One of my favorite things to do is to contemplate what life might be like in the New Heavens and New Earth. It seems unfathomable at times to know that life will be free from sin and evil. My heart burns within me as I imagine being in the presence of Jesus, no longer by faith, but by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). I try to imagine a world where love is the superior ethic that leads to relationships without pride, comparison, or envy.
Over the last month or so, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). These kingdom ethics are an expression of the heart of God lived out by his people who themselves have new hearts that pursue righteousness. I would argue that these statements are not just a nice way of living in the present world, but they are the ethics of the New Heavens and New Earth breaking into the present. Read the Beatitudes with fresh eyes, knowing they are kingdom ethics for the kingdom as it exists on earth already, as well as being kingdom ethics for the kingdom that will one day exist in its fullness:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.“
Isaiah 11:1-8
Maybe one of the Beatitudes speaks more loudly to you in this current season than the others. The key to the Beatitudes as a whole is that they are a vision for God’s people to bring peace/shalom to the place/community they live in. This happens by realizing what Christ was doing when he preached these to the poor in spirit, the hungry, the thirsty, etc. In the back of his heart and mind, he was thinking of the Day when these kingdom ethics would be lived out all day, every day in the New Heavens and New Earth. Jesus is taking this section from Isaiah 11, a passage about the future kingdom where shalom fully exists in everyday life, and he preaches to his followers that they are to live that way in the present.
To be fair, this probably sounded impossible for the original listeners of this sermon; it sounds impossible for me as I have read it over and over lately. In fact, unless we understand who Isaiah 11 is ultimately about, we will miss the order of these kingdom ethics. Isaiah 11, before it gets to the shalom that exists in the New Heavens and New Earth, is ultimately about this “Righteous Branch” through whom these kingdom ethics will flow:
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (Isa. 11:1-2).
The great news is that Jesus is the descendant of Jesse (David’s father), whose life was lived by the Spirit, and he always bore the fruit of living according to these kingdom ethics. But these ethics were not an external list to follow for him; no, they were a revelation from his own heart. This caused Jesus to “judge with righteousness and decide with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isa. 11:4; Matt 5:5). Righteousness was his belt (Isa. 11:5), and he would be the one to cause peace/shalom to break into the ancient world and one day reign over the New Heavens and New Earth (Isa. 11:6-9; Matt. 5:8-12). The Righteous Branch brings peace…but does so through judgment.
Christ Our Peace
Whether it is shalom experienced in the first century, today, or in the New Heavens and New Earth, there is no shalom apart from Christ. Paul, in confronting an ongoing conflict between Jews and Gentiles in the early church, points the eyes and hearts of both parties to the only place we find true peace. He says this in Ephesians 2:14-16,
“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.“
The future shalom that is breaking into the present world and our relationships is not a feeling, but a person. Christ himself is our peace. He is making enemies into family. For this to happen, judgment was experienced by he who is our peace/shalom. The cross is the place where Christ experienced judgment for all of our selfishness, pride, and other ways of living under the ethics of this worldly kingdom that cause chaos instead of peace. But it was his righteousness that was given to us, along with new hearts, that move us to live under the ethics of the King of Peace.
Present vs. Future
The joy of contemplating on the future and what life will be like is sometimes overwhelming because we know it is true, but a true and unbreakable shalom is something we have not experienced. So, as we contemplate on the future world, we should pray and live in such a way that we experience little in-breakings of the King’s ethics. This means that when someone hurts us, and we are faced with the dilemma of responding according to the world or according to the King’s ethics, we trust the King and respond accordingly. Matthew scholar, Jonnathan Pennington, calls this way of living the “flourishing” life. He makes a great argument that the language and cultural narratives leading up to Jesus’ sermon should lead us to change out “Blessed be” with “Flourishing are” in Matthew 5:3-12. Pennington drives his point home by writing,
“The English term ‘blessed’ is so heavily loaded with the narrower sense of ‘divine favor’ that the sense of human flourishing is almost always lost. Rather, it is an inspirational vision for the wise way of loving in the world that will result in what all humans desire–human flourishing. The Beatitudes reveal key character traits that God approves in his people. These character traits are gracious gifts indicating God’s approval, not requirements for works that merit God’s approval. Those who repent receive these character traits in principle but must cultivate them in the process of discipleship” (Jonathan Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, 59).
Every time we live according to Jesus’ sermon, we are experiencing a little bit of the future shalom in the present; a shalom found in him who is our peace.
Old Testament Allusions 