I recently created a Facebook post asking a question: "What are the primary missions of God in history? (name them all)". The point was to challenge readers to think about the overall mission of God in history, certainly in scripture (but we see it all over the place as well).
A recent friend and sister in the Lord gave an outstanding answer to the question. I won't repeat it here because it would give away the thought process leading to the reveal. So, no spoiler alerts on this one, but it is certainly good to know that there are brothers and sisters out there who "get it"!
The Mission
The establishment of Creation—heavenly unseen realms and then seen earthly realms; the identification and separation of the Loyal from Disloyal; resulting in the eternal separation and destruction of the Disloyal and the eternal life salvation of the Loyal within God in a New Heaven and New Earth.
A little inspiration
As you ponder the mission statement above, it may be needful to point out a critical observation: The mission is larger than you. The Cross is not just about the salvation of humanity and the reversal of the Fall (Genesis 3 rebellion). Coupled with this, I am going to make a very bold assertion: It is even more than the reversal of Genesis 6 and 11 (i.e., Reversing Hermon and the Tower of Babel rebellions).
The notion that God has but a single desire to reverse the fall of Eden and to "reverse Hermon" (i.e., the damage done by the Watchers from that point forward) is true and accurate. However, it doesn't go far enough. A mere reversal of damage and restoration of Eden is not the only outcome that God is after. If it was, a New Heaven and New Earth would not be in the offing, nor would it be listed as the ultimate goal and outcome.
Temporary Sifting Vs Permanent Forever
The present heavenly and earthly realms are temporary. They were never intended to be forever. They were always a temporary boxing ring and a field of testing, proving, and combat that comes from good guys vs. bad guys—God vs gods and demons. All of the ages of this creation were only ever going to be temporary; a battlefield wherein to reveal and expose the righteous and the unrighteous; cultivating one for eternal life and the other for judgment and destruction.
The notion of reversal implies going back to something—like identifying a disease followed by healing and return to health. This is not what God is up to. To understand this requires more detail and a disciplined, careful, and close study of scripture. And while the ultimate New Heaven and New Earth are beyond our present capacity to comprehend, there are important and critical matters revealed by God about these topics to help us understand what God is up to.
First things first
We are headed somewhere in this stream of thought and inspection of scripture. One of our first stops is understanding God's point of view as He has revealed it in scripture—specifically—His view of the overall battlefield of creation as a proving-ground; a giant loyalty test!
God addressing the people of the nations, earth, and world.
1 Draw near, O nations, to hear,
and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
Enraged against nations (and people)
"host" (ṣə·ḇā 'Am) fallen divine hosts or armies opposing Yahweh
2 For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their host;
he has devoted them to destruction,
has given them over for slaughter.
"Their slain" = hosts (ṣə·ḇā 'Am) and humans aligned with them
"stench" — Rev 14:9-11 "... smoke of their torment goes up forever ..."?
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
the mountains shall flow with their blood.
Again—"host of heaven" are fallen Watchers
Revelation 6:12-16, esp. vs 13-14 cf. "rolled scroll" & "fig" falling
4 All the host of heaven shall rot away,
and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
as leaves fall from the vine,
like leaves falling from the fig tree.
The first key understanding is the scope of where God is doing what He is doing. It involves both the heavenly realms with its population of beings (spirits, sons of God, lesser elohim, Watchers, angels, et al) and the earthly realm also with its population of beings (humans, et al).
We generally like to think only in terms of what we can see. In actual fact—the battlefield and threshing floor is both the seen and unseen—the natural and the supernatural. The scripture quoted above from Isaiah helps us understand the wide scope of the battlefield scene that we are a part of.
The follow passage from Isaiah 24 shows us the heavenly and earthly realm distinctions quite clearly.
"On that day" = The Great and Notable Day of the Lord
Punishment is of heavenly beings in heaven vs earthly kings
21 On that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
Allusion to the 1,000 year reign, then final judgment?
Is the "pit" that of Tartarus ("hell") in 2 Peter 2?
22 They will be gathered together
as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days they will be punished.
Sun and moon — see Revelation 6:12-17
"elders" — a ref to righteous human imagers (apostles/others)
23 Then the moon will be confounded
and the sun ashamed,
for the LORD of hosts reigns
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and his glory will be before his elders.
The eschatological (future times) inferences are plainly clear. There is both a now and not yet aspect. The entirety of history is a shaking of both heavenly and earthly realms; sorting out the righteous from the unrighteous. Scriptures like Isaiah chapter 24 and chapter 34 (as well as Revelation) tell us about both realms, which also includes our present time.
