"Love Wins" ch. 2

"Love Wins"...unless you are Rob Bell. Ever since the release of his new book, Rob Bell has seen praise from the New York Times and backlash from the evangelical church. It seems there has been no end to the opinions expressed by those that have not even read the book. So, in an effort to find out if "Love Wins" for me, I have bought a copy and will be blogging my reflections through it as I read. My hope is that I will be affirmed, edified and enlightened in the truth of the Gospel message, but if not, then the $24 I spent on the brand new hard cover edition can just be my early birthday present for Rob...

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Chapter 2

This chapter originated from a teaching at Mars Hill Church several years ago called When Heaven and Earth Collide. Bell's premise in that teaching series is the same as in this chapter: When Jesus returns, He's bringing heaven with him.

One point Bell underscores reminds me of a concept my Pastor teaches: the idea that eternal life is something we experience now, not just after we die. My Pastor, Fred Michaux, says that "Eternal life is not just measured on the time continuum, but on the depth continuum." Eternal life is not something simply to measure, but to experience. Bell reflects this idea in his discussion of the Greek word aion.

Aion is a period of time having a clear beginning and end. Bell argues that we will live in two aions, this life, and the next. According to Bell, another meaning of aion is transcending time, belonging to another realm all together.

It is boundless.

God is not affected by time. He has no beginning or end; He exists eternally. What Bell suggests is that aion shifts into an eternal realm, not bound by time, but by experience...experiencing God! I love this idea! It masterfully grasps the physical shift we experience as we return to the state we were in before the Fall of Adam and Eve. We will again walk with God in the garden.

This brings me to Bell's next point: Heaven is not some faraway mystical place. When Jesus returns, heaven will come with him to earth.

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary states:

"It is interesting that the imaging of eternity has humankind on a restored earth, not in God's heavenly realm. This is certainly the eternal state and not a millennial scene. The sea is gone from Revelation 21 but not from other millennial images. Human history climaxes where it all began: on the earth."

I love this idea. Just as God redeems people, so he redeems the planet we have corrupted through sin and negligent stewardship.

Bell also discusses the story in Matthew 19 about the rich man who comes to Jesus asking about eternal life. I love how Jesus' rebuke is nestled in what he didn't say. Jesus rattles off the commandments to the man as the means of entering heaven, but omits the very sin that the rich man struggles with: covetousness.

Indirectly, Bell suggests that what keeps us bound in sin and apart from eternal life now, will prevent us from being free to experience eternal life in heaven then.

Baker's says:


"Those claiming a heavenly inheritance are required to bring the earthly and the heavenly into alignment. Jesus linked entrance into the kingdom of heaven to repentance ( Matt 4:17 ), humility (5:3 ; 18:1-4 ), witness ( Matthew 5:10 Matthew 5:16 ; 10:32 ; 16:19 ), obedience ( 5:19 ), righteousness ( 5:20 ), compassion ( Matthew 18:10 Matthew 18:14 ; 23:13 ) and stewardship (19:23 ). Proactively, believers store up treasures ( 6:20 ) by being prudent managers of the little and perishable on earth in order to insure the abundant and enduring in heaven ( Luke 16:1-13 ). Either the earthly or heavenly value system will prevail. So, those who pray, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" ( Matt 6:10 ) are obliged to live from a heavenly vantage point."


I think Baker, in this quote, echoes what Bell is introducing. It is not the words we pray, but the life we live before God that determines our place in the life to come. The sins we neglect to deal with now will be all we can see then...in the life to come.

I want to live the way Jesus calls me to live because I know it's a better life, and I know that what I am afraid to reveal now will be shouted from the rooftops then...in the life to come.

Bell closes:

How would I summarize all that Jesus teaches [about heaven]?


There's heaven now, somewhere else.
There's heaven here sometime else.
And then there's Jesus's invitation to heaven
here
and
now,
in this moment,
in this place.

Let's live this! Let's bring heaven to earth by modeling Jesus' example, so that when heaven arrives, we're ready.