The Convergence of Two Dimensions
by Doug Fortune
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10)
We have prayed that so many times, as most of us learned it when we were young. I wonder if we really understand the impact of these words, which I believe are some of the most potent in all of Scripture.
Join me as I ponder and allow me to muse a bit here. In that prayer, we are dealing with two seemingly diametrically opposed dimensions- heaven and earth. Paul even uses the analogy of heaven and earth to describe two opposite natures- the first man (Adam) and the second Man (Christ). "The first man [was] from out of earth, made of dust (earthly-minded); the second Man [is] the Lord from out of heaven. Now those who are made of the dust are like him who was first made of the dust (earthly-minded); and as is [the Man] from heaven, so also [are those] who are of heaven (heavenly-minded)." (1 Corinthians 15:47-48 Amplified Bible)
Earth speaks of that which is finite, heaven speaks of that which is infinite.
The earth speaks of chaos; "And the earth was without form, and void..." (Genesis 1:2) Heaven speaks of order, as it is referred to as a Kingdom; "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto..." (Matthew 13:24) And yet God created these two seemingly diametrically opposed dimensions- heaven and earth; "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) Interestingly enough, God looked at this seeming contradiction and considered it was good! "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good..." (Genesis 1:31)
It would seem that heaven provides "spirit", and earth provides "form"... allow me to explain. We know that "God is a Spirit..." (John 4:24) (the "a" is not really in the text) and that He is "Our Father which art in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9). So God, who is spirit and is in heaven, spoke to Himself and said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26) If God, who IS spirit and is IN heaven made a man in His image, then this man would be a heavenly spiritual man, would he not?
Also consider Genesis 1:27, as it says "So God CREATED man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." God CREATED this man in Genesis chapter 1. However when we come to Genesis 2:7 it states that, "...the LORD God FORMED man of the dust of the ground..." The meaning of this word "formed", yatsar in Hebrew, is "through the squeezing into shape", to mould into a form especially as a potter. So the man that was CREATED in Genesis chapter 1 was created from SPIRIT, and the man that was FORMED in Genesis chapter 2 was formed from the EARTH. Father creates in spirit before things manifest in the earth. I believe that Adam had the potential to be the perfect union of the Spirit Man and the earth man, however we find that he, through sin, became the earthly carnal man.
Before Adam ever had an opportunity to transgress, in His sovereignty and perfect timing, Father already had a "convergence" planned to remedy this unfortunate situation. Let us read about it; "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son..." (Galatians 4:4), "...God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:" (Romans 8:3) This is perhaps the epitome of things seemingly diametrically opposed- Father's own Son, yet in the likeness of sinful flesh. Jesus the Christ was the perfect convergence of the Spirit Man and the earth man. His was the Life in which heaven and earth converged, and this "convergence" happened precisely when the fullness of the time was come.
May I submit to you that in His sovereignty and perfect timing Father has another "convergence" planned? We can read about it in Ephesians 1:10, " [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in HEAVEN and things on the EARTH." (Amplified Bible) Just as heaven and earth converged in the Life of His begotten Son, so it shall converge again in the Life of a Corporate Son, as He is "...bringing many sons unto glory..." (Hebrews 2:10) This "convergence" in the Life of a Corporate Son will in turn bring forth a "convergence" of global proportion that will manifest in the natural realm, thus affecting all of creation. And how, you ask, will all this come to pass?....
(To be continued...)
Doug Fortune
www.InChristInternational.com
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