Scot McKnight (A Community Called Atonement,
75-6) observes that the prophecy of Joel 2 that is fulfilled at
Pentecost is a prophecy of political catastrophe. Pentecost, he
concludes is both justification - “God’s act of justifying and making
His judgment clear” by the gift of the Spirit that creates a community
where God’s will is done - and a “judgment on the unjust rulers of this
age.” Read more here.
Showing posts with label Salvation history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salvation history. Show all posts
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Leithart on Pentecost as Salvation and Judgment
Scot McKnight (A Community Called Atonement,
75-6) observes that the prophecy of Joel 2 that is fulfilled at
Pentecost is a prophecy of political catastrophe. Pentecost, he
concludes is both justification - “God’s act of justifying and making
His judgment clear” by the gift of the Spirit that creates a community
where God’s will is done - and a “judgment on the unjust rulers of this
age.” Read more here. 
Monday, April 5, 2010
Notable Quotables
A couple of quotes from this month’s Christianity Today sure jumped out at me.
The first one ironically came from Ted Olson’s “Quotation Marks” sidebar, p. 13. It was Benny Hinn complaining, “My wife has no biblical grounds for what she has done.” Frankly, I’m actually encouraged by this comment, that Hinn would concern himself over “biblical grounds” for anything is both remarkable and hopeful. How long have we made the same complaint against his message and ministry?!?
The second is from p. 35. Gerald McDermott, Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion at Roanoke College, has an article called “On the Jesus Trail.” Therein Prof. McDermott surveys the continual influence of Jesus within the religious diversity of the Muslim, Judaic and Arabic Christian context of Palestine. Through a series of interviews, McDermott cites a Jewish convert, become Christian Pastor. Pastor Yossi Ovadia, of Galilee, was cited, saying,
“The English Christians I met had hearts for God and knew the Bible better than I did, even though I had grown up the son of a synagogue cantor. I started to envy them.”
Isn’t this exactly what God revealed would happen in the great mystery of redemption? Deut. 32:21 (Cf. Rom 10:19) promised that this would happen; that with “those who are not a nation...a foolish nation” [i.e., Gentiles] God would provoke Israel to a jealousy which would result in their inclusion in the New Covenant (Rom 11:11).
How exciting, that we can speak of biblical history in two ways: 1) in the sense of past events which are recorded for our salvation and edification in the Scriptures, and 2) in that we today are living-out, as it were, the history-future promised to come about in the power and reign of Christ through the Holy Spirit working in the Church!
The first one ironically came from Ted Olson’s “Quotation Marks” sidebar, p. 13. It was Benny Hinn complaining, “My wife has no biblical grounds for what she has done.” Frankly, I’m actually encouraged by this comment, that Hinn would concern himself over “biblical grounds” for anything is both remarkable and hopeful. How long have we made the same complaint against his message and ministry?!?
The second is from p. 35. Gerald McDermott, Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion at Roanoke College, has an article called “On the Jesus Trail.” Therein Prof. McDermott surveys the continual influence of Jesus within the religious diversity of the Muslim, Judaic and Arabic Christian context of Palestine. Through a series of interviews, McDermott cites a Jewish convert, become Christian Pastor. Pastor Yossi Ovadia, of Galilee, was cited, saying,
“The English Christians I met had hearts for God and knew the Bible better than I did, even though I had grown up the son of a synagogue cantor. I started to envy them.”
Isn’t this exactly what God revealed would happen in the great mystery of redemption? Deut. 32:21 (Cf. Rom 10:19) promised that this would happen; that with “those who are not a nation...a foolish nation” [i.e., Gentiles] God would provoke Israel to a jealousy which would result in their inclusion in the New Covenant (Rom 11:11).
How exciting, that we can speak of biblical history in two ways: 1) in the sense of past events which are recorded for our salvation and edification in the Scriptures, and 2) in that we today are living-out, as it were, the history-future promised to come about in the power and reign of Christ through the Holy Spirit working in the Church!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
IRENAEUS: ADAM, CHRIST, AND REDEMPTIVE HISTORY
I love patrology (i.e., the study of the early Church Fathers); I love apologetics; I love good theology, and I love a redemptive-historical view of the Bible, one that holds Jesus high and centered. These are just a few reasons why I love Irenaeus and his works.
Reading the patristics often requires a critical eye. Few early Church fathers were thoroughly orthodox in their theology, oftimes, being influenced by their heritage and saturation in Platonism and the spirit of the age. With Irenaeus, however, one may relax and enjoy. His mind and subsequently his theology were radically transformed by the Rule of Faith (i.e., the essential gospel) and a Christological reading of all the Scriptures.
James Dennison, Jr. has written an insightful piece titled “Irenaeus and Redemptive History”, which covers Irenaeus and his redemptive-historical hermeneutic, particularly the “recapitulation” theme. Something very central to Irenaeus’ eschatology, Christology, anthropology, and soteriology—in a word all his theology.
Reading the patristics often requires a critical eye. Few early Church fathers were thoroughly orthodox in their theology, oftimes, being influenced by their heritage and saturation in Platonism and the spirit of the age. With Irenaeus, however, one may relax and enjoy. His mind and subsequently his theology were radically transformed by the Rule of Faith (i.e., the essential gospel) and a Christological reading of all the Scriptures.
James Dennison, Jr. has written an insightful piece titled “Irenaeus and Redemptive History”, which covers Irenaeus and his redemptive-historical hermeneutic, particularly the “recapitulation” theme. Something very central to Irenaeus’ eschatology, Christology, anthropology, and soteriology—in a word all his theology.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Salvation History Overview Article From The ESV Study Bible
Clicking here will take you to a wonderful article, which is also found in the recently released ESV Study Bible from Crossway Bibles. Appropriately, Crossway placed the article just before the Old Testament. It’s concise but robust. The sections are as follows:
God’s Plan for History
Christ in the Old Testament
The Promises of God
Warnings and Curses
Covenants
Offspring
Christ as the Last Adam
Shadows, Prefigures, and “Types”
Christ the Mediator
Those initiated in biblical theology will rightly recognize the subject matter as topics of the same. You’ll also notice the stress on Christ in all the Scriptures, as well as the continuity of the Old and New Covenants.
Sadly, few Christians have even a cursory understanding of the systematic theology they profess; and worse, fewer still can give a cogent expression of any of the topics listed above.
This article is a great contribution to the greatest study Bible available anywhere. The English Standard Version is, I believe, the finest expression of Holy Writ in the English language. And the commentary notes are as good as it gets. I can’t recommend this Bible enough. But even if I didn’t get the ESV Study Bible, I’d print this article and read it at least once a year. The themes discussed therein are to the Bible what an engine is to your car—the driving power behind every movement!
God’s Plan for History
Christ in the Old Testament
The Promises of God
Warnings and Curses
Covenants
Offspring
Christ as the Last Adam
Shadows, Prefigures, and “Types”
Christ the Mediator
Those initiated in biblical theology will rightly recognize the subject matter as topics of the same. You’ll also notice the stress on Christ in all the Scriptures, as well as the continuity of the Old and New Covenants.
Sadly, few Christians have even a cursory understanding of the systematic theology they profess; and worse, fewer still can give a cogent expression of any of the topics listed above.
This article is a great contribution to the greatest study Bible available anywhere. The English Standard Version is, I believe, the finest expression of Holy Writ in the English language. And the commentary notes are as good as it gets. I can’t recommend this Bible enough. But even if I didn’t get the ESV Study Bible, I’d print this article and read it at least once a year. The themes discussed therein are to the Bible what an engine is to your car—the driving power behind every movement!
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Advent in Matthew III
In the last post we concluded that one reason for Matthew’s careful tripartite arrangement of fourteen generation sections is an apologetic and rhetorical feature to 1) rectify Jesus’ regal right to the throne and covenant promises of David, and 2) that with Yahweh’s covenants Abraham and David, the Babylonian Exile was a judicial-redemptive-historical event that made clear that there was no longer hope for the promised Davidic King to arise by means of ordinary providence; Yahweh alone could save Israel, which is precisely who and what Jesus Christ was doing in history.
A second and closely related point is the apparently intended presence of gematria in connection with “fourteen” and the name David. Gematria was a widespread literary phenomenon of Matthew’s culture. It is a tool for symbolism, using an alphanumeric value system. Simply put, each letter of a given alphabet also carries its relative numeric value, e.g., A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, and so on. This works with both the Greek and Hebrew languages. Many argue that this instrument was used when John wrote the elusive “666” in Revelation, which is the only other likely occasion of gematria in the NT.
Accordingly, the consonants of David’s name in Hebrew are D = 4, W = 6 and D = 4. Thus, the alphanumeric value of David is 14. In addition to this, David’s name is the fourteenth in the list. For us modern readers, this appears peculiar at best, having little significance. But our question should first be, “What would this have meant to the original audience?”
The gematria would have 1) been another means of stressing that Jesus is the coming Davidic Son, the Messiah, and 2) provided a mnemonic tool to aid the memorization of the genealogy.
The mnemonic aspect, I think, should be teased out a bit.
Matthew often uses triadic arrangements to ease and encourage memorization. There are the three fourteens here in the genealogy, Satan’s three temptations with Jesus’ three corresponding scriptural rebuts (4:1—11), the three cities of woe (11:20—24), three symbolic, living parables (21:1—22), three polemical parables (21:28—22:14), threefold prayer and return (26:36—46), Peter’s three-time denial (26:69—75) to name a few.
But why would Matthew see the genealogy as a crucial part of his gospel to put to memory? Well, I think one reason could be apologetic (I know, what else would I think?).
