Christian Hope: New Heavens and Earth

26 July 2009
SPEAKER: Dr Tan Kang San


What is heaven? A place we go to after we die? Are Christians wrong in our thinking about heaven? In his book,"Surprised by Hope", N.T. Wright wrote that the Bible does not talk so much about going to heaven as the coming down of heaven to earth.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the phrase 'kingdom of heaven' is equivalent to 'kingdom of God' used by the other three Gospel writers, and indicates a situation when God reigns, not a territory. Luke 10:25, the phrase 'eternal life' also has to do with 'kingdom of God'. Jesus Himself talked about the kingdom of God being 'at hand' or 'near'.

Some say we are living in the 'in-between' times, between the already and the yet to come.

Peter wrote about "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4) and Paul said that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20). During Roman times, the idea of Roman citizenship meant that wherever a Roman citizen was, Rome would come to protect him from his enemies.

In Romans 8, Paul wrote that "the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time," and that we "who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies". We, the church, are God's means to prepare for a new creation, hidden inside, unseen, like the presence of the Holy Spirit who also groans with the world and with the church: "the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express".

In 2 Kings 6, the story of Elisha and his servant is told:

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.

16 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

17 And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

The heavenly reality all around us is hidden from the eyes of most of us, like the servant. The fact is that heaven has come and is near, God is not far removed in His heaven, as in the teaching of Deism.

Thus for us, our Christian hope is not an individual thing, but an integrated view of future hope for the world, for the healing of creation, and for the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.

Second, our view of mission is an integration of creation and heaven, the practising of heavenly values here on earth. Thus we pray and work for political justice and care about issues of poverty, environmental pollution and all social concerns, to build a world order in line with God's reality.

Our view of God: He is not just out there, but He is a good God who is actively involved in our world today.

This is our Christian hope, a hope that is both future and present, a hope for ourselves and for the whole world.