THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST, Chapter 5 - He is Lord of Heaven and Earth

 Throughout the times that backdrop most of the Old Testament, the nations that surrounded Israel conceived of a world in which there were gods that ruled over a nation or territory. Several of these territorial deities are named in the Old Testament – Ba’al, Dagon, Molech, Rimmon, Nebo, Bel, Marduk, and Azazel, for example. But the God of the Bible, Yahweh (“Yar-way”) refused to be thought of as a mere territorial god! Yet, despite His constant revelation to His covenant people, the Hebrews, even they could not conceive of their God as being any greater than the conception of gods by the surrounding nations. Ultimately this wrong theology would lead to Israel’s demise time and time again. Then, what the Middle-Eastern Lutheran theologian, Dr. Munther Isaac, calls “the Jesus Event” happened! And once-and-for-all from that time on, no-one could ever be excused for conceiving of the God of the Bible as anything less than the GOD of all Heaven and all Earth!

Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart,
that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath;
there is no other.
Deuteronomy 4:39

In my previous chapter, I discussed how Jesus the Christ was the ultimate fulfilment of all of the hopes of, and promises to, Israel (2Cor. 1:20). Without a doubt, Israel greatest Old Testament longing was for the fulfilment of the LORD’s promise to them to fully possess their Promised Land –

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self,
and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven,
and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
Exodus 32:13

This promise given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was then transmitted to the descendants via the covenant that Moses administered at Sinai (Ex. 19:20; 24:8). A covenant is an agreement with agreed terms. Israel agreed to the terms of the Yahweh’s covenant with them. His promise to bring them out of bondage in Egypt as slaves and into the Promised Land “flowing with milk and honey” (Deut. 6:3) as free settlers was a part their covenant with GOD.

But you shall keep My statutes and My rules and do none of these abominations,
either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you
(for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean),
lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
Leviticus 18:26-28

But Israel broke their covenant with Yahweh and failed to keep the terms of the covenant that they had vowed to keep (Josh. 24:16-21). Time and time again GOD sent prophets to them to warn them that they risked incurring the penalty of breaking their covenant with GOD (2Chron. 24:19; Jer. 25:4). But Israel had been deceived into thinking that their GOD was merely like the territorial gods of the surrounding nations – gods who were relatively impotent. First, the ten northern tribes of Israel paid the penalty for breaking their covenant with Yahweh. Just as the terms of their covenant had conditioned, they were invaded by a northern nation, dispossessed from their land, and then permanently exiled (they became known as the tribes of Israel). About a hundred years later, the remain tribes in the south, collectively known as Judah had also broken their covenant with GOD and the prophet Jeremiah was raised up to plead with them to return to the LORD in repentance or risk the same penalty as their “sister” in the north had experienced:

And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to Me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore….Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah 3:7-8, 10 

Jeremiah’s prophetic reminders to the people of Judah fell largely on deaf ears. Judah likewise abandoned Yahweh and also broke their covenant with GOD, and, as Jeremiah had warned (Jer. 6:22) they too were invaded, and they too were exiled, and they too were never again to lay possession to the land that had once been promised to them in their covenant with the LORD. Among the exiles were Daniel, Mordecai, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah. When Cyrus (also known as Darius) decreed that all exiled Jews (for so the Babylonians nicknamed the people of Judah) could now return to their ancestral home, only some did. And by the time of Christ, the territory of Israel was under Roman occupation, as it had been since the time of Pompey which began decades earlier. The Jews had by this time somewhat rebuilt their temple and had been aided by the assistance of the Romans’ appointed ‘king’ of Judah, Herod the Great. Their temple precinct was granted by the Romans to be under their rule. Thus, by the time of Christ, the temple and its three outer court yards had become emblematic of what GOD’s Promised Land was meant to be: a holy place where God and man could meet; a sacred space where sacrifices could be offered to atone for sins; and, a place of judgment where GOD’s will could be enforced.  

