Soooo helpful. Especially around minute 39 as Lane brings in the Klinean categories to explain, eventually, the "Heavenization" we anticipate. Thanks again.
Wow. Incredible. This may be the most insightful episode for my personal growth that you have done in a while, specifically with regard to the nature of creation. My minister recently taught on Psalm 19:1-6, where he highlighted the divinity of Christ being shown forth in creation. Creation is literally under the divine power of Christ in such a way that it actually speaks. Reminds me of Narnia and Lord of the Rings.
For clarification, Creation on “Day Zero” God creates the heavenly original (Genesis 1:1) of which everything else is the copy. “Days 1-6” God creates the earthly copy of the heavenly original (Genesis 1:2-31). This is based on Hebrews 8:5 that the priests serve “a copy and shadow of heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’” Have I correctly described this idea?
Here is a snippet from Vos' Sermon Heavenly Mindedness on this matter: "Heavenly-Mindedness and Earthly Life Man belongs to two spheres. And Scripture not only teaches that these two spheres are distinct, it also teaches what estimate of relative importance ought to be placed upon them. Heaven is the primordial, earth the secondary creation. In heaven are the supreme realities; what surrounds us here below is a copy and shadow of the celestial things. Because the relation between the two spheres is positive, and not negative, not mutually repulsive, heavenly-mindedness can never give rise to neglect of the duties pertaining to the present life. It is the ordinance and will of God, that not apart from, but on the basis of, and in contact with, the earthly sphere man shall work out his heavenly destiny. Still the lower may never supplant the higher in our affections. In the heart of man time calls for eternity, earth for heaven. He must, if normal, seek the things above, as the flower’s face is attracted by the sun, and the watercourses are drawn to the ocean. Heavenly-mindedness, so far from blunting or killing the natural desires, produces in the believer a finer organization, with more delicate sensibilities, larger capacities, a stronger pulse of life. It does not spell impoverishment, but enrichment of nature. The spirit of the entire epistle shows this. The use of the words ‘city’ and ‘country’ is evidence of it. These are terms that stand for the accumulation, the efflorescence, the intensive enjoyment of values. Nor should we overlook the social note in the representation. A perfect communion in a perfect society is promised. In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes. It does not first need the storms and stress that invade to quicken its desire for such things. Being the sum and substance of all the positive gifts of God to us in their highest form, heaven is of itself able to evoke in our hearts positive love, such absorbing love as can render us at times forgetful of the earthly strife. In such moments the transcendent beauty of the other shore and the irresistible current of our deepest life lift us above every regard of wind or wave. We know that through weather fair or foul our ship is bound straight for its eternal port." Also, M G Kline offers a number of wonderful insights that bolster and expand Vos' point: That the “heaven” of Gen 1:1 is not the visible heavens of lower register space is also indicated by the Genesis 1 context itself. The origin of the heaven of v. 1 is assigned to “the beginning,” which, in the reflections on the Genesis 1 creation account in Prov 8:22, 23, is identified as the era before the developments traced in Gen 1:2ff., in particular, before the production of the visible heavens or “firmament” (v. 8). Also, while the visible sky-heavens are, according to Gen 1:6, 7, derived from what is called “earth” in Gen 1:1, 2, the “heaven” of v. 1 does not take its origin from that “earth” but appears as a separate product created alongside the “earth.” It must then be the invisible heaven. And to this invisible heaven Gen 1:1 attributes an origin, a coming into existence “in the beginning.” [On the above cf. STGC 4B, 5A, and 9B.] Though the visible world, the “earth” of Gen 1:1, 2, was not completed until the end of the creation “week,” completion of the invisible heaven (with its angelic hosts) had evidently been accomplished “in the beginning.” Job 38:7 indicates that the celestial sons of God existed at the point in earth’s development described in Gen 1:2ff. and were joyous observers of the progress of the Creator’s cosmic architectural achievements. As we shall be noting further below, the presence of the angels at the climactic event of the creating of man is intimated in Gen 1:26, 27 (cf. Prov 8:30, 31). Introduced into the Genesis 1 narrative in the opening verse, the invisible heaven remains in view as that narrative continues the panoramic two-register (heaven and earth) format throughout its treatment of the creation “week.” In fact, the primary perspective of the account is that of the upper register; the story of creation is told from the point of view of the Creator in the heights of heaven." Meredith G. Kline, God, Heaven and Har Magedon: A Covenantal Tale of Cosmos and Telos (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006), 11. You can also survey a lecture from the 2022 Reformed Forum Conference on the doctrine of the Endoxation of the Holy Spirit in the heaven temple in the absolute beginning of Genesis 1:1--a view set forth by Kline and amplified here: ua-cam.com/video/NygzHMdHzxw/v-deo.html The tabernacle's relation to heaven in Heb. 8:5 is a microcosm of this macrocosmic point of view.
Thank you brothers!
Soooo helpful. Especially around minute 39 as Lane brings in the Klinean categories to explain, eventually, the "Heavenization" we anticipate. Thanks again.
