Multiverses are popular in film at the moment. A while back we had Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and now we have Antman and Wasp: Quantumania. According to Wikipedia, the multiverse is a collection of universes which make up everything that exists. The entirety of everything. The Bible doesn’t quite feature a multiverse, but this concept did remine me of something Paul writes about in verse 6 of Ephesians chapter 2. He says that we are seated with Jesus in heavenly places. It’s something I have thought on from time to time. Is there another version of me? Somewhere in the heavenly universe? Tom Wright, in his commentary Paul for Everyone, suggests that Paul is writing about the way we have been raised in Jesus to new life, the kindness of God has been lavished on us. And we are lifted up in Jesus, it’s the secret truth of all believers.
I spotted an interesting moment in the film Hidden Figures, which is about the brilliant women who helped put astronauts into space. After the success of putting the first American up in a rocket, the boss, Al Harrison, says to Catherine Gobel, ‘Are you ready to put a man on the moon?’
And she replies, ‘He’s already there.’ And this was about her vision. He wasn’t already there, but in her mind it was already done, and this would drive her to make it a reality. Vision. And I think that there is something about that in the description Paul uses of us seated in heavenly places. We hold onto that vision of being raised with Jesus, and this urges us on, inspires us to keep going down here on this difficult earth, holding onto the kindness and peace, forgiveness and hope of God, and sharing it in our own unique ways.
This is the long-term plan of Easter, the eternal result of the Son of Man giving everything for us, bringing heaven to earth, and infusing the glory of God into the everyday dust and mud of life.
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