Smith Not Home Yet

How the Renewal of the Earth Fits into God's Plan for the World
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4335-6280-8
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

'A vivid picture of how this earth matters to God-our work, our communities, and the physical world.' -Scott B. Rae Beginning with the creation of the heavens and earth and ending with the New Jerusalem, the storyline of Scripture reveals God's commitment to the physical world that he created. Our final destiny is not some disembodied, heavenly existence but rather life with God on a renewed earth. How does this understanding of our future home affect our lives today? What role should Christians play in meeting physical needs? Are spiritual realities more significant than physical? This book will help us understand God's eternal vision for the renewal of this earth and discover purpose in all of our daily, real-world endeavors, such as work, the arts, social justice, ecology, medicine, and more.

Ian K. Smith is the principal of Christ College, Sydney, where he also teaches Greek and New Testament. He has also served in parish ministry and as a missionary in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. He speaks regularly at churches, conferences, and other venues.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smith, Ian

Leseproben

Introduction

Traveling is fun, but after a while we long for home. We enjoy exotic food and hotel rooms, but when homesickness takes hold, we hunger for a home-cooked meal, and we yearn to sleep in our own bed. Home is where we belong. It’s a place of familiarity. In the light of this, the practice of many Christians calling heaven their home is curious. Heaven is not a place of familiarity. It’s an unknown. Is it where we belong? There are heavenly creatures, angelic beings around the throne of God. But that’s not us. We are earthly creatures. Yet at funerals we talk about the deceased having been called home. When going through difficult times, we remind each other that this world is not our home. But if heaven is our home, what does that say about the earth? Humans were given the task of filling the earth and having dominion over it (Gen. 1:28).

Where Is Home?

There is an element of truth in the claim that heaven is home, and we will return to that later in this book. Christians are at home when we are with Christ, as we await Jesus’s return to the earth. We will be “at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). But the Scriptures also talk about the renewal of all things (Matt. 19:28), a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). How does this home in heaven fit with the renewal of the earth? What is the home of Christians beyond the grave? What impact does an understanding of the resurrection of Jesus have on the way we see the earth? Where is home?

The resurrection of Jesus points to something far bigger than just access to heaven; the resurrection points to the renewal of God’s creation. When we understand this scope of God’s work of salvation, reductionistic and individualistic views are lacking in the grandeur of what God is going to do. Jesus’s resurrection does not only guarantee my resurrection—important though that is. Jesus is going to raise the universe! He will usher in a new heaven and a new earth, and we will be part of that. On that day, we will know what it means to be home. This salvation is guaranteed through the resurrection. To talk about salvation without mention of the resurrection is a serious omission.

This connection between the resurrection and the renewal of creation is not as well understood as one might hope. I sit on several panels that assess people’s suitability for various forms of Christian ministry. We interview people who are desiring to be ordained ministers, missionaries, evangelists, and similar roles. Within the interview, we always ask the interviewee for an explanation of the gospel. In nearly every answer, I notice two things—one good and one concerning. First, virtually without exception, the person mentions the cross as a place of forgiveness and substitution. This is encouraging. The second thing I notice over 90 percent of the time is that within the summary of the gospel, there is no mention of the resurrection. I normally ask, “Have you left anything out?” The candidate sits and ponders. Around half of those being interviewed say, “Ah—the resurrection.” Others need more prompting. I then proceed to ask whether the resurrection is important. They all say yes. Most can cite: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14). I then ask, “Why is it important?” Answers vary. Many make good theological observations, but very few link the resurrection with the renewal of all things. Normally an understanding of the gospel is individualistic; it’s about my salvation.

The resurrection is central to how we see salvation. We are not saved just for a purely spiritual experience in heaven. Jesus was raised to earth, not to heaven. We should not confuse the resurrection and the ascension. The Gospels all agree that on the third day, Jesus was raised to earth where he continued to appear for forty days before his ascension to heaven. This resurrection of Jesus is the firstfruits of our resurrection. A physical body was placed in the grave of Joseph of Arimathea and was raised back to life. The grave was empty. The very same body was raised. This is the firstfruits of the general resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20, 23). We too will be raised—our very same body. The earth will be raised—the very same earth. In each case there will be transformation, but there will also be continuation.