 

THE “JESUS-EVENT”

IF you and I had been party to the appearing of the long-awaited Messiah, Jesus the Christ, (by earthly reckoning, the descendant of King David) I strongly doubt that we could have picked Him out from a small crowd! The prophet Isaiah foretold – 

My Servant [would] grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance,
nothing to attract us to Him.
Isaiah 53:2 NLT (originally written 8th century B.C.)

Using A.I., researchers recently used the images of the Shroud of Turin to determine what Jesus might have looked like.

But when Jesus, the Promised Messiah, appeared, He said some shocking things to many Jewish ears – especially the Jewish religious leaders. He declared that it was He who was the place where God and man could meet (Jn. 14:6). He declared that He was greater than the Temple (Matt. 12:6). He declared that He would be the atoning sacrifice for sins (Matt. 26:28; Mark 10:45). And He declared all judgment on behalf of GOD had been given to Him (Jn. 5:22). Dr. Munther Isaac describes the effects of Christ’s statements in terms that resembled an earthquake that happened and producing “a series of aftershocks”! Christ was saying that it was not the Temple that made be holy – it was Him! It was not the sacrificing of animals that could atone for their sins – it was Him, the Lamb of God! It was not the High Priest who ruled on behalf of Yahweh – it was exclusively Him! Even at the ‘trial’ of Christ before Caiaphas, He made an outstanding to the declaration after the High Priest had put Him under oath to tell the truth:

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said,
“This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”
And the high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”
But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him,
“I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Matthew 26:59-64

HE IS LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH!

The aftershocks of what Jesus the Christ said and did were felt for decades after His initial mission was accomplished (His display of the Father, His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension) and it was then committed to His disciples to complete when He commissioned them just prior to His ascension. Like a sonic bomb when a visible jet speeds past the observer then seconds later they hear the loud ‘KA-BOOOOOM!’ the words of Christ’s Great Commission – “All authority in heaven in and earth has been given to Me….Go into all the world….Make disciples of nations….” (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15).

I know that what I am trying to convey to you, my reader, may not be fully appreciated. But I pray that as the Spirit takes the truth of what GOD’s Word has revealed about Christ, you might experience the sound of a sonic boom in your soul as you realise this truth: Jesus Christ is Lord of all Heaven and all earth! May the aftershocks of this revelation cause your soul to be rocked with the revelation that there is nothing in this universe or your heart the He does not know! May more after-shocks of this revelation hit your soul like nuclear explosive waves as you come to realise that He is LORD over event that we will call ‘history’ and over care that you now call ‘a problem’. Little wonder then the apostle Paul was knocked of his spiritual feet with the wave of this revelation when he announced to the Colossians this fridge magnet text:

It doesn’t matter if you a waitress, a doctor, a Prime Minister, a king, a President, or a teenager —there is not one cause of anxiety, care, trouble, concern, or worry, that Jesus the Christ, the Lord of Heaven of Heaven and Earth who is seated, as the creed declares, at the right hand of the Father, that He can’t carry – if you would only give it to Him! 

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Your Pastor,

Andrew

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ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

Pray then like this:“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be Your Name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:9-10

What would the earth look like if the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray was answered? What would a world where GOD’s will was the only will that was enacted, look like? The answer is the same for both questions: it would look like Heaven. John Lennon was wrong to encourage people to imagine there is no heaven. Imagining there is no Heaven comforts no-one. Imagining there is no Heaven robs people of a vision of what our earth could be. Imagining there is no Heaven denies people of a foundational reality of our universe and thus leaves them vulnerable to other and all sorts of nonsense. No John Lennon, we must imagine what Heaven is like and pray what Jesus—the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Chief Commander of the forces of Heaven, the One who could command 12-legions of Heaven’s mightiest angels to obliterate anyone who dared to defy Him (but chose not to)—commanded us to pray: Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven! I want to challenge you to reimagine Heaven (not reinvent or reconstruct it), so that we might see what Christ wanted us to pray for and work toward being an answer to this sacred prayer.

