Heavenly dynamics

Anita Barker Andersen writes:

This past Sunday, I was to preach at Fristaden, and the text from Revelation 22 was about heaven. The thought came to me that I should have a “conversational preaching” together with Håkan. He had the text read for him over the telephone, and a little later that day, we visited him at the short-term care facility and recorded his comments. It was so nice to (almost) have a worship service together with Håkan again. Following is the Bible text and his reflections, which also can be heard (in Swedish) from the Swedish blog.

Heavenly dynamics

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” Rev. 22:1-5

Cast your anchor a long way in
When I heard these verses being read for me, I began to think about the fact that my soul has an anchor, and that anchor must be cast behind the curtain, into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 6:19). What that really says, is that my deepest attitudes and priorities should be so much, much further ahead than the present – than right now, what I’m thinking about just now, the material needs I have, or the material security that I have acquired. My security doesn’t lie in the material. My security doesn’t lie in the humanistic. My security doesn’t lie in what people can do. My security lies in God!

We are blessed
This also speaks to me about precisely the thing Paul writes about in several places, that we are blessed ”in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3), and when I know that I have access to that, I know that I am both spiritually blessed, saved, and I will be saved, and I can also receive healing from the Lord because I have my eyes fixed on something so much, much further ahead of the reality I see right now.

My security lies in God
It’s a big mistake to only concentrate on the material, to only concentrate on the security that we Swedes are experts on. Security doesn’t lie there. Security lies in God, and security lies in the eternal, and the eternal is the Kingdom of God. So the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are really the same things, and we can acquaint ourselves even now with that which God wants to give us in His Kingdom. This also makes it possible for us to go through various trials and difficulties with our eyes fixed on Jesus in the eternal, and “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Ps. 23:4)

Discover the whole reality
So, this really isn’t an escape from reality, but it is a living part of reality that only the Christian has discovered, or the one who seeks Him is able to discover. So, heaven is such an important part of reality, and it’s there that we get motivation to be able to stand, but also motivation to win others for God, and motivation to be sanctified by Him ourselves.

Look after your place
Then there is also a risk that we become so occupied with the present and the material, with the way of thinking and being of our times, and that we pile up everything possible, so that we can miss – yes, even here – the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms. It can even be so that we don’t just miss out on them here, but also in eternity. So see to it – you can see to it – that you can already today be secure, and that you are a child of God, and that your place in eternity is there. You shall not miss out on that place!

Håkan Gniste