Too often Christian people have a cockeyed view of salvation seeing it as an escape route, a ticket to heaven. Such a view is not merely wrong, but leads to a limited engagement with the world in which we dwell. Such a perspective also leads to environmental vandalism because if we are longing to escape from this world to get to heaven then there is no requirement to care for God’s creation. This view ends up in a kind of Platonism that sees the physical world as evil and the spiritual world as good. This is an unbiblical dualism that makes a false distinction between the physical and spiritual. Neither is salvation something in the future but rather the experience of the kingdom or reign of God in the here and now. Yes, there is the expectation of the consummation of the kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth. Yet, this should motivate us to open up our lives to the reality of the kingdom on a daily basis. Neither is salvation a waiting or longing for the spiritual realm of heaven, not only because we don’t go to heaven rather heaven comes to earth in the new heavens and the new earth, but because salvation is ultimately becoming fully human as we are recreated into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, the ultimate human being. Jesus came not to provide an escape route to heaven but to undo everything that was lost in the fall and restore the whole of creation including ourselves to our full humanity.
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