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To The Farthest Reaches Of Heaven And Earth, Mark 13:27

April 16, 2021 by Trailblazers Church

One day I was reading the Gospel of Mark when something caught my eye. Jesus said, “And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven” (Mark 13:27, NKJV).

Where exactly is the farthest part of heaven?

I usually have understood this type of language to be an idiom for “the whole world,” In that case it would make sense to say ‘the farthest part of earth,” but what has heaven to do with it? Furthermore, why would the angels be gathering Christians from heaven? Unless…

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1, nearly every translation). Further on in the creation story we see that birds fly in the heavens (Ge. 1:20, NKJV), and the sun, moon, and stars are also placed in the heavens (Gen. 1:14-15, NKJV). The farthest part of heaven would be somewhere in these heavens, as far as far can be. Could this mean that the angels will gather Christians from outer space? Could this mean that humanity will travel the stars?

From the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven. From the depths of the ocean to edge of the universe. From the depths of poverty to the heights of wealth. Across every spectrum of creation, God will have believers there, and it is our mission to spread the gospel.

As Trailblazers we have no limits. The kingdom of heaven reaches through all of existence. Where there are people, there we will be, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9, NKJV). Everything is within scope. Every activity of man is ours for the taking. We will follow our King, Jesus, to fulfill His mission:

To the farthest reaches of heaven and earth!