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February 01, 2005

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A new take on emerging...

EmergeImagine yourself climbing up, out of an endless, cold, dark cavern. Light is shining dimly ahead, obscured by a few twists and turns. The stone stairs are slick and wet yet your footing becomes more sure the higher you ascend. At the bottom, you felt cold to the bone, but as you come closer to the light above, your body regains a comfortable warmth.

In the beginning there was fear and darkness. But they weren’t created by God and they weren’t good. What lies ahead… Now, that’s good.

The blackend stone walls begin to feel rough and solid, unlike the dank, slimy moss that covered the walls many fathoms down in the casm.

You feel your heart rate speed up in anticipation. You notice that your breath isn’t producing steam anymore. You no longer struggle to keep your balance and sense of bearing. Your hands are warm as you brush the fallen dirt off of your head and shoulders.

Suddenly, you emerge from the darkest cave into light as bright as if the “glory of God illuminated it.” It blinds you only for an instant as you feel the glory of God enfold you.

This is a vision that I had at the beginning of the January 2005. I saw myself emerging out of the darkness into God’s Kingdom and I wondered where the idea of “entering heaven’s gates” ever came from.

The gates of Jerusalem are spoken of time and time again throughout scripture. But gates as pertaining to heaven itself are only spoken of in the book of Revelation.

One example can be found in Revelation 21:12:

Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel…
But, Revelation also refers to heaven as the “New Jerusalem.” This being said, are we to envision heaven as created exactly how the “old” Jerusalem was? Is heaven really a place surrounded by walls, only entered through the “pearly gates“?

Something tells me that this just isn’t the case. By John’s description of heaven in Revelation, we can be assured that there are walls and gates, all brilliant to behold and guarded by angels. But where does it say that this will be where and how we enter heaven?

Revelation 21:22-27:

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
While some might argue that the phrases, “And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it…” are referring to entering the gates, I just don’t see it that way. I read this as, “And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into heaven. But there shall by no means enter heaven…”

Semantics maybe, but I’m not so sure.

While I’ve been born and bred on the concept of a walled-in heaven, only accessible by passing St. Peter and walking through some gates (even if only through a couple of bad jokes), something about this just seems to limited to me. God is bigger than walls and gates. Heaven is more than a meager representation of a city on earth.

To be honest, the idea of walls and gates feels much to exclusive to me — something that believers hijacked in order to, themselves, judge who were allowed to enter the “gates of heaven.”

At The Fall, we were thrown into a sin-filled abyss. God’s hand was always on us, but we were no longer in paradise. We were, in a sense, tossed into a deep, dark hole, until which day we may emerge into the glory and power of our Creator.

Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection is our greatest example. He died and was placed in a tomb, only to emerge three days later. He too journeyed to the depths of sin and returned in order that he may enter God’s Kingdom.

Imagine yourself emerging into unfading light; warmth that can’t be smothered, joy that is full and complete, peace that doesn’t recede. You look to the right and see a giant boulder that has been rolled aside.

Welcome to paradise.

Posted at 12:40 pm

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Comments (15):
I knew you couldn’t stay away . . . welcome back T.


this was quite the thought provoking and soul stirring post, I’m gonna need a while to chew on it.

doug (URL) - February 01, 2005 at 1:20 pm

hey tim! it’s been forever! welcome back. that’s a thoughtful take on that passage…the walls idea of heaven never occurred to me as something exclusive so much as symbol of separateness and holiness…i guess cause other verses tell us that everyone’s invited via the death of Jesus, so long as they believe on Him. anyways, yeah, good thoughts and glad you’re back. (how was the month away?)

jared () - February 01, 2005 at 1:36 pm

yes, welcome back! looks like you’ve been storing up a lot over this past month :) i haven’t actually read the post yet but i’m getting there…thanks for sharing in advance though.


hope to see you soon.

corrine () - February 01, 2005 at 2:24 pm

I’ve always been under the impression that heaven isn’t some place in the sky. As much as my Sunday school teachers and pastors wanted to rave, it just didn’t seem likely that God would hole up somewhere on a cloud with big gates surrounding heaven. Of course, I don’t believe in hell either, but that’s neither here nor there at the moment. But heaven, I don’t think is walled. God’s temple is within us, right? So why should heaven be anywhere other than within us also? It’s the one place we don’t look because we’re trying to rack up enough points with St. Peter to get in the gates. If Jesus died for all of our sins, and if God’s a merciful and just God, then I think St. Peter can take a vacation because whoever wants to get in and be in such a holy place will be able to.


