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The Return
of the King
Shalom Restored . . .
On Earth As It Is in Heaven
Session 13
worship and prayer
Today we still are part of this seventh episode, during which God
continues to call people to join his side in the fight against evil somewhere
out there and within our own hearts. Indeed, we have come to understand
that following Jesus implies making his mission our own and advancing
Shalom wherever and however we can. is is how far we have gotten
with God’s story. At this point we may still ask ourselves though: “But
where will it all end? Will our efforts really make a difference?” Indeed,
“Where is the universe going and how does God’s story with the world
finally end?” “Will Shalom be restored on earth?” “Will everyone
participate in God’s kingdom of Shalom, or will some remain outside of
it?” “What will those of us who have been saved do throughout eternity?”
“What was your overall reaction to the article(s)? What did you think of
it (them)?”
At this point I’d like you to go into the same groups of 4-5 people and
share with those in your group your answers.
Divide students into the same groups from last week of four to six and select a
leader for each group. If the class is small, do not divide. Ask students to share
and summarize the answers to the five questions they wrote into their journals.
Walk around and listen to groups. Select one or two student to report to the
entire class on the questions (project questions on PowerPoint).
e article ended on the note that in order for urban ministry workers,
pastors and any Christians to maintain hope and faith in their city or
national ministries, they need to develop and tenaciously hold onto God’s
vision for the city, nation and world – a vision that is based on the biblical
message that God and God’s church will someday win and that this world
will someday be renewed and restored to its original purpose!1 Because
the early Christians held onto this hope, they were able to face sporadic
persecutions and eventually overcome the Roman Empire – which John
aptly called “Whore of Babylon”.
So what exactly forms part of this hope? What really does the Bible say
about the future?
In the meantime he is present with us, but hidden behind that invisible
veil which keeps heaven and earth apart, and which we pierce in those
moments, such as prayer, worship, the reading of Scripture, and our work
with the poor, when the veil seems particularly thin. But one day the veil
will be lifted; earth and heaven will be one; Jesus will be personally present
to judge the living and the dead, and every knee shall bow at his name;
creation will be renewed; the dead will be raised; and God’s new world will
at last be in place, full of new prospects and possibilities. is is what the
Christian vision of salvation is all about.4
In what follows we will look at what this means concretely for the future
of our world, the future of God’s people, and the future of those who have
rejected God.
(In case certain participants refer to 2. Peter 3:7-17, Matthew 24, or Mark 13
for texts that seems to contradict the interpretation above, explain how these
texts fit within this interpretive framework. Also refer to the article “Will the
Earth Be Destroyed? Conflicting Interpretations” for further insights into these
particular passages).
Remember that it was never God’s intention that humans would live and
work in heaven; humans were created for earth. True, Paul seems to say in
2 Corinthians 5:1-9 and Philippians 1:23 that he understands the
believers’ desire to escape from the groans, burdens and suffering of their
earthly existence. He too would rather leave behind his earthly, temporal
tent and dwell in an edifice which is from heaven; from God, and not
made by hands. However, he also understands that he and other believers
are called to remain in this body for the time being to advance the
Kingdom of God, living by faith – not by sight. e good news is that all
believers have already received a down payment for their new edifice from
heaven in the form of the Holy Spirit. is initial payment ensures that
God will make good on his promise. Interestingly, while Paul himself
yearns to leave behind his earthly body, his choice is not the gnostic one—
that is, to escape the body by sloughing it off. Humans do not have bodies
that can be “taken off,” leaving behind some untarnished inner entity (e.g.,
the soul, as in much of second-century and some modern versions of
Christianity). In fact, Paul’s choice is that “we might be further clothed
(not unclothed), so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life”. For
Paul, then, the alternative is not bodily existence versus life without a body,
but bodily life if a higher order, untouched by death.30
For Jesus, Paul and many of their Hebrew contemporaries, then, the
ultimate hope beyond death was not to live forever in a timeless
disembodied state away from the earth. Instead, they anticipated
resurrection, an embodied state within this creation in a new era or age
when present wrongs would be made right. While death marked the end
of earthly life, it did not mark the end of personal existence. rough
death God retained the personhood of the dead until the eschatological
judgment. At that point they reappeared with the marks of personal
continuity – bodily identity, memory, and similarity of character and
mental characteristics – intact.34 e goal of our hope, it follows, is the
resurrection, not an intermediate state. e resurrection, not death of
one’s body, is the doorway to participation in the fullness of God’s
Kingdom.
