Romans 8 has come up in the LCMS lectionary recently, a portion of Scripture that I find to be very exciting. This week, as I prepare to preach on Romans 8:18-27, I've been thinking about the promise of resurrection and new creation - the glorious inheritance of the children of God. At the same time, I've been reading the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn. I haven't gone too far into the book yet, but I can appreciate the argument he makes for why he wrote it in the first place.
Alcorn recounts that many Christians he has encountered simply do not have an accurate understanding of what heaven is like, especially after Christ's return on the Last Day. Many have been influenced by popular portrayals of heaven consisting of clouds and halos and harps and not much else. Others have heard heaven described as an eternal church service (which is hardly attractive to many who have a heard time sitting through 60-65 minutes on any given week). Still others have been told that we can't imagine what is in store, which is a well-meaning statement meant to communicate that heaven will be awesome, but which can often stop people from at least trying to imagine what God has in store. As a result, Alcorn argues that most people don't have a vision of heaven that inspires them to eagerly desire the day of its coming - in fact, for many, the prospect of spending an eternity in any given location (even a really nice one) seems tedious. "Won't we get bored after a while?" some ask.
I have to confess that I personally didn't know what to think about heaven growing up, either. Time spent in God's presence with friends and family sounded great, but I also had the "boredom" question. Of course, thoughts of spending eternity in hell, suffering and separated from God, scared the bejeezers (a technical theological term, of course) out of me, and I much preferred heaven, however it might turn out.
Alcorn sets out in his book to recapture a true biblical understanding of what heaven is. At the heart of his argument is God's affirmation of His creation, both in proclaiming it "good" in Genesis 1 and in declaring it "good" again by sending His Son to become a human being and redeem it. When Jesus comes again, he isn't coming to take us away from the earth. He is coming to finally free the earth from the Curse and restore it to be the ultimate home that He can share with His redeemed and resurrected brothers and sisters. Alcorn argues that the Scriptures give us a picture of heaven that we can legitimately long for and anticipate with great joy and excitement.
Is there a particular aspect of God's promised new creation that you find exciting? Please share in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment