We have come to the final worldview question: Where are we going?

Is human history

heading somewhere or is it going in an endless, meaningless cycle?

In the passage we read just now, we follow the events after the death of Jesus. On the

third day, his tomb was empty! And now Christ appeared right before the disciples’

surprised eyes. Filled with fear and doubt, the best theory His disciples could come up

with was that they have seen a ghost! (Luke 24:37) So Jesus shows them His very

physical hands and feet, “Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones”. Still

they remain stunned in joy and amazement. Then Jesus gave them the ultimate evidence.

“Er… You’ve got anything here to eat?”

And the risen Lord of the universe munched down a piece of “ikan bakar” right in front

of their eyes (Luke 24:42). His resurrected body is capable of swallowing food neatly

unlike those messy ghosts we find in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. This is no

phantom. He is back – with muscles, bones and a functioning stomach. All over the

world, Christians celebrate the bodily resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. But what

does the resurrection mean for us today?

When many people think of the resurrection, they are actually thinking of life after death

in heaven. Like those popular cartoon sketches of people floating around in fluffy clouds,

wearing white gowns with a harp in their hand and a halo on their head. The idea is to

escape from this physical world. Life on this earth is just a temporary transit station to a

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disembodied state of bliss somewhere else. Only the spirit minus the body survives death.

But this state of being is only temporary for those who died and awaits the final

resurrection. It is not the ultimate or permanent hope for Christians.

And the danger of misunderstanding the meaning of resurrection is we can be so

heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good. It creates a mentality where we

withdraw from life and passively wait for the afterlife. Some people see the poor

oppressed and the environment destroyed and they shrug and say, “Oh well, this world’s

gonna burn anyway so I just wait for my time to go to heaven.” Or in some worldviews,

after we die, we just get reincarnated as an animal or a less fortunate person if our sins or

karmic debt is great. “Why should I help these suffering people if they are only getting

what their karma deserved anyway? If I help them, it means they will suffer even longer”.

No wonder many people see religion as a drug that makes us insensitive to pain and

oppression happening around the world.

But the Christian hope of eternal life is not like that. It is not about running away from

reality. Our final hope is a resurrected spiritual body. Our ultimate future is a new heaven

and a new earth. This world we live in will be renewed, transformed and restored. It

won’t be abandoned or left to rot. So we look forward to a resurrection just like Jesus’

where we will be raised to life in an incorruptible and glorified body. (Not as a ghostly,

floating apparition!) And God did not create the physical world only to annihilate or

abandon it. Rather, He will completely transform and rescue the present fallen universe.

Through fire, the present universe will be refined, restored, renewed and transformed into

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the new one. Just as the caterpillar passes away and the butterfly emerges; so also would

the present world be dissolved by fire to give rise to a purified new heaven and new earth

(2 Peter 3:5-7).

What God has done in Christ on Easter morning, He would do on a cosmic scale for the

entire creation, including us. There will be no more sorrow, sickness, decay or violence

for God will wipe away every tear and restore all that is good. We can expect to be

stewards in His renewed universe and priests who glorify and enjoy God’s presence

forever. C.S. Lewis described the future redeemed world to be more substantial, more

tangible and more solid than the world as we know it. You see, the Christian worldview

values the material world and the human body much more than other worldviews which

treat the world and body as an illusion or evil.

Because God himself took on physical flesh and blood and invaded this planet 2000 years

ago, we long to see the presence of God's kingdom come and His will be done on earth as

it is in heaven. We live in the interim period between the coming of God’s kingdom

already present in the world and the future, not-yet fullness of that Kingdom. And while

we wait for that glorious day, we can start practicing right now! In the meantime, we are

to live today as if the future is already present. The way we go about our daily chores,

prayers and worship are to be signposts pointing forward to what God’s reign in its future

fullness would look like.

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So the church community is like a movie preview: We are to display some hints, clues,

glimpses or foretastes of the actual movie so people will look at us and go, “Wow! I want

to see the complete show!” New Creation: Akan datang. Coming soon to a planet near

you… Lesslie Newbigin said, “The church is the bearer to all the nations of a gospel that

announces the kingdom, the reign, and the sovereignty of God. It calls men and women to

repent of their false loyalty to other powers, to become believers in the one true (king)

and so to become corporately a sign, instrument and foretaste of the sovereignty of the

one true and living God over all nature, all nations, and all human lives. It is not meant to

call men and women out of the world into a safe religious enclave but to call them out in

order to send them back as agents of God’s kingship”.

