Category Archives: Bible

November 5, 2012

Have You Checked Your Filters Lately?

By David D. Flowers

I remember reading a story where a student sitting next to Albert Einstein turned to him and asked, “What do you do?” Einstein replied, “I am a student of physics. What do you do?” The student replied, “Oh, I finished studying physics last year.”

I think it’s important to be reminded that as followers of Christ, and as believers of the Scriptures that reveal Christ, we ought to see ourselves as students on a continual journey of learning and enlightenment unto Jesus—the true source of all wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:2-4).

“Disciple” means one who is a student and a learner.

The Journey of Life & Death

The Christian journey is one of multi-lane freeways, straightaway interstates, winding single-lane roads through hills and valleys, and the occasional hike off the beaten path into the mysterious unknown.

It’s a journey that recognizes that need for constant change and evolution of thought and practice. It’s characteristic of life itself. It’s built into all of creation. It shouldn’t surprise us that it’s also common to our spiritual life.

And now that Christ has promised us resurrection life, we know that death is only a part of the journey. It’s even a necessary part of our spiritual growth. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Matt 16:24-25

If we’re going to grow on this journey with Christ, we must be willing to revise, adjust, and sometimes change our views and our living based on new insights into the Lord. We’re going to have to deny ourselves.

We may even need to give up what we discover to be broken, sometimes even idolatrous, theological and biblical frameworks, and allow the Lord to give us a new vision and understanding altogether.

Are You Willing to Grow?

I’ve met many evangelicals who dislike theological challenges, even seeing them as an evil intruder seeking to demolish their faith or the faith of others. This shouldn’t be if we’re on a true journey with Christ.

I will go so far to say that if there hasn’t been a change in you and your beliefs for some time now, you’re probably not growing in the Lord to the extent he desires. Change is a part of “growing” up into Christ.

As followers of Christ, we should welcome challenges. When we’re challenged and honestly receive that challenge, it causes us to rethink and reexamine our previous beliefs and living. It’s characteristic of a living faith that is always moving forward in the Lord.

I see this as a win-win for us. You will ultimately discover that either you were on the right track with your previous belief, thereby strengthening it all the more, or you will find that your belief and practice were wrong, and correct it according to new light and understanding.

And we should never let the consequences of that change deter us from making the necessary moves toward truth that sets us free to faithfully follow Christ. If we’re out of our minds, it’s for Christ’s sake.

Check Your Filters

I have found that one of the greatest hindrances to our spiritual growth are the filters by which we perceive and judge ideas that are new to us, or that we’ve simply been told are bad for us by people in our group that we trust.

Filters are meant to screen things out that don’t belong. But the more threads or restrictions to the settings on those filters, they can actually work against you.

What happens when our filters end up collecting valuable items that are perceived as trash by the filter?

Have you ever had an important email unknowingly get collected in your SPAM box? Have you ever found a diamond ring or some other valuable item in those filters of yours? It happens.

I believe this sort of thing happens quite regularly to Christians on journey with the Lord. How does this happen to us when it comes to theological challenges? And what can be done about it?

Preunderstanding & Presuppositions

Our spiritual growth is stunted when we do not recognize how much our own cultural context and situation in life has shaped our theological perspectives. Please stop and think about this with me.

Consider this…

I’m a white Southerner. I was raised in a small East Texas town with no black people in a dry (no alcohol) county. I grew up in a fundamentalist Southern Baptist church that pledged to the Bible and the American flag during Vacation Bible School. This theological upbringing forged a commitment to reformed theology, Left Behind eschatology, and that women can’t be ministers in the church. And that’s just the beginning of it.

My wife grew up in a “King James only” congregation. This means that they only believe the “authorized” English version of the Bible should be read by Christians. Her tradition was even more dogmatic than my own. They forced girls to wear culottes at their church camps! (In case you don’t know, “culottes” are knee breeches first worn by men in the 16th century.)

Do you think these things impacted (and still impact) the way we think? Of course! And your own upbringing has shaped you as well. You need to acknowledge this if you wish to grow.

Our preunderstandings and preconceived notions that we bring to the biblical text and the Christian faith, (both consciously and unconsciously) greatly impact the way we think and live.

This preconditioning causes us to think that we already know and understand something about the Scriptures, making it harder to face the challenges that the Lord may be bringing our way to grow us spiritually.

