The major world religions and the modern scientific community are widely in agreement on this point: the world as we know it will not continue on forever, each pointing forward to a climactic end of time, although through vastly different means.

In the ancient Judeo-Christian tradition, the end of this present age is known as the Day of the Lord, a day when God will come to his world in power and justice, banishing evil in all its forms, and instituting the renewed and perfected new heavens and new earth.

Whether religious or not, each of us yearns for the Day of the Lord, even if we don’t use that terminology. We all desire a day when wrongs are undone, when evil is destroyed, suffering is extinguished and injustice is crushed.

The problem for all of us is that some kind of wrongdoing, hate or injustice exists in each of us. We both want the Day of the Lord to come and do not want the Day.

It is only in the gospel of Jesus that we can look forward confidently to the coming Day. This hope then changes how we live today, and underpins our drive to act justly and to love sacrificially.

The penultimate message by David Varney in our series Transforming Community.