is does not mean that the dead immediately experience the resurrection,
however. So what happens in the time between our death and our
resurrection? e biblical authors offer only sketchy information regarding
this question. Describing where and what you are in that interim period is
difficult, and for the most part the New Testament writers don’t try.35 Two
particular theories have gained wide acceptance in the evangelical
community, though none can point to conclusive biblical authority:
Indeed, all of the passages we studied seem to indicate God has made us
to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and that we will reign on
earth. One would expect that the texts would have said that God would
reign forever. Instead they state that the people of God – millions upon
millions of people – will reign together with God. In God’s new world,
thus, those who belong to the Messiah will be placed in charge. Again,
God isn’t going to raise you from the dead just to live with Him forever
and play the harp in heaven’s orchestra or sing alto in heaven’s choir. He’s
Have groups display their poster boards where they can be seen (wall, etc.) and
report their findings to the large group. Facilitate discussion. Use PowerPoint
to summarize or reinforce key points after all groups have shared, as needed.
Have a participant finally read the conclusion to Group Study 2.
So I can imagine God saying to someone, ‘Well done! You have lived
well! You helped the story advance toward my creative dreams. You fed
the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed in the lonely, visited the
prisoners, shared your bread with the poor, shared the good news of the
Kingdom. Wherever you went, you contributed love and peace, generosity
and truth, courage and sacrifice, self-control and justice, faithfulness and
kindness. You enriched the story, enhanced its beauty and drama and
nobility. Y ou have become someone good and beautiful and true. Your
unique, creative contributions will never be forgotten, and even the
smallest act of kindness will be eternally celebrated, rewarded. After
naming and forgiving and forgetting your many faults and failures, I see so
much substance to your character, so much to cherish, so much of value,
and it will now be set free, given a new beginning in my new creation.
You have an eternal place in my story. Y ou have been harvested from this
creation, and now you will enter into the joy of the new creation.48
How would God respond to someone who has not done so well: God
might say, ‘Sadly, your contributions have been neutral or negative. You
have added more pain and selfishness, more dishonesty and coldness, more
greed and disharmony and clutter into the story. I tried in every way
possible to get through to you, but you wouldn’t respond to my grace.
For the enemies of God, then, – those who consistently reject his vision
for this world and their lives – the final judgment will result in exclusion
from community with their Creator and his kingdom of Shalom.50 God
will judge them! He will judge them as a judge, who allows those who
consistently reject his invitation to advance Shalom on earth, to live a
destiny without Shalom; allowing the oppressors and wicked to reap their
own oppression and injustice. In this way he will establish and uphold
justice on earth.51
e state they will enter into after their exclusion from God’s kingdom,
the Bible calls “hell”. While many people are already living in a type of
hell – with lack of love, hope, in brokenness and desolation – the hell the
biblical story speaks of is a state of utter and self-inflicted separation from
God’s presence. Now, there are different interpretations as to how we
should understand hell.
Everlasting Torment: Some read the biblical text and take certain scripture
passages very literally, saying that those condemned to hell will suffer
eternally, with no relief, in full consciousness, and utter loneliness. Since
they rejected Shalom, mistrust and broken relationships will take complete
hold of them, isolating them from all community and imprisoning them
within their own separated self – in an endless ocean of solitude and
loneliness and suffering.
