The Story of Scripture

If we're ever going to make sense of what scripture has to say about what happens "next," the first thing we need to do is come to grips with the fact that the primary thrust of scripture has nothing to do with how you can go to Heaven after you die. When I spent my time trying to force the Bible to speak to those expectations, I was inevitably frustrated, because that is simply not what it is talking about.

What, then, are the major themes of scripture? And what do they say about what happens "next"? Here's a quick outline that is used by a lot of students of scripture:

Creation. God made the world. It was a good thing. It was/is beautiful. It is to be enjoyed. This isn't just seen in the opening chapters of Genesis. It permeates just about every book in the Bible. Creation, with people - in the image of God - as its crowning glory, is celebrated on almost every page. Remove the emphasis from creation to an afterlife that occurs somewhere else, and you suck the life right out of scripture.

Sin. Man's attempted "takeover" of creation - called "sin" - has marred creation. While the good things in creation can still be experienced, it is also a place of decay, dissatisfying toil, and death. God has cursed creation. Most significantly, sin has created a situation of injustice - people trying to impose their own will on creation and on other people. Injustice is understood in many ways, but the most prominent way it is featured in scripture is in the form of human empires, which are always ultimately oppressive. Paul's use of the phrase "principalities and powers" seems to get at this system of injustice and oppression.

Covenant. God has made a covenant to restore and bless creation, and - perhaps most significantly in scripture - the people of the Earth. This means that God must come and judge the system of sin/injustice and restore those who are righteous into their proper place.

Redemption/Restoration. The act of God in fulfilling the covenant, through Jesus, is called "redemption." On one level, this is an act of calling out unrighteous people and bringing them into righteousness. However, that is only part of the idea behind "redemption." Ultimately, the good news of the gospel is this: through Jesus, God has come to judge the world of sin/injustice so that he can restore his own authority over the Earth and its people. This is an act of grace - we are unable to accomplish this as individuals and/or as a human society - and it is only through God's supernatural involvement wth his people that it can be accomplished.

So there you have it. God's love, concern, mercies, sacrifices - all of the things that he is and does in scripture - they are all directed toward where creation is and where it is going. The Earth, even the cosmos, then, is not a project that he is preparing to abandon once he has snatched away a select few to serve as angel-like beings in Heaven. It is his obsession.

God's aim, it seems, it to set things right on our planet. War. Injustice. Poverty. Oppression. Abuse. Pain. Starvation. Even pollution. And most prominently, death. Those are the issues he cares about. Those are the things he promises, on page after page, to make right.

Get out of the "heaven after you die" story and into that story, and all of scripture will begin to make sense. Including what it says about our future.

More to come.

Related Tags: Heaven