Dear Friends,
My apology for posting this podcast a day late. Ah, the exigencies of life! “Paying” work has occupied a good portion of my time this past week, for which I’m grateful.
The war with Iran has been distracting too. While not “officially” at war, we certainly are so in reality. Discussion of the conflict will inevitably work its way into this week’s podcast. I received an email from our Youth for Christ brothers and sisters in Beirut, Lebanon, which I’ll share with you later.
Heaven has been on my mind also. When you’re 80, the proverbial clock ticks a little louder and, after the previous three podcasts covering the Nuremberg movies and the Cities Church debacle, I’ve needed to “lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2 KJV). Earth, my friends, is not our final resting place. There is a “beyond.”
But while we are here on terra firma (or even if you are out at sea), may the Lord be your “keeper” this week “…and preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore” (Psalm 121:7-8KJV).
Keep Looking Up!
D. Paul
The Church’s One Foundation IS Jesus Christ Her Lord!
BEYOND…
The year was 2007. My wife and I, along with several congregants from Ecclesia, our former church in Hollywood where I was on staff, were in Oxford, England, attending Wycliffe Hall Summer School. One afternoon, a colleague of mine from Ecclesia and a young seminarian passing through Oxford got into a spirited theological discussion after a stiff pint or two at “The Eagle and Child,” the pub made famous by the likes of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield, to name but a few of the more illustrious “Inklings.” It was our favorite hangout after class, basking in the memory and ambience of such scholars and literary luminaries.
For the life of me, I can’t remember the topic of their animated conversation, but I do recall it was eschatological in nature. I’m assuming it transcended the normal pre-trib/mid-trib/post-trib banter in that rarified atmosphere of Lewis and Tolkien but, amid all the scripture and hot air going back and forth, I recall it had something to do with the key elements of premillennialism vs. postmillennialism. If memory serves, I kept my mouth shut (a rarity), more interested in a book by one of our Wycliffe Hall teachers, Dr. Michael Green, entitled, “EVANGELISM in the Early Church.” I’ve never since been concerned (not that I ever was) with being labelled an “evangelical.” What a beautiful word in provenance and purpose.
But what is there, in truth, to argue about concerning heaven. If the Scripture be true, and it is, it tells us categorically that “…as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I CO 2:9 KJV). But the fact that we can’t conceive of heaven hasn’t kept the mind of man from theorizing on its nature since the dawn of time. It really kicked into high gear, I suspect, post the Ascension. Where exactly did Christ go? We want the details.
Certainly John the Apostle, writing of his phantasmic vision (as some would call it) from the Greek Island of Patmos, is vivid in his description of a new heaven and a new earth, with its holy city, the New Jerusalem “…coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new’” (Rev. 21:2-5 NIV). John’s descriptive imagery gains specificity throughout this stunningly detailed 21st chapter: the Holy City, Jerusalem, “…shone with the glory of God…its brilliance like that of… jasper, clear as crystal.” He goes on to describe the twelve gates with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on them. Then an angel, serving as John’s master architect and jeweler, lays out for him the dimensions of the city with its foundations and walls of “every kind of precious stone…each gate made of a single pearl.” Can you imagine! And then, to every set designer’s delight, there is: “The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass” (Revelation 21:1-21 NIV, various verses).
In contrast to the millions who deny heaven and its antithesis, hell, for John, this vision of a “New Heaven and a New Earth” was not a phantasmic illusion, a figment of the imagination, a one-off psychedelic trip. No, John is clear in the language he employs: “Then I saw…I saw…and I heard.” John was merely the messenger, the message coming from, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Rev. 21:5).
Little wonder that heaven has been the inspiration of poets and songsters for millennia—from King David to Handel and everything in-between. For some reason, Carrie Ellis Breck’s old hymn (1898) comes to mind:
Face to face with Christ, my Savior,
Face to face—what will it be?
When with rapture I behold him,
Jesus Christ who died for me!
Refrain:
Face to face I shall behold him,
Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all his glory,
I shall see him by and by.
The great beyond, that “by and by,” as the old lyricists penned it, is central to the faith. Purposefully, Sunday after Sunday, our voices join together as “…we proclaim the mystery of the faith: “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” This is not a whimsical belief uttered under one’s breath—it is PROCLAIMED FORTISSIMO—in celebration “of our redemption,” confident that “In the fullness of time” Christ will bring us “into the joy of your heavenly kingdom, where we shall see our Lord face to face.” Millions stake their faith on that hope, while martyrs have staked their lives, literally, on that proclamation. Because He lives, we shall live also. And we join the Apostle Paul in understanding that “…if Christ has not been raised, [our] faith is futile; [we] are still in [our] sins….. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (I COR 15:17,19).
Of course, tiresome naysayer, Mr. Andrew Springer (jesusmovement.substack.com), believes that Jesus’s message about heaven and the afterlife is 1 of the “4 Major Lies Christians Tell About Jesus.” Well, what else is new. Another thread-bare, progressive pied piper denying the authority of Scripture. These are the “thieves and robbers” who have always hung around the Good Shepherd exploiting his sheep. They are prophetic poseurs—imposters of the faith—denying Christ to be “the way, the truth, and the life,” denying the hope of heaven, denying those glorious words of comfort and promise through the ages: “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).
For a perfect rebuke to Andrew Springer’s joyless and hopeless vision of the faith, I encourage you to read Anne Kennedy’s Substack post entitled, “Jesus Wasn’t White But He Is God, In which I Fisk A Piece About Supposed ‘Lies’ Christians Tell about Jesus.’” (2/24/26) I love her use of the word “fisk.” Her comments, as always, are charmingly sardonic and spiritually insightful.
Jesus Wasn’t White But He Is God
If you’ve not the time to read the entire article, Ms. Kennedy closes with a tender, salvific prayer: “He (Christ) also offers mercy to every person who, beleaguered, afraid, disappointed, and in travail, turns to him for help. I pray that Mr. Springer will do that—soon. I pray that, in reading the Bible, he will suddenly discover he is grappling with a will and pleasure much greater and more compelling than his own.”
And so, we join Anne Kennedy in praying for Andrew Springer and for all the posers and imposters in the Church who would dare to speak in the name of God. May they find the truth of the living Christ, who has promised every true believer, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2,3 KJV).
And as mentioned in my introduction to this post, my mind now turns from heaven—the eternal—to the temporal, and what is hell for many. Yesterday, I received this from:
Dear D. Paul,
The Bekaa region in Lebanon has had its fair share of airstrikes. But the AXIS team in Zahle (the area’s largest city) has decided to stay open. And so, youth have been coming and sharing their fears with us.
Rina, one of our team members, shared that some of the girls she follows up with are coping well. Yet some nights have made them fearful and restless, as aircraft and explosions tend to do.
One girl, for example, stayed awake until 6 a.m. after a particularly frightening night. Rina encouraged her to turn fear into prayer. The girl expressed her desire to journal her prayer request once again.
The war may indeterminably wage on. But the team at AXIS is resolved to stand by the youth and help them stay anchored in Christ.
YFC Lebanon
Join me, won’t you dear friends, in praying for these precious young people in Lebanon, their leaders, and our Christian brothers and sisters throughout the region, including those in the underground church of Iran. “May they know that Christ is able to do above and beyond all that they ask or think according to his power that works in them” (Ephesians 3:20,21 author’s paraphrase). And may they, indeed, stay “anchored in Christ,” who is their hope in this life and the life … beyond … which is yet to come.
Amen
“Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again!” Garofalo 1520
Cheers!
