Our Heavenly Furusato (Homeland)

The Bible describes a future world filled with shining glory. God will make a new heaven and a new earth and prepare a holy city. This is the heavenly home of believers.

The Bible ends like this: “Behold, the dwelling place [tabernacle] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).

Don’t you long for a homeland just like this? The Bible is a book that invites you to fellowship with God, to come home, to the ultimate uchi “inside”.

The ESV Bible. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org/.

Our Heavenly Furusato (Homeland)

Opening Questions

What does “home” (uchi) mean to you?
What would a perfect home (uchi) be like?

If you can remember back to our very first study, we started by thinking about the house (uchi) of the Lord as the ultimate circle of fellowship. In our last study, we come “full circle” and discover that the Bible predicts a day when God will dwell with human beings, and heaven will come to a renewed earth… and everyone who believes in Jesus can be part of it!

Let’s try to sum up our nine studies so far, as simply as possible:

Jesus Christ is the one who can bring us to his Father’s house (uchi) – the place of ultimate security and acceptance. (This is the main theme of our entire series.)
God exists eternally as three Persons in the ultimate uchi fellowship of love, and of his free, overflowing goodness, he desires to share this love with his creatures.
The whole created universe was made “very good” as a place for God to live with human beings created as his image. Humans enjoyed uchi fellowship with God in paradise.
The first humans disobeyed God, preferring to be outside (soto) God’s loving authority. As a result, they were banished outside (soto) paradise.
God chose not to treat sinful humans as we deserve. Instead, he gave gracious promises, committing himself to defeating sin and death, that we might return to him (uchi).
God fulfilled his promise in time, as the eternal Son of God left the uchi fellowship of heaven to enter our soto world as the God-man Jesus Christ.
Sinful human beings rejected Jesus, and cast him out (soto) of God’s holy city to die on a cross. But the Bible says this was in fact a victory. By dying for sinners, Jesus invites us to come home (uchi) and promises we will never be cast out (soto) again.
Jesus rose triumphant from death. Now, he pours out the gift of his Holy Spirit – God himself – to live inside (uchi) believers, transforming us into temples/dwellings of God.
Believers come together to form a composite temple of God’s Spirit – the Church. In the church, we share a foretaste of uchi fellowship, and share the good news outside (soto).

Uchi fellowship with God and his people is possible now in foretaste. In the future, it will be perfected. Let’s see how the Bible describes this, in a wonderful vision of the end of time:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea¹ was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,²coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4

How would you describe the ultimate uchi fellowship that God will create for his people?
“Dwelling place” in verse 3 is literally “tabernacle”. Do you remember where we have seen this concept before in our studies? What does it mean?
What do you find particularly attractive about this description?

It is important to understand that the Bible teaches some people will be cast out (soto) of this ultimate and everlasting uchi fellowship. Here is how the Bible passage above continues:

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega,³ the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:5-8

We must not misunderstand this. The Bible does not say that “good” people will be welcomed and “bad” people will be cast outside. Remember, according to the Bible, we are all sinners. To “conquer” in this context means to believe in Jesus as our Saviour and keep trusting him until the end. He is our only hope, and the only way to enjoy uchi fellowship with God.

Concluding Questions

The Bible describes believers in Jesus as “citizens of heaven” (Philippians 3:20). That points to a true home for believers which is not of this world. Would you like to belong there?
We must believe in Jesus and repent of our sin to enter God’s house (uchi). Will you?

View the Lesson 10 Manga

Footnotes

[1] The “sea” is a metaphor for earthly rebellion against God, or what we have called in these studies soto.

[2] The “holy city, new Jerusalem” is a metaphor for the whole church or the people of God who believe in Jesus, in which we enjoy now a foretaste of uchi fellowship.

[3] Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The New Testament of the Bible was originally written in Greek.

The ESV Bible. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org/.

Our Heavenly Furusato (Homeland)

This video explores page 10 of the myうちそと booklet, considering the new heaven and new earth that is taught in the Bible. It also discusses the white robes worn by those entering the city and the path that leads to our heavenly furusato (homeland).