Today, Christians are encouraged to memorize various arguments for God’s existence, certain facts about OT prophecy and how Jesus fulfills them, the historical facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus, the textual evidences for the Bible we possess today, and in addition to these, all the major objections that are raised against the rote evidences. Today, these are relevant points of contention that believers find themselves challenged with by unbelievers. For Matthew’s audience, however, the questions were not preeminently, Was Jesus divine? Are the scriptures reliable? Was Jesus raised from the dead? Instead, Matthew’s readers would first and foremost have to answer this: “Was Jesus the Davidic Messiah?” Additionally, the meticulous record keeping of ancestral descent among Jews made Matthew’s account all the more important. When antagonistic Judaic opponents attacked the Hebrew Christians of the Matthean community, Jesus’ pedigree would have supplied the believers with a first line of defense.
While the average Christian won’t find him/herself toe to toe with a Jewish rabbi, I think there is an application we can draw that is universal in its utility.
I’m not insisting that we memorize the genealogy, though that would certainly be a profitable exercise. More needful, I believe, is understanding it better. For the first century Jewish Christian, this battery of names had immediate content. These names had significance in the Hebrew community’s self-consciousness. Today in the West, however, especially with the popular emphasis on the discontinuity between the two Testaments, most of these names don’t inform our understanding of Jesus but simply challenge our pronunciatory prowess.
If anything is to be taken from the last few posts it should be that we cannot rightly understand Jesus, the Messiah, without being acquainted with the organic development of the Father’s plan to reveal him “in the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4). These names, for various reasons, are mileposts in the progressively unfolding story of redemption and are therefore persons we should become familiar and conversant with.
What better time than the Advent season to do this? So, here's my challenge: If we would begin tomorrow, with a good Bible dictionary, and choose just two names from the genealogy a day, reading the entries and go to the scriptures with the important references found in the article, how greatly broadened would our horizon become? The significance of these names, though, must be kept in contact with its culminating terminus, Jesus Christ; viewing the micronarratives in terms of the epinarrative, and vise versa.
The application, then, is twofold. We have gained a better understanding of God’s providential and redemptive acts in the lives of OT saints (and sinners), each foreshadowing his final salvific work in Christ, in order to bring ultimate redemption to us through his Son. Secondly, I am absolutely convinced that the weakest link in the Christian witness and apologetic today is our general ignorance of the Bible’s “story line.” In other words, the better one does biblical theology, the better one can explain and defend the message they extend to the lost. Especially within our postmodern context, internal coherence and personal credulity are touchstone criteria for plausibility. Our audience is biblically illiterate. If we cannot communicate the continuity of the Bible’s plot, thus challenging the unbelievers’ “big story” and sharing ours, then the Gospel is simply incoherent.
A second and closely related point is the apparently intended presence of gematria in connection with “fourteen” and the name David. Gematria was a widespread literary phenomenon of Matthew’s culture. It is a tool for symbolism, using an alphanumeric value system. Simply put, each letter of a given alphabet also carries its relative numeric value, e.g., A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, and so on. This works with both the Greek and Hebrew languages. Many argue that this instrument was used when John wrote the elusive “666” in Revelation, which is the only other likely occasion of gematria in the NT.
Accordingly, the consonants of David’s name in Hebrew are D = 4, W = 6 and D = 4. Thus, the alphanumeric value of David is 14. In addition to this, David’s name is the fourteenth in the list. For us modern readers, this appears peculiar at best, having little significance. But our question should first be, “What would this have meant to the original audience?”
The gematria would have 1) been another means of stressing that Jesus is the coming Davidic Son, the Messiah, and 2) provided a mnemonic tool to aid the memorization of the genealogy.
The mnemonic aspect, I think, should be teased out a bit.
Matthew often uses triadic arrangements to ease and encourage memorization. There are the three fourteens here in the genealogy, Satan’s three temptations with Jesus’ three corresponding scriptural rebuts (4:1—11), the three cities of woe (11:20—24), three symbolic, living parables (21:1—22), three polemical parables (21:28—22:14), threefold prayer and return (26:36—46), Peter’s three-time denial (26:69—75) to name a few.
But why would Matthew see the genealogy as a crucial part of his gospel to put to memory? Well, I think one reason could be apologetic (I know, what else would I think?).
Today, Christians are encouraged to memorize various arguments for God’s existence, certain facts about OT prophecy and how Jesus fulfills them, the historical facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus, the textual evidences for the Bible we possess today, and in addition to these, all the major objections that are raised against the rote evidences. Today, these are relevant points of contention that believers find themselves challenged with by unbelievers. For Matthew’s audience, however, the questions were not preeminently, Was Jesus divine? Are the scriptures reliable? Was Jesus raised from the dead? Instead, Matthew’s readers would first and foremost have to answer this: “Was Jesus the Davidic Messiah?” Additionally, the meticulous record keeping of ancestral descent among Jews made Matthew’s account all the more important. When antagonistic Judaic opponents attacked the Hebrew Christians of the Matthean community, Jesus’ pedigree would have supplied the believers with a first line of defense.
While the average Christian won’t find him/herself toe to toe with a Jewish rabbi, I think there is an application we can draw that is universal in its utility.
I’m not insisting that we memorize the genealogy, though that would certainly be a profitable exercise. More needful, I believe, is understanding it better. For the first century Jewish Christian, this battery of names had immediate content. These names had significance in the Hebrew community’s self-consciousness. Today in the West, however, especially with the popular emphasis on the discontinuity between the two Testaments, most of these names don’t inform our understanding of Jesus but simply challenge our pronunciatory prowess.
If anything is to be taken from the last few posts it should be that we cannot rightly understand Jesus, the Messiah, without being acquainted with the organic development of the Father’s plan to reveal him “in the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4). These names, for various reasons, are mileposts in the progressively unfolding story of redemption and are therefore persons we should become familiar and conversant with.
What better time than the Advent season to do this? So, here's my challenge: If we would begin tomorrow, with a good Bible dictionary, and choose just two names from the genealogy a day, reading the entries and go to the scriptures with the important references found in the article, how greatly broadened would our horizon become? The significance of these names, though, must be kept in contact with its culminating terminus, Jesus Christ; viewing the micronarratives in terms of the epinarrative, and vise versa.
The application, then, is twofold. We have gained a better understanding of God’s providential and redemptive acts in the lives of OT saints (and sinners), each foreshadowing his final salvific work in Christ, in order to bring ultimate redemption to us through his Son. Secondly, I am absolutely convinced that the weakest link in the Christian witness and apologetic today is our general ignorance of the Bible’s “story line.” In other words, the better one does biblical theology, the better one can explain and defend the message they extend to the lost. Especially within our postmodern context, internal coherence and personal credulity are touchstone criteria for plausibility. Our audience is biblically illiterate. If we cannot communicate the continuity of the Bible’s plot, thus challenging the unbelievers’ “big story” and sharing ours, then the Gospel is simply incoherent.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Advent in Matthew II
There are a couple of other noteworthy features in Matthew’s genealogy, which invite one into a deeper study and contemplation of the importance of this tether to salvation history.
Notice that the evangelist sums up Jesus’ impressive pedigree with these words:
“So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations” (1:17).
The question is “Why?” I think there are several reasons, I’ll share only one here and a couple tomorrow, Lord willing.
One reason is that Matthew was, of course, proving Jesus’ legitimate claim to the Davidic throne; Jesus is, in fact, David’s Greater Son. The ‘son of David’ motif is plain throughout Matthew. But the rhetorical point of Matthew’s framing of the genealogy is even more sublime.
The hopes and expectations bound up with the omni-blessing Seed of Abraham finds a more specific identity in the Davidic covenant. This narrowing specificity is, nonetheless, anticipated in earlier prophecies, such as Gen 49:10, the Scepter of Judah, and the “star/scepter” sign in Balaam’s fourth oracle. Abraham’s coming Seed was to be a ruler, a king.
These promises are made explicit in Yahweh’s covenant with David. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me [Yahweh]. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam 7:16).
Now there was one of two ways this promise could be fulfilled. Either Solomon would inaugurate a perpetual dynasty, one that would augment the rule of Yahweh’s kingly co-regent in both space and time, or the promise would find its realization in a peculiar One who could sustain that rule without end. This dilemma is answered by Matthew’s next generational junction—“from David to the deportation to Babylon.”
This junction in the pattern eliminates the possibility of the perpetual line of kings. The Babylonian siege and resultant exile terminated the hope of an everlasting line of ruler’s from David’s loins.
The OT prophets, writing before, during and after the exile, began to point the faithful ones forward to the second option above (see also Ps 89, etc). The Davidic dynasty would be restored, but not through means of ordinary generation. Rather Yahweh’s Servant—David’s true Son, who is also David’s Lord (Ps 110)—would arrive in history, finally and fully establishing God rule, God’s Kingdom. Moreover, the Jewish apocalypticism of the Second Temple period was rife with messianic expectations. All the hopes of Israel rested in the Advent of Yahweh’s promised Messiah, and with him, the greatly anticipated “last days,” the fulfillment of the messianic age.
It seems, therefore, that if Abraham’s Seed would more specifically be the fulfillment of the promised king from the Davidic dynasty, and the “deportation to Babylon” and its entailments would demand that the sure promises made to David could only be realized in the Messiah, then Matthew’s ‘3 times 14’ framework, and especially its summary statement in 1:17, is a rhetorical case that 2000 years of Israelite history and hope had culminated and been fulfilled in the Advent of Jesus Christ. The waiting was over, the messianic age had arrive. Jesus is the greater Son of David, King of Israel.
