The Layman Foundations of the Faith
As it is in heaven
Robert P. Mills, Posted Friday, Feb 8, 2002
Suggested Scripture Readings: Psalm 150; Isaiah 6:1-5; Matthew 6:10; Rev. 4:1-11 |
What happens in heaven?
The question does not grow out of idle speculation. Nor is it one to be dismissed with a flippant “Heaven only knows.”
For not only can we know at least a bit about what takes place in heaven (because the Bible, in a few brief and tantalizing scenes, shows us some of what goes on), but we must address the question if we are fully to appreciate why Jesus taught his disciples to pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Heaven
Heaven, as we saw in an earlier study, is perhaps best understood as a spiritual place, that is, a place without material or spatial limitations. Heaven is a reality not immediately accessible to human perception, yet no less real because of our incapacity. Indeed, heaven is the place where reality is most real, the realm where God is most fully present.
Characteristic of the visions of heaven John recorded in the book of Revelation is the following scene: “Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being’” (Rev. 4:8-11)
Such passages make it clear that whatever else happens in heaven, the central activity is worship.
Worship in heaven
To worship God is literally to ascribe worth to God.
By ordering our prayers in this way, Jesus teaches that God’s purposes are more important than our own plans, that we are to seek his will before we seek to have our own desires fulfilled. When we learn to pray in this way, we will have learned to pray as Jesus taught. |
Robert Banks and R. Paul Stevens show that the book of Revelation gives contemporary Christians “an empowering vision of worship.” They continue, “Far from being dull and stereotyped, worship in heaven is exquisitely beautiful, continuously spontaneous and totally enjoyable.” They list several characteristics of heavenly worship, attitudes and actions that can guide our own corporate and individual worship of God.
The worship is responsive. It is caused by God and God’s actions rather than worked up by human effort. God awakens a desire for worship (Rev. 3:20; 5:2).
The worship is reverent. It is God-pleasing and for God’s benefit, inspired by God’s mercy and directed to God’s pleasure. Unfortunately, some worship styles advocated today focus primarily on what we get out of our experience of corporate worship.
The worship is inclusive. Revelation gives us a picture of all nations, tribes and peoples worshiping the God who reveals himself to his human creation.
The worship is intelligent. The mind is engaged most fully in heaven. Worship reflects on the themes of God as Creator and Redeemer (Rev. 4-5). Worship is evoked by the qualities and actions of God: power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, blessing and sovereignty.
The worship is theological. The book of Revelation may be read as commentary on the Old Testament in the light of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension. It shows how Christ is the goal toward which the whole drama of human history has been moving.
The worship is aesthetic. Worship in heaven appeals to our senses in a spiritual way. There are sounds, motion, light, rhythm and patterns.
The worship is holistic. This worship is not limited to times of direct focus on God but comprises the whole of life in the city of God, which is filled with divine creativity, beauty and wonder.
The worship is prophetic. A balance of awe and intimacy, adoration and access with respect to God is our destiny and should shape our worship in the here and now. In the same way our present earthly worship prepares us for life in the heavenly city and perhaps in some way contributes to the ongoing worship in heaven.
Worship on earth
These characteristics remind us that at the heart of Christian worship is our relationship with God. As Donald Wilson Stake notes, “What we do in worship represents an awareness of the relationship between ourselves and God. We are creatures and God is the Creator of us and our world. … Worship is our encounter with God in response to God’s promised presence in Jesus Christ.”
All creation declares the glory of God just by being itself (Psalm 19:1). But human beings uniquely can choose to worship God: indeed, we are obligated to do so. The primary way the Bible describes our relationship with God is as a covenant, a binding personal relationship by which two parties (in this case God and his people) belong together forever. Worship is one facet of our grateful response to God’s gracious covenant with us.
In his high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus gives us a glimpse of the internal worship life of the triune God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit bring glory to each other, go out of themselves in love for each other and eternally delight in one another. Our worship thus is not a desperate effort to bridge an infinite gap and bring honor and glory to God. Rather, in Christ it is united with the worship that eternally takes place within the Trinity. Our worship is modeled, inspired and empowered from above, not imagined, created and worked up from below.
Moreover, as Stake observes, “Worship is an acknowledgment of human need. By worshiping God, we admit that we are not self-sufficient but utterly dependent on the grace of God for our sustenance and our salvation.” His observation relates directly to why Jesus taught his disciples to pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Prioritizing our prayers
“As it is in heaven” marks a transition in the Lord’s Prayer. It applies to the preceding requests that God’s name be hallowed and that his kingdom come and it begins to shift our focus from God in heaven to needs and struggles that we face on earth, to our legitimate concerns for food, forgiveness and faithfulness.
The first half of the Lord’s Prayer is concerned with who God is and what God is doing. Our needs come next. By ordering our prayers in this way, Jesus teaches that God’s purposes are more important than our own plans, that we are to seek his will before we seek to have our own desires fulfilled. When we learn to pray in this way, we will have learned to pray as Jesus taught.
Once we reach this point, Donald Williams notes, “When God’s will is more important and we have begun to pray like Jesus, we will be ready to di
scover that the Father is very concerned with our personal needs and desires. … The same prayer which takes us into the rarefied mountain air of God’s eternal purposes for us is also full of the down-home aroma of freshly baked bread.”
To pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is to remain in touch with what is most real. It is to resist our natural inclination to accept the imitations that surround us and cry out for our ultimate loyalty. Praying with an awareness of the worship forever taking place in heaven challenges us to live by kingdom priorities.
As life in heaven is centered around the worship of God, praying as Jesus taught his disciples will order our own lives around the presence, power and provision of God.
Additional Resources |