Eternity Daily Bible Study
(A ministry of Eternity Christian Fellowship)
Walking In The Spirit - 7
Topic: Connecting Heaven & Earth
Date: 28th July 2009
Have you ever thought about the connection between the Heavenly realms above and your life here on Earth? Have you ever thought that there must be 'something more' that the futile struggle that is 'life without God and without thought of Heaven? Have you thought that your life might be part of some heavenly plan and that heaven might have purposes to work in you and through you?
Genesis 1:1 MKJV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Right at the beginning of the Bible we find God creating the heavens and the earth and all that is in them and afterwards He calls His Creation good – both the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:31). God walks in the garden with Adam. There are wonderful trees with spiritual properties. People live over 900 years. Heaven and earth are connected until the Fall, until the expulsion from Eden the meeting place of man and God.
Matthew 6:10 MKJV Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
The Lord's Prayer asks us to pray for a restoration of the broken connection between Heaven and Earth This restored connection is known as the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is simply God turning up as King, and often in some manifestation of power. Jesus' disciples were to pray for God to rule here on earth. And not just God's rule here and there, but for complete obedience to be manifested here on earth as it is in Heaven.
Now God is involving us!! He asks us to pray. And He is going to change the world through those prayers. Our prayers - your prayers and my prayers are part of the key to the wonder of a thousand miracles breaking out on earth as the shackles of Satan are broken and earth is set free to worship its true Father and Creator and King!
The next three verses go into more detail about what the disciples were to do in answer to the Lord's Prayer:
Matthew 16:19 MKJV And I will give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven to you. And whatever you may bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven.
Matthew 18:18-20 MKJV Truly I say to you, Whatever you shall bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven; and whatever you shall loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven. (19) Again I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as regarding anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father in Heaven. (20) For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.
Matthew 28:18-20 MKJV And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth. (19) Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen.
Jesus bestows some kind of Kingdom authority that involves both Heaven and earth. It is released by Christians in unity 'where two or three are gathered in My Name' and is a delegation of the authority that has been given to Him by the Father after the resurrection. We bind, loose, teach, disciple, baptize and instruct - with obedience to the commandments of Heaven always being in view.
In the process we struggle against the spiritual powers and principalities in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:10, 1 John 5:18, Luke 4:6, Ephesians 2:1-4)) tearing down strongholds and vain imaginations and everything that exalts itself against God (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). In the end the saints shall be victorious over this demonic opposition in the (lower) heavenly realms:
Revelation 12:10-12 MKJV (10) And I heard a great voice saying in Heaven, Now has come the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night. (11) And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul until death.
(12) Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and those tabernacling in them.
But after the heavenly victory the Devil is cast to earth and the Tribulation and the path to Armageddon gets underway:
Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and in the sea! For the Devil came down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a little time.
Then after all the End Times events are complete there is a renewal of both heaven and earth, a new heavens and a new earth:
2 Peter 3:13 MKJV But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
At this point the Heaven and earth problem will be finally solved and 'the dwelling place of God will be with men'.
Revelation 21:1-3 MKJV And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer is. (2) And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. (3) And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
That is our hope. Our hope is that the Great Glory will finally break through and be complete. And it will - for those words are faithful and true.
Our task as Christians is to realize that we are to connect heaven and earth. Just as Christ on the cross connected heaven and earth so we are to join Him there on the cross. Indeed we are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are where God dwells. We are the sacred spots that connect Heaven and earth. And if the Kingdom of God is to be established it must be established in us.
Now pray with me:
Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Blessings,
John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph)
Pastor – Eternity Christian Fellowship
Chairman/ CEO Cybermissions
http://www.eternitychristian.com
http://www.cybermissions.org
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