“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

These moving words, describing the advent of the Messianic Age, were read as part of the liturgy for a special service conducted at Westminster Abbey earlier this month.

The service on Sunday 9 May, 2010, was known as “a Service for Europe Day” and commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the Schuman Declaration. The Declaration was made by the then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950 and is viewed as the first step in the foundation of the present European Union.

In a strange synthesis of Christianity and state worship, the flag of the European Union was presented at the Communion Table while an extract from the Schuman Declaration was read from the Pulpit.

The congregation’s amended Act of Penitence read “Let us bring before God our failures and weaknesses… our self-seeking, the opposition séculaire which has hindered our unity and harmed our people. (Séculaire is French for ‘centuries-old’, invoking the idea that self-seeking nations have long been harming their people by failing to seek unity.)

Towards the end of the service, Pascal Grégoire, First Secretary of the Embassy of Belgium (representing the Ambassador of Belgium) said, “Let us pledge ourselves anew to the service of peace and to the strengthening of the bonds of friendship and goodwill that unite the member states of this European Union.”

The audience were instructed to reply: “Lord God our Father, we affirm our commitment to the European Union as a force for good in your world.”

The service finished off by singing Thine be the Glory simultaneously in French, English and German followed by a blessing, the processing of the EU flag and the Anthem of the European Union.

Eschatological Aspirations

It is no coincidence that Revelation 21: 1-5 was chosen as one of the scripture readings. Since its inception, the architects of European integration have aspired to use government as a means for creating a new heavens and a new earth.

The reason the stars on the EU flag are fixed at twelve is because in the Bible, as well as other spiritual traditions, twelve represents the number of perfection especially in the area of rulership. As the German website www.dw-world.de/ puts it:

The number of stars [on the EU flag] was never intended to change with fluctuation in membership: Twelve symbolizes perfection in various traditions throughout history. There are, for example, 12 symbols of the Zodiac, 12 hours on a clock and 12 months in a year – and just as many Tribes of Israel, Olympian gods and tables of Roman law.

What makes this symbolism so potent is that EU has been undergirded with aspirations of perfection ever since its inception. With utopian zeal, the pioneers of a united Europe have defended the project by attributing to their institutions near messianic status. One of the chief areas where this messianism plays out is in the EU’s promotion of secular sanctification. The EU is concerned, not simply with promoting law and order, but in how citizens should think, how they should speak, what medicines they may take, what wealth they may retain, what risks they are permitted to run, how they should spend their money. In short, the EU is interested in managing the minutia of its citizen’s personal lives, claiming for itself the kind of authority our Savior invoked in Mt. 28:18.

The utopian fervor to use government to usher in the new heavens and the new earth fails to take into account the curse. It may be more than coincidence that the other passage that Georg Boomgarden read during the service was Revelation 22:1-5. This passage describes the healing of the nations after the curse has been removed.

“That They May be One”

Dr Ion Jinga, Ambassador of Romania, read John 17: 11 – 23, a passage about the unity of Jesus’ followers. While Jesus made clear in this passage that such unity could come about only by people remaining in Him (John 17:21), the European Union has operated on the assumption that unity can be achieved by commitment to the State.

This is the perspective that lay behind the decision to arrange the stars of the EU flag in a circle. As the German website www.dw-world.de/ again puts it: “The stars were arranged in a circle to represent the ideal of unity among the people of Europe.”

Defenders of the EU, like apologists for ancient Rome or Nazism, point out that their empire has made one new humanity out of previously warring pluralities, ushering in a new world order of peace. In this respect the EU presents a vision of progress and unity not unlike the pretensions of the Babel architects. European integration is often seen as the final stage in an eschatological climax triumphing over the forces of nationalism, war, self-interest and isolation in order to usher in a new age of peace and prosperity. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the Austrian Minister for Security and Interior, made these aspirations explicit in 1938 when he said that “Above and beyond the concept of the nation-state, the idea of a new community will transform the living space given us all by history into a new spiritual realm.”

The tendency to look to government to bring what only the Kingdom of God can provide is an ancient heresy. There is an inscription in Priene on the Asia Minor coast from 9 BC which refers to the birthday of Augustus Caesar. The inscription talks about this day as “the beginning for the world of the glad tidings that have come to men through him . . .” In this context, glad tidings were associated with the creation of a new world, an era of peace and justice made possible by the new emperor. Thus, the inscription refers to Augustus as “a savior for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create order everywhere . . . .”

We know that Rome failed in its idolatrous attempt to usher in the new heavens and the new earth. It is only a matter of time before the European Union also fails.

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