Come, Let Us Go to the Home of the Lord
The Bible traverses a cosmic spectacle from creation to new creation. Genesis 1‒2 describes the unique Eden, and Revelation 21‒22 foretells a brand new Eden. Thus, the Creator’s authentic intent in forming and fashioning the world is rarely deserted within the Bible and is lastly completed in the long run. However between these two poles, now we have a multi-layered story of exile and return. Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden in Genesis 3:24, and in Revelation 21:24‒26 the “kings of the earth” convey their glories and honors again into the paradisical presence of God. It’s no overstatement to say, due to this fact, that the Bible is one lengthy drama of humanity’s homecoming.
I contend that the drama climaxes as Jesus’s loss of life turns into his personal private exile, and his resurrection is his personal private return from exile. For in his resurrection, and by extension his ascension, Jesus is the primary man to re-enter the very presence of God, “not into holy locations made with arms, that are copies of the true issues, however into heaven itself, now to seem within the presence of God on our behalf” (Heb. 9:24). In flip, Jesus’s resurrection secures our resurrection—a historic downpayment guaranteeing the long run return of all Jesus’s individuals to that very same presence of God (1 Thess. 4:13‒18).
Which means that the Bible portrays a grand theology of historical past. That’s, by narrating a narrative from creation to new creation, with a constant hum of exile and return in between, the Bible provides us an intentional narrative that overlays and explains all of historical past. So the historical past of the cosmos is not only one random factor after one other, on its method to cosmic conflagration, whereby nothing actually issues in between. Somewhat, the universe, from starting to finish, is the intentional theater of redemption, written by its divine Creator. And we live right this moment within the final chapter of that grand narrative; the final chapter of a narrative that may actually finish with our homecoming to God! This could give us great perseverance and confidence to endure the race set earlier than us.
Focusing totally on the journeys of Abraham, Joseph, and Jesus, Nicholas G. Piotrowski examines exile tales all through Scripture, displaying how they illustrate humanity’s final want for a Savior.
Tales have fairly an impact on us. Tales trigger us to think about one other setting and one other time than our personal. And if the story is properly organized (straightforward for the viewers to comply with) and has a satisfying conclusion, then it additionally has an orienting impact on us once we learn, hear, or see it. Maybe you’ve learn a very good story lately and thought how properly all of the items maintain collectively and the way you all the time knew the place you have been within the creating plot. Equally, maybe you have got lately learn a ebook whose narrative was disjointed, even chaotic. The previous made you’re feeling safe and clearheaded in its pages. The latter left you dizzy and perhaps even anxious when studying. Both manner, in some unspecified time in the future you needed to put the ebook down and switch your consideration once more to “the actual world.”
And that is the place the Bible’s return-from-exile drama talked about above actually helps us. We stay in a time in “the actual world” when issues really feel unsure and chaotic. What’s the which means of life? The place is historical past going? What is true and what’s unsuitable? Who’s righteous and who’s unjust? These are all questions for which completely different individuals from completely different views have completely different solutions. In case your ears are open to all of it, it turns into obvious simply how disorienting our instances are. Equally, our personal private lives also can really feel unsure and chaotic. The stresses of job, household, well being, and many others. can go away us reeling, nervous, and perhaps even hopeless. However the biblical story of return from exile by way of Jesus Christ grounds us, orients us, and restores that hope.
Here’s what I imply. If the world is only a sequence of pointless, random occasions caught in an countless and god-less cause-and-effect loop, then it is extremely onerous to get a way of “the place are we” within the story of creation. If historical past is just not going wherever, not carrying out something—no objective, no purpose—then it’s equally onerous to know “when are we.” That’s, with out the Bible’s theology of historical past we discover ourselves in a kind of chaotic meaningless tales, and we really feel like a misplaced cork adrift in a whirling present.
We have now entered into the time when the person Jesus Christ has launched our homecoming.
And I do consider that even Christians can really feel that manner. If we perceive the Bible as a disconnected sequence of teachings—a narrative right here, a poem there, a verse out of context to memorize—and don’t see the consistency and continuity of the components, then we miss that general narrative that it gives. The Bible is God’s self-revelation and interpretation of the which means of life, the universe, and every little thing. To know the Bible’s theology of historical past is, due to this fact, to know how the divine Creator is shaping the story of creation through which we stay. And once we see that, all of a sudden we perceive “the place we’re” and “once we are.”
As a result of Jesus has gone on his personal exile in his loss of life and returned to the presence of God in his resurrection and ascension, we will see that now we have one step again into Eden! Christ is the primary man to return to the very presence of God! And due to him, now we have a “certain and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the internal place behind the scenes, the place Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” (Heb. 6:19–20; cf. additionally Heb. 10:20). And he himself is main us to that place too! As a result of Christ has gone earlier than us into the presence of God, the following motion of historical past is the total homecoming of the church into a brand new creation the place God “will dwell with them, and they are going to be his individuals” (Rev. 21:3)!
All this may occur, by cosmic requirements, very quickly! Between Jesus’s first and second comings, we’re within the final chapter of historical past. For in Jesus’s loss of life, resurrection, and ascension, the ages have shifted. We have now entered into the time when the person Jesus Christ has launched our homecoming. The key turning level of historical past, due to this fact, is just not the Enlightenment, the founding of America, or the final election. It’s not your birthday or current promotion or dismissal. It’s the time in historical past when God entered the creation in Christ and commenced the church’s return to the presence of God—now within the church’s worship (Heb. 12:18‒25) and shortly in that new creation world with out finish (Heb. 12:26‒27).
For certain, “all of the world’s a stage”: God’s stage for his functions in creation and redemption. “And all of the women and men [are] merely gamers”: God’s actors in his drama, pushed away from his life-giving presence due to sin, however now coming dwelling by way of our Savior and forerunner Jesus Christ, and shortly to completely and at last relaxation at dwelling with him in God’s presence once more.1
In “the actual world” the place individuals are profoundly confused about who they’re, what is nice, what’s true, what is gorgeous, and what’s the which means of life, this biblical narrative of homecoming is superbly refreshing, inspiring, motivating, hope-giving, grounding, and figuring out. It provides us the understanding of God’s place and God’s timing in order that we will endure struggling, resist sin, hope in our resurrection, lean on each other, and minister to the world. For, from starting to finish, God’s creation can’t be marked by “mere oblivion” and finish “sans every little thing.” It’s marked with God’s functions and ends in his presence in a brand new creation.
Notes:
- “All of the world’s a stage, and all of the women and men merely gamers” comes from Shakespeare’s As You Like It (ca. 1599). The character Jaques concludes that every “participant” (actor) ends their script in “mere oblivion; sans tooth, sans eyes, sans style, sans every little thing.” The biblical metadrama of return from exile to a brand new creation had the precise reverse philosophy of life. Reward God for that!
Nicholas G. Piotrowski is the creator of Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People.
