The New Creation – All Things Redeemed
We've talked a lot about death this week, and I wonder if you've noticed how hopeful the Wesleys were about what comes after. For them, death marked the beginning of something wonderful, and that same hopeful outlook shaped their eschatology – meaning their understanding of the end of the world.
Revelation 21 talks about the "new heavens and new earth", and listen to how John Wesley comments on this in his sermon The New Creation: "The whole brute creation will then, undoubtedly, be restored, not only to the vigour, strength, and swiftness which they had at their creation, but to a far higher degree than they ever enjoyed... Man, mean time, will be restored, not only to the full stature of men in Christ Jesus; to all that holiness and happiness which he enjoyed in paradise; but to a degree of both, which he never experienced, even when he came out of the hands of his Creator."
Wesley's Optimistic Eschatology
Wesley's optimism for the future comes out here again – the end is not a thing of doom and gloom, but a promise of restoration for all of creation – and greater strength, joy and love than we ever knew before.
Now, when it comes to this topic of the end of the world, there is great division in the church. And even in Wesleyan circles, we see much disagreement about what we should believe and about what Wesley believed. There are three main views about the second coming of Jesus – first we have premillennialists who believe that the Scriptures talk about the church being raptured into heaven, and that Jesus will come and physically reign on earth for 1000 years. Wesleyan premillennialists believe that the Wesleys taught this.
But then other Wesleyans claim that Wesley was a so-called amillennialist. Just as a-theist believes there is no God, so an a-millennialist believes there is no literal millennium rule of Christ on earth, but that it is a spiritual rule in people's hearts, and that the end time teachings of Revelation are descriptions of every generation's struggle between good and evil with Jesus winning the victory every time. Many of my Methodist friends today have this view.
The third view is known as post-millennialism, which interprets the prophecies of end times in the New Testament as primarily referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Post-mil proponents believe that the gospel is spreading across the earth, and that when the whole world has become Christian, then Jesus will come again in glory. Again there are those who claim that this was Wesley's view.
Unity in Hope Despite Differences
I am still uncertain about where I stand regarding this, because each view has seemingly valid points from Scripture, but these days I lean toward the post-millennial view, which for me excites me to follow Jesus' command to make disciples and spread the gospel. Perhaps this is why some put Wesley in this camp – it is probably the most optimistic of the views.
Be reminded of Wesley's own words about loving each other even if we disagree on secondary things like eschatology. And whatever your view, the point today is this: a great, glorious, wonderful future awaits God's people and God's creation. Don't just look forward to the day when you personally meet Jesus in heaven – but consider how wonderful it will be when all things are redeemed by God in a new heaven and a new earth.
No matter how bleak things look in our world today, we followers of Jesus have this hope: that ultimately, in His time, God will make all things right. What a day this will be, and we who believe in Christ will – amazingly – see it with our own eyes.
