By Ganoune Diop
A Comment on the Sabbath School Lesson for June 22–28, 2002
In his apocalyptic discourse recorded in the Gospel of Luke 21:28, Jesus, commenting on end-time events, exhorts his disciples: "When these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (NASB).
Jesus’ declaration alerts the reader that apocalyptic consummation deals primarily with the completion of the salvation that God freely grants to all creation. It will be the decisive chapter of salvation history, the healing ointment (salve) of our spirit, body, emotions, relationships, and environment.
The scriptural settings in which the issues of the consummation of the plan of salvation are addressed have three major purposes: to exhort, to warn, and to challenge. - The encouragement of God’s people is purposed to give them the assurance of grace as they face persecution or seduction to compromise their faith.
- God’s people are warned of impending judgment. They are called to make the right choices so that they might not share the fate of God’s enemies.
- God’s people are also challenged to live up to God’s calling and to remain loyal to Christ despite end-time adversities.
The biblical writers use several images and metaphors to express the reality of the apocalyptic consummation. The following concepts are particularly relevant to the issue: resolution, fulfillment, restoration, vindication, reconciliation, and reunion. They are all connected to the idea of salvation.
The apocalyptic consummation climaxes in the completion of our adventure in freedom. We will ultimately be delivered from all human predicament and alienation. God reverses our plight. He provides everlasting freedom from all that is contrary to his life to which we are called to participate. God shares the following gifts:
- New Life/Eternal life (1 Tim. 6:12; freedom from nonexistence, nothingness, death)
- New Birth/New Creation (John 3:3, 5; 1 John 3:1; freedom from anonymity)
- Light (called out of darkness; 1 Pet. 2:9; freedom from darkness)
- Grace (Rom 8:1; freedom from condemnation)
- Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18; Rom. 5:10; freedom from division)
- Justification (Rom, 5:1; 8:1; freedom from strangled relationship with God)
- Righteousness (Matt. 5:20; freedom from injustice, unfairness, and impiety)
- Faith (Gal. 5:6; freedom from unbelief and ignorance)
- Hope (Rom. 15:4, freedom from despair)
- Love (1 Tim. 1:5, 1 Cor. 13; freedom from hate, anger, resentment)
- Joy (John 15:11, 13; freedom from self-pity, sadness)
- Peace (1 Cor 7:15; Col 3:15; freedom from trouble, anxiety, and war)
- Allegiance to the Sovereign God (1 Cor. 10:31; freedom from the power of sin, self, Satan, and addiction, rebellion, ingratitude, and the usurpation of God’s glory)
- Humility (Matt. 11:28; James 4:6; 1 Pet. 3:8; freedom from superiority and inferiority complexes)
- Compassion (Matt. 9:13; 12:7; freedom from insensitivity)
- God’s Commandments (new world order, 1 Cor. 7:19; freedom from chaos)
- Holiness (1 Thess. 4:3, 7; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:15; freedom from uncleanness and defilement)
- Sacredness of Life (1 Cor. 3:16, human beings are God’s sacred temples, therefore freedom from using and abusing others)
- Blessing (called to be a blessing, 1 Pet. 3:9; freedom from curses)
- Service (ministry to others, Rom. 12:3–8; freedom from self-centeredness and pride)
- Worship (freedom from all idols, whether people, places, or objects, Rev. 14:6, John 4:24)
- Communion/Fellowship (with God, the father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, 1 John 1:3; 2 Cor. 13:14; called into fellowship with the Son, 1 Cor. 1:9; freedom from exclusion)
- Glory (2 Thess. 2:14, called so that we may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; called to his eternal glory 1 Pet. 5:10, see also John 17:24; freedom from shame)
All the above gifts will be fully experienced when we inherit immortality, when God’s kingdom becomes universal, when there will be no more mourning, crying, pain, or suffering. A new heaven and a new earth will be the new environment. God will be all in all.
The prelude to the final chapter of God’s acts in history is the Second Coming of Christ.
When Jesus Christ comes again, it will be a prelude to a time of rectification of all misunderstandings and misinterpretations. It will be the advent of unequivocal meaning. Every person will excel in hermeneutics, the art and science of interpretation. The veil of ignorance will be lifted forever. It will be a time when what is partial will be abolished. Knowledge will be experienced to its fullest. We will know as we are known. "Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part; then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known" (1 Cor. 13:12 NASB). We will contemplate God; seeing God face-to-face will be the prerogative of the redeemed.
It will be the prelude to a time of fulfillment. The quest or longing for God will not be frustrated any more. The need for God will not be veiled any more in the multiplicity of desires that distract from the true object of our yearning.
When Jesus comes again it will also be a prelude to a time of resolution of all tensions and of all conflicts. The cosmic controversy between Christ and Satan will be over. They will be no more conflicts of interest. Life and love will triumph over death and violence. Truth and justice will finally overcome lies and injustice.
It will be a prelude to a time of ultimate vindication of the reputation and dignity of God and human beings. The glory of God—his character, honor, and dignity—will not be marred by the ambiguous nature of human perception due to our finitude and inability to grasp the whole of reality. Human beings will be seen in the light of the inestimable value God puts in them. There will be no more use or abuse of people, and no more oppression. The principles of self-giving and self-sacrificing service, modeled after Christ’s self-emptying (Phil. 2:6–11; Mark 10:45), will be the fashion not of the day, but of the ceaseless ages.
It will be a prelude to a time of restoration of the heavens and the earth, a new environment for a new people to whom are granted incorruptible bodies. Beauty, along with our sense of wonder, will be restored to fullness. The glory of God will also be expressed in the realm of esthetics and music in an unprecedented way.
It will be a prelude to a time of reunion. Believers will be reunited to God and with one another. Heartbreaking separations from parents, spouses, children, relatives, friends, and extended or adopted families will cease. It will be a festival of joy. We will be introduced to the presence of God’s glory with inexpressible joy (Jude 24).
In his apocalyptic discourses, Jesus urged his followers to be alert (Matt. 24:42; 25:13), to be ready (Matt. 24:44), to pray that they not be distracted or deceived. The best preparation will be to live today by the values and virtues that will be prevalent when God’s kingdom is established universally and forever. The promises connected to the restoration of all things call for cleansing and allegiance to God and to the gospel of his kingdom. Those who depend on God—who need comfort, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted for righteousness’ sake—are promised they will inherit the kingdom, be comforted, be satisfied, receive mercy, see God, and be called his children (Matt. 5:3–11).
As we wait for the restoration of all things, in order to maintain and expand our freedom, we are invited to fix our eyes on Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. He is the Torah, the way to God, the truth about God and about us, and also the life of God. In Jesus, we contemplate all the gifts of God. These gifts are fully expressed in the only perfect person who ever walked on earth. Our calling is to avail ourselves of God’s Spirit, who conforms us to Jesus Christ. "We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed . . . into the same image from glory to glory, just as the Lord is Spirit." (2 Cor. 3:18, 19 NASB).
The expectation and preparation for the apocalyptic consummation of all things do not exempt us from our responsibilities for the betterment of the lives of our fellow human beings, other creatures, and creation as a whole. Hope for the restoration of all things is not escapism or an excuse to give up on people. Hope triumphs over tragedies of all sorts. To contemplate the perspective of being free at last calls for working for freedoms that can be attained now. Three things still remain: "Faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13 NASB).
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