This is very helpful and will be taken to heart in my personal evangelism and prayer for those who walk in darkness .
🌷
Wow. Incredible. This may be the most insightful episode for my personal growth that you have done in a while, specifically with regard to the nature of creation. My minister recently taught on Psalm 19:1-6, where he highlighted the divinity of Christ being shown forth in creation. Creation is literally under the divine power of Christ in such a way that it actually speaks. Reminds me of Narnia and Lord of the Rings.
For clarification, Creation on “Day Zero” God creates the heavenly original (Genesis 1:1) of which everything else is the copy.
“Days 1-6” God creates the earthly copy of the heavenly original (Genesis 1:2-31).
This is based on Hebrews 8:5 that the priests serve “a copy and shadow of heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’”
Have I correctly described this idea?
Here is a snippet from Vos' Sermon Heavenly Mindedness on this matter:
"Heavenly-Mindedness and Earthly Life
Man belongs to two spheres. And Scripture not only teaches that these two spheres are distinct, it also teaches what estimate of relative importance ought to be placed upon them. Heaven is the primordial, earth the secondary creation. In heaven are the supreme realities; what surrounds us here below is a copy and shadow of the celestial things. Because the relation between the two spheres is positive, and not negative, not mutually repulsive, heavenly-mindedness can never give rise to neglect of the duties pertaining to the present life. It is the ordinance and will of God, that not apart from, but on the basis of, and in contact with, the earthly sphere man shall work out his heavenly destiny. Still the lower may never supplant the higher in our affections. In the heart of man time calls for eternity, earth for heaven. He must, if normal, seek the things above, as the flower’s face is attracted by the sun, and the watercourses are drawn to the ocean. Heavenly-mindedness, so far from blunting or killing the natural desires, produces in the believer a finer organization, with more delicate sensibilities, larger capacities, a stronger pulse of life. It does not spell impoverishment, but enrichment of nature. The spirit of the entire epistle shows this. The use of the words ‘city’ and ‘country’ is evidence of it. These are terms that stand for the accumulation, the efflorescence, the intensive enjoyment of values. Nor should we overlook the social note in the representation. A perfect communion in a perfect society is promised. In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes. It does not first need the storms and stress that invade to quicken its desire for such things. Being the sum and substance of all the positive gifts of God to us in their highest form, heaven is of itself able to evoke in our hearts positive love, such absorbing love as can render us at times forgetful of the earthly strife. In such moments the transcendent beauty of the other shore and the irresistible current of our deepest life lift us above every regard of wind or wave. We know that through weather fair or foul our ship is bound straight for its eternal port."
Also, M G Kline offers a number of wonderful insights that bolster and expand Vos' point:
That the “heaven” of Gen 1:1 is not the visible heavens of lower register space is also indicated by the Genesis 1 context itself. The origin of the heaven of v. 1 is assigned to “the beginning,” which, in the reflections on the Genesis 1 creation account in Prov 8:22, 23, is identified as the era before the developments traced in Gen 1:2ff., in particular, before the production of the visible heavens or “firmament” (v. 8). Also, while the visible sky-heavens are, according to Gen 1:6, 7, derived from what is called “earth” in Gen 1:1, 2, the “heaven” of v. 1 does not take its origin from that “earth” but appears as a separate product created alongside the “earth.” It must then be the invisible heaven. And to this invisible heaven Gen 1:1 attributes an origin, a coming into existence “in the beginning.” [On the above cf. STGC 4B, 5A, and 9B.]
Though the visible world, the “earth” of Gen 1:1, 2, was not completed until the end of the creation “week,” completion of the invisible heaven (with its angelic hosts) had evidently been accomplished “in the beginning.” Job 38:7 indicates that the celestial sons of God existed at the point in earth’s development described in Gen 1:2ff. and were joyous observers of the progress of the Creator’s cosmic architectural achievements. As we shall be noting further below, the presence of the angels at the climactic event of the creating of man is intimated in Gen 1:26, 27 (cf. Prov 8:30, 31).
Introduced into the Genesis 1 narrative in the opening verse, the invisible heaven remains in view as that narrative continues the panoramic two-register (heaven and earth) format throughout its treatment of the creation “week.” In fact, the primary perspective of the account is that of the upper register; the story of creation is told from the point of view of the Creator in the heights of heaven."
Meredith G. Kline, God, Heaven and Har Magedon: A Covenantal Tale of Cosmos and Telos (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006), 11.
You can also survey a lecture from the 2022 Reformed Forum Conference on the doctrine of the Endoxation of the Holy Spirit in the heaven temple in the absolute beginning of Genesis 1:1--a view set forth by Kline and amplified here: ua-cam.com/video/NygzHMdHzxw/v-deo.html
The tabernacle's relation to heaven in Heb. 8:5 is a microcosm of this macrocosmic point of view.
Wouldve preferred some actual exposition of parables. Its clear in the parables the earth is the domain that he rules.