改革宗信仰基础28：新天新地Basics of the Reformed Faith:The New Heavens and Earth
作者： Kim Riddlebarger 译者：寇正华
当人们说到天堂时，他们通常使用他们最喜欢的地方（即海滩或优胜美地）的图像，或者他们描述某种脱离肉体的存在，在那里，不朽的灵魂将最终摆脱由人类身体所施加的限制。我听到很多本应知道更多的人说到天堂时，提到的是珍珠般的门（由圣彼得本人管理）以及黄金街道，在那里，每天的生活大概集中于过去的人还在地上时所享受的愉快的那些活动（通常是最喜欢的爱好或活动）。可悲的是，所有的这些图像都没有准确反映关于天堂的圣经教导。
为弥补这种可悲的情况，每当我们说到天堂时，我们需要仔细地区分居间状态（其处理当我们死亡时灵魂到底去哪儿的问题）和永恒状态（其说到在末日身体复活之后人的存在本质）。
关于居间状态，保罗间接回答了“我们死亡时要去哪儿？”的问题，在他的哥林多后书中，他写道“我们愿意离开身体与主同住”（林后5:8）。对在腓立比的教会，保罗写道“我正在两难之间，情愿离世与基督同在。因为这是好得无比的”（腓1:23）。耶稣对在十字架上悔改的强盗说，“我实在告诉你，今日你要同我在乐园里了”（路23:43）。然后，希伯来书的作者将教会描述为“有名录在天上诸长子之会所共聚的总会，有审判众人的神，和被成全之义人的灵魂”（来12:23）。当我们死亡时，信徒要去哪儿？在死亡的那一刻，我们立时近到主面前。
关于与居间状态有关的问题，“在基督里死去并且近到主面前的人是怎样的？”给我们的唯一描述是在启示录4-7中。约翰告诉我们，有一位坐在宝座上（主神全能者——启4:8），周围有二十四长老（启4:4）、四活物（4:6及以下），还有被杀的羔羊（启5:6及以下），有许多天使（启5:11及以下），以色列十二支派中的十四万四千人（启7:4及以下），然后有大量被拯救的人（启7:9），其量太大不能胜数，并且齐声喊叫，“愿救恩归与坐在宝座上我们的神，也归与羔羊！”关于这些人，有声音说到，“他们在神宝座前，昼夜在他殿中事奉他。坐宝座的要用帐幕覆庇他们。他们不再饥，不再渴。日头和炎热也必不伤害他们。因为宝座中的羔羊必牧养他们，领他们到生命水的泉源，神也必擦去他们一切的眼泪。 ”当信徒死去时，我们近到主面前，等候在末了的时候身体复活。那些在基督里死了的人此时就看到在启示录的这些明显的章节中所描述的这些荣耀的奥秘。
当提到永恒状态以及我们的身体复活时，有几件重要的事情要考虑。正如在路加福音20:27-33所述，撒都该人问了耶稣一个关于复活的棘手的问题。如果一个人结了婚但后来死了，他的六个兄弟中的每个都按着律法的要求娶过这个人的妻子，后来这六个兄弟都死了，在复活的时候，这女人会是谁的妻子呢，因为她与这七个兄弟都结过婚。我们的主对这个问题的回答告诉我们很多有关复活后的永恒状态的事情。“这世界的人有娶有嫁，惟有算为配得那世界，与从死里复活的人，也不娶也不嫁，因为他们不能再死，和天使一样，既是复活的人，就为神的儿子。至于死人复活，摩西在荆棘篇上称主是亚伯拉罕的神，以撒的神，雅各的神，就指示明白了。神原不是死人的神，乃是活人的神，因为在他那里，人都是活的”（路20:34-40）。据耶稣所说，在末了的时候我们以身体从死里复活，但复活之后的生命是完全超越于我们在今生所知的普通的两性与家庭关系的转变。我们被说成和天使一样并且被描述为复活的儿女。
当帖撒罗尼迦教会中的一些人对这个问题感到困惑时，保罗解释了当耶稣再来时对于那些已经在天上宝座面前的人会发生什么（如在启4-7中所述）。使徒写道，“论到睡了的人，我们不愿意弟兄们不知道，恐怕你们忧伤，像那些没有指望的人一样。我们若信耶稣死而复活了，那已经在耶稣里睡了的人，神也必将他与耶稣一同带来。我们现在照主的话告诉你们一件事：我们这活着还存留到主降临的人，断不能在那已经睡了的人之先，因为主必亲自从天降临，有呼叫的声音，和天使长的声音，又有神的号吹响，那在基督里死了的人必先复活。以后我们这活着还存留的人必和他们一同被提到云里，在空中与主相遇。这样，我们就要和主永远同在。所以你们当用这些话彼此劝慰”（帖前4:13-18）。因此，当基督再来时，所描述的这些在宝座前的圣徒将得以复活。
最后，当我们考虑永恒的状态时，我们需要记住，天堂不是一个在神话般的地方中的脱离肉体的存在物。在启示录21:9-27中，约翰给出了我们永恒的家的异象——以复活的身体与神同在的新天新地。是的，天上的城有黄金的街道，充满了珍贵的宝石——这是通过类比地上的美丽和财富的方式来描述新耶路撒冷的不可言说的荣耀。但在约翰的描述中真正重要的是，基督所赎买的新娘，就是他的教会，与在她中间的救主同在。约翰写道，“你到这里来，我要将新妇，就是羔羊的妻，指给你看”（启21:9）。然后约翰看到非同寻常的事情。“我未见城内有殿，因主神全能者和羔羊为城的殿。那城内又不用日月光照，因有神的荣耀光照，又有羔羊为城的灯。列国要在城的光里行走，地上的君王必将自己的荣耀归与那城。城门白昼总不关闭，在那里原没有黑夜。人必将列国的荣耀、尊贵归与那城。凡不洁净的并那行可憎与虚谎之事的，总不得进那城；只有名字写在羔羊生命册上的才得进去 ”（启21:22-27）。
救赎历史的伟大全景带领我们从创造，到我们人类的堕落，再到救赎，这救赎是在基督里赐予我们的。但这故事的结尾是对摆在前面的荣耀的壮丽的一瞥。所以让我们渴想那一天吧，并且我们要仰望“为我们信心创始成终的耶稣，他因那摆在前面的喜乐，就轻看羞辱，忍受了十字架的苦难，便坐在神宝座的右边。”
Basics of the Reformed Faith:
The New Heavens and Earth
Kim
Riddlebarger
When
people speak of heaven, they often use images of their favorite places (i.e.,
the beach, or Yosemite), or they describe some sort of disembodied existence
where their immortal soul will finally be set free from the limitations imposed
upon it by the human body. I’ve heard
many people who should know better speak of heaven in terms of pearly gates
(manned by St. Peter himself) and streets of gold, where daily existence is
supposedly centered upon the pleasurable activities (usually the favorite hobby
or activity) the departed enjoyed while still on earth. Sadly, none of these images accurately
reflect the biblical teaching regarding heaven.
