Kruse Kronicle

When is the Kingdom of God Coming? Then? Now? Neither? Both?

Mark D. Roberts: When is the Kingdom of God Coming? Then? Now? Neither? Both?

... In two recent posts, I cited examples of Jesus’ speaking of the kingdom of God as either future or present. In a few instances, however, he indicated that the kingdom has both present and future dimensions. Take this parable for example:

“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (Mark 4:30-32)

Jesus invites us to look at the mustard seed from two perspectives. In the present – and it is really present – it is small and insignificant. In the future, however, the mustard seed will be great and notable. Similarly, God’s reign has truly come on earth in the ministry of Jesus. When blind eyes are opened, when deaf ears hear, when demons are cast out, when the hungry are fed, when sinners are forgiven, the kingdom of God is truly present on earth. Yet it’s relatively small, and won’t reach its full, glorious extent until later.

Many New Testament scholars today realize that Jesus proclaimed the kingdom as both present and future. You can find a refreshingly concise statement of this perspective in the now classic little book by G. E. Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom. Scholars who hold together both dimensions of the reign of God sometimes speak of it as “already and not yet.” The kingdom is already present in the ministry of Jesus and it is not yet fully present. If you read through the Gospels with this thought in mind, much begins to make sense. The sayings of Jesus and his actions demonstrate both the real presence and the future glory of the kingdom of God. ...

When is the Kingdom of God Coming? In the Future?

Mark D. Roberts: When is the Kingdom of God Coming? In the Future?

In my previous posts in this series (May 16, May 19), I considered the question: Where is the kingdom of God? I showed that in the teaching of Jesus, the kingdom of God is not just in heaven or in our hearts, though it touches both heaven and hearts. Rather, the kingdom of God is not so much a place as it is the reality of God’s sovereignty and power. The kingdom of God ultimately embraces all of creation, including both heaven and earth, including hearts and minds and even bodies (in a new form).

Perhaps even more intriguing than the question “Where is the kingdom of God?” is the question “When is the kingdom of God coming?” This is especially relevant these days, given the recent hubbub over the prediction by Harold Camping that the Day of Judgment would come two days ago on May 21, thus beginning the final restoration of God’s kingdom over all creation. The fact that you’re reading this piece today indicates that Mr. Camping wasn’t quite right in his prediction. But, still, you might wonder when the kingdom of God is coming?

Jesus proclaimed that the reign of God was coming to earth, but when? Did Jesus preach the coming of the kingdom as a future reality, as many Christian affirm? Or did he believe that the kingdom of God was truly present in his earthly ministry, as many other Christians affirm? In this post I want to lay out some of the basic evidence from the Gospels, focusing on the future kingdom. Then, in my next post, I’ll examine passages that suggest the kingdom of God is present. Finally, I’ll try to make sense of what Jesus teaches about the timing of the coming of the kingdom. ...

Where is the Kingdom of God? Is It Heaven?

Mark D. Roberts: Where is the Kingdom of God? Is It Heaven?

... Part of our confusion comes from the fact that the Gospel of Matthew records Jesus as speaking about “the kingdom of heaven” rather than “the kingdom of God.” Where Mark 1:15 reads “the kingdom of God has come near,” Matthew 3:2 has “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (literally in Greek, “the reign of the heavens,” he basileia ton ouranon, mirroring the Aramaic spoken by Jesus, malkuta’ dishmaha’). Matthew’s phraseology doesn’t mean that the kingdom is literally up in the heavens. Rather, he is using a common circumlocution for God, much as my grandmother did when she said “Good heavens” rather than “Good God.” So, the kingdom of heaven is not the kingdom that exists in heaven, but the reign of God over both heaven and earth. ...

... Sometimes when I have taught people that the kingdom of God is not equal to heaven, they have responded negatively because they assume I’m saying things I am not in fact saying. Some fear I’m denying the reality of life after death. So, let me be clear in saying that I believe there is indeed life beyond this life and that we enter this realm through faith in Jesus Christ. Moreover, our life beyond this life will include a much more immediate and pervasive experience of God’s reign.

Others fear that talking about the kingdom of God as an earthly reality necessarily leads to a liberal political agenda. This fear is stoked by the fact that many Christians who are politically and socially left of center have often used kingdom language for their political and social agendas. I believe that there is no necessary or sacred connection between the kingdom of God and any political agenda, left, right, or center. All human visions, platforms, and programs must be laid at the feet of the King of kings, who calls his followers to a surprising and utterly counter-cultural way of making a difference in the world. Perhaps I’ll have more to say about this later. ...

Is Hell Dead?

TIme magazine has a feature article on Rob Bell and his book "Love Wins."  (Or, as I like to refer to it, "HarperOne Wins.") I have stayed out of this event at my blog. It is not a topic to which I've devoted extensive study but I do have my own perspective. I haven't read the book and probably won't any time soon. From what I hear of the book, I suspect I'm probably in sympathy with Bell against narrow exlcusivism but I have the sense from people I respect that his take on hell, and his analysis of Greek and certain Scriptures, is not done well.

If you want a truly informed and civil discussion about the book, then I strongly recommend Scot McKnight's Jesus Creed blog. McKnight is a New Testament theologian at North Park University and is going chapter by chapter through the book. He just finished chapter seven. Here are links for the series so far:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Mouw on Rob Bell

Mouw's Musings: The Orthodoxy of Rob Bell

I told the USA TODAY reporter that Rob Bell’s newly released Love Wins is a fine book and that I basically agree with his theology. I knew that the book was being widely criticized for having crossed the theological bridge from evangelical orthodoxy into universalism. Not true, I told the reporter. Rob Bell is calling us away from a stingy orthodoxy to a generous orthodoxy. ...

I haven't read Bell's book and probably won't get to it any time soon. I like Mouw's take in this post. I agree with his take on the subject of universalism.

The Future of the People of God

Tall Skinny Kiwi: The Future of the People of God

Andrew Perriman, who was at the Christian Associates gathering last week in Germany,  gave me his new book "The Future of the People of God: Reading Romans Before and After Western Christendom." Thanks Andrew!! I had an enjoyable Sunday reading through the book.

Perriman's book is great contribution to the current conversation on Romans, in light of the New Perspectives on Paul and the Reformed theologians attempt to defend their territory. At the heart of his book is the argument that Paul writes the letter to the Romans to prepare them for the suffering that is coming upon them, something that is located historically and temporally in the oikoumene of the Grecian-Roman empire, something related directly to the persecution under Roman leaders and the disastrous war of AD 66-73, and Paul writes without the privilege of foresight into a future where Christianity becomes the dominant religion. This special focus on suffering and "living by faith(fulness)" in order to allow the people of God to stay intact through the suffering gives a strong eschatological and martylogical reading to Romans, one more localised than N.T. Wright, distinct from other New Perspective writers, and certainly a long way from Reformed authors, and yet the focus is still on the glory of God and his righteousness in keeping his promise to Abraham to establish and preserve a community that would bless the nations.

One issue that will make good conversation among the Anabaptist crowd is Perriman's argument that the vindication of God's righteousness, the remnant that is saved from the Day of the Lord and established because of its faith(fulness), the community of the Son of Man that inherits the nations as prophesied by Daniel, is shown to be Christendom as instituted by Constantine. Yep, Constantine. ...

Erwin McManus on Hell

C. Wright's End of the World (Part 4)

Today we come to the final post on the “end of the world” section of Christopher Wright’s The God I Don’t Understand. We looked at the themes of the new creation in terms of the garden city, the glory of civilizations, the healing of nations, and the harmony of creation. Today we will look at three more themes under the rubric of “Redeemed Humanity.”

