The End
Dirt and Stone for Flesh and Bone - Part 16
We’ve come a long way in our series, Flesh and Bone for Dirt and Stone, and now it comes to an end. To be honest, I’ve taken you on a journey that God took me on in his Word. It started not all that long ago, believe it or not, and the truths of dirt and stone for flesh and bone radically changed my understanding of and my desire for the future eternal heaven described at the end of Revelation.
As the series drew to a close, I asked on Social Media if some of you would share any impact it might have had. You responded, to my delight.
A young man wrote very eloquently,
For years, I wrestled with the borderline cognitive dissonance between a spiritual heaven and a physical new earth. The lack of mainstream teaching made me feel like an outlier, even though it’s plainly biblical. Add to that the tired ‘eternal worship service in the clouds’ cliché, and it became tough to answer secular pushback and the mocking portrayals of faith. This series has … shone a front and center spotlight on the tragically neglected truth of the new earth as a “real” and thrilling future. Life with flesh and bone Christ and our flesh and bone brothers and sisters in a fully restored dirt and stone creation. It’s not just about being saved from hell as true as that may be, but being saved to and for something incredible.
Now, that last part of what he said is what I want to focus on in the series’ final message. The hope of dirt and stone for flesh and bone is not just about accepting Jesus now to avoid hell later, but about being “saved to and for something incredible.” It is, in fact, so incredible that it has implications for our lives now. We cannot ponder the wonders of it all to think, “So what?” And then just idly wait for it to come. No, if we truly grasp the glory of the coming New Heaven and Earth, and our role in it as God’s children who will co-reign with Christ over the New Creation, our lives will give evidence of it. Our views don’t just change; our behavior does as well. The Apostle Peter hints at this in the closing chapter of his second letter.
1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:1-4 (LSB)
When Peter wrote this, it would have been about 30-40 years after Jesus ascended back to heaven with the promise to return, and nearly a thousand years since OT prophets foretold of Israel’s restoration with the Messiah’s coming. No doubt, haters were mocking Christians, and certainly Jewish Christians, for their belief in the imminent return of Christ.
In Douglas Adams’s book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the second book in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (which was famously five books long), the legendary prophet Zarquon finally makes his long-awaited return. For millennia, his followers had patiently awaited his arrival at the very end of time. However, in a darkly comedic twist characteristic of Adams's humor, Zarquon shows up mere seconds too late. The universe is obliterated just as he arrives, leaving his devoted followers unsaved and providing a satirical jab at the concept of a messianic return. The old saying is true: the more things change, the more they remain the same. Peter has an answer, however, for mockers.
5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:5-9 (LSB)
Peter reveals two things. (1) With God, the uncaused cause of the universe who exists outside of time, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years one day; (2) The passing of time has nothing to do with whether Jesus will return, but everything to do with God’s desire for all to know him and have the future heaven as their hope. Just as in the days of Noah, when people mocked God and lived like hell, judgment came out of nowhere when they least expected it, so will Jesus break the clouds in all his glory. Peter has more to say.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out. 2 Peter 3:10 (LSB)
We’ve already discussed how this does not mean creation is obliterated. Just as the flood merely purged the earth, God's fiery judgment will cleanse creation of its impurities. Now, note carefully what Peter writes next.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are looking for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 2 Peter 3:11-14 (LSB)
And there it is. The answer to those who might ask, “So what?” Since the future New Heaven and Earth are a reality, we ought to live holy and godly lives in the present! This idea, that our future hope of dirt and stone for flesh and bone deeply impacts who we are and how we live right now, is implied in Paul’s words to the Philippian Christians as well, who reminds them,
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself. Philippians 3:20–21 (LSB)
As citizens of the coming Kingdom, which will finally, fully manifest itself in the New Heaven and Earth, we are compelled to live like its citizens now. But how do we do that with the world and all humanity still suffering the effects of the fall? By obeying, with the help of God’s Spirit and a heaping dose of grace, three things:
(1) Great Commandment
34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 And one of them, a scholar of the Law, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34–40 (LSB)
(2) The Golden Rule
31 “And treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” Luke 6:31 (LSB)
Fun fact: It is impossible to do this without empathy. Let the reader understand.
