Scripture wasn’t written as a random collection of disconnected texts. It’s a coherent narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. The elements of its plot are creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. History is going somewhere, and that somewhere is the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21:1–4).
Understanding that all history is moving toward this eschatological hope informs our motivation in missions. God is glorified in the declaration of the gospel, in the salvation of undeserving sinners, and in the praise and thanksgiving saved sinners will give to God for all eternity. In missions, we’re populating the new heavens and earth with a redeemed people drawn from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation (7:9).
Missions isn’t simply offering a way to escape hell. We’re offering citizenship in the eternal kingdom of God. Ultimately, our motivation in missions is God’s glory seen and experienced in the new creation. Nothing less will shape and sustain missionaries on the field.
Motivated by Glory
Of course, we can acknowledge other motivations for our mission, but they fall underneath our primary focus on God’s glory. One is our desire to keep people out of hell—an appropriate concern. Although modern Christianity is reluctant to talk about hell, it’s real, horrifying, and totally just. Our desire to save people from eternal condemnation they’ll face apart from God is an expression of love for our neighbors.
We’re not just helping people avoid judgment but calling them to experience what they were created for.
Yet we’re not just helping people avoid judgment but calling them to experience what they were created for. We’re inviting people to indescribable glory in the presence of God. We’re inviting them to a real, physical life of infinite joy in a renewed creation in which all pain and injustice are gone forever—to a life that’s infinitely good, glorious, joyful, and never-ending.
This is a fuller and richer expression of love for our neighbor than simply offering an escape from hell. We’re motivated by the glory of the new heavens and new earth to urge others to join us there.
Message of Hope
The good news of the new heavens and earth also shapes our message. Evangelistic presentations often follow an outline of God, Man, Christ, and Response. The narrative about Christ usually ends with his resurrection. Repentance and faith are pitched as the way to an eternal life that keeps us from hell’s punishment. Yet the doctrine of the new heavens and earth should infuse our gospel presentations with hope.
Yes, the gospel includes the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:1–4). But it also includes his ascension, his session at the right hand of the Father, his return, and the restoration of all things in the new creation. The benefits won by Christ and given through the gospel include forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
There’s more.
In addition to the benefits of salvation in this life, we have even more to look forward to in the life to come. The blessings of salvation aren’t complete until our glorification (Rom. 8:19–30), and they come to fulfillment only in the new heavens and the new earth. This is good news! Everything wrong in the world is going to be made right. Things dimly enjoyed in this life will be richly and gloriously enjoyed in the next. This hope is essential to the gospel and should be integral to the missionary’s message.
Empowered to Endure
When we understand the doctrine of the new heavens and new earth, we’re empowered to persevere in the face of suffering. Missionary service is at best inconvenient and at worst hazardous. One of the most common concerns raised to missionary candidates by family and friends is “But isn’t it dangerous?” Curiously, that same question is seldom directed to church members who join the military, even though military service is more dangerous. Apparently it’s acceptable, even in Christian circles, to risk your life for your country but not for your Savior.
How can missionaries go in the face of suffering? How can they stay when colleagues and national partners die for the gospel? The answer, of course, is the gospel. The hope of the resurrection and eternal life in the indescribable glory of the new heavens and the new earth fuels perseverance in the presence of suffering.
The indescribable glory of the new heavens and the new earth fuels perseverance in the presence of suffering.
As the apostle Paul says, “This light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). The hope of glory enables us to leave behind everything dear to us, knowing that far better lies ahead. It reminds us that all the pleasures, promises, and ambitions of this life are no better than rubbish compared to what’s to come. We can stare death in the face knowing it’s simply the door to an eternal glory beyond all comparison.
Our Missionary Longing
If we’re to pursue our mission faithfully, we need to understand both the history of the world and the structure of the Bible as a grand narrative of God’s sovereign work, culminating in the new heavens and the new earth. Even today, all creation is longing for that new creation (Rom. 8:19). That same longing should give shape and purpose to all we do in missions.
We should be motivated by the promise of the new creation to take the gospel to all tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations. The good news of the new heavens and new earth should be an essential component of our gospel message. And that same gospel will empower us to persevere in the face of difficulty and even death, knowing infinite glory and joy lie ahead.
The Gospel Coalition