{"id":321,"date":"2005-05-22T19:05:00","date_gmt":"2005-05-23T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/22\/hell-as-at-times-the-historical\/"},"modified":"2005-05-22T19:05:00","modified_gmt":"2005-05-23T00:05:00","slug":"hell-as-at-times-the-historical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/22\/hell-as-at-times-the-historical\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell as (at times) the Historical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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If you\u2019ve followed these blogs about hell, you\u2019ll know that I got them going before I started reading The Last Word and the Word After That<\/span>. And of the blogs I had planned had to do with the role historical judgment has played in how many speak of hell. My mind is slow after a day of chatting and drinking tea on the back porch with Kris and the kids (and their spouses). Luke and Annika are \u201cfixin\u201d to move soon to the Lake Chautauqua region in the southwestern tip of New York. So it was a source of deep pleasure for us to have them here for awhile.<\/p>\n

Let me say again that this topic grieves me, not so much for what the Bible says, but for what we Christians are compelled to consider about the gravity of life and the destiny of those around us and our good world.<\/p>\n

It will perhaps not be new if I say that the OT does not talk about hell (or heaven really) but, instead, sees the judgment of God played out in the real world of historical ups and downs. The Judges and the historical books, but especially the prophets, warn and threaten and toss down their hats and stomp on them and say, \u201cHey folks, if we don\u2019t do some serious changing we are in for it.\u201d And sometimes they were in for it \u2014 and the ones who did them in were the Assyrians, which creeps were used by God to discipline Israel, and the Babylonians, who did the same to Judah, and then before long the Romans. If you watch the Bible carefully, the word \u201cwrath\u201d is often used for this \u201chistorical downturn of events.\u201d (Please, stick with me: I think that term is connected to God\u2019s holiness, but that doesn\u2019t mean God\u2019s justice does not come in the form of political collapse.)<\/p>\n

And Jesus, as I expounded in A New Vision for Israel<\/span>, belongs to this very tradition: a prophet who announces political collapse for those who do not turn back to God (as John and Jesus declare the arrival of God\u2019s kingdom).<\/p>\n

So, for Jesus in some senses (but not all) \u201chell\u201d and \u201cjudgment\u201d can be used for political collapse. I am not afraid to say that plenty of the powerful threats of Jesus pertain to the collapse of Jerusalem in 70AD. So, while McLaren\u2019s emphasis on \u201crhetorical purpose\u201d is important, there is a genuine analog in much of Jesus\u2019 teaching and that analog is 70AD. (In other words, this is not just \u201crhetoric\u201d intended to get people to clean up their act.)<\/p>\n

Not all agree with me here; many Christians, especially of an evangelical persuasion, think that Jesus wasn\u2019t tied so tightly into 70AD but was instead speaking of the End Time and the rapture and all that. So, let me give you the verse that tipped me over the edge on this one: Matt 24:29 says that the \u201castral signs\u201d will occur immediately<\/span> after the previous events and, now we get to the real kicker here, in 24:34 he says that all these things<\/span> (including the astral signs of 24:29-31) will take place before this generation passes away<\/span>. I can\u2019t shake these verses: Jesus states that within a generation these things will occur. That means by about 70 AD \u2014 and in 70AD the Romans came in and mopped up Jerusalem. 70AD was predicted by Jesus as judgment for systemic evil and covenantal unfaithfulness. Several scholars have made a case for this: read GB Caird\u2019s NT Theology<\/span>, or RT France\u2019s commentary on Matthew<\/span>, or NT Wright\u2019s Jesus and the Victory of God<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Which brings me back to what I\u2019ll close with tonight: not all, but much of Jesus\u2019 threat and warrant are at the historical\/national and imminent level. Jesus knew Jerusalem was about to collapse and if God\u2019s people didn\u2019t repent it would be \u201chell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ll blog on what Jesus does say about the traditional sense of \u201chell\u201d soon, too, but this point about hell and the historical has to be kept in mind when we talk about Jesus and judgment.<\/p>\n

This is going to be a busy two weeks for me: I\u2019ve got to finish the ms for Embracing Grace<\/span> and read the galleys for a big monograph for Baylor U Press on Jesus and His Death<\/span>, and then we are off to Spoleto for some gelato as we roam Italy for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019ve followed these blogs about hell, you\u2019ll know that I got them going before I started reading The Last Word and the Word After That. And of the blogs I had planned had to do with the role historical judgment has played in how many speak of hell. My mind is slow after a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nHell as (at times) the Historical<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you've followed these blogs about hell, you'll know that I got them going before I started reading The Last Word and the Word After That. 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