I guess, truthfully, this blog is mainly catered towards one man: Justin Tanaka. I guess blogging is my way of continuing our discussions about theology and God. So I hope this stuff is really interesting, man. And if you can/want, just write up rebuttals or just overall thoughts about it.
This post will mainly continue my last post about resurrection and some interesting notes about it. It is interesting to notice the parallel between the beginning of Genesis and the beginning of the Gospel of John. Why does John purposely echo the creation narrative and place Jesus, the Word, as the center of creation? This, I believe, has to do with, once again, the renewal of creation from its corruptible state to its incorruptible one.
In the Gospel of John, John states that the Word is the chief architect of creation and that, through him, all things were made. Many have viewed this to be an affirmation of the divinity of Jesus, which it can undoubtedly be, but the deeper meaning seems to point towards how creation has changed in respect to Jesus. How has creation changed because of Jesus?
Clearly, through Jesus, creation has been judged and redeemed. Like the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of creation is happening right now. The Kingdom of God is upon us and we must pledge our allegiance to the king, Jesus. This is what I believe salvation really means. Salvation does mean that I am redeemed from my sins. However, that would be a grossly incomplete picture. Salvation is, ultimately, the Exodus out of Egypt and entering into the Promised Land; our exodus from sin and entering into new creation, the Kingdom of God.
I'll admit right now before I go into my next point that this post is quite disjointed and, in a way, severely lacking in point development. I guess it's because I feel like I have many things to say but only a limited words and space to say it. Anyways, on to the next point.
I guess my last point would be to connect the Kingdom of God and heaven. Heaven is not the final destination of Christians. This has been made clear to me upon reading "The Resurrection of the Son of God". Heaven is only a resting place, a rest stop, to the FINAL destination, which is the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom will of course be very physical, perhaps more physical than we can currently comprehend. Jesus was resurrected PHYSICALLY and thus we will all be raised physically as well. I used to, if I can be honest, dreadful of the Second Coming, mainly because I did not understand it. I believed that the Second Coming was marred with tribulations and people suddenly disappearing on airplanes. However, there seems to be no indication of such belief in the New Testament (much to my relief). American Christianity has, unfortunately, believed this lie that God will one day take all the Christians to heaven and destroy this world. But that is, of course, not the case. God will not throw away the world but RENEW IT! This means a physical world will continue to exist and that heaven will no longer be our final destination. Instead, the second coming will be the marriage of heave and earth, like how Eden was, where God and men will live in the same space. Once again, this is only made clear with renewal rather than disposal.
Anyways, that's all for now.
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