Eschatology: “God is Salvation” Wins and Has Always Won

The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love

The Gospel is simple. In a Word, it’s “God is Salvation,” which in Hebrew forms a name, which is translated into English as “Jesus.” The Gospel is simple, but the lies that we have believed about the Gospel are as complex as Hell. In this series, we’ve looked at seven foundational truths in reference to the Gospel, along with seven lies. This is the eighth and the last (the eschatos). “Eschatology” is an English word defined as “the study of the last things or end times.” It comes from two Greek words, eschatos meaning “ultimate” or “last” and logos meaning “logic, meaning, or Word.” “In the beginning” God spoke a Word who is the Beginning and the End and the Way in between. He is the Light of the World. So, the Cosmos is like a womb in Jesus into which God the Father speaks Jesus. Creation happens in six days of chronological time. But the seventh day is different. It is the End and the Beginning and the Way in between. It’s eternal. It’s not endless time (there is no such thing) but endful, beginning-full, way-full, meaningful, not burdensome, boring, or tiresome time. It’s God’s Promised Rest (Sabbath). We encounter it at the cross. “He appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” A believer’s body exists in temporality with eternity enthroned in the temple of the soul. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Inconceivable, but simple. Eschatology is that which is #1 truly real (“it is finished”); # 2 entirely good (“everything is good”); #3 fully alive (“the Good” and “the Life”). Life is a communion of sacrifice in freedom called Love. The Jews were commanded to work six days and rest on the seventh, and then start over. But at the end of “Tabernacles” they were commanded to celebrate an eighth day, which symbolized an endless seventh, for it was itself the end and the beginning, the Sabbath of sabbaths. Jesus called Himself “the Lord of the Sabbath.” And yet, He kept being accused of violating the Sabbath. Until that night, the beginning of the sixth day, Friday, it seemed as if all His work was play. Every day was a holy day (holiday), and every step was to the tune of some music we just couldn’t hear. A healthy body is coordinated when each member surrenders to the logic coming from the head. A happy body dances when every member freely surrenders to the logic in the music that fills the air. And when many people hear the same music, they can all be coordinated in a perfect freedom that we call a dance. Jesus is the Lord of the Dance. As long as you’re practicing dance steps, you’re not really dancing, for as long as you are focused on yourself, you can’t lose yourself in the music and find yourself dancing. The Dance is Love. When I think of heaven, that is, Eschatology, I often think of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing cheek to cheek and singing “I’m in heaven” in that old movie from the 1930’s: “Top Hat.” If Heaven is Reality Himself where “everything is good” and “it is finished”… If Scripture is true, if God in Christ Jesus will be “all in all”… if the voice from the throne isn’t lying, and so “these words are trustworthy and true: ‘Behold I make all things new’”… THEN we’re all going to the Dance, for the Dance is filling all things, and it’s all happening through a door—“The End of the Ages.” Seventeen years ago, I was defrocked for saying just that and refusing to publicly confess that there was a group of people that God did not want to save and a group of people that couldn’t be saved by God. Pastors would pull me aside and say, “What about ‘free will,’” and “It seems like you’re not taking evil very seriously.” Perhaps that thing we sometimes call “free will” (my will apart from God’s Will) is actually bad will, or no will, which is actually evil. It may also be the definition of time — chronological time, the second law of thermodynamics, the reason that everything dies. A lie can only function on the timeline. In the 18th century, many began to believe that chronological time is all that there ever “is, was, or ever shall be.” That’s not the view of Scripture or the early church; however, they did debate “The Millennium.” Revelation 20 speaks of the Devil bound by a chain, held in the hands of a nondescript angel, and cast into the abyss, while some of the dead come to life and reign on earth for a thousand years (a millennium). “Never forget that with the Lord, a day is as a thousand years (a millennium) and a thousand years as one day,” says Scripture. For most of history, most of the church has said that that day, that millennium, is now. For Jesus conquered the devil, has been given all authority, given that authority to us, and faith is the death of death, the second death, which is the resurrection. It is losing your life and finding it, dancing. In the first century, in his epistle, Barnabas pictures the six days of creation as six ages and the seventh day as the Millennium, when the church reigns on earth through faith, hope, and love while waiting for the eighth day -- the endless seventh, when there is no more space and time for the Devil. “There is an immeasurable greatness of power in us that