Annihilation: ere are other interpreters who also look at the biblical text
and conclude that those who choose to reject God’s offer of salvation, will
ultimately be annihilated and eternally blotted out of any kind of
conscious existence. Anything resembling of life will be taken away from
them, since they chose death over life. As a result, nothing worthy of life
will be left in them; all that will remain is a life-less shell that disintegrates
into emptiness and ultimately nothingness.
Allow small groups about 15 minutes time to read the texts and discuss their
answers to the questions. Have different members from the groups report their
findings and answers to the large group. Facilitate discussion. Have three
participants finally read out loud Revelation 21:1-7 to let the message of this
powerful scripture sink in.
closing prayer
Ask a participant to close in prayer.
5
minutes
total time:
xx minutes
Since sin is not just personal, the whole creation needed to be saved. We see, then, that in
Romans Paul is teaching that there is no dichotomy between the individual and his
corporate environment (whether social or physical). It is all corrupted by sin. And God
has provided for the redemption of it all. (Robert Linthicum, City of God City of Satan,
118)
9 Paragraph based in parts on personal notes taken during a course offered by Robert
earthly tent to the heavenly building. (e New Interpreter’s Bible CDROM, Volume 11,
84)
36 Stanley J. Grenz, eology for the Community of God, 591
37 Brian McLaren, e Secret Message of Jesus, 184-185
e church reigning with the risen Jesus, has been understood historically as the church
ruling the world in a kind of Pax Christiana, as in the Middle Ages when it rivaled state
power. An alternative reading would be to see its rule as servanthood, with the church
exercising dominion under the authority and power of the Suffering Servant. To ‘reign’ in
this sense does not mean, primarily, the holding of positions of power, but the creative
subjugation of runaway forces in the world. It is a capacity for mastery given at the
beginning of creation, but somehow lost and sidetracked after the Fall and now restored
to Jesus. Within the economy of the kingdom, dominion is cast in terms of servanthood.
e church is servant to society. Indeed, if the church is to lead at all, it is in serving; in
applying the creative energies released in Christ towards the stewardship of creation and
the bringing of fallen structures closer to God’s original purposes. It does not require that
the church function as a worldly power, only as Daniel and Joseph who served God and
their people even under alien empires (Melba Padilla Maggay, Transforming Society,
100-101)
44 Arthur F. Glasser, Announcing the Kingdom, 369
45 Brian McLaren, e Story We Find Ourselves In, 166
46 Stanley J. Grenz, eology for the Community of God, 632
47 Brian McLaren, e Story We Find Ourselves In, 166
48 Brian McLaren, e Story We Find Ourselves In, 167
As he comes in glory, we must not see God as a ‘destroyer’ then, but a Judge, who will
punish sin and destroy all the consequences of sin, because He seeks to redeem His
creation. is is a message of great hope for the future of this earth and God’s people.
Indeed, it is clear from Scripture that God has already judged the sins of those who
believe in him and submit to his dream in Jesus’ death. Consequently, all who are in
Christ can face the day of reckoning without fear, because we will not come under divine
condemnation. Notwithstanding, although our eternal destiny will not be at stake, we will
nevertheless be present at the judgment. Paul says, not only the earth and those opposed
to God’s rule, but even believers will go through the refiner’s fire (Vishal Mangalwadi,
Truth and Social Reform, 136). Why? What purpose could judgment entail in our case?
For us the day of reckoning will be an act of purging. God will test our works in order
that he might remove all the dross (Stanley J. Grenz, eology for the Community of
God, 630-631): “If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones,
wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to
light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If
what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss;
he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames (1 Cor. 3:12-15).
at the fire of God will consume all that is sinful in me and in the world is not a
message of doom, but of hope which should inspire us to work to build things that will
last for eternity. e fact that for some of us our works of beauty and value will be refined
and will last, must cause us to thank God (Vishal Mangalwadi, Truth and Social Reform,
136). At the same time, the fact that for others of us our works will not be deemed
worthy, must cause us to pause and reflect. e Bible is clear that it is by our works that
we will be judged, because our outward deeds reveal our inward spiritual state. Believers’