Confidence in the victory of Jesus, knowing He is bringing all things under subjection, knowing that His kingdom, that rock uncut by human hands is covering all the earth is our very hope. There is no line that separates His promise to cleanse each of us from all unrighteousness and His promise to bring all things under subjection. Some sinners and some institutions will be destroyed (one does not redeem brothels or opium dens; rather one destroys them). Others will be remade.
That remaking, however, is not merely future. The Man will come around, to be sure, but the Man comes around now. He is at work now and all His work lasts forever. What He polishes, whether it is on the ship, on the lifeboat, or at the very bottom of the ocean is not mere brass, but gold that will withstand the refiner’s fire that burns away all wood, hay and stubble. He comes around now in His means of grace now. That is, as His Spirit works in me to mortify my flesh, this is eschatological labor. As His Spirit remakes me into the image of the Son, this is eschatological labor.
Believing in His victory can carry with it a temptation toward pride, and toward strategic shortcuts. That temptation is not beaten, however, by accepting defeat, but by remembering that the victory is His. My humility ought to be about what I can contribute to the battle, not about the scope of His victory. Jesus wins, after all, every battle, even those we think are lost.
The kingdom does not, in the end, come through our strategies. It does not come through building coalitions, by shrewd and clever alliances. No. Jesus tells us that His kingdom comes as His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Our simple calling then is to obey. When we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, when we encourage one another toward righteousness, when we serve the widow and the orphan, when we love our neighbor, we are adding jewels to the very walls of heaven. He may call us to die for Him, which is victory if we obey. He may call us to prosper for Him, which is victory if we obey. He will not, however, call us to guess the future. He simply calls us to obey. We are in the battle for eternity. Everything is at stake. But be of good cheer. For the sum of the matter is as clear as it is simple- fear God and obey all that He commands.
When God calls us out of the world He does so not to abandon the world, but to redeem it. We conquer by retreat. When we are a set apart people we are at our brightest, at our most savory. We are not then separating to wait for the end. Rather we separate that there might be multiple new beginnings, that the lost might be found, the elect gathered from the four corners of the world. We don’t fight like they fight. We don’t fail to fight as they fail to fight. Instead when the man comes around, we follow Him into battle, as a body, as a people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
Eschatology, we would be wise to remember, isn’t really about the end times. It is more about the End. That is, it is less about how things pan out, more about the One whom everything is about. The kingdom exists for the sake of the King, not the other way around. We have been bought by this King. We are His bondservants, and the soldiers in His army. Which is why we fight the good fight. Not for our sake. Not for our glory. Not even ultimately for our friends and loved ones in the foxhole with us. We fight for Him. Our whys reach their end in Him. For the glory of God, and for the building of His kingdom.
