CS Lewis once said it would be too difficult to write something like The Screwtape Letters from the opposite point of view. The Screwtape Letters is a fictional record of letters, giving instructions from a senior demon to a junior demon seeking to keep a man from Christ and lure him into sin.
But to attempt something from the angelic perspective? Lewis didn’t have the skill. It seems to be a common lack among storytellers – they can’t imagine the good, pure and holy. The fictional world abounds with dystopian futures, but none that are truly utopian. We either can’t imagine a world that is completely good, or we so sugar-coat it that it becomes boring.
Yet this is the yearning of our hearts. The desire for utopia is the motivator for so many in the political sphere – if only tax rates were… if only those people weren’t allowed here… if only my moral code was legislated – then the world would be perfect!
But utopia will never be gained by man’s laws, or social change, or a health care system, or education, or an immigration policy. Utopia is beyond our reach to achieve. Whether we live in the most progressive or conservative state, we will never reach it.
But a utopia is what God promises to bring. How? By raising up a Branch.
‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land’ (Jer 23:5).
The Branch has been raised up. He came, opening the way to the New Creation. And he will come again, this Branch from David, bringing the New Creation with him. O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!