Solomon, in spite of all his wisdom and riches, could not discharge the role of ‘Son of David.’ But, Shema!, Hear O’ Israel, “something greater than Solomon is here” (Matt 12:42)! Amid great strife and competition with a self-made impostor, Adonijah, Solomon was hastily made king of the Jews (1 Kings 1); David’s greater Son, against the Roman-made imposter, Herod, was “born king of the Jews” (2:2). Concerning Solomon, a message from Yahweh was carried by the prophet Nathan, naming the child Jedidiah, “beloved of the Lord” (2 Sam 12:24—25); concerning the Messiah, a direct edict came from Heaven for all to hear, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17; cf. 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7; Is 42:1), and so his name was to be “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). And because Jesus would save his people from the captivity of their sins, “they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)” (Matt 1:23).
Although many of the people had returned from the land of Babylon, the land to which they had returned was now ruled by a new Babylon, Rome. Their nationalistic souls were provoked day and night by the promised land’s defilement and uncleanness, trodden underfoot by the iron-clay soles of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream idol (Dan 2). They had returned to the land, but the exile wasn’t over!
First century Judaism had morphed the old covenant religion into an infinite series of laws, but no liberty. It offered meticulous jurisprudence, but no justice. It had sacrifice, but no mercy. The elders of Israel, with their religion and false king, had succeeded only in giving God’s people another unbearable yoke, in addition to Rome’s yoke of bondage. There was Sabbath upon Sabbath, but no rest for the wearied souls of God's heritage.
Matthew’s point, however, was that the exile was now over with the Advent of Jesus and the subsequent inauguration of the messianic age. The provisional temple of the restoration had now finished its archetypical course; its antitype had arrived to give real substance to its shadowy proleptic purpose, “something greater than the temple is here” (12:6). For those with ears to hear, the cry went out, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (11:28—29). The real return from exile, then, was not coming out of Babylon, but coming to Jesus. In Jesus alone is there eschatological Rest for God’s people.
King David had establish a kingdom by the blood of his sword; his greater Son, King Jesus, has come and established a Kingdom by the blood of his cross, giving his people rest from their enemies.
Matthew 1:17, therefore, is the evangelist’s bottom line, his apologetic absolute. The present age was closing and the long awaited messianic age has dawned in Jesus Christ’s Advent. The rest of Matthew’s Gospel is an argument for and demonstration of this fact.
Notice that the evangelist sums up Jesus’ impressive pedigree with these words:
“So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations” (1:17).
The question is “Why?” I think there are several reasons, I’ll share only one here and a couple tomorrow, Lord willing.
One reason is that Matthew was, of course, proving Jesus’ legitimate claim to the Davidic throne; Jesus is, in fact, David’s Greater Son. The ‘son of David’ motif is plain throughout Matthew. But the rhetorical point of Matthew’s framing of the genealogy is even more sublime.
The hopes and expectations bound up with the omni-blessing Seed of Abraham finds a more specific identity in the Davidic covenant. This narrowing specificity is, nonetheless, anticipated in earlier prophecies, such as Gen 49:10, the Scepter of Judah, and the “star/scepter” sign in Balaam’s fourth oracle. Abraham’s coming Seed was to be a ruler, a king.
These promises are made explicit in Yahweh’s covenant with David. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me [Yahweh]. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam 7:16).
Now there was one of two ways this promise could be fulfilled. Either Solomon would inaugurate a perpetual dynasty, one that would augment the rule of Yahweh’s kingly co-regent in both space and time, or the promise would find its realization in a peculiar One who could sustain that rule without end. This dilemma is answered by Matthew’s next generational junction—“from David to the deportation to Babylon.”
This junction in the pattern eliminates the possibility of the perpetual line of kings. The Babylonian siege and resultant exile terminated the hope of an everlasting line of ruler’s from David’s loins.
The OT prophets, writing before, during and after the exile, began to point the faithful ones forward to the second option above (see also Ps 89, etc). The Davidic dynasty would be restored, but not through means of ordinary generation. Rather Yahweh’s Servant—David’s true Son, who is also David’s Lord (Ps 110)—would arrive in history, finally and fully establishing God rule, God’s Kingdom. Moreover, the Jewish apocalypticism of the Second Temple period was rife with messianic expectations. All the hopes of Israel rested in the Advent of Yahweh’s promised Messiah, and with him, the greatly anticipated “last days,” the fulfillment of the messianic age.
It seems, therefore, that if Abraham’s Seed would more specifically be the fulfillment of the promised king from the Davidic dynasty, and the “deportation to Babylon” and its entailments would demand that the sure promises made to David could only be realized in the Messiah, then Matthew’s ‘3 times 14’ framework, and especially its summary statement in 1:17, is a rhetorical case that 2000 years of Israelite history and hope had culminated and been fulfilled in the Advent of Jesus Christ. The waiting was over, the messianic age had arrive. Jesus is the greater Son of David, King of Israel.
Solomon, in spite of all his wisdom and riches, could not discharge the role of ‘Son of David.’ But, Shema!, Hear O’ Israel, “something greater than Solomon is here” (Matt 12:42)! Amid great strife and competition with a self-made impostor, Adonijah, Solomon was hastily made king of the Jews (1 Kings 1); David’s greater Son, against the Roman-made imposter, Herod, was “born king of the Jews” (2:2). Concerning Solomon, a message from Yahweh was carried by the prophet Nathan, naming the child Jedidiah, “beloved of the Lord” (2 Sam 12:24—25); concerning the Messiah, a direct edict came from Heaven for all to hear, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17; cf. 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7; Is 42:1), and so his name was to be “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). And because Jesus would save his people from the captivity of their sins, “they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)” (Matt 1:23).
Although many of the people had returned from the land of Babylon, the land to which they had returned was now ruled by a new Babylon, Rome. Their nationalistic souls were provoked day and night by the promised land’s defilement and uncleanness, trodden underfoot by the iron-clay soles of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream idol (Dan 2). They had returned to the land, but the exile wasn’t over!
First century Judaism had morphed the old covenant religion into an infinite series of laws, but no liberty. It offered meticulous jurisprudence, but no justice. It had sacrifice, but no mercy. The elders of Israel, with their religion and false king, had succeeded only in giving God’s people another unbearable yoke, in addition to Rome’s yoke of bondage. There was Sabbath upon Sabbath, but no rest for the wearied souls of God's heritage.
Matthew’s point, however, was that the exile was now over with the Advent of Jesus and the subsequent inauguration of the messianic age. The provisional temple of the restoration had now finished its archetypical course; its antitype had arrived to give real substance to its shadowy proleptic purpose, “something greater than the temple is here” (12:6). For those with ears to hear, the cry went out, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (11:28—29). The real return from exile, then, was not coming out of Babylon, but coming to Jesus. In Jesus alone is there eschatological Rest for God’s people.
King David had establish a kingdom by the blood of his sword; his greater Son, King Jesus, has come and established a Kingdom by the blood of his cross, giving his people rest from their enemies.
Matthew 1:17, therefore, is the evangelist’s bottom line, his apologetic absolute. The present age was closing and the long awaited messianic age has dawned in Jesus Christ’s Advent. The rest of Matthew’s Gospel is an argument for and demonstration of this fact.
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Advent in Matthew I
The other day, Fanny and I were discussing the genealogy of our Lord recorded in Matthew’s gospel and the profound significance it has in connection with the first Advent of our Lord in history. In the next few posts, I'll share some of those observations.
Matthew 1:1 is a flag, evoking in the readers’ hearts millennia of salvation history. Approximately 2000 years before, God covenanted a people for himself. Through the loins of Abraham would come One through whom God would bless “all nations” (Gen 22:18); and through this coming One, Abraham would, with all his spiritual children “inherit the world” (Rom 4:13). Matt 1:1 is the cry that salvation history was climaxing...the coming One had come!
If the Promise-Fulfillment paradigm for understanding the unity between the Old and New Testaments is taken up, few verses could challenge the sheer volume of that motif when compared to Matt 1:1.
From v. 2 through v. 16, Matthew gives us a detailed catalogue of names. The Advent of the Messiah was not happenstance; it was sovereign Providence. Furthermore, despite a history of bitter warfare and all the best efforts of the “seed of the serpent,” the “Seed of the woman” (Gen 3:15) had arrived; he had come to take possession of the “gate of his enemy” (Gen 22:17). This covenant promise of God to Abraham, that his seed would posses the gate of his enemy, was also a blessing over Isaac’s—“the son of Abraham”—bride, Rebekah (Gen 24:60). In it’s fulfillment, the same blessing is given to Jesus’—the Greater “Son of Abraham”—bride, the Church (Matt 16:18).
How often do we slog and plod through this genealogy (if not simply skip it altogether) in order to get to the “good stuff”? But this is the “good stuff”! Matthew did not include this list merely to prove Jesus regal right to David’s throne. That’s one purpose to be sure, but that’s not all.
From the time of Yahweh’s special, redemptive promises and purposes, beginning in his sovereign election of Abram (Gen 12), til the climax and fulfillment of that covenant in the Person and work of Jesus, the epinarrative of history—historia salutis—was being wrought by God through the micronarratives of the lives behind these names. This is Gospel! This was the soil in which the Seed of the woman, of David, of Abraham would be planted; from this loamy heritage the “Root of Jesse” would shoot forth his branches, creating a plant so great that “all nations” would come and find their eschatological Rest beneath its boughs (Matt13:32).
The chapters immediately preceding the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham (Gen 10, 11) and his Seed is the table of “all the nations” in rebellion to God, God’s judgment and his turning from “all nations” to one nation—one family, Israel. Matthew’s genealogy takes us from that great turning point and its Promise to the Great turning point and its Fulfillment, when God’s Kingdom would turn again. Thus in the chapters that follow Matthew 1, we see God through Jesus turning from that one nation in judgement to again adopt and baptize “all nations” (Matt 28:19) into his one family, the New Israel.
