This world is not my home I’m just a-passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore
I love music like the next person, and I love this song. Albert E. Brumley wrote many of my favorite old hymns. They’re hymns my family has sung together in the living room and church for as long as I can remember. However, certain phrases in this song have struck a chord with me lately that I think are worth discussing.
Christians, for centuries–even since Christ ascended to Heaven–have looked forward to something greater than this world. They have waited and watched for Christ’s return when He has promised to call us up from this earth and take us into the clouds to Heaven. We, as Christians, Seventh-day Adventists, and as people are so focused on what we call the Second Coming, that we seem to overlook, even forget, the First Coming–not when Jesus came as a baby to live as Mary and Joseph’s son on Earth, but when He came with His Father, the Holiest of Holies, to create this place for us.
Made for Us
Genesis 2:19 says, “Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name” (ESV). It’s difficult to see creation as anything other than the work of a loving Master, so I don’t understand why we humans would love to pass through life on earth as fast as possible for heaven. What’s wrong with the earth? God saw it fit for us…
Made of Power, Wisdom, and Understanding
Jeremiah 10:12 says “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (ESV). Not only was the earth created through the creative voice of a loving Father, but scripture tells us it was made by His power, wisdom, and understanding. Think about it. The God of the universe, all-knowing, all-powerful, and Holiest of Holies, created something for us, and through His Holiness, and all we can do is bide our time for something better. Most of the time, it feels like we also neglect our time here, knowing something better is coming. We neglect the earth and our time on it.
The Kingdom of God
Where does scripture say is the Kingdom of God? Is it a place that is to come? Is it in Heaven? Is it in the future only?
My interpretation of many New Testament scriptures is that the Kingdom of God is among God’s people, where the Holy Spirit lives in their hearts and connects them together and with the Father. What’s more–the Kingdom of God, physically, will be on earth–not Heaven! Jesus will rule it and make it His home.
By studying the Millennium, we learn that we’ll spend only a thousand years in Heaven. In the grand scheme of human history, a thousand years is a blip–a fraction of the time we’ll spend on earth.
This World Is My Home!
This world is my home. It’s yours too.
God created a beautiful planet for us. It is evolutionary, it is scientific. It regenerates in a thousand–a million different ways. It was spoken into existence by the voice of the One True God. He spoke and waters flowed. He spoke and light burst to life. He spoke and animals breathed. This earth that we inhabit was created to last forever and God will make sure of it…for us.
Enjoy it now. Bloom where you’re planted. This world is your home.