Resurrection Bodies

“I believe in the resurrection of the body”, says the Apostles’ Creed. It does not say, “I believe in the immortality of the soul”, though a great deal of folk Christianity seems to imagine that it does. If the earliest Christians had gone around saying they believed in the immortality of the soul, almost nobody would have taken any notice, for that was and is one of the commonest beliefs in human cultures. What they actually proclaimed was the resurrection of the body – and that was something surprising and countercultural, and for many even in their day, laughably unbelievable. It was, however, the unambiguous implication of the historically witnessed fact of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.” (207)

Wright goes on to observe that, “When God raised Jesus from the dead, he was also saying Yes to creation, affirming the goodness of physical bodily life that he himself had created.” (207) Jesus’ resurrection was vindication of all he had taught. He became the “firstfruits” of the new creation. Jesus had a physical body. He could eat food and his disciples could touch him. Yet Jesus could also walk through … and I mean through … doors. When we are resurrected we will be like him. (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2)

Now this raises all sorts of interesting questions. Will we look like we did at the end our lives? What about infants who never matured? What about those of us with deformities? It appears that our new appearance will be in some way so continuous with our present selves that we will be recognizable. But there will be radical discontinuities which I doubt we can imagine … our bodies will no longer be subject to death and decay. We simply have no answers, just the promise of resurrected bodies in a world that is both continuous and radically discontinuous with what we knew before.

Presence of God

Wright writes, “We will also be living with intimate, unthreatening, and unthreatened presence of God.” (211) See Revelation 21:3. This idea of God dwelling with humanity is central the Old Testament vision of the new creation as well. There will be no need of a temple or a Holy Place because the whole creation will become God’s dwelling place. Precisely what this means is a mystery but we are assured that relationship as it was meant to be will be redeemed.

The Blessing of Work

The popular folk imagery of eternity is our transformation into angelic beings living among the clouds, strumming harps in endless repose. The Bible does speak of the new creation in terms of “rest” but rest does not mean cessation of all activity:

… The original creation Sabbath was the beginning of human history, in which we were to enjoy creation along with our Creator through exercising our mandate of rule and care within it. When God gave the Israelites “rest” in the land, it meant freedom from their enemies, so that they could get on with the job of farming the land. “Rest” meant the enjoyment of working in peace and seeing the fulfillment of one’s labours. (212)

Revelation 21 and 22 hints at this idea, but Isaiah 65:21-23 gives a more explicit picture of building houses, planting vineyards, and enjoying the fruits of our labor in peace.

I really appreciated this last emphasis on the nature of work. The ancient Near East creation narratives tended to cast human beings as slaves of the gods who do the work the gods disdained. By contrast, the Biblical narrative views human beings as co-regents and co-creators with God, bringing an already good creation to its fulfillment. The idea of “humans at work” is central to the Old Testament law and it is at the heart to the jubilee where each family is guaranteed access to their own land and labor as they provide for themselves and others. The redemption of human labor is explicitly and implicitly part of the new creation passages of the Old and New Testaments.

What we would today call economic activity … transforming matter, energy, and data from less useful states to more useful  states … is integral to the creation stewardship commission in Genesis 1 and it is present all the way through to the new creation vision of Revelation. Our labor and economic activity is not merely instrumental (i.e., a means to put food on the table so we can do “real” ministry or the workplace as merely a staging ground for evangelism). Nor is it intrinsically evil … worthy of our deepest suspicion and a primarily restrictive posture. (While there is much talk these days about “creation stewardship” and “earth-keeping,” a great deal of it casts human interaction with nature almost purely as forest rangers or radical preservationists with a deep antagonism toward economic activity.) Human labor and economic activity is an expression of our image bearing quality that is being redeemed.

Well, there you have it. This wraps up my review of the last three chapters about the end of the world in Christopher Wright’s book. As I noted at the beginning, it is one the most lucid and helpful summaries I have read. What do you think now that you have read in these four posts?

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C. Wright's End of the World (Part 3)

We now come to the final chapter in Christopher Wright’s The God I Don’t Understand called The New Beginning. We saw in an earlier post that Wright subscribes to N. T. Wrights characterization of “life after life after death.” Heaven is a “transit lounge” on the way to the new creation. So what can we say about the new creation?

New Creation

Wright is emphatic that we are not leaving the created order for some spiritual order. The “… new reality is not a fundamentally different reality. (195) It is still “heaven and earth,” not “heaven instead of earth.” Drawing on Revelation 21-22, Wright lists the following things that will not occur in the new creation:

• There will be no more sea (21:1). The sea represented chaotic, restless evil in Old Testament symbolism, the place from which the rampaging beasts in Daniel’s visions had come to trample the nations. All such unruly rebellious hostility will have gone.
• There will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain (21:4). All suffering and separation will be ended for there will be nothing any longer to cause them.
• There will be no more sin, for there will be no more sinners (21:7-8); the new creation involves exclusion as well as inclusion – exclusion of the unrepentantly and persistently wicked.
• There will be no more darkness and night (21:25; 22:5), in the sense of all that they represented. The light of God’s presence will dispel the darkest evils.
• There will be no more impurity, shame, or deceit (21:27) – things that are among the original marks of our falleness.
• There will be no more international strife (22:2), for all the nations will find healing through the tree of life and the river of life.
• There will be no more curse (22:3). With the reproach of Eden lifted at last, earth will be freed from its subjection and its redeemed inhabitants freed from bondage to its curse. (196)

But Wright asks, “what will there be?”

The Garden City

As I’ve noted repeatedly at this blog, the Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city. This is significant.  But as Wright notes, the New Jerusalem incorporates the garden into the city.

• The garden included gold and precious stones (Gen. 2:12). The city likewise shines with precious stones and is paved with gold (Rev. 21:11, 19-21)
• The garden was watered by four rivers. The city likewise contains the river of the water of life flowing from God’s throne right down the main street. (Rev. 22:1-2, a picture that John owes to Ezek. 47:1-12)
• Most important, the garden had the tree of life at the centre, but human beings had been barred from access to the source of eternal life in their condition of sin and rebellion (Gen. 3:22-24). The tree of life spans the river of life in the city of God (Rev. 22:2), and those once barred from it will have eternal access to it (22:14) – a vivid picture of the wonderful promise that there will be no death at all in the new creation. (196-197)

Cities have a mixed reputation in the Bible. While the garden was planted by God, cities are the apex of human achievement, incorporating human undertakings like commerce, government, religion, art and community. Yet the first city mentioned in the Bible is Cain’s city of Enoch, built as an expression of defiance to God. Wright says that cities and sin were “… so interpenetrating as to be almost synonymous.” Still, God chooses an existing Cannanite city, establishes his temple there, and transforms it into “the city of God,” Jerusalem.  God incorporates that which is uniquely human into his new creation.

The Glory of Civilizations

 Wright decries platonic conceptualizations where the material world (evil) is destroyed and the spiritual world (good) is preserved. He also rejects the idea of “… a great fiery obliteration that will leave nothing of the present world in existence.” (199) This notion comes primarily from 2 Peter 3:10 where, in the King James Version, it says the earth “will be burnt up.” Earlier manuscripts discovered since that time show that something more along the lines of “will be laid bare” or “exposed” is a more accurate translation. Leading up to this verse, Peter refers to the flood in which the world was not destroyed but all that was evil was washed away. In 1 Peter 1:7, the idea of judgment as a refining fire is given. So the idea is one of radical purification, not obliteration.

Then Wright quotes Revelation 21:24-27:

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it.

So what is “the glory and honor of the nations?” Wright says:

What brings honour to nations is the accumulation of cultural achievement over many generations. Art, literature, music, architecture, styles of food and dress, the richness of language and culture – and so much else – these are the things that national distinctive are built on, which at their best enrich our humanity and at their most trivial support the tourist industry. (201)

To this list I would also add things like governance and modes of commerce that may or may not translate directly into the new creation but I expect they will be redeemed brought into the new creation.

