JOURNEY OUTSIDE THE CAMP

Eden vs current earth vs heaven

A question was asked in one of our church's youth life groups: 

Would you rather be in Eden or here now, on earth?

An interesting question. Let me expand the discussion and add in "or in heaven".

I think the question comes from the point of view that life here on earth is pretty good. We have endless entertainment possibilities. We have a wonderful world to explore, all kinds of food to eat and plenty of places to visit. We have our tech gadgets to play with, we have the Internet, etc. Life on earth seems pretty good.

But life on earth is also mired in sin. We have a sin nature that causes us to do evil. Every day we make poor choices, we hurt friends and family, not to mention ourselves. We get lost chasing dreams and desires, and especially money, and we end up piercing ourselves with many pangs (1 Timothy 6:10).

As C.S. Lewis puts it, wanting to enjoy the earth is like spending time in the slums, making and playing with mud pies while we've spurned the invitation to spend our time at the beach.

Son of Man

Of all the names and titles that Jesus has, his preferred self-designated title is Son of Man. He uses it over 80 times in the gospels, far more than any other title. I've always thought that it was a strange title until I read up on it and learnt more about what it means.

The phrase the "son of man" is used two ways in the Old Testament. In places like Psalm 8:4 and Ezekiel 2:1, the phrase distinguishes mere humans from God. However in Daniel 7:13–14, the "son of man" reference is different.

Daniel 7:13–14
"I saw in the night visions,
behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed."

This son of man seems to be greater than any human. The fact that he comes on the clouds is a clear symbol of his divinity (see Psalm 104:3, Isaiah 19:1). This son of man is given dominion and glory and a kingdom that will last forever! Clearly, this son of man shares qualities that only God has and therefore is God. This is the title that Jesus uses on himself. Jesus is claiming that the role of the son of man is his to fulfill. And this was exactly what he said to Caiaphas the high priest when he was on trial.

Salvation is only possible with a Triune God

My wife and I have been teaching about the Trinity in our training sessions. One of the questions we encounter is why study about the Trinity at all? Why hurt our heads with the study of the very difficult notion that our God is one God but expressed in three distinct Persons? What does it matter to our daily living if we understand this truth or not?

Understanding the Trinity has many implications. It impacts the way we live, the way we relate to each other; it impacts our roles and responsibilities with our spouses, our church and society.