Cultural Christianity

Our own cultural context and formation is a subtle aspect of our preunderstanding. We can easily attempt to interpret Scripture according to our cultural norms, and miss the real meaning.

For example, if Jesus said, “love your enemies” (Matt 5:38-48) but our culture has already shaped our thinking on the matter, we must immediately interpret Jesus in such a way that does not conflict with our cultural norms.

What is the norm here in America? Well, some killing and violence is acceptable as it promotes security, democracy, freedom, etc. Therefore, your filters force you to privatize and dilute the teachings of Jesus. As a result, the Bill of Rights often ends up trumping the real Jesus and the rest of the New Testament.

So much for serving two masters (Matt 6:24).

Regardless of how Jesus lives this teaching out, and the indisputable fact that for the first three hundred years of church history Christians refused military service and rejected all forms of violence, we are tempted to conform Christ to our cultural Christianity.

Duvall and Hays write in their book, Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible:

Our culture is a combination of family and national heritage. You learn it from your Mom at breakfast, from the kids on the playground at school, and from television. It is a mix of language, customs, stories, movies, jokes, literature, and national habits. For Americans it is comprised of Big Macs, Barbie Dolls, Tiger Woods, and the Back Street Boys all mixed-in with George Washington, Babe Ruth, the Mississippi River, Walmart, and the space shuttle. (pg. 89)

Did you grow up in a big city or a small town? Did you grow up Protestant, Catholic, or some other tradition? Were you exposed to other cultural and theological viewpoints growing up? Have you ever spent any time outside of North America? Did you grow up in a healthy family? Were you rich or poor? Was your dad around? Did he show you love?

As it pertains to “love your enemies”… how often were you taught the teachings of Jesus in his historical context and shown how to live them out in your own? And I don’t mean the American Jesus version.

All of these things (and much more) matter when it comes to our cultural Christianity and learning how to navigate in the world on our faith journey. They add to the prefiguring of the settings on our filters.

For better or worse, our cultural context shapes our biblical worldview.

I don’t believe that everything we’ve ever been taught is entirely wrong, but we do need to recognize that our traditions and influences (good or bad) have added to the settings on our own filters.

Our preconceived ideas and our cultural baggage often keep us from knowing the first-century, olive-skinned, Palestinian, construction worker from Nazareth, that believed he was the Messiah foretold by the prophets. 

Remaining Objectively Honest

It is true that being totally objective in biblical interpretation and in our Christian walk is impossible. However, simply being aware of our cultural upbringing and the filters that our own traditions have prefigured for us will help us to look afresh at the ancient Scriptures and consider how we might better follow the counter-cultural Christ in our own context.

I do believe that some basic historic presuppositions and settings on our filters should be used when choosing to walk the Jesus way. I recommend the historic Christian creeds, like the Apostles Creed.

This confession leads us to embrace the Scriptures as inspired testimony about God’s work in the world through Jesus of Nazareth.

Beyond this general confession of our faith in Christ, we ought to be open and honest with other brothers and sisters in pursuit of Jesus. In fact, Christians ought to be leading the world in exploration of wisdom and knowledge. We know the Source. What are we afraid of anyway?

This is only possible by being mindful of the filters guarding our hearts and minds. And adjusting those filters when it’s necessary for further growth.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and with one another. We have all been conditioned to read the Scriptures and follow Christ according to our own traditions and cultural norms. Have you checked your filters lately?

How have your filters been prefigured for the Christian life? What is stopping you from reconsidering certain challenges to your theological and biblical worldview? Pray the Lord will help you grow.

D.D. Flowers, 2012.

13 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Bible, Christianity, Culture, Deeper Christian Life, Theology

November 2, 2012

The Rapture Fallacy

By David D. Flowers

If you have been following my posts here at the blog, you know that last month I began addressing “rapture” theology that has permeated American evangelicalism over the last century.

I’m confronting rapture theology head on because I think it has obstructed the gospel of the Kingdom that Christ proclaimed. In fact, it distorts the unique Christian hope, thereby influencing the way in which we evangelicals think and live in the world today.

I do affirm the orthodox teaching of the church that there will be a literal return of Christ. It completely bewilders me how anyone could deny this essential doctrine of the early church (Matt 24:36-42; Mk 13:26-37; Phil 3:20; 1 Thess 4:13-18; 2 Peter 3:8-10, Rev 22:20-21 etc.).

