I think that most people
find that asking me about the afterlife is something that should be avoided. I usually switch into
“correct-the-wrong-belief” mode and go on about how the Bible does not teach
that after death our immortal soul blips off into eternity to a place called
Heaven for the faithful or Hell for the wicked all depending on whether a
person was morally good or bad or was smart enough to decide at some point
during this life to claim Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. The Bible does not teach that we have an
immortal soul. That is Greek Paganism
that found its way into Christian belief fairly early on. As far as Heaven is concerned, the Bible also
does not teach that Heaven is an enormous golden city with gem set walls and
pearly gates floating around somewhere on clouds and we all have a room in it. Those metaphors, a mix from the Revelation 21
and 22 and the Gospel of John 14 pertain to the church not Heaven. Heaven is simply another dimension of
Creation where God abides. And, as far
as what we will do in Heaven; well, the Bible doesn’t saying anything about
riding clouds and learning to play the harp.
Also, the Bible does not
teach that we'll be watching our loved ones here on earth from above and maybe
even at some point give them a sign (an uncanny coincidental thing) that lets
them know that we're still around. We do
not become angles. We do not become
spirit energy and become part of the All. And, of course it is certainly not okay to
tell our children that Grandma is now one of the stars twinkling in the night
sky. I can see it now. In a few generations interstellar travel will
be going on and someone will go into another solar system and remark, “It
smells like stale cigarettes and whiskey here. Hey, that star's my grandma. Hi Granny.”
All humour aside the Bible
is quite clear about what happens after life. We die.
That being the case, what happens
after that still needs a bit of truly solid study. So much of what the Bible has to say about
what happens after death and Heaven and Hell depends on what we make of
metaphors and apocalyptic imagery. We
must be careful not to be too literal with imagery that was never meant to be
taken literally but rather simply to refer to the nature of something
else. The image Jesus predominantly
used for what we call Hell was Gehenna, the place where garbage was destroyed
outside of Jerusalem. The image has more
to do with our utterly wasting our lives than with whether or not someplace
called Hell is literally a fiery place of eternal torment. We must be careful how we read and use
metaphor.
For the faithful disciple
of Jesus the Bible is rather explicit as to what happens to them after death. They will be disembodied persons (not immortal
souls) in a holding pattern with Jesus in a place called Paradise until the
Father says it's time for the last trumpet to blow and Jesus returns to earth
to establish the Kingdom of God fully. I
don't recall the Bible making any mention of what happens to the wicked while
the just are in Paradise. Then when
Jesus returns everybody will be bodily resurrected and we will all be judged on
how we have used this life that God has given us to live to his glory. As all people have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God, we all in the end deserve eternal death. But, God's people, all who are in Christ by
union with him in the Holy Spirit, will be saved from this eternal death and
receive the inheritance of eternal life in the Kingdom of God here on earth, an
earth that is renewed and full of the knowing of God as the waters cover the
sea. As for what will happen to the
rest, traditionally the Church has said that they will suffer in a fiery place
called Hell for all eternity or instead of fire they will simply suffer eternal
separation from God for all eternity except this time knowing God fully. On the other end of the spectrum, some have
made the case for Universalism, that Jesus death atoned for all people and thus
all will be welcome into the Kingdom.
I quite often catch grief
for saying that the Bible is not as clear as we would like about Hell and who
goes there. Convincing scriptural
arguments can be made for eternal separation from God, eternal torment, utter
destruction, and universal salvation.
Due to my ordination vows I can only preach and teach what my
denomination confesses. As far as what
The Presbyterian Church in Canada confesses, our latest confession of faith, Living
Faith, in paragraph 10.3 states: “We shall all stand under the final
judgement of God, as we receive the divine verdict on our lives. Worthy of hell, eternal separation from God,
our hope is for heaven, eternal life with God through the grace bestowed on us
in Christ. To say "no" to Christ is to refuse life and to embrace
death. The destiny of all people is in
the hands of God whose mercy and justice we trust”.
