Heaven Misplaced:
Christ’s Kingdom on Earth
Most Christians believe in one way or another that the history of our planet is going from bad to worse, accelerating as we get near the end. At the same time, all Christians believe that after human history is over, and the day of resurrection is past, our experience will be one glory replaced by a greater glory, one after the other, world without end. No Christian is pessimistic about final glory. But most Christians are pessimistic about the course of history prior to the Second Coming of Christ. In this view, the world is God’s Vietnam, and the return of Christ consists of the few lucky ones helicoptered off a roof during the fall of Saigon. When we get out of here, then there will be good times–but not before.
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Whenever I am tempted to think that things are going from bad to worse, I am comforted by the fact that “There is nothing new under the sun”. That single truth gives me so much peace. I am learning to be thankful for each blessing God gives me here not for the pleasure that it gives me, but for the glimpse into heaven that it is- and the reminder of the way my relationships on earth are supposed to dimly mirror those relationships that I will get to finally have in heaven.