On Earth as it is in Heaven

Scripture Verse that caught my attention today: Revelation: 12:12 Rejoice then, you heavens
and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!”

Observation: Interesting contrast between the joy in heaven and the pain on earth

Application:
I'm testing out an online version of my daily devotions at www.lifejournal.me. So this is my first entry along these lines. Probably won't be my normal mode of operation since doing them in a Word document like I normally do gives me full access and control over anything I've written. Plus I like the concordance feature in my own Bible software. And then cutting and pasting what I wish to share into a blog offers pretty similar options to what lifejournal.me offers. Still...here's my entry:

The writer of Revelation commends the heavens in regard to their situation and pronounces woe on the inhabitants of the earth. For some reason what first comes to mind when I read this verse is the line in the Lord's prayer about God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, we pray that what is on earth will one day be like it already is in heaven.

However, elsewhere in Scripture things seem to be somewhat the other way around. Jesus says, twice in Matthew, that whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

We are also told numerous times that the kingdom of heaven has come near and that both heaven and earth will pass away. Scripture tells us that bread can come down from heaven, but also fire and sulfur. Heaven can open and close and there are voices that come from heaven too. And that's just a sampling of the Biblical understandings of heaven. I didn't want to take the time to look up all 601 verses in Scripture where, according to my concordance, "heaven" appears.

So if there is joy in heaven, and I believe that there is, there is also probably heartache too. Such heartache may not last forever, but it's still real, just as real as this life on earth.

Prayer: Lord, help me to appreciate all of your splendor, whether on earth or heaven. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Scripture readings today included: 2 Kings 25, 2 Chronicles 36, Jeremiah 40-41, and Revelation 12)