Imagine Heaven. It is described as the City of God (Psalm 46:4). Even in times of adversity and hardship in the days before the Lord of Glory was veiled in flesh, the righteous ancients of the Old Testament times were strengthen and delighted by their holy imagination of Heaven and their longing for the City of God.

Glorious things of you are spoken,
O city of God.
Selah.
Psalm 87:3

We see in the Word of God that Heaven reflects the GOD who inhabits it. Its beauty, its magnificence, and its perfection reflect its Builder and Designer. This grand vision of the Heavenly City inspired the imagination of people such as Abraham and strengthened him and others to obey GOD and to seek that City as they set out to lay claim to GOD’s Promised Land for their descendants:

For he [Abraham] was looking forward to the City that has foundations,
whose Designer and Builder is God.
Hebrews 11:10

Many other righteous people who walked in obedience to God also saw that their ultimate City was not to be found on earth but their vision of the Heavenly City was to inspire them to make a difference on earth.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for He has prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:16

And little wonder, for in the much longed for City of God there would be: life-giving rivers of eternal refreshment; fruit trees that would never wither whose fruit would always be ripe and delicious; streets paved in gold; and, a radiant light that would never grow dim (Rev. 22:1-2).

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain,
and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel,
like a jasper, clear as crystal….¶ And I saw no temple in the city,
for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Revelation 21:10-11, 22-23

But it wasn’t just the buildings, rivers, the gardens, or radiant light of GOD’s glory that would have thrilled the ancient worshipers of GOD with such excitement about Heaven, it was also what wasn’t there! The City of God, will be filled with innumerable people (yet not over-crowded, or even crowded) but almost unimaginably populated — with people from every tribe, nation, and tongue who would never again experience sin, guilt, shame, regret, pain, sickness, deprivation, or shunning (Rev. 7:9)! Heaven is not just the architectural pinnacle of beauty and perfection, it is also an emotional and physical source of ultimate human satisfaction. We will never be idle in the Heavenly City! We could never be bored or wearied in that glorious City. We will participate in its furtherance and be ever glad to do so.

Imagine how a clearer vision of this City of God could transform our vision for the cities, towns, and communities within our State! Imagine how a clearer vision of Heaven might transform our view of how many more people could harmoniously and productively fill our cities and towns and contribute to them with increased beauty and goodness and innovations. Imagine our island state growing – economically, emotionally, environmentally, energetically, where over three million grateful people call this their home and find satisfaction in contributing to its furtherance! Imagine churches across this Isle filled with grateful people – not just on Sundays (but especially on Sundays) – but each day of the week with activities and connections that add value to more people and their communities. This can be our divine inheritance to the prayers of those who have gone before us who have faithfully prayed, Thy will be done on earth as it in Heaven!

Thus, when we pray for GOD’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven it will also be evident when we care deeply about each other to the extent that we are open and inviting and hospitable — just like our GOD who inhabits the Heavenly City. It will be a place where people do not intentionally harm others. It will be a place where all people honour and glorify GOD. It will mean buildings that are beautiful. It will mean that people live knowing that their life and their work has meaning and purpose. It will be a place where we value healthy living and no longer need the biggest buildings in our cities to be hospitals (which are currently grand monuments to our sickness not our health!) or have acres and acres of prisons to lock away law-breakers. This is what we are praying for when we pray Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!

In the Old Testament’s account of God’s Story of Redemption of mankind, a foundational component of that story is Israel’s conquest of their Promised Land and serves as example for us in the era of Christ’s victory (1Cor. 10:6). Prior to Israel launching its campaign, Moses sent a representative from each of the twelve tribes of Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land as spies to bring back faith-building reports to the rest of the Hebrews to bolster them for their conquest.

¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan,
which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall
send a man, every one a chief among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness
of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.
Numbers 13:1-3

However, far from bringing back a faith-bolstering reports of what lay before them in the Promised Land, ten of the spies expressed great fear and doubt about being able to do what GOD promised and commanded –

¶ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.
And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of
the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh.
They brought back word to them and to all the congregation,
and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him,
“We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey,
and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong,
and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites,
and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea,
and along the Jordan.” Then the men who had gone up with him said,
“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out,
saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants,
and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak,
who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
Number 13:25-29, 31-33

This account of those spies being intimidated by the various nations of giants (the Anakim and Nephilim) stands as a ‘shadow’ and illustration of how the forces of evil seek to intimidate and deceive the people of God from doing what God has promised and commanded. These original forces evil sought to induce great fear and doubt in GOD’s people – deceiving them into thinking that even with GOD’s help they were still unable to defeat these giants. The ten returning fearful spies said, “They made us feel we were small…They made us feel that we could not do what GOD had said that He would help us to do…They made us feel that it (our proposed conquest of them) was impossible.” And the same lies and deceptions are used today to intimidate GOD’s people with dark thoughts like Don’t even bother praying to GOD for His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven!  You’re too small to make it happen! Even though GOD told you He would help you do it – He was lying to you! And besides, the task of transforming your city and towns to reflect GOD’s beauty, truth, and goodness is far too hard and expensive for you – in fact it might as well be impossible!”

But it is not. And even two of the twelve spies who returned, Joshua and Caleb, knew that it could be done and was not impossible because GOD was bigger than these giants and more powerful than any demonic aid they could have ever mustered.

¶ But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said,
“Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
Numbers 13:30

And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel,
“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us,
a land that flows with milk and honey.
Numbers 14:6-8

The forces of darkness have always sought to intimidate GOD’s people and make them doubt GOD’s empowering for the tasks He has called His people to carry out. Can we see the will of God done in Launceston, Tasmania, as it is done in Heaven? The Enemy of all that is true and good says: No! The Ultimate Source of Truth and Goodness says: Pray that it be so! Ancient Israel was hindered from fully possessing their Promised Land which GOD had intended to be a reflection of His Heavenly City because they succumbed to fear, lies, and doubt, about who GOD really was. We must not be so quick to also believe these deceptions of the Evil one:

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character,
for he is a liar and the father of lies.
[Jesus speaking to the unfaithful Jewish religious leaders] John 8:44

A local church is an embassy of Heaven. The community of believers within a geographic community where GOD has invested His Spirit, presence, gifts, and ministers, whom He has skilled and enabled with certain experiences and abilities that enables them to work as a body (1Cor. 12:12). A local church holds back the spiritual forces of evil and darkness (Eph. 3:10). A local church is GOD’s presence in a city/town/region where broken lives experience a foretaste of Heaven — where there will be no estrangement, no misery, no harm, no despair and no malady — and while, on this side of Heaven, we are subject to such frustrations as estrangements, miseries, harms, despair, and maladies — the power of God can breakthrough and counter such things on earth when a church ministers GOD’s grace to each other (1Peter 4:10).

And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.
You received without paying; give without pay.
Matthew 10:7-8

Former Mayor of Launceston welcomes delegates from Ikedo, Japan to Launceston, and reinforced our sister-city relationship with them. #Pray for Ikedo

Each Sunday when a local church gathers it flexes its spiritual muscles by casting out demons, healing the sick, summoning the presence and love of GOD to be revealed to the wayward through the preaching of His Word (Mark 16:16-18). 

