Apr. 09, 2023

Easter 2023 - Syncing Heaven and Earth

Introduction - This weekend is the weekend on our Christian calendar in which we commemorate the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  It is a dramatic pivot point in God’s plan of salvation for mankind.  He knew about the enacting of this plan long before there were people on the earth.  His grand plan always was to have a harmonious, loving kingdom with Himself as the King and we as His subjects.  The fall of man was a major detour in the progress of this kingdom. God had foreseen it long before it happened and sent Jesus to be the payment for our sin, keeping fallen man alive to fulfill His dream of having a kingdom populated with loyal, loving subjects.  

Matthew 28:1-9 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. 5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” 8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. NLT

The kingdom program really ramped up on this particular weekend, because after Jesus resurrection and before He went to heaven He said :

Matthew 28:18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  NLT

We can look at God’s development of the His Kingdom as a progressive program.  The final form of it will be what is called the eternal kingdom, in which all of us live on a New Earth with a New Heaven.  It will be a place “wherein righteousness dwells,”  the realization of what God wanted all along.  We are not in that age yet, but are in the age between the “Comings” (Advents) of Christ, the church age.  We have a unique job and empowerment to do that job, that being to synchronize earth and heaven.  

Matthew 6:9-10 Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. NAS

We need to understand that there are three heavens alluded to in the Bible:  the first heaven is the air above us where birds fly.  The 3rd heaven is where God and Jesus live.  It is in perfect order.  The second heaven is where Satan and His angels operate from. The first and second heavens and the earth itself are battlefields, in need of transformation.  We, of course, do not have the power to completely accomplish this task, but we have been granted limited authority and given a share of the job of transforming all three into the same order that the 3rd heaven is presently in. How  far that will progress probably depends somewhat on us and our obedience. There will be a final angelic war in the second heaven, probably during the Great Tribulation, in which Satan and his angels are cast from the second heaven to the earth and the air above it.  They are overpowered by Michael and his archangels. Satan gets very mad after this, knowing that he probably only has 3 1/2 years to destroy as much as he can of God’s creation on earth.  

In the resurrection, Jesus changed our position dramatically:

Colossians 2:9-15 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Through the resurrection, Jesus was given all authority over every form of ruler or power.  This includes the devil and all demons. The devil and hosts of other demons were actually publicly humiliated and stripped of their power to afflict us.  The devil’s main weapon now is lying and deception.  Unless we take part in continuous, willful sin, he can’t touch us.  Even better than that, Jesus gives some of His authority and ability to us.  Because of the resurrection, which we celebrate on Easter, you can have a new life.  This is why being baptized in water is so important.  You bury the “old man” and you rise with the ability to not be bound by your old sin habits anymore.  

Our greatest power is manifested in our ability to reproduce ourselves, both physically, but more importantly, spiritually.  This is why Jesus said to make and baptize disciples.  After the resurrection, Jesus began multiplying Himself through the disciples in staggering numbers, in one case, 3,000 people in one day!  

We don’t have to arm wrestle or box the devil to win spiritual battles.  We simply outbreed Satan.  One believer wins and baptizes another. Both win and baptize two more, who win and baptize two more, etc. There are only a limited number of demons and one Satan and a number of those demons are already bound by God, awaiting punishment.  Since our sins have been paid for, and our sin nature has been cut off like a surgical circumcision, there are few Christians Satan can do anything to.  

1 John 5:18 We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. NLT

This is a massive power that multiplies exponentially! What a picture! There are just too many untouchable Christians for Satan to keep up with.  Only after the church is removed from the earth will it look to him like he can catch up.  All the untouchable Christians, incessantly winning people through love, will be gone.  God, however, will start with zero believers and, as He reached Abraham, He will use evidences of His nature found in the cosmos to allow unbelieving people to believe in Him.  He will save out of the chaotic world of that time a believing remnant of saints, Jew and Gentile, before He physically returns to imprison Satan and establish His Kingdom on the Millennial earth, saving enough people to establish His people Israel and start repopulating all the Gentile nations.  

Conclusion: the message for this Easter is to reproduce ourselves. This is easier than we think.  The key isn’t some specialized knowledge of Bible mysteries, it is to just keep growing.  Like the little chicks we buy for our kids to raise under a heat lamp, we need to grow as spiritual humans, from a child (naturally self-centered) into a son or daughter (learning to think about others) into a man or woman (learning to love others as Jesus loved us).  God will constantly be saving people all by Himself, guiding them to bump into us.  Most of the people you will meet have already been saved, believe it or not; they are just not yet disciples (a saved person = a Christian).  If you show them love, they will start asking questions about the hope that they see in you.  You tell them it comes from Jesus. It’s not long before they want to make a profession by getting baptized (a baptized person = a disciple).  Each one of us should be involved in this process, not just the elders and deacons.  I and our elders really encourage each of you, man or woman, to baptize the people you are befriending.  Think of it!  As we take part in this enjoyable task of loving the people God is saving, we are transforming our city, state, country, and the world, making it more like heaven, actually syncing heaven and earth!  Much more exciting than dyeing eggs or eating chocolate bunnies!