Plan of God 5: Eternal Destinies
Bible Reading Eph 3:14-21 Rev 20:11-15
Introduction [] =omitted from address https://youtube.com/watch?v=LjlW8iSp0VI&si=8U-GIL10h_ZRMCrA
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph 3:20-21) If there were ever a state or condition beyond human imagining, today’s topic, “eternal destinies”, is it. Isaiah saw something of it when the Temple was filled with glory (Isa 6), Daniel was told, “The vision [of the evenings and the mornings] that has been told (to you) is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” (8:26) On the threshold of death, Stephen, “full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”” (Acts 7:55-56), Paul speaks of “a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” (2 Cor 12:2-3), but John is commanded by the angel, ““Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” (Rev 22:10). Throughout the last 2000 years there have been various ecstatic extra-biblical prophecies (Matt 24:24) that stirred the human imagination, such as the revelations to Mohammed the founder of Islam and Joseph Smith the pioneer of Mormonism, but any genuine prophetic claim must be grounded and tested withing the parameters of the truth that “the testimony of Jesus [(not only that which testifies to Jesus, but more so, his own testimony)] is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev 19:10). By God’s grace, the subject of “eternal destinies” will be my focus tonight as it centres on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eschaton, the End
Peter, whose life of humiliation and restoration imitates [because it participates in] the descent and ascent of Christ (1 Pet 2:21), counsels the Church, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” (1 Pet 4:7). This exhortation implies that a Church which has a revelation of the impending End will be a prayerful Church, an imperative flowing from the sobering reality that the times issuing us into the End will involve, to quote Daniel, “the shattering of the power of the holy ones ” (Dan 8:24; 12:7). God’s chosen people will be on the verge of destruction before the climax of the history of the revelation of the Son of God. This “verge of destruction” theme is a crucial if unpopular dimension of the plan of God. An important, but grossly neglected text, is Matthew 19:28-29, “Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world,(literally “in the regeneration”) when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfoldand will inherit eternal life”. Jesus is speaking of the time of the “restoration (ἀποκαταστάσεως) of all things” (Acts 3:21), the glorification of all created reality at the manifestation of the ultimate Apocalypse/revelation of who he is (Rev 1:1). The End as goal[/telos] brings together, to quote a Church Father, “the first and the last, the highest and the lowest, the circumference and the centre, the Alpha and the Omega, the caused and the cause, the Creature and the created…the book written within and without… (cf. Rev 5:1) reaches something perfect.” (Bonaventure).
The final Revelation of Jesus will mean the abolition of all doubts and uncertainties [not all questions will be answered for many, or most, have been vainly generated by sin and idolatry (Acts 14:15)], and the termination of all relations based on class, colour, economic status and social distinction. Humanity’s place before God (coram deo) will be “crystal clear/perfectly transparent” (Rev 4:6; 21:11; 22:1) because the fallen conscience will be totally cleansed by the blood of the cross. As Hebrews puts it, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Heb 9:14; 10:22). We will see ourselves, others and our Creator exactly as God sees us before him (1 Cor 13:12). For the Christian this will be indescribably glorious (1 Pet 18; Jude 24) but for the lost unspeakably horrendous (2 Thess 1:9).
The Great White Throne (Rev 21:11-15)
The great white throne judgement brings into view a climactic awe-inspiring vision of God and Jesus (Matt 25:31ff; John 5:22; Acts 17:31; 2 Cor 5:10; 2Tim 4:1; Rev 22:1-3) whom we will be moved to worship, in ultimate response to the Final Judgement, forevermore. The throne is great because it belongs to him who makes all things new, it is white as this points to his holiness and vindication (cf. Deut 25:1; 1 Ki 8:32; 1Tim 3:16) and it must be a throne to symbolise his purity above all (Eph 4:6; Rom 9:5). The “great white throne judgement” is so powerful because,[ despite a lack of teaching on this topic,] human life is dominated by the moral deliverances of conscience. [Whilst conscience is not “the voice of God”, it is always unwise to disobey its testimony. (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/conscience-spectrum-flowchart/).] The eternal testimony to the consciences of people [and angels (if they have them?)] will issue from God’s final and irreversible decree at the great white throne. The most important matter here is that God will be vindicated, by himself (cf. Heb 6:13-14), declared just and righteous, forever. This is the time and place where the Lord before all the cosmos will declare his long persecuted Church, now “arrayed in fine linen, white and pure” (Rev 19:8, 14) because one with him, justified before him (Cf. Rom 5:1). The old heaven and earth flee away (Rev 6:14; 16:20) because they are unworthy of the immeasurable glory of the new heaven and earth in which righteousness, our justification in Christ, dwells (Ps 102:2-27; Isa 1:6; 2 Pet 3:7, 10, 12, 13). Such is the splendour of our righteousness in Christ (2 Cor 5:21).
