Tuesday, April 6, 2010

An Idiots Guide to Theology: Eschatology

The Restoration in the End Times
In the book of Revelation the apostle John speaks of a new heaven and a new earth becoming one, a restoration of the old into the new. John writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."(Revelation 21:1-4) This passage shows the idea that in the end times there will be a restoration of all creation. The old is passing away but a new creation is found coming form heaven unto earth. Some may argue that the new creation that John writes about is Jesus entering to Earth, which is completely reasonable yet what if John is speaking of the second coming of Christ and the new creation that he brings is for everyone who calls upon the Lord. The prophet Joel talks about this in his writings, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.”(Joel 2:30) In 2nd Corinthians the writer says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Alister McGrath uses a passage from Irenaeus’ book “Against Heresies” to point out the restoration of creation that must happen so that God can enter into this plane of existence. Irenaeus says, “For God is rich in all things and all things are his (Romans 10:12). Therefore this created order must be restored to its first condition and be made subject to the righteousness without hindrance; and this Apostle shows in the Epistle to the Romans, when he says, The earnest expectation of the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19-21)” (McGrath) For God to enter back into this creation it needs to be redone. The first coming of Christ was the catalyst for the end times and for God to come again but the next time all of creation will be redone not just those who call upon the Lord.

Work Cited
McGrath, Alister E. The Chrstian Theology Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

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