Heavenly - Mindedness (14)

 

Continuing our reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly Mindedness” from Hebrews 11:9 – 10:

“Ever since the goal set by the Covenant of Works came within his ken [perception, knowledge, understanding], man carries with him in all his converse with this world the sense of appurtenance [subordinate to, accessory of] to another. This is but to say that supernaturalism forms from the outset the basis of true religion in man. Man belongs to two spheres. And Scripture not only teaches that these two spheres are distinct, it also teaches what estimate of relative importance ought to be placed upon them. Heaven is the primordial, earth the secondary creation. In heaven are the supreme realities; what surrounds us here below is a copy and shadow of the celestial things.

 

“Because the relation between the two spheres is positive, and not negative, not mutually repulsive, heavenly-mindedness can never give rise to neglect of the duties pertaining to the present life. It is the ordinance and will of God, that not apart from, but on the basis of, and in contact with, the earthly sphere man shall work out his heavenly destiny. Still the lower may never supplant the higher in our affections.”  G. Vos.

 

I often find that we want short answers to questions, that we want our curiosity satisfied, and that we tend to view ourselves as biological and mechanical and computeristic entities and things, rather than as men and women created in the image of God, and in Christ restored to that image. Vos’s Heavenly – Mindedness calls us back to the Father’s House, just as the Prodigal Son “came to himself” and was called back to his father’s house.  The pilgrimage we’re on has complexities, tensions, challenges to understanding and growth – this is the nature of becoming who we already are in Christ, and of Christ manifesting all that He is in His people.

 

With this is mind, let’s consider, “these two spheres [heaven and earth] are distinct…” Then, “what surrounds us here below is a copy and shadow of the celestial things.” And then, “the relation between the two spheres is positive, and not negative, not mutually repulsive.”

 

In Psalm 85:10 – 11 we read, “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.” This is a glimpse into passages such as Revelation chapters 21 and 22, and Isaiah chapters 25 and 35. It is a glimpse into what Peter styles as “the restoration of all things  about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” (Acts 3:21).

 

A tension is that while heaven and earth are distinct, they do have a dynamic relationship which looks forward to the day in which creation will be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). My own sense is that this distinction becomes less and less as the interplay of heaven and earth reaches the consummation portrayed in the above Bible passages. I imagine that this interplay has both progressive and catastrophic elements to it. This is to say that earth and heaven are “distinct” but that the distinction is more like that of a house with two floors (see previous post) than of two entities with an impervious barrier between them. Vos works with this dynamic when he writes, “the relation between the two spheres is positive, and not negative, not mutually repulsive.”

 

An element of this relationship is found in, “what surrounds us here below is a copy and shadow of the celestial things.” This is the language of the Bible and is most especially the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

 

In Hebrews 8:5 we have “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things,” in 9:11 we see Christ entering “the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,” in 9:23 “Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

 

To live a heavenly – minded life is to live in the interchange of heaven and earth, it is to increasingly live in the heavenly tabernacle, it is a pilgrimage from what C.S. Lewis termed the shadowlands into the fulness of heavenly reality in Jesus Christ, it is a Pilgrim’s Progress.

The copies and shadows mediate the grace and glory of the heavens to us, and this grace and glory in Christ draws us into an intimate relationship with the Trinity and with one another. Paul writes that we are to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1 – 2).

 

Vos writes of “the duties pertaining to the present life.” These duties are to be seen in the light of the heavens, in the context of heavenly – mindedness. That is, these duties are the duties of the sons and daughters of the Living God. We are called to show the world a better Way.  These duties, this calling, is expressed by Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:43 – 48:

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

To those of us who live in the United States of America, where is the manifestation of our heavenly calling? When we cloth ourselves in the colors of red or blue, or of conservative or liberal or progressive, or of this economic system or that, or of our national flag and not the Cross of Christ – how can we possibly be a blessing to the people around us as the Presence of Jesus Christ? How can we possibly reflect His heavenly glory and our heavenly identity? How can the church be the Church?

 

Those who respond to the heavenly call of Jesus Christ must make it clear that they are seeking a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God (Hebrews 11:9 – 16). This City is not the United States of America, it is not the earthly nation of Israel, it is not an economic system, it is the heavenly Jerusalem, the true mother (Galatians 4:26) of those who live in the faith of Abraham. We cannot serve two masters or two kingdoms.

 

Make no mistake, as Hebrews Chapter 11 points out, heavenly – mindedness comes with a price (see also Mark 8:34 – 38). Christ gave His life for us, will we give our lives for Him?