Let Heaven Come

Yesterday during worship I was reading from Psalm 67, and I reflecting on the first couple of verses.  The very next song in the worship set was essentially a prayer as we sang, "Let heaven come!"  As this was percolating in my spirit, I had some inspiration.  First, here are the verses - Psalm 67:1-2 NIV:

[1] "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us---
[2] so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations."

I love how the Lord highlights specific verses, and it seems, at the time, that you have never read this before.  I have clearly read these verses before, but that feeling of seeing something in a new light is exciting!  The word that stood out to me in the two verses above was the word "so".  In other words, verse one was true SO that verse 2 could be true.

While many might read thee verses as pertaining to financial or military might blessings, for God certainly provided both to Israel at times, my heart understood these verses in light of the ministry of Jesus, and the extension of His ministry to the Church.  We are supposed to be the way the earth knows about Christ Jesus, and the salvation He has won for us! 

Or we could say, we are supposed to be the vehicle through which heaven comes to earth.

We are His body, and we represent Him.

Which leads to the question, how i s God gracious to us and blessing us? The Hebrew word translated gracious is the word Chanan and a working definition would be "yearn towards, long for, be merciful, compassionate, favourable, inclined towards;"  which is quite helpful to my understanding.  The word translated bless is the Hebrew word "barak" and it means exactly that God's blessing.

We pray for God's blessing, His mercy, compassion, favour, his inclination towards us, His gaze upon us!  How better does He accomplish this than indwelling us through Holy Spirit, and empowering us to bear witness to Jesus' name, in our lives, through continuing His ministry, even as the early church did?  Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God present, and then demonstrated that reality, heaven's reality, through healing and miracles! 

Would this not be the way the whole earth will see and experience God's presence, through His church, through the extension of His Kingdom into our personal lives, the Holy Spirit transforming us from mere men and women, into His sons and daughters? 

Are we not called to be witnesses to the ends of the earth? 

How else will the world truly know His ways or His salvation?

I am reminded of Acts 2, for surely this prayer was fulfilled at Pentecost!

Oh Lord, help us to live our lives bearing witness to Your graciousness, Your mercy, compassion, Your blessing, and reflecting the light of Your face!  Let us live Heaven's reality here and now!  Let heaven come through us!

Amen and Amen!

Here is a link to the song: https://youtu.be/Uj1cLQ15zTk?si=u53wPeL0VGo0F-bL