All Things New — Warrior+Priest

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” - Isaiah 65:17

The economist Thomas Sowell has written at length about the divergent viewpoints of those on the political right and those on the political left. One of his most salient observations is that on the right, it is understood that life, due to its broken, imperfect nature, consists of a system of tradeoffs hoping for the best possible outcome. There are no perfect solutions because there are no perfect people and no perfect circumstances. On the left, an ever-present faith in progress and the belief in the perfectibility of human nature leads to the pursuit of not just improvement, but utopia.

On the right, the standard is what has come before: are things better than they were then?

On the left, the standard is what might possibly come later: could we really perfect the system?

The right bases its political inclinations on the facts and information gleaned from history and hard-earned wisdom: “Facts don’t care about your feelings.”

The left aims itself at a theoretical future where equality in all things is established and maintained: “Hope and Change.”

(Part of the problem with the political discourse in this society is that each side is working for different goals but using the same words to describe them. “What’s best for the country,” means something very different depending on who’s saying it.)

The Bible repudiates the ideas of inherent human goodness or perfectibility (Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:10-12, 23). If the hope of human utopia rests on the notion of human goodness (as it does in our modern politics), then the Bible cannot be said to support the goals of the political left.

So why do so many Christians end up buying into progressive liberal ideas?

One major reason is a misunderstanding of eschatology (what the Bible has to say about the end times.) Many Christians in our modern day either fail to see or refuse to believe the statements the Bible makes about the eternal state of God’s chosen people, concluding instead that it is the children of God’s responsibility to win the world, issue in the kingdom and set the stage for the return of Christ.

If the Great Commission includes an implicit directive to fix the world, then political notions of utopia fit in rather nicely.

But the Bible points us in another direction: one of present allegiance to a heavenly kingdom and of future hope in God’s rebuilding of the world.

Christ Himself said that, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) Peter wrote that Christians “are immigrants and strangers in the world,” (I Peter 2:11) and the writer to the Hebrews labeled us, “exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13) Clearly, the picture the Bible intends the followers of Christ to see is one of ultimate allegiance and citizenship to a realm we do not currently inhabit.

Additionally, the Bible routinely points to the hope of the future creation of an altogether new heavens and a new earth that do not yet exist and *not* the eventual perfection of the current ones. God explicitly declares through the prophet Isaiah, “[B]ehold, I create new heavens and a new earth,” (Isaiah 65:17) and Peter echoes the prophecy in II Peter 3:13: “[A]ccording to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” John relayed to us the future when he wrote what he saw in Revelation 21:1: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

God speaks it clearly when He says to John in the Revelation: “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:8)

So, the hope for the Christian is not - I repeat, *not* - in the eventual perfection of the present world. It is not biblical to hope for a perfected human utopia. Yes, Christ will return to reign here on this earth before the final judgement and the creation of the new (Revelation 20:1-10). Yes, the eternal state will be a physical one (I Corinthians 15:35-58). But His Word promises us that here, in our current state of affairs, we will live lives of tribulation (John 16:33), we will always have the poor with us (Matthew 26:11), and that all of us who seek to live godly lives will face persecution (II Timothy 3:12).

Not exactly the dynamics of utopia.

Christian utopianism presents itself in different ways. Some talk about “bringing heaven to earth.” Others excoriate biblical believers for not understanding that our focus ought not to be on going to heaven when we die but on making this world a better place.

But the Scriptures are clear: “[T]he day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. [A]ll these things are thus to be dissolved…” (II Peter 3:10-11)

Do not give your attention to those who claim metaphor to explain away the matter-of-fact teachings of the Scriptures in order to maintain their own interpretations. And do not fall for the trap of Christian utopianism, which opens the door to all kinds of faulty economic and political ideologies in order to try to establish the kingdom of Christ for Him.

“[T]he present form of this world is passing away,” Paul writes in I Corinthians 7:31. John echoes him with, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” in I John 2:17.

Do not fall for the deceit of perfection in this world. Place your hope in God’s intention to create an altogether new one.