Now, how would that look like? Let me trace out the practical implications of the biblical

view of human destiny as resurrection and a renewed heaven and earth.

1) It means that Christians, of all people, have the strongest motivation to be involved in

transforming the world with justice, healing and mercy. If we do not have a God-centered

worldview, we can get so easily discouraged and despaired: What’s the point? The

ecological and social problems in the world are so huge. What I do won't make any

difference.” But if we have a worldview of human destiny that is meaningful, we know

that God will put things to right. If the present creation and our bodies will not be

forsaken but ultimately transformed, then we are to work here-and-now in anticipation of

that final vision. We can do what is right not primarily because of the perceived

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usefulness, but as an act of worship, trusting in the sovereignty of God for the results

even when the circumstances look bleak.

Perhaps, at each individual level, it could mean simple things like signing up for a new

project that gets our hands dirty caring for the creation or planting a tree. Or maybe,

getting involved in caring for the poor and the sick around us? Ever thought of spending

some time and energy on a worthy social cause that promotes fairness and peace in our

country? Surely the surprising reality of Easter Sunday ought to empower us to be

witnesses of Christ’s death and resurrection the way it did for the early disciples.

Resurrection power is lived out in down-to-earth realities, grounded in the real world

where we do business, as we cook in the kitchen, when we play with our children, study

in schools, draw a painting, love and be loved, infusing everyday life with fresh

spirituality and power.

For example, a Christian conservation movement called “A Rocha”, took a piece of

abandoned land in West London and turned it into an oasis for wildlife called Minet

Country Park. It raised questions among the neighboring people, “Why are they doing

this?” (By doing this, we become a sign, an instrument and a foretaste of God’s kingdom)

It gives opportunities for others to find out that our ecology is based on the gospel and

our gospel is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ.

2) The suffering and evil we see in the world is not without meaning. If there is no God,
there will be no final justice. If there is no God and everything is just ‘survival of the
fittest’, then this world is exactly what you would expect it to be. It’s natural for the
strong to eat up the weak. Why should we be concerned when the weak gets oppressed by

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the strong? “Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless”
(Bertrand Russell). There are times when evil seems to be winning.

But because the rightful king of the world had entered human history and conquered

death itself by rising from the grave, it means that death and sin will not have the final

laugh. All unjust structures and rulers will be held accountable and judged. Wrongs will

be put to right at the end of history. Dictators like King Herod, Roman Caesar, Satan, Sin,

Death, Injustice, Pain and Diseases - their days are numbered. The worst they can do is

put people to death but even death (the final enemy) is conquered by the resurrection. Let

me share a story how Christians can challenge a corrupt system in society. You can watch it in

action in a movie called “Amazing Grace”, based on the life of William Wilberforce. Wilberforce

was a Christian Member of Parliament in Great Britain who worked all his life to abolish slavery

of African people. (By the way, human trafficking and modern-day slavery is not a thing of the

past, it’s something happening at our own doorsteps. Even in Malaysia!)

Wilberforce first launched his campaign for abolition of slavery in 1787 and lived to see

it finally succeed in 1833 (just three days before his death). That’s 46 years in total! His

life reminds us that social justice is a long, painful marathon. It’s not a 100 meter sprint.

For the first twenty years, he suffered nothing but defeats, rejection from friends, insults

from enemies, physical illness and even threats to his life. And it’s so easy to burnout.

But social justice is a community project, not a solo effort.

Fortunately for him, William Wilberforce has a group of friends who work and walk

together with him. This famous small group was nicknamed “The Clapham Sect” or “The

Saints”. They shared a deep conviction in the evangelical Christian faith, a long-term

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commitment to a social cause and a lifelong spiritual friendship. Won’t you like to be part

of a cell group like that?