And who is at the center? Christ Jesus our Lord, King of Israel, King of Kings, King of Glory. Promise at one foot and Fulfillment at the other, they bow and kiss the Son:
A. Abrahamic Covenant (Promise – Gen 12 – 22)
B. Davidic Covenant (Promise – 2 Sam 7; Ps 89)
C. “Jesus Christ, the son...” (Matt 1:1a)
B'. “...of David...” (Fulfillment – 1:1b)
A'. “...of Abraham.” (Fulfillment – 1:1c)
Matthew’s genealogy, therefore, is a list of those who “all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar...And all these, though commended through their faith, did not received what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb 11:13, 39—40).
“And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29). And through your adoption “in Christ Jesus you are all son’s of God, through faith!” (3:26).
Therefore, the names we too often slog and plod through are the first half of the Great Drama of Grace, the story of redemption; it’s their story and it’s our story too. In Christ, the Center, their promises are ours, and his fulfillment becomes theirs. We share their history, they share our future. It’s the history and the future of a people created and redeemed by God, for his glory. Christ, the Center, is Father’s gift to us; we are the Father’s gift to him, the Bride of his choosing.
Redemptive history is not over; it’s accomplished in Christ, being fulfilled by the Holy Spirit daily in our micronarratives and throughout the world in God’s epinarrative. “Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham” is at the center of the latter, by grace, O’ Lord, let him be at the center of the former!
Matthew 1:1 is a flag, evoking in the readers’ hearts millennia of salvation history. Approximately 2000 years before, God covenanted a people for himself. Through the loins of Abraham would come One through whom God would bless “all nations” (Gen 22:18); and through this coming One, Abraham would, with all his spiritual children “inherit the world” (Rom 4:13). Matt 1:1 is the cry that salvation history was climaxing...the coming One had come!
If the Promise-Fulfillment paradigm for understanding the unity between the Old and New Testaments is taken up, few verses could challenge the sheer volume of that motif when compared to Matt 1:1.
From v. 2 through v. 16, Matthew gives us a detailed catalogue of names. The Advent of the Messiah was not happenstance; it was sovereign Providence. Furthermore, despite a history of bitter warfare and all the best efforts of the “seed of the serpent,” the “Seed of the woman” (Gen 3:15) had arrived; he had come to take possession of the “gate of his enemy” (Gen 22:17). This covenant promise of God to Abraham, that his seed would posses the gate of his enemy, was also a blessing over Isaac’s—“the son of Abraham”—bride, Rebekah (Gen 24:60). In it’s fulfillment, the same blessing is given to Jesus’—the Greater “Son of Abraham”—bride, the Church (Matt 16:18).
How often do we slog and plod through this genealogy (if not simply skip it altogether) in order to get to the “good stuff”? But this is the “good stuff”! Matthew did not include this list merely to prove Jesus regal right to David’s throne. That’s one purpose to be sure, but that’s not all.
From the time of Yahweh’s special, redemptive promises and purposes, beginning in his sovereign election of Abram (Gen 12), til the climax and fulfillment of that covenant in the Person and work of Jesus, the epinarrative of history—historia salutis—was being wrought by God through the micronarratives of the lives behind these names. This is Gospel! This was the soil in which the Seed of the woman, of David, of Abraham would be planted; from this loamy heritage the “Root of Jesse” would shoot forth his branches, creating a plant so great that “all nations” would come and find their eschatological Rest beneath its boughs (Matt13:32).
The chapters immediately preceding the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham (Gen 10, 11) and his Seed is the table of “all the nations” in rebellion to God, God’s judgment and his turning from “all nations” to one nation—one family, Israel. Matthew’s genealogy takes us from that great turning point and its Promise to the Great turning point and its Fulfillment, when God’s Kingdom would turn again. Thus in the chapters that follow Matthew 1, we see God through Jesus turning from that one nation in judgement to again adopt and baptize “all nations” (Matt 28:19) into his one family, the New Israel.
And who is at the center? Christ Jesus our Lord, King of Israel, King of Kings, King of Glory. Promise at one foot and Fulfillment at the other, they bow and kiss the Son:
A. Abrahamic Covenant (Promise – Gen 12 – 22)
B. Davidic Covenant (Promise – 2 Sam 7; Ps 89)
C. “Jesus Christ, the son...” (Matt 1:1a)
B'. “...of David...” (Fulfillment – 1:1b)
A'. “...of Abraham.” (Fulfillment – 1:1c)
Matthew’s genealogy, therefore, is a list of those who “all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar...And all these, though commended through their faith, did not received what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb 11:13, 39—40).
“And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29). And through your adoption “in Christ Jesus you are all son’s of God, through faith!” (3:26).
Therefore, the names we too often slog and plod through are the first half of the Great Drama of Grace, the story of redemption; it’s their story and it’s our story too. In Christ, the Center, their promises are ours, and his fulfillment becomes theirs. We share their history, they share our future. It’s the history and the future of a people created and redeemed by God, for his glory. Christ, the Center, is Father’s gift to us; we are the Father’s gift to him, the Bride of his choosing.
Redemptive history is not over; it’s accomplished in Christ, being fulfilled by the Holy Spirit daily in our micronarratives and throughout the world in God’s epinarrative. “Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham” is at the center of the latter, by grace, O’ Lord, let him be at the center of the former!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A Summary of the Parousia
For better or worse, nearly all ministers of the Gospel tend to emphasize, if not over emphasize, a particular theme in their ministry. This is generally related to the pastor or evangelist’s spiritual giftedness. There is little doubt that the minister’s own individual calling and gifts will greatly shape the flock under their care. If one where to attend John Maxwell’s church they could expect to find a disproportionate number of very good leaders; this is Maxwell’s “ministry thing” if you will. However, to fellowship with believers from John Mac Arthur’s church would probably reveal a body of Christians that had an unusually strong grip on the teaching of the scriptures, and many of them good Bible teachers themselves. Why? The same reason R.C. Sproul’s church produces people with a passion for systematic theology, church history, and philosophy. Because, Maxwell is a great leader; MacArthur is a great teacher; and Sproul is a great theologian—the sheep follow their under-shepherd in the direction he himself has gone.
Even the Apostle Paul, the one who made himself become “all things to all men that he might same some” (I Cor 9:22) was not completely unscathed by an emphasis or “a thing” in his own ministry. Paul’s however could not be over done!
The superstructure of Paul’s practical/pastoral theology always worked up from a tripartite foundation. His elementary foundation was the trinity of Christian virtues—“faith, hope, and love.” Nearly all of Paul’s exhortations, admonitions, and reproofs found in his epistles are rooted in one of these three points of the Christian life and there are times when he will bring the three together in a crescendo. Consider a famed conclusion from the “love chapter,”
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (I Cor 13:13).
What distinguishes Paul’s “ministry emphasis or thing” from his fellow modern day co-laborers is the comprehensive nature of faith, hope, and love—it is the summation of the Christian life. Paul’s emphasis is the foundation of all others listed above; teaching, leadership, and theology all must have their referential basis in these three. Of course the question this raises is what does this have to do with Jesus’ Second Advent? Everything!
In I Cor 13:13 Paul clearly magnifies love above, in the qualitative sense, faith and hope. The reason for this is because love is an attribute of the triune God. The believer will rightly maintain that God is the very essence of love—without Yahweh, love is nonsensical. God in Christ is always the object of the faith and hope of a believer, yet with love God is not only the object, but also the active subject.
As for faith, in Lk. 18:1—8, the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge, we find Jesus using an antithetical “lesser-to-greater” analogy to teach about his second coming. The parable stresses the importance of tenacity, steadfastness, and patient prayer while awaiting his coming; in a word—hope. Moreover, Jesus’ desired discovery at his coming appears in the final verse—the point of the parable—“will he find faith on earth when he returns?” Our current patience in hope is to be a barometer of our faith in his promise; his promise to return with redemption for his people and judgment for his enemies. The depth and quality of both our hope and faith in his promised coming is regulated by the depth of our love for his person. Thus, faith, hope, and love are central to our understanding of the Lord’s return.
This is no where more clear than in one of Paul’s most commendatory, yet anxious letters to the church of Thessalonica. In the first and fifth chapter of I Thessalonians we find the church exemplifying the trinity of faith, hope, and love in the outworking of the church’s life:
1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father...
And again:
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
From these two verses Paul teaches us that our “hope’s” object is the Lord Jesus (1:3); the “hope’s” outcome is our ultimate salvation (5:8), but it is in 1:10 that Paul defines our “hope’s” content. It is our patient, enduring faith in and longing love for our Lord’s coming:
1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
We can see from this brief analysis that amidst the divergent interpretations of the end product of God’s reign and rule over history; the second coming of the Son, the mean time of the church is to be spent with emphatic interest in the crux of the Christian life—faith, hope, and love. Our unwavering faith in, longing love for, and the fully assuring hope of our Lord’s appearing again is surely to be universally and dogmatically acclaimed in all the church. Despite one’s personal persuasion as to exactly how the chronology will work out, there are several points of sheer facticity and scriptural certainty subject to universal affirmation.
I. The Second Coming is Certain!
A. Our hope is as sure as the word, testimony, and promise of:
1. Jesus
a. Mat 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
b. Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
c. Jn 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
d. Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
2. Angels
a. Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
3. The Apostles
a. 1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...
b. 1Co 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
c. 1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
d. 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
e. Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Summary
These are just a few verses that can assure us that our “hope” in Jesus’ coming is as certain as anything a person can know. The Lord’s coming rest squarely on God’s fidelity to his word; something which cannot be broken (Jn 10:35), and his character; something he can’t deny. A Christian’s faith in this fact of history future is as reasonable as any belief to be held, this is because Yahweh, the God we love, is the only true “promise keeper.” We have 66 books all in one volume that testify to the fact that God has, does, and will remain faithful to every promise he makes. And it is at this very point—the second coming—that we may be most sure. The “history” God began thousands of years ago is on a steady course which will not be moved or altered and the objective destination of history is the return of Christ, the Lord of history, and the consummation of all things. The decree of Yahweh is more sure than any other knowledge one may have!
