By Steven Norris
One of the most dangerous misconceptions I have experienced as a pastor is the idea that the gospel is all about getting our souls into heaven once we die. Certainly, “eternal life” cannot be about anything less than going to heaven once we die, but it should be about so much more!
Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven (also referred to as the Kingdom of God) was the central aspect of his ministry. His parables were often centered around an announcement of the Kingdom. His healings were embodiments of the Kingdom. His exorcisms were a demonstration of the freedom that characterized life in the Kingdom.
To be a member of the Kingdom of God means that a person orients his or her life around the values and ethics espoused by Jesus (see the Sermon on the Mount). It means calling Jesus both “Savior” AND “Lord.” To call Jesus “Savior” means that we recognize our need for the forgiveness and reconciliation that were accomplished through Jesus’ death on the cross. To call him “Lord” means that we recognize a responsibility to live according to the teachings and example of Jesus each and every day.
Theologians refer to the experience of salvation as one that crosses every conceivable tense — past, present, and future. You have been saved (justification). You are being saved (sanctification). You will be saved (glorification).
One is justified by placing one’s trust in the finished work of Jesus. As the scripture says, “Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). It says that we “confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead” in order to be “saved” (Romans 10:9). Jesus need not die again. His sacrifice is the only thing necessary.
We are also in the process of being saved as the Spirit sanctifies us. This is what the scripture means when it encourages believers to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Each day, as we surrender our will to God’s will, we are experiencing salvation (eternal life) in the here and now as citizens of God’s Kingdom.
When Christ returns, we will experience salvation in its fullness. The Apostle Paul reminds the church at Philippi: “our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
Therefore, to pray “on earth as it is in heaven” means that we are choosing to respond to Jesus’ invitation to begin eternal life now. We aren’t waiting to get out of this world as much as we praying that God may transform this world through us. The goal of the gospel is not ultimately about getting you into heaven as it is about getting heaven into you. Eternal life starts today.