To
remedy this sad state of affairs, whenever we speak of heaven we need to
carefully distinguish between the intermediate state (which deals with the
question of where, exactly, the soul goes when we die) and the eternal state
(which speaks to the nature of human existence after the resurrection of the
body at the end of the age).
As
for the intermediate state, the question “where do we go when we die?” was
answered indirectly by Paul, when, in his second Corinthian letter he wrote “we
would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians
5:8). To the church in Philippi, Paul
wrote that “my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better”
(Philppians 1:23). Jesus told the
repentant thief on the cross, “truly, I say to you, today you will be with me
in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). And then, the
author of Hebrews describes the church as, “the assembly of the firstborn who
are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the
righteous made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23).
Where do believers go when we die?
We immediately enter into the presence of the Lord at the moment of
death.
As
for the related question about the intermediate state, “what is it like for
those who have died in Christ, and then entered into the presence of the Lord?”
the only description given us is that found in Revelation 4-7. We are told by John that there is one seated
on the throne (the Lord God Almighty–Revelation 4:8), surrounded by the
twenty-four elders (Revelation 4:4), the four living creatures (4:6 ff), the
lamb who had been slain is also present (Revelation 5:6 ff.), there are myriads
of angels (Revelation 5:11 ff.), the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel
(Revelation 7:4 ff.), and then, finally, there is that great multitude of the
redeemed (Revelation 7:9), a multitude so vast they cannot be counted, and who
are presently crying out in unison (v. 10), “salvation belongs to our God who
sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Of
this multitude it is said, “they are before the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them
with his presence. They shall hunger no
more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching
heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the
throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living
water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” When believers die, we enter into the
presence of the Lord, awaiting the resurrection of our bodies at the end of the
age. Those who have died in Christ
currently behold these glorious mysteries described in these remarkable
chapters of Revelation.
When
it comes to the eternal state and the resurrection of our bodies, there are
several important things to consider. As
recounted in Luke 20:27-33, Jesus was asked a trick question about the
resurrection by the Sadducees. If a man
was married and then died, and each of his six brothers married the man’s widow
as required in the law, and then each of the six brothers died, who would be
married to the woman in the resurrection, since she had been married to all
seven brothers? Our Lord’s answer to
this question tells us a great deal about the eternal state after the
resurrection. “The sons of this age
marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain
to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given
in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and
are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses
showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the
living, for all live to him” (Luke 20:34-40).
According to Jesus, we are raised bodily from the dead at the end of the
age, but after the resurrection life is completely transformed beyond ordinary
sexual and family relationships we know in this life. We are said to be equal to angels and
described as children of the resurrection.
When
someone in the Thessalonian church was confused about this matter, Paul
explained what happens to those already in heaven before the throne when Jesus
returns (as depicted in Revelation 4-7).
The apostle writes, “but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,
about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no
hope. For since we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who
have fallen asleep. For this we declare
to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the
coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven
with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of
the trumpet of God. And the dead in
Christ will rise first. Then we who are
alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these
words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Therefore, those saints depicted before the throne will receive their
resurrection bodies when Christ returns.
Finally,
when we consider the eternal state, we need to keep in mind that heaven is not
disembodied existence in a mythical place.
In Revelation 21:9-27, John is given a vision of our eternal home–a new
heaven and earth where the saints of God dwell in resurrected bodies. Yes, the heavenly city has streets of gold
and is filled with precious gems–a way to describe the New Jerusalem’s
unspeakable glory by analogy to earthly beauty and wealth. But what really matters in John’s description
is that Christ’s church, that bride which he has redeemed, is present with the
Savior in her midst. John writes “`come,
I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb’” (Revelation 21:9). And then John sees something quite
remarkable. “I saw no temple in the
city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the
kings of the earth swill bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be
shut by day—and there will be no night there.
They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor
anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in
the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:22-27).
The
great panorama of redemptive history has taken us from creation, to the fall of
our race, to the redemption which is ours in Christ. But the story ends with a magnificent glimpse
of that glory which lies ahead. So let
us long for that day, and as we do, look to Jesus “the founder and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”