II. The Second Coming is a Personal Event
A. The Personal Presence of Christ
1. παροΰσια (Parousia) Defined. This is one of the central Greek NT words that speaks of Jesus’ second advent. Thayer defines it best as:
1) presence
2) the coming, arrival, advent
2a) the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God
And Strong as:
A being near, that is, advent (often, return; specifically of Christ to punish Jerusalem, or finally the wicked); (by implication) physical aspect: - coming, presence.
Cf. “Parousia” in connection Christ’s coming, past and future: Mat_24:3, Mat_24:27, Mat_24:37, Mat_24:39, 1Co_15:23, 1Th_2:19, 1Th_3:13, 1Th_4:15, 1Th_5:23, 2Th_2:1, 2Th_2:8-9 (2), Jam_5:7-8 (2), 2Pe_1:16, 2Pe_3:4, 2Pe_3:12, 1Jo_2:28
Summary
The first century church, much like the church today, was steeped in a pluralism of sorts. Greek philosophy largely held to a cyclical view of history, determined by Fate—not unlike Hinduism’s eschatology. With this view on the one side there was the dominate view of Judaism on the other. They originally believed “the day of Yahweh” and the ushering in of the “golden age” would be the subsequent results of a series of purely historical events. However, after centuries of oppression by foreign foes with no immanent victory in sight, Jewish writings saw a spike in apocalyptic literature during and shortly after the intertestamental period (400 B.C.—A.D. 150). There was then a shift in ideology from God’s immanent orchestration of the events of history in the life of national Israel with the end being a golden age of victory and peace for Israel as she ruled the nations, to the forecasting of God’s messianic figure bursting upon the scene in one catastrophic eschatological event which would in a moment trigger “the age to come.”
Against this diverse eschatological backdrop, the Bible presents the end of this age with the return and personal presence of God in Christ. As the Angels said in Acts 1:11, it will be “the same Jesus” the disciples saw ascending on the clouds who will return in like manner. This is in polar contrast to the Greek understanding of history, but for obvious reasons bears some likeness to the Hebraic view, yet there is one clear distinction.
2. The Two Age Synthesis
The Church Age can well be understood as the overlap of “the present age” and “the age to come.” The OT prophets foresaw the Messiah’s reign as a single historical, eschatological event, which once commenced would provide the people of God with victory, vindication, and peace; this is sometimes called prophetic telescoping. This type of futuristic revelation can be likened to looking at a distant mountain range. From the prophet’s vantage, what once looked like one large mountain upon nearer inspection (the revelational epoch of the NT) it becomes two mountains; a lesser mountain in front of a greater mountain with a valley of time (overlap) between them. Likewise, the Lord’s comings, first and second, are like the smaller mountain before the greater mountain. This helps to explain several things:
1. The disciples’ concept and confusion of the nature of the Kingdom of God. While there are many passages in which their misconceptions are evident, perhaps none is more clear than at Jesus’ post-Resurrection meeting with them in Acts 1:
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
2. It is Jesus himself who reveals the binary nature of the Messianic age in Lk.4:18—19. Here Jesus preaches from an explicitly Messianic passage in Isaiah which in the original context presents “the coming age” as a single event, however the Lord stops in mid-verse and proclaims the first part of the passage as fulfilled in his first coming and upon the hearing of the audience (v.21).
3. Also in Jn 5 Jesus makes prolific use of the word ώρα or “hour,” a term from Dan 8; 11; and 12, all of which have clear Messianic/eschatological overtones. It is in Jn 5 that Jesus again divides the Ages as the “hour” that “is coming and now is” (presence—the spiritual resurrection) and the “hour that is coming” (future—the eschatological resurrection and the consummation of all things). See: Jn 5:24—29; cf. Rev 20:4—6. This presents the Church Age as a time of overlap between the present age and the age to come. At his first advent Jesus inaugurated the age to come in his ministry, death, resurrection, and exaltation. In the pending period of time the Church is to be an outpost or sign of “the age to come” within “the present age.” Life in the new covenant community of Christ is to be a prefiguring and foretaste of the new creation which will be ushered in finally and fully at our Lord’s Parousia.
Summary
The Christian eschatology is not only unique, but is the only one that makes sense of human history and offers hope (I Thess 4:13). Unlike the Greeks of Paul’s day (e.g. most all philosophies of our own day), Christians from all ages have understood the history of man and his world as linear, moving from alpha to omega, it has a definitive beginning (i.e. Creation) and is moving rapidly towards a definitive end (i.e. New Creation)—history has a point and purpose—that point is a Person, Jesus Christ.
Unlike the “either-or” Jewish understanding of the “last days;” which is either, the former view contingently based upon the volatile flux of historical outworking, or the latter view that was dominantly a-historical and passively awaiting a single apocalyptic event in the unknown future, the Christian hope is both historical and eschatological. Concerning the surety of the basic historical components and of the very “day” itself, the believer (indeed the world) has an unequivocal promise of not only the “events,” but also the Person and purpose of the end. Moreover, due to Christ’s current Kingdom reign over history and more intimately his Church, and one’s union with Christ and his covenant community, the logical—rational certainty of the Second Coming is bolstered by the believer’s experiencing and realizing “the new creation” personally and already in an inaugurated sense. Thus, believers realize the regeneration of all things now via their own incorrigible experience of personal regeneration which is wrought by the Holy Spirit in conversion. Therefore, the Christian has for certain this “hope” now and in the age to come, as do all “who love his appearing” (II Tim 4:8).
III. The Second Coming is a Purposeful Event
A. Purpose # 1. The Resurrection of the Dead/Change of those Still Alive
1. In General
a. Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, v.29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
b. Act 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
2. The Changing of Believers Still Alive
a. 1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
b. 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
B. Purpose #2. The Judgment
1. Of the Believer’s Gospel Stewardship
a. Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we (Christians) shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
b. 2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2. General Judgment of Eternal Life or Death
a. Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
b. Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
c. 2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
C. Purpose # 3. The Kingdom—Finally and Fully—The New Creation
1. As Promised
a. Isa 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
b. Isa 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
c. 2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
d. Rev 21:1 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. 2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3. 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.
e. 1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
Summary and Conclusion
The above prospect will evoke a spirit of vigilance, perseverance, self-examination, and sanctification within the being of every born-again Christian. Sadly there are many Christians who live under the paralyzing fear generated by a particular teaching that one’s justification is subject to loss, and there is utterly no constant hope of security and assurance that they will be certainly spared of final and fatal eternal Judgment. Many proponents of “eternal insecurity” believe that such teaching promotes piety and devotion. Rather, this doctrine stunts genuine personal growth in grace and inevitably slides down the slippery slope into legalism and spiritual paralysis. Often people under this regime qualify as “people who are really saved, but don’t know they are.”
Of course legalism has an evil twin sister, her name is antinomianism. The easy-believe-ism so rampant in the church today is quick to call anyone who will simply nod their head in the direction of Jesus a bona fide Christian...saved and sealed...never to fear judgment again—eternally secure. However, their lives show no signs of any scriptural fruit of conversion, there is not even an inkling of grief or conviction sin. By all outward indications, these are still dead in their sin. Yet they will show you the card they signed at the crusade, and tell stories of how the preacher told them they would never have to fear the final Judgment again, despite there being no change in their attitude and lifestyle. These are called “carnal Christians”—Jesus calls them “tares...goats...workers of iniquity.” These generally qualify as “people who know they are saved, but really aren’t.”
A balanced understanding of the Second Coming of Christ is a remedial means to cure the ills of either extreme listed above. The Christian with no assurance can find “hope” in a biblical understanding of the Parousia. Indeed, she will, like all believers, give an accounting of the life she lived in Christ, yet will grow in her assurance knowing that Christ comes for his own with redemption and salvation—not wrath and Judgment. The “carnal Christian” is confronted to “make her calling and election sure,” to “examine herself to see if she is in the faith.”
The sheer suddenness of that day also should fuel a fire in the bosom of all Christians, prodding the slothful to a life given over to “seeking and saving that which is lost.” The Second Coming teaches all of us to redeem the time given us for the work of evangelism, at home and abroad.
The Parousia finds its end in the full and final realization of the enduring covenant promise of God, The Theme of all the Bible—“they will be to me a people and I shall be their God.” While there are literally thousands of ideologies concerning reality, its nature and extent, there is only one right one, and this is it. Everything Yahweh had for man in the Garden is now perfected at the Parousia of the Perfector himself. The People of God in the presence of God, in perfect communion and worship of God, this is reality! This is the very apex of our “faith, hope, and love.”
The Christian’s readiness for that day is not a matter of having their nose pressed to the window and their eyes skyward, but it is to have their nose pressed to the grindstone of “faith, hope, and love” and their eyes steadfastly fixed on the final great promise of God—his return!
MARANATHA!
Even the Apostle Paul, the one who made himself become “all things to all men that he might same some” (I Cor 9:22) was not completely unscathed by an emphasis or “a thing” in his own ministry. Paul’s however could not be over done!
The superstructure of Paul’s practical/pastoral theology always worked up from a tripartite foundation. His elementary foundation was the trinity of Christian virtues—“faith, hope, and love.” Nearly all of Paul’s exhortations, admonitions, and reproofs found in his epistles are rooted in one of these three points of the Christian life and there are times when he will bring the three together in a crescendo. Consider a famed conclusion from the “love chapter,”
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (I Cor 13:13).
What distinguishes Paul’s “ministry emphasis or thing” from his fellow modern day co-laborers is the comprehensive nature of faith, hope, and love—it is the summation of the Christian life. Paul’s emphasis is the foundation of all others listed above; teaching, leadership, and theology all must have their referential basis in these three. Of course the question this raises is what does this have to do with Jesus’ Second Advent? Everything!