The Healing of the Nations

The leaves of the tree of life will bring healing to the nations. Peace and justice will reign.

The Harmony of Creation

Something about nature will fundamentally change. The predator and prey relationship will end and there will be a renewed animal kingdom. (I confess that I’m not as confident as Wright about the nature of this renewed animal kingdom. I’m still exploring that one.)

That will do it for this post. In the closing post, we will look at redeemed humanity and the presence of God.

What do you think of Christopher Wright’s claims here so far?

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C. Wright's End of the World (Part 2)

Today we turn our attention to “The Great Climax” (Chapter 10 in the last section of Christopher Wright’s The God I Don’t Understand. Again, I’m just going to skim through the themes.

The Day of the Lord

At first it was understood as the day when God would defeat Israel’s enemies and end oppression. However, some prophets said it would be a day of darkness and judgment. (Amos 5:19-20, Zephaniah 1:14-18 … but also Zephaniah 3:9-17 where it is a day of joy) Paul turns it into “the day of Christ” (e.g., Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16, 1 Cor. 1:8) with the following three elements involved: return of Christ, resurrection of the dead, and final judgment.

The Return of Christ

Wright says we tend to separate the first and second comings of Christ in our minds but scripture holds them more tightly together (See Titus 2:11-13; Hebrews 9:26-28; 1 John 3:2, 5) The Return of Christ will have the following three elements.

• Personal – Jesus will return in actuality, not in some metaphorical or spiritual sense.
• Visible – It will be a visible return and a return that is visible to all at the same time.
• Glorious – He will come as the glorious king to claim his throne.

Wright asks what this means for us? Reflecting on Isaiah 52:7-10, he notes that God encouraged the Israelites in exile by reminding them that God was the reigning (v. 7), returning (v. 8), and redeeming (v. 9) King. The same good news applies today.

Resurrection of the Dead

Many ancient cultures had a belief in an afterlife in some other form in some other place, but the idea of a bodily resurrection on a renewed earth was unique to the Jews. Quoting N. T. Wright, C. Wright calls it “life after life after death.” Whatever our existence after death, it is a temporary state until we are resurrected again.

Everyone will be resurrected. How will this be done? How will bodies that have become dust or been incinerated be resurrected? We haven’t the slightest clue. But resurrection is the promise. What kind of body will we have? Paul says we will be “like the risen body of Jesus.” (Phil. 3:21) (See also 1 Cor.  15:35-49) Exactly what this means is unknown. Wright will have more to say on this in the final chapter.

The Day of Judgment

All that the Bible has said previously about the day of the Lord or the day of Christ is summed up in that great image in Revelation 20, quoted above: the great white judgment throne of God. The God who sits in judgment is the Lord of history and of humanity; that is, the Lord of life, the universe, and everything.

The first thing we need to say about the day of judgment may seem surprising: It is good news! It is actually part of the gospel. … (see Rom. 2:16) … The day of judgment is something we should be glad about, even as we tremble at the prospect of it. Why is that? (184)

God Will Put Things Right in the End – God’s will be vindicated. We are not promised justice in this life. Many who do evil seem to escape justice while others are horribly victimized. Good often goes unrewarded. At judgment, all that has been done will be made known. “It is not just an act of punishment but an act of rectifying of all wrongs, putting right all relationships, and restoring peace and harmony.” (186) It is good news.

Jesus is the Judge – “The one who will judge all people will be the one who died for all.” (187) That’s good news.

It Will be Completely Just – All facts will be known. No human errors or deceptions will be involved.

It Will Be according to the Light We Have Received – “We will be judged by what we did or did not do, in response to what we did know.” (189) God is a God of justice but he is also a God of mercy. He knows our limitations, frailties, and ignorance. Remember Jesus’ prayer, even at the end, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.”

It Will Be according to the Lives We Have Lived – Wright writes:

“But,” you may protest, “I thought we are justified by faith, not by works!?” Yes, of course. We are justified by faith. But we will be judged by our works.” (190)

But as I said, the day of judgment is a day for God’s verdict based on evidence, not a day for hearing faith claims. So what will be the evidence of my faith? Not just that I say I had faith, but that my life has shown it. It is our lives that prove the reality of our faith (or not, as the case may be). I will be judged by the evidence (my works), and they will show publicly and beyond doubt whether or not my life has been built on trust in Christ (my faith). (190)

Jesus spoke of some type of eternal punishment and Paul writes:

 “[God] will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes. (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10) (191)

Hell is not explicitly stated by name but Paul articulates it as punishment, destruction, and separation from God. God seems to have deemed it unnecessary for us to understand the precise nature of hell but the idea that there is a penalty for failure to repent seems certain. Still, the weight of the scripture is stacked toward the good news of judgment, not fear of hell.

So once the judgment occurs, what comes next? We will look at “The New Beginning” in the next post.

What do you think about Wright’s views on “The Great Climax?”

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C. Wright's End of the World

Over the last couple of years I’ve been trying to coherently articulate my thoughts for some writing I want to do about the Kingdom of God and the New Creation at Christ’s consummation. Not being a professional theologian, and knowing what a vast minefield of issues are involved, I’ve approached this topic with considerable caution. (I’ve been told not to worry. Getting your eschatology wrong isn’t the end of the world.)

I recently read Christopher Wright’s The God I Don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith. The question” What about the end of the world?” is the theme for the last three chapters of his book. What I found encouraging was that I have come to his conclusions on almost every critical point. That doesn’t make me right, or him right (though he is Wright), but it at least gives me hope that I haven’t wondered of the eschatological reservation.  Over the next several days I plan to devote four or five posts to his observations. I’ll say a little about Chapter 9 (Cranks and Controversies) and Chapter 10 (The Great Climax) and then spend more time with Chapter 11 (The New Beginning).

Chapter 9 (Cranks and Controversies) Eschatology addresses the seven last things:

• Death
• The intermediate state
• The return of Christ
• The resurrection of the dead
• The day of judgment
• Heaven
• Hell

Here are some important observations Wright makes:

“The Last Days” – In the New Testament, this phrase refers to the period from Christ’s first coming to his second.  As Scot McKnight convincingly points out in A New Vision for Israel: The Teachings of Jesus in National Context, Jesus’ message was more closely tied Second Temple Judaism ideas of a restored and vindicated Israel then we typically perceive. Jesus presented himself as a messiah who would be vindicated within the lifetime of his contemporaries. That vindication came with the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., but the final judgment was not rendered at that time. This doesn’t make Jesus or his followers mistaken. The pattern in the Old Testament was for prophets to be given veiled knowledge of the next big event, not a chronology of God’s future plans. While the continuation of the church after 70 C. E. was unexpected (as was the circumstances of Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ death, Jesus’ bodily resurrection, etc.) it wasn’t contradictory. All that is to say that we’ve been in the last days for 2,000 years.

Millennium – While minimizing the importance of the concept of millennium, which is mentioned only in Revelation 20, Wright says he believes that the millennium is the period between Christ first and second coming (i. e., amillennial). It is the last days. Ditto for me.

Rapture – Sorry. The word isn’t in the Bible. The idea of souls snatched up into heaven out of the body, leaving the sinners behind isn’t there either. It is based on a serious misreading of one passage, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. The image here is of Christ coming from heaven to the clouds above the earth, where the dead, and then the living go up to meet him. The imagery is of a ruler visiting a town where the inhabitants go out to meet him and usher him into the town in glory. The imagery here is the dead and living ushering the ruler into their town on earth and acknowledging him as Lord. Remember that in Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth.

