Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Session 13
scripture study 1: the future of our world
Introduction: e Return of the King to Judge and Redeem
In this age, it appears God is slow to act in the cause of justice. His
apparent slowness calls into question God’s power, his willingness to act,
and even his existence. Evil, not God, appears to be sovereign. God’s
apparent impotence is manifested whenever the wicked prosper and the
righteous suffer. Most tragic of all, the Righteous One suffered at the
hands of the wicked. As the extension of Jesus’ suffering, his followers
suffer at the hand of God’s enemies. One day, however, we will witness a
great reversal, as God acts to overturn this situation. is action will
vindicate God as the one who in his good time does indeed bring to
justice his enemies and those who persecute his people.1 It is clear from
Scriptures that Jesus will come back at the end of times to judge and
redeem this world and its inhabitants. e Apostles give a most
prominent place to this hope in their preaching (Acts 10:42,17:31) and
writings (Romans 2:5-16, 14:10; 1 Cor 4:5; 2 Cor 5:10; 2 Tim 4:1; 2 ess
1:5; James 5:7). In fact, the description of Jesus’ return with power and
great glory employs terms that echo imperial Roman rule. His return as
Son of Man is a “parousia”, a term used to especially signify the approach
of a king, an emperor or future emperor, a military commander, or other
officials or envoy to a subject city.2 So Jesus’ reappearing, the disciples
believed, will establish him once and for all as the true King in God’s new
world.
In the meantime he is present with us, but hidden behind that invisible
veil which keeps heaven and earth apart, and which we pierce in those
moments, such as prayer, worship, the reading of Scripture, and our work
with the poor, when the veil seems particularly thin. But one day the veil
will be lifted; earth and heaven will be one; Jesus will be personally present
to judge the living and the dead, and every knee shall bow at his name;
creation will be renewed; the dead will be raised; and God’s new world will
at last be in place, full of new prospects and possibilities. is is what the
Christian vision of salvation is all about.3 In what follows we will look at
what this means concretely for the future of our world, the future of God’s
people, and the future of those who have rejected God.
Scripture Study:
Study the following Scripture verses assigned to your group, reflect on the
corresponding questions, and come prepared to share your answers with the
entire class:
Conclusion
e Bible doesn’t give us a picture of the ultimate future as a world of
disembodied spirits or cherubs on clouds or a Platonic ‘Isle of the Blessed’
where the righteous get to talk philosophy all day, or sing songs to God for
all eternity. It’s all much more solid, much more real than that. Revelation
21-22, for all its language full of symbol and imagery, clearly envisages
that the reality to which these symbols and images point will be a renewed
creation, an actual world which will resemble our world of space, time and
matter in all sorts of ways, even as it will be far more glorious, full of new
possibilities, new healing, new growth and new beauty.4 In summary,
then, the Bible invites us to imagine a renewed world as a beautiful,
healing community; to envisage it as a world vibrant with life and energy;
incorruptible, beyond the reach of death and decay; to hold it in our
mind’s eye as a world reborn, set free from the slavery of corruption, sin
and death; free to be truly what it was made to be.5 While this new world
is not yet, and while we don’t know when or how Christ will come to
Conclusion
In the end, the Bible’s excursions into what the new heaven and the new
earth and our resurrection life in it will be like will fail to satisfy our
curiosity for detail. But that’s okay. Perhaps we don’t need to be able to
fully picture it. Perhaps we’re not even able to fully picture it.11 One thing
we do know for sure, however: our story will not end with us “going to
heaven”, as in many hymns and prayers, but with resurrection and new
creation. Our eternal home will be on this renewed earth. On this
renewed earth we shall live and never die. What’s more, we will be given
the kingdom that was always meant for us to reign on God’s behalf. God
won’t raise us from the dead, just to live with him forever. He will raise us
from the dead to fulfill the calling we were created for in the first place;
that is to be God’s viceroys over the earth – to explore and discover and
create and govern. Only now, God will live in our midst and we shall
reign together with him forever. We will take the position for which we
were uniquely made and will rule as he does, with creativity and power and
Shalom.12 is is what God has been trying to say to us all along.
Creation will be restored, and we will be restored. And we shall share it
together. We don’t know when we can expect the return of the King (the
Bible says he will come like a thief in the night, when we least expect
him). Neither do we know how Christ will come to make this hope come
true. But what we do know is that we’re called to be diligent in his mission
and provide the building blocks for God’s new social order in the
meantime.13
Scripture Study
Study the following Scripture verses assigned to your group, reflect on the
corresponding questions, and come prepared to share your answers with the
entire class:
Summary
ere is a sobering truth to God’s Story, Our Story, more sobering to any
other we have considered. To be honest, we must understand that not
everyone lives happily ever after, not in any story or tale we’ve ever heard.
is promise of the new beginning is only for the friends of God, those
who have surrendered to him and believe in him. ere are those
consequently who will not be part of God’s renewed creation, since they
have not accepted God’s gift of salvation and can’t believe the claims of
God’s story with his world. e New Testament believers understood that
for the enemies of God, the final judgment will result in exclusion from
community with their Creator and his kingdom of Shalom.15 e truth is
that God does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance (2. Peter 3:9). We have seen this truth play out throughout the
entire eight episodes of God’s story with his world. e God who has
pursued us down through the ages, who gave his own life to rescue us
A final question is often asked in this context: What happens with those
who have never heard of God’s story with the world and have no idea
about God’s invitation to participate with him in his kingdom of Shalom?
