Monday morning munch #5 | City Bible Forum
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Monday morning munch #5

In the end, who has the last word and what will they say? The final stop in our tour of the Bible in 5 days
Mon 9 Jun 2014
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Well, how are you going? It may be the start of another week, but it’s with a bit of sadness that we come to the end of our this series of Munches. Over the past 5 weeks, we’ve taken a tour of the Bible, pausing at each of the major landmarks, hopped off the bus and begun to explore. To be sure, we haven’t been able to cover everything – we aren’t quite yet locals – but I hope you know what your next tour might be… may I suggest coming to the lunchtime Forums as a next stop or even our 5 week Short Course for the Curious or you might want to join a small reading group and start exploring the Bible this way. If you’re interested in continuing the conversations, contact me here – I help run the Short Course and run a few bible reading groups.

When on a plane, the view is fantastic from up high. The gazillion stars take your breath away, likewise the unfiltered sunrise – and yet as majestic as the view is, the most important part of the journey is the landing. If you don’t land, well… what’s the point? Yes, it was majestic but it also was fleeting.

Can the same be applied to Christianity? Knowing the unknown, hearing what God says, promises of forgiveness, hope and “life even though one dies” – we’ve seen these in all our previous Munches and it sounds great, but how does the journey end? Is all we’ve seen fleeting?

It’s a good question. Paul, one of the earliest church leaders after Jesus died, gave a speech to a mixed crowd of skeptics, spiritual enthusiasts and eager inquirers. He concludes with this (for the full speech, click here):

Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

It’s not the most digestible bit of prose, but it neatly picks up where we left off. God created us – "we are his offspring". However, God is not man-made and neither is God distant. An idol is a visual representation of a distant God. For the God of Christianity, idols are unnecessary because God has come close. Jesus is God. From here, Paul describes the end in his last 2 sentences – the phrase “he has set a day” places the end in sharp focus. So what happens?

God will judge the world with justice. Justice requires judgement and this judgement is universal. No one is excluded from it. In an earlier speech, the phrase “the living and the dead” is used in the same way as “world” here. Not even death will be a legitimate excuse. All people throughout all time will be judged – Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, you and me. Some might question this and rightly so – whenever anyone makes sweeping claims, they ought to give proof…. and Paul offers Jesus’ resurrection. The one who was raised from the dead has the jurisdiction to judge both the living and the dead.

How does the journey end? Justice has the final word. Justice reigns. The destination is as majestic as the journey for life flourishes when justice reigns. One writer in the Bible describes it like this – “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” All that is wrong and all the harmful consequences that follow are unwound.

What we saw earlier is not fleeting, but instead the destination is the culmination of all that we’ve been reading. We’ve finished our tour. So keeping with the theme, I guess the question is – which route are you going to take next?

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