Put on your ancient near eastern eschatological hat and read back a little in Isaiah 24 from verse 1 to 20, giving special attention to verses 18 to 20. Bear this in mind as you then turn to Revelation 6:12-17 and read about the sky being rolled like a scroll (ask—what does that mean?) and consider the link to the earth falling over like a drunk man and it is unable to get back up.
See the linked YouTube for more.
Expounding the mission statement
Let's revisit the mission statement from above.
The establishment of Creation—heavenly unseen realms and then seen earthly realms; the identification and separation of the Loyal from Disloyal; resulting in the eternal separation and destruction of the Disloyal and the eternal life salvation of the Loyal within God in a New Heaven and New Earth.
Clearly, there is quite a bit of scripture that tells us that what matters to our theological understanding of creation is how it is split into two realms: One seen (ours/natural) and one unseen (heavenlies/supernatural). There are hosts in both. Angelic (supernatural) in the heavenlies and us (natural) and all that fills the earth in ours.
See this sidebar YouTube video for more information and linking of these ideas.
Additionally, we have established the goal of shaking out and separating the Loyal from the Disloyal—both humans and divine. God has a keen interest in drawing distinct lines between the righteous and unrighteous by His own perfect estimation. A large wrinkle being that only humans can cross from death to life by Christ at the Cross of Calvary. Heavenly beings have no such hope. Only people—the sons of Adam—can become sons of God through Christ Jesus by His power!
The very last part of our look at this Mission Statement is the matter of the temporary nature of the now versus the permanent and forever nature of the coming not yet—the fact that the current heavenly and earthly realms were only ever temporary, fleeting, and passing in purpose. The goal was always to find a seed, bury it in death, and raise it up anew and forever as an eternal New Heaven and New Earth—populated by loyal beings from both.
Even death and hell (Sheol, hades, Tartarus, underworld, et al) would find themselves swallowed up in the eternal destruction to come. Only the righteous ones of the heavenly and earthly hosts would be translated to the New Heaven and Earth respectively—that is—able to inhabit their own realms and transition back and forth between them as an eternal, perfect, and loving family of God; the Father residing in heaven and Jesus ruling from earth over all of heaven and earth.
New Heaven and New Earth
Our Mission Statement also helps us to dispel some nonsensical traditions and myths that have grown up in the last 1,700 years—namely that—we will not be mere disembodied spirits as we strum harps on clouds for eternity, which sounds just as boring as you think. In reality—we will have new bodies and a new earth, universe, and heavenly realms to operate in, explore, and do whatever the Lord has in mind!
The purpose of the present matrix of heavenly and earthly realms is to shake out who will be Loyal and who Disloyal. Once every being from all the realms of God's creation have been sorted out, the need for these temporary realms will be over. They will have served their purpose. Scripture tells us they will find an ending and then a new beginning. The nature of that change is not something we are privy to. It is enough for now to know it happens.
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain.
Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away.
And the New Testament speaks as well:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
And again ...
And, 'You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.
And again ...
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
And again ...
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Summing it up
The text of the Mission Statement (summary) ought to be starkly clear by now.
The establishment of Creation—heavenly unseen realms and then seen earthly realms; the identification and separation of the Loyal from Disloyal; resulting in the eternal separation and destruction of the Disloyal and the eternal life salvation of the Loyal within God in a New Heaven and New Earth.
Really and truly understanding the statement above is just the beginning. There is the right-now practice of it and not just not yet eschatological future. Yes—we do live in hope and we must keep this hope in front of us. This is especially true as dark and demonic forces arise as these last days are closing before the return of Jesus Christ to this world. It is critical that consider where we are in the scope of the Mission of Jesus Christ.
Going forward from here, there is distinct call upon each of us to take our words and actions into the scope of God's Mission in Christ Jesus. Life and living are not a joke. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Books will be opened. Judgments made. Rewards given. Losses incurred and felt deeply. Punishments will be handed out and all of this will come to an end.
Therefore—we all need to take this Mission Statement very seriously before the Lord and in the face of our mortal enemies—seen and unseen, but especially unseen. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, right? Given all of this, it is high time that we pull our heads out of what the world says is important and start to think with eternal minds and see with supernatural eyes. In fact—it is critical to us and others that we do just that!
Postscript
I forgot to include the Facebook response from our sister, Marty! All of her points are really good in her answer to the initial question and the are integral to the overall mission statement presented in this article.
