Our Hope

     One of the great aspects of following Christ is the hope for a future beyond this life. Is there really more to this life than what is before our eyes? Christianity shouts a resounding "Yes". We all know that we, as Christians, have hope but do we know what our hope is? The more i read and study scripture along with biblical scholars (far beyond my level) i begin to see that the church has entirerly lost sight of what the main thrust of scripture is and thus are confused about what exactly we are hoping for. We see this confusion in many of the songs that we sing. For example, the classic hymn I'll Fly Away. Many adore this song and find in it comfort. But looking at it reveals that this is not what the bible teaches, but is more Gnostic than biblical. It goes,
 Some glad morning when this life is o'er, I'll fly away; To a home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away (I'll fly away). Chorus I'll fly away, Oh Glory I'll fly away; (in the morning) When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I'll fly away (I'll fly away). 2. When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I'll fly away (I'll fly away) Chorus 3. Just a few more weary days and then, I'll fly away; To a land where joy shall never end, I'll fly away (I'll fly away) .(emphasis mine).
        There are other hymns and songs that we sing without even realizing what they are teaching. This leads me to the question that drives this post. What is the hope we are given when we become Christians? I too believed that it was heaven until i started to investigate the scriptures and found that dieing and going to heaven is NOT the hope we are given as followers of Christ. Many of us have been taught this all of our lives but have not stopped to read what the scriptures say and what they teach. Our hope is found in Jesus's Bodily resurection from the dead. It is about life after life after death. When we die now we go to be with God immediately, but that is not where we remain for eternity(just read Rev. 21 and Is 65). There will be a new heaven and a new earth that will be merged and that is where we will dwell and that is the land of joy and peace.
         Now, lets unpack this a bit and see the big picture. In Genesis God created the heavens and the earth and it was good and after creating man He declared it "very good". Adam was made to be a stewart over the earth and to reflect God's image to all of creation. Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and plunged the world into sin. The world was cursed because of Adam's disobedience. What is God's response to Adam's action? God continually seeks to draw back his creation gone astray. This is the whole story of scripture. God is pursuing his people, through Abraham and his descendants, the prophets etc. He seeks to have them be a light to the nations to bring healing to the damaged world. Read through Isaiah 40-66 and you get a clear view (especially in 65) of God's plan for redemption for his people and the world. Finally, God sent His Son to bring final restoration and healing to the world. The Pharisees and other orthodox Jews held that they would recieve new physical bodies ( Evidence of this can be seen in the Maccabean revolt when Jews would shout back to those killing them that God would give them a new body). So, the Jewish hope was not in heaven. They believed in soul sleep! That when you died your soul remained in your body unaware of time until the end of days when God would resurrect everyone from the dead. The good to paradise and new earth and the wicked to punishment.
     From the beggining God's plan has not been to abandon creation, but to renew it and heal it (Rom. 8). God's promise for the final healing and renewal of ALL creation is found in Jesus's Resurrection. It is God's downpayment revealing to us that He intends to do to ALL of creation just as He has done to His Son. THIS IS OUR HOPE. We die and go to heaven as an intermediate state awaiting God's fulfillment of His promise to renew all of creation. It is when this final merger between heaven and earth arrives that we will be given our resurrected bodies and reign with him on earth ( This is the whole point of Revelation 21). It is the climax that all of scripture is anticipating. If our hope is in dieing and going to heaven and residing there in a disembodied state than we have described Gnosticism (the view that creation is bad and our spirit is good and if we are simply released from this material prison than we will be free!) not Christianity. Scripture is very clear that creation and material bodies are not evil but distorted and when we accept Christ our hope is not that we will get rid of creation, but that it will be healed and brought to its full restoration as we see in Christ's resurrected body.
     So, to make this crystal clear, if our hope is rooted in going to heaven when we die than we will not seek to bring Christ's kingdom here to earth,rather we will seek to say a prayer and then escape to heaven! THIS IS NOT WHAT JESUS TAUGHT or HOW HE LIVED. Jesus mission was to bring in God's kingdom, to invade earth with heaven. In the O.T. the temple was the place where heaven invaded earth because God's spirit dwelt there. Who has that same spirit now? We do. We are to be the intersection where heaven begins to invade earth (1 Peter 2). We are to follow Jesus as he brought in the kingdom knowing that it will be completed when he returns again. This is the hope that we have been born to, that God will not abandon His creation but heal it. This means that we are to help bring in that healing and justice as Jesus did. That is what He taught us to pray for," Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!"
    Sorry, this is so long but i'm summarrizing an argument that took N.T. Wright 300 pages to write. The worry about singing hymns which aren't biblical is that we are training and teaching ourselves to sing any old thing just because its there and also right thinking precedes right action.
     Here are some ref. that talk about our hope being in the resurrection from the dead and the new heaven/earth. 1 Peter 1:4-6;Phil. 3:20-21:Phil. 3:10;Romans 8:18-24;Col. 1:18;Eph.1:17-23;1 Cor. 15:12-58(complex passage: understanding original language aids greatly); 2Pet.3:13,3:1-13;1John3:2-4;Rev.21;Is.65 and there are many more.
Give me your thought or questions about this. Thanks.
He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1Peter 1:3b-6. Amen. Praise be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.