Rich
Alldritt
The story is sometimes told of a pastor who was asked the question, what he would do if he
knew Jesus was coming back in exactly seven days time? The story goes the pastor paused,
thought about the question for a while, then opened up his diary, and read out the things he
had planned! His life was already ordered and organised around this plain and great fact of
history: the return of the Lord Jesus.
On our student getaways this coming Easter (Great Escapes) we’re going to be digging into the doctrine of eschatology
(the end times). It is a somewhat neglected aspect of the gospel: often featuring last in the theology text books, or on a
list of teaching topics; a truth regularly denied or even mocked (‘the end of the world is nigh’ and all that). But having
read and thought about this subject over the last few months, I’m increasingly convinced that the doctrine of eschatology
is not just an optional-extra-add-on part of the gospel, but in fact one of the 3 or 4 most central ideas in the Bible. We’d
quite rightly take issue with someone denying the literal and physical resurrection of Jesus, or a church that marginalised
the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. I’d argue the doctrine of eschatology belongs in the same category.
Just think about it for a moment. The Bible is a story, right? And everyone knows the most important part of a story is
the ending. Every theme of any significance finds its fulfilment in the new creation; all of the great problems of this world
are solved there. Then there’s just the sheer volume of verses about the return of Jesus, pretty much every chapter of the
New Testament mentions it, and in many books it is the key driving idea. It may be possible to dodge a few stray rocks
(a handful of verses), but you can’t avoid a whole avalanche! As someone once put it, “the gospel without the new creation
is not just a gospel without the last page; it is no gospel at all.”
Of course, a biblical doctrine of eschatology utterly transforms our understanding of
the Christian life. The Bible unpacks this using the metaphor of Israel’s wilderness
experience. Just as Israel were rescued from slavery (in Egypt) and were on a journey
heading towards the Promised Land (of Canaan), we too have been rescued from
slavery (to sin and death) and are on a journey heading towards the Promised Land
(of heaven). Sometimes people object to this understanding of the Christian life on the
ground it all sounds a bit negative. Can we have something a bit more glamorous, a
bit more whizzy and a bit less pedestrian please? But that is to misunderstand the
many blessings Israel experienced in the wilderness, not least the amazing privilege
of God dwelling in their midst. It certainly wasn’t all ‘negative’. Nevertheless many of
the blessings — God’s guidance, his daily provision, his victory over their enemies —
were all given to the end of getting the people through the desert to the other side, not
of making them comfortable in the wilderness. Israel were not saved for a wilderness
existence, and neither are we.
The world seduces us into thinking that life is all about the present, but the doctrine
of eschatology reminds us that the big thing God is doing is getting his people to the
Promised
Land of heaven. Although we live here, we don’t belong here. Although this
“…the gospel without the
new creation is no gospel world is wonderful and interesting, even the most exciting things are just a shadow of
the world to come. Although there are many blessings of being a Christian now, this is
at all.”
not our final destination. Tragically, of course, the first generation of Israelites missed
out on the Promised Land. They stopped living by faith, and were seduced by the world (“we remember the fish we ate
in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.” Numbers 11:5). Following in their footsteps, we
need to learn the lessons of their mistakes. We live in the wilderness, we’re heading for the new creation, and in the
meantime we must order and organise our lives around that great future event.
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