When we imagine heaven we think of somewhere remote and far away. Whether we imagine it (wrongly) as our eternal destination or (rightly) the abode of God and the angelic host, it is still somewhere of which we have no direct experience. But it is also true that we have all seen heaven, at least those familiar with the ministry of Jesus have. When Jesus began his ministry he proclaimed the arrival of the kingdom of God. Through his words and deeds people around him saw the will of God being done, God's kingdom in action. People were healed, the demons were exorcised, the lost sheep were saved. Jesus walked on the water and stilled the storm. Here, in these actions and in this man, God's kingship could be recognised. In other words what was happening around Jesus on earth was exactly the same as what happened in heaven all the time. The ministry of Jesus was 'heaven on earth', a glimpse of what the world would be like when renewed and restored at the end of history. So if we have seen Jesus we have all seen heaven, at least in sense that the kingdom of God on earth is a mirror reflection of the kingdom of God in heaven. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven", this is exactly what he had in mind, of the church on earth expressing the divine rule that takes place in heaven. 'Heaven' is not so far away after all. "Where and how will these things happen? When the earth is remade and reborn as the paradise of God. Then the meek, the powerless, the downtrodden, the victims of the ambitions and cruelty of others will inherit the earth. Their earth. The earth they were born into, the earth whose blessings they were not allowed to enjoy, the earth which was denied to them by violence and injustice. The gospel hope says nothing about going to heaven when they die. It is the earth, this earth, that is the focus of their longing and hope, and it is the earth that is the focus of God's promise and salvation. This is where the kingdom "happens" - now, through the life and work of the church of Christ, and "then" when all things submit to the will of God, when the creation will "be set free from its bondage to decay". In the meantime we wait and work and pray "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"
We are so used to thinking of salvation as "other-worldly" that is can come as quite shock to realise how obvious it is in the biblical texts themselves that salvation is precisely NOT other worldly, but very much located in and around this world. It is clear in the Hebrew bible where we read For I am about to create new heavens The promise is of a new heavens and a new earth. In other words, a new creation, just like the first, except different: a creation without the conditions for death and pain and futility. And this hope is not restricted to the Hebrew bible. We find the very same expectation expressed beautifully in the book of Revelation: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, It is precisely that theme of new creation, of a renewed, remade earth that is taken up by Paul in his working out of the cosmic dimension of Christ's death and resurrection I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8.18-25 NRSV So, throughout the bible, the hope of the godly is expressed in terms of re-creation, of new heaven(s) (where God will live) and new earth (where people will live). The difference, according to Revelation, is that in the new creation God and humankind will live together. But this is precisely the opposite way round to the way we usually imagine it. We do not go to heaven to be with God, God comes to the new earth to be with us! A gospel truthBut remarkably, we don't have to wrestle with the rich imagery of the Hebrew prophets, or the esoteric language of Paul's cosmic vision of Christ, or struggle with the apocalyptic metaphors of Revelation to see this. It is there in the gospels. It is the gospels that proclaim more clearly than anywhere else the importance of this-worldly salvation. It is remarkable that we so often miss it. The most obvious place to begin is the best known passage in the whole bible - the Lord's Prayer. ‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Where does God live? Our Father is in heaven. That is the abode, the realm of God. God, is in the heavens, which for the people of the first century AD would have been very much "above" (see the previous post The Cosmology of the Hebrew World). Where is the will of God to be done? (i.e. where are our prayers and hopes to be focused?). On earth. Our longing and prayer should be that life on the earth becomes just like it is in God's realm. The earth is the realm of human existence and life. It is here on the earth, in this world, that the struggle to live lives fully complete and in accordance with God's purpose takes place. It is this world and on this earth then that we must seek the outworking of God's rule, God's reign. In other words it is here, in this earthly dimension, that the Kingdom of God is to be sought and practiced. The kingdom of God is at the heart of the Lord's Prayer, as it is of course at the heart of Jesus' ministry. And that kingdom, the kingdom of God is very much of this world. