The Light in Our Eyesنموونە

HEAVEN COMING TO EARTH

Many of us have come to believe that Christi­anity is a story about escape, a way of signing up for an eternity in a place called heaven. The natural logic to this story of escape is that nothing on earth matters. Heaven, after all, is our goal.

The problem is, Jesus didn’t talk about this story. In fact, Jesus taught the opposite. Jesus taught that God’s heavenly kingdom was invading earth: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Jesus was concerned about “earthly” things like justice, mercy, love, freedom, car­ing for the poor, standing for the abused, and loving our neighbors.

In the synagogue, Jesus read from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

(Luke 4:18-19).

The phrase “good news” comes from Isaiah. But when Isaiah described good news, it sounded nothing like the story of escape we often here in churches today. Here is how Isaiah 52:7 announces the gospel:

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of those who bring good news [gospel],

who proclaim peace,

who bring good tidings,

who proclaim salvation,

who say to Zion,

“Your God reigns!”

For Isaiah, the good news of the gospel is “Your God reigns!” This is why Mark summarized Jesus’s entire message this way: “Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’ ” (1:14–15).

Jesus’s mission wasn’t to help us escape earth. Paul said six times in Colossians 1:15-20 that Christ made peace with “all things.” That includes every part of creation. Heaven and earth, reconciled to God through Christ. Not escape. Restoration. It’s the world we’re all longing for.

What does it mean for God’s kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven”? How does this shape your understanding of what it means to follow Jesus?