Monday, October 09, 2006

Heaven: not the end of the world X

Images of the future
Of course, resurrection is not the only way the New Testament speaks of our future life. Sometimes it is pictured as a banquet (Matt 8.11, 22.2; 25.10; Rev. 19.9) or described as an ‘inheritance’ (Matt. 25.34; Rom. 8.17; 1 Pet. 1.4). However, I personally take these images more metaphorically than resurrection, because once again, I think that it is only in Jesus and the Spirit that we get a picture of the future. Thus his resurrection (and the Christian experience of present inner 'resurrection'/renewal by the Spirit) is our primary access to the future: we will be like him. Of course, our knowledge of Jesus' resurrection (and even of our own inner experience) is incomplete - the risen Jesus did not fit any previous paradigms and the new Christians reached for the language of 'resurrection', while acknowledging also radical transformation. And so even our most concrete knowledge of the future is more evocative than exhaustive.
Series: I; II; IIa; III; IV; V; VI; VII; VIII; IX; X; XI; XII; XIII; XIV; XV; XVI.
For ten points, pick the city (this one really does require random guessing - no shame in being wrong).

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

NYC?

One of Freedom said...

How many guesses can I make?

Sydney? Toronto? Philadelphia?

byron smith said...

Frank: ten points. Sydney. :-)

Anonymous said...

In seeing Jesus' resurrection life as the paradigm for our own, what if any allowance are we to make for the fact that Jesus' resurrection life in the gospels was in the midst of the present age? Might not the images in Revelation suggest that resurrection life will be different in the new heavens and new earth?

byron smith said...

Jesus' resurrection was in one sense in the midst of the 'present evil age' (Gal 1.5), but at the same time was the start of the new age.

One of Freedom said...

Doing a happy dance over my first ever "nothing new" points.

Huzzah!

byron smith said...

Frank: there's still more points out there...