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". The Kingdom of GodRight at the start of the first gospel, Mark's, Jesus proclaims his good news his gospel for the world After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” Mark 1.14-15 Common English Bible Jesus proclaimed the arrival of the kingdom of God ("Here comes God's kingdom"). It was the kingdom (the rule) of God that was just around the corner, that was coming, that had arrived in the person and work of Jesus. That much is made obvious from the next few verses. What does the kingdom look like? Well the reader just has to carry on reading: People are healed, the demons are cast out, the truth is preached. As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. The kingdom of God is precisely this: that the lame walk, the blind see, the lepers find healing, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor find gospel hope. This is how we know that the will, the purpose, of God is being done "on earth as it is in heaven" - that the kingdom of God is coming. And it is happening now, and it is happening here. The kingdom of God is simply that place where God's reign is experienced. The kingdom is where God is King. That seems almost too obvious to say, but it has seemed to be a an elusive truth for the church. For some reason we have pictured the kingdom as other worldly. But that's not how Jesus pictured it. Salvation is the experience of the rule of God, now. God is king in heaven. In heaven there is no disease, no blindness, no lameness, no restrictions on life caused by demonic interference. And now through Jesus that absolute conformity with the loving will and purpose of God is being revealed in the world. Heaven is coming to the earth. Those who experience Christ are being caught up into the life of heaven in the here and now. 'Till Kingdom comeJohn the baptist had also proclaimed the kingdom, but as something coming in the future, something immanent, not present with him or as far as he knew with anyone alive. As far as he saw it he kingdom was primarily about God's fiery judgement, the coming of the Gehenna of God, to root out and purify the world. He preached the coming of judgement and the need to repent. But when he heard of what Jesus was doing it seems he realised that the rule of God had come in a different way than he had imagined and he sent messengers to Jesus to find out more When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’ So, John was wrong to the think that the coming of the kingdom was exclusively a future and fiery event. Jesus points John and his followers to the experience of the kingdom, to heaven, in the present lives of those who were healed and delivered. And yet John's view was understandable. The Hebrew bible had anticipated the coming of the kingdom, the manifestation of heaven on earth, as a cataclysmic re-ordering of the cosmos at the end of history. Was it wrong to do so? No, of course not and just as Jesus was the focus of the power and life of the kingdom, he also taught that the kingdom could not be fully realised until the day when God would finally destroy all those forces and powers which opposed God's loving purpose, when the earth would be remade and evil destroyed, just as in the apocalyptic prophecies of Isaiah and others. Jesus taught that the fulfillment of that kingdom, that reign of God where God's will would be done just as it was in heaven completely, fully and without reservation, would only truly happen when he returned, in the eschaton (the end time). Jesus' message was apocalyptic, which means that the full implementation of the kingdom, the full and total rule of God as king, would require a fundamental shift in the way the world works, in the nature of reality. Jesus seems to have pointed his followers to the expectation that he would come again, and that when he did, all things would we realigned so that everything fitted with the reign of God. Then, nothing would resist the kingdom, and everything opposed to it would be rooted out and destroyed (in the Gehenna fires). The kingdom seen in and around him and his followers (the church) would then be known by the whole of reality and all mankind Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! Matthew 13.36-43 NRSV But notice that the focus of this hope is still very much on the world. The field is "the world". The Son of Man (i.e. Christ returned) will send his angels to root out the evildoers, those who resist the kingdom. The Gehenna fires will destroy all the evil that limits the full implementation of God's kingdom reign; the kingdom reign that exists in the world. Jesus promised that he would come back "in glory", to complete the work he started. The promise is not that he would take the disciples away, but rather that he would come back to restore the world to it's God-intended goodness and happiness. It is this world and its inhabitants that remain the focus of that future apocalyptic hope. It is this world, albeit remade and realigned, that is the object of Christ's redeeming power through death and resurrection. "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son". Perhaps no gospel passage sums this up better than the beatitudes in Matthew 5. There Jesus speaks of the kingdom values and "outcomes". Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: Those who hunger and thirst now for righteousness will be fed, those who mourn will be comforted and who are merciful will receive mercy. This is all about life in the kingdom, as the kingdom parentheses emphasises: The first and the last of the beatitudes proclaim that the kingdom belongs to people like this. At the beginning and the end he says of such people (those who are poor in spirit and those who are persecuted) "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". At first sight Matthew's talk about the kingdom as the kingdom of heaven can appear to go against all that I have been saying above. Because he uses the word heaven we might think (and many have) that that is where the kingdom takes place i.e. in heaven, when we die. But that is simply a way that Matthew, along with many other Jews, avoided using the word "God". It was too holy to use. Jews of that era would often use something associated with God to say "God" without actually using the word. So we read they would swear oaths by the throne of God i.e the place where God sits. Here Matthew calls the kingdom the kingdom of heaven i.e. the place where God lives. But he means exactly what Mark and Luke meant by the phrase the Kingdom. And how could it be otherwise when we have been thinking about the Lord's prayer where "thy kingdom come" means precisely "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". The key to understanding the kingdom hope is found in verse 5. Blessed says Jesus are the meek. Why? what will be their blessing? They, says Jesus shall inherit the earth. The kingdom blessings include seeing God, being filled with righteousness, being comforted, being called the children of God. Where and how will these things happen? When the earth is remade and reborn as the paradise of God. Then the meek, the powerless, the downtrodden, the victims of the ambitions and cruelty of others will inherit the earth. Their earth. The earth they were born into, the earth whose blessings they were not allowed to enjoy, the earth which was denied to them by violence and injustice. It is the earth that is the focus of their longing and hope, and it is the earth that is the focus of God's promise and salvation. This is where the kingdom "happens" - now, through the life and work of the church of Christ, and "then" when all things submit to the will of God, when the creation will "be set free from its bondage to decay". In the meantime we wait and work and pray "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" Graham Stanton and James Dunn explaining the kingdom of God in the gospels. You might also be interested in . . .
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2016
GalleryThis blog is as much about images as it is about text. Below is a slideshow of the pictures and images used in this blog. Click on any of the pictures to go to the post where that image is featured.
PostsLocating Paradise #1 In a Garden, Far, Far Away
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'
The Resurrection According to Rahner
Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #4 'And Who by Fire'
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #3: Held in the Balance
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2: Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #1: The Broad and Narrow Gates
Daily Dante 7: Many Rivers to Cross
Daily Dante 6: 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'
In Hell Everyone Can Hear You Scream. The Vision of Tundale #3
Teeth, Spikes and Cleavers: At the Sharp end of Hell. The Vision of Tundale #2
'No Pain No Gain': The Vision of Tundale #1
'Hellzapoppin':
Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #2 'It's The End of the World as We Know It (and we feel fine)'. Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #1
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #2 Blinded by the Light
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #1: Glorious and Immortal
Daily Dante 5: What the gates said.
Daily Dante 4: When I find myself in times of trouble
Daily Dante 3: I'll take you there
Daily Dante 2: Fierce creatures
Daily Dante 1: If you go down to the woods today
In Seventh Heaven or 'What Enoch Did Next'
A World of Fire and Ice: Heaven according to Enoch
The Power and the Glory: Visions of God as king in the Hebrew bible
The Beautiful Bestiary of Catherine Cleves: Monsters and Demons in detail.
Heaven is for Real: Heaven as a physical space up above the sky
Resurrecting the Dead or Reviving the Flowers? The loss of resurrection faith in Judaism.
The Defeat of Death #1: The promise of resurrection in the Isaiah Apocalypse.
The Defeat of Death #2: Death as a hostile power and promise of God's victory in Isaiah
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: The 'Last Judgement' according to Stefan Lochner
Hell in the Hospital: The 'Last Judgement' of Rogier van der Weyden in the Beaune altarpiece.
'Hell' in the New Testament #2: The gates of Hades shall not prevail
The Hours of Catherine Cleves: Imagining hell and purgatory in Catherine's prayer book
'On Earth as in Heaven': The kingdom of God as a revelation of heaven
'Hell' in the New Testament #1: Gehenna
Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version got it so wrong about hell
Heaven is not our home
Domes, Depths and Demons: The cosmology of the Hebrew world
A Bigger God
"See you in Sheol" - Sheol, the common destination of all
Heaven, Hell and Christian Hope
BooksBelow are some of the books which have helped me the most in the research and writing for this blog. Click on any image to find out more about that book at its page on Amazon uk.
Categories
All
|