Left Behind – A second passage that feeds into the rapture discussion is Matthew 24:40-41; the “left behind” passage. We want to be among those left behind! The analogy follows Jesus’ mention of Noah’s flood where those who were evil were swept away while the righteous were left behind. So too of the pairs Jesus mentions in this teaching. I’ll also add that I expect that what Jesus was speaking in reference to was the coming calamity of 70 C. E., not some distant event.

Land of Israel – The land of Israel is of no significance in the Christ’s return.

“The New Testament gives no special theological place to the land of Palestine, simply as territory. The land as a holy place has ceased to have relevance for Christians.” (168)

One of the essential New Testament metaphors is that the physical temple is no more and the church is a living temple with each of us as living stones. Israel, as a place, has lost significance. There are no more sacred buildings or sacred lands.

I’m sure I’ve included enough here to provoke some resistance. I think Wright nails it on each of these topics. How about you?

Next, Chapter 10, The Great Climax.

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Keeping the End in View

Christianity Today: Keeping the End in View

How the strange yet familiar doctrine of theosis can invigorate the Christian life.

...As evangelicals, we know how to answer the question, "Are you saved?": If we have believed in Jesus Christ, we are saved—right there, right then.

Sometimes, though, the way we talk about salvation makes it sound like little more than a get-out-of-hell-free card. With our emphasis on what sinners like ourselves are saved from, do we know what we are saved for? Is salvation solely about us and our need to be forgiven and born again, or is there a deeper, God-ward purpose?

The leaders of the ancient church thought so, speaking regularly of salvation in a way that may sound strange to many evangelicals, but which Wesley alluded to in some of his hymns. In particular, they envisioned salvation as theosis, an ongoing process by which God's people become increasingly "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4), formed more and more in God's likeness. As the 2nd-century theologian Irenaeus urged in Against Heresies, "Through his transcendent love, our Lord Jesus Christ became what we are, that he might make us to be what he is." The great 4th-century defender of Jesus' divinity, Athanasius, put it even more forcefully: "[God] became man, that man might become god."

Though unfamiliar to most of us, this way of thinking strongly influenced John Wesley's own view of sanctification and was embraced by C. S. Lewis, who in Mere Christianity wrote, "God said that we were 'gods' and he is going to make good his words." This continues to be the basic understanding of salvation within Eastern Christianity. Also called "divinization" or "deification," it plays off of Jesus' words in John 10:34 ("Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'?" as quoted by Lewis above) and several other key biblical passages. ...

Why the fascination with the end of the world?

BBC: Why the fascination with the end of the world?

...Whether you refer to it as eschatology (religious theory of the end of the world), millenarianism, end time belief, apocalypticism, or disaster scenario, it is one of humanity's most powerful ideas, and it goes way back.

"It is a very ancient pattern in human thought. It is rooted in ancient, even pre-biblical Middle Eastern myths of ultimate chaos and ultimate struggle between the forces of order and chaos," says cultural historian Paul S Boyer, author of When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture.

"It is deeply appealing at a psychological level because the idea of meaninglessness is deeply threatening. Human societies have always tried to create some kind of framework of meaning to give history and our own personal lives some kind of significance."

And although end of the world thinking crops up in many religions, those in the West are probably most aware of Christian eschatology. ...

...And for all it is easy to mock those who have tried and failed, thinking about the ways the world might end, or the timing, may be fulfilling a basic human need.

"It comes down to an issue of power," says Michael Molcher, editor of the magazine The End is Nigh. "What you get during times of particular discontent or war or famine or during general bad times is a rise in apocalyptic preaching and ideas.

"It is a way for people to control the way their world works. The one thing we can never predict is the time and manner of our own deaths."

The great periods of millenarianism - Europe around the year 1000, the English Civil War, the Industrial Revolution on both sides of the Atlantic, and the 20th Century - have been periods of intense turbulence. Putting an eschatological spin on current events is extremely tempting. ...

 

Belief in hell dips, but some say they've already been there

Pew Forum: Belief in hell dips, but some say they've already been there

...For Long, hell is all too real -- a temporary torment in this life, an endless agony in the next. But for more and more Americans, hell is a myth.

In a survey released this summer by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, just 59 percent of 35,000 respondents said they believe in a hell "where people who have led bad lives, and die without being sorry, are eternally punished."

That's down from the 71 percent who said they believed in hell in a 2001 Gallup survey. And it is lower than the 74 percent who said they believe in heaven in the recent Pew poll.

Skepticism about hell is growing even in evangelical churches and seminaries, says one theologian here, a bastion of conservative evangelicalism. ...

Scot McKnight on Heaven

Jesus Creed: Heaven 1

There are two good reasons to do a focused Bible study on heaven. First, because the history of how Christians have understood heaven has been written by several and this history reveals that Christians have both invented plenty and have failed to interact adequately with the Bible. For, this I recommend McDannell and Lang, Heaven: A History. The second reason is because Tom Wright, in Surprised by Hope, has suggested that heaven is not a place we go to eternally after we die. Instead, at the resurrection we will enter into the new heavens and the new earth. So, here goes …

Heaven Is Not Our Home

Christianity Today: Heaven Is Not Our Home by N. T. Wright

The bodily resurrection is the good news of the gospel—and thus our social and political mandate.

There is no agreement in the church today about what happens to people when they die. Yet the New Testament is crystal clear on the matter: In a classic passage, Paul speaks of "the redemption of our bodies" (Rom. 8:23). There is no room for doubt as to what he means: God's people are promised a new type of bodily existence, the fulfillment and redemption of our present bodily life. The rest of the early Christian writings, where they address the subject, are completely in tune with this.

The traditional picture of people going to either heaven or hell as a one-stage, postmortem journey represents a serious distortion and diminution of the Christian hope. Bodily resurrection is not just one odd bit of that hope. It is the element that gives shape and meaning to the rest of the story of God's ultimate purposes. If we squeeze it to the margins, as many have done by implication, or indeed, if we leave it out altogether, as some have done quite explicitly, we don't just lose an extra feature, like buying a car that happens not to have electrically operated mirrors. We lose the central engine, which drives it and gives every other component its reason for working.

When we talk with biblical precision about the resurrection, we discover an excellent foundation for lively and creative Christian work in the present world—not, as some suppose, for an escapist or quietist piety. ...

...Resurrection itself then appears as what the word always meant in the ancient world. It wasn't a way of talking about life after death. It was a way of talking about a new bodily life after whatever state of existence one might enter immediately upon death. It was, in other words, life after life after death. ...

Theology and Economics: The New (Jeru)shalom

When Jesus arrived on the scene, the Jews were looking for a messiah to gather all the Jews to Israel, overthrow the oppressors, and restore shalom. Exactly how this would happen and when was a much-contested issue. Still, these three elements were prominent within most Jewish eschatology.

The gospel of Luke takes the story of Jesus' visit to Nazareth out of sequence and moves it to the beginning of the discussion of Jesus' ministry. Why? Presumably, it is such a perfect job description of Jesus' ministry. Luke 4:16-22:

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, 
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 

This passage is notable for two connections it makes with Old Testament eschatology. First, the idea of "the year of the Lord's favor" is a euphemism for the Jubilee described in Leviticus 25. The Jubilee was an event that was to happen every fifty years. Each person returned to their ancestral land, and all terms of indentured servitude expired. It was part of the covenant provisions instituted by God. It symbolized a time of peace and restoration. Second, the Luke passage directly references Isaiah 61:1-2 (which in turn references Leviticus 25.) It is from the heart of the restoration chapters in Isaiah 59-66, where the themes of gathering the people, overthrowing the enemies, restoration, and judgment are the focus. Jesus said, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus was claiming he was the Messiah and that the eschaton had arrived!

