“‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news’” (1:15)
Yesterday I said that it is the foundation of Christian faith to wait for the kingdom of God described as a new heaven and earth, because life experienced in this world is imperfect. Now we should ask questions what the characteristics for the heavenly kingdom could be in details. Jesus said the kingdom of God does not belong to what to eat or what to drink, so we could think that it must be mental values like justice, peace, joy, liberty. But if precisely speaking, those characteristics could be experienced already in this world. Even though it is imperfect, but we could experience justice and peace in the world, and we try hard to reach to achieve those.
What could it be in a different level from these experiences? In a word we could say it is “an everlasting life”. Everlasting life could not be attained, and even in a sense it is impossible for us to experience while living in this world. We are living in here by a limited way of living. Of course the word itself means a life without limit. But in here it is so hard to understand a life “without end”. Even if we could live for 1 billion years, it does not mean an everlasting life. Even 10 billion years does not mean either. And then does an eternal life mean an endless life?
Think about it. “Without end” means an endless repetition. Mostly we have three meals a day, excrete, meet people, and enjoy our hobbies. Of course we should make money for a living. Is it possible for us to be happy with this kind of everlasting life? Perhaps some people might think that our daily lives are not alike at all everyday. We are growing up, more mature, and having more possessions and social status, and also getting old too. But basically we could not avoid this kind of repetitive lives.
If a life in the kingdom of God means something like this, it must be very puzzling, I think. Like description in the Revelation, even though life without pain or sorrow could be so satisfactory, it could not be an appropriate characteristic for the kingdom of God. For even though it is very pleasing event, if it repeats everlastingly it could not be a blessing, but a disaster.
The kingdom of God does not mean a place where an everlasting life would be guaranteed in a way we experience in this world everlastingly. Everlasting life in the kingdom of God does mean that totally a different new way of life will begin. It might be a big misunderstanding if we regard it as a simple meaning of time. Basically if we could not get out of time we experience in this world, the everlasting life does not mean anything at all. In this sense, Christians are not the people simply waiting for an everlasting life, but for a changed life. To be more concrete, they are the people with hope that they could be changed by Jesus’ resurrection. For the everlasting life could be meaningless if not like caterpillars being changed into butterflies. For the word “everlasting” means change, not simple extended time.
And then we could experience an everlasting life of the kingdom of God in this world. It is the life being in accordance with Jesus’ resurrection. And then what is Jesus’ resurrection? How could we experience the accordance with Jesus’ resurrection?
Lord, please help us to understand everlasting life deeply and in a new way. Amen.
Yesterday I said that it is the foundation of Christian faith to wait for the kingdom of God described as a new heaven and earth, because life experienced in this world is imperfect. Now we should ask questions what the characteristics for the heavenly kingdom could be in details. Jesus said the kingdom of God does not belong to what to eat or what to drink, so we could think that it must be mental values like justice, peace, joy, liberty. But if precisely speaking, those characteristics could be experienced already in this world. Even though it is imperfect, but we could experience justice and peace in the world, and we try hard to reach to achieve those.
What could it be in a different level from these experiences? In a word we could say it is “an everlasting life”. Everlasting life could not be attained, and even in a sense it is impossible for us to experience while living in this world. We are living in here by a limited way of living. Of course the word itself means a life without limit. But in here it is so hard to understand a life “without end”. Even if we could live for 1 billion years, it does not mean an everlasting life. Even 10 billion years does not mean either. And then does an eternal life mean an endless life?
Think about it. “Without end” means an endless repetition. Mostly we have three meals a day, excrete, meet people, and enjoy our hobbies. Of course we should make money for a living. Is it possible for us to be happy with this kind of everlasting life? Perhaps some people might think that our daily lives are not alike at all everyday. We are growing up, more mature, and having more possessions and social status, and also getting old too. But basically we could not avoid this kind of repetitive lives.
If a life in the kingdom of God means something like this, it must be very puzzling, I think. Like description in the Revelation, even though life without pain or sorrow could be so satisfactory, it could not be an appropriate characteristic for the kingdom of God. For even though it is very pleasing event, if it repeats everlastingly it could not be a blessing, but a disaster.
The kingdom of God does not mean a place where an everlasting life would be guaranteed in a way we experience in this world everlastingly. Everlasting life in the kingdom of God does mean that totally a different new way of life will begin. It might be a big misunderstanding if we regard it as a simple meaning of time. Basically if we could not get out of time we experience in this world, the everlasting life does not mean anything at all. In this sense, Christians are not the people simply waiting for an everlasting life, but for a changed life. To be more concrete, they are the people with hope that they could be changed by Jesus’ resurrection. For the everlasting life could be meaningless if not like caterpillars being changed into butterflies. For the word “everlasting” means change, not simple extended time.
And then we could experience an everlasting life of the kingdom of God in this world. It is the life being in accordance with Jesus’ resurrection. And then what is Jesus’ resurrection? How could we experience the accordance with Jesus’ resurrection?
Lord, please help us to understand everlasting life deeply and in a new way. Amen.
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