{"id":4799,"date":"2025-08-06T08:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T12:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4799"},"modified":"2025-08-06T08:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T12:55:12","slug":"meta-and-sun-with-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/meta-and-sun-with-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"META and SUN: “With” Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0<\/em>

Four words.

That\u2019s all the Bible gives us in answer to one of our most pressing questions.

We know all about the promise of the new creation \u2013 the new heavens and new earth where God\u2019s people will dwell forever. God himself will \u201cwipe every tear from their eyes.\u00a0There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,\u00a0for the old order of things has passed away\u201d (Revelation 21:4). That\u2019s a preview of the end of history.

In the meantime, what happens to those who die? If this is your last day on earth, what will you be experiencing tomorrow?

This is what theologians call the mystery of the Intermediate State. What is the condition of Christ-followers between their last moments in this world and God\u2019s new creation?

All we have are four words.

According to Scripture, those who belong to Jesus by \u201cbelieving into him\u201d will open their eyes after death and discover they are \u201cwith<\/u><\/strong><\/em> him in<\/u><\/strong><\/em> Paradise.\u201d

Luke tells us\u00a0that Jesus was crucified between two thieves.\u00a0One of them is cynical to the end.\u00a0But the other, with humble hopefulness, says, \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.\u201d\u00a0Jesus responds, \u201cI tell you the truth, today is going to be the best day of your life.\u201d

From one perspective, the thief who comes to faith on the cross is the most frustrating character in the Bible.\u00a0He ruins everybody\u2019s theology.\u00a0

Those who are certain that you have to be baptized (and with a certain volume of water) to go to heaven can\u2019t get around the fact that baptism was never something he was able to receive.\u00a0Those who believe that you really haven\u2019t lived unless you receive a special filling of the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues cannot pretend that he ever had such an experience.

This poor man never got to choose between hymns and praise choruses, pipe organs or guitars.\u00a0He never got to debate End Time scenarios.\u00a0

He never went to Vacation Bible School with the Methodists or experienced the seasons of the church year with the Lutherans.\u00a0He never knelt with the Episcopalians, attended a revival meeting with the Pentecostals, explored the wonders of Catholic liturgy,\u00a0or sneaked into a General Assembly meeting of Presbyterians to find out what they were really doing.

From another perspective, however, the thief who comes to faith on the cross is the most encouraging character in all of Scripture.\u00a0\u00a0

He doesn\u2019t have a single spiritual bargaining chip.\u00a0He has no Sunday School attendance pins.\u00a0He has no track record of prayer or service.\u00a0He cannot meaningfully say, \u201cFrom now on, I promise to live a better life.\u201d He’s just minutes away from reaching the finish line. \u00a0

Everything in his world has come to a shattering, horrific conclusion.\u00a0All he has is a broken spirit and one request:\u00a0\u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.\u201d<\/em>

And Jesus responds, \u201cTruly I say to you, today you will be with<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (META<\/strong>) me in<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (EN<\/strong>) Paradise\u201d (Luke 23:43).

Which is another way of saying, “On this, on the worst day of your life, you are going to experience the best thing that has ever happened to you.\u00a0No waiting.\u00a0No forms to fill out. No new member classes to take.\u00a0Get ready to be engulfed by a tsunami of God\u2019s grace.”

We don\u2019t know precisely what Jesus meant by Paradise. The Bible provides no descriptions or explanations.

But we have every reason to believe we will not be disappointed.

There is one other Bible text concerning the Intermediate State. It comes from the pen of the apostle Paul as he was writing what scholars call \u201cthe happiest book of the New Testament,\u201d his correspondence with the fledgling church at Philippi.

Paul is in prison. Many first century jails were so dreadful that being thrown into one was virtually a death sentence. But Paul is effervescent. \u201cRejoice in the Lord always,\u201d he says. \u201cI will say it again, rejoice!\u201d (Philippians 4:4).

He wonders if this is the end of the road. Maybe God is calling him home. Or maybe God is going to spring him from prison and allow him to ramp up his ministry to the Philippians. Which option is best? \u201cI am torn between the two,\u201d he writes. \u201cI desire to depart\u00a0and be with Christ<\/u><\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0which is better by far;\u00a0but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body\u201d (1:23-24).

There\u2019s that \u201cwith\u201d formula again. As Paul puts it two verses earlier, \u201cTo live is Christ and to die is gain.\u201d How can he possibly think such a thing?

It\u2019s because dying automatically brings him into the presence of the One who loves him. Here the preposition is SUN<\/strong> \u2013 a Greek word echoed in English words like \u201csymphony\u201d (all the instruments playing with<\/u><\/em> each other) and \u201csympathy\u201d (sharing feelings with<\/u><\/em> another person).

New Testament scholar Murray J. Harris points out that META<\/strong> and SUN<\/strong> had become virtually synonymous in the first century.

What does SUN<\/strong> imply in Philippians 1:23? Christians aren\u2019t merely granted entrance to the same general next-world space as Jesus, but, as Harris puts it, they will experience \u201cdynamic, mutual fellowship \u2018with<\/u><\/em>\u2019 their risen Lord.\u201d

Altogether, Scripture doesn\u2019t give us many clues about what to expect at the end of life.

Four words. <\/em>That\u2019s all we\u2019ve got.

And two of them are just ordinary, run-of-the-mill prepositions.

But because the other words are \u201cChrist\u201d and \u201cParadise,\u201d it\u2019s hard to imagine receiving any greater assurance as the hour approaches in which we ourselves will take our final breath.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here \u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0 Four words. That\u2019s all the Bible gives us in answer to one… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[32,974,473],"class_list":["post-4799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-death-and-dying","tag-intermediate-state","tag-prepositions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4801,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions\/4801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}