One Eternal Family

Sometimes you run across theological assertions that are just plain bizarre. In James A. Nichols, Jr.’s book Christian Doctrines, the last chapter states:

“Death will be abolished, and all children will grow up to know the Lord from infancy free from Satan’s temptations. This means that saved people of flesh and blood will always exist on this earth begetting children and adding forever to the increase of the eternal kingdom… [Ezekiel 37 predicts His] subjects will dwell in this land, ‘they, and their children, and their children’s children, for ever’ —a clear implication that this is to be a continually growing kingdom with God’s ‘sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.’” (302, 304).

Nichols may have been highly influential among Berkshire College students while he was a professor, but not all of his theology was biblically sound. (He also had a comment that when the earth gets full, there’s a whole universe of planets to fill!) His statement bothered me for several reasons.

1) He seems to confuse temporal and eternal fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. A much more logical interpretation of this Scripture is that the children of the nation of Israel (and subsequently Christians), born prior to the final Judgment Day, will enjoy the new heavens and new earth for eternity (2 Pet. 3:13). It’s not the childbearing that is eternal, but the dwelling in the land. This would actually be more consistent with Nichols’ view on annihilation of the wicked as well: it’s not the punishing that is eternal, but the resulting death.

2) He ignores Jesus’ own words in Matthew 22:30, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” If there is no marriage, how can there be legitimate childbearing?

3) He downplays the relationship between Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as the Bride of Christ (Matt. 9:15, Rev. 19:7). There will only be one marriage in the end. That final marriage is the one to which all earthly marriages now point (Eph. 5:23-32).

4) He puts too much emphasis on human marriage and childbirth as a primary way in which God receives glory. The Apostle Paul had a different view: “For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife” (1 Cor. 7:31b-33). Those who are unmarried or childless are no less valuable to the kingdom and no less able to give God glory through their lives of trusting obedience.

I have written before about some of the misconceptions of marriage and singleness that Christians hold, and I’m indebted to Sam Allberry’s books and articles. “Is Celibacy Cruel?” posted on TGC today was a refreshing reminder to me of a more biblical view than Nichols held. If Nichols were correct, then those of us who remain single and childless would forever be a different class of believers. (Not entirely unlike the Mormons!) But if marriage and childbirth will come to an end, then we all need to consider how we can be building eternal relationships within the Church that supersede biological families. We need to focus more on what we have in common in Christ now than in life-stage commonalities that will end.

“Now you are the Body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor. 12:27 emphasis added).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Slave Stealers

Review of Slave Stealers: True Accounts of Slave Rescues Then and Now, by Timothy Ballard

Ballard founded Operation Underground Railroad in an effort to free children from trafficking organizations worldwide. The strategy of O.U.R. is shaped in part by the work of the original Underground Railroad in freeing slaves from the American South. This book shares stories from both eras.

I was drawn to this book because I have read several biographies from the Civil War era, including the biography of Harriet Jacobs who was featured in this book. Modern child-trafficking has many parallels with the slave trade, preying on innocent victims for immoral purposes. As in the 1800s, we need to raise awareness of what is really happening in the world around us so that we can be motivated and take action to put an end to it. For example:

“Human trafficking… is the fastest growing criminal enterprise on the planet. With thousands of children currently forced into the commercial sex trade in the United States, and thousands more children smuggled into the U.S. annually for the same purpose, this problem is never far from home” (34).

“In fact, the United States maintains one of the highest consumption rates of child pornography in the world” (95).

“Super Bowl day, with its massive party emphasis, is considered by some experts to be the largest single trafficking day in the year” (206).

Most of us in our daily lives have no reason to even think about child trafficking. It simply isn’t on our radar. One of the stories shared in the book is of multiple children who lost their homes and families in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. These children were delivered to an orphanage by well-meaning adults who didn’t realize the orphanage was really a front for a sex-trafficking operation. I started reading this book just a few days after another major earthquake in Haiti, which made me start praying that more children are not being enslaved there right now.

Ballard quotes Kevin Bales, a professor of Contemporary Slavery, from his book Ending Slavery:

“[The] abolition of slavery was immensely significant when laws were effectively enforced, but it also blinded people to ongoing slavery. Subsequent generations have been unaware that legal abolition didn’t make slavery go away, that it only masked the problem. Behind closed doors, in remote places and right under our noses, slavery has continued, making people rich, feeding our lifestyles, and burning up lives” (189).

In order to truly put an end to all slavery, we need to see the problem, we need to make it a matter of prayer, and we need to get creative in finding ways to fight it. Ballard’s organization is just one of many organizations that are attempting to do just that. I would encourage others to read this book in order to put a face on the issue and get engaged in this modern civil war.

“Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea… So it is not the will of My Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matt. 18:5-6, 14).

“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40b).

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For those who are interested in Civil War history, the following eBooks are available for free on Gutenberg.org:

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs

The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln, Francis Browne

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, etc., Narrating the Hardships, Hair-Breadth Escapes and Death Struggles of the Slaves in Their Efforts for Freedom as Related by Themselves and Others, or Witnessed by the Author, by William Still

Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

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© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. Cover art courtesy of Amazon. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Innocent

In How to Really Love God as Your Father, Deborah Newman comments: “Imagine yourself at five years old. What is on your five-year-old mind? Do you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders? ...Unless your childhood included some extenuating circumstances... remembering yourself as a little child should include carefree innocence.” I’ve recently read a couple different books that mentioned the idyllic nature of childhood for many children—freedom from worry and major responsibilities, and having time for fun and enjoying life. Although I would contend that such experiences are more rare than we would like to admit, they do bring to mind some images worth considering.

Jesus said, “Let the children come to Me; and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:14-15 ESV). While we can all enjoy the thought of Jesus embracing the little children and blessing them, Jesus’ words were actually for His disciples. His message was for the adults, including us. Yet I doubt that most of us can really grasp what it would mean for us to come to Him like a child. Why is that?

It occurred to me that there are two ways that we use the word “innocent.” One is the innocence of being free from guilt. The other is the childlike trust and naiveté that knows someone else is in control so there is no need for worry. As we grow up (and sometimes before we grow up), we lose both of those types of innocence. We know we are guilty of sin, and we know that the world is a dangerous place where we have to look out for ourselves. I believe that Jesus intends for us to reclaim our lost innocence by coming to Him.

First, He grants us freedom from the guilt of sin as we accept His sacrifice on the cross. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He exchanged His righteousness for our sinfulness so that we could once again be innocent. We can lay aside the guilt and shame we have carried because of our own sin and the sin of others against us. “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11). The forgiveness found in Christ can remove a lot of the burden that weighs us down as grownups.

Second, God reminds us that He is in control and He is trustworthy. Of all the worries and concerns that darken our days, most will either never come to pass or are outside our control anyway. Like a child worried about what’s in the dark, we need to trust that our Father can see what we can’t and He will take care of us. I think this is perhaps the harder innocence to recover. Once we’ve seen the pain and suffering that this world can bring, it’s hard to trust that God really knows best and will not let us endure anything that He won’t equip us to handle. We would prefer for life to be a lot less difficult and a lot more fun.

Coming to Jesus like a child is a daily choice to accept His forgiveness for our sins and to ask for His provision for our needs. He is our Father who supplies our daily bread, and who forgives those who confess. He is also the Creator of the universe, who is able to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. He is Abba, who heals the brokenhearted and raises the dead to new life. He is the One who bids us to come to Him in our weakness, neediness, and filth, so that we might see His strength, abundance, and cleansing power.

Jesus invites us, “Let all My children come unto Me in faith to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.