Well, enough on this. I realize that there are still a lot of
questions left open here but that’s what Bible Studies are for. The point to make is that when we Christians
talk about the hope of salvation, we are talking about that day when Jesus
returns and we stand resurrected before Christ Jesus to be judged by him and
though deserving death we receive grace and mercy on account of God the Father’s
love shown to us and poured upon us through Christ Jesus the Son in the power
of the Holy Spirit. On that day we will find
ourselves delivered, saved having been redeemed or ransomed from death by Jesus’
giving the price of his life for us and made to be without question the adopted
children of the Father who with Jesus the Son of God receive the inheritance of
eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
When we Christians talk
about hope, particularly the hope of salvation, it is not so much something we
expect God to do right now with respect to us each and to our daily lives. That falls within the domain of faith. Hope, on the other hand, pertains to the
Trinity’s large scale setting to rights of his creation and us in it. Our hope is a real hope not simply a
wish. Just as the Holy Spirit is with us
now as the deposit on our coming inheritance in the Kingdom coming, so shall we
receive that inheritance. Living
Faith says this well:
“God has prepared for us things
beyond our imagining. Our hope is for a
renewed world and for fullness of life in the age to come. As Jesus taught us, we pray: "Thy
kingdom come." Life in the age to
come is pictured in the Bible in different ways: an eternal kingdom, a new heaven
and earth, a marriage feast, an unending day, the father's house, and the joy
of God's presence. God will triumph over
all opposition and everything that disrupts creation...Eternal life is
resurrection life. As God raised Christ,
so shall we be raised into a condition fit for life with God. Eternal life begins in this life: whoever
believes in the Son of God already has eternal life. In Baptism by faith we die and rise with
Christ and so are one with the risen Lord.
In death we commit our future confidently to God. Life had its beginning in God. In God it will come to completion and its
meaning be fully revealed. All creation
will find fulfillment in God. Christ will come again. Only God knows when and how our Lord will
return. Now we see in part. Then we shall see face to face.”
So, the hope of salvation for us is our hope of
living resurrection life here on earth under the condition of God’s will being
finally now on earth as it has been always in Heaven with ourselves and all of
creation having found finally our completion and our meaning in the
Trinity.
Let me spend a moment here with 1
Thessalonians 5:8 and then I’ll wrap up.
Paul says, “…put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a
helmet the hope of salvation.” As I have
said in weeks before, the Thessalonian believers had probably faced death in
the coliseum battling wild animals and gladiators as punishment for appearing
to be treasonous for claiming that Jesus is Lord rather than Caesar. They would have faced the battle with no
protective gear. Here Paul tells them
that their breastplate is their faith and their love and for a helmet they have
the hope of salvation. In the Hebrew way
of thinking, faith and/or rather faithfulness and love are matters of the heart
where the will and desire and drive are located and so faith and love are our
breastplate as we stand defenceless in this life. As the hope of salvation is our helmet, we
can also say that hope is a matter of the mind or mindedness or our orientation
in life. Similarly, repentance is a
matter of the mind. In Greek the word
for repentance means to change the mind to become “with minded” with God. To put on the helmet of the hope of salvation
is to wrap one’s mind around God’s ultimate acting in his creation to triumph
over all that distorts and destroys it and how our lives now fit into God’s
ultimate triumph. It is to be minded
towards, oriented towards, pointing towards God’s Kingdom come on earth as it
is in Heaven. Instead of being minded of
the things of man in this world, it is to be minded on the things of God in
this world and how he is and will ultimately put it to right.
That
said, we as Christians step into this battle of life, God’s battle for the
renewal of his creation, defenceless. Where
the world fights with some pretty mean weapons, as we ourselves have done, we
must now stand as Jesus did, in the power of the Holy Spirit in the apparent
weakness of only faith/faithfulness and love with our minds set on being in
this world as signs that point to the reality of the day when God will
triumph. As individuals we must
prayerfully strive for justice, peace, fairness, and equality in our immediate
lives – in our homes, in our work places, among our neighbours. As communities of faith we must do so at the
larger scale of neighbourhoods, cities, and regions and so on. And let us not forget the Creation itself,
the environment, this planet which groans in labour pains awaiting that day as
well as our prayerfully working for it now.
We, you and I, us together are signposts of the hope of salvation in
this world. May we orient our minds
around this and live our lives accordingly.
Amen.
