Life in a New Millennium

As citizens of the United States we have been thoroughly and effectively indoctrinated that every human being has been “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” These rights include “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” (The Declaration of Independence).  These are our legal rights.

The challenge for responsible citizens of this great country is to not abuse our personal liberties. Laws are written and enforced toward this end; however, the only enduring check on this unprecedented grant of freedom is the personal integrity, character, and responsibility of each citizen. Our freedom creates a moral obligation.

As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we have also been granted unprecedented freedom in Christ. Here again we must be careful to never abuse our freedom. What surprises most who carefully examine the New Covenant is that God does not appeal to law to hold us in check; instead He appeals to love and moral obligation.

In this free country you are able to enjoy life pretty much as you please. The only thing that your government demands of you is that you not break its laws or injure your neighbor—live and let live. Your freedom in the Kingdom of God, on the other hand, was designed to provoke a specific response from you. God did what He did for you in order to create deep within you a desire to “glorify God in your body.” Morally speaking, we do not belong to ourselves. Since He bought our freedom with a very high price we are indebted to Him, are we not?

As American citizens we argue the abortion issue in terms of “the right to choose” versus “the right to life.” I wonder how the texture of this debate might change within the Kingdom if we couched it in more appropriate terms. The issue is not about the right of any human being to do anything. The issue is about the sovereignty of God Almighty and about His right to determine what should and should not happen in the world that He created. How much more is God entitled to call the shots now that He has fully revealed His true character by dying on a cross?

He has always had the legal right to rule because He is the Creator. He now has the moral right to rule because He is the Suffering Redeemer. Therefore, as the church of Christ we willingly submit to Him as our Lord and King—because of who He is as well as because of what He has done for us.

The term eschatology comes from two Greek words: (1) eschatos, last, and (2) logos, speech, word, or discussion. Eschatology then is a discussion of the last things or the final age of human history. It is also a mindset, a way of looking at time.

Obviously it is difficult for those of us who have never known anything but time to speak the language of the One who lives beyond time. And yet the Timeless One entered into time to teach us something about time. It behooves us to make a sincere effort to embrace His teaching about time.

Theories abound on how we should properly interpret the New Testament’s presentation of the end of time (the eschaton). C. H. Dodd proposed a useful conceptualization of the end of time that he called Realized Eschatology. According to his proposal, since the end of the world has already been announced by God then the end of time has already been “realized.” Most reject this terminology (if not his idea outright) because it can be misinterpreted to mean that the end of time has already been realized—the end of the world has already occurred.

Oscar Cullman proposed a more useful term for (and a more coherent explanation of) the end of time. He argued that we should see things in terms of Inaugurated Eschatology. God has announced the end of the world; however, we should see that not as the realization of the end of time but the inauguration of the end. In other words, the beginning of the end has arrived but the end of the end has not.

Clearly God has established events and experiences that are to help us experience the “end of time” in the here and now. In the Lord’s Supper, for example, we celebrate our salvation now, we feast now, we experience forgiveness now and yet, simultaneously, we anticipate that Great Banquet at which the full realization of all these things will take place. In-time judgments (e.g., the destruction of Jerusalem) are also in-time events that carry with them end-of-the-world significance.

The importance of this discussion is in how we view our lives in relation to the end of time. Are we living in this present age? Or are we living the future now?