When
All Things Become New
By Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the December 29, 2012 Sabbath School Lesson
“Look,
I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person
according to what they have done.” Revelation 22:12, NIV
This is the time of year when children, excited that
Christmas is coming, can hardly sleep. Whether it is visions of “sugar plums”
or anticipation of the latest electronic toys that are keeping them awake, the
children wonder if they have been good enough to find what they wanted under
the tree. For weeks Mom and Dad have been reminding them that Santa is watching
every moment to see if they have been bad or good. Expectant children clean
their rooms, brush their teeth, help their mothers, and even willingly take
baths to prove that goodness is the very essence of their natures.
Walking through the holiday stores with mother, they spy
in the distance a display for the very object they have been hinting for and their
behavior changes as though they were walking on holy ground. Any rebelliousness
is replaced by “Yes, Mommy,” or “Can I help you with that, Mother?” Though
slightly askew, the halos come out and cherubic faces, full of smiles, flit
about doing mother’s every whim. We expect this behavior from children
anticipating the visit of Santa Claus, but what about Christian adults? Do we
model something different? Or are there similarities that we don’t admit to yet
still demonstrate?
As it turns out, some may also be waiting for someone
with a red suit and white beard to bring presents. Only we call him Jesus, not
Santa. We can find the red suit in Revelation 19:13 and the white beard in Revelation
1:14. We can even find the presents in Revelation 22:12. There is a naughty and
nice list, and it can be found in Revelation 20:12. Just like our children trying
to impress Santa Claus, we walk around trying to be good against our normal
natures because Jesus might be watching, and we want to be on the “nice” list. We
might also ponder how coincidental it is that bad children receive punishment
in the form of coal from Santa which is used to fire furnaces, but those who
are not on the “nice list” with Jesus are actually cast into the fire.
So what is my point with this comparison? Perhaps our
faith is not as mature as it might be if there is little difference between the
way we relate to Santa Claus and the way we relate to Jesus. This can be
problematic in several ways. One is that our faith in the gift giver is often
proportionate to our need. For example there is an old story of a poor boy
explaining heaven to a rich one. The poor lad waxed eloquent about how we will
be able to eat every kind of fruit in heaven, and wouldn’t that be wonderful? The
other child responded, “But I have that now in a bowl on the dining room table.
Why would I want to go to heaven?”
As children grow up, graduate from school, and go to
work, they find they can purchase their own toys. Santa is then no longer
relevant. There is no longer a need for this gift giver as a steady income and
easy credit make so much instant gratification available. Some find the same is
true about their relationship with Jesus. Drawn to Him for blessings and
healing when a need they could not fill motivated them, as their situation
changed and they could provide for their needs in other ways, they found Jesus
no longer relevant. Sometimes the same steady income and easy credit that made
Santa irrelevant does the same with Jesus.
Another problem with an immature view of Jesus is that
it can make it harder to return to a proper relationship even when we can see that
there is a problem. We know we have abandoned Him, and we know we did it
because we felt we no longer needed Him. Because of that we feel guilt and
shame when we realize that we still need Him. Like an old friend we owe money
to, we avoid Him thinking that the debt we owe is more important than the
friendship we have lost. However, Jesus continues to offer His friendship even
though we owe Him more than we can ever repay. (Matthew 11:28)
We should avoid seeing Jesus as simply someone who
maintains a naughty and nice list to sort out the good and the bad. In fact,
the Bible tells us that everyone is on the “naughty list.” (See Romans 3:23) It
also tells us that no amount of good behavior will get us off of that list. Only
God’s love can do that. (Romans 6:23) He does it by offering us a “gift” even
though we have been naughty. Furthermore, the gift He offers us is one we
cannot buy no matter how much available credit we have, and we do not need to
make even one installment payment on that account. It is already stamped “Paid
in Full.”
So if this is available then what about that lake of
fire? First, it may not be real, only symbolic. For instance, death is also
cast into the fire. However, death is not an entity but a concept. If concepts
can burn then surely the fire is real. However, it may be more elemental than
that. Fire, air, water and earth were considered by the ancients to be the
primary elements that all things consisted of. In this case, the lake of fire
may simply represent death returning to an elemental form that poses no threat to
the living. We can see an example of this in Malachi: “Then you will trample on
the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I
act,” says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 4:3, NIV
These four elemental forces are often representative of
cleansing or purity in the Bible. We have the formless earth prior to sin of
Genesis 1:2. We have the water of the Noachian flood cleansing the world of
evil. As has already been stated, there is the cleansing fire of Revelation,
and we have the Holy Spirit which is present in Genesis 1:2 and is equated with
the elemental qualities of air or wind by Jesus in John 3:5-8. Could the Bible
simply be telling us that those who choose not to accept the gift of life
offered freely to everyone will return to the elemental state from which they
came? If so, perhaps this adds significance to the description of man as created
from the dust of the ground. Hebrew mythology even contains references to the
creation of beings called Golem from
the same elemental earth as mankind. However, since man’s creative ability was
nowhere near that of God, the Golem
was an imperfect creation unable to speak. While such a creature probably never
existed, it does illustrate the role the elements played in the ancient understanding
of life and the world.
Thus the Bible may be offering a choice to mankind between
returning to an undifferentiated elemental state or continuing to possess
unique personality and identity. However, like silver cleansed of dross, the
offer includes purification to a state not currently enjoyed. Cross currents of
conflicting purposes rage within us and our understanding of our being is
confused and unclear. We “see through a glass darkly.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) Once
purified, we will know and understand ourselves even as God knows us. This is
the essence of the promise of God and the hope of the Christian.
While it may be tempting to reduce all things to a
simple matter of obedience and rewards, God is not Santa Claus. He is not a
mythological being best left behind in childhood when we move on to adult
things. He is essential to who and what we are. Without that spark of life and
personality (Genesis 2:7), we are little more than the elements from which we
are derived. Therefore we return to Him not for a “goodie bag” full of
presents, but because we find ourselves in Him, and we find His image in us.
(Genesis 1:27) This is our natural state. This is whom we were created to be. This
is what draws us homeward to our Creator.
“When
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which
thou hast ordained;
What
is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest
him?
For
thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with
glory and honour.
Thou
madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all
things under his feet:
All
sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The
fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the
paths of the seas.
O
Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
Psalm
8:3-9, KJV
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