Science Fiction and the End of Time
I was listening to an English professor teach on science-fiction literature (nerds!). The topic was the nature of apocalypse in the science-fiction genre. Wonderful topic, especially since so many stories today are about the end of the word. But the professor turned his attention to the way students discuss the subject of the end of time. Mostly, he noticed how their opinions were out of proportion to how they lived. Everything in this world was due to collapse into a singular catastrophic event—yet they still use their time contemplating the mundane realities of college football, weekend parties, and sleeping for sport.
So the professor conducted an experiment. One week he asked the students to write out a list of their beliefs about what would happen at the end of the world. Then several weeks later, after the list was forgotten, he asked them to draw up a second list, this time of their life goals. He then combined the list into something like a strange new set of MadLibs.
Sarah will watch her grandchildren graduate from high school shortly before a meteor the size of Texas destroys the Earth. Jeff will retire from his career in business, but only as science achieves Artificial Intelligence, kicking off a Terminator-style war between man and machine. Kyle will publish his fifth bestselling book before the planet’s natural resources run out killing all of his readers.
The professor’s conclusion: people like to play with their ideas about the future, though it tends to make no difference in how they live.
Sobering words.
Christ and the End of Time
When Christ stood with his disciples after the Resurrection he gave them not only the Great Commission but the power by which the mission would be carried out:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:17-20)
Notice the bookends Christ gives around the call for our mission: 1) all authority is his and 2) he is with us until the end of the age.
This grand story of redemption is not merely about something far off. It is not merely for our imagination. The New Testament tells us repeatedly to let the truth of Christ’s victory pull us forward, because the End is already settled. Revelation shows us the heavenly Jerusalem coming down to earth ‘as a bride adorned for her husband’ (Revelation 21:1-4). Our end is not to leave this world for good but to see this earth finally put back in order as it was always intended.
The Future Pulls us from the Present
It can be hard to live in a broken world, with tears still in our eyes. Tragedies occur in our midst and ministry can be grueling some weeks. But come up to heaven and look down from the throne of Christ. See this world for what it is: not a broken world on the verge of apocalypse, but the creation of God groaning for redemption. See the church, not as a maddening place full of jerks and sinners, but as the Bride yearning for the Bridegroom. This is the vision John is given in Revelation 4-5, when he enters the throne of God and sees a glimpse of God’s glorious plan.
In other words, our future breaks into our present, because Christ is already seated in heaven and he rules as the exalted Lord. He has given the downpayment of the Holy Spirit and filled us then with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3-10). Let our present weakness not cause doubt in our salvation. Instead let it be shaped by what the scriptures tell us is the Conclusion: heaven and earth will be filled with his glory.
My pastor, Chuck Colson, did a 90 second video telling the sweep of the Bible. He, too, encourages us to see our future as governed by God’s plan in the past, that gives shape to our present.
