Part 10: Our Heavenly Furusato (Homeland)
Doc: Hey guys! Well, this is our last time. Are you ready?
What does “home” (uchi) mean to you?
Iino: A place where I can relax.
Gō: The place I’ll always return to.
Yoshiya: The place where I sleep!
What would a perfect home (uchi) be like?
Iino: Safe and secure.
Gō: A happy couple with a happy family.
Yoshiya: The best sleeping environment? Just joking! But I guess… a place where I can recharge my batteries.
Doc: Thanks, that all sounds great. Some of your answers go quite deep! Now, do you all remember our very first study? We started by thinking about the “house of the Lord”.
Doc: That’s the place where God is. Everything began with the idea of this ultimate “inner (uchi) fellowship”. Today is our last Bible study. And so I want to come full circle, and think about this idea of home (uchi) again. That’s because the Bible says that in the future, a day is coming when heaven will come down to a renewed earth and God and human beings will live together. Everyone who believes in Jesus can live in this “new heaven and new earth”.
Alright, first let’s review! I’ve prepared a summary of our previous studies, so please would you read them out in turn, beginning with you, Iino?
Iino: Okay. 1. We all long for a perfect place of safety and complete acceptance. Jesus Christ is the one who can bring us to his Father’s house (uchi) – the place of ultimate security and acceptance.
Gō: 2. 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.
Yoshiya: 3. 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.
Iino: 4. The first humans disobeyed God, preferring to be outside (soto) God’s loving authority. As a result, they were banished outside (soto) paradise.
Gō: 5. 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).
Yoshiya: 6. 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.
Iino: 7. 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.
Gō: 8. 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.
Yoshiya: 9. 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).
Doc: Thank you. Not a bad summary, if I do say so myself! Haha! The “inner (uchi) fellowship” between God and his people can already be experienced today in the church, to some extent. But it is still just a “foretaste”. In the future, this fellowship will be complete and we will be able to enjoy it to the full.
Let’s look at how the Bible describes this future. The last book of the Bible is called The Revelation to John. This is where we find the Bible’s description of a vision of the “last days”. Iino, may I ask you to read it?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 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.”
New Testament, Revelation 21:1-4
Doc: Thanks. The “sea” here is a metaphor for human rebellion against God, or what we have called in these studies soto. And the “holy city, new Jerusalem” is a metaphor for the whole church or the people of God who believe in Jesus. Revelation is a book full of symbols, so we need to be careful not to interpret it all literally. As I said before, the church is where we enjoy a foretaste of uchi fellowship now.
How would you describe the ultimate uchi fellowship that God will create for his people?
Gō: God and his people are living together.
Yoshiya: Nothing bad is left. Like it says: “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain”.
Iino: I like it when it says that God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes”.
“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?
Iino: I remember! It’s the bit about how God the Son came and lived in a tent, isn’t it?
Gō: Wow – you do have a good memory! The tabernacle was a place where God and his people could meet, right?
Yoshiya: So when it says that the “dwelling place [or tabernacle] of God is with man”, does it mean exactly that: “He will dwell with them, and they will be his people”?
Doc: That’s right. They become “God’s people”. It’s all about belonging. The people belong to God. They are his possession: a people special to him, a people who can live with him forever.
What do you find particularly attractive about this description?
Iino: It’s so cool that there’s absolutely nothing bad. A world without tests and entrance exams… I want to go!
Yoshiya: It’s more than that! A place with no sin – where you can’t sin – sounds so attractive to me. It’s so wonderful I can’t even really imagine it.
Doc: For sure. Still, I want you to remember that there are also some people who are excluded from this everlasting and ultimate uchi fellowship. They’re on the outside (soto). Gō, can you read the next part of the Bible passage that follows on from what Iino read?
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, 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.”
New Testament, Revelation 21:5-8
Doc: The person “seated on the throne” is Jesus Christ. And when it says “Alpha and Omega”, these are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The New Testament of the Bible was originally written in Greek. When Jesus says “I am the Alpha and the Omega”, he means that he’s just that: the beginning and the end.
Iino: But Doc, what does it mean that Jesus is “the beginning and the end”?
Doc: Good question! This expression emphasizes that Jesus is God.
Doc: Because Jesus created all things, he’s the “beginning”, and because everything exists for him, he’s the “end” in the sense of the final destination of creation.
But we shouldn’t misunderstand these verses that Gō read for us. The Bible does not say that “good” people will be welcomed into uchi fellowship and “bad” people will be cast outside. It might look like that’s what it says at first glance, but remember, according to the Bible, we are all sinners. There are no exceptions. To “conquer” in this context means to believe in Jesus as our Savior and keep trusting him until the end.
Doc: He is our only hope, and the only way to enjoy uchi fellowship with God.
Right, time for our final 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?
Gō & Yoshiya (together): Yes!
Doc: That was a quick response! But I guess it makes sense. That’s why you guys are Christians: because you want to be in your true home, right? To put it another way, God’s house is open to anyone like you who really desires to be there.
We must believe in Jesus and repent of our sin to enter God’s house (uchi). Will you?
Doc: Iino, if you don’t mind, I’d be glad to hear what your thoughts are about this last question. No pressure, of course.
Iino: Well, actually…
The ESV Bible. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org/.