Matthew Wright’s Reviews > Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church > Status Update
Matthew Wright
is on page 123 of 332
for full communication between human beings you need not only a tone of voice but also body language, facial language, and the thousand small ways in which, without realizing it, we relate to one another. At the moment, by the Spirit, the word, the sacraments and prayer, and in those in need whom we are called to serve for his sake, the absent Jesus is present to us; but 1 day he will be there with us, face-to-face.
— 5 hours, 3 min ago
Like flag
Matthew’s Previous Updates
Matthew Wright
is on page 135 of 332
The promise is not that Jesus will simply reappear within the present world order, but that when heaven and earth are joined together in the new way God has promised, then he will appear to us-and we will appear to him, and to one another, in our own true
identity.
— 4 hours, 22 min ago
identity.
Matthew Wright
is on page 134 of 332
Colossians 3. Here we have in a nutshell Paul's theology of resurrection and ascension as applied to present Christian living and future Christian hope:
— 4 hours, 23 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 134 of 332
perhaps that is partly why such theology, with its dreams of Armageddon, has quietly supported the political status quo in a way that Paul would never have done.
— 4 hours, 23 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 134 of 332
Christian theology of resurrection, ascension, second com-ing, and hope. This theology was born out of confrontation with the political authorities, out of the conviction that Jesus was already the true Lord of the world who would one day be manifested as such. The rapture theology avoids this confrontation because it suggests that Christians will miraculously be removed from this wicked world.
— 4 hours, 39 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 134 of 332
The reality to which it refers is this: Jesus will be personally present, the dead will be raised, and the living Christians will be transformed.
— 4 hours, 39 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 134 of 332
Being citizens of heaven, as the Philippians would know, doesn't mean that one is expecting to go back to the mother city but rather means that one is expecting the emperor to come from the mother city to give the colony its full dignity, to rescue it if need be, to subdue local enemies and put everything to rights.
— 4 hours, 40 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 134 of 332
The point is that, having gone out to meet their returning Lord, they will escort him royally into his domain, that is, back to the place they have come from. Even when we realize that this is highly charged metaphor, not literal description, the meaning is the same as in the parallel in Philippians 3:20.
— 4 hours, 40 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 134 of 332
When they met him, they wouldn't then stay out in the open country; they would escort him royally into the city itself. When Paul speaks of "meeting" the Lord "in the air," the point is precisely not-as in the popular rapture theology-that the saved believers would then stay up in the air somewhere, away from earth.
— 4 hours, 40 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 131 of 332
3. When the emperor visited a colony or prov-ince, the citizens of the country would go to meet him at some distance from the city. It would be disrespectful to have him actually arrive at the gates as though his subjects couldn't be bothered to greet him properly.
— 4 hours, 40 min ago
Matthew Wright
is on page 131 of 332
2. Then there is the story of Daniel 7, in which the persecuted people of God are vindicated over their pagan enemy by being raised up on the clouds to sit with God in glory. This iraising up on the clouds," which Jesus applies to himself in the gospels, is now applied by Paul to the Christians who are presently suffering persecution.
— 4 hours, 41 min ago