Brent Thomas (Holiday at the Sea) shares his thoughts.

Brent says:

“While I am glad that people are studying Scripture and prophecy in particular, and I am glad that people are looking for Jesus to come again, I worry that what many people are looking for is actually unbiblical…”

This past Friday, The 930 (which is the building where Sojourn Community Church gathers) hosted a new gallery opening entitled “Ethiopia.” The gallery description given on the site is:

“‘Ethiopia’ is an exhibit of photos, video, and Ethiopian folk paintings exploring Ethiopian culture through the eyes of two traveling Louisvillians, photographer Jason Crigler and videographer Drew Layman…In the Ethiopia exhibit, Jason Crigler’s photographs make up most of the show. His photographs show a mostly rural Ethiopia, where traditions have remained strong through generations. Farmers plow with oxen and coffee is roasted over fires in small batches. Clothing is washed by hand in streams and made from homespun cloth.”

I missed the opening of the exhibit, but was able to look around later that evening while waiting for one of my favorite bands, Cool Hand Luke¹, to take the stage. The whole exhibit was wonderful, but there was something interesting that caught my eye. On the wall was an opened Ethiopian blessing cross, which you can see on the right below (sorry for the phone camera quality). Below it was this description:
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Brian, author of the awesome blog sunestauromai, has put up a pretty candid post on the link between preaching and eschatology (study of “last things”). He quotes from Eugene Peterson’s books Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, where Peterson says that “Pastoral Work is Eschatological.” Brian tells us of his initial reaction:
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

We have looked at the first three parts of Heaven is a Place on Earth, which explain “where we are,” “who we are,” “why are we here,” and “what’s wrong with the world?” This brings us to the fourth and final section of the book, “What is God’s Plan for This World?”
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

So far, we have looked over the first two parts of Heaven is a Place on Earth. In doing so, we have covered two questions that pertain to worldviews, and saw how Christianity answers them: The first is “What is this Place?” which looks at what the Bible says about creation; the second is “Why are We Here?” and looks at what our purpose in life is in regard to relationships between people and God, other people, and creation. These sections are much shorter at two chapters each. We now move on to part III, “What is Wrong with Me and My World? The Fall in Genesis 3-11
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

In the last post, I surveyed the first four chapters of Michael Wittmer’s book, Heaven is a Place on Earth. These chapters make up the introduction and the first of four parts, focusing on “What is this Place?” which is a look at what the Bible says about creation. He ended the section with a piece on being made “in the image of God” with a really helpful chart on the “three-fold” image (see last post for the chart). The chapters in Part Two, “Why are We Here?” focus on those relationships between people and God, other people, and creation. This section will be the focus of this post.
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Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God
Michael E. Wittmer
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310253071
ISBN-13: 978-0310253075
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Buy Here: amazon.com

One of the verses I have struggled with comes at the end of 1 Corinthians 15:

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” (v. 58)

Why the confusion? Because this is how Paul ends his argument for the reality of the resurrection. The reason our work is not useless is because Christ has risen. What does the resurrection have to do with how we go about our day-to-day lives? Our vocations, our leisure, mowing the grass- it all matters, according to Paul, but why? My two favorite books from last year spoke to this- “Surprised by Hope,” by N.T. Wright, talks of the new heavens and new earth as the Christian hope. He focuses on the eschatological realities. “Culture Making,” by Andy Crouch, talks about the reality of our creative calling to produce culture, not just critique it and ignore it, but that we should actively engage it.

Michael Wittmer’s book “Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God” takes the best of these two books and puts it into one- and oddly enough it was written 4 years previous to the other two. Wittmer argues for the “tremendous dignity and value of everyday life” by “taking you from Creation to the Fall, to Redemption, and to glimpses from the book of Revelation” (book description on the back). Wittmer’s goal is to get us to view all of life through the Christian worldview. That is, to view everything through the lens of Biblical Christianity. The result is one of the best books on “the Christian life” that I have read to date. Wittmer gets it.
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The following quote is from the introduction of Geerhardus Vos’ “The Eschatology of the Old Testament,” page 7:

“The biblical redemption aims at a new creation and nothing less than that. Therefore, all the threads of purposeful finality are made to run together in the redemptive revelation of grace; all the rays of original eschatological light and splendor are refocused in it. The dignity of God as Redeemer postulates it and the truly pious soul will not, cannot, conceive of it otherwise. The promise reminds God of and, as it were, confronts him with the fact that he cannot abandon the works of his hands, that he must perfect what he has begun. This is but another way of saying that eschatology is the crown of redemption both from God’s and man’s side.”

Revelation 22:20

Λέγει ὁ μαρτυρῶν ταῦτα· ναί, ἔρχομαι ταχύ. Ἀμήν, ἔρχου κύριε Ἰησοῦ.
The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes! I am coming quickly!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Today was absolutely gorgeous. The sun is out in glorious splendor, and the temperature has hit the mid-50s. That’s Fahrenheit for my foreign readers. Some of you may know that the past few weeks here in Louisville have been filled with ice and snow storms leading to massive power outages, and the difference is incredible as the snow and ice melt away.
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Theology about the end times is nothing short of fascinating. I find some of it to be much more sensationalistic than others, but here is a promo video for a course on the end times that looks promising:

[HT: Riddlebarger]