The Kingdom of Sacramentia: A Tale

Long ago in the kingdom of Sacramentia lived a righteous king. He loved his people and gave them the best of the land. The people served the king with great joy. Their feasts abounded with the best wine and meat. The people lived a happy life. One day a messenger from the kingdom of Adam came to the gates. The people had heard of the Adamites; they were known to be cruel and deceitful. The officer at the gate lifted his sword and asked: “Adamite, what brings you to Sacramentia?” The messenger said: “I have a message to proclaim!” “Very well,” said the guard. The messenger said: “Thus saith Adam, the great and mighty king: “Bow down to me and I will give you all of the world, including its riches and glory. All you must do is leave the kingdom of Sacramentia and follow me back to my land.”

Surprisingly, several members from various families followed the messenger. The seduction of riches and glory were sufficient to lead them away from their beloved kingdom even though their king was gracious and loved them. The citizens began to leave one by one. Those who stayed cried as they saw friends and family leave them. When the last citizen left, the king of Sacramentia rose from his throne and ordered the guards to shut the gates. As the departing men and women looked back, they were startled by the loud sounds of the gates shutting behind them. They could no longer see their homes and relatives. The greeness of the grass was replaced by a desert filled with uncertainty. “Surely soon we will have everything we once had and much, much more,” one young man said. When the messenger sent from Adam heard it he laughed and said with a loud voice: “This king whom you served could only give you his riches and glory, but my king will give you the world.” When those who departed heard those words, they remembered a saying in Sacramentia: “Those who offer you the world will also destroy your soul.”

Heaven is not a perfect place

Note: It’s not very common to post writings from others on my own blog, but I have done it a few times in the past as a way of revealing my joy in exposing the profound observations of others. Tom is a dear friend, parishioner, and a capable student of the Bible. He took a single thought from a sermon of mine and developed it to something much better than I could have written.

Guest post by Tom Robertson

“…as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” –The Apostle Paul

“Heaven is the blueprint; earth the raw material.” Uri Brito

Uri Brito is the pastor (my pastor) at Providence Church in Pensacola. The quotation above comes from a sermon he preached a few Sundays ago. The Apostle Paul is familiar to you all. His words were written nearly 2000 years ago from an Ephesian prison. I believe Uri’s illustration may be a little unsettling to the average Christian, especially when compared with Paul’s description of Heaven as “gain” and “far better.” Now, no one believes Pastor Brito is talking about mere drawings and measurements. However, he is at a minimum suggesting that Heaven is a kind of starting point and not the finished product. After all, a blueprint is the plan, not the dwelling place. If this is true, then it follows that Heaven is imperfect. And this sounds a bit alarming.

A Place Where No Storm Clouds Rise?

Most of us – at least most of us in “the South” – grew up singing songs that promised we’d leave this world and fly to a place of eternal and undiminished joy. Our understanding was that Earth is toilsome, a place where we must spend “just a few more weary days.” We all thought Heaven to be a place where “no storm clouds rise”, where “joy shall never end”, “no tears ever come again.” Heaven was not a mere temporary lodging. Yet, scripture teaches that Christians will live in a new heavens and a new earth forever and ever. In fact, all things will be made new (Rev 21:5). We ourselves will be made new; our resurrected and glorified bodies will be fit to enjoy a renewed cosmos (Phil 3:21).

So, we will not live forever in Heaven. In fact, Heaven and Earth were never intended to exist forever as separate places. The plan was always for a unity (See Gen 1 and 2, Acts 4:21, Phil 3:20-21, Col 1:20, Rev 21 and 22). At the moment, however, we are in the midst of a cosmos which has undergone what C.S. Lewis described as The Great Divorce. When Adam sinned creation “fell”; Heaven and earth were “torn asunder” with all the resulting pain and consequences of a divorce.

The Coming Unity

It was Ephesians 1:9-10 – “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth” – which occasioned Pastor Brito’s comment “Heaven is the blueprint; earth is the raw materials.” God’s plan, said my Pastor – said the Apostle Paul, no less – is to unite all things in Christ, both in heaven and on earth. It has always been the plan, which is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Neither Heaven nor Earth is meant to be alone.

Heaven is Imperfect

Does this mean that heaven is not a pleasant place? Certainly not! Paul’s confession, that to “die is” not only “gain”, but “far better” (Phil 1:21-23), settles that. To be sure, the comfortable accommodations of heaven are preferable to a sin-ravaged world. Yet, Heaven separated from Earth is imperfect – imperfect, but not defective. Neither was Adam defective. Yet, He was not perfect until joined to Eve. Just as it was not good for Adam to be alone, it is not good for Heaven or Earth to be alone. The ink pen resting on the desk is not defective, but when taken in hand, put to paper and employed by a master poet it becomes perfect. Similarly, Heaven will become perfect when it is intertwined with a gloriously liberated Earth.

So, until then, we are to do what we can to “heavenify” earth, so says my Pastor – “Heaven is the blueprint; earth the raw materials.” And if we happen to leave this Earth before Christ speaks into existence a new cosmos, we’ve been told by a reliable source that our temporary accommodations will be quite comfortable. For to depart and be with Christ is “far better” says Paul – far better, but not perfect.

Blessing and Kingship

David Garland observes that the genealogy in Matthew reveals something unique about the nature of Jesus’ salvation:

Both David and Abraham were promised a son. The birth of Isaac, miraculous as it was (Gen. 22:7), and the birth of Solomon, beloved of the Lord (2 Samuel 12:24-25), are superseded by the birth of Jesus, whose conception is even more miraculous and who is beloved of God’s own son. a

The promises made to Abraham and David were promises of a universal nature. The promise to Abraham was that by his seed all the nations of the earth shall gain a blessing (Gen. 22:18). The Davidic promise was that of rulership and kingship. In Jesus, all the nations of the earth are blessed and his kingship shall have no end.

  1. Garland, David. Reading Matthew, 17  (back)