Works and Grace
At the final judgment “the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Rev 20:11ff.). That all humans will be judged by works is a consistent biblical teaching. “God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” (Rom 2:6) (Ps. 62:12; Prov. 24:12; Jer. 17:10; 32:19; Matt. 16:27; Rom 14:12; Rev. 2:23; 22:12) [Jesus said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:36-37; cf. Rom 2:16; 1 Cor 4:5 etc).] When I used to lecture on the Final Judgement I would ask my students whether they believed that all their past sins would be put on open display to be viewed by all who had just been raised from the dead, as well as to the angels. They generally, including the most outspoken, fell silent. Then I would quote this passage from a noted theologian; “it is sometimes objected that that the sins of believers, which are pardoned, certainly will not be published at that time; but the Scripture leads us to expect that they will be, though of course, revealed as pardoned sins.” (Berkhof). This is a very significant point, it must be publicly and universally displayed, to quote Paul, “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Rom 4:5). Hallelujah. PTL. Let me recap what I said on the first night of our series. [“After recently being righteously rebuked by my holy wife (1 Pet 3:5) I subsequently confessed my arrogance to the Lord in the middle of the night and made concrete plans to remedy the situation. Then] on the way to an early morning prayer meeting I had a powerful/overwhelming revelation of the foundational basis of forgiveness to the eternal plan of God. The dynamic of forgiveness in the Lamb of God slain and raised (John 1:29, 36), makes this plan more glorious than any other plan ever conceivable by humans or angels. Any plan which excluded pain and suffering would exclude the need for forgiveness. [At the time of this epiphany I had a sense of what Isaiah saw when he saw Jesus in the Temple (Isa 6; John 12:41) and I recalled as a very young Christian singing “I see the Lord” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reN-3g-myJM) in Church and being overwhelmed with heavenly joy. May the Lord Jesus visit us with such exceeding holy joy.”]
In God’s everlasting presence, everything not born/birthed by the Spirit (John 3:3 ff’ 1 Pet 1:3, 23; 1 John 5:4) will be banished from his sight (Matt 7:23; 2 Thess 1:9); for without birth from the seed of God there can be no true ongoing existence (Luke 8:11-1; John 10:10). Human beings were made for something far greater than everlasting survival! (cf. ≠ comments by a Christian friend to Donna decades ago, you and John are “survivors”.) The fulness of what God has achieved for us in the perfection of our humanity in Christ (2 Cor 12:9; Heb 5:8-9) is concentrated in the triumphant cry of the cross, “It is finished.” (John 19:30). In hearing the Spirit speak in these holy words we hear both the fulfilment of all God’s purposes in the original creation, “God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.” (Gen 2:2 cf. Heb 4) and the power of the final words uttered at the End, the completed consummation of all things, ““It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” (Rev 21:6).
[Some devout Protestants struggle to understand the use of crucifixes, because Jesus is no longer a dead or dying man. One way of overcoming this distaste (cf. 29 uses of “Lamb” for the ongoing nature of Christ in Revelation!) is to see Christ reigning as King from the cross in his supreme weakness in submission to the Father where he “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Col 2:15; Eph 2:16).[ However paradoxical this might appear, the Lamb has forever been enthroned in glory because he has in himself forever “taken away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, cf. 2 Cor 5:19). The book of Revelation is full of thrones (37 uses), some of which belong to Satan (2:13) or the “beast” (Rev 13:2; 16:10), but thrones principally belonging to God and the Lamb (5:6; 7:10; 22:3).] Jesus is, was and will be “the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world” (13:8). In the Gospels, he prophesied that he would share this throne with his disciples. ““Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matt 19:28). This is not an exclusively Jewish matter, for Paul testifies to the ungodly Corinthian Christians, “do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” (1 Cor 6:2 cf. Dan 7:22; Rev 20:4).
