Resurrection Challenge

Spring is in the air and the bees are out, but there is a great storm potentially brewing. A particular eschatological (end times) focus is hanging over our world at the moment, and it misuses biblical prophesy about the destruction of the earth. Here is an absolute: Christ is risen. Another: we are not risen yet. If the dead are not already in bliss, they are at least sheltered in Christ waiting for the resurrection. Death's rule is still with us obviously.

And death will continue until Christ hands over the kingdom to God, and then death will be dispensed with. Both the living and the dead in Christ share the same hope. They also share the same peril. We (collectively) are not yet safe if the negative force of the Antichrist conquers by destroying this world. We are told in the Bible that the Antichrist is going about raging. That is to our peril.

There are those who have died who have strived against great injustice during their lives. Their efforts will have become meaningless if Antichrist thinking prevails over this world. The dead still wait for justice. If we repress the remembrance of the good that has been achieved, we unwittingly repress our future hope, and the hopes of those who follow us.

An eschatological focus on the destruction of the world, to the point of seeming to "usher in" the Great Tribulation (in excitement even) is actually playing into the hands the Antichrist thinking! The Antichrist wants to destroy this world not God, not Christ, and certainly not the Holy Spirit.

Jesus did predict tribulation but clearly said "the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, 'Here it is', or 'There it is', because the kingdom of God is in your midst." [Luke 17:20,21]. That is a profound lesson to combine with the new reality that was created by Jesus' death and resurrection. We have only to follow Jesus in words and deeds to know what God has asked of us. The Gospels are an open guide book for all who want to be in Christ.

We are left with the sense that though Christ has won for us new life in a new reality, we still have to live and work in this world and die in this world too. If the world is going to fry (be destroyed) it will reflect a small (or large) victory by the Antichrist forces. It will not be God's plan. Though God may have given us description of tribulation in various parts of the Bible (especially the Book of Revelation), it does not become us to think and preach the damnation of the world, when Christ taught us to love, with a deep and true love, the same world. If anything, we must stand in the breach, against all Antichrist plans, to not let what has been predicted happen in our lifetime. That is our task. Are there enough of us? It may have been predicted in some measure but it is NOT what God wants. Destruction of earth does not reflect the God we worship.

Before us is the resurrection path: to be part of the body of Christ in this messed up world, to preach the good news of the kingdom of God that is already amongst us, and try to change things for good, and to fight against injustice on many levels, just as past generations have also tried to do. We owe it to our dearly departed to do this with all our heart.
Shalom.