When was the last time you and your friends sat around and just discussed Heaven and what it must be like? When was the last time you heard a sermon about that city of our future? When was the last time you entered in a book store and instead of a hundred books trying to out guess as to whom the Anti-Christ is, there was just one book (hopefully well thought out!) about Heaven?
Indeed, what ever did happen to Heaven? I enjoy reading historical documents, old diaries and testimonies; heaven used to be a place people thought and talked about – with anticipation! This would be normal everyday people, people you would probably encounter daily and/or hang around with. In the taverns and bars, in the gold fields, at night exhausted from the plowing or harvesting and perhaps more so for those associated with seafaring – heaven was a popular discussion item. Real people understood the concept of Heaven and looked forward to it. Of course, people used to talk to each other once upon a time and most everyone kept a diary.
Imagine a culture in which the longing of Christians was for their eternal home – not to build ‘christian’ empires on Earth. Yet, this is exactly what seems to be the effort of many I encounter in Christendom these days…. Why would that be? What is so appealing about Earth that the joys of the union with our Savior pale by comparison? Rather obliviously, as Christians, we have lost our focus that Heaven is our home.
One old timer I had this discussion with felt that World War I, ‘The Great War’, was the reason. He felt many, like him, had become so horrified by what they had endured for so many years – Heaven could not be real, and hence, God probably was not real either! And, from many whom I have known to have survived World War II, the same story: Man is corrupt, his intentions only evil towards his fellow man – culture and man must change in order for man to have any chance for survival in a future ‘civilized’ world.
Interestingly, the Nazi ideal expressed only slightly differently…..
These embittered survivors are completely correct! Man is corrupt and when left to himself can conjure up unimaginable evil. Far more than you have ever read in any book – because it would be politically incorrect to believe evil of those whom our economies are based upon. Honestly, some of these stories haunt me, especially from the Dutch survivors trapped in Sumatra during the war.
They are also completely correct that man must change. But, it is not corporate man whom must change, it is individual man whom must do so, before there can ever be any change to culture! Without God, there is little hope for man overcoming his nature.
In Jesus’ day, the Roman world was not that much different than today’s world. Oh, maybe they did not have Starbucks or McDonalds, but they had their comparable features to everything we have today – unless it was of no use to them. About two-thirds of the world was in slavery to Rome, if you had a problem with this, you would most likely die. It could be brutal and savage, if you were on the wrong side of what Rome wanted. Yet, the freeman, as much as the slave, longed for the place called Heaven.
I think it is normal for man to strive to make his world better. I want my children to have the freedom to succeed. I want them to be able to make choices which will make them better adults and Christians. I want them to be able to serve God openly. But, this desire of mine is for them to live in the world that exists today – not grasping at what might be.
Yet, well meaning Christians are trying to create Heaven on Earth. Their attempts are to accomplish this through regulation – often applied with a heavy governmental hand. However, this is not the first time attempts have been made to create Christendom through legislation. Unfortunately, these great efforts end up the same: a police state or civil war, or both. But no matter the outcome or the good intentions – Christ’s witness is always diminished in the eyes of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment