Chandler: Human History from Heaven’s Perspective

In his book To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain, Matt Chandler makes a great statement about how, once we are in heaven, history will be rewritten for us: “The day will come – perhaps today – when you will die and see all of history being effectively rewritten from the halls of heaven.  The annals of history will not be filled with wars and kings; there will be one story, the heroes will be missionaries, and the victor will be seen clearly as Christ.  Knowing this, who cares if friends or enemies mock you?  Do not be ‘frightened in anything by your opponents’ (Phil. 1:28).  Be willing to get on a plane and go to dangerous places.  Be willing to take the pay cut at work to do what’s right.  Be willing, no matter who your opponent is, to be fearless.”

Chandler is illustrating Philippians 1:27-28 here.  I pictured history being rewound and then replayed for me, and most of the moments that I thought were big didn’t even show up in the footage, and tons of moments that I didn’t even know about loomed large in God’s TRUE version of human history.

 

This thought is helpful for Philippians 1 as Chandler uses it, but also would work with passages about suffering like Matthew 5 (esp.  verses 10-12), Romans 8 (verse 18), 2 Corinthians 11, or 2 Corinthians 12.  Also, it fits with any of the passages about Christian martyrs, like Acts 7 or 12.  You could also use it with missions-oriented passages like Matthew 28 or Acts 1, or passages that speak to the perspective of earthly approval/fame vs. your soul/eternal rewards – like Matthew 16 (verse 26 in particular), Matthew 25 (esp. verse 31 and following), Revelation 20, or Revelation 22.

Berlin Wall

Every time I read the second half of Ephesians 2, I think of the Berlin Wall.  The Berlin Wall is a great illustration of Christ tearing down the dividing wall of hostility, but not just because there is a wall that gets torn down in both instances.  There are so many more parallels between the two events that offer ripe illustrative material.  Here are three:

1) The Berlin Wall brought oppression, bondage, and imprisonment, just like sin did to us.  Christ liberates us from sin just like the tearing down of the wall liberated the East Germans.

2) The Berlin Wall brought disunity and division between people who had once been family members, friends, and neighbors – just like sin brings division, strife, war, and disunity between all people and even in the Church (if we aren’t living according to the truth of the gospel).  Christ defeats that disunity and creates “in Himself one new man…resulting in peace” (Eph. 2:15, HCSB).  Jesus brings this unity to ALL believers from ALL backgrounds – see Galatians 3:28.

3) After the Berlin Wall came down, the celebration was epic.  After the gospel brings us forgiveness, adoption, and reconciliation with God and one another, our lives should erupt in worshipful living and singing.

 

Could be used with: Isaiah 60, Matthew 28, Acts 1, Acts 15, Galatians 3, Ephesians 2 (and large parts of the whole book of Ephesians), Revelation 5 (especially verses 9-10)