Most stories are ruined by knowing the end in advance, but not this one. I love the spy novels genre. I was reading a book and I was about 100 pages in and I felt a temptation, and I actually did this: I randomly opened the final chapter to a single page, and hoped I would not find out who the mole is! But there it was: the name of the spy. So now, 200 pages earlier, I know who it is and it has ruined the whole story! I know who the spy was. Well, we know the end of the gospel story but it is not ruined, because when we get there, and even the journey along the way is so spectacular, it is so filled with glory that it will exceed our wildest imaginations. In fact, not only is this story not ruined by knowing the end, Paul thinks it is vitally important that we would understand the end, the purpose, how it is actually achieved, so that we can live it out appropriately in the present. The nature of Christianity is historical. We rely on what God has done. We see a purpose to which history is working, and therefore we have a historical perspective. Sometimes it has been called, I think helpfully, an eternal perspective. And we look upon the affairs of our lives now, looking back to what has been done that has secured everything for us. We can see it celebrated, emblemized to us in the Lord’s Supper, but then looking forward to the purpose that will be fulfilled.
One thing this does for us is that it enables us to be sober about the reality of this world. The world knows that this present existence is tragedy, but can not afford to live on that because of the despair. But the Christian can be a realist. We can look upon the world and say that you know, it really is not a Disneyland Park.
We are on a toxic wasteland and a deadly battlefield. And you see, the Christian can realize that without becoming a pessimist. We do not become cynics; we can afford to be realists. Salvation is not going to be manifested to me in the present form of this life. We agree with the world that all the pomp and show, in the end, is merely sound and fury, signifying nothing. That is what Paul said:
The world in its present form is passing away(1 Corinthians 7:31). Now, you see, we are not led into despair because we have the salvation story. We are delivered from the various idolatries. We no longer face life saying,If I could only be rich!God bless you if you have attained financial wealth. Some of you have, but it will not save you, and it will not even make you happy. If only I can have romance, if only I could be thin, if only my teeth could be straight, if only my party could be elected. These are all good things objectively in themselves, but none of them will bring that paradise. Why? Because this is the world, the tragic world, always undermined by the fatal flaw of sin.But Christ is directing us to another world, and there we find perspective. We are realists and we feel it. Christians are not delivered out of the experience of Christianity. We shed tears; we experience sorrow. Our Lord was called a man of sorrow, but he said;
Dr. Richard D. PhillipsBlessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted(Matthew 5:4). And we are comforted by the mystery that is revealed in the saving plan of God. By faith in that gospel, we are freed from living under the despair and the idolatry of the world. Let me put this just a little bit differently. The world lives from the present to an uncertain future, and that is why our generation is riddled with anxiety and doubt. All the data shows a terribly depressed and anxious generation. Why? Because we are no longer so naive that we do not realize that there are deadly things confronting us. The future could be very harmful, personally and corporately, and so there is a great anxiety as we are living forward. But the Christian lives from the end, which we know is in glory, and we work back to the present. The secular starts now and with anxiety looks to an uncertain future. The Christian starts with a certain future and looks back to his or her present life. That is the very perspective that you will see in the New Testament.1
10 pour le mettre à exécution lorsque les temps seraient accomplis, de réunir toutes choses en Christ, celles qui sont dans les cieux et celles qui sont sur la terre.