I don’t think there’s a lot to say in this regard. One, who will ultimately be
condemned to hell – I don’t know. I am glad to leave that up to God and
acknowledge his sovereignty as a judge over all human life. Two, I believe
in a merciful God who doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to
come to repentance and enter his kingdom of Shalom. Even those who
haven’t heard of God and his story may be able to lead lives that show
their intent to make this world a better place. I’m certain, as Paul is in his
letter to the Romans, that God will take that into account. Finally, this
very question is a challenge to all those of us, who believe in the veracity of
God’s Story and have accepted his gift of salvation, to not just stay put
with the blessing we have received, but to seek to bless others by sharing
the good news of God’s kingdom of Shalom with people who may not
have heard it yet.
Part of the joy, then, will be that not only physical pain but also the mental
pain of unresolved anger and bitterness will be done away with, as we are
e existence of the New Jerusalem will not mean that there are no other
nations. ere will be other countries and they will be governed
politically. But all the nations will operate by the light of God, and rulers
will govern under the authority of God and according to Shalom-
principles. Jerusalem will be the center of all international affairs, and all
governments of the world will live in peace and under the authority of
God. e best of human civilization will find its place, purged of evil, in
this renewed creation: “e nations will walk by its [God’s city’s] light, and
the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its
gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. e glory and honor of
the nations will be brought into it (Rev. 21:24-26).” e glory of the
nations, which will include redeemed traditions and insights from all
cultures, will foster an expression of community that will unite Christians
with many cultural narratives as they appreciate and enjoy the redeemed
expressions of all human cultures. God seems to have such a high view of
creation and human cultures that he wants to redeem them for eternal
glory.28 is, in short, is as God intends his city and new creation to be.29
• What feelings has this article elicited in you? What can you learn
from your emotional responses?
• How does the material presented in this article and the study of the
eight episodes of God’s transforming Story with his world affect you
in terms of your own personal faith and your spiritual journey?
• Do you believe your life’s story can make a difference in our world?
How big of a difference? How can you help one another believe more?
• After having studied the eight episodes of God’s transforming Story
with his world, what further questions do you have that you would like
to pursue? Is there anything in this entire study that bothers you,
concerns you, or especially impassions you?
Perhaps details would preoccupy us, distract us from where our focus should be. Perhaps
all we need is the challenge, the invitation, the enticement to risk everything in faith for
this vision of an eternal creative project of God… to see the only reward worth having as
the reward of being part of the kingdom of God, both now in this life and after death
too. (Brian McLaren, e Secret Message of Jesus, 191)
12 John Eldredge, Epic, 94
13 Our task in the meantime is to discover, through the Spirit and prayer, the appropriate
ways of improvising the script between the foundation events and charter, on the one
hand, and the complete coming of the Kingdom on the other. Once we grasp this
framework, other things begin to fall into place. (N.T. Wright, e Last Word, 126)
14 Arthur F. Glasser, Announcing the Kingdom, 369
15 Stanley J. Grenz, eology for the Community of God, 634
16 John Eldredge, Epic, 90
17 John Eldredge, Epic, 91
18 Jürgen Moltmann, God in Creation, 68
19 N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, 217
20 Based in part on Stanley Grenz, Created for Community, 275-276
21 Brian McLaren, e Secret Message of Jesus, 202
22 N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, 217
23 Robert Linthicum, City of God City of Satan, 288
24 N.T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God, 115
25 Robert Linthicum, City of God City of Satan, 288
e river of the water of life and the tree of life bearing annually twelve crops of fruit are
symbols for abundance and plenty. e author is sharing his vision of a rich abundance
showered upon each resident of the city. e economy will benefit everyone. (Ibid, 288)
26 N.T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God, 145
27 N.T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God, 115
28 Bruce Bradshaw, Change Across Cultures, 166
29 Robert Linthicum, City of God City of Satan, 288
30 Brian McLaren, e Story We Find Ourselves In, 173
31 Brian McLaren, e Story We Find Ourselves In, 173
God unleashes history in the beginning. God helps the baby to stand in the beginning.
But because God is not subject to time like we are, God is also out ahead, calling history
homeward across time. God doesn’t force it. Sometimes history responds or some parts of
history respond, but others resist or rebel. But God keeps calling. So history is not just
being pushed from the past, or even engineered in the present, but being pulled, invited,
called, into the future, which keeps coming to us as a gift. God is waiting to give himself
to us across time, and so we are pulled toward him by hope and desire (Brian McLaren,
e Story We Find Ourselves In, 149)
32 Brian McLaren, e Story We Find Ourselves In, 154-155