believe,” wrote Paul from prison — prison! So, “Yes, we find this hard to believe.” In the 19th century, much of the church was focused on “post-millennialism.” It’s the belief that the Millennium begins when the church gets it’s “act together” and then ends when Christ returns. We save the world for Christ. In the 20th century, much of the church was focused on “pre-millennialism.” It’s the belief that the Millennium begins when Jesus comes back, but not as He did in the past, choosing to be last but now choosing to be first and making us part of his government. That’s how it begins, and then it ends with the Great White Throne Judgement. So, Jesus saves the world for us…that is, some of us. There are many varieties of “Pre” and “Post,” but at least for most, eternity is just endless temporality. So, there is no End. And there is no Door between temporality and eternity. And so, you don’t need to “lose your psyche to find it,” and “free will” determines God’s Will, as if we could be our own uncreated creators. Seventeen years ago, they would say, “Peter, what about ‘free will,’” and “It seems that you’re not taking evil very seriously.’” And yet, I had never taken evil so seriously. I had spent almost 14 years praying for a friend who had been raised in a coven and wed to Satan. I know this sounds insane, but I would often bind him with a chain, which was just a Word, and cast him into the Abyss. So maybe this is the Millennium, and I’m a little angel holding a chain. We discovered that we could ask God to flood the room with eternal fire or love, and it would have the same effect: comfort us and burn the evil one. Once, we asked Jesus, “Why don’t you just throw him into the Lake of Fire?” And He answered, “I am. All the time.” And this was the strangest thing. It was as if Jesus had already conquered, and so the entire battle was all about conquering my friend’s heart with the Gospel of Relentless Love. All the “power” of the devil was a lie in two forms: God doesn’t want to save you, and God can’t save you. That is, God is not salvation; God is not Jesus. So, when I was told to confess those two things or lose everything, I recognized the voice, and Jesus in me made a choice. And when people said, “Don’t you take evil seriously?” I wanted to reply, “Don’t you take Jesus seriously?” Jesus had descended into our friend’s every moment, and when in prayer she would see Him there, it would destroy the work of the Devil and make her space and time new. Look at the tree in the middle of the garden? Was a greater evil ever committed than the evil committed when we took Jesus’ life on the tree in the garden. And was a greater good ever done than the good that God did when He gave His life on the tree in the garden? “Since I have turned the greatest possible harm into good,” said Jesus to Julian of Norwich, “it is my will that you should know from this, that I shall turn all lesser evil into good.” Jesus is the Good where there once was evil. He is the Rhythm of the Dance who will weave all our stories together in a great symphony of praise in which the last is first and the first is last, and we will all see that our only enemy has been a lie. Jesus is the light shining in the darkness. Ephesians 5:8-13, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord... anything exposed by the light... is light. Therefore, it says, ‘Awake oh sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” Perhaps we’ve already died and been asleep ever since God put Adam to sleep in the garden? But we’ll wake and say, ‘There’s no place like home, no place like home.’” The Kingdom really is “at hand.” So, where’s the door? When I think of Heaven, I think of J.C. -- John Coffey, in the movie “The Green Mile.” He’s a scapegoat framed for murder. He’s a giant with a tender heart. He heals people by taking their pain and giving them his life. He heals his guard who is to give the order to have him executed. His guard wants to help him escape, but J.C. chooses to die. As a last wish, he watches Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance cheek to cheek and sing “I’m in Heaven.” He watches, and all the guards watch him. He’s already dancing. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.” Next line, which I never hear quoted: “These things God has revealed to us.” What things? 1 Corinthians 2:2, “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” He is the Eschatos Adam; He is the last man. He is our Eschatology. He is the rhythm of the Dance. He is the Logic of Love. When one person loves in a world that doesn’t love, it looks like a naked man nailed to a tree. When two people love in a world that doesn’t love, it looks like marriage and new life. When all people love in a world that once upon a time did not love, everyone is home, and everyone is grateful. All work is play, and every movement is the Dance of Love in the image and likeness of God our Father. Believe it, and even if you’re last -- especially if you’re last -- you’re the first; you’re the Door. You’re the gate that opens to the New Jerusalem coming down. Jesus wins. Even when He loses -- especially when he loses -- he wins. He’s the Eschatos Man. Click here for a list of questions for reflection and/or discussion related to this sermon