My father died. Where is he now? // Ask NT Wright Anything

this comes particularly poignant Lee at a Funeral when somebody says where are they no hazard funeral a couple of months ago over of a dear person a 35 year old godson of mine who died of cancer leaving a widow and two little children and it was a wonderful Christian funeral but I was sad because there was almost nothing about resurrection which was to me bizarre what do you say then because this crimes in very neatly with a question that came in from someone who simply calls themselves Mike who says what you talk about in terms of heaven coming to earth rather than us and going to heaven feel so right but my father died a couple of months ago where is he now yeah yeah well I would say the first question to say is is this father somebody who is believing in baptized member of the body of Christ because then the answer is comparatively easy if not then the answer might be harder because we always say that a person's faith is ultimately known to God alone and the cause of all sorts of circumstances there are many people who actually do have a basic faith and but it isn't overtly expressed etc so having said that I mean I'll take Mike to the funeral that I presided over which was for my mother which was four or five months ago she was a day short of ninety five and was ready to go bless her and we prayed with her and it was kind of a relief to finally at last to be out of her tiredness and so on and so we celebrated the fact that one day God will make his new world and raise all his people from the dead including mum and that we are happy to leave her at the moment safe with Jesus Paul says in Philippians 1 my desire is to depart and be with the Messiah which is far better now being with the Messiah doesn't tell you kind of where it just it focuses on who actually then Jesus is looking after his people and here's the strange thing and I don't think there's been enough theological work done on this in Revelation 6 it talks about the souls under the altar who are saying how long O Lord how long they're waiting for resurrection in john 14 jesus says I'm going to prepare a place for you and then I'll come again and take you to myself but the word for mansion or room or dwelling or whatever is a word that you would use in Greek not for a place you'd go and live forever but for somewhere you would stay and rest before continuing your journey that Greek word is Monday and if you look it up in the dictionary that's what it means a wayside in or something like that um it's a blissful place in Luke 23 Jesus says to the brigand crucified next to him today you will be with me in paradise now paradise again is rather like CS Lewis's the wood between the worlds it's the blissful lovely place where you're waiting before proceeding to the final destination do you think that that file destination essentially is a sort of reunion with the physical in absolutely yes very emphatically Paul says in Ephesians 1 God's desire is to sum up all things in heaven and on earth in the Messiah and the whole point is new creation but actually this goes back to a reading of Genesis Genesis is the creation of a heaven plus earth reality now in the ancient world a heaven plus Earth's reality is a temple that's what temples are many Old Testament scholars have said Genesis 1 is describing the creation of a temple and guess what it's got an image in it as a temple should so that you know who the God is and so that the influence of the God may be felt in the world when you read Genesis 1 like that all sorts of things go click click click but then when you read John 20 revelation 21 etcetera you realize this is where that whole story was going heaven and earth together not separated so sort of in conclusion to Mike's question in terms of where is his father now if a believer in Christ we know he is with Christ so we can't say exactly what that state of existence it's very difficult to say - precisely it's almost as though there's a kind of divine conspiracy of silence at that point because historically many different cultures have obsessed about trying to get in touch with the dead or whatever and we are simply told again and again in Scripture no they're okay don't worry about them don't try and contact them trust God but in terms of the popular image some people have of your oh well auntie Maudie's looking down at me yes yes not not a helpful image and those different Christian traditions how I wondered about whether the Saints for instance where there aren't aboard is the saint or not we'll leave that open boat at whether the Saints do have a role in sharing in the intercession of Christ for his people on earth were told that Jesus is himself interceding for us Paul says in Romans 8 and some people have seen those who are in Christ sharing that into session in the Greek Orthodox tradition we pray for the Saints and they pray for us the fact that there's no consensus in among Christians on that I think is quite important but here's the thing if we believe that the Holy Spirit has indwelt us in the present time and if we don't believe that then you know we're lacking something basic about being Christian then when we die I think it's appropriate to say that the Holy Spirit has in some way been how to say this affected shaped by who we have become just as we are shaped by the Spirit so every bit of genuine Christian discipleship in us uniquely in us has also shaped who the Spirit now is so that the Spirit as it were is remembering us holding our members together against the day when the Spirit will then raise us from the dead that's something to be explored the podcast episodes at bonus content and to ask your question sign up at ask NT right com you you

Channel: Premier On Demand

Views: 52,230

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Keywords: Tom Wright, NT Wright

Id: y_T1NQ2qwE8

Length: 6min 14sec (374 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 22 2018