Act 5 is the final act in the play and is based on the hints we receive in the Bible about the future and the end of time. These revolve around three key ideas: Jesus’ vindication; resurrection; and the coming in full of the kingdom of God.
Jesus’ vindication
In Mark 13: 1-8, we read of Jesus and his disciples going to the Temple in Jerusalem. As they were leaving, one of the disciples remarked on what a magnificent building the Temple was. Jesus’ response was to predict that it would shortly be completely and utterly destroyed. The Temple, at that time, was central to the whole Jewish faith. What Jesus was saying was that the whole way in which Judaism was practised at that time was going to be destroyed. A whole way of life wiped out. It was a shocking claim about a major crisis.
Mark records this for us because what Jesus predicted actually happened. In AD70 Titus, the adopted son of the Roman emperor Vespasian, “entered Jerusalem, burnt the Temple, destroyed the city and crucified thousands of Jews” (Wright). For Mark the fulfilment of Jesus’ prophecy, although a disaster for all those caught up in it, was the final vindication of all that Jesus had said and been and done. In that day, he says in verse 26 of this same chapter, men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. In other words, people will realise that Jesus was who he claimed to be, the Messiah. The destruction of the Temple was proof that Jesus had spoken and acted truly; that he was a true prophet.
Christians over the centuries have often interpreted what Jesus said about the Temple and his vindication as a true prophet in terms of his second coming but New Testament scholar Tom Wright has comprehensively and, in my view, conclusively demonstrated that these passages are best understood in relation to the destruction of the Temple in AD70. Because Jesus is vindicated through these prophecies as being a true prophet, we then know that what he does say about the future can be trusted implicitly.
Resurrection
In John’s Gospel, we explicitly hear Jesus speaking about himself as the resurrection - “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). In John 6:40, Jesus says, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” and, in John 14:19, Jesus says to his disciples, “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”
He is able to make these promises because he knows that God will raise him from death on Easter Day. That truth is what his followers come to understand after his resurrection. St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” What happened to Christ will also happen to use. He is the firstborn from the dead and we are those who will follow him by also rising from death. In Romans 6:5, Paul writes, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” and, in Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Back in 1 Corinthians, we read in 15:21-22, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” In 1 Thessalonians 4:14, we are told that, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”
Jesus’s death and resurrection provide the template for our future eternal life, along with the assurance that we will be raised as he was raised. Jesus’ resurrected body differs in some ways from his body prior to death, in that he is not always recognised by those who knew him and he is able to appear and disappear at will. However, there is much continuity too between his resurrected body and his pre-resurrected body. This leads St Paul to state in 1 Corinthians 15.40-44, that:
“There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.”
He concludes that we will “bear the image of the one of heaven”, meaning the image of Jesus.
So, the promise that Jesus gives us is of a resurrected future together with him in eternity. But what will that look like?
The kingdom of God
The kingdom of God was the main topic of Jesus’ teaching during his time on earth. Most of his Parables begin, the kingdom of God is like … buried treasure, a pearl of great price, a lost coin, sheep or Son that are found, and so on. Bringing the news that the kingdom of God was coming was the reason for his travels and preaching across Israel during the three years of his ministry. In doing so, he took on the task that God had originally given to the people of Israel, that of being a light to the nations, which is why he proclaimed himself to be the light of the world.
Through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, the kingdom of God is established in our world for the first time as, for the first time, a human being lives out God’s intent for humanity in full. In Jesus, we see the rule and reign of God in practice, because Jesus is the fullest expression of God that can be revealed in a human being.
As Christians, we are called to follow in Jesus’ footsteps by living under the rule and reign of God. We do this imperfectly, so can, at best, create temporary signs of what the kingdom of God looks like in practice but when we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome strangers, clothe the naked, take care of those who are sick, and visit prisoners, we come as close as we possibly can.
However, at an unknown time in the future, God’s kingdom will come in full – as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer – “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven”. St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15.20-28:
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.”
The prophets, including Isaiah and John, the writer of Revelation, give us glimpses of what this peaceable kingdom will look like.
Isaiah speaks, in 9.2,6&7, of a people who walked in darkness seeing a great light:
“For a child has been born for us,a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.”
Then, in 11.6-9, he gives a vision of the peaceable kingdom of God, in which as he prophesies in 2.4 this child “shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more”:
“The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.”
Building on visions like these, John, in Revelation 21, sees earth and heaven united when the kingdom of God comes in full on earth:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
This is the culmination of the story that is told in and through the Bible. It is the vision towards which everything points. It is a vision of heaven come on earth, of eternal peace in the presence of God, where evil is eradicated and God’s rule encompassing all things, and where we are resurrected to be with God, with each other and with creation for ever.
Living God’s future now
Our calling in the present is to creating signs of this coming kingdom by living as fully as we can in anticipation of the coming kingdom. That is why we emphasise Being With as a key theme or idea for our Parish and our lives. In the coming kingdom, there will be nothing for us to fix, there will simply be being with God, with each other and with creation. Each of these will involve endless exploration because, in God, there is always more to discover.
Wonderings
I wonder what excites you about this vision of the future.
I wonder what questions it raises for you about the future.
I wonder how you think we can best live God’s future now.
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Leonard Cohen - Going Home.
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