“The other
point to be observed is this, that heaven is the normal goal of our redemption.
We all know that religion is older than redemption. At the same time the
experience of redemption is the summit of religion. The two have become so
interwoven that the Christian cannot conceive of a future state from which the
redemptive mold and color would be absent. The deepest and dearest in us is so
much the product of salvation, that the vision of God as such and the vision of
God our Savior melt into one. We could not separate them if we would. The
simple reason is that precisely in redeeming us God has revealed to us the
inmost essence of his deity. No one but a redeemed creature can truly know what
it is for God to be God, and what it means to worship and possess Him as God.
This is the fine gold of the Christian’s experience, sweeter to him than honey
and the honeycomb. The river that makes glad the city of God is the river of
grace. The believer’s mind and heart will only in heaven compass the full
riches, the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of God.” G. Vos
As we move
toward the conclusion of the sermon, Heavenly Mindedness, preached by
Geerhardus Vos at Princeton Seminary in the fist part of the 20th
century:
“The other
point to be observed is this, that heaven is the normal goal of our redemption.”
In the previous section Vos warned us about making Christianity a thing of the
temporal and the material, a thing of this earth; now he focuses our attention
on the goal and source of heavenly mindedness, that City whose Builder
and Maker is God, that Place where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb dwell in
their glory, splendor, and fulness. Heaven is heaven because it is where Jesus
is – any El Dorado, whether it be in the seen or unseen realm, is nothing but
dust and vanity without Jesus Christ and our Father. Jesus does not say, “Blessed
are the pure in heart for they will go to heaven,” but rather, “Blessed are the
pure in heart for they shall see God.” Seeing and being with God and the Lamb
is our calling, it is the heart of heavenly mindedness, not simply
arriving at a special city, whether that city is of toy building blocks or of
gold and jewels. Heaven is what it is because God is there, the New Jerusalem
is what it is because the Father and the Lamb are there; and the only reason we
ever are anything worthy in this or any other life is because the holy Trinity
is in our lives – the holy and glorious Presence of God means everything today
and tomorrow and for eternity.
When Vos speaks
of “redemption” he means so much more than we usually do when we use the word,
for to Vos redemption encompasses the fulness of our salvation, which moves us into
the glory of the Presence of God in eternity. Vos sees that redemption and
salvation include our vision of God and the Lamb.
How does our
view and teaching of redemption and salvation compare to Vos’s? How does our
idea of redemption and salvation compare to Vos’s in terms of scope and of
trajectory?
Is it fair to
say that we mostly look at redemption and salvation in the context of being
saved and the new birth? That is, do we typically view these two words as
focusing on our initial experience of entering the Kingdom of God, the Church
of Jesus Christ? Yet, this is not the Biblical view of either redemption or
salvation, for in the Bible redemption speaks to us of the Lamb purchasing us to
be His own, buying us with His blood so that He may give us salvation; and
salvation speaks to us of the total work of the Lamb’s grace and glory in our
lives, from ages past to ages future (see 1 Peter Chapter One for a passage
that encompasses salvation from ages past to ages future).
Consider that
songs in heaven speak of redemption, “And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy
are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and
purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people
and nation” (Rev. 5:9.”
What is the
practical effect of limiting our ideas of redemption and salvation to our initial
entrance into the Church and Kingdom? (And this is true whether our focus is a “new
birth” experience or a sacramental happening such as baptism). The effect is to
orient our lives and thinking to the foyer of a great mansion or palace, we typically
live the rest of our lives in the foyer, pondering the threshold over which we’ve
crossed. What is worse, we play mind games in which we wonder if we have really
made it over the threshold into the house; or we become concerned that we might
be pushed out of the house, back out the front door. Hence, so many professing
Christians spend their lives obsessed as to whether they are going to heaven,
obsessed as to whether they might do something that will put them back on the
outside of the palace, obsessed with themselves.
Our preaching
and teaching then caters to this obsession and we have professing Christians
who may have come to Christ 40 or 70 years ago, and yet they have never moved
from the foyer into the glory of the palace. Or, if they have moved from the
foyer, it has been to the nursery and in the nursery they have remained, eating
baby food and drinking infant formula (Hebrews 5:11 – 14; 1 Cor. 3:1 – 3). Just
as infants and toddlers and children, life must revolve around us – our whims
and our wants must be catered to or we will cry and shout and scream and throw
tantrums. (How else can we account for the immature behavior we see in so many
congregations, including in so-called leadership?)
O dear friends, consider
the glory of Romans Chapter 8, the beauty of John 17, the fellowship of His
sufferings and resurrection of Philippians Chapter 3, the calling of Hebrews
Chapter 11, our commission in Isaiah chapters 40 and 42; our Father and Lord
Jesus want to move us out of the foyer, out of the nursery, and into the
placing of sons and daughters, raising us up into completeness in Jesus Christ,
into the fulness of Christ – for it is Christ in us which is the hope of glory
and the hope of Creation (Colossians 1:25 – 29; Ephesians 4:1 – 16; Romans 8 12
– 39).
“Do not be
afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom”
(Luke 12:32).
Isn’t it time to
move beyond the foyer? Isn’t it time to leave the nursery?
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