Surprised by Hope

It's been a while, but I just finished reading another great book.  "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church," by N.T. Wright is a book that firstly looks at the question of heaven.  The inside flap of the cover says, "For years Christians have been asking, 'If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?' It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer.  It is not heaven."

It's a provocative book from the start.  Right away I thought the title should be changed to "Rediscovering Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church."  While many of the ideas presented may seem new to Western Evangelicals, they are, as Wright argues, the beliefs of Jesus, the New Testament and the early church.  Wright is not breaking new ground completely as much as helping the church understand what was intended by the resurrection language of the New Testament writers.

Wright argues that when we die we our souls receive rest and refreshment in the presence of God.  Perhaps you can call it heaven, but it is only the first part of a two stage process.  He discusses the current view of disembodied souls going to an other-worldly heaven as a current form of Gnosticism which believes that matter is essentially evil.  Wright suggests that the true hope of Christians is not in our souls leaving this place and the earth being destroyed by God in favor of a matter-less heaven.  What the New Testament, Jesus and the early church were far more interested in was the Resurrection and restoration of the created order.  God created a good creation in the beginning and his goal is to redeem and restore not to destroy that creation.  Ultimately the hope of Christians is that of a bodily resurrection and restoration of creation when Christ returns to fulfill and complete his kingdom on earth which has already begun.

Wright combats the gnosticism of current views of heaven as well as the escapist rapture theology made popular in American Evangelical circles by Hal Lindsay (Late, Great Planet Earth) and the Left Behind books and movie series.  In these views God will destroy the created order and whisk his chosen to a heaven somewhere else.  Wright suggests that heaven is not really somewhere else, but that the realms of heaven and earth can be thought of as concentric circles with the goal of one day heaven and earth becoming fully visible to one another.

Wright briefly discusses purgatory and hell.  He tears down the traditional idea of purgatory and says little about hell.  He leaves room for a final judgement, but casts judgement in a positive light as the wrongs of the world are made right.  Judgement is not primarily a vindictive act.  Rather the longing for judgement throughout the Bible is for God to correct the wrongs of the world.

In the end, Wright talks about how our hope for the resurrection and restoration as God's "kingdom comes on earth as in heaven" affects our thinking of salvation (no more eyes closed, hand raised magical "sinner's prayer"), building of the kingdom and mission of the church.

There's a lot in this book and too dense for such a short summary.  Go read the book.  It's great stuff.  The conclusion is that this life matter so much more than most Western Evangelicals want to admit.  Christians have a responsibility to seek Justice, Beauty and Evangelize (bear witness to the true hope of the Gospels and live as colonists of the kingdom now).  Wright believes that the things we do to reveal and expand the kingdom not only in human lives, but in the whole created order as well, will somehow be carried over in a redeemed state into God's marriage of heavens and earth.  Christians have a responsibility to care for the justice of the outcast and poor.  We have a responsibility to care for creation and help to see it restored.

Wright voices many of the concerns I've had in the last few years of pop-Christianity and its love affair with escapism and reducing the human being to a disembodied soul.  How can God look down at Creation and declare everything "good" only to have us believe that Revelation is about God destroying that good creation.  Wright points out that the final picture of the Revelation of John the Seer is of heaven coming down to earth and God making his dwelling among man.  It's described as a great wedding between heaven and earth that were made for one another.   Go Read this Book!

The Kingdom

I haven't written in quite a while.  I've had a lot of stuff happening in the Grove and out.  I haven't been idle , however.  Recently I've been hearing so much talk about "The Kingdom."  It's a phrase we often use in Christianity.  I've heard and read it in different contexts and with different ideas as to what the Kingdom is. A few weeks ago I decided to start studying what the Bible has to say about The Kingdom.  I have been looking so far at the New Testament.  I have my own ideas but part of what's great about the internet and social media is the ability to interact on ideas with different people.  So this post is as much to get feedback and comments as much as tell you what I think.  So here goes...

I'm going to start with the Synoptic Gospels and add the rest of the New Testament over the next couple weeks.  I started by going to biblegateway.com, typing in "Kingdom" into the search and then noting every mention of the Kingdom in reference to the rule of God/Jesus.  The question I had going into this was, "Is the Kingdom primarily a future destination or a present reality?"  In other words should I be waiting to go to the Kingdom, or participating in the Kingdom that has already started.  I must confess by bias going into the study.  No one just reads the Bible and does what it says, even if that's what they claim.  We all interpret because we all come carrying our own baggage when we read the text.  We also have 2000 years of history to overcome to get to the original text.  I'm also reading an English NIV Bible so interpretation is just part of life.

One of the first things I noted looking through Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Synoptic Gospels) is the language used.  Matthew calls it "the Kingdom of Heaven" while the other two call it "the Kingdom of God."  Matthew is writing primarily to a Jewish audience who would not even write the name of God let alone speak it.  Mark and Luke, however, write to a more Gentile audience who are alright with writing God.  The three writers are all talking about the same thing as evidenced by the similarities in stories.  Matthew's "Kingdom of Heaven" is not so much a statement about the geography of the kingdom as it is where the Kingdom comes from, where its authority originates.

Matthew 5 (Sermon on the Mount) speaks of the characteristics of the kingdom.  The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 Jesus says, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  I'm no Greek scholar, but my question here is if Jesus is asking for only God's will to be done on earth, or if he is also asking for the kingdom to come to earth as well.  Luke simply writes "Your Kingdom come."
There are several clear references to the Kingdom in the future but there are also references to the Kingdoms existence and presence now.  Jesus says in Matthew 6:32-34 (Luke 12:30-32) "Seek first His Kingdom."  I would assume Jesus is not telling them to seek the Kingdom unless the Kingdom has already broken in on the world.  Matthew 16:27-28, Mark 9:1-3 and Luke 9:26-28 Jesus says that some in the group listening to him will not die before they see the kingdom come.  The original audience to which Jesus spoke expected to see the Kingdom.

This is a start.  Enough to introduce the study and get me thinking.  Some theologians refer to the kingdom as "already but not yet."  The Kingdom has started and we can see glimpses of it but it is obviously yet to be completed.  I'm open to discussion, criticism, or other comments.  In the coming weeks I'll write some more about the Synoptic Gospels, look at the few references in John, take a look at Paul's view and lastly do a little with Revelation (although that's a whole other study that I've started).