Ok yah, I’m done. :) Just my random thoughts for the moment.

jen () - February 01, 2005 at 5:22 pm

oh, just put up that black flag pic i sent you…

Dennisthemenace () - February 02, 2005 at 12:15 pm

Great thoughts, Jen. (It’s good to hear from you!) Yeah, that whole image of heaven being in the clouds way up in the sky doesn’t necessarily sit well with me either. I’m not sure I’d subscribe to just looking inside of ourselves to find God either, though… That’s a tough one, as I do believe that God’s spirit dwells within us — but that may be a discussion for another day.


As for St. Peter… I really don’t know where that concept came from (I’ll plead ignorant to this one). And, as I stated in my original post, St. Peter and the pearly gates have definitely made for some bad jokes.


Everyone else ~ thanks for commenting. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, if at all possible.

timsamoff () (URL) - February 02, 2005 at 2:43 pm

Hey Tim, I think the St. Peter/Pearly Gates thing comes from a literal (and somewhat presumptuous) interpretation of Matthew 16:13-20. It’s a passage full of possbile interpretations.


As for Heaven, if it was some place up in the sky I would be severely disappointed. My favorite book about Heaven is C.S. Lewis’ “The Great Divorce” which everyone should read right now no matter what. Ahem.


I think Heaven is definitely more than something within us; I believe it’s very real place, only not “place” as we understand the term becaue our perceptions are limited to the 4 dimensions we thrive in (the fourth being time). Anyway, all discussion of Heaven in scripture, I believe, are using human terms and ideas to describe something we are infinitely inable to understand as it really is.

jared () - February 03, 2005 at 05:51 am

Thanks for the scriptural reference, Jared… I don’t know if I would have thought of that particular one, as it is a rather loosely interpreted set of verses in many cases. I don’t really see where that would have turned Peter into a “gatekeeper.” :-.


I would tend to agree with your other thoughts. But, I must say that my original post didn’t really have anything to do with heaven itself, but rather, how we enter into it.


Still, I like the conversation!

timsamoff () (URL) - February 03, 2005 at 06:11 am

that’s just ive always been taught; i think the idea of Jesus giving Peter the keys to heaven (“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” v.19) has in it implications that would lead to the idea of a gate to interpreters, who also look at other passages (like the one from revelation about heaven having gates) and put the two together, thus Peter holds the keys to heaven’s gate, thus one has to pass through him to get into heaven. i don’t interpret it that way, but i think it’s easy to see where interpreters of old got that idea.


As for entering heaven, I think John 14:6 says it all. But conversations! Yes! Fun!

jared () - February 03, 2005 at 09:57 am

Re: John 14:6… Ha ha ha! Yeah, well, that’s true. I was speaking “physically,” though! :-p

timsamoff () (URL) - February 03, 2005 at 10:11 am

I really liked your comments Jared. Maybe John 14:6 could apply Spiritual as well as physically when we get to heaven when Jesus talks about His second comming and that to be apart of that like the reference Jared mentioned for entering heaven?

dh () - February 04, 2005 at 11:00 am

I’m curious why the physicality of ‘going to heaven’ is even addressed. You’ll shed your physical form before you ‘enter’ into heaven, right?
And perhaps the keys are not a physical set of keys, but perhaps guides, his teachings, ‘the way’ that we are supposed to come to understand and follow so that our spiritual journey will end with heaven.

jen () - February 04, 2005 at 1:19 pm

It is mentioned because Jesus mentions that the dead rise first then those who remain will be caught up to meet Christ. You bring up a good question “how” (in fine tune detail) that happens? I have wondered this myself. John 3:3 and Rev 3:23 mentions how we get there as well as John 14:6

dh () - February 04, 2005 at 2:30 pm

But those — with the exception of the non-existant Revelation 3:23 verse (?!) — are all speaking of the spiritual means of entering heaven.


Actually, Jen, I’m intrigued by what you have said… Maybe I am trying to find my way down a dead-end path… I mean, why do we think that the entrance to heaven has anything to do with actually “entering” as we know it here on earth?

timsamoff () (URL) - February 04, 2005 at 2:45 pm

Sorry Rev. 3:20, I’m bad. I do believe when Jesus talks about His second coming and how we are “caught up to meet Him” that it is Spiritual as well as physical. You and Jens phrasiology on the Spiritual is intriging. Yet, I feel that how we respond on earth, yes or no, accept or reject, to Christ’s message, determines how we enter or not enter heaven. :)

dh () - February 04, 2005 at 3:34 pm

  
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