Utopia

“Utopia: A condition or place of perfection or complete harmony and peace.” (Webster’s dictionary)

So is it a condition or place? It can be either. Heaven is not utopia, but may be described as a utopia. Writers of sacred scripture and religious novels have reported on or invented a number of such places. I wasn’t in heaven. I was at what seemed to be the front yard of heaven. And I wasn’t there long enough to note if all the attributes of utopia were present. I was quite certain it was a place. I perceived it as a place.

 Eden, certainly, was a utopia. Adam and Eve would have said so. But we all know what happened there.

You have heard of Shangri-la, El-Dorado, Valhalla, Nirvana, Avalon, even Fiddler’s Green. These are utopias related to works of fiction or old religions. The idea of building or discovering a perfect world here on earth…a utopia…is quite exciting.

 The New Jerusalem is another concept. John’s Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is a description of the

"holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven”. John saw a “new heaven and a new earth”.

Revelation is a wonderful book, but not easy to understand. Many great minds have differed on certain interpretations. I’ve always said if someone told me they fully understood Revelation I would run away as fast as I could.

 The actual title of the book is The Revelation To John (The Apocalypse). I actually got out my Greek New Testament to make sure. "Apocalypse" is the Greek word for revelation and so we struggle because we bring with us whatever we think revelation means in our vernacular. The opening sentence is “The Revelation (Apocalypse) of Jesus Christ”.

Since the original manuscript probably didn’t have a title, the title became the first words. We somehow decided to call it “The Revelation to John”.

Anyway, it describes the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven, so apparently, it is not heaven. It is something else. It also describes God’s final triumph over Satan, the 1000 years (millennium), the final judgement and a place called hades. Those things may come in the future, or may exist now, or may have already come. That’s how divided scholars and neo-scholars are on the subject.

 My dad was a great preacher. He narrowed Revelation down to it’s core and left the arguing for others. His sermon was simple, yet powerful:

1. Jesus is coming back
2. Nobody knows when
3. You better be ready

To me, that makes a lot of sense. I saw a door to heaven, and it was open.  Is the door to heaven I saw open to everyone? Yes.

Does our life on earth have anything to do with our reception in heaven?

My advisor and mentor at Columbia, Ben Johnson, had a good answer. Sometimes people of faith would become concerned we might lean too far toward universalism (the concept that ultimately God will save everyone anyway because He is a loving God) When asked if God would save everyone, he would answer as follows.

 “First, I don’t know, because I am not God."    " Second, I hope so, I sincerely do."  "Third, I’m afraid not”.

Short of stumbling into some utopia here on the "old" earth, my best bet is either in the new heaven or new earth.   Think of heaven as God's dwelling place.  That's where you want to be.  The Bible often refers to the "heavens", meaning the sky or something out there.   That's okay.  God's heaven is surely bigger and more grand than we can even imagine. 

‘