So while I do believe in the bodily return of Christ, I do not believe in the “dispensational” timetable of the end times—which has only recently (in the last century or so) been elaborately constructed by cutting and pasting verses together, and mishandling apocalyptic texts to promote something foreign to the NT apostolic hope for the future.

In the next few posts on this topic, I will deal with key “end times” verses that I believe have been mishandled, thus enabling the propagation of bad theology. This has major implications for our understanding and practice of the gospel, and our expectations for the future.

I have expressed here, here, and here that there are many good reasons to question the legitimacy of the popular Left Behind version of the future.

If you haven’t seen it already, please watch this short video on the history and influence of rapture theology in American evangelicalism.

The Situation & Context

I’ll go out on a limb here (though not a very long limb) and say that rapture theology is entirely based upon Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

Let’s first begin with what I believe to be the foundation stone of this popular teaching. If we’re going to examine a verse or two of Scripture, it’s always best to read the surrounding verses in context. So, let’s do that first.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV) reads:

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

It should be understood that Paul is writing in response to the confusion among the believers in Thessalonica. They apparently were led to believe that Christians who had died before the return of Christ would miss out on the Kingdom being fully realized on the earth.

Paul is correcting their theology and assuring them in the hope that the “dead in Christ will rise first” (v.16).

The main point of this passage is that the dead will not miss out on the resurrection. They will participate in God’s final victory. They are not lost. Christ will raise them up on the last day.

Now let’s look at the metaphors Paul uses to paint an altogether familiar, albeit ancient picture of a king returning in victory as a conquering hero.

The “Rapture” Proof-Text

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  1 Thess 4:16-17

I will grant that it’s entirely understandable how, without any background knowledge of ancient literature and the common use of biblical metaphors, that a person could see a “rapture” idea.

But keep in mind, what may seem like a “plain” reading to our modern eyes, is not necessarily a plain reading to the ancient reader.

What did this imagery mean to Paul’s readers? The only way to get at Paul’s meaning is to recognize the metaphors he is using here.

You really need to have some knowledge of OT word pictures, first century ideas of imperial coronations (crowning of kings), and an awareness of second temple Judaism to understand the imagery Paul uses in this passage.

The church can’t be reminded enough that the Scripture is an ancient text that does often require help from trained individuals who have spent a great deal of their time studying the ancient literary and cultural context of the biblical world. Some have been trained better than others.

That isn’t to say that formal study guarantees correct interpretation. But it does mean that the ancient world is not the modern world. Therefore, an intimate knowledge of ancient literary genres and styles are necessary for getting closest to the original intent of the author.

Do you want someone performing open-heart surgery on you that has no real training and relies on the Holy Spirit’s guidance alone? Not very comforting is it? Let’s not set formal training up against the Spirit.

Mixing the Metaphors

The language of Jesus coming on clouds and everyone going up to meet him, should not be understood literally, but should instead be seen as a powerful image of divine kingship.

In the first century, kings would return to the city victorious from battle and be paraded back into his city.

You will recall that they actually did this to Jesus on Palm Sunday. The striking contrast is that Jesus was riding on a donkey, not a white horse; he didn’t have an army, only a hopeful crowd of peaceful followers and fans.

Now that’s saying something!

The trumpets blasting indicate a victorious procession and anthem upon Christ’s return (v. 16). The clouds should rightfully be understood as exalting Christ as divine. In both the Old and New Testaments the cloud(s) speak of divinity—God’s presence.

You see this with the cloud by day which led the Hebrews out of Egypt, the cloud on Mt. Sinai that surrounded Moses when receiving the Law, the clouds of the Son of Man in Dan 7:13, the cloud enveloping Jesus during his transfiguration, and now here with the return of Christ.

Jesus will literally “come down from heaven” (God’s space), not literally float down from cumulus clouds, but a hidden dimension altogether.

The purpose of the dead rising to “meet the Lord in the air” is to mix the metaphors (as it were) in presenting this picture of a divine king coming to his city and being paraded back (to earth in this case) by his people. It’s a beautiful image that ancient readers would have understood.

Christ’s return is literal, but the imagery being used is not to be taken literally.

The authors and readers of the NT would have understood this. They communicated great mysterious truths (especially future events) in this fashion and weren’t bothered by it like 21st century American Christians who tend to think that the literal reading is always the right one.