What’s more amazing is that in their lifetime, this little platoon of committed believers

managed to start a Missionary Society, a Bible Society, they promote agricultural reform

to supply affordable food to the poor, prevent cruelty to animals (RSPCA), promote

Sunday school education, prison reform, improve harsh child labor conditions and

championed the freedom to preach the gospel in India! It’s simply amazing… It’s both

word and deed. And the impact of their work can still be felt today. So don’t

underestimate the power of small, committed groups to start social change. We don’t

need to wait until there’s a huge Christian population to make a positive influence in

society. Small groups of committed people empowered by the gospel can make a

significant difference where we are! We may not do exactly what Wilberforce did but just

imagine what we can do if each small group in church creatively commits ourselves long

term to at least one social cause that we are passionate about?

The King had come. The kingdom of God had broken into history, bringing healing and

hope, peace and life. Easter marks the decisive victory of Christ to recapture the world

has been won. The fullness of this victory will be experienced when He returns. Human

history is heading towards a meaningful destiny and resolution. Tears will be wiped

away. The lion and the lamb will lie down together.

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In The Silver Chair, Puddleglum, Jill, and Eustace are captured in a sunless underground world by an evil
witch who calls herself the queen of the underworld. The witch claims that her prisoners’ memories of the
overworld, Narnia, are but figments of their imagination. She laughs condescendingly at their child’s game
of “pretending” that there’s a world above and a great ruler of that world.
When they speak of the sun that’s visible in the world above, she asks them what a sun is. Groping for
words, they compare it to a giant lamp. She replies, “When you try to think out clearly what this sun must
be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like the lamp. Your sun is a dream; and there is nothing in
that dream that was not copied from the lamp.”
When they speak of Aslan the lion, king of Narnia, she says they have seen cats and have merely projected
those images into the make-believe notion of a giant cat. They begin to waver.
The queen, who hates Aslan and wishes to conquer Narnia, tries to deceive them into thinking that
whatever they cannot perceive with their senses must be imaginary—which is the essence of naturalism.
The longer they are unable to see the world they remember, the more they lose sight of it.
She says to them, hypnotically, “There never was any world but mine,” and they repeat after her,
abandoning reason, parroting her deceptions. Then she coos softly, “There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no
sky, no sun, no Aslan.” This illustrates Satan’s power to mold our weak minds as we are trapped in a dark,
fallen world. We’re prone to deny the great realities of God and Heaven, which we can no longer see
because of the Curse.
Finally, when it appears they’ve succumbed to the queen’s lies, Puddleglum breaks the spell and says to the
enraged queen, “Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and
moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that . . . the made-up things seem
a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only
world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it.
We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world
which licks your real world hollow.”28

The truth is exactly the opposite of naturalism’s premise—in fact, the dark world’s lamps are copies of the
sun, and its cats are copies of Aslan. Heaven isn’t an extrapolation of earthly thinking; Earth is an extension
of Heaven, made by the Creator King. The realm Puddleglum and the children believe in, Narnia and its
sun and its universe, is real, and the witch’s world—which she tempts them to believe is the only real world
—is in fact a lesser realm, corrupted and in bondage. When the queen’s lies are exposed, she
metamorphoses into the serpent she really is, whereupon Rilian, the human king and Aslan’s appointed
ruler of Narnia, slays her. The despondent slaves who’d lived in darkness are delivered. Light floods in, and
their home below becomes a joyous place again because they realize there is indeed a bright world above
and Aslan truly rules the universe. They laugh and celebrate, turning cartwheels and popping firecrackers.

Sometimes we’re like Lewis’s characters. We succumb to naturalistic assumptions that what we see is real
and what we don’t see isn’t. God can’t be real, we conclude, because we can’t see him. And Heaven can’t
be real because we can’t see it. But we must recognize our blindness. The blind must take by faith that
there are stars in the sky. If they depend on their ability to see, they will conclude there are no stars. We
must work to resist the bewitching spell of naturalism. Sitting here in a dark world, we must remind
ourselves what Scripture tells us about Heaven. We will one day be delivered from the blindness that
separates us from the real world. We’ll realize then the stupefying bewitchment we’ve lived under. By
God’s grace, may we stomp out the bewitching fires of naturalism so that we may clearly see the liberating
truth about Christ the King and Heaven, his Kingdom.