Q.
168
What happens to all of the people born before Jesus?
The Son of Man, frustrated with the talk of “going to heaven,” inter-
rupted the “babel” and confusion with a clarifying question that silenced all
of creation: “You thought this was about going somewhere else? Did I teach
you to pray ‘Your kingdom we’ll go?’ or ‘Your kingdom come?’ I have come
to bring heaven here, not to take you elsewhere. Heaven isn’t a ‘place’ that
you go; it’s the very presence of God that I bring. And now, those who have
responded to God’s grace and have not dammed heaven from fl ooding the
earth by accepting me will inherit this kingdom of a transformed creation.”
The oceans roared with the outcry and joy from within both groups,
as some lamented that they had never heard of Jesus, let alone accepted
him, while others were so ecstatic that they prophesied and saved souls in
his name.
Then the Son of Man, with a voice like lightening, silenced both groups
with this stunning declaration: “You accepted me—as a child starving in
Darfur, as a refugee seeking to enter your country, as a disabled black youth
on death row, as a homeless vet on the streets, as a drug-addicted prostitute
needing a meal, as an inmate needing a visit.. .”
As the list went on, and on, a wave of shock rippled throughout all of cre-
ation at the realization that the two groups were not separated by their beliefs
about Jesus, or grace, or heaven, but by the response to the grace of Jesus
among the most vulnerable and oppressed. The reality of this for one group
felt like eternal punishment. And for the other, eternal life.Jim L. Robinson
Who is...
?
Jim L. Robinson
I preached in a bar in Rome in 1981, codirected
a tour to Europe and the Holy Land, and held
Sunday morning services in the hotel bar.A.
Concerning those born before Jesus, the common evangelical
response emerges out of the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews.
Chapter 11 is frequently called the “faith chapter.” In that chapter,
there is a roll call of heroes of the faith, and in each case the text says they
lived in faith. They trusted that God would act to save God’s people.
The New Testament is offered as the account of the fulfi llment of that
anticipated saving action of God.