Heaven was Made for Earth, Earth was Made for Heaven

- Hey, I'm Julian. I just wondered, do you guys think that there's a difference between the sacred and the secular? Or holy and unholy? I've been thinking about this a lot 'cause I've seen so many Christians seeing their salvation as "fire insurance." Seeing their salvation as the ticket to Heaven, and just waiting here on earth until they can leave this physical earth to detached reality somewhere in Heaven, with no sense of responsibility, no sense of urgency, no sense of joy and delight in recovering everything for the glory of God. Jesus wants to get His reward. He wants to redeem the earth. The Bible says that He came to seek and save everything that was lost, including the earth. And when you see the story in Genesis, when you see the narrative of the Genesis working itself out. The Book of Beginnings, and how God created the earth, you begin to see this beautiful pattern in creation. Sometimes we look at the focus on what He created, or how He created, but actually you see this beautiful poetry that is happening in the Genesis narrative of couplets that are being created all the time, particularly in the first few verses, we see that the sun is made for the moon. We see that water is made for land. We see that plants are made for animals. There's a sense of a marriage that's happening, there's a sense of these couplets being joined together. Of course, you see man being made for woman. Two seemingly opposites, two seemingly different things being made to fit together. And when I begin to think about this and the narrative in Genesis one of the things that is highlighted, is the very first thing that God creates, the very first marriage, as it were, that He creates, is Heaven for earth. When you begin to understand that, your whole world has to be transformed. The whole point to creation is that Heaven and earth would be joined together. And since Eden and until Jesus came, we don't see this picture until we get to His baptism where the Heavens are open and Heaven and earth finally come back together again. The implication of being no divide between Heaven and earth, no divide between the realm of God, the realm of where He dwells, and His impact on the earth, and making all things new, means that everything is holy. The only thing that's secular, the only thing that's separate from God indeed, is sin. Everything else is being redeemed and working itself towards God, and for His purposes, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. I love that the first miracle that happens happens at a wedding. Happens at a marriage. The Bible says in John, that it was the first sign. In fact the whole book of John is a book of signs pointing towards God redeeming the earth and it starts with the exact same verses in Genesis. That in the beginning was God. The writer John is wanting us to realize there's a new Genesis that's happening, and because of Jesus, Heaven and earth has finally been restored together again, as it always been intended to be. And that you and I now get the incredible privilege of being Heaven on earth because the Bible also says Heaven dwells within us. You see, Heaven isn't the place we're gonna go to one day when we die, Heaven's a co-existing reality that as we become more aware of Heaven, we get to transform the world for us. My salvation is not about me leaving this earth, and going to Heaven. No, no. My salvation is about bringing Heaven to earth and making everything holy. Even that which has been seemingly separated from God has now been joined back together with Him so that you can I get to redeem all things and make it new. Hey, if you love this content, I'd love it if you subscribed to our YouTube channel. I've also got some great content exploring more about what it means for us to redeem the earth and make all things holy in my new book Terra Nova. Go ahead and grab it. You'll see the link in the description.