I’m putting these together not just because I read them together but because they really go together. In Chapter 1 Bell asks a lot of fantastic questions-questions I’ve been asking for my whole life! I fully agree with him that many people are *right* to reject the Jesus that is preached to them-if the Jesus they are told is about is not truly who Jesus is, then those who worship him are worshiping a false messiah-an “anti-christ”. I’ve been long convinced that for most of the history of the church the Jewish community has been *right* to reject the Jesus who appears to be of Scandanavian descent and who came to do away with the Torah, to start a new religion, and to make sure the Jews know that they’ve been replaced. What apostasy! In order to accept that Jesus you have to reject the whole Torah-which is essentially what many churches teach we should do. How could a faithful disciple of HaShem, faithful follower of the Word of God, faithful child of God’s chosen people who were entrusted to preserve His Word, simply reject that Word and follow after someone who came to do away with it? And to argue that He came to do all of the commands perfectly so that they would not need to be done by anyone else is ludicrous to anyone who understands that no one person can do all of the commands-some are for priests, some only apply in the Temple, some only during worship, some only for men, some only for women, and on and on.
But Bell is most concerned in this chapter about the realities of heaven-is it a place that only a select few get to go to-some *other* location that is not here? Or is it a different reality made available to anyone who is willing to join on for the journey? I agree with Bell that the idea of heaven as some other, ethereal place where good Christians get to go to be with God is simply not presented in Scripture. Rather, heaven is what you have when you are in the presence of God and God came to Earth to dwell among us in the person of Yeshua HaMashiach and He sent His Spirit to dwell within us now-causing our bodies to become living Temples and the dwelling place for God.
In Revelation we do not get a picture of people going up to heaven; we get a picture of heaven coming down to earth! And Yeshua invites people who encounter Him to encounter heaven now-to begin living in the Kingdom! We are able to enter into the world to come-the olam haba-in this life. What a privilege and a blessing-and the only truly Godly reaction is to want everyone to experience that! To want to hoard and covet this would be an expression of sin-a violation of God’s Law!
I love how clearly Bell presents God’s judgment as being against everything that is a violation of His Law-He judges rape, murder, sickness, violence, pride, division, etc. Because those are in opposition to Him and His Kingdom-those things cannot exist in His presence. And as much as those things might be within us, we are challenged to rid ourselves of them. As much as we retain them, they will be burned up in His presence when the fullness of heaven-coming-to-earth arrives.
I do appreciate that Bell acknowledges that there will be a time to come when heaven is fully united with earth, and that we are able to experience heaven on earth now as we partner with God in what He has planned for this world. I think he walks the tension between what is available now and what will be to come very well-though his ending is a slight slip off one side of the rope and if you haven’t paid attention to everything said and supported with Scripture up to that point it might seem he is making an argument for everything already having been accomplished. Because of some strong and clear points made prior to the end of chapter two, I do not believe that to be the case.
A few things that I noted:
I think he to strongly states the case of a woman author for the book of Hebrews. I happen to agree with him! I do believe the strongest argument is for a woman and I admit I smiled and was very impressed he would take that stand.
While I agree with his sentiment, and am a huge supporter of the social gospel in conjunction with the salvation gospel, I think he overstated his point on page 45 when he said, “Around a billion people in the world today do not have access to clean water. People will have access to clean water in the age to come, and so working for clean-water access for all is participating now in the life of the age to come.” The way he worded this could be argued as suggesting that our efforts towards these ends is bringing about the age to come and only Messiah can do that and in the timing that is not in our hands. Yet while we wait, I do agree it is in line with living as the Kingdom People of God.
Especially since just this last week I was teaching on the idea of the narrow gate and the idea that a limited number of people get to go to heaven, I really appreciated Bell’s critique of the attitude all to prevalent within the church today-the idea that a select special few (us) get to go to heaven while the rest of everyone (you) won’t. Throw in the descriptions of where everyone will be and magnify their Greek and Roman Mythological details and I’ve long abandoned the primary eschatalogical ideas of the majority of the church. I’m not a fan of the Left Behind theology and I find it wonderfully ironic that in Hebrew the word used for those “left behind” is only ever used about the righteous! When the Lord sends the harvesters to take the weeds out first I pray I may be left behind!
I don’t think Yeshua could have made it any clearer than he did in the gospels that we aren’t to be considering ourselves above others, or bickering over who gets to be first, or bragging over our status, or thinking any of this is ultimately about us. We were not created to be independent. We were created to live interdependently-with God, with our neighbors, and with the earth that is a beautiful home created for us. Both of the extreme positions-that we have the ability to destroy everything, and that we have the ability to save everything-are modern day presentations of the tower of Babel that was being built to reach up to heaven. Rather, how we live today reveals both who we are and who we think God is. I believe it’s important we try to convey as accurate a picture as we can-that we be made over into the image of God.
I really appreciated Bell’s admonitions to not speak as authoritatively as so many do about salvation and who gets to be with God. I am not a universalist-while I believe that salvation is made available to all I do not believe that all will want it, and I don’t believe God is going to force anyone to spend eternity with him who doesn’t want to be there. I am also not an exclusivist and if God chose to bring everyone into eternity with him and to give them blessings then it would reveal a lot about me if that upset me. I love that Paul echoes ancient Jewish sages when he speaks of believing husbands and wives possibly saving their unbelieving spouse. Though the ancient sages would express it that sometimes those who lack understanding will recognize righteousness even if they do not possess it within themselves. If, in response to that understanding, they attach themselves to the righteous person, then that person’s righteousness is accounted to them. Isn’t that what we’re holding out hope for in the message of salvation? That we might attach ourselves to Yeshua and His Righteousness would be credited to us? Can we not leave room in God’s Kingdom of God’s design for the Master Author of Grace to extend that to whom He chooses as He chooses? I fully maintain that it is because of and through Yeshua that anyone and everyone who receives salvation has received it. I trust God to be just, good, gracious and loving to work out the details beyond my comprehension.
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