I and my wife have been watching the movie 2012. The Mayans predicted that in 2012 that the world would end. I doubt that they are right. Yet the movie is based on the premise that they are right. Besides the hokey acting the destruction in the movie reminds me of nightmares that I have had. The movie provides the backdrop for the sobering thought that one day eventually everything on this third rock from the sun will end. The second law of thermodynamics tell us that all things tend towards entropy. This is the fate of creation according to what theologians call the first book of God or the book of nature but that fate is not the destiny of creation.

There is no good news in the ending of the world. Thinking that there is can lead to pessimism and fatalism. There are those from the earliest moments of recorded history that have been looking for the end of the world. Sad to say that sometimes this is especially true in Christian circles. People who gleefully talk about the end of the world simply do not understand the purpose of God in creating creation.

Creation was meant to be beautiful. It became corrupted and eventually because of this corruption it will end. It will be wiped away so that something more beautiful will come.

The good news is not that God lets us know that the reality of things that currently exists here are destined to end. Some point to scripture like Revelation and passages like those from the Apostle Peter who prophecy that even the elements will one day burn. They point to these and are gleeful over the coming destruction. None of this in itself is good news. God does not delight in destruction.

The premise of the movie 2012 is that some of humanity will survive. The good news according to scripture is that all will be redeemed. This is the gospel.

The reality is this reality is but a passing vapor. Christ has come to create a better world. He is the King coming with the kingdom. His kingdom to come is one that will be in a world without end and where peace and righteousness dwell. It will be paradise not created by human hands but but the pierced hands of God. That is something to get excited over long after 2012 has come and gone.