Kruse Kronicle

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 observes 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 of 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 to the Old Testament vision of the new creation. There will be no need for 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 hint 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 of the Jubilee, where each family is guaranteed access to their 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 forms to more useful forms … is integral to the creation stewardship commission in Genesis 1 and is present 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 deep antagonism toward economic activity.) Human labor and economic activity are 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 of the end of the world in Christopher Wright’s book. As I initially noted, it is one the most lucid and helpful summaries I have read. What do you think now that you have read these four posts?

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

The New Beginning is the final chapter in Christopher Wright's The God I Don't Understand. We saw in an earlier post that Wright subscribes to N. T. Wright's 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 God planted the garden, 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 cities and sin were "… so interpenetrating as to be almost synonymous." Still, God chooses an existing Canaanite 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 like "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 and 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 a renewed animal kingdom will exist. (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 Christ's first and second comings 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 believed 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 the judgment, all that has been done will be made known. "It is not just an act of punishment but an act of rectifying 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 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 is 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 wandered off 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 to Second Temple Judaism ideas of a restored and vindicated Israel than 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 were 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 the millennium, which is mentioned only in Revelation 20, Wright says he believes that the millennium is the period between Christ's 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 severe misreading of one passage, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. The image here is Christ coming from heaven to the clouds above the earth, where the dead and 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 evil people 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 Jesus was speaking about the coming calamity of 70 C. E., not some distant event.

Land of Israel – The land of Israel is insignificant in 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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