{"id":11661,"date":"2023-01-03T17:04:39","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T01:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?page_id=11661"},"modified":"2023-01-03T17:09:57","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T01:09:57","slug":"heavens-headlines","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?page_id=11661","title":{"rendered":"Heaven\u2019s Headlines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why does the Church satisfy Herself with earthly news, rather than Heaven\u2019s headlines?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By Pat Noble<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Paul told the church at Ephesus that those in Heaven were fascinated by certain events on Earth. \u201cThrough Christians like yourselves, gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!\u201d (Ephesians 3:9-10).

Angels are messengers, and we usually think of them as bringing messages\u00a0to<\/em>\u00a0us. Imagine with me that they are not only messengers\u00a0to<\/em>\u00a0earth but\u00a0from<\/em>\u00a0Earth, as well, bringing news back to Heaven. \u201cWait a minute,\u201d you may say, \u201cDoesn\u2019t everyone in Heaven see everything that goes on down here? And who would they report to, anyway? God knows it all!\u201d

Yet, in the book of Genesis, an angel tells Abraham he has come to see if the news about the wickedness on Earth was true (Genesis 18:20). This passage makes me wonder if the folks that \u201centertain angels unaware\u201d are not necessarily being tested (as was my previous assumption) but are being unwittingly interviewed to get the facts \u201con the ground.\u201c

Satan seems to have wiggled his way into one heavenly reporting session (Job 1:6-7). Could the question put forth to Satan, \u201cFrom where have you come?\u201d have been asked of each angel as they \u201cpresented themselves before the Lord\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years later Peter writes to encourage scattered believers to treasure the gospel and all that God has done in their lives, adding \u201ceven angels long to look into these things\u201d (1 Peter 1:10-12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Earth\u2019s \u201cnews\u201d is being reported in Heaven, by angels on assignment or some other way, let\u2019s consider what might qualify as Heaven\u2019s headlines.

What are the angels talking about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the buzz in Heaven concerning the events of Earth? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Earth\u2019s nightly news even remotely resemble what Heaven is talking about? Would coverage of the stock market, sports scores, and politics even make the \u201cback page\u201d in Heaven? If the angels are reporting, getting the story, and \u201clooking into these things,\u201d what is priority news? What\u2019s the front-page copy?

This might be a clue: God\u2019s overarching purpose is to bring glory to his name. All of the creation longs for the day when such harmony will happen. So any progress toward this end must be newsworthy. Similarly, any major setback or hindrance to its fulfillment would make the news in Heaven.

What Paul wrote so many years ago is true again today: \u201cAll over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing\u201d! (Colossians 1:6).

The event that had Heaven buzzing was the spread of the Good News\u2014that God was laying out the welcome mat to all the nations, and that they were responding to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And couldn\u2019t the same be said today? Just as worship is an echo of the strains of Heaven, I hope that we at Missions Catalyst can reflect Heaven\u2019s headlines.




<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why does the Church satisfy Herself with earthly news, rather than Heaven\u2019s headlines? By Pat Noble Paul told the church at Ephesus that those in Heaven were fascinated by certain events on Earth. \u201cThrough Christians like yourselves, gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!\u201d … Continue reading Heaven\u2019s Headlines<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11661","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11661"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11664,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11661\/revisions\/11664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}