Jubilee At Resurrection

Eschatology, Student Debt, And Biden's Worms

The church I pastor is called Resurrection Assembly of God. It used to be called First Assembly of God Iowa City, but we changed the named during the revitalization process. The church was about to die, but it didn’t. And we wanted the church’s name to say something about what God had done. We wanted to remind ourselves that God had raised a near-dead church to new life. And, more importantly, we wanted the name of the church to witness to the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. In view of this, we talk about resurrection a lot at Resurrection Assembly. And that means we talk a lot about eschatology. It’s what we Pentecostals do.

Here is one testimony of how we brought our eschatological proclamation of resurrection to meet the present moment:

At the end of 2018, Pastor Abby Anderson felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray for debt cancellation at our church. Collectively, we held an incredible amount of medical, vehicle, credit card, and student debt. Some felt overwhelmed and hopeless. As we all know, hopelessness is from the pit of hell, and in Jesus we have the hope of resurrection. So we began praying publicly for our debts to be forgiven. We made this a particular emphasis of prayer as we fasted for the forty days leading up to Easter in 2019.

Then, on Easter, I stepped into the pulpit and proclaimed the forgiveness of debts in Christ Jesus. I reasoned that if indeed Christ has been raised from the dead (which he has been), then we can take seriously what the Bible says about baptism. Rom 6 describes baptism as the moment and the proof that we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection. I told the church that if it is true that we have died and risen in Christ, our debts are cancelled. No collector can make you pay for your debts posthumously. Because you’re dead. All your debts—and for that matter all your credits—are no longer your own. So I told everyone to look at the mountain of debt they had accrued and say, “you’re not mine, and I’m not yours, because I am dead.” In the New Heaven and New Earth there is no debt, folks. There will be jubilee at the resurrection.

This is not prosperity gospel. This is Christian eschatology.

In the months that we prayed for debt cancellation, we saw over $42,000 of debt disappear in our little church of fifty people. There was jubilee at Resurrection Assembly.

I give God the glory.

In view of this, I want to say two things about the Biden Administration’s announcement to cancel student debt.

1. If any student debt is actually canceled, I will give glory to God, and to God alone. I have prayed about my student debt, and many others’ student debts. If some is canceled, it will be an answer to prayer.

2. If the eschatological forgiveness of debts can be quickened to the present moment, then so can the eschatological judgment on the creditors who enslave God’s people. In Acts 12, there was a famine, and Herod fed the people. The crowd lauded him as a god for the relief he provided. Acts says the angel of the Lord struck Herod down “for he did not give God glory,” and he was eaten by worms.

May Biden remember that he is not the Great Forgiver. God is.

May he, Trump, and all past and future presidents humble themselves and so avoid angels and worms.

And may the church remember our eschatological hope of resurrection in Jesus Christ, which is the forgiveness of all things that enslave us.