116. Heaven on Earth
Deuteronomy 11:21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which he Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
If you teach, and learn, and keep my words, then these good things will happen to you. Your days will be multiplied in the land, that is, you will live a long and a good life. You will live long in the Land, which the Lord swore to give you in the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This long life in the land promise remains true for all the Patriarchs’ descendants who love the Lord and keep His Ten Words. For us NT believers the “land” is the kingdom of God placed in the hearts of believers. Faithful believers in Christ will live long in the Kingdom of God. They will live well and be happy forever in the kingdom. Your days in the “Land” will be multiplied so greatly that the days of life will be multiply up to infinity, indeed, to eternity.
Observing the Law of God and keeping His Commandments carries the promise that your days will be like heaven on earth. Everyone dreams of such a paradise, and we try to buy and build such a “heaven on earth.” The Lord God says that heaven on earth does not come by lots of money and human ingenuity and effort, but it comes by faith in Christ. And faith comes by hearing.
Believers enjoy this promise in real time: heaven is on earth, for heaven is in the heart every Christian. We live in heaven all the time; we live in heaven at the same time that we are living on a sin-filled and condemned earth. We need to believe this promise, because we do not see it. The spiritual and invisible, but very real, kingdom of God is “already” and “not yet.” We don’t see it because it is spiritual and our eyes are physical; they can only see material things in created space. We don’t see the reality of the kingdom yet because it is not yet created; it is still in the future, after we are resurrected and judged. We don’t see the “already” kingdom since it is invisible to physical eyes; we don’t see the “not yet” kingdom since it is not yet time for its physical appearance. After the body resurrects we will be able to see it in real space and time. Meanwhile, we live by faith that God is making for us a heaven upon the earth. There is a place we may go, a heaven to enter, a refuge to hide, a presence to enjoy right now, today. We go there by repentance and faith. Repentance and faith in the Gospel is loving God and keeping commandments. It brings heaven on earth.