Shalom and Heaven

Well, recently I've been thinking about a couple things. I've kind of been mulling them over in my head. The first thing I've been thinking about is the shallowness of the English language. As I've read Rob Bell and listened to his podcasts, I've noticed something I love in them. In both his books and sermons he always takes you back to whatever Biblical language that he is looking at. In realizing this, I have come to the viewpoint that English, as a whole, is shallow. Meaning there is very little depth in our words. To show this, I want to focus on a certain Hebrew word. Shalom, though we might make jokes about it such as, Shalom in the Home, it holds a deep meaning, which is beautiful. Shalom means much more than peace. Rob Bell writes (talking about the woman who reached out and touched Jesus, to be healed):

But I don't think the physical healing is Jesus' point here. I think it is what Jesus says to her as they part ways.
He says to her, 'Go in peace.'
The word Jesus would have used for peace is the Hebrew word shalom. Shalom is an important word in the Bible, and it is not completely accurate to translate it simply as 'peace.'
For many of us, we understand peace to be the absence of conflict. We talk about peace in the home or in the world or giving peace a chance. But the Hebraic understanding of shalom is far more than just the absence of conflict or strife.
Shalom is the presence of the goodness of God. It's the presence of wholeness, completeness.
So when Jesus tells the woman to go in peace, he is placing the blessing of God on all of her. Not just her physical body. He is blessing he with God's presence on her entire being. And this is because for Jesus, salvation is holistic in nature. For Jesus, being saved or reconciled to God involves far more than just the saving of your physical body or you soul - it involves all of you.
God's desire is for us to live in harmony with him - body, soul, spirit, mind, emotions - every inch of our being.

Do you see how beautiful shalom is?
---------------------------
Number two on my list of thoughts is heaven. I'm not exactly sure where I want to start. Well, first off I'm not sure I believe the idea heaven is going to be in some other realm. Though the this is the thing you are taught, if you've grown up in the church. You've probably even been taught, at one point or another, that you should accept Jesus to go to heaven... and I won't even go there because that would be a long post, which would tear that thought/idea apart. I moved away from that thought years ago, and for awhile my analysis of the subject lent me to saying it would be a place where we would be in God's presence, which is true to an extent. However, I believe it would be true to say heaven will also be God in our presence.

[This is where anything could happen]
If you are a follower of Christ, you should know that soon after the world's creation, humans forfeit humanity/the earth over to the rule and reign of the devil and his demonic powers. This is very obvious if you would just watch five minutes of the news. This is important to understand, when looking at the whole subject because it is the opposite side of the spectrum. Now, I believe heaven, and also hell, is not only in eternity but also now. Especially from a believers standpoint, we need to understand that eternity is not somewhere off in the distance but right now. Jesus tells us to pray 'your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' Here and now. Therefore because of this, heaven can be brought to earth anytime.
Heaven can meet earth.
But as I said, there is an opposite side to the spectrum. This means hell can also be brought to earth. Iraq, civil war in Africa, HIV/AIDS around the world, and the list goes on. But in the here and now view of heaven Christians are called to war. Paul writes, 'For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.' Simply, our battle is not against people (thus, I would say, demonizing our enemy to make people want to destroy and fighting them would be a sin), but rather our battle is against the powers that make terrorists hate or the authority that allows racism, not a racist. Because of this, I believe we, as Christians, are to find where hell is on earth and bring heaven there [Dr. Greg Boyd], bring God's kingdom... on earth as it is in heaven.
The last bit of heaven I want to talk about is the heaven most think about when the subject is brought up. Bear with me because I am not sure I can present this thoroughly or do it justice. The last two chapters in Revelation talk about the new heaven and earth after everything had been restored. Redeemed. Reconciled. John starts the chapter saying he saw a new heaven and earth because the first heaven and earth had passed away. No more sin, death, tears, pain, mourning. This doesn't mean that God zaps the earth and creates a new one. It just means God finally fulfilled his promise of restoring the earth. This could get us in a discussion about the environment, but this post is already long enough. The whole chapter is about the New Jerusalem.

John says, "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,' Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seat on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'"

From this verse, we see God's kingdom and will is coming to earth. And he is dwelling with us here, on earth. Heaven and earth collide. Beautiful. God will be dwelling with his people. Not, his people will be dwelling with God. Throughout history, we have seen God's passion to be with his creation. Walking in the garden with Adam. Dwelling in the tabernacle. Coming down on Mount Sinai. Dwelling in the temple. Coming in flesh and blood as Jesus. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us. It is clear God wants to be with us. Thus, he comes down from heaven, brings it to earth, and makes earth his new dwelling place, heaven. Heaven is here. Heaven is now. Heaven is for eternity. Heaven is all things restored to God's will.
After all, God called the earth good in the beginning.
Beautiful, isn't it?