God's Homecoming: The Forgotten Promise of Future Renewal by N. T. Wright

In this enlightening and inspiring sequel to Surprised by Hope, renowned Christian theologian N.T. Wright continues to confront and challenge what he asserts is the church’s misunderstanding and confusion about Jesus’ second coming. He offers sound biblical insights, historical explanations about why and where things went awry, and encouragement for Jesus-followers to understand how God’s homecoming—a theme he reiterates throughout his book—will change the way they worship, evangelize, pray, work, serve, take care of the earth, and engage with their cultures.

In a preface, he writes, “There are two mistakes people regularly make when thinking about the second coming of Jesus. The first is to imagine that Jesus will come back to our world in order to take people away to a different place, namely, ‘heaven.’ His second coming would then not be a ‘homecoming’ at all, but a rescue operation, a raid on enemy territory, heading back quickly to his real and different home. No: his second coming will coincide with the glorious renewal of all creation, so that he will come home to the heaven-and-earth world that God the father always intended.” Wright dealt with this misconception in Surprised by Hope.

Wright asserts that the second mistake Christians make “is to imagine that Jesus will only really become Lord of the world when he finally returns. From this point of view, the events of Jesus’s birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension, and the sending of the spirit, are all designed to get people ready for his final return. Until then, he hasn’t really become king, hasn’t really taken his throne as Lord of the world. He hasn’t really come home.” Wright masterfully challenges and debunks this misunderstanding in this book.

Written for lay readers and ministry leaders alike, Wright offers encouragement for believers to consider how God’s purpose even now is to restore creation “to its intended state of justice and peace.” He believes that if Christians today caught the biblical vision of God’s homecoming, it would change their lives and how they live out their vocations in, what he calls, “the strange and often threatening world of the twenty-first century.”

This reader found particularly enlightening Wright’s section titled “So What? Living Within the Real Biblical Story.” It includes his exploration of worship, evangelism, prayer, and the sacraments in light of God’s homecoming.

(HarperOne)