Repairing The Breach

'...And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach...,'

Photograph by Md Imranul Rahmantion.

Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. Isaiah 58:12

In 2017 I had the privilege of visiting Israel for an Exegetical Tour – a tour aimed at equipping those who study and teach the bible to explore the geographical and historical roots of the Christian faith. Those ten days enabled me to access a new prism through which to read and comprehend the majesty of the biblical narrative. I was particularly fascinated by the Jewish approach to reading the scriptures and during my stay in Jerusalem I bought a Rabbi’s commentary on the book of Genesis – Bereishit. The commentary by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin has been a rich source of inspiration and this article in part, draws on this stimulus.

As a young believer who came to faith in a Pentecostal church in the 70’s, it will be of no surprise to you that my concept of heaven was limited to that of a future destination, a promised land and one that was totally separate from the ‘present evil world’ in which I lived! I grew up in a movement that emphasised, almost to the exclusion of all else, that redemption was about my soul and its location in the after-life and it had nothing whatsoever to do with the material world, the before-life, our place or our location now. Heaven and earth were defined as separate realities and a huge chasm lay between them. Hymns echoed that dream of the new world, of the far and distant shores of glory and they were sung with pining tones. This perspective was underpinned by the strong emphasis on a theology of ‘End Times’ that declared one of the final eschatological events would be the replacement of the world God had created that has been marred by sin. The physical world wouldn’t be redeemed or renewed; it would be replaced. We all know that, for better or for worse, what we believe and what we think shapes how we behave and informs what we do. So, why tinker around the edges of this present world if a spanking brand new world is being prepared in some heavenly warehouse and is just around the corner?

So, is heaven simply a future destination – a place that we await? I suggest not!

In my mind, the impact of The Gospel - the work of Christ on the cross is primarily relational. It’s about right relatedness, for this is who God is, He’s a covenant-maker and keeper. Therefore, the reconciling and reuniting death and resurrection of Christ has ramifications for humankinds’ four primary relationships. It is these four fundamental relationships that ‘man’ must engage with to be fully human, fully like Him - imaging God. However, the dehumanising powers of sin have defiled and desecrated the likeness of God in humanity. The recreative work of the Son of God in and through the cross enables our reconciliation and reunification with God Himself, but the story doesn’t end there! This suffering servant’s victory over the powers of sin and darkness reunites and reconciles us with our true selves; the cross of Christ having a psychological impact and His sacrifice a sociological impact. Our relationships one with another, previously marred by sin’s power, take on the original intended form as we learn to live in the call of neighbourliness and the common good. There’s more – it has ecological impact – our relationship to the material world is redefined when Christ deals with the powers of sin and is resurrected, He inhabits a new material body as the one of the outcomes. The disconnected are reconnected, the dislocated are relocated. Christ the God-Man stands as the repairer of breach between heaven and earth, between the transcendent and the material. As Tom Wright articulates so well, ‘resurrection declares the inauguration of, not just a new Kingdom but a new creation’.

Repairers of the Breach

6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters that were below the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse “heaven.” And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. (Genesis 1:6-8)

On the second day of creation God created the firmament, effectively separating the realms of heaven and earth. Ancient Rabbinic exploration of the text notices the omission of the phrase “and God saw that it was good”. Shmuel, in his commentary on the book of Genesis suggests that one of the conclusions that is drawn by the Rabbis, he writes; is; ‘the separation of heaven and earth was effectively not good and simply could not be labelled as such, God wanted the heavens and the earth to be connected. He desires that the spiritual and the physical worlds interact with each other’. (Goldin, 2007)

He asks the question; ‘Why does God separate these two realms?’ and concludes; ‘To challenge man to unite them through his efforts.’

Rabbinic thought advocates that man is the only creature forged min haélyonim u’min hatachtonim “from both the upper and lower spheres”. Humankind is unique among creation in that it is in the making of man that these two spheres converge. Man’s form emerges from the hands of God as He fashions His image from the handfuls of dust he’s scooped from the ground, and yet the unique and defining element of what it means to be fully human is still missing, so, in an act of remarkable intimacy he stoops over the work of his creative genius and he breathes heaven into earth, the immortal into the mortal. His kiss arouses the fulness of Adam’s humanity and so Genesis chapter two declares ‘..and man became a living being’ Genesis 2:7...' In this act, both Adam and Eve become image bearers of The Sacred One who gave birth to them and therefore they are archetypes, carrying in their created design the fullness of humanity. When He beholds these fully formed people, the pinnacle of his creative genius, He authenticates His work with a declaration that is distinctive from that of the rest of his work, His attestation that the creation of humanity is‘very good’.

Perhaps surprisingly, they do not go on to enjoy some form of God given eternal Edenic holiday swanning through the beauties of the created world. NO! In fact, quite the opposite. Being fully human, (in that they are image bearers of Yahweh), they are invited to share in his creative work, that of ruling, subduing, cultivating, and keeping. But what is there to rule and subdue if heaven and earth are completely united? The narrative suggests that, though all that God made was good, it was to a great degree undeveloped. God left creation with deep untapped potential for cultivation that the people He created were to unlock through their labour. Adam and Eve were invited to carry on the work that He had begun – bringing order where there is chaos, light where there is darkness. As Yahweh reorders the created world, so they too will do likewise. To be fully human, although they are the image bearers of Yahweh, they have to continue the work He began.

We know the history of humanity’s downfall also unfolds in the early pages of the Genesis narrative. Dark deceptive and delusive powers invoke Adam and Eve to turn inwards, towards themselves, and in doing so away from Yahweh. Sin’s dehumanising power pulls them into its grip creating multiple relational fractures in the forms of dislocation and disconnection. The work to repair the breach between heaven and earth is sacrificed on the altar Self. Independence, autonomy, freedom, and status become iconic in a cult devoted to the deification of Self. Human endeavour and progress replace the divine partnership between God and man, and it takes root in creation.

However, the primary mission of all humanity remains unchanged. The breach between heaven and earth still requires repairing and to do this requires a unique partnership between God and man. Nothing has changed, the connection between heaven and earth still requires amelioration. In some ways I am oversimplifying the rest of the Old Testament by saying that it points forward to a day when God and man will come together again in a unique way. We know that God and man become one in Christ, He is the God-Man.   

Ultimately, repairing the breach between the ‘upper and lower spheres’ (as the Rabbinic tradition calls them) becomes the mandate of the God-Man. In His incarnation, the work halted by the first Adam’s failure is recovered by the second Adam – Christ. Where Adam’s and Eve’s work to reunite heaven and earth collapsed back into darkness and chaos, Emmanuel, God with us, rescues humanity’s original mission. As this same God-Man comes out of the wilderness having triumphed over the temptations the first Adam succumbed too, Matthew says He comes with the original Edenic vision, an enduring commission; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He has come to be the ultimate repairer of the breach between heaven and earth. The narrative of His life, death and resurrection are punctuated with this reality – heaven and earth are being reunited by the God-Man.

Now, you and I, WE His followers find true purpose and true pleasure in being engaged like him and like our forebears Adam and Eve, as repairers of the breach between heaven and earth. This reunification of heaven and earth initiated by the God-Man will one day come to its completion as the ‘One seated on the throne’ finally ‘makes all things new’ (Revelation 21:5). The chapter continues as John in his revelation of an ultimate future moment, sees a Holy City coming…. down from heaven. (Revelation 21:11) The trajectory the God-Man initiated at Calvary leads to the total and absolute repair of the breach between heaven and earth, they finally become one.

Thy Kingdom Come on earth as it is in Heaven!