(3) The Micah Mandate
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 (ESV)
The New Heaven and Earth will be a place where everyone loves God with all their heart, mind, and soul, without hindrance. And because of that, everyone will love their neighbor as themselves, again, without hindrance. Or, put another way, it will be a place where all promote justice, love lovingkindness, and walk humbly with God, treating all the way they would want to be treated. So, that’s the kind of people we ought to be now, the kind of people we strive to be, even with all our faults and failures.
NT Wright, in his commentary on our 2 Peter text, writes,
Since we know that the day is coming, the day when new heavens and new earth will emerge, filled to the brim with God’s wonderful justice, his glorious setting-right of all things, we should be working towards that already, here and now.
This is the point where a wrong view of what God intends to do will really damage both our understanding and our behaviour. If we imagine that God wants simply to burn up the present world entirely, leaving us as disembodied souls in some kind of timeless ‘eternity’, then why should we worry about what we do here and now? What does it matter? Why not just enjoy life as best we can and wait for whatever is coming next—which is of course the answer that many philosophies have given, in the first century as well as today. But if God intends to renew the heavens and the earth—as Isaiah had promised all those years before (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22), then what we do in the present time matters. It matters for us that we are ‘without spot or blemish’ (verse 14). It matters for God’s world as a whole…
I have a sense that this letter might be a word for our times. If our desire is to bring God glory both now and in the day when his new age dawns we could do a lot worse than study it carefully, pray it in, take it to heart, and put it into practice.1
Dirt and Stone for Flesh and Bone. So what? If we truly understand it, we presently and actively love God, love our neighbor, and promote justice.
But it also impacts the present in another way. Something else we learned in this series is that the material, created order, is not evil; it’s just corrupt, like us, waiting for its redemption, like us. This seeming war between the physical and spiritual is fake news started by a philosopher named Plato, not God or the Bible. And one of the biggest proofs that the material world is not inherently bad is the truth that had Adam and Eve not sinned, we’d be living in a world of dirt and stone with flesh and bone bodies right now for all eternity. This ties into the shocking revelation (considering the attitude of the day that our planet is disposable) that when God made plans to redeem the effects of the Fall, he included more than just human beings. Look at what Paul wrote to the church at Rome.
18 I am sure that what we are suffering now cannot compare with the glory that will be shown to us. 19 In fact, all creation is eagerly waiting for God to show who his children are. 20 Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope 21 that creation would be set free from decay and would share in the glorious freedom of his children. Romans 8:18–21 (CEV)
God loved the animals, the plants, the trees, the mountains, and the streams so much that he made them a critical part of his goal for making all things right. And creation knows it! God’s love for the present creation, even though it’s corrupted, is evident in Scripture.
8 You are merciful, Lord! You are kind and patient and always loving. 9 You are good to everyone, and you take care of all your creation. 10 All creation will thank you, and your loyal people will praise you. Psalm 145:8–10 (CEV)
5 Your love is faithful, Lord, and even the clouds in the sky can depend on you. 6 Your decisions are always fair. They are firm like mountains, deep like the sea, and all people and animals are under your care. Psalm 36:5–6 (CEV)
10 Good people are kind to their animals, but a mean person is cruel. Proverbs 12:10 (CEV)
In the series, we learned that our vocation in the New Heaven and Earth, as co-rulers with Christ, will be lovingly stewarding creation, just as it was our vocation in the beginning before the fall. And so, this demands we care about creation now, the one thing that modern Western Christians fail at miserably. One author said it well,
[A] very significant feature of the biblical view of heaven and of resurrection is that it demands a transformed view of the created world and our relationship with it…
It seems to me that there are profound implications of seeing both that heaven is a part of the created order which will be re-created and redeemed at the end of times along with earth, and that our future life is to be one of embodied resurrection in that new earth. What this means is that the world we live in is not something temporary that we will cast off as we hope for a future spiritual existence, but is the place where we learn to live as we will live for eternity, with the difference that the new heaven and earth will be united and no longer seemingly separate.
