9 Climate Change and Eschatology
175
In his apocalyptic sermon of Mt 24–25, Jesus announced the coming of the Son
of Man, i.e. the coming of the Messiah. When “the sun will be darkened, and the
moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of
the heavens will be shaken, then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man”
(Mt 24:29–30 ESV). Then he said: “When you see all these things, you know that
he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things take place” (Verses 33 and 34).
It has been a puzzle for many theologians that Jesus predicted the coming of the
Son of Man to be happening during the lifetime of those who were contemporaries
of Jesus. But did Jesus actually utter those words? Or were they put into his mouth by
Christians who had seen the destruction of the Jewish temple? Some theologians have
argued that Jesus erred when assuming the end would come during the life time of his
contemporaries. Werner Zager, for instance, wrote: “The historical Jesus was filled
with the urgent expectation of an imminent kingdom of God and the final judgment.
And he erred in that expectation.” (Zager 1996) But was it really the expectation
of Jesus? Or was it the hope of those having seen the destruction of Jerusalem who
anticipated the nearby end of the world and who placed their expectation into the
mouth of Jesus, as it were?
Be that as it may, we have in any case, in the subsequent verses, the warnings
of Jesus who is also reported to have said: “But concerning that day and hour no
one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Verse
36) According to this verse, not even Jesus, the Son of God, could have known the
time of the coming of the Son of Man and the end of the world. Even if this verse
were considered a later interpolation by the early church—in light of the predicted
events not coming to pass as early as anticipated—one cannot insinuate that Jesus,
even while expecting the Kingdom of God to come soon, pretended to know the
exact time and date of its coming. First on his mind was not the timeline of the
eschatological events, but whether or not people would be ready for them. Earlier in
the chapter, Jesus warned: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you
are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” (Verse 6 ESV) So
there seems to be an ambiguity about what Jesus may or may not have claimed to
know about the coming of the Son of Man. But he definitely wanted his listeners to
stay alert and prepare for whatever was coming whenever it was coming. “Therefore,
stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Verse 42).
From the apocalyptic perspective of John the Baptist, the fate of the present aeon
was already sealed: it would be utterly destroyed and replaced by a future Kingdom
of God at the end of time; and the final judgement would decide who may enter that
kingdom and who may not. From the perspective of Jesus, however, the Kingdom of
God was already in the making; it was “all but coming”—to use a famous phrase of
Walter Rauschenbusch (1907, p. 309). God’s Kingdom is already a present reality—
however feeble and unassertive it may yet be. It is not entirely deferred to the time
of the end. In fact, the time of the end has already begun, as it were,—as seen in
the “finger of God” through which Jesus was healing the bodies and souls of his
contemporaries (Lk 11:20: “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then
the kingdom of God has come upon you.”) Perhaps Jesus considered himself less an
175
In his apocalyptic sermon of Mt 24–25, Jesus announced the coming of the Son
of Man, i.e. the coming of the Messiah. When “the sun will be darkened, and the
moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of
the heavens will be shaken, then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man”
(Mt 24:29–30 ESV). Then he said: “When you see all these things, you know that
he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things take place” (Verses 33 and 34).
It has been a puzzle for many theologians that Jesus predicted the coming of the
Son of Man to be happening during the lifetime of those who were contemporaries
of Jesus. But did Jesus actually utter those words? Or were they put into his mouth by
Christians who had seen the destruction of the Jewish temple? Some theologians have
argued that Jesus erred when assuming the end would come during the life time of his
contemporaries. Werner Zager, for instance, wrote: “The historical Jesus was filled
with the urgent expectation of an imminent kingdom of God and the final judgment.
And he erred in that expectation.” (Zager 1996) But was it really the expectation
of Jesus? Or was it the hope of those having seen the destruction of Jerusalem who
anticipated the nearby end of the world and who placed their expectation into the
mouth of Jesus, as it were?
Be that as it may, we have in any case, in the subsequent verses, the warnings
of Jesus who is also reported to have said: “But concerning that day and hour no
one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Verse
36) According to this verse, not even Jesus, the Son of God, could have known the
time of the coming of the Son of Man and the end of the world. Even if this verse
were considered a later interpolation by the early church—in light of the predicted
events not coming to pass as early as anticipated—one cannot insinuate that Jesus,
even while expecting the Kingdom of God to come soon, pretended to know the
exact time and date of its coming. First on his mind was not the timeline of the
eschatological events, but whether or not people would be ready for them. Earlier in
the chapter, Jesus warned: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you
are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” (Verse 6 ESV) So
there seems to be an ambiguity about what Jesus may or may not have claimed to
know about the coming of the Son of Man. But he definitely wanted his listeners to
stay alert and prepare for whatever was coming whenever it was coming. “Therefore,
stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Verse 42).
From the apocalyptic perspective of John the Baptist, the fate of the present aeon
was already sealed: it would be utterly destroyed and replaced by a future Kingdom
of God at the end of time; and the final judgement would decide who may enter that
kingdom and who may not. From the perspective of Jesus, however, the Kingdom of
God was already in the making; it was “all but coming”—to use a famous phrase of
Walter Rauschenbusch (1907, p. 309). God’s Kingdom is already a present reality—
however feeble and unassertive it may yet be. It is not entirely deferred to the time
of the end. In fact, the time of the end has already begun, as it were,—as seen in
the “finger of God” through which Jesus was healing the bodies and souls of his
contemporaries (Lk 11:20: “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then
the kingdom of God has come upon you.”) Perhaps Jesus considered himself less an