Given Power
Behind the power symbolised by a throne is the ultimate moral truth that unconquerable final “power belongs to God” (Ps 62:11; Rev 19:1). This is not a cold rational theological deduction. Not knowing what to do with Jesus, a flabbergasted Pilate remarked, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:10-11). [Even though “from above” in John’s Gospel usually points to heaven (John 3:31; 8:23),] we should see here behind Pilate the Jewish High Priest (John 18:14, 24. 28) and behind Caiaphas the devil (cf. John 13:27; Luke 22:3) and behind the devil God. [If you find this difficult to stomach,] recall that the globally destroying “four horsemen of the Apocalypse” (Rev 6:2, 4, 8), and later the beast himself, are given authority “make war on the saints and to conquer them” (Rev 13:5-7). A conquest, [as all holy martyrs know,] as limited as the devil’s empty defeat of the crucified Lord (cf. Dan 8:24; 12:7). Afflicted followers of Jesus need to remember that [As Luther said,] the cross tests all things (https://christoverall.com/article/concise/tested-by-the-cross-theological-retrieval/).
The Whole Creation
Since God in Christ has sanctified/set apart as holy all things in himself (John 17:17-19), since the [substance/essence/mystery or ]final reality of the cosmos and its purpose is a crucified and glorified human being (Rom 16:25-27; Eph 3:9; Col 1:26; 2:2,17), the followers of Jesus, gripped by this revelation, are to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:18-20) by living as priests and kings to God [in Christ] in the Babylonian cities of our day (Jer 29:5-7 cf. Dan 2:48- 49). Our biblical vision is that in the End, [after all the struggles of the kingdom of God against the pagans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_God),] “the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations.” We are these kings and this is our final vocation (Rev 21:24-26) for which we must lay down our lives.
Conclusion
In the End the whole creation will be found to be “lost in wonder, love and praise” (Charles Wesley). [In contrast to this ultimate abiding reality we live in a time of strong denial and avoidance of reflecting on eternal things.] Today we more than ever need to be grasped by the revelation that the future world is wholly God’s work (1 Pet 1:13 cf. John 15:5). Given that the End is the Person of Jesus, (Eph 4:24; Rom 6:4; Rev 21:6; 22:13), the goal of creation [and the entire plan of God,] means everything in Him, will be elevated to a brand new age (Greek kainos = new in quality ) with a new covenant (Matt 26:28; Heb 12:24), a new commandment (John 13:34; 1 John 3:2, 8) a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15) of the Spirit (Rom 6:4; 7:6) a new humanity (Eph 2:15; 4:24) a new heaven and earth (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1) in a new Jerusalem (Rev 3:12; 21:4) with a new name (Rev 2:17; 3:12) plus a new song (Rev 5:9; 14:3). “he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”” (Rev 21:5) [None of this is self-evident, for today these great realities can only be registered in the power of a renewed conscience (Heb 9:14; 10:22).] In the new world, everything will perfectly [(subjectively and objectively)] manifest the Beauty of Christ. The Beauty, of the Lamb crucified and glorified, has saved the world (cf. Dostoyevsky).
In being the fruit of a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17), by the newness of the Spirit breathed out on us by the glorified Lord (John 20:22 cf. 2 Cor 3:18), every believer has been quickened/enlivened to such eternal realities (Rom 8:11). Your regeneration, your ordinary “born again-ness”, [being a share/participation in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (1 Pet 1:3, 23)], is part of God’s promised (Isa 51:9ff; 54:9) renewal of the whole cosmos. Outside we may be wasting away, but within we are being dynamised by the eternity of the glorified life of Jesus (Rom 7:6; 26; Cor 4:15Tit 3:5). [This is a miracle that far exceeds whatever was initially achieved in the first “very good” creation.]
The triumph of God’s kingdom, the “end of all things” comes by a divinely ordered catastrophe [and not by the climax of an steady evolutionary political or biological order] (Dan 2:44; 1 Cor 7:31). [The world has always been planned to reach the fullness of the reign of God.] “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. ” (Hab 2:14 cf. Isa 6:3). Our assured destiny in Christ does not abolish but confirms a life of faith (Gal 2:20). Tensions remain in the Christian life, as the “flesh” belonging to the old creation, struggles with the Spirit who births the new world (Gal 5:16-26). We are called to embrace such life-long struggles resting in the sure and certain hope of eternal life (Heb 6:19) [in the midst of any, all, and every, pain].