A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology
by J. Richard Middleton
Since eschatology (those teachings in the Bible around the “end times”) is one of my weakest areas, and since I’ve been done with the pre-tribulation, premillennial, left behind-ish dispensational construct that remains the predominant stance of the North American Christian Church for decades, I thought it time to delve into this topic and straighten myself out reading J. Richard Middleton’s A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology. I was first exposed to a new way of thinking years ago after reading N. T. Wright’s booklet “New Heavens, New Earth: The Biblical Picture of the Christian Hope” (further spelled out in his Surprised by Hope). Though I’ve hardly moved past a tentative foundation, I’m slowly reconstructing my own position on how, when, and where the “new heavens and new earth” will manifest. A New Heaven and a New Earth, so it seems, will be a key source that will help me in this way.
I find Middleton’s position to be biblically robust, reasonably argued, and hermeneutically responsible. Here are a few quotes that grabbed my attention and set the stage for my reconstruction project. I trust they will whet readers’ appetite.
The picture of the world as a cosmic sanctuary or temple is actually a very common idea in the ancient Near East and is assumed throughout the Old Testament. It surfaces in Psalm 148…It is also the vision behind Isaiah 66….In the book of Exodus, when the building of the tabernacle was finished (40:34-35), we are told that it was filled with the Glory-presence of God (what later Jewish writers would call the “Shekinah”).
(p 48)
If I hold at bay my traditional hermeneutical framework and read the biblical texts prima facie, Middleton makes some rather bold statements that intrigue me. For instance,
The climax of the biblical story, which many have called the “eternal state,” is fundamentally this-worldly.
(p 70)
When we attend to the basic thrust and movement of the biblical plot, it becomes abundantly clear that eschatological redemption consists in nothing other than the renewal of human cultural life on earth. The important point here is that the idea of “heaven” as the eternal hope of the righteous has no structural place in the story. It is simply irrelevant and extraneous to the plot. Heaven was never part of God’s purposes for humanity in the beginning of the story and has no intrinsic role as the final destiny of human salvation.
Indeed, there is not one single reference in the entire biblical canon (Old and New Testaments) to heaven as the eternal destiny of the believer. Although this idea has a vastly important role in popular Christian imagination…, not once does Scripture itself actually say that the righteous will live forever in heaven.
(pp 71-72)
Lest the reader mount their conservative high horse crying “liberal,” Middleton goes on to say “My point here is not to deny the reality of heaven” (p 72). His point is that the term “heaven” is not the final geographical goal of believers. Instead “heaven” consists of God’s consummated will for the renewed earth at Christ’s reveal (Note: I did not say “return” as that suggests he’s gone and not present now. Yet another misnomer, since an omni-present being cannot be spatially absent.).
In chapters 7, 8 he offers important, practical insights on the resurrection of Christ in relation to the scope of redemption.
In “The New Testament’s Vision of Cosmic Renewal” (chapter 7) the conclusion (and thesis) of the chapter states
From the beginning, God’s intent for human life was centered on the royal status of humanity and our commission to image our creator in loving and wise stewardship of the earth, which has been entrusted to our care (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15; Ps. 8:4-8). This is the cultural mandate, our sacred calling to develop earthly life in a manner that glorifies God and reflects his intentions for a world of shalom…God’s intent was for the holistic flourishing of embodied people in the entirety of their earthly, cultural existence. Since resurrection is God’s restoration of human life to what it was meant to be, it naturally requires the fulfillment of the original human dignity and status, which have been compromised by sin. Resurrection, therefore, when biblically understood cannot be separated from the fulfillment of the cultural mandate.
(p 154)
Middleton supports this thesis in detail. Discussion around various OT texts (Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel), extra-biblical texts (1 Enoch, Wisdom of Solomon), and NT texts (1 Corinthians 6, Philippians 2, Hebrews 2, Ephesians, Colossians, Revelation) shows a careful and keen analysis that demonstrates an “earthly reign” is God’s original and redeemed intent for humankind via the resurrection of Christ.
Chapter 8 “The Redemption of All Things” focuses upon one question, namely, “Does Scripture teach the redemption of creation?” To answer this, Middleton begins with five NT passages (Acts 3:19-21; Eph 1:9-10; Col 1:19-20; Rom 8:19-23; 2 Pet 3:10-13) showing they contain a “unifying strand” or “pattern” comprised of two elements: first that “salvation is conceived not as God doing something completely new, but rather as redoing something, fixing or repairing what went wrong.” And second, “this restorative work is applied as holistically and comprehensively as possible, to all things in heaven and on earth,” thus contradicting the notion that an immaterial “heaven” is the “ultimate dwelling place of the redeemed” (p 163).
Remaining sections of this chapter detail 1) God’s intentions for the cosmos as his “cosmic temple,” 2) God’s intentions through Israel, 3) God’s image and presence in Jesus and the Church, 4) the “central locus of God’s presence” as God’s cosmic temple, and 5) the cultural mandate consummated in God’s redeemed people.
Middleton concludes chapter 8 with these words.
Those being renewed in the imago Dei are called to instantiate an embodied culture or social reality alternative to the violent and deathly formations and practices that dominate the world. By this conformity to Christ—the paradigm image of God—the church manifests God’s rule and participates in God’s mission to flood the world with the divine presence. In its concrete communal life the church as the body of Christ is called to witness to the promised future of a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:13).
(p 175)
The practical side of things are abundantly clear. Redemption involves far more than merely human souls and human bodies. God’s intent to redeem all things is all-inclusive in scope and in scale. Instead of destroying the cosmos and giving humans some other-worldly destiny, God has redeemed the entire cosmos and his Church is meant to reside in it, not in some ethereal place called “heaven.” Redemption is comprehensive. But, most importantly, it is the resurrection of Christ that embodies (every pun intended) this reality of things to come. For,
[Christ] is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death.”
Soli Deo gloria!
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
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Check out Middleton’s blog to learn much more.
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