In I Cor 13:13 Paul clearly magnifies love above, in the qualitative sense, faith and hope. The reason for this is because love is an attribute of the triune God. The believer will rightly maintain that God is the very essence of love—without Yahweh, love is nonsensical. God in Christ is always the object of the faith and hope of a believer, yet with love God is not only the object, but also the active subject.
As for faith, in Lk. 18:1—8, the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge, we find Jesus using an antithetical “lesser-to-greater” analogy to teach about his second coming. The parable stresses the importance of tenacity, steadfastness, and patient prayer while awaiting his coming; in a word—hope. Moreover, Jesus’ desired discovery at his coming appears in the final verse—the point of the parable—“will he find faith on earth when he returns?” Our current patience in hope is to be a barometer of our faith in his promise; his promise to return with redemption for his people and judgment for his enemies. The depth and quality of both our hope and faith in his promised coming is regulated by the depth of our love for his person. Thus, faith, hope, and love are central to our understanding of the Lord’s return.
This is no where more clear than in one of Paul’s most commendatory, yet anxious letters to the church of Thessalonica. In the first and fifth chapter of I Thessalonians we find the church exemplifying the trinity of faith, hope, and love in the outworking of the church’s life:
1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father...
And again:
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
From these two verses Paul teaches us that our “hope’s” object is the Lord Jesus (1:3); the “hope’s” outcome is our ultimate salvation (5:8), but it is in 1:10 that Paul defines our “hope’s” content. It is our patient, enduring faith in and longing love for our Lord’s coming:
1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
We can see from this brief analysis that amidst the divergent interpretations of the end product of God’s reign and rule over history; the second coming of the Son, the mean time of the church is to be spent with emphatic interest in the crux of the Christian life—faith, hope, and love. Our unwavering faith in, longing love for, and the fully assuring hope of our Lord’s appearing again is surely to be universally and dogmatically acclaimed in all the church. Despite one’s personal persuasion as to exactly how the chronology will work out, there are several points of sheer facticity and scriptural certainty subject to universal affirmation.
I. The Second Coming is Certain!
A. Our hope is as sure as the word, testimony, and promise of:
1. Jesus
a. Mat 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
b. Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
c. Jn 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
d. Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
2. Angels
a. Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
3. The Apostles
a. 1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...
b. 1Co 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
c. 1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
d. 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
e. Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Summary
These are just a few verses that can assure us that our “hope” in Jesus’ coming is as certain as anything a person can know. The Lord’s coming rest squarely on God’s fidelity to his word; something which cannot be broken (Jn 10:35), and his character; something he can’t deny. A Christian’s faith in this fact of history future is as reasonable as any belief to be held, this is because Yahweh, the God we love, is the only true “promise keeper.” We have 66 books all in one volume that testify to the fact that God has, does, and will remain faithful to every promise he makes. And it is at this very point—the second coming—that we may be most sure. The “history” God began thousands of years ago is on a steady course which will not be moved or altered and the objective destination of history is the return of Christ, the Lord of history, and the consummation of all things. The decree of Yahweh is more sure than any other knowledge one may have!
II. The Second Coming is a Personal Event
A. The Personal Presence of Christ
1. παροΰσια (Parousia) Defined. This is one of the central Greek NT words that speaks of Jesus’ second advent. Thayer defines it best as:
1) presence
2) the coming, arrival, advent
2a) the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God
And Strong as:
A being near, that is, advent (often, return; specifically of Christ to punish Jerusalem, or finally the wicked); (by implication) physical aspect: - coming, presence.
Cf. “Parousia” in connection Christ’s coming, past and future: Mat_24:3, Mat_24:27, Mat_24:37, Mat_24:39, 1Co_15:23, 1Th_2:19, 1Th_3:13, 1Th_4:15, 1Th_5:23, 2Th_2:1, 2Th_2:8-9 (2), Jam_5:7-8 (2), 2Pe_1:16, 2Pe_3:4, 2Pe_3:12, 1Jo_2:28
Summary
The first century church, much like the church today, was steeped in a pluralism of sorts. Greek philosophy largely held to a cyclical view of history, determined by Fate—not unlike Hinduism’s eschatology. With this view on the one side there was the dominate view of Judaism on the other. They originally believed “the day of Yahweh” and the ushering in of the “golden age” would be the subsequent results of a series of purely historical events. However, after centuries of oppression by foreign foes with no immanent victory in sight, Jewish writings saw a spike in apocalyptic literature during and shortly after the intertestamental period (400 B.C.—A.D. 150). There was then a shift in ideology from God’s immanent orchestration of the events of history in the life of national Israel with the end being a golden age of victory and peace for Israel as she ruled the nations, to the forecasting of God’s messianic figure bursting upon the scene in one catastrophic eschatological event which would in a moment trigger “the age to come.”
Against this diverse eschatological backdrop, the Bible presents the end of this age with the return and personal presence of God in Christ. As the Angels said in Acts 1:11, it will be “the same Jesus” the disciples saw ascending on the clouds who will return in like manner. This is in polar contrast to the Greek understanding of history, but for obvious reasons bears some likeness to the Hebraic view, yet there is one clear distinction.
2. The Two Age Synthesis
The Church Age can well be understood as the overlap of “the present age” and “the age to come.” The OT prophets foresaw the Messiah’s reign as a single historical, eschatological event, which once commenced would provide the people of God with victory, vindication, and peace; this is sometimes called prophetic telescoping. This type of futuristic revelation can be likened to looking at a distant mountain range. From the prophet’s vantage, what once looked like one large mountain upon nearer inspection (the revelational epoch of the NT) it becomes two mountains; a lesser mountain in front of a greater mountain with a valley of time (overlap) between them. Likewise, the Lord’s comings, first and second, are like the smaller mountain before the greater mountain. This helps to explain several things:
1. The disciples’ concept and confusion of the nature of the Kingdom of God. While there are many passages in which their misconceptions are evident, perhaps none is more clear than at Jesus’ post-Resurrection meeting with them in Acts 1:
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
2. It is Jesus himself who reveals the binary nature of the Messianic age in Lk.4:18—19. Here Jesus preaches from an explicitly Messianic passage in Isaiah which in the original context presents “the coming age” as a single event, however the Lord stops in mid-verse and proclaims the first part of the passage as fulfilled in his first coming and upon the hearing of the audience (v.21).
3. Also in Jn 5 Jesus makes prolific use of the word ώρα or “hour,” a term from Dan 8; 11; and 12, all of which have clear Messianic/eschatological overtones. It is in Jn 5 that Jesus again divides the Ages as the “hour” that “is coming and now is” (presence—the spiritual resurrection) and the “hour that is coming” (future—the eschatological resurrection and the consummation of all things). See: Jn 5:24—29; cf. Rev 20:4—6. This presents the Church Age as a time of overlap between the present age and the age to come. At his first advent Jesus inaugurated the age to come in his ministry, death, resurrection, and exaltation. In the pending period of time the Church is to be an outpost or sign of “the age to come” within “the present age.” Life in the new covenant community of Christ is to be a prefiguring and foretaste of the new creation which will be ushered in finally and fully at our Lord’s Parousia.
Summary
The Christian eschatology is not only unique, but is the only one that makes sense of human history and offers hope (I Thess 4:13). Unlike the Greeks of Paul’s day (e.g. most all philosophies of our own day), Christians from all ages have understood the history of man and his world as linear, moving from alpha to omega, it has a definitive beginning (i.e. Creation) and is moving rapidly towards a definitive end (i.e. New Creation)—history has a point and purpose—that point is a Person, Jesus Christ.
Unlike the “either-or” Jewish understanding of the “last days;” which is either, the former view contingently based upon the volatile flux of historical outworking, or the latter view that was dominantly a-historical and passively awaiting a single apocalyptic event in the unknown future, the Christian hope is both historical and eschatological. Concerning the surety of the basic historical components and of the very “day” itself, the believer (indeed the world) has an unequivocal promise of not only the “events,” but also the Person and purpose of the end. Moreover, due to Christ’s current Kingdom reign over history and more intimately his Church, and one’s union with Christ and his covenant community, the logical—rational certainty of the Second Coming is bolstered by the believer’s experiencing and realizing “the new creation” personally and already in an inaugurated sense. Thus, believers realize the regeneration of all things now via their own incorrigible experience of personal regeneration which is wrought by the Holy Spirit in conversion. Therefore, the Christian has for certain this “hope” now and in the age to come, as do all “who love his appearing” (II Tim 4:8).
III. The Second Coming is a Purposeful Event
A. Purpose # 1. The Resurrection of the Dead/Change of those Still Alive
1. In General
a. Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, v.29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
b. Act 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
2. The Changing of Believers Still Alive
a. 1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
b. 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
B. Purpose #2. The Judgment
1. Of the Believer’s Gospel Stewardship
a. Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we (Christians) shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
b. 2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2. General Judgment of Eternal Life or Death
a. Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
b. Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
c. 2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
C. Purpose # 3. The Kingdom—Finally and Fully—The New Creation
1. As Promised
a. Isa 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
b. Isa 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
c. 2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
d. Rev 21:1 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. 2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3. 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.
e. 1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
Summary and Conclusion
The above prospect will evoke a spirit of vigilance, perseverance, self-examination, and sanctification within the being of every born-again Christian. Sadly there are many Christians who live under the paralyzing fear generated by a particular teaching that one’s justification is subject to loss, and there is utterly no constant hope of security and assurance that they will be certainly spared of final and fatal eternal Judgment. Many proponents of “eternal insecurity” believe that such teaching promotes piety and devotion. Rather, this doctrine stunts genuine personal growth in grace and inevitably slides down the slippery slope into legalism and spiritual paralysis. Often people under this regime qualify as “people who are really saved, but don’t know they are.”