Rapture theology distorts this imagery by reading it literally and emphasizing the rapio (latin: “to be caught up”) in order to promote an escapist view of the future. The promise of the Lord has always been to renew this earth, not destroy it to steal us away somewhere else.

The imagery Paul is using here is consistent with the biblical covenants, promises, and hope for the future of God’s good world. This is what all Jews, including Jesus, were expecting. The Kingdom of God was going to come to earth in one cosmic event on the last day.

Meaning & Original Intent

Paul is meaning to say that Jesus (king) will return victorious, and like a king coming into his kingdom, we will usher him back to the city (earth) and reign with him forever. As he says, “So shall we be with the Lord forever.”

The literary context dictates these things.

Therefore, the original intent of human language, in the ancient situation and context, is what makes the difference here.

Unfortunately, ignorance of the metaphors and Paul’s deliberate use of over-the-top language in 1 Thess 4:16-17 is why most evangelicals react with such frustration at someone claiming that the literal reading is a mistake.

It has only been translated literally by those who are unfamiliar with the metaphor(s) in the text and by defenders of an escapist view of the future.

As I said before, learning and study is required in reading this ancient text. Meaning isn’t always floating on the surface. Sometimes you have to dig down deeper so you can appreciate the context, the language of the biblical writers, and their methods of communicating ideas.

Let’s be honest, many Christians don’t like to be reminded of that. I suppose this skepticism toward in-depth “Bible study” is born from sheer laziness, anti-intellectualism, or pure dogmatism and fundamentalism.

I’m not sure which.

Either way, we can do better. We must do better.

The Second Coming of Christ

How then do I envision Christ’s literal parousia (coming)? Honestly, I don’t know exactly. And I’m not too sure that the apostles knew either. I think that’s why they use metaphors to describe it.

They are essentially saying this:

“When Christ returns, it will be like a king returning from battle in triumph to his city. We will all go out to meet him and celebrate his arrival. Then at last we shall live with our king forever on the earth.”

Paul mixes the metaphors of clouds (divinity) and meeting in the air (exalted and caught between heaven and earth) for obvious reasons. This is no human king. This is the divine Son of Man (Dan 7:13).

Throw in the resurrection of the dead in this meeting of the Lord and you have a beautiful way of talking about something mysterious and unknown to any man on this planet. What a glorious sight soon to behold!

All of this is lost when you force a literal interpretation.

So, I’ll stick to the metaphors and imagine that whatever it’s going to be like, it will be greater than the metaphors themselves.

For no eye has seen nor ear has heard what the Lord has in mind for those who await his coming (1 Cor 2:9).

Therefore, I believe the NT only recognizes the imminent “second” return of the Lord Jesus to establish his Kingdom on the earth forever without end.

Based on this reading of the biblical text, I think we can safely say that you cannot build a rapture theology from 1 Thess 4:16-17.

D.D. Flowers, 2012.

Suggested Reading:

24 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Bible, Church, Eschatology, Theology

October 31, 2012

Empire: A Home For Demons

By David D. Flowers

I think there are some obvious reasons why American evangelicals have essentially ignored the politically subversive nature of the New Testament. If it weren’t being done in our churches, there would be no way to continue the quest for politics and also to follow the Jesus revealed in the Gospels.

In Luke 8:26-39, we read the Lucan account of the demonized man by the seashore. Like the temptations of Christ in Matthew 4:1-11, I believe this is yet another episode of Jesus’ encounter with evil that is typically read without any concern for its political ramifications.

Let’s look at the account again.

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 

The demons intentionally reveal themselves to be like 6,000 Roman soldiers (a “legion” at full-strength). “Legion” isn’t merely used to say, “There are lots of us, Jesus.” Instead, I’m persuaded to believe that Jesus casting out “Legion” is an indirect attack on Roman imperial power.

I’m not satisfied with the idea that this was just some random name this naked, demonized man came up with during his stay in the nearby tombs. The gospel writers either inserted “Legion” for literary effect, or it really happened this way. Think about it.

What happens after this exorcism? Jesus casts “Legion” into the pigs, an unclean animal according to the Hebrew Scriptures. Every Jewish reader would have picked up on this. The pigs then run into the sea. This reminds me of Pharaoh and his legions. They too were swallowed up in the sea.

In the book of Revelation, John alludes to OT verses and imagery throughout his vision. And it appears that he might even have in mind the episode with Jesus and “Legion” as he writes Revelation 19:19-21:

“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.  But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.”  

