Heaven, Earth, and Gospel
A couple of posts back, I said that - if we are being honest about scripture - we will see it reflecting God's concern over creation: where it is and where it is going. His promise is not to abandon the earth, snatching a select few into a ghostly/angelic netherworld where they will live in eternal bliss, but to set right all of the things that are wrong with our world.
Indeed, I do not think that the message of the gospel can be fully appreciated unless people are given the "good news" of God's concern for all people and all things in our world. Reduce it to less, and the good news is only that you might qualify for a get-out-of-hell free card if you can get your act together before God wipes us all out.
To put it another way, the "good news" message of scripture is not that we get to go to Heaven. It is that Heaven is here (or, at least, that it is coming). Consider:
1. Jesus' central message is - unmistakably - that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." This is the "gospel" that Jesus preaches: Heaven has come to earth.
2. What does Jesus tell us to pray? "Let us go to your Kingdom in Heaven." No! "Your kingdom come!"
3 After Jesus' resurrection, Paul's "gospel" is preached. What is that gospel? That God has made Jesus Lord over creation (see the opening verses of Romans for a good summary). This act establishes God's reign in the earth through his Son.
4. So why hasn't it happened yet? Paul's writings are rife with imagery of labor and delivery - it is only a matter of time until God's kingdom is again established.
5. An examination of other epistles - those attributed to Peter and John in particular - would also show that their expectation is a renewal of creation. John's message in the Revelation makes it clear - it is the establishment of the authority of Jesus on the earth that is God's ultimate objective.
What, then, is to become of those of us who die before God's task of renewing the earth is accomplished?
On that question, we are in luck, because it is one of the chief issues that is repeatedly addressed in Paul's writings. And once we can learn to read those passages in the correct context - that of Heaven coming to Earth to set things right - it quickly becomes apparent that God is doing something infinitely more wonderful than giving our spirits a place to spend eternity...
More to come.
Related Tags: Heaven, Gospel, Kingdom of God
Indeed, I do not think that the message of the gospel can be fully appreciated unless people are given the "good news" of God's concern for all people and all things in our world. Reduce it to less, and the good news is only that you might qualify for a get-out-of-hell free card if you can get your act together before God wipes us all out.
To put it another way, the "good news" message of scripture is not that we get to go to Heaven. It is that Heaven is here (or, at least, that it is coming). Consider:
1. Jesus' central message is - unmistakably - that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." This is the "gospel" that Jesus preaches: Heaven has come to earth.
2. What does Jesus tell us to pray? "Let us go to your Kingdom in Heaven." No! "Your kingdom come!"
3 After Jesus' resurrection, Paul's "gospel" is preached. What is that gospel? That God has made Jesus Lord over creation (see the opening verses of Romans for a good summary). This act establishes God's reign in the earth through his Son.
4. So why hasn't it happened yet? Paul's writings are rife with imagery of labor and delivery - it is only a matter of time until God's kingdom is again established.
5. An examination of other epistles - those attributed to Peter and John in particular - would also show that their expectation is a renewal of creation. John's message in the Revelation makes it clear - it is the establishment of the authority of Jesus on the earth that is God's ultimate objective.
What, then, is to become of those of us who die before God's task of renewing the earth is accomplished?
On that question, we are in luck, because it is one of the chief issues that is repeatedly addressed in Paul's writings. And once we can learn to read those passages in the correct context - that of Heaven coming to Earth to set things right - it quickly becomes apparent that God is doing something infinitely more wonderful than giving our spirits a place to spend eternity...
More to come.
Related Tags: Heaven, Gospel, Kingdom of God
posted by Matt at Saturday, August 05, 2006
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