Despite what many people think, within the Christian family and outside
it, the point of it all is not 'to go to heaven when you die'.
The New Testament picks up from the Old the theme that God
intends, in the end, to put the whole creation to rights. Earth and
heaven are made to overlap with one another, not fitfully, mysteriously
and partially as they do at the moment, but completely, gloriously
and utterly. 'The earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the
waters cover the sea.' That is the promise which resonates throughout
the Bible story, from Isaiah, and behind him, by implication, from
Genesis itself, all the way through to Paul's greatest visionary moments
and the final chapters of the book of Revelation. The great drama
will end, not with 'saved souls' being snatched up into heaven, away
from the wicked earth and the mortal bodies which have dragged
them down into sin, but with the New Jerusalem coming down
from heaven to earth, so that 'the dwelling of God is with humans'
(Revelation 21.3)
A little over a hundred years ago, an American pastor in upstate
New York celebrated in a great hymn both the beauty of creation and
the presence of the creator God within it. His name was Maltbie
Babcock, and his hymn 'This is my Father's World' points beyond the
present beauty of creation, through the mess and tragedy with which
it has been infected, to the ultimate resolution. There are different
versions of the relevant stanza, but this one is the clearest:
This is my Father's world; 0 let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world; The battle is not done;
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
And earth and heaven be one.