Additionally, when Jesus sent out the disciples two-by-two, scripture says,

12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mark 6:12-13, NRSV)

Calling for repentance, exorcism, and healing of the sick were activities identified with the Messiah, and Jesus sent out the disciples to do precisely these messianic duties. The same is true of the seventy-two disciples he sent out in Luke 10:1-20. Many other passages point directly and indirectly to Jesus' messianic role but cataloging them here is beyond the scope of this series.

While Jesus was indeed the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, he was not what the Jews were expecting. The Jews had understood that the Messiah would restore Israel. By analogy, Israel was looking through a zoom lens that focused only on the people of Israel. God, through Christ, "zoomed out" to show that the Messiah was not just for Israel but for all humanity. Israel was still in the picture, but now the picture was broader.

Evidence of God's larger concern was evident in the Old Testament. The priest-king Melchizedek and the Assyrians who Jonah prophesied to were outside the covenant with Abraham, yet God was involved in their lives. Some passages expressly mentioned God's intentions, like Isaiah 42:6-7:

6 I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.

The pieces came together only after Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.  8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (Acts 1:6-11 NRSV)

One thing to highlight in this passage is verse 8. I wrote earlier that Adam and Eve were given the mission to fill the earth with eikons (images) of God. He repeated the command to Noah. His purpose for the nation of Israel was for them to be a witness to God so that the entire earth might come to know God and thus be filled with God's eikons. God's mission has not changed since Genesis 1.

The New Testament perspective is that the promise made to Israel about the restoration of shalom is now a promise that extends to all peoples and all creation. Revelation 5:9-10:

9 They sing a new song:

"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God
saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;
10 you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth."

The clearest articulation of eschatological fulfillment is the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:1-5:

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;   
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away."

5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

It is important to highlight one other passage regarding the New Jerusalem and the coming shalom. One of the most abused passages in scripture has to be 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.   15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.   16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Dispensational theologians have interpreted this passage to mean that the dead, and then the living, will be lifted off the earth to go live with Jesus in heaven. In reality, this passage conjures up some powerful imagery for the Thessalonians. When royalty came to an ancient town, all the people would go out of the town to greet the ruler and then usher him into the town amidst a grand celebration. Verses 16 and 17 depict Jesus coming from heaven to the clouds above the earth. The dead go up to meet him (out of the village), followed by the living. The unstated assumption is that the dead and the living usher Christ to his earthly throne (into the village), not ascend into some ethereal dwelling. "We will be with the Lord forever," but here on a renewed earth.

I can't flesh out a full eschatology within the context of this series of posts. I intend to highlight the idea that the Kingdom of God arrived with Christ but is not yet consummated. Things are not as they will be for eternity. The completion of the new creation and the restoration of shalom will be upon Christ's bodily return to earth to be with us. Jesus was a window into the future for us. He called us to be his body on earth. He has given us the same mandate given to humanity from the start: Fill the earth with eikons. By being his "witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth," we fill the earth with his eikons until he returns. He intends to succeed where Adam, Noah, and Israel failed.

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Theology and Economics: Israel and the Coming Shalom

God's mission is renewal of shalom. What will this age of shalom look like? The vision was unveiled over time. First, I will look at the Old Testament vision of the coming age and then turn to the New Testament vision.

God had promised Abraham that "…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3). Abraham was then blessed by God through Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem, in Genesis 14. Chapter 15 begins with Abraham inquiring of God about how all he has promised will come to be since God had not provided Abraham an heir through Sarah. This encounter ends with God making an unusual covenant.

God instructed Abraham to sacrifice selected animals and then cut them in half. He was instructed to place the halves on the ground opposite each other with a space between the halves. This was the traditional covenant or treaty ceremony. The two parties would walk through the gap between the animals, symbolizing that they might become the sacrificed animals if they did not uphold their end of the covenant. What is most peculiar is that only God passes between the animals, declaring that God will be faithful to the covenant regardless of how faithful Abraham is to his end of the bargain! The passage ends with a promise of land, later to be Israel.

The biblical narrative progresses on through the lives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and the migration of Abraham's descendants into Egypt. Four hundred years later, there was the confrontation with the Empire of Egypt and the miraculous deliverance from bondage by God into the land promised to Abraham. The Exodus becomes a central theme for the Hebrews, where God delivers his people from the bondage of their oppressors into shalom in their own land.

Just before entering the Promised Land, God made a covenant with the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The structure and elements in the Deuteronomy book greatly reflect the era's suzerain-vassal treaties. God spells out what is expected of the people of Israel and then names the "blessings and curses" in Chapters 27-30.

If Israel obeys God, then Deuteronomy 28:3-6 (NRSV):

3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

If Israel disobeys God, then Deuteronomy 28:16-19 (NRSV):

16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

Deuteronomy 29, almost as if to anticipate the faithlessness to come, warns that disobedience will lead to exile and the land's desolation. But then comes a promise from God which is one of the most remarkable passages in scripture, Deuteronomy 30:

1 When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2 and return to the LORD your God, and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, just as I am commanding you today, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. 5 The LORD your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.

6 Moreover, the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live. 7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on the adversaries who took advantage of you. 8 Then you shall again obey the LORD, observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, 9 and the LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, 10 when you obey the LORD your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Adherence to God's law would bring shalom. Failure to obey the law would bring dispersion and calamity. Yet, even with dispersion and calamity, God promised to eventually bring them back from exile, bring down their enemies, and restore shalom. The nation of Israel rose to great heights under David but soon departed from keeping God's law. As promised, exile and desolation eventually followed. Even as the calamity began, the prophets spoke of restoration to come. They spoke of a messiah who would fulfill Deuteronomy 30. Three of the most awe-inspiring visions of this coming age are found in Isaiah:

Isaiah  9:2-7 (NRSV):

2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness --
on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

And, Isaiah 11:1-9 (NRSV):

1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

And, Isaiah 65:17-25 (NRSV)

17 For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD --
and their descendants as well.
24 Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent -- its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

As the exiles returned to Israel in the Fifth Century B.C.E., it was these visions of the future they clung to. Yet, by the time of Christ more than 400 years later, the promised freedom from oppression and expected return to greatness and shalom, had not materialized. Where was the one who would lead them in the Exodus from their bondage?

The zealots used violent resistance to force God's hand in delivering them. The Pharisees and others sought renewed compliance with the law so that God would once again set things aright and return Israel to glory. There was a clear anticipation of a future. Many cultural narratives led other nations to prominence, but unique to Israel was an expectation of a promised future. It influenced all they did. They waited for one who would throw off their oppressors, gather those dispersed, and restore shalom.

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Book of Confessions on Eschatology

The following are excerpts from the Book of Confession of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on eschatology. These are taken from Between Millennia (11-14).

Nicene Creed (325, 384)

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end….

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Apostle’s Creed (180 – 8th Century)

…from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in … the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.

Scots Confession (1560)

We believe that the same Lord Jesus shall visibly return for this Last Judgment as he was seen to ascend.  And then, we firmly believe, the time of refreshing and restitution of all things shall come, so that those who from the beginning have suffered violence, injury, and wrong, for righteousness' sake, shall inherit that blessed immortality promised them from the beginning. (From Chapter 11)

Heidelberg Catechism (1561)

Q. 52. What comfort does the return of Christ "to judge the living and the dead" give you? 

A. That in all affliction and persecution I may await with head held high the very Judge from heaven who has already submitted himself to the judgment of God for me and has removed all the curse from me; that he will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but he shall take me, together with all his elect, to himself into heavenly joy and glory.

