mankind had been; but it was also understood that there would probably be no immediate returning there. God had made a certain arrangement that would prevent us from entering the Garden, even if we were ever able to find it. Don’t think of it as a penalty; instead, think of it as a prod to keep mankind moving along the circle of reality; a prod that would, one day, loop back to the perfect state.
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)Back in the Old Testament, folks were content if they could live a comfortable life, with appropriate blessings, and then die somewhat peacefully. Even the kings had a simple end of life experience that is chronicled in the pages of the Bible. This experience touched all the kings of the Old Testament; from the most revered . . .
So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. (1 Kings 2:10-11). . . to the most reviled.
And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
(2 Kings 21:10-18)In time, though, the religious leaders started to develop lines of reasoning that included concentration on heaven. These lines or reasoning are not errant, it is just not clear why they make a difference in everyday life. In fact, in many cases they can be the anchor to keep us fixed on a certain spot on the circle of reality; and sometimes, even, they can cause us to backtrack in our movement toward the perfection of Creation. This was demonstrated in the Bible times, revealing the fact that for many of the religious leaders this type of concentration led to contention. The apostle Paul was involved in one such very intense
discussion, which involved two factions of his day.
Click here to review the completed study of heaven (pdf format)
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