October 26, 2006
This world is not my home, or is it?
So what will happen at the end of time with this old earth? I grew up thinking, I think being subversively (I don't rememeber anyone ever overtly teaching about this) taught that when Jesus came back it'd be the end of this world. Even many of the uses of the word "world" in church circles are often negative. I remember one preacher saying, in an negative rant against those attempting to suggest that part of the churches' stewardship is the care of the earth, "if they think we're ruining the earth, wait 'till they see what God's going to do to it." I think hinting at a Appocalyptical destruction of this earth, as part of God's judgment on sin.
On a short tangent, the Bible says that in the end there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Does that mean that the present heaven will also be done away with? Or does new mean something different than just another instead of this one?
Three trains of thougth at reshaping my thoughts on this whole matter (I know pastors only think in threes). One, does Jesus death have implications beyond securing, for some individuals, a spot in the eternal worship service in the sky? Two, what is "all" creation groaning for, as in the pains of childbirth? Three, when Jesus says, in the new beginning, "behold, I am making 'all' things new. What does all entail?
Okay, not enough room to go on all the rabbit trails I've been on, and will probably continue to be on myself. But I'll just leave some thoughts.
One, Jesus' death has much bigger implications than just the securing of a spot for me a place in the eternal worship service in the sky, sometime in the distant or imminent (depending how you see it) future. And the Scriptures seem to suggest that at least part of that implication seems to have to do with the redemption of "this old/young" earth.
Two, maybe St. Franicis did have it right. He preached to creatures because he believed Jesus' death had at it's heart the redemption of not just individuals, but all of creation. I think he missed something, but that's my opinion. Still, I think his point was right, Jesus' death will mean that creation, this one right here, the one that he said was "good" to begin with, is something that will be redeemed and made new. New in the same way that we will be made new; redeemed, reclaimed, and given new meaning and purpose.
Three, ok, I just suggested as much, but when Jesus said, LOOK, I am making "all" things new. I think this earth that many of us sing, is not our home, is part of the "all" Jesus was talking about. Yes, I'm suggesting that this "good" earth, will be around for a long time, because Jesus died so that it, too, could be redeemed from the destruction of sin. In this sense, 'new' is beyond what we might be able to even imagine right now. Just like when we're made new what we will be might be something that today we wouldn't even recognize as ourselves in a mirror. In being made new, this earth might undergo redemptive changes too.
I'm sure this will all sound rather simplistic and not theological sound enough. Still, what it does mean to me, is that what you and I do right now and in the future in relationship to and with this earth is of eternal spiritual significance.