The New Heaven and Earth in the Present Life Now, finally, in closing, let me state the obvious about the present life: living by faith in Jesus Christ and clinging to the promise that God will complete his work in us and renew the whole cosmos, should be absolutely central to how we view life in the present world. On the one hand, it reminds us that the new earth is our true heavenly home. We know that the music we’re born remembering and longing to hear again is a symphony we’ll hear with clarity only in the world to come. If we really believe this, we won’t demand the satisfaction from this world that God has told us we will experience only in the next world. When Jesus says “the meek shall inherit the earth,” he does mean the new earth. And so I think meditation on the future life can help us to loosen our grip on the present life, and cultivate a cross-bearing witness to Jesus. To give but one example, one that I try to tell myself everyday, I will be free to love my spouse and my children when I am not demanding that they meet my own ultimate need to be satisfied. If we demand of our loved ones now what only God will provide for us in the new earth, we put an eternal pressure on them that they can never bear. So resting in the promise of the new heaven and earth frees us to love. The present order of this world is not our heavenly home. While hope for the new heaven and earth helps us loosen our grip on the present order of things, when we believe that Jesus will one day renew all things we can also deeply appreciate this world and care for it. If we get sidetracked into the idea that the world is simply headed for destruction instead of for renewal, we treat the earth poorly and it becomes awkward to enjoy God’s blessings in this world. (Doesn’t it seem strange to appreciate and enjoy blessings that God will just ultimately destroy?) But when we look for the world’s renewal, it will be normal to celebrate every foretaste of the coming Kingdom and give thanks to God for it. At the end of Revelation 21 we learn that the “glory and honor of the nations” will be brought into the eternal kingdom of the new earth. In other words, the best of human culture will be perfected and carried into eternity. As believers in Christ who are empowered by his Spirit, we can contribute to the eternal Kingdom even now. We should engage the world and our culture with confidence that God may use us to begin the work of renewal that will endure forever. And as we proclaim the Gospel and promote beauty, justice and goodness in this world, we pull back the veil and let people catch a glimpse of the coming reign of Jesus Christ on the Earth. That is our mission in this life – to let the reign of Jesus be visible in us as individuals and as his body, the church. May he give us the grace to take it up with joyful urgency!
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 06:18:06 +0000
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