Second Helvetic (1566)

But Christ will come again to claim his own, and by his coming to destroy the Antichrist, and to judge the living and the dead (Acts 17:31).  For the dead will rise again (I Thess. 4:14 ff.), and those who on that day (which is unknown to all creatures [Mark 13:32]) will be alive will be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," and all the faithful will be caught up to meet Christ in the air, so that then they may enter with him into the blessed dwelling-places to live forever (I Cor. 15:51 f.).  But the unbelievers and ungodly will descend with the devils into hell to burn forever and never to be redeemed from torments (Matt. 25:46). (Chapter XI)

Westminster Confession (1647-1649)

As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin, and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity; so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. (Chapter XXXV, Section 3)

Theological Declaration of Barmen (1934)

6.  "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."  (Matt. 28:20.)  "The word of God is not fettered."  (II Tim. 2:9.)

The Church's commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ's stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and sacrament.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans.

Confession of 1967

The same Jesus Christ is the judge of all men. His judgment discloses the ultimate seriousness of life and gives promise of God's final victory over the power of sin and death. To receive life from the risen Lord is to have life eternal; to refuse life from him is to choose the death which is separation from God. All who put their trust in Christ face divine judgment without fear, for the judge is their redeemer. (From Section A:1)

The Fulfillment of Reconciliation (Part III)

God's redeeming work in Jesus Christ embraces the whole of man's life:  social and cultural, economic and political, scientific and technological, individual and corporate.  It includes man's natural environment as exploited and despoiled by sin.  It is the will of God that his purpose for human life shall be fulfilled under the rule of Christ and all evil be banished from his creation.

Biblical visions and images of the rule of Christ such as a heavenly city, a father's house, a new heaven and earth, a marriage feast, and an unending day culminate in the image of the kingdom.  The kingdom represents the triumph of God over all that resists his will and disrupts his creation.  Already God's reign is present as a ferment in the world, stirring hope in men and preparing the world to receive its ultimate judgment and redemption.

With an urgency born of this hope the church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world.  It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat.  In steadfast hope the church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God.

"Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."

Brief Statement of Faith (1991)

We trust in God the Holy Spirit,
everywhere the giver and renewer of life.

The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith,
sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor,
and binds us together with all believers
in the one body of Christ, the Church.

The same Spirit
who inspired the prophets and apostles
rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture,
engages us through the Word proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of baptism,
feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation,
and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church.

In a broken and fearful world
the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in Church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.

In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
and to live holy and joyful lives,
even as we watch for God's new heaven and new earth,
praying, Come, Lord Jesus!

With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Four Millennial Views

I wrote in my previous post that Christians have a view of time moving from creation toward some end. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has published two excellent documents addressing eschatological issues. They address how we understand our present circumstances considering the future.

Eschatology: The Doctrine of the Last Things. - This is a study published by the Presbyterian Church (US) in 1978. It gives a concise history of eschatological thinking in the Church, a history of Reformed thinking on the issue, and offers a discussion on the importance of eschatology in the life of the Church.

Between Millennia: What Presbyterians believe about the Coming of Christ. – This 2001 publication gives a brief presentation about the Reformed view of the second coming of Christ and addresses the “Left Behind” phenomenon. It also offers some confessional statements that address eschatology. There is a glossary at the back.

The various millennial views can be distilled into four perspectives. Here is a short presentation of each of those perspectives from the “Eschatology” paper listed above.

1. Historic Premillennialism (Chiliasm)

Historic Premillennialism holds that Christ will return to the earth prior to the Last Day in order to exercise rule over the nations for a thousand years in the last stage of human history. It is pessimistic concerning the role and prospects of the Church in human history; therefore it posits another age, the millennium, between Christ’s return and the Last Day, during which Christ rules in person over theocratic kingdom to which all the nations of the world are subject.

Periods of great world upheaval and crisis have tended to spawn and multiply despair in society, and premillennial visions within Christianity.

2. Postmillennialism

Postmillennialism expects a future millennium or latter-day prosperity of the church prior to Christ’s coming. It holds that the return of Christ introduces, not a temporal kingdom but the eternal state. It does, however, expect a period before the return of Christ and the end of the age in which the Church will have fulfilled its task in the world.

The Reformed tradition, for the greater part of it history, has shown more affinity and support of this millennial perspective than for other interpretations. This is due largely to the Reformed emphasis upon the sovereignty of God, the belief that Christ is now Lord over all spheres of human life, and he conviction that the Christian community has been empowered by the Holy Spirit to call and work for the full promulgation of the Gospel and the transformation of culture and society to accord with the mind and will of Christ.

3. Amillennialism

Amillennialism holds that there will be no future golden age upon the earth for the Church. Whatever rule Christ exercises within history is in the spiritual sphere, in the souls of individuals, or in the life of the Church. It contains no vision of hope for its future prior to the Last Day when Christ returns to institute the eternal state and manifests His glorious Kingdom.

Optimistic amillennialism agrees with the above except that it holds the Church will nearly have finished its task. Days of spiritual awakening and missionary advance have generally reinforced postmillennialism and optimistic amillennial expectations.

4. Dispensational Premillennialism

Dispensational gives premillennialism a complete system. Human history is regarded as a series of ages (dispensations) in which man is tested with respect to some aspect revealed of God’s will. In each case man fails, is judged by God, and then set on the trail under new covenant conditions. The seven ages are labeled: Innocence (in the Garden); Conscience (to the flood); Human Government (from Babel); Promise (from Abraham); Law (from Moses); Grace (from Christ); Kingdom (the coming millennium). The age of Graces ends with the unseen coming of Christ for His Church (the Rapture), both the living, and by partial resurrections, the dead in Christ. A period of seven years ensues on the earth marked by an international treaty of peace, including a protectorate of Israel. This seven years is “the time of Jacob’s troubles” a leftover of the 70 times 7 years, or 490 years, promised as judgment captivity to Israel, but which lasted only 483 years. Midway, the antichrist reveals himself, claiming to be the Messiah, and institutes a controlled world economy and hounds the Jews for their refusal to worship him. Christ appears with His Church and legions of angels quell the Antichrist forces, bind Satan for a thousand years and establish the millennial kingdom under the reestablished throne of David on earth and by the Church out of New Jerusalem hovering visibly in space above the earth. Following the millennium, man rejects the era of enforced peace and plenty by following the then-released Devil in an effort to conquer the Holy City. The uprising is crushed. The general resurrection then occurs, the Final Judgment, the renovation of Heaven and Earth, and the dawn of eternity.

This elaborate futurology has a number of strong appeals. First, it seems to accommodate affairs and events of the modern world to prophetic Scriptures, as other millennial theories have done in the past. Second, it places a benediction on the “world’s mess” which only Christ can correct in visible power, eliminates social responsibility other than the Christian’s duty in citizenship and provides joy in every sign of approaching calamity, for calamity demands Parousia. Third, it makes Divine Election absolute, and freedom of the human will is actually lost in the detailed chart of established future events. Nonetheless, it is based upon many assumptions which violate Reformed theology.

Breaking the Cycle of Time

Throughout early history, the world's religions shared a common theme: time moves in endless cycles. The goal of human existence was to understand and conform to those cycles. With the rise of Judaism 3,000 years ago, all that changed.

The Jews introduced the idea of linear time. The Jews did not abandon the idea of cyclical time, but they introduced the idea of the world moving from creation to completion of some sort. Most cultures had creation stories, but they were usually fantastic stories intended as metaphors for seeing patterns in life. The creation story in Genesis 1 opens, saying there was a beginning and created all that is. Without denying the theological primacy of the story, it is important to recognize how non-metaphorical the presentation of creation is. The world had a beginning, and God created it. (For more on the concept of cyclical time, see my post History Doesn't Repeat itself, But it Rhymes.)

