Hoping for a New World
Yesterday we drove up to Rockledge to visit some family and get the kids out of the house for a while. The drive takes about an hour and a half on I-95 along the east coast of Florida. Since I grew up near Rockledge, I know the drive and countryside well. If you have ever traveled in central and southern Florida, you probably noticed the prevalence of a bushy foliage that dominates much of the landscape. 
It is called the Brazilian pepper-tree and it is not native to Florida. Settlers brought it to the state in the mid-1800’s as an ornamental plant. However, the Brazilian pepper has been a destroyer of Florida’s native habitats ever since.
The image to the right is so familiar to me as a Floridian. But as I was driving yesterday, my mind began to wander. What did this landscape look like before the Brazilian pepper invaded? Better yet, what did central and south Florida look like before interstates, suburban sprawl, and massive condominiums? Every lifetime resident of a place has an automatic bias towards that place’s beauty, but Florida 500 years ago must have been a paradise. There are still out-of-the-way corners of the state where you can witness this natural splendor, but they are fading fast. What will my children know of Florida? Roads, developments, shopping centers…the sameness of Anywhere, America? Or will there still be places they can go to appreciate the Creator’s handprints on this little subtropical peninsula?
These questions got me thinking about God’s Story and the Restoration of All Things. When God brings his Kingdom into fulfillment, I wonder if we’ll be surprised at how familiar that life will be. Heaven is not a far-off, other-worldly place we go when we die for which we have no context. Heaven is simply the realm in which God works and governs, and he is bringing heaven to earth. When the Jewish people in the time of Jesus thought of God’s future Kingdom, they expected it to be real and tangible. Jesus challenged their political motives and how that Kingdom would come, but he did not discredit the concrete nature of their hopes. God’s Kingdom is flesh-and-blood real. The New Jerusalem that John describes in Revelation is not some fantasy land; an artificial façade like something you would see at Disney World. It is our world, totally renewed and restored to God’s original intent for humankind.
So I wonder if one day I will get to see what Florida looked like 500 years ago. In the meantime, I get the sense that God wants us to get used to the idea of living as if that renewed world were already here. If we got a fresh start today, would we do things differently? Would we live lighter? How much of our technology is really necessary to live a full life? Would we spend so much time working just to get things to make us happy? Or would we spend more time receiving and enjoying the gifts God has already given?
Creator God,
Praise you for your creation,
the beauty you have made with your own hands.
Although we disgrace it with our selfishness and greed,
You have not turned away from your redemptive plan.
Praise you for your artistry.
There is no craftsman that compares with you.
We wait in anticipation for the splendor you are preparing.
Let your Kingdom come.
It is called the Brazilian pepper-tree and it is not native to Florida. Settlers brought it to the state in the mid-1800’s as an ornamental plant. However, the Brazilian pepper has been a destroyer of Florida’s native habitats ever since.The image to the right is so familiar to me as a Floridian. But as I was driving yesterday, my mind began to wander. What did this landscape look like before the Brazilian pepper invaded? Better yet, what did central and south Florida look like before interstates, suburban sprawl, and massive condominiums? Every lifetime resident of a place has an automatic bias towards that place’s beauty, but Florida 500 years ago must have been a paradise. There are still out-of-the-way corners of the state where you can witness this natural splendor, but they are fading fast. What will my children know of Florida? Roads, developments, shopping centers…the sameness of Anywhere, America? Or will there still be places they can go to appreciate the Creator’s handprints on this little subtropical peninsula?
These questions got me thinking about God’s Story and the Restoration of All Things. When God brings his Kingdom into fulfillment, I wonder if we’ll be surprised at how familiar that life will be. Heaven is not a far-off, other-worldly place we go when we die for which we have no context. Heaven is simply the realm in which God works and governs, and he is bringing heaven to earth. When the Jewish people in the time of Jesus thought of God’s future Kingdom, they expected it to be real and tangible. Jesus challenged their political motives and how that Kingdom would come, but he did not discredit the concrete nature of their hopes. God’s Kingdom is flesh-and-blood real. The New Jerusalem that John describes in Revelation is not some fantasy land; an artificial façade like something you would see at Disney World. It is our world, totally renewed and restored to God’s original intent for humankind.
So I wonder if one day I will get to see what Florida looked like 500 years ago. In the meantime, I get the sense that God wants us to get used to the idea of living as if that renewed world were already here. If we got a fresh start today, would we do things differently? Would we live lighter? How much of our technology is really necessary to live a full life? Would we spend so much time working just to get things to make us happy? Or would we spend more time receiving and enjoying the gifts God has already given?
Creator God,
Praise you for your creation,
the beauty you have made with your own hands.
Although we disgrace it with our selfishness and greed,
You have not turned away from your redemptive plan.
Praise you for your artistry.
There is no craftsman that compares with you.
We wait in anticipation for the splendor you are preparing.
Let your Kingdom come.
posted by Mike Bishop at 2:00 PM
4 Comments:
"I get the sense that God wants us to get used to the idea of living as if that renewed world were already here." But I might be mistaken for a Godless environmentalist hippie like my neighbors here in Boulder if I actually take serious being a good steward of creation. I thought I could just dump trash in the environment because Jesus is coming to make it all new again anyway.
If Jesus will save the whales, why should I bother? :)
Thanks for the well-put Kingdom descriptor.
Brant
A theme God has been emphasizing in my life lately is that his Kingdom is here and now and not in some distant cloud lined future. I am trying to live in that Kingdom today. Good to see someone else thinking in that direction also.
Great post. It reminds me of how the end of Revelation brings us back to the beginning, to Genesis. God intends to redeem and restore his creation, not leave it and shuffle Christians off to another galaxy. Heaven is descending upon us now..."thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
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