Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down!...For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. Isaiah 64:1a, 4, NKJV

Early Sunday morning, our household was doing something out of the ordinary.  Awake much earlier than usual, we were tuned in to one of the last competitions of the Olympic games -- the gold medal mens ice hockey match between USA and Canada.  We're not big hockey fans, but this was different.  So when Jack Hughes netted the golden goal in overtime, toothless smile and all, our living room erupted.  We jumped and screamed because somehow Team USA's victory felt like our victory.  Somehow a game played in northern Italy impacted the experience of our family here in Colorado and of countless others across America.  Apparently, it's possible for events far away to impact my experience right here.  And if we can feel that reality through an Olympic victory, how much more so through the eternal victories won for us through Jesus Christ.  Isaiah's prayer for the God of heaven to break through the heaven-earth barrier is based on his confidence that God's heavenly activity truly impacts our earthly experience (Isa. 64:1-4).  It's a confidence that the early church of Acts embraced and proclaimed with power.  Do we have that same confidence today?

HEAVEN CAME DOWN

God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Acts 2:32-33, NIV

Last Sabbath, Pastor David Asscherick led us through an in-depth study that connected the dots between the coronation of Christ in Revelation 5 and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.  While this isn't the space to review that entire message, what's most noteworthy to me is that the disciples were aware that what they were presently experiencing on earth was directly tied to a very real experience in heaven.  Yes, the manifestation of the Spirit was a fulfillment of prophetic promises from long before (Acts 2:16-21), but it was more than just an ancient expectation fulfilled.  According to Peter, what they could "now see and hear" in Jerusalem was the direct result of Jesus having been "exalted to the right hand of God" in heaven (v. 33)!  On the very day of Pentecost, heaven literally came down.  The anointing oil of God's Spirit that was poured upon our Priest-King Jesus in heaven literally dripped to the earth and filled the early church with power!  

This wasn't just a coincidental synchrony of separate events.  What took place in heaven generated concrete results on earth.  

But was this the only time heaven's activity would impact our human experience?

COME AND SEE

Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.”  Revelation 6:1, NKJV

The vision of Christ's coronation of Revelation 5 segues directly into the unsealing of a scroll in Revelation 6.  As Jesus opens the first four seals one by one, John hears an angel invite him to "come and see" (6:1, 3, 5, 7).  Notice the sequence:  John observes Jesus' activity in heaven and sees its subsequent results on earth.  After the fourth seal, the beloved disciple doesn't have to be invited to come and see.  Instead, he gets the idea and fixes his attention to behold what God is up to both in heaven and on earth without any prompting.  Which makes me wonder:  is it possible that "come and see" isn't just an invitation limited to prophets receiving heavenly visions?  Maybe it's actually an invitation for all of us to keep our eyes heavenward, an open invitation to discern invisible, heavenly activity in the midst of our visible, earthly lives.  

Of course, this invitation doesn't necessarily mean that every experience we have on earth is a direct result of some occurrence in heaven, but it gives us permission to perceive our reality in a broader frame of reference and meaning.  I think this is in line with what Jesus urged us consider when He taught us to pray for the Father's will in the Lord's Prayer.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10, NKJV

Yes, it's a prayer for Jesus to come again.  And yes, it's a prayer that God's divine will would prevail over and above our own.  But in light of the heaven-earth connection we see in Revelation, maybe it's also a prayer similar to Isaiah's in Isaiah 64:1 -- a prayer that the activity of God in His heavenly kingdom would actually break into our own experience, a prayer that God's purpose would be fulfilled in the earthly realm in correspondence with the very real events that fulfill God's will in heaven. 

WHAT THIS MEANS...FOR US

Are you rubbing your forehead in confusion yet?  I'll admit that this is still something I'm processing in full, so I hope you know we're in this together. 😊  What we know so far is that there's a heaven-and-earth connection that Peter explicitly described, John saw in vision, Isaiah boldly prayed for, and Jesus instructed us to pray to experience.  But now what?  How can this intertwining of realities impact our experience today?  Let me suggest a few ways:

1. Come and See -- Make it a habit to pay attention to God's activity.  Become observant of what God is up to, not just in the things happening right around us but in the heavenly realm too.  We tend to imagine God as relatively idle, sitting on His throne receiving the incessant praise of angelic beings.  But while there's truth to that portrait, it's not the only portrait.  In heaven, God is actively moving His redemptive purposes forward.  The book of Revelation symbolically paints the picture of God's activity in broad strokes -- opening seven seals, blowing seven trumpets, sending three angels, etc, all of which pave the way for restoring humanity to oneness with Him!   This is why Jesus directs our gaze upward when we see all things happening on earth spiraling downward (cf. Lk. 21:25-28).  No matter what chaos unfolds around us, God wants us to come and see that His hand is unseen in the darkness, moving us toward His redemption.
2. Pray for God's kingdom and will -- Make it a habit to pray for God's intervention.  When we know that God is actively at work on our behalf in heaven, then prayer becomes a way to partner with Him in allowing His purposes to be fulfilled on earth.  God wants to pour out His Spirit.  God wants to fulfill His kingdom plans here on earth.  But He doesn't want to plow ahead without our permission and cooperation.  When we pray for God's kingdom to come, we give Him a green light to exercise His authority in and through our lives.  When we pray for God's will to be done, we trust that our present experience can be the unfolding of His divine plans and yield ourselves to being a part of that rather than getting in the way of that.  

Friends, heaven's victories are meant to be our victories too.  Heaven and earth are closer than we think.  May we be a people who confidently discern what God is up to and courageously partner with Him in letting His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.