The End of the World

This is something I just wrote on my blog. I may be preaching to the choir here, but I am in the learning stages. Cut me some slack. I would like to hear feedback on this, whether it be misguided or right on. This is how I am beginning to understand scripture.

I always grew up believing that the world was going to end one day. Jesus is going to come back and lay utter waste to this world and everything in it. I have been challenged to examine why i believe that, and what that means for us as followers of Christ. Let’s look at some of the scripture i am wrestling with.

Romans 8: 19-21
“The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage of decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

When God liberates, like in the exodus, he doesn’t do it by destroying them. He does it by asking them to be the people God intended them to be. He restores them back. Is God liberating the world so it can be what God intended it to be? It doesn’t sound like it’s awaiting it’s destruction. It’s sounds… hopeful.

I have been trying to take a look at Revelation and I am suddenly hopeful, not afraid. I see the final judgement on Babylon and the bringing down of the nations so God can rule them with an “iron sceptor”. The beast is defeated, Satan is vanquished and the dead are judged. There are some theologians who believe that this has already happened. I haven’t made that leap yet. I understand that though and have not ruled it out. Look how this all ends.

But THEN I saw “a new heaven and a new earth”(ch. 21), for the first heaven and the first earth passed away. The Holy city of the new Jerusalem came down and a loud voice from the throne said… now check this out. this is amazing. “Look! God’s dwelling place is among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

Read Isaiah 65: 17-25

How does it “end”? With Eden restored(ch.22)! The beginning of God’s narrative starts with the fall and judgement in and on Eden. It ends with the restoration of it. It gives me hope, that God too, is restoring us. His people. We are being restored and made into God’s image, so we can live with Him in His holy city for eternity.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 2:05 pm by joe and is filed under Change, Church, End Times, The Bible, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “The End of the World”

folknotions Says:

April 12th, 2007 at 5:11 pm

http://www.trinitymennonite.com/sermonaudio.htm

This is a list of sermons from Trinity Mennonite Church in Arizona. Shane Hipps, pastor, gives sermons on the book of Revelation and challenges the traditional critique of death, judgement, and horrifying destruction. He emerges with a reading of Revelation that runs along the same line as what you are getting at, i.e., that God will come to rule among us and that all sin will pass away because the only power is God. Hence, the kingdom of heaven, or the city of God.
stevekimes Says:

July 16th, 2007 at 11:51 pm

The Bible NEVER talks about the destruction of the earth as a planet. Interestingly enough, even Genesis 1 isn’t a “new” creation ex nihilo, but is a re-shaping of the earth, which is covered in water– we know this because the waters and the earth already existed before day 1. So Isaiah 66 and Rev. 21, which mention a “new” heavens and earth are simply speaking of a re-creation of what is already here. A world without evil, a world without suffering, a world without war. A world whose structures are completely just, completely in agreement with God– God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

The idea of the world we live on being destroyed is simply a misunderstanding of the semetic concept of “new”– which does not mean “brand new”, never before existing, ex nihilo, but rather a re-creation of what already exists.

Steve K
Skylark Says:

July 17th, 2007 at 12:59 pm

It was such a revelation (pun intended) to realize it didn’t matter if or how I thought the world would end. I grew up with a Left-Behind-esque eschatology, but I was vaguely uncomfortable with this by the time I was 21. When it hit me that it didn’t matter, that I couldn’t possibly impact it either way, and chances are I wouldn’t be around for it anyway, I felt good.

I don’t immediately wonder if “The Rapture” happened and left me here if I’m expecting to see people and no one’s there. It just seems so extraneous now. I’m not halfway to a panic attack questioning if I’m “really saved” to make sure I get zapped with all the rest of the “true believers.” That’s not what Jesus was about–yes, we should do things God’s way, and we should be ready for a “thief in the night,” but not to the point of ignoring the rest of our lives as Christians.

It’s oh-so annoying to hear people talk about oppression in the world as irrelevant because “Well, Jesus is going to come back soon, and we can’t fix all that by then anyway. Let’s not even try.”