An important test for values and their meaning to life and mankind rests in their lasting quality. If lastingness is reduced for some reason, we look for the problem and amend our emphasis related to factors of concern. We know, for example, that solidarity of family life is important to a balanced and improving society. When the family is violated by infidelity, or by some diminishing law, or by invasion of ideas unsuited to the health of the family as an entity (institution) given of God, the society will suffer as well as the family. The institutional church was born at Pentecost, to make transition from a tribal/family representation, to a world/family representation. Even Jesus noted that Israel’s evangelism (proselyting) reached to the ends of the earth, so needed to be truthful and faithful to the source, and the treatment of aliens was to be considered to a degree that matched the benefits of the host people. The message of God from the influence of emigrating Jews is an untold story. Even the invasions that dispersed them did not silence the message of the missionary God for Israel and the world.
The church has lasted, through thick and thin, through truth and falsity, through righteousness and carnality, through eternal truth and nonsense – and so the story goes. Enemies within and without could not destroy it. The Judeo-Christian Bible, the most widely distributed book in history, and making its own remarkable literary history has survived through burnings, poor translations, benign neglect, and various influences designed to honor or degrade it. It has not only provided the message of God’s redemption, but has been the cause of literacy for nations, the aspirations of rights and privileges of human beings, the relevance to every society – and so the story goes. Scripture, even if God is not considered, has a remarkable life. We might even say it has had a miraculous life.
Nearly anything we know about in our earthly sojourns will pass away, some even before we do. Homes I lived in as a boy growing up have been torn down. A congregation exulted in a building constructed when I served that congregation. It has been torn down. A larger, much more commodious building complex was constructed a mile away. It has recently been refurbished – again. Cars I owned, bright and shiny, have rusted, and been sold for junk. Popular products and businesses, vital during my younger years, have passed away. A film products company, an icon the world over, recently closed, as a dinosaur business. Only one company that made up the Dow list of major entities a century ago (by which to measure market value), remains on that list. Nations have died. Others appear to be decaying. History scholars write about the inevitability of nations to die. For those who live long, the deaths of the good, the bad, and the ugly register for sorrow, or for relief. The earth passes away. God rescues the lasting factor – life.
Scripture ends with the creation of a new heaven and earth. God meets challenge to his creating and sustaining what he originally created. In some mystery beyond nature’s boundaries, there appeared a usurper. The usurper will be dealt with, and all be made right. That is the message of Scripture, which also provides a procedure for mankind to become a part of the renewal. It all sounds a bit surreal, unless its continuity takes hold in a faith experience. There is enough evidence supporting the dark side of the story, so that the creation we know is winding down, and will end. The humanist optimist holds out the hope that our research genius will save us. For example, the depletion of fuels and metals will be replaced by the genius of the scientist who will discover ways to not only survive but to improve the human condition. Can we rest in that solution? Is salvation, or continuance, to be found in human research? The concept defies what we know about life and earth. The Christian is interested in lastingness, and what may be there that speaks to mankind’s needs. In this is our ultimate Hope. Hope for the Christian is not only related to immortality, but in the concept that God will indeed rescue, through his creative power, the earth and its meaning. Under God the earth will be what it was always meant to be, a satellite of the Kingdom of God. Such a position could not be improved upon in any design of a genius human problem solver. The issue relates to faith, a willingness to extend belief beyond nature, and a rest in the belief that all this transition time will turn out well. In this we are free to be at peace with a feeling of relief. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020