A while ago, I heard a Christian leader who shared how he was looking forward to taking a well-deserved and overdue break with his family to a beautiful tropical location. He was looking forward to spending time away from the hustle and bustle of his usual neighbourhood and soaking in the tranquility for some rest and relaxation. The travel agent had assured him that their destination was just the right place. The way the agent described it made it sound like paradise. When they arrived there they immediately saw what the travel agent had described – beautiful tropical forests, a secluded holiday house, a view of the beach surrounded by magnificent mountain-scapes. As they settled into their holiday accommodation he could feel his blood pressure lowering and a peace washing over him. His wife commented with delight about the wonderfully unfamiliar sounds of the local wildlife, especially the magnificently coloured native birds. He checked his phone out of habit and saw that there was phone signal. “Perfect!” he thought to himself, “No interruptions. I can now switch off from the world.” But then he heard other noises amidst the sounds of the wildlife that he and his wife were enjoying. It was the growing sound of people in a nearby village that they had not noticed until now. His heart sank. These people were ruining their holiday in this tropical wonderland of GOD’s creation! he thought to himself. Whether it was GOD or whether it was just his subconscious recollection of GOD’s Word that came to his mind, he wasn’t sure, but he heard, “These noisy people are My creation! They are not impairing this wonderland – they are My reason that this place is truly a wonderland!” Far from seeing these people as a blight on this landscape and “ruining his holiday”, he came to see things from Heaven’s perspective: people are what truly make a place! GOD loves people.

A vision of Heaven can inspire us to build better buildings, create better roads, integrate more trees and plants into our cities, plant more magnificent and well designed gardens, foster greater care for our wildlife, cultivate more harmony among our various and diverse citizens, innovate ways to enjoy our natural wonders (especially our magnificent Tamar River), improve our communication within our city, strengthen our sisterhood connections with Ikeda (Japan) / Napa (USA) / Taiyuan and Putian (China), promote healthy relationships and stronger families (which make a significant dent in the “current housing crisis”), build businesses that contribute to the economic and social wealth of our State, encourage beauty and creativity in the arts – especially the visual, literary, filmic, theatrical and poetic, and encourage virtuous learning in what the ancients saw as resulting in good humans (which is why the study of philosophy and classics used to be called humanities).

 I am not the first to promote a re-visioning of Heaven, the City of God, to serve as a template for how GOD’s will could be implemented in the earth, thus fulfilling the model prayer of our Lord: one earth as it is in Heaven. My ideas expressed in this humble weekly Pastor’s Desk are far from original. On August 27th  A.D. 410, the Visigoths entered Rome and in just three days wreaked havoc — burning the city, slaying thousands, raping women, enslaving multitudes, and doing what had not been done in 800 years. The pagan priests of Jupiter, Venus, Minerva, and over two hundred other Roman false gods protested that their false gods were smiting Rome because large numbers of Romans had turned from worship of demons to the One True God who is eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In A.D. 426 Bishop Augustine of Hippo (North Africa), after ten years of writing it, finally finished his now classic work, The City of God, in which he responds to these pagan claims that it was the Christians were to blame for the sacking of Rome. He pointed out that in fact, Rome had actually suffered horribly from such similar tragic events despite their exclusive worship of their demon gods – Jupiter, Hercules, etc. He then cast a vision for how any city or society could be reformed as a reflection of the “celestial city” – the City of God.

But neither was Augustine original in this idea. The writer to the Hebrews told the disillusioned Jews, whose capital would soon be destroyed by the Romans, that they too need to re-vision Heaven – the City of God.  

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
Hebrews 12:22

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
Hebrews 13:14

And while we each wait during our earthly sojourn for our arrival at our True Home, we are ever mindful of our Lord’s commanded prayer and its hopeful answer which we know will find its final fulfilment only in the Heavenly City of God. In the meantime, we strive to be a part of the answer for the prayer that the Church has prayed for two thousand years. Even so, we can be assured that even our lifetime it is possible that the One said that He was making (not just will make) “all things new” is indeed trustworthy and true.

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.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning,
nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
¶ And He who was seated on the throne said,
“Behold, I am making all things new.”
Also He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:3-5

May the grace of the Lord be with us all and may God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.