Texts for Session 5: Faith and the Future
The Sense of an Ending:
Dueling Visions of the Future
A Cyclical View of History
Ecclesiastes 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hurries to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south,
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been,
in the ages before us.
The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them.
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A Prophetic View of History
Isaiah 13:6
7
8
9
10
11
Is. 24:4
5
6
7
8
9
Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty!
Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart will melt,
and they will be dismayed.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
See, the day of the LORD comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation,
and to destroy its sinners from it.
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,
and lay low the insolence of tyrants.
The earth dries up and withers,
the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,
and few people are left.
The wine dries up,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
The mirth of the timbrels is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
No longer do they drink wine with singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
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10
11
12
13
Is. 25:6
7
8
9
10
The city of chaos is broken down,
every house is shut up so that no one can enter.
There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
all joy has reached its eventide;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
Desolation is left in the city,
the gates are battered into ruins.
For thus it shall be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is ended.
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.
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An Apocalyptic View of History
The Book of Revelation 20
11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven
fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great
and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was
opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded
in the books. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up
the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the
lake of fire; 15 and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was
thrown into the lake of fire.
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
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he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
21:22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the
Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is
its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of
the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there
will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood,
but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing
from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On
either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit
each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing
accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in
it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on
their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for
the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
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