For believers, death means being away from the body and at home with the Lord ( 2 Corinthians 5:68 Philippians 1:23 ). If the only point is to save souls from the wreck of the world, so they can leave and go to heaven, why bother to make this world a better place? But if God is going to do for the whole creation what he did for Jesus in his resurrection - to bring them back, here on earth - then those who have been rescued by the gospel are called to play a part, right now, in the advance renewal of the world. First, for the believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that after death believers’ souls/spirits are taken to heaven, because their sins were forgiven when they received Christ as Savior ( John 3:16, 18, 36 ). Perhaps the most important is a new, or rather very old, way of seeing the Christian mission. Historical study - reading the New Testament in its own world - thus brings surprises that can have an impact on modern Christianity, too. They are the temporary resting-place, ahead of the ultimate new creation. Paul, facing possible execution, “is to depart and be with the Messiah, which is far better.” “In my father’s house,” Jesus assured his followers, “are many waiting-rooms.” These are not the final destination. Our mission is to desire to know Him today, to strive to be with Him, to have faith in Him, and to pursue His will over our own. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring. At the end of the day, it’s less important that we know exactly what heaven and the Kingdom of God will be like than that we trust in Jesus Christ today. “Today,” says Jesus to the brigand alongside him, “you will be with me in Paradise.” “My desire,” says St. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace. But, after death and before that final reality, a period of blissful rest. What then was the personal hope for Jesus’ followers? Ultimately, resurrection - a new and immortal physical body in God’s new creation. God will then be “all in all.” It’s hard for us moderns to grasp this: so many hymns, prayers and sermons still speak of us “going to heaven.” But it makes historical sense, and sheds light on everything else. Paul, will be set free from its slavery to corruption, to enjoy God’s intended freedom. The book of Revelation ends, not with souls going up to heaven, but with the New Jerusalem coming down to earth, so that “the dwelling of God is with humans.” The whole creation, declares St. That was the lens through which they saw the hope of the world. Studying the New Testament historically, in its own world (as opposed to squashing and chopping it to fit with our own expectations), shows that the first Christians believed not that they would “go to heaven when they died,” but that, in Jesus, God had come to live with them. The early Christians picked this up: “The Word became flesh,” declares John, “and dwelt in our midst.” The word for “dwelt” means, literally, “tabernacled,” “pitched his tent” - alluding to the wilderness “tabernacle” in the time of Moses and the Temple built by Solomon. Israel’s scriptures had long promised that God would come back in person to dwell with his people for ever.
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