Of course legalism has an evil twin sister, her name is antinomianism. The easy-believe-ism so rampant in the church today is quick to call anyone who will simply nod their head in the direction of Jesus a bona fide Christian...saved and sealed...never to fear judgment again—eternally secure. However, their lives show no signs of any scriptural fruit of conversion, there is not even an inkling of grief or conviction sin. By all outward indications, these are still dead in their sin. Yet they will show you the card they signed at the crusade, and tell stories of how the preacher told them they would never have to fear the final Judgment again, despite there being no change in their attitude and lifestyle. These are called “carnal Christians”—Jesus calls them “tares...goats...workers of iniquity.” These generally qualify as “people who know they are saved, but really aren’t.”
A balanced understanding of the Second Coming of Christ is a remedial means to cure the ills of either extreme listed above. The Christian with no assurance can find “hope” in a biblical understanding of the Parousia. Indeed, she will, like all believers, give an accounting of the life she lived in Christ, yet will grow in her assurance knowing that Christ comes for his own with redemption and salvation—not wrath and Judgment. The “carnal Christian” is confronted to “make her calling and election sure,” to “examine herself to see if she is in the faith.”
The sheer suddenness of that day also should fuel a fire in the bosom of all Christians, prodding the slothful to a life given over to “seeking and saving that which is lost.” The Second Coming teaches all of us to redeem the time given us for the work of evangelism, at home and abroad.
The Parousia finds its end in the full and final realization of the enduring covenant promise of God, The Theme of all the Bible—“they will be to me a people and I shall be their God.” While there are literally thousands of ideologies concerning reality, its nature and extent, there is only one right one, and this is it. Everything Yahweh had for man in the Garden is now perfected at the Parousia of the Perfector himself. The People of God in the presence of God, in perfect communion and worship of God, this is reality! This is the very apex of our “faith, hope, and love.”
The Christian’s readiness for that day is not a matter of having their nose pressed to the window and their eyes skyward, but it is to have their nose pressed to the grindstone of “faith, hope, and love” and their eyes steadfastly fixed on the final great promise of God—his return!
MARANATHA!
Understanding God's Big Story
The Bible’s Big Story
Without a firm grasp on the Bible’s Big Story, its grand meta-narrative, our understanding of the smaller stories and even the Gospel is hindered. Moreover, given how fast our culture is moving from the Christian heritage to crass secularization, those with whom we would share the Gospel haven’t the necessary historical context to make the Gospel meaningful. What follows is just one suggestion to help improve these conditions.
Systematic-Theologically Stated
In essence, the Bible’s Big Story can be summed up in God creating and redeeming a humanity to dwell among, so that throughout the Story we hear the promising refrain that is finally and fully realized in Rev 21:3, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Systematically stated, this Big Story or meta-narrative is an organic unity that unfolds through four major divisions: (1) Creation, (2) rebellion, (3) redemption, and (4) consummation or new creation. Thus, (1) God creates the universe and man. Originally, the creation and humanity were “very good” in God’s evaluation, by virtue of the entire created order, especially man, who, as prophet, priest, and king over creation, is in a proper relationship with the Creator God, evil being the contrary of this “very good” relationship.
Soon, though, (2) this sweet, loving, sustaining relationship was ruined by man’s rebellion against God. Because God is infinitely just and cannot lie, he was true to his word and decree, and thus brought man and his world under the judgment and curse promised upon man’s disobedience. Thankfully, (3) God is also infinitely merciful, and with the punishment came the Promise—the first promise of redemption, the Gospel (Gen 3:15). The promised “Seed of the woman,” the Coming One, “in the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4), Jesus Christ, stepped into history and accomplished that redemption through his incarnation, life, sacrificial-substitutionary death, resurrection from the dead, his exaltation to the right hand of the Father, and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (henceforth, these historical-redemptive events of Jesus’ sojourn on earth during his first coming will be called the Christ Event for convenience). We now live in the daily expectation of Christ’s return, when he will bring his redemptive work to a completion with his second coming, bring about a general resurrection of believers and unbelievers alike, and executing the final judgment, once for all to destroy all his enemies, Death and Hades, and the Adversary himself, that old serpent, Satan in the lake of fire. Only then, after the curse, evil, and death that was ushered in by man’s fall is finally destroyed, having been “put under Christ’s feet,” will (4) the new creation—the new heaven and new earth—be realized.
In the present, therefore, the whole creation in general (Rom 8:18f) and humanity in particular is living in the tension between Christ accomplishing redemption (his first coming) and his breaking into history to wrap up all things and bring that redemption to its completion in judgment on the wicked and salvation on the elect (his second coming). So “according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13). This hope is our salvation.
Lest it seem that we have gotten ahead of ourselves in neatly systematizing all the complex data from Scripture in the four-fold framework above (i.e., creation, rebellion, redemption, consummation or new creation; henceforth, CRRC), we should observe that within the Bible itself there is a similar structuring of the Plan of God, which also bears witness to the beautiful coherence of the Big Story.
Biblical-Theologically Stated
A quick caveat is in order at this point. We need to make clear what we mean when we distinguish between systematic and biblical theology. First, it is not as though systematic theology is unbiblical over against the other, the biblical theology. Rather the two could be fairly understood better as: systematic theology is deductive in drawing its conclusions, whereas the other, biblical theology, is an inductive process. Both, however, are biblical in the sense that each methodology, if done with integrity and fidelity to Christ, will reach ‘biblical’ conclusions.
Therefore, when coming to the biblical data, that is, what Scripture diachronically and organically reveals concerning the major turning points in the Big Story, we find the same categories, only framed a little differently.
There is a literary device known as an inclusio. An inclusio acts as bookends for the content of a given literary passage or even the entire work. That is to say, an author will include his central theme or thrust of a block of material at the beginning and a corresponding piece of the same at the end, thus emphasizing that he intends the reader to bear this central point in the fore of their thoughts while journeying from one bookend to another. One explicit example of the use of an inclusio would be John’s prologue to his gospel (1:1—18).
John’s prologue begins thus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). This last phrase univocally states the deity of the Word, Jesus. Likewise, the prologue ends by restating the same point(s), “No one has ever seen God; the only God [“the Word was God,” 1:1c], who is at the Father’s side [“with God,” 1:1b, 2], he has made him known” (ESV 1:18). John therefore wants the reader to understand clearly from the start that the One who the entire rest of this gospel is about is none other than God himself. By means of the inclusio, then, John emphasizes the deity of Jesus, and his exclusive ability to reveal the Father (1:18c), which is exactly what the rest of John’s gospel is about.
Similarly, and closer to the context now under consideration, we also find an inclusio being used in Genesis 1:1 and 2:4. Genesis 1:1 reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Similarly, Genesis 2:4 says, “These are the generations of the heavens and earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” These bookends are intended to stress that God, as Creator and Controller, is the absolute sovereign over everything that exists—everything. Such a concept would have stood in sharp contrast to every other prevailing pagan origins stories—whether they be in Moses’ day or our own! In addition, since Genesis 2:4 also serves as the introduction to the following section (2:4—24), they thus direct the reader toward harmonizing the two accounts. (It’s worth mentioning that these two examples are linked intentionally by John with the opening words: “In the beginning...” in a creational context [John 1:1—3]. To then discover that both introductions have a similar pattern with the rear bookend of the inclusio also preparing the reader for what follows is a literary jewel that shouldn’t be overlooked!)
Another strong feature in the Bible is known as chiasm. A chiasm begins and ends with the inclusio but also has more or less members between the bookends, which correspond respectively. For instance, it would follow a pattern similar to this: A-B-C-D-C’-B’-A’. Sometimes these members are comprised of single terms; sometimes they are constructed of larger concepts or thoughts.
With these illustrations of the inclusio and chiasm under our belt, we’re ready to move on and examine their function in the Big Story of creation, fall, redemption and consummation.
Granting, then, it’s overall unity, it should not surprise us that the Bible as a whole has this same features. The first three chapters (Gen 1 – 3) and the final three chapters (Rev 20 – 21) of the Bible have incredible correspondence to one another; so much so that there is sufficient reason to conclude that this pair of triplets form the inclusio that provides the bookends or framework for all the content between them; and the central thrust of the Big Story or meta-narrative, in terms of which all the little stories or micro-narratives make sense, not least the subject, object, and climax of the Big Story—the Christ Event. The Christ Event is the center or chi of the chiasm, making Jesus both the subject and object of all of history. As such, grasping the import of the centrality of the meanings of these member is essential for formulating a biblically robust doctrine of eschatology. This framework could be expressed as follows.
(A) Genesis 1:1—2:24 The Original “Very Good” Creation; God Dwelling with His People.
(A. 1) Gen 1:1—2:3 A general description of creation; God making all things from nothing
(A. 2. i) Gen 2:4—24 A particular description of creation; the dwelling place of God is with man contingently
(A. 2. ii) Gen 2:15—17 Life with God in the garden and access to the tree of life contingent upon trusting and obeying God, and thus keeping his Word.
(B) Genesis 3 The Fatal Fall of Man; God Judges Rebels; Death Enters
(B to X) Gen 3:15—Malachi The War Between the Two Seeds Begins (archetypically seen in Cain vs. Able in Gen 4)
(X) Matthew thru Acts 2; The Christ Event, Redemption Accomplished; the Inauguration of the Age to Come; the War Between the Seeds Settled in Principle; the Holy Spirit descends on the Church, God in flesh (Jn 1:14) and Spirit (Acts) dwelling with His People
(X to B′) Acts 2 – Rev 19 [actually to present] – The War Between the Two Seeds Continues (antitypically seen between those who are “born of God/or the Seed of the woman and those that are “of the evil one like Cain.” See esp. 1 John 3 and Revelation)
(B′) Revelation 20:7—15 The Final Fall of Man; General Resurrection; God Passes Final Judgment on Rebels; Death is Destroy
(A′) Revelation 21—22:5 The New Creation; God Eternally Dwelling with His People
(A′. 1) Rev 21:1—8 A general description of the new creation; Christ recreating all things anew
(A′. 2. i) Rev 21:9—22:5 A particular description of the new creation; God’s dwelling is with men eternally
(A′. 2. ii) Rev 22:6—21 Life with God and the Lamb in the garden and access to the tree of life are contingent upon trusting and obeying God and the Lamb, and thus keeping their Word.
