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Our Hope Text: Isaiah 61; Revelation 21-22 ● We began this series in January with the intention of presenting the story of God to you in a way that is both historical and personal, so that you might say, having heard the story, “This is who we are; this is our story”. But, we also wake up to find that we live in a world that’s telling other ‘different stories’ ● I suggested that the story of God found in the Bible is meant to challenge the prevailing stories being told. Those stories which shape the way we interpret our reality and provide the answers to life-questions: ‘Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? What happened?’ The story includes these elements… Creation/Fall; Covenant/Israel; Incarnation (Jesus); Recreation (New Creation) The Jews believed in one Creator-God, that they were chosen by God to reverse the effects of the fall; that this God would act decisively in history to overcome evil and take his place as the world’s rightful King: when he does, all of creation will experience ‘blessing’. And, they believed that all of history was moving toward a purposed-end (really a beginning)- “shalom”. Illus: a play- a succession of beautiful backdrops being pulled back to reveal the next scene, the next characters: same play, different scenes and characters. We find ourselves, not in the audience admiring the play, but actually on stage- incorporated into the drama itself. Now, it’s as if we are continuing the drama without a script. We know how the author has written its ending, but we are not given a script. So, when looking for ways to move forward in the drama, we don’t look to mimic the other actors or simply do what they did. We must find a way to be faithful to the plot, moving forward until the writer himself takes the stage and clarifies all the foggy images. It’s as if, when the lighting is just right, we can see the beauty of the final backdrop… new creation! ● So, when we speak of God’s future we use the term “eschatology”- combined Gr. word ‘eschatos’, meaning “last” and ‘ology’ which refers to the study of something. Hence, eschatology is the ‘study of the last things’. ● The Christian story is undeniably ‘eschatological’: it says that life is moving toward the fulfillment of God’s new world. The theme, if you will, of the story has always been that God’s good purposes for his creation cannot be thwarted- “Everything’s okay!” Eschatological discussions are meant to produce one posture: “hope”. ● I was never particularly interested in going to heaven, to be honest; except for the fact that it seemed the most desirable of the (2) options always offered: ‘heaven or hell’… ‘turn or burn’… ‘fly or fry’ [It was almost like asking me if I preferred ‘beets or M & M’s?’ The decision seemed somewhat obvious]. Plus, it was assumed that you had to die to get to go there; I was always kind of fond of this place and averse to pain. I envisioned life being like a big “check out” line and I was always willing to allow someone to cut in front of me [‘no, go ahead, I’m in no hurry’]. In hindsight, the conclusions I reached very early in life were formulated by the picture offered to me- pictures not often really biblical. For example, I remember being compelled to endure marathon worship services (especially at youth camps) with the admonition that I had ‘better get used to it because this is what we were going to be doing for eternity’! [“sing it again!”] No thanks. Or, like trying to maintain the eternal ‘standing ovation’ (i.e. at Aaron’s 714: ‘come on, everyone’s still clapping!’) The images I kept confronting were even less appealing. The thought of morphing into some chubby little cherub with wings was not attractive [I would look horrible in a loin cloth!] I Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, be strong and immovable. Always working enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless”. Interestingly, this verse is the summation of an explanation of the resurrection: resurrection means what you do in the present will not be wasted. ● I began to realize that the Bible’s version of the future seemed more like this place; who I was, where I was, except ‘more’ and ‘better’. I began to discover that I was made for this place (earth); that having a physical body and enjoying being here- even with its obvious flaws and challenges, was part of my design.
It started to become more clear to
me that the place I always called ‘heaven’ was not the primary focus of the
story. Maybe it was part of a ‘roundtrip’: earth, to heaven, then back. |
