"We look to a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells" (1 Peter 3:13)
People tend to either know nothing about life here and now much less life or non-life after death or people act like they know whose in with God, whose out, as if there will no so surprises in the afterlife. I believe we need a lot more honesty and humility when it comes to speaking about this life and the life to come.
In the Bible, God's fire stood before Israel and Pharaoh's army. To God's people the fire of God was warmth, light, protection, and comfort. To Pharaoh's army the fire was confusion, darkness and terror. For Daniel's friends thrown in the fiery furnace, the fire did not touch them and the presence of God was with them. The ropes that bound them were burned off but they were not burned by the fire. But for Daniel friends captors, they were incinerated by the fire. When we think of heaven and hell whether we experience that in this life or think about it in regards to the afterlife, God's love gives light and delight to those who love God and it is darkness and torment to those who do not love God.
There are multi-dimensions to reality where the veil between heaven and earth may be more thin that people realize for those who have spiritual eyes to see. Christians today get worried about apocalyptic images of the end of days and people who might end up in hell but fail to also heed the prophets and Jesus warnings against the self-destructive idolatry that takes place in the here and now. We think of Hell as merely retributive but fail to see it as corrective because God loves all His children, even his wayward ones.
Can we read the Bible with new eyes to see what it truly says about our own souls. The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a familiar one to some in Luke 16:19-31 but I am afraid we miss some of the deeper dimensions of the story while we focus on the wrong details of the story as if the story is about how the torment in hell works or what the final outcome looks like in the end. Both are left more to our own imaginations rather than listening to Jesus main point concerning turning away from our idolatry and a strong hint at resurrection.
What this biblical story shows is what Jesus does in many of his teachings, it shows reversals in God's kingdom. The rich man is rich in this world but poor in being rich toward God' Poor Lazarus seemed like he is abandoned in life whereas in reality God is the one who holds his life together, for better or for worse. The rich man fights God's process of the purifying fire and still does not have love or compassion for Lazarus much less sees his own self-centered delusions about himself. Dare we look into the abyss at the condition of our own souls? What will we find there?
We think we know the last word but do we? This story of Jesus is not before the final end? Who knows how far God's love will go or what will finally happen in the end, only God knows. Just like the young rich ruler who walks away from Jesus sad because he could not become one of Jesus disciples because of his great wealth, is that the end of the story? Church tradition and history tells us this man finally gave it all up and became a follower of Jesus. The truth is until God brings the end about, we really don't know how the story will end since most of us are still in the middle of the story. What we choose now has significant impact so choose wisely.
In the end, if the only reason your a Christian is to avoid hell, have you really encountered the risen Christ yet? We follow Jesus because Jesus loves us and we love Him. Our hope for the future is not because of anything we have done but because of everything Jesus has done on our behalf. One of the things we don't know for sure is if people end up in hell or even annihilated or destroyed in some way, doesn't this allow evil in some sense to have the last word? Is not the annihilation and destruction of God's good creation precisely the aim and goal of evil? Is not the self-destruction of people made in God's image a victory for evil? Maybe in some mysterious way love has the last word in these cases but should not the love of God still hold out hope even if by all appearances there seems to be no hope?
If Jesus taught us to love our enemies, then should we still not hold out love for those who are God's enemies? I believe we misunderstand some scripture that is more about the coming judgment on Israel, Jerusalem and its temple rather than an eternal cosmic judgment for all time and for all eternity. And even if some people resist God's love for all eternity, should not people filled with God's love pray for mercy and have a blessed hope for them because the heart of God is that none should perish but all have eternal life (2 Peter 3:9).
No comments:
Post a Comment