This must surely make a vast difference to the way we live now. It is so easy to assume that everything spiritual is good and everything earthly is bad. If we do this then it means that we seek to withdraw as much as possible from anything earthly, searching instead for spiritual things which are ‘untouched’ by the things of earth. It also means that we lose a respect for creation which, whether intentionally or not, we can easily associate with unspiritual things…
In short, if heaven is created along with earth, created things cannot be all bad. As a result, believing in heaven should mean that we live more fully and more responsibly on earth now. In terms of the environment this has the potential to shape a very different attitude to our planet. The more traditional Christian view associating spiritual, ‘good’ things with heaven and physical, ‘bad’ things with earth has the tendency to make our planet disposable as we yearn for a non-physical existence in heaven. If we believe that heaven, like earth, will be re-created at the end of all times, then we are called to rethink our attitude to the planet and to aim more for spiritual earthly living. This means living out the things of God on earth, and since God brings life that is how we are called to live in his created world. We are called to principles and patterns of behaviour that, as much as possible, bring life rather than death. This is something that should affect everything that we say, think and do and every decision we make, as we ask ourselves, as far as we can, whether our pattern of living is life-giving or not.2
Most Western Christians stand like calves staring at a new gate when they hear this. That was certainly me when these truths came my way. I once cared little for the planet, animals, ecosystems, and the like. But when I was confronted with dirt and stone for flesh and bone, it required me to change how I viewed creation in the present. To care for and promote the flourishing of God’s green earth is just as much a part of godly living as all the other things we’ve mentioned.
Dirt and stone for flesh and bone mandates holy living under God’s abundant grace now. It requires caring about creation now. Let’s close with the observations of a young lady in our fellowship who responded to my call for thoughts about the series. It’s a fitting end to our journey.
Like most of us, I think, I also grew up with the “Plato” version of heaven. The idea was that this world was going to burn up, and we were all going to magically go somewhere in the sky. This was all supposed to be really amazing and wonderful - but that never really sounded appealing to me as a kid - and to be honest, it doesn’t as an adult either. I didn’t realize until recently how this view of heaven was negatively affecting my outlook on life. It was actually as I listened to one of the recent sermons that I realized I had fallen into an almost despairing surrender to the pain I see in this world. Through experiences in my own life, and the type of work that I do, I get so tired of seeing innocent people hurt. When a 7-year-old comes to school crying because their dad just went to jail, or another child is trying to hide marks left on them by an irate parent, heaven just seems so far away. And placed in that light, if I’m being honest, the heaven I grew up understanding just doesn’t even seem like it is worth it. However, as we have built on each successive theme and fleshed out a picture of what heaven truly is, I find myself SO incredibly thankful and encouraged. I am greatly comforted by the truth that Heaven is not just some immaterial place we end up in, but instead it is a recreation of everything this world is supposed to be. I have loved learning about the larger picture of God’s plan to make wrongs right and our souls and bodies whole again. This amazing plan sounds like the work of the God I know and love - the other version of heaven never did. This renews my energy and strength to continue facing the evil I see in this world, committed to bringing God’s kingdom closer each day.
I have also really really appreciated how this series has addressed God’s love for his creation. I loved hearing that God cares what happens to His creation now and then. I don’t think you can truly experience nature and God’s creatures and say that they don’t have purpose, value, and a right to be respected and cared for. Another thing that always bothered me about the faulty version of heaven was that all of creation was just going to no longer exist. I have always been drawn to the beauty of nature, and it is often where I feel closest to God. To think that I would never get to enjoy planting seeds and watching them blossom, or no longer cuddle a puppy, or watch ducks enjoy a creek - that sounds more like hell than heaven to me. It brought me great joy to realize that the Bible points to there being plants, trees, and animals in Heaven - in fact maybe even the same ones we already know! “All creation groans” just like we do, and for the first time in my journey as a Christ follower, I can confidently say that I am waiting impatiently with them.
13 But God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, where justice will rule. We are really looking forward to that! 2 Peter 3:13 (CEV)
The END… Yet we longingly wait for the New Beginning.
Wright, T. (2011). Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah (pp. 123–125). SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press.
Gooder, P. (2011). Heaven. Cascade Books.
This was so good, Brad. The whole series. Thank you!