6. Holy are You, Oh God!

It is common assumption that heaven is a place of love, joy, and peace. It is a perfect world which has no evil at all. We read in the first two chapters in the Bible that our world also was created like heaven in the beginning. There was love, joy, and peace. However, it did not remain so for long.  People hated one another, no more joy was there, and peace was history. Our world continues so.

Angels, the citizens in heaven, are not holy, for God alone is holy. They also err like us, humans, for they don’t have all knowledge as God does. This raises a question in our mind -- why/how does heaven remain heaven? If angels are beings like us, why does heaven remain a place of love, joy, and peace? Was heaven created that way? Someone found the answer to this question long time ago.

Isaiah, the prophet, had a vision of heaven once.  When Isaiah spent time in the temple in meditation, with his mind focused, he had the vision. He saw angels praising God. They praised “Holy Holy Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isa 6:3). This was an eye-opening revelation for Isaiah. He understood why heaven was heaven. The inhabitants of heaven realize that God alone is holy. They all praise God for being holy. As a result, they admit their own mistakes, and they forgive the mistakes to each other. If only the inhabitants of the earth had such a realization of God, the earth also might turn to become heaven.  

Isaiah was probably disturbed over the recent happenings in his nation. He had this vision in the year in which King Uzziah passed away of leprosy. This context explains why Isaiah confessed of having unclean lips and was living among people with unclean lips. He and the people around him must have been doing the opposite of what the angels were doing. The angels were praising God for His holiness, but he and the people around must have been blaming God. It seems that they were blaming God for the death of king Uzziah, who was a great king, during whose time Israel grew very prosperous. It was widely believed that he caught leprosy as a punishment from God for offering incense in the temple, which only the priests were supposed to do (2 Chron 26:16).

As soon as Isaiah heard the angels singing that God is holy, he was aware of his own sins. He confessed that he had unclean lips and the people around also had unclean lips. Unlike the angels who praised God for being Holy, the people of his land were cursing God. If God alone is holy, people must have to be unholy. As soon as Isaiah confessed that he was wrong for having unclean lips, speaking ill of God, an angel flew down to him with a live coal and touched his tongue with it, and asserted that his lips have been purified. Then he was sent out as a messenger of God to tell the people about the great vision he had.

Our earth was once heaven, as in the Garden of Eden, and people lived in harmony with God and nature, and at peace with one another. However, people began to blame God and justify themselves. They were unwilling to admit their mistakes and forgive others. As a result, the earth turned into a hell. We hope that it can once again become heaven as we see in the final chapters of Revelation.

Our church building represents the world-- with heaven and earth. We worship God there as the angels worship God in heaven. We join them asserting that God alone is holy. We practice heavenly life in our worship so that our world may become heaven as it used to be.    

The Syriac word Qurbana means sacrifice. We sacrifice ourselves to God along with Jesus Christ. It is a living sacrifice because unlike the sacrifices of the past, we don’t kill a living being to be sacrificed. We surrender ourselves fully and completely at the feet of our heavenly father. We do it willingly like the prodigal son. We transfer our ownership to God. We give ourselves as slaves to God willing to obey His will.

In doing this we do exactly the opposite of what Adam and Eve did. They refused to obey God, and placed the blame on God justifying themselves. However, we follow the example of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, who submitted to the will of the heavenly father unconditionally, and also bore the responsibility of all the sins of the world on his head. We refuse to join Adam, but join Christ, saying, God you are right; we are wrong.

Traditionally, one who sacrifices an animal eats its flesh and drinks its blood to become one with it. In Qurbana, we receive the flesh and blood of Christ, so that we become one with Christ.

In conclusion, heaven remains heaven because the citizens of heaven know that God alone is holy. If we, the inhabitants of earth, also realize this, earth also will become like heaven.

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