Or, following up on my recent post titled "Two Models of Eternal Life", will eternal life be divorced from anything earthly?
A better country (heavenly one) and a heavenly city
I know where my thoughts immediately go when I think of a better country and a heavenly city. I immediately think of heaven as our ultimate destination minus anything earthly. I've found there are other views though and I find them pretty intriguing. I'm drawing from a book, "Future Israel" (by Barry Horner), in which he addresses this subject on in some of the chapters and even if you don't agree with him he frames some pretty fascinating insights in my opinion. He argues for what he terms the "redemption of spiritual materiality." Which is a argument for the redemption of the belief that anything of this earth is secondary in value to the true spiritual riches of heaven and this is fitting since heaven is the ultimate destination and home for believers. The argument is that much of the western Christian or modern view of a better country and heavenly city may come from more of a Hellenistic perspective than a Hebrew one under which the authors of the Bible wrote. It's a thorough and detailed case he presents with many references which are too immense to present all of them. But offering a little is better than offering nothing. I offer the thoughts for what they may be worth. I'm assuming Paul was the writer of Hebrews and he wrote,
8 - "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 - By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,
10 - fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11 - By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised;
12 - therefore, also, there was born of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
13 - All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14 - For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a better country of their own.
15 - And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 - But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them." (Hebrews 11:8-16)
Drawing from the book I mentioned, I will quote from several commentators to illustrate one view of a better country etc. from another:
"Abraham received the promise of the land but never experienced the blessing of the full possession of its full possession. In this way the patriarch learned to look forward to "the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10).
Me: Which in probably the majority of today's beliefs mean Abraham looked forward to going to heaven and the heavenly city that awaited him there. And which awaits us.
But others say regarding Abraham and his perspective,
"It must be confessed that we nowhere read of the patriarchs, that they expressed a conscious desire for a home in heaven. The nearest approach to anything of a kind is in Jacob's vision of the angel-ladder, and his wondering exclamation, "this is the gate of heaven" (Gen 28:17), but even there no desire is expressed for an entrance into the heavenly land, but the promise renewed of future possession of the earthly Canaan; "The land whereon thou sleepest will I give to thee." (pg 249 "Future Israel" - F. Delitzsch, Hebrews).
G. N. H. Peters says in his book "The Theocratic Kingdom",
"Evidently that which misleads the multitude in this manner is the statement of the apostle (Heb 11:16), that "they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly." Commentators, as Barnes, Bloomfield, etc., overlooking entirely the Theocratic relationship that this country (i.e. Palestine) is to occupy in the Kingdom of God, at once conclude that this "heavenly" country is the third heaven. They forget that this phraseology would not mislead a Hebrew, who was accustomed to designate the restored Davidic Kingdom a heavenly Kingdom, and the country enjoying its restoration and Theocratic blessings, a heavenly country. The expression does not mean "the third heaven," but something that pertains to, or partakes of, the heavenly, as heavenly vision, body, calling, etc." (pg 250 - G. N. H. Peters, "The Theocratic Kingdom")
And,
"When Abraham first entered and surveyed the promised land, it was manifestly unholy as a result of extreme Canaanite defilement. He was looking for the consumation of the promise originally given when heaven would come down and transform the unholy land into the land that was to become truly holy (Zech 2:12). At that glorious time, the land will have become regenerated and spiritually material, but it will still be the land of Israel." (pg 207 - "Future Israel")
Me: So my question is whether Abraham's ultimate goal, as commonly believed, was a far off heavenly existence (a better country) divorced from any earthly reality or could his goal have been looking by faith to a subdued and godly Canaan under God's rule which as a result "the heavenly city" would have come down because the land had been "regenerated" into "a better country." Is our looking to heaven as our only and eventual goal taking things out of context and out of their original Hebrew context and meaning and stretching them too far by placing the ultimate emphasis on there (heaven)?
Thouugh Reformed himself, the author of "Future Israel" doesn't agree with Reformed author and pastor Sam Waldron's amillennial views but he makes positive reference to some interesting comments in Waldron's book "The End Times Made Simple". Waldron writes,
"The heavenly country is not a country in heaven, but a country from heaven. The heavenly kingdom is the kingdom from heaven and not the kingdom in heaven...Though heaven is the happy abode of the disembodied righteous during the present age, in the age to come heaven comes to earth. This doctrine enables us to answer the best arguments of pre- and post millennialists. What is the argument? It is the countless Old Testament and New Testament prophecies that clearly prophesy a future, earthly kingdom. In the pasdt, those opposing millenarianism often failed to satisfactorily interpret such passages. They attempted to apply them to the church in the present age or to heaven. Such interpretations did not make sense to may good people. They shouldn't have! They were wrong. Only the doctrine of the new earth [Isa 65-66] provides a proper interpretation of such passages."
Me: No one can probably express their complete thoughts right off the cuff because the subject is big and detailed but what do you think anyway? What does looking for a better country and a heavenly city really mean? I'm not forgetting that which "comes down out of heaven" to earth in Rev 21:2.
Blessings.