Hold On!
Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 21:5-19[1]
These days it
doesn’t seem that many of us have much of an interest in questions about our
final destiny. The present day offers more challenges than most of us feel we
can handle! But even if someone were to be curious to know what our faith
teaches about the end of all things, I’m afraid the chances are high they would
wind up confused. There are those who speak of the “end of the world” in terms
of the vast majority of humanity “left behind” to face whatever painful
tribulations an angry God is going to unleash upon them for their unbelief.
Then there are those who speak of the final victory of God’s saving love in a
world where all people have the joy of sharing a life of peace and freedom
together. These two views can be found not only in sermons and theology, but
also in Scripture.
Our lessons for
today illustrate this problem. Just from a quick reading, they seem
contradictory. The one from the prophet Isaiah holds out a beautiful hope of a
new heaven and a new earth. Isaiah describes the destiny he saw as the ultimate
outcome of God’s saving purpose in this way: “They shall not hurt or destroy on
all my holy mountain” (Isa. 65:25). It
is a vision of children thriving, and of people living full and fulfilling lives.
It is a vision of houses built, and vineyards planted. It is a vision that
includes even natural enemies in the animal kingdom living together in harmony.
Isaiah virtually breaks into song over the awe-inspiring destiny God has in
store.
Isaiah’s vision
is filled with the language of freedom, new life, and hope. In a setting where
conquerors continually displaced the people, taking their children away from
them, throwing them out of their homes and off their own lands, Isaiah
envisions a people returned from exile to live in their own land free from
fear. But Isaiah’s vision doesn’t just concern Israel; their restoration leads
to the restoration of the whole world. Beyond that, this vision of restoration
and renewal extends to all creation—even the animal kingdom is to be
transformed when God fulfills the promises and liberates the people. Isaiah’s
vision is that what God will do at the end of all things will be consistent
with what God did at the beginning: create a world full of beauty and love.
On the contrary,
in the lesson from Luke’s Gospel Jesus seems to warn his disciples that the end
of all things will be gloom and doom. Rather than being spared from the
“tribulations” of the end time, it seems that Jesus was saying his followers
would be also be right in the middle of it all.
He said they would be arrested and persecuted (Lk. 21:12), that they
would be betrayed even by members of their own family (Lk. 21:16), and that
they would be “hated by all because of my name” (Lk. 21:17). It’s pretty clear
that Jesus envisioned Christians enduring whatever painful hardships and trials
the future holds along with everyone else.
Unfortunately,
his warnings are easy to misread. For one thing, some of what he says seems to
refer to events that would happen in their lifetimes: the Jewish people falling
by the sword and Jerusalem being trampled by the Gentiles (Lk. 21:23-24). In
fact, about 40 years later the Jewish people fought and lost a war to free
themselves from their Roman conquerors. And many of the people got caught up in
the violence—Jewish people and Christian alike. But some of this points to a
time in the distant future when the nations would see “‘the Son of Man coming
in a cloud’ with power and great glory” (Lk. 21:27).
So it’s hard to
know if Jesus was warning his disciples about hardships of the near future or
associated with the end times. I think the answer is that he was talking about
both. He knew that the Jewish war would be just as devastating for Christians,
and he used that catastrophic event to warn them about the hardships that they
would face until the final turmoil associated his return. In the face of this,
Jesus urged them to “be alert,” praying for strength, so that they wouldn’t be
caught off guard when the day of his return actually would come (Lk. 21:34-36).
And he urged them to hold on until the end, promising that the final outcome of
all of the trials and hardships they might go through would not be their
destruction but their salvation (Lk. 21:28)!
I think the best
answer to the question of our final destiny is one that includes both hardships
and the promise of final victory. I’ve spent 40 years studying the Bible, and I
even taught the class on Revelation when I was a seminary Professor. And my
studied belief is that God isn’t some cruel bully just waiting for the chance
to torment the vast majority of humankind, and the natural world along with it.
I would say that the torments we have to deal with in this life come from the
evil intentions of powerful people. And the more closely we align ourselves
with God’s purposes, the more we expose ourselves to the spiteful revenge of
those power mongers.
But when it comes
to God’s final purpose for us, I think we’re talking about something very
different. We’re talking about the God who showed us what he was like by
creating a beautiful world for us all to enjoy. And the Scripture promises that
one day he will renew the world so that we can all truly enjoy it. We’re also
talking about the God who showed us what he was like by coming as one of us to
heal our brokenness and suffering by taking it on himself. And the Scripture
promises that one day that work of restoring all things will be complete. And
so we can hold on, trusting that God has promised that his good and loving
plans for the human family will ultimately win out over all the evil that may
be present among us now.
[1] ©
2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 11/17/2019 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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