If Judaism introduced linear time, Christianity introduced the idea of progression on the time continuum. The Jewish view has been that a messiah is coming who will restore Israel, but there is no sense of history "improving" until the Messiah comes. Christianity has always had within it the idea of the "Kingdom of God" spreading throughout the world until the day when Christ ushers in his Kingdom. The "wheat and the tares" will grow until the coming "harvest."

Scripture mentions the idea of a millennium when Christ will reign. Some believed that the Kingdom would spread, Christ would return, and a 1,000-year reign would begin. Others believed that the Kingdom would spread, eventually filling the earth and ushering in a millennium of peace and prosperity, at the end of which Christ would physically return. Still, others have seen the millennium as a metaphorical construct to convey theological truths.

During the first centuries of the church, there was great persecution. Christians had a pre-millennial view of Christ's return, believing the world would deteriorate until Christ returned (in the near future) and established the millennium. With the conversion of Constantine and the Christianization of Rome, many began to believe that the Kingdom of God would expand throughout the world, redeeming creation and humanity until Christ returned.

Throughout most of the Christian era, there has been a belief in linear time combined with progress until Christ's return. There have been eras where pessimistic pre-millennialism has dominated for a time. These were usually in eras of rapid change and great uncertainty. The era just before 1,000 C.E. was one era. The last decades of the Twentieth Century have been another. Nevertheless, the ideas of linear time and progress are unique to Christianity.

What has this to do with ideas, justice, theology, work, or any of a host of other issues that confront our daily lives? I will get to that shortly, but first, I want to summarize the dominant eschatological perspectives in my next post.

The End of the Story

I have watched many movies in my day. Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, directs some of my favorite movies. Most are not gruesome, but they bring you to the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. M. Night Shyamalan is another director who I like for many of the same reasons.

Occasionally, I have watched movies like these with others seeing them for the first time. Of course, part of the enjoyment of watching these movies with first-timers is the ability to experience the movie anew through their reactions vicariously. Unfortunately, this just doesn't work with certain people. About two-thirds of the way through the movie they begin pestering you with questions about "How does it end?" If the questioning persists, I usually relent and tell them, "Okay. Here is how it ends. The credits roll, and then we go get something to eat." (More than once, that response has led to my physical abuse and objects being hurled in my direction.)

In times of great distress or confusion, we want to know how "the story ends." It is one thing to experience the anxiety created by a masterful movie maker. When confronted with losing a loved one, a decaying culture, and especially our own deaths, it is quite another. Should we despair, or are there firm reasons for hope?

Eschatology studies the end times or the "last things." It assumes that history is moving toward the accomplishment of some great purpose. The Greeks called this telos. If we can understand the telos of existence and how it comes together at the end, then our anxiety in the present will be less.

I have written in various posts that Scripture can be viewed as an unfolding story. Theologian N. T. Wright popularized the idea of Scripture as a five-act play. God has told us the story, but we are still living in the play's fifth act (See How Can The Bible Be Authoritative?) Brian McLaren's popular book The Story We Find Ourselves In builds on this idea by viewing Scripture as a six-act play. Others have offered similar adaptations, but they all include the idea of living in an unfinished story, the end of which has been revealed to us by the author. In the meantime, we are invited to participate in the story's unfolding until the author brings it to its inevitable end.

Certain knowledge of the story's end has major ramifications for the present. The present is the only concrete thing for the person without certain knowledge of the ending. Our circumstances in the present must be maximized and protected as we plan for a potentially threatening future. However, if we trust in the revealed ending given in Scripture, everything is stood on its head. The future is the only certain thing, and the present is viewed as a temporary state. This gives us tremendous freedom and hope. I believe this is a primary reason God gives us insight into how the story ends.

Yet another critical reason is that God tells us how the story ends. It isn't just for our peace of mind. God gives us the end of the story so we may be united with Him in mission in this time between the New Testament and the end. Here is where a great danger enters the picture. If we misunderstand the telos God has in mind and we have misread the ending of the story, then we may find ourselves in the role of the religious leaders in New Testament Israel, looking for the wrong ending and tragically working cross purposes with God. It will affect everything we do, from how we see justice, evangelism, mission, and structure for mission. I believe that both Conservative and Liberal theology has missed the mark in understanding the telos and ending of the story. In so doing, we have unwittingly damaged the witness of the Church in our day.

I by no means consider myself an expert on eschatology. I am doing a lot of reading and reflecting on the topic but already coming to some conclusions. What I want to do now is share with you some of my initial thoughts on how errant eschatology has influenced the Church and how returning to biblical eschatology could transform all we do.

An Eschatological Pastor's "Job Description"

Job Description is an article in Christian Century that reflects on what it means to be a pastor with the telos in mind. It is a great article. I especially loved the typical job description he gives for most pastors:

WANTED: Person to fill position that involves important but undervalued work; exact job description unclear. Long hours; must work weekends and holidays. Low pay. Master's degree required; doctorate preferred. Must be accomplished at multitasking, including running an organization without clear authority to do so. The successful candidate will be skilled as a public speaker, manager, politician, and therapist, and will devote significant time each week to pastoral visits. The position reports to multiple bosses.

Mutant Ministry

Mutant Ministry is a funny yet powerful article in Christian Century.

The putative catharsis of the Y2K phenomenon was symptomatic of this elongated almostness-but-not-quiteness of Christian hope. Paul's perspective suggests that we, like the Corinthians, learn to live as if the preoccupations of the present world were not preeminent. To live as if the inevitability and reality of the new order were already transforming the way we live. It is something short of a realized eschatology, perhaps. Nonetheless, even before it arrives, the new thing is forming us, rearranging our priorities.

Eschatology in the Confessions

I am not going to go into a great deal of scriptural analysis on the topic of eschatology right now. However, I thought it might be interesting to see what the confessions in the Book of Confession of the Presbyterian Church (USA) say about eschatology. I have taken these references from Between Millennia with one small addition and a couple of other edits.

Nicene Creed (325, 384)

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. ...

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Apostles Creed (180-8th Century)

...from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe...the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.

Scots Confession (1560)

We believe that the same Lord Jesus shall visibly return for this Last Judgment as he was seen to ascend.  And then, we firmly believe, the time of refreshing and restitution of all things shall come, so that those who from the beginning have suffered violence, injury, and wrong, for righteousness' sake, shall inherit that blessed immortality promised them from the beginning.

Heidelberg Catechism (1563)

Q. 52.   What comfort does the return of Christ "to judge the living and the dead" give you? 

A.     That in all affliction and persecution I may await with head held high the very Judge from heaven who has already submitted himself to the judgment of God for me and has removed all the curse from me; that he will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but he shall take me, together with all his elect, to himself into heavenly joy and glory.

Second Helvetic Confession (1566)

But Christ will come again to claim his own, and by his coming to destroy the Antichrist, and to judge the living and the dead (Acts 17:31).  For the dead will rise again (I Thess. 4:14 ff.), and those who on that day (which is unknown to all creatures [Mark 13:32]) will be alive will be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," and all the faithful will be caught up to meet Christ in the air, so that then they may enter with him into the blessed dwelling-places to live forever (I Cor. 15:51 f.).  But the unbelievers and ungodly will descend with the devils into hell to burn forever and never to be redeemed from torments (Matt. 25:46).

Westminster Confession (1647-1649)

As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin, and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity; so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. (Chapter XXXV, Section 3)

Theological Declaration of Barmen (1934)

6.  "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt. 28:20.) "The word of God is not fettered."  (II Tim. 2:9.)

The Church's commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ's stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and sacrament.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans.

Confession of 1967

The same Jesus Christ is the judge of all men. His judgment discloses the ultimate seriousness of life and gives promise of God's final victory over the power of sin and death.  To receive life from the risen Lord is to have life eternal; to refuse life from him is to choose the death which is separation from God.  All who put their trust in Christ face divine judgment without fear, for the judge is their redeemer.

The Fulfillment of Reconciliation

God's redeeming work in Jesus Christ embraces the whole of man's life: social and cultural, economic and political, scientific and technological, individual and corporate.  It includes man's natural environment as exploited and despoiled by sin.  It is the will of God that his purpose for human life shall be fulfilled under the rule of Christ and all evil be banished from his creation.

Biblical visions and images of the rule of Christ such as a heavenly city, a father's house, a new heaven and earth, a marriage feast, and an unending day culminate in the image of the kingdom.  The kingdom represents the triumph of God over all that resists his will and disrupts his creation.  Already God's reign is present as a ferment in the world, stirring hope in men and preparing the world to receive its ultimate judgment and redemption.

With an urgency born of this hope the church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world.  It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat.  In steadfast hope the church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God.

"Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."

Brief  Statement of Faith (1991)

In a broken and fearful world
the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in Church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.

In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks
and to live holy and joyful lives,
even as we watch for God's new heaven and new earth,
praying, Come, Lord Jesus!

 

 

Rapture Resources

Presbyweb had an article today called Alternatives to "Left Behind"/Rapture Theology by Bruce Gillette. I will write more about this topic later, but you might want to check these out.

Unraveling the Rapture Myth

Unraveling the Rapture Myth is an article I found by Michael W. Petty. Earlier this week, I wrote about eshatophobia. This article is a nice supplement to it. He concludes his article with the following:

What we do not find in Revelation is Christians longing to be freed from creation into some completely spiritual place of peace and purity. Such a longing is simply a Gnostic fantasy. It is not that we will be raptured out of the world but that God will redeem the world. Revelation concludes not with raptured souls winging their way to heaven but with the descent of the Creator into his creation so that “the home of God is among mortals” (21:3). Echoing and fulfilling Exodus 40:34-38, the world becomes God’s tabernacle.

The doctrine of the Rapture is wrong not simply because it has found expression in some popular books, but because it is fundamentally mistaken about the nature of the Christian life and the nature of creation. Revelation’s promise to us is not that we will be removed from the world of suffering and tribulation but that God will bring us and creation through suffering and tribulation to resurrection, just as he brought his Son through them to new life.

All of us who teach in the Church need to be reminded that a corrupt eschatology leads inevitably to a corrupt gospel. Good theology really does matter for the life of the Church.

"Left Behind" and Presbyterian Eschatophobia

Anyone who has read best-selling author Steven Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People will remember that his second principle is "Begin with the end in mind." One must have a clear vision of where to end up before discerning the best strategies and tactics. I don't know where Covey came up with his second principle, but I suspect it came from the Bible.

From the Old Testament through the New Testament, the constant theme is that God offers hope of a future reality that will be more wonderful than anything we can imagine. Every tear will be wiped from our eyes, and the dwelling of God will be with humanity. We don't know exactly how we get there, but God created a covenant with us and wants us to trust him to bring it about. We are a people of the future living in the present.

I heard Craig Barnes preach once about this issue. He made the point that the future is uncertain for someone who does not know God and has no assurance of Christ. It is only the present that is certain. Consequently, we have a decided tendency to hang on to the present. Not so for the Christian. The future is the only certain thing. It is the present that is tenuous and uncertain. We live in the present in anticipation of the future. Furthermore, we are called to bring the future into the present by being God's faithful community ushering in the New Jerusalem. But do we mainline Presbyterians do this?

My friend Carol recently sent me the Spring 2005 issue of Insights: The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary. The topic for this issue is "Left Behind," referring to the mega-selling series of books by this title. The journal's articles deal with Dispensationalism and eschatology. All of the articles are excellent! One reflection, in particular, struck me. Kenda Creasy Dean wrote it. She reflects on her son's choice to attend a Young Life camp instead of a church mission trip. She examines the telos of a youth camp experience. (Telos means "end" or "purpose." Not to be confused with the planet in Star Wars.) Here are two paragraphs from her reflection:

Consequently, Christian youth events that have existential traction do not meander aimlessly. They aim for a conclusion, with everything structured to honor the event’s culminating moments. The “end time” of the event (ordinarily, the program for the last night’s worship service) ritualizes our understanding of the “end times” described by Christian theology. It is decisive. One chapter closes and another begins. Decisions are made, preparations ensue for a different world—the world that is Not-Camp. In the closing rituals of the last night of camp, we expect Jesus to come. We expect God to act. Furthermore, having had a foretaste of glory divine, young people are sent out from the religious camp or conference, like John of Patmos, as apostles of hope. In short, the condensed week of a summer youth camp or conference enacts an ordu salutis (order of salvation), not to manipulate God’s saving activity, but to dramatize it. Christians are story people, and every story—even God’s story with us on earth—has a final chapter. And what we do on the last night of camp says a lot about how we think the story ends.

This surprises us. Many of us aren’t even aware that we even have a governing eschatology, much less that we enact it with young people. “End time” rhetoric conjures up images of heaven, hell, rapture, and the Second Coming of Christ that have been treated as “the theological equivalent of Timbuktu” in the mainline Protestant church for most of the twentieth century, according to Mark Ralls, writing in Christian Century. “Like a lot of mainline Protestant pastors I know,” confessed Ralls, “I’m caught between honest belief and embarrassment.” Our way out has been to sidestep any overt discussion of eschatological issues altogether, leaving them to our more literally minded conservative Christian friends. We mainliners prefer transitions to endings, rehabilitation to judgment, regeneration to apocalyptism, phases to finality. But there is a cost to this. Our silence on the subject of eschatology, our reluctance to speak of God’s future for fear of boxing in God’s expansive grace, has the effect of muting the telos of Christian theology. Youth are thus left to conclude, quite understandably, that the church simply is not going anywhere.

Bingo! As I have been working on the Mission Work Plan Taskforce for the General Assembly Council, I have read through the early chapters of the Book of Order, looking for a statement of our telos. What I was struck by is that there really isn't a clear, explicit statement of our telos. Nearly everything is stated in terms of what we do, not what we accomplish. Even the Great Ends of the Church are actions that presume a telos. You can infer it from what is written, but it isn't stated. All through each of our governing structures, I see the same thing. There is much action with no end in mind.

Ask a Dispensational Fundamentalist (and a great many others) what a Christian's purpose is, and they will tell you it is to "save souls." Why? So that when we come to the end of time, we can live with God in heaven. Mainliners have typically been critical of this reductionist approach to eschatology. We are about what God is doing in the present. In fact, I think Dispensationalism is the only thing the Presbyterian Church has judged to be a heresy in the Twentieth Century. Nevertheless, you have to admit, Dispensationalist types know what they are trying to accomplish.

But ask Presbyterians what a Christian's purpose is, they will say something like "Love and worship God, do justice, and be a good person." Ask why, and the response you will usually get is a blank face. At best, "Because that is what the Church does." There is no telos. The telos is the action itself without conscious thought of the eschatological outcome. There is no bringing the future into the present because there is no concept of a compelling future to bring into the present! So what is our telos? It is almost as if to ask the question is to be suspected of introducing heresy. We have become eschatophobic.

I have a cure for this disorder. I will recommend to the General Assembly Council that we scrap the 2006 General Assembly and instead send our commissioners to a Young Life summer camp. I figure even a heretical Dispensational eschatology is better than none. Short of that, I suggest that it is time we ask if we have lost our way and need to rediscover the future we are to bring into the present. We must lose our eschatophobia if we genuinely expect to be the people of God.

(By the way, check out all the Insights articles. I found them to be very good.)