Will there ever be peace on earth? Part 5
Will There Ever Be Peace On Earth? Part 5
There’s an old saying of unknown origin that goes something like this: “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” Although I wouldn’t put this quote in the category of an axiom of religion, I do believe there’s an element of truth hidden within its unfounded claim. Not everyone believes there is a heaven or a hell. For that matter, not everyone believes there’s a God, an everlasting Kingdom, or eternal life.
Nevertheless, I would suggest that even for those who believe in God and receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord and know they will go to heaven when they die, there is something in us that longs to stay in this world as long as possible, that fights dying, that resists death, and clings to physical life in this world. I’ve witnessed this over and over in the dying of many saints. My sense is in many cases that it’s not the fear of death or the unknown; it’s not a slight of heaven; it’s not a rejection of God. There’s something more at work here.
Yes, God made us for heaven, but he also made us for the earth. He placed us in a beautiful garden paradise, a physical, material place of beauty within the vast cosmos, a place of blessedness and bounty. And man’s life in it was “very good”, enjoying God and all His goodness. That is until…he didn’t, until he sinned, until he lost it all and death began to reign over him (See Romans 5:14-17). In spite of our corrupt lives at home in this corrupt world, we still yearn for Eden. John Eldredge, in his book All Things New, suggests that we all have a “Eden heart”, a longing for what once was on earth.
I think we still get glimpses of Eden, if we know where we are and what we’re looking at. I don’t claim to be a world-traveler, but I’ve seen a few places that awaken my Eden heart. When I was a boy, our family took occasional fall trips to the Blue Ridge Mountains. I spent summers with my cousins at Folly Beach with its mesmerizing ocean expanse and mysterious depths. You don’t have to go too far to see the vestiges of Eden’s glory. But, I’ve been to Alaska. I’ve seen the glaciers, enormous walls of ice thunderously crashing to the sea, and Denali. I’ve been to Cuba’s famed Vinales Valley, entered its deep caverns. I’ve traveled through the plains of South Africa and to Kruger, teeming with wildlife, herds of prey and great predators alike.
But the place I love the most, the place that awakens my Eden heart is a Berkeley County place, a cypress swampy place, scarred by a logging operation a hundred years ago, but healing and hopeful. For me it’s a place of pleasure and peace. It’s not a place of escape from reality. I don’t mean that. It’s a place where God is present and peace is palpable. But as much as I love this place – this glimpse of Eden – it’s not a completely safe place. There’s danger and violence there, a microcosm of the world at large. I wouldn’t want to spend the night in this swampy, snakey, buggy place! And there are vulture-scavenged carcasses about and skeletons on the ground. There is a lot of life here, but death is lurking, prey and predator alike, living and dying. But a change is coming. It’s known in the Bible as The Day of the Lord.
Isaiah 11 is a passage that foretells of this day when everything changes and becomes Eden-like again, peaceful again, warless again. From it we get the idea of the Messiah-King and his Peaceable Kingdom. In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord (Isaiah 11:6-9 NLT). Later, in Isaiah 65, the Lord declares: “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more (Isaiah 65:17-19 NLT).
In the New Testament, the Day of the Lord cannot be separated from the Second Coming of Christ and the bodily resurrection of those who have died in the Lord, which brings us to this question: If when we die we go to be with God in heaven, why is the resurrection such a big deal? It’s true that if I died today, my spirit or soul – that immaterial personal essence that is me alive in Christ – would be ushered into his presence in glory. That is to say in heaven, or my heavenly home, as we like to say. But this heaven will not be my eternal home. This heaven is going to pass away.
Our physical resurrection at the Lord’s second coming will occupy a visible place – the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth – the consummation and union of heaven on earth in which God and his redeemed will reign together forever and ever – Eden restored, righteousness reigning, and God’s people truly resting in peace – peace like a river (Isaiah 66:12). That’s why the resurrection is a big deal. This is the blessed hope, not only for us, but also for creation itself. This is what Paul says in Romans 8: Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us (Romans 8:18-23 NLT).
There are numerous other passages that teach and support the idea that the world as we know it, the cosmos and life on earth, will pass away, and the Lord will make all things new – a world in which the devil, the demons, spiritual darkness, sin, suffering, and death will be destroyed. The Lord himself gave John a vision of this new world order and told him to write it down. In Revelation 21, John wrote: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21:1-4 NLT).
Finally, there will be peace on the earth. Finally, in fulfillment of the Model Prayer, God’s Kingdom will have come and his Will shall be done on earth as perfectly as it is in heaven. Heaven and earth will be one, God, his new creation, and his children living together in the Peaceable Kingdom forever.
Ministry Update
I am so grateful to have family and friends who have supported this ministry with their prayers and financial gifts, some since we began this ministry in 2011! That is such an encouragement to continue, such a blessing of love and affirmation, and such a help to have ministry partners, as I see it, who are truly a part of Compass Coach and Consulting’s ministry to pastors and churches.
We’re continuing to facilitate the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s NextStep Process, both in a one-on-one format and in a small group setting. Next month, I’ll start two new groups in the Santee Baptist Association. I am blessed to be working alongside my dear friend and brother in Christ, Kevin Litchfield, who serves as the Associational Mission Strategist for the Santee Association.
I am also blessed to be a part of a small team of Regional Strategists doing similar work around the state. Please pray for us that these biblical strategies and processes will build great spiritual leaders who build great churches through the Great Commission.
Blessings of grace and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ, Hal