A review of ‘Last Things First: Living in the light of the future,’ by Graham Beynon

If you came to me and asked, ‘Why does the Bible talk so much about the end of history? What does the last day, the day of judgment, have to do with my life? Why is heaven at all relevant to me?’ the first book I would direct you to would be Last Things First: Living in the light of the future, by an English minister named Graham Beynon.

This book is brand new, published by Inter-Varsity Press in 2010, and is excellent. The trouble is, it’s not easy to find in the U.S. I got my copy in the United Kingdom when Emma and I were there recently. Dig around on the internet and find a copy, though – it’s worth it.

Why read a book about the future? At the beginning of his book, Beynon quotes C.S. Lewis: ‘If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next…It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.’

Beynon’s book itself is a great argument for why it is worthwhile and important for Christians to think about the future. The book is highly readable, quite short (174 pages), easy to understand, practical, and yet deeply biblical and full of rich insights. I underlined scores of passages. Beynon talks about many future realities, including the Day of the Lord (the final day, when Jesus returns), rewards for Christians, the new heavens and new earth, Hell, facing death in this life, and signs of the end times. Most importantly, he approaches all these future realities by asking what the Bible says about them and how they should affect our lives in the present. Beynon says that, ‘True Christian living celebrates what God has given us; it longs for what God will give us in the future; and it bears with the tension of what we have in part’ (page 28). That is very helpful: true Christian living celebrates, longs, and bears.

The problem is that many of us have forgotten the future Day of the Lord and our future destination in the new heavens and new earth. We don’t long for the future because, as Beynon says, it sounds boring to us (read this book and have your view changed!), or we doubt deep down that it will actually happen the way the Bible says it will, or because we’re comfortable in the present and have neither the time nor the desire to think about the future. Boredom, doubt, and/or comfort conspire to keep us focused on the present and forgetful of the future.

How do we blast our way out of these unbiblical habits of mind and heart? Like the Puritan Richard Baxter, we must reflect on our future life every day. And here I return full-circle to what I said at the beginning – the best way I know to start reflecting biblically on that future life is to read this book and let it direct you to the Bible.

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Feb 15, 05:44 PM