Symphony on Earth

Matthew 18:19-20 Again, I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Diluting God’s word dilutes God’s power. Increasingly, I realize how even slight alterations in translations of biblical Hebrew and Greek can dramatically alter the meaning of a passage. A few days ago, as I was reading in Matthew, I came across one of these alterations in Matthew 18:19-20. How many times have we heard Christians pray this verse, assuming it is a surefire way to rub God’s mighty genie belly and get a desired outcome? I know that I certainly have been guilty of just that in the past. Often this declaration was followed by a sense of despair when two of us agreed on something, prayed about it, and promptly…didn’t see it come to pass. I began to question: God, why would you tell us that two of us could agree on something and it would come to pass, when that obviously was not always the case? It is these types of situations that render Christianity powerless — when we throw out single verses of Scripture that are just the slightest degree off from the truth. And suddenly, Satan has ammunition. Suddenly you find yourself questioning the very truth and validity of what you are reading and what you are proclaiming to others. 

But God asks us to dig deeper. To seek him. And to find the truth in His Word. So this time, as I was reading this passage in Matthew, I decided to look at the Greek words to better understand the meaning. And suddenly, I saw something new. I had always interpreted this Scripture to mean that what we ask will be done by our Father, who is located in heaven. Yet this time, upon closer examination, I saw that this could just as well mean that what we ask will be done by our Father IN heaven. Not by our Father who is in heaven, but rather it will be done IN heaven! In the presence of our Father. What a complete paradigm shift to read this passage with just one little tweak.

Now, not only did this verse itself make more sense to me, but it also flows as a natural progression from what Jesus spoke in the previous verse. In Matthew 18:18, Jesus spoke “verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. So when two or more are in agreement about something, they are literally loosing or binding it on earth INTO heaven. No wonder we won’t always see it here on earth — we are loosing and binding here, but it is manifesting in the heavenly realm!

And here’s the beautiful revelation. HIS will is to be drawn DOWN to earth from heaven (Matthew 6:10). OUR will is to be drawn UP from earth to heaven (Matthew 18:18). It’s another incredible example of how our Father desires to co-labor with His creation to have heaven and earth mirror each other. And how does this happen? Two or more agree on something. They loose and they bind on earth. Notice that the word ‘agree’ in this verse is actually the Greek word “sumphoneo”, which actually implies a sound of harmony. So when two or more of us ‘sound’ the same (i.e. our two wills harmonize), it reaches heaven’s ears and is done there, in the presence of our Father, in eternity.

So my fellow Christians, let us harmonize. Let our voices shout in agreement, not in discord! We are not living for a finite, earthly time, but rather for an eternity with our heavenly Father, and for a powerful reflection of heaven and earth.