So what does the Bible actually teach about the age to come?
In its original meaning, the Old Testament has almost nothing to say on the topic. The first meaning of the Old Testament books looked only to the ongoing extension of their present or the restoration of the near past--a cyclical view of history. When they looked for a Davidic king to come, they were waiting for a human like David to return to the throne and for the nation of Israel to regain political autonomy to its full boundaries.
Suffice it to say, Jesus was a massive upgrade from anything the Old Testament was expecting. Even the language of a new heaven and a new earth in Isaiah 66 was originally a beautiful and symbolic way of looking to God hitting the reset button on Israel as a nation. Of course there was the hope that the rest of the world would come to acknowledge YHWH as the true God as well.
There is one exception, and that is Daniel 12:2-3. For the first time, we find a clear expectation of future resurrection for at least some in the future. To be sure, we do find some figurative passages that some take to be about future resurrection (e.g., Ezek. 37). But Daniel is the only one that everyone agrees refers to a literal resurrection in the future for some of the dead, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt.
The situation is completely different in the New Testament. Paul, the earliest New Testament writer, understands Jesus' resurrection to be the first of a resurrection for all those in Christ, soon to come. Paul never speaks of heaven or hell as a place of eternal destiny. His focus is purely on a coming point in time when the dead in Christ will rise.
The "parousia" or arrival of Jesus from heaven will accompany that resurrection. On the Day of the Lord, Jesus will return to earth from heaven; the dead in Christ will rise; and the final judgment will ensue. Every knee will bow and confess Jesus as Lord--every knee on earth, every "knee" of every spiritual being in the sky, and every knee of the dead under the earth (Phil. 2:10-11).
The Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke have similar expectations. Jesus the Lord will come from heaven. Matthew has more to say about Gehenna, hell, than any other part of the New Testament. Jesus speaks in Matthew 25 of an appearance before Jesus as judge, just as Paul speaks of the judgment seat of Christ (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:10). In Matthew the "sheep" are separated from the "goats," just as in Matthew 13 the "wheat" is separated from the "weeds." Goats or weeds are both destined for "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth," the fire.
John and Hebrews believe in resurrection as well, but they are less clear on where believers will go. They seem more to picture the traditional eternity in heaven, while the Synoptic Gospels and Revelation sound more like a destiny on a restored earth. Paul also looks to the redemption of the earth from enslavement to the power of corruption.
Beyond these images, the New Testament gets more and more nebulous. We get some sense of really hard times prior to Christ's return, but the basis for such imagery seems closely tied to various events in the first century like the destruction of Jerusalem and the persecution of early Christians by various Roman imperial powers.
If the way the New Testament understands the Old Testament to be fulfilled is any indication, we won't be able to predict what will happen very well from a literal reading of the New Testament texts. Rather, fulfilments will probably make a whole lot more sense in hindsight. So since even Jesus didn't know when all these things would happen (e.g., Mark 13:32), believers should probably just keep their lamps trimmed (Matt. 25:1-13). End times speculation is a fun hobby, but one that thus far has consistently led nowhere.
More important is going about the business of loving God and our neighbors everywhere. And surely it is also in keeping with the gospel to let the Spirit work through us to see God's will done "on earth as it is in heaven," to defend the widow and the orphan, to be salt and light. God has given the world the freedom not to choose Him, but He is wooing the world to choose Him.
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2 comments:
I think apocalyptic understanding is misguided. I am leaning toward the traditional understanding of the O.T., political deliverance. Not all Jews believed in "eternal life" and I think this is wise, in that, one would live life more soberly, gratefully and fully in the present, instead of "looking forward to something" that we are not responsible for or in control of...responsibility demands that we look at life realistically, which the wisdom literature does.
May I add, as I think what I have said may offend someone, that the incarnation (Christ coming to earth) should be actualized in our understanding and life. This does not mean that we do exactly the same things as Christ, but that we understand the the transcendent is only understood in the "real world". This is a developmental view of understanding; the prophetic (fear of punishment and judgement in a causal understanding); apocalyptic (scapegoating evil, sin and death); and wisdom (recognizing self as responsible and evaluating life's choices and prioritizing them to a value system).
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