John was exiled to the island of Patmos due to his radical views. And the only way to write a final word of encouragement to Christians with the vision he received was to write in code.

It was very appropriately done in apocalyptic fashion.

In the context of the first century, the “Beast” or “Babylon” is clearly a reference to Rome. I think further application has Rome representing the power of the kingdoms of the world in every generation. This “Beast” is cast into a sea of fire along with the rest of those who worship him.

“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!  She has become a home for demons… for all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries… Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.” Revelation 18:2-5

I encourage you to read all of Revelation 18. It has to be one of the most sobering chapters in all of Scripture. It stands as a warning to all empires, and to the church that lives in them during the present evil age.

Finally, let’s look at the rest of the story and find application for our own situation. Luke 8:34-39 reads as follows:

When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off, reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear.  

I think those who were fearful of Jesus’ actions were disturbed by the implications of this exorcism. This was not the work of a traveling magician. This is the rumored Messiah from Nazareth performing “signs and wonders” that rebuked the powers that be.

Jesus has given us the meaning behind his excorisms.

“But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”  Matthew 12:28

The casting out of “Legion” is a clear expression of Messianic opposition to all worldly kingdoms, especially that of empire. The Kingdom of God is arriving on the earth. Not even demonized men in caves can hide from it.

It’s time to connect the dots here.

Everyone in this account of the demoniac man understood the actions of Jesus. Have evangelicals embraced this story for what it might say to the American empire? Have we fully embraced the Kingdom of God with all of its meaning for our lives? I honestly don’t think we have.

Ask yourself, “What kind of people would fear Messiah Jesus?”

I submit to you that it’s those who have made their home in an empire intoxicated with the maddening wine of demons. It’s the lovers of empire that fear when they see that the Kingdom of God has come to town.

They are the ones who fear the loss of imperial comfort and prosperity—built on the backs of slaves, and maintained through lies, idolatry, greed, and violence. They scramble to hold onto this demonic deception.

Those who identify with Caesar are troubled. But we who belong to Christ ought not fear. For we have a better and lasting possession. King Jesus has promised to cast out empire from the earth—those kingdoms which are merely a demonic parody of the radical Kingdom of God.

Only then will the world know true justice, peace, and freedom.

This is a Kingdom that comes—indeed is already coming—which overcomes in Calvary-like living. It wins by dying, not by killing. It is not advanced through political agendas and power-over methods of coercion. Instead, it calls us to trust in power-under, not power-over.

Brothers and sisters, cast out the demons of empire by embracing the way of the cross. Christ calls us to live, love, bleed, bear, and forgive. And be willing to die for the beauty of the upside-down Kingdom.

Because resurrection belongs to those who choose the way of the Kingdom.

D.D. Flowers, 2012.

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Bible, Faith & Politics, Historical Jesus, Theology

October 24, 2012

Then the End Will Come

By David D. Flowers

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  Matthew 24:14 (NIV)

As far as I can tell, this is as close as Jesus comes to pinpointing the time of his return. The entire chapter of Matt 24 is Jesus responding to the question, “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age” (v.3)? Jesus will list a number of different signs, but makes it clear that it’s ultimately the Father’s business as to when the Son of Man will return (v.36).

I think there is a great deal of confusion among evangelicals as to what the church should expect to happen before and leading up to Christ’s return. Much of this bewilderment concerning eschatology is due to sloppy hermeneutics and the propagation of bad theology.

While I’m not proposing that there isn’t any mystery surrounding the last things, I am saying that rapture theology has grossly distorted Jesus’ gospel message, and NT expectations of a hopeful future for the earth.

Let me break it down.

The “gospel of the kingdom” is not simply a message that Jesus will forgive your sins so that you don’t have to go to hell when you die. This is only part of the good news message, and even this bit is often distorted in the process of marketing the gospel to a consumer culture through fear mongering.

The gospel is frequently reduced down to personal salvation, with no understanding of what it means to be a disciple and a citizen of the Kingdom of God. I highly recommend Scot McKnight’s book The King Jesus Gospel.

The good news of the Kingdom goes beyond the message of Christ’s death on the cross for atonement of our sins (justification). It’s about new life in the here and now (sanctification), and it’s about the future resurrection of the dead along with the restoration of God’s good earth (glorification).

