Friday 20 November 2009

Passing through the fire

It was just pointed out to me that:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 2 Peter 3:10

Does not give the image of total destruction
but rather of the entire universe passing through a refinery furnace

i.e. some things will be destroyed (the dross) - others will be refined

so assuming this will all happen like Christ on the cross,

His body, now riddled with sin
is passed through the fires of His Father's judgment
what is left however is a spiritual body - fully seen in Rev 1
the difference is that every part of Him is a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor 15)
as opposed to an animated piece of meat

So then... here's a question

Is it that something that was created in the first run - remains after passing through the fire?

Or is it that it is really something brand new?

Or is it something totally different all together
I have a feeling the phrase 'swallowed up' has something to do with it

(this topic is now brought up a lot by current theologians in a big way because of all this 'creation preservation' stuff)

Any takers?

2 comments:

Glen said...

Well He's still got His wounds. I think it'd be strange to *re-create* holes in His flesh just where the old holes were. If you see what I mean.

But you could imagine a wounded seed dying and rising again with a corresponding wounded tree-trunk or something?

Also Job says that he will see Christ 'with my own eyes, I and not another' (Job 19:27).

But it's contentious how you translate Job 19. Just check out the options that the NIV gives:

"26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet {Or And after I awake, though this body has been destroyed, then} in {Or apart from} my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"

Verse 26 is about whether you translate "min" as "from" or "out of". But it's the exact same phrase as v22 where it definitely doesn't mean "out of". So I think the best translation is something like:

Even after my skin has been "beaten like an olive tree, looking for gleanings" (Is 17:6; 29:1), yet in my flesh I will see God.

Interesting that the word for 'beaten' means this in the piel stem, but in other stems it means "encompassed".

Swallowed up perhaps?

yemsee said...

hmm.. i see

because the latest slightly insane argument now is what we do to the planet will continue into the new creation...

although Jesus has His wounds, His substance is entire different - it is no longer 'old flesh' but it is spiritual body - every cell not dead but alive
no longer flesh animated by spirit in the blood
but a continuous being that emanates Spirit
- His 'true' self in that new body being seen in Rev 1

swallowed up can be related to fire that starts from within you - it swallows you whole - encompasses you - therefore the only way to survive is if you are of the same nature as the flame