Scripture
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:1-3

Observation
In this life, heaven is to us a place have to go up to. But peaking over the fence into the future it is obvious that heaven is God coming down to us.

The Bible kicked off in Genesis with a new earth, humans living in a garden with God who came for visits. The Bible closes with a new earth, God living in a city and coming to live with humans forever.

I have never been able to get over the amazement of the thought of God wanting us to live with him forever. Think of it this way. Over Christmas we have family come and visit. Some family we like to see come and other family we like to see go.! A day or so of guests in our home is great, but there comes a point that we want our house back with “just us”. It takes great love to have family stay for more than a few days. But God takes it further than that. He wants us to live with him forever. That is great love.

Heaven is more than the house of God, it is the home his love has made for us. He brings his home into our world like some visiting parent in a Winnebago, but in this case it is a home so roomy that billions can live comfortably with him. Heaven is God living on our level as God with us. Heaven is space large enough for all and personal enough for each to be at home with God.

Application
If heaven is a place coming down to me rather than a city I must somehow get up to, then everything changes about the way that I live. I do not have to reach for God. He is coming to me. I can open my hands to him this day to receive from him knowing that he has the best to give to me.

When I was a child my grandfather lived in a home so old that it had been built by pioneers with wooden pegs because they could afford no nails. I thought that quaint country house with its ticking clock would last forever. But it has been gone for over 30 years now since he died. My parents now, after 64 years of marriage have sold their home and live in a small apartment in a retirement center. Home is shrinking for them and it is just a matter of time. The home I have now is just temporary accommodation on my way. I need to live with a light touch on the things around me. St. Francis said that we should wear life like a loose fitting garment that touches the skin here and there but does not bind us. This is not otherworldly thinking, because heaven is nothing of the sort. Going back to this verse, heaven is not ultimately us going up to be with God, but the Lord coming down to live with us. Heaven is the house God brings down for us to live in as we live on a world no longer ravaged but pristine.

Prayer
Father, I’m not interested in living in heaven the beautiful place, as I am living in your house with you. I crudely think of it as having an apartment in a very big building with windows large that I can open the blinds and let the sun stream in, knowing that that light means that Jesus Christ is somewhere shining outside. Heaven is slipping down the stairs, into the streets, and finding a large courtyard with jesus in the center of a large crowd. And yet, for a mount he looks my way and it seems that it is only he and I who are in the city. To be seen by Jesus is to be known, to be understood, to be accepted, and to be loved. That is my destination and today I ask that I would bring heaven wherever I go. Amen.