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…” Rev 21:1

We are not bound for an eternity in heaven. Can we please stop saying this? Pop-culture Christianity is obsessed with heaven in neo-Gnostic fashion. What is going on? The apostolic hope was not life after death in heaven, but what N.T. Wright calls, “life after life-after-death.”

The NT is clear that we (believers) will be resurrected on the last day to inherit a renewed creation. This is never called heaven. It’s called the new heaven and earth, the New Jerusalem come to earth (Rev 21).

This is the Christian hope: resurrection of the dead and renewal of the earth.

The good news is about the Kingdom, the reign and rule of God on the earth. Jesus calls it the “gospel of the kingdom” because he envisions that his Father will bring heaven and earth together in a new reality of his perfect reign. And why wouldn’t he? Jesus prayed “your kingdom come… on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

This has always been the biblical expectation of the future (Isa 65:17). Israel expected God’s reign on the earth through Messiah (Dan 7:13-14). And the apostles believed that future had broke through into the present with Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus has inaugurated the Kingdom and will soon bring about its consummation in his parousia (coming).

Then he will sit on David’s throne forever (Isa 9:6-7).

We can see this coming together of heaven and earth in the resurrected body of Jesus. He was the firstborn of this new creation. His resurrection is the marriage of God’s space (heaven) and our space (earth). His glorified body resembles something of our present world, but it’s also something very different, i.e. the resurrected Jesus walked through walls!

The disciples couldn’t even find adequate words to describe the great mystery that had been revealed in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Rethinking the “Gospel of the Kingdom”

So, what is the gospel? It’s not about an escape from the world for a spiritual existence in white clouds with naked babies playing harps. It’s about God having his way in this world through his church, born out of his Son.

We will not be secretly whisked away to another planet on the other side of the cosmos. Some folks have flattened out the biblical metaphors and abused this apocalyptic vision. God will not literally destroy the earth; he will purify it with his holy fire and winnowing fork.

All those who reject the Kingdom now will not receive resurrection in their bodies for God’s resurrected world that is coming. They will be left outside the city that God will build (Rev 21:27).

Pay careful attention to this truth. It’s those who are righteous that are “left behind” (Matt 24:38-41). The wicked will not inherit the earth. They will be swept away in a flood of judgment.

The “gospel of the kingdom” is about all things being conformed to Christ (Rom 8:29). He is the second Adam, the true Israelite, the new human, and the image of God on the earth. The Lord desires that the image of his Son be reflected in all the earth. This means not only proclaiming a message about Christ, but living out the Kingdom and calling others to do the same.

This gospel of the Kingdom always looks like Jesus—loving, serving, suffering, dying, and rising for his neighbor and his enemies.

Therefore, the preaching of the good news is also action. It’s the manifestation of God’s good will upon the earth. When this is lived out through humans, it looks like Jesus among us.

This “gospel of the kingdom” will be known throughout the whole world before the end of the age—not the end of the space-time continuum. The NT speaks of the end of the present evil age that is marked by sin and death. It’s that age that will come to an end when the “gospel of the kingdom” is realized. The new “eternal” age is the world set to rights at last.

What then does this mean for the church?

It means that the Lord actually expects a great level of the Kingdom to be manifested on the earth through Christian living. He wants to work through free human agents that have surrendered to his will. He will not force himself upon this world. That’s not the way of Christ.

The God we see in Jesus invites us to his table. He calls us to do his work. He wants us to participate in God’s saving act of creation. He waits for a church that cries out for the Kingdom on behalf of the world. The nature of this future is open (to some extent) and full of possibilities!

Christ’s return is mysteriously bound up with our participation in the gospel of the Kingdom. Since the good news of the Kingdom is that God will restore the earth for his resurrected people, we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor 15:58).

We are not tilling a garden today only for it to be paved over with concrete tomorrow. We are not working a field that will be burned up in a cosmic wildfire. What we do for Christ and his Kingdom is one more brick in the building he is erecting on this earth. It matters. It counts.

You matter. You count.

Dear brothers and sisters, let’s speed the coming of Christ (2 Pet 3:12) by proclaiming and acting out God’s beauty and justice on the earth through creative expressions of resurrected living.

Let us imagine what it would look like if God were running the show, and work out our salvation in hopeful expectation of a new world.

Until the whole earth cries out: “thy Kingdom come!”

D.D. Flowers, 2012.

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