This is only one of many ways that the Big Story can be framed. However this is done, though, it must capture the four elements of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, keeping them properly related to each other, in order to make sense of the Bible’s Big Story. And once this Big Story is clear in your mind, it will amaze you how much more some of the smaller stories make sense to you.
There’s an old axiom: “Nothing is meaningful without context.” Rapidly, our culture and even the Church is loosing the vision of the Big Story. And without the Big Story concretely in place, the climax of the Story, the Gospel of Jesus scarcely makes sense. As Paul said, to the Greeks, those without the Big Story, the “word of the cross is foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Therefore, for both our own understanding and our ability to make much of Jesus through sharing his Gospel with others, we need a thorough grasp of the Big Story of the Bible.
Blessings,
Kevin
Without a firm grasp on the Bible’s Big Story, its grand meta-narrative, our understanding of the smaller stories and even the Gospel is hindered. Moreover, given how fast our culture is moving from the Christian heritage to crass secularization, those with whom we would share the Gospel haven’t the necessary historical context to make the Gospel meaningful. What follows is just one suggestion to help improve these conditions.
Systematic-Theologically Stated
In essence, the Bible’s Big Story can be summed up in God creating and redeeming a humanity to dwell among, so that throughout the Story we hear the promising refrain that is finally and fully realized in Rev 21:3, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Systematically stated, this Big Story or meta-narrative is an organic unity that unfolds through four major divisions: (1) Creation, (2) rebellion, (3) redemption, and (4) consummation or new creation. Thus, (1) God creates the universe and man. Originally, the creation and humanity were “very good” in God’s evaluation, by virtue of the entire created order, especially man, who, as prophet, priest, and king over creation, is in a proper relationship with the Creator God, evil being the contrary of this “very good” relationship.
Soon, though, (2) this sweet, loving, sustaining relationship was ruined by man’s rebellion against God. Because God is infinitely just and cannot lie, he was true to his word and decree, and thus brought man and his world under the judgment and curse promised upon man’s disobedience. Thankfully, (3) God is also infinitely merciful, and with the punishment came the Promise—the first promise of redemption, the Gospel (Gen 3:15). The promised “Seed of the woman,” the Coming One, “in the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4), Jesus Christ, stepped into history and accomplished that redemption through his incarnation, life, sacrificial-substitutionary death, resurrection from the dead, his exaltation to the right hand of the Father, and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (henceforth, these historical-redemptive events of Jesus’ sojourn on earth during his first coming will be called the Christ Event for convenience). We now live in the daily expectation of Christ’s return, when he will bring his redemptive work to a completion with his second coming, bring about a general resurrection of believers and unbelievers alike, and executing the final judgment, once for all to destroy all his enemies, Death and Hades, and the Adversary himself, that old serpent, Satan in the lake of fire. Only then, after the curse, evil, and death that was ushered in by man’s fall is finally destroyed, having been “put under Christ’s feet,” will (4) the new creation—the new heaven and new earth—be realized.
In the present, therefore, the whole creation in general (Rom 8:18f) and humanity in particular is living in the tension between Christ accomplishing redemption (his first coming) and his breaking into history to wrap up all things and bring that redemption to its completion in judgment on the wicked and salvation on the elect (his second coming). So “according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13). This hope is our salvation.
Lest it seem that we have gotten ahead of ourselves in neatly systematizing all the complex data from Scripture in the four-fold framework above (i.e., creation, rebellion, redemption, consummation or new creation; henceforth, CRRC), we should observe that within the Bible itself there is a similar structuring of the Plan of God, which also bears witness to the beautiful coherence of the Big Story.
Biblical-Theologically Stated
A quick caveat is in order at this point. We need to make clear what we mean when we distinguish between systematic and biblical theology. First, it is not as though systematic theology is unbiblical over against the other, the biblical theology. Rather the two could be fairly understood better as: systematic theology is deductive in drawing its conclusions, whereas the other, biblical theology, is an inductive process. Both, however, are biblical in the sense that each methodology, if done with integrity and fidelity to Christ, will reach ‘biblical’ conclusions.
Therefore, when coming to the biblical data, that is, what Scripture diachronically and organically reveals concerning the major turning points in the Big Story, we find the same categories, only framed a little differently.
There is a literary device known as an inclusio. An inclusio acts as bookends for the content of a given literary passage or even the entire work. That is to say, an author will include his central theme or thrust of a block of material at the beginning and a corresponding piece of the same at the end, thus emphasizing that he intends the reader to bear this central point in the fore of their thoughts while journeying from one bookend to another. One explicit example of the use of an inclusio would be John’s prologue to his gospel (1:1—18).
John’s prologue begins thus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). This last phrase univocally states the deity of the Word, Jesus. Likewise, the prologue ends by restating the same point(s), “No one has ever seen God; the only God [“the Word was God,” 1:1c], who is at the Father’s side [“with God,” 1:1b, 2], he has made him known” (ESV 1:18). John therefore wants the reader to understand clearly from the start that the One who the entire rest of this gospel is about is none other than God himself. By means of the inclusio, then, John emphasizes the deity of Jesus, and his exclusive ability to reveal the Father (1:18c), which is exactly what the rest of John’s gospel is about.
Similarly, and closer to the context now under consideration, we also find an inclusio being used in Genesis 1:1 and 2:4. Genesis 1:1 reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Similarly, Genesis 2:4 says, “These are the generations of the heavens and earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” These bookends are intended to stress that God, as Creator and Controller, is the absolute sovereign over everything that exists—everything. Such a concept would have stood in sharp contrast to every other prevailing pagan origins stories—whether they be in Moses’ day or our own! In addition, since Genesis 2:4 also serves as the introduction to the following section (2:4—24), they thus direct the reader toward harmonizing the two accounts. (It’s worth mentioning that these two examples are linked intentionally by John with the opening words: “In the beginning...” in a creational context [John 1:1—3]. To then discover that both introductions have a similar pattern with the rear bookend of the inclusio also preparing the reader for what follows is a literary jewel that shouldn’t be overlooked!)
Another strong feature in the Bible is known as chiasm. A chiasm begins and ends with the inclusio but also has more or less members between the bookends, which correspond respectively. For instance, it would follow a pattern similar to this: A-B-C-D-C’-B’-A’. Sometimes these members are comprised of single terms; sometimes they are constructed of larger concepts or thoughts.
With these illustrations of the inclusio and chiasm under our belt, we’re ready to move on and examine their function in the Big Story of creation, fall, redemption and consummation.
Granting, then, it’s overall unity, it should not surprise us that the Bible as a whole has this same features. The first three chapters (Gen 1 – 3) and the final three chapters (Rev 20 – 21) of the Bible have incredible correspondence to one another; so much so that there is sufficient reason to conclude that this pair of triplets form the inclusio that provides the bookends or framework for all the content between them; and the central thrust of the Big Story or meta-narrative, in terms of which all the little stories or micro-narratives make sense, not least the subject, object, and climax of the Big Story—the Christ Event. The Christ Event is the center or chi of the chiasm, making Jesus both the subject and object of all of history. As such, grasping the import of the centrality of the meanings of these member is essential for formulating a biblically robust doctrine of eschatology. This framework could be expressed as follows.
(A) Genesis 1:1—2:24 The Original “Very Good” Creation; God Dwelling with His People.
(A. 1) Gen 1:1—2:3 A general description of creation; God making all things from nothing
(A. 2. i) Gen 2:4—24 A particular description of creation; the dwelling place of God is with man contingently
(A. 2. ii) Gen 2:15—17 Life with God in the garden and access to the tree of life contingent upon trusting and obeying God, and thus keeping his Word.
(B) Genesis 3 The Fatal Fall of Man; God Judges Rebels; Death Enters
(B to X) Gen 3:15—Malachi The War Between the Two Seeds Begins (archetypically seen in Cain vs. Able in Gen 4)
(X) Matthew thru Acts 2; The Christ Event, Redemption Accomplished; the Inauguration of the Age to Come; the War Between the Seeds Settled in Principle; the Holy Spirit descends on the Church, God in flesh (Jn 1:14) and Spirit (Acts) dwelling with His People
(X to B′) Acts 2 – Rev 19 [actually to present] – The War Between the Two Seeds Continues (antitypically seen between those who are “born of God/or the Seed of the woman and those that are “of the evil one like Cain.” See esp. 1 John 3 and Revelation)
(B′) Revelation 20:7—15 The Final Fall of Man; General Resurrection; God Passes Final Judgment on Rebels; Death is Destroy
(A′) Revelation 21—22:5 The New Creation; God Eternally Dwelling with His People
(A′. 1) Rev 21:1—8 A general description of the new creation; Christ recreating all things anew
(A′. 2. i) Rev 21:9—22:5 A particular description of the new creation; God’s dwelling is with men eternally
(A′. 2. ii) Rev 22:6—21 Life with God and the Lamb in the garden and access to the tree of life are contingent upon trusting and obeying God and the Lamb, and thus keeping their Word.
This is only one of many ways that the Big Story can be framed. However this is done, though, it must capture the four elements of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, keeping them properly related to each other, in order to make sense of the Bible’s Big Story. And once this