Yet when I find myself in conversations with Christians talking about the renewal of the earth, they look at me quizzically and wonder what Bible I’ve been reading. So ingrained is the idea of living in heaven forever that questions arise. The most frequent is addressed by this book: Is this idea of a renewed earth biblical? In this book we will work our way through Scripture and show that the resounding answer is yes. We will note repeatedly that the Bible is more concerned with God coming down to earth than with humans going up to heaven. This downward movement is seen in Eden, in the tabernacle, in the temple, in the incarnation, in the crucifixion, in the resurrection, and in the second coming. Jesus’s return to this earth is the focus of the Christian’s hope, and this return will not just be for a visit, to pick us up and take us home to heaven. He is coming to stay. The new Jerusalem will descend to earth (Revelation 21), and we will be at home, with Jesus, on earth.

The Future of the Earth

An understanding of the future of the earth has significant implications for how we see it now. When we understand that the end of all things is the renewal of all things, then all things become important. No longer will we see the spiritual as more important than the physical; such a dualism is more indebted to Greek philosophy than to the Bible. God is committed to his creation. It’s all important, whether Bible study, employment, church, hobbies, family, the arts, or community involvement. When we understand that the impact of the resurrection is much bigger than we ever imagined, our worldview will be changed. No longer will our sermons be just about what happens after death (important though that is), the gospel will also resound with relevance to this life, to the earth, to the places we inhabit and call home. The knowledge that our home will be renewed will give relevance to life.

The aim of this book is to reawaken (resurrect even), a biblical understanding of the earth and God’s mission to it. Such an understanding was common in former generations, but it has waned over the decades. The evolution of Christian music is but one example of this. Isaac Watts’s hymn “Joy to the World” was written in 1719, and it celebrates God’s commitment to this earth as heaven and nature sing the blessings of Jesus’s incarnation as far as the curse is found. The cry of Watts’s hymn is, “Let earth receive her King.”1 Unfortunately, such songs are rare today, as Christians often celebrate the earth’s destruction and an eternal home in heaven (I refrain from citing examples, but there are many—just listen to what you are singing next Sunday). If our understanding of Christian mission has been reduced to “getting people into heaven,” what does that say about people’s physical needs? What is the purpose of Christian schooling? What is the relationship between education and evangelism? Why do we have Christian hospitals, especially on the mission field in developing countries? If the main purpose of a Christian hospital is to get people into heaven, we have a bit of a problem! One could argue that the job of a hospital is to delay entry to heaven! Is there a place for the physical in our understanding of salvation?

The need to be reminded of our earthly as well as our heavenly focus has never been as urgent. In the West the Christian church has moved, in one generation, from being the most powerful voice in society to being a superseded voice at the fringes. Christendom is over. For many the church has become irrelevant. I often ask myself, Which happened first? Did the world forsake the church or did the church forsake the world? No wonder the world sees Christians as irrelevant, if everything on earth is transient.

Of course, questions abound. Didn’t Jesus say, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36)? Didn’t Paul say, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21)? Isn’t the earth going to pass away? As we trace the flow of the biblical story, we will look at broad themes, and we will stop along the way to take a closer look at some difficult passages. In all of this we will be reminded of God’s commitment to our home. After all, he made it.

It has taken me some time to get my head around how holistic God’s mission is to this world (and I certainly do not claim to have it all sorted out). Like many Western Christians, I grew up in a world of physical affluence and spiritual poverty. Everyone at my school ate three meals a day, wore shoes, and could read and write, but very few went to church. We were physically rich and spiritually poor. In a very real sense, the proclamation of the gospel addressed a spiritual need. But not all the world is like that. This truth came home to me after teaching for several years in a theological seminary in the small Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu. Most people in Vanuatu are...