THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERS - The Works of F. N. Lee

enhanced. For, in the present, man is engaged in polishing the appearance of the future. In this way,the work of the believer -- both in his capacity as churchman and in collecting all of the believerstogether -- man himself will see further and further into the meaning of his own life. He will seehimself as God's fellow-worker, and make himself serviceable in the advance of the coming of thekingdom."Precisely for this reason, eschatological preaching with a radical Christocentric focus is absolutelynecessary at all times. This true eschatological preaching will never misdirect our attention to fardistant events still lying outside the sphere of men's present interest, and only of interest to the nextgenerations. But true eschatological preaching will much rather call upon the present generation toact in the Name of God and to be watchful in His Name and to obey His Holy Law and toundertake the preaching of the gospel to all nations -- as a witness for all of the nations!"Then Heyns gives a description of the new earth. He says: "After the second coming of Christ, thenew earth which will then appear will be our old earth which will then have been purified by God'sjudgment from all of the sins and the consequences of sins. It will be the earth the way Godoriginally intended it to be, and which it would indeed have become if sin had not taken place. Onthe new earth, the beauty of God's works will blossom in perfection... The glory of the nations intheir power of science and technology; in their power of knowledge and art; in the unfolding of allgifts and talents -- will have been purged and sanctified and carried into the everlasting Jerusalem,to the praise of Him Who will then be all things in all people. And there, on the new earth, theChurch will be gathered together which has been purchased by the blood of Christ from everytongue and tribe and nation and people."Heyns then tells us that "nothing substantial or essential in this present earth will ever have beenlost in the next. We must rather think of the purification and a refinement of the things of this earththrough a divine judgment -- that is to say, a judgment which cuts into the length and the breadthand the vertical axles of our present life. The creatureliness of our present creation will notdisappear at that time. Man, in his new time on the new earth, will not be less than what he is now.He will be more. Not more in the sense that he will be more than man. But he will be more humanthan he is now. That will be the glory of man."Finally , it concerns the totality of creation which will be maintained. The boundary between theCreator and the creature will never be eradicated. And, just as we see in the human nature of Christwhich itself is not deified -- so it will be with us. We will then know all things as men in the depthof their own essence. And we will, in that way, know God perfectly and praise Him forever."The perspective of everlasting life in the future expectation of Scripture is not an eschatologicalfantasy which should appear to be foreign to us and which should only attract us as music of thefuture but without in fact actually existing today. Rather should we see this as a hidden stimulustoday, which works in our present daily life and which achieves a concrete formation there. Whileman accepts the challenge to be man today by faith, and executes it in hope, he also lifts up his eyetowards the far horizon -- where he knows that his labours today will receive a sanctifyingfulfilment, and where he will always be able to revel in the presence of the Triune God forever."All very reminiscent of my own book The Central Significance of Culture (Presbyterian &Reformed Publishing Company, Philadelphia, 1976).Heyns has something further to say this time about the role of the Church in South Africa today --anent the complicated problems of race relations. He says: "The Church is God's instrument ofreconciliation. Especially in our country, we have been given the opportunity of showing the worldwhat reconciliation can mean in a [racially] pluralistic society. The Church is a piece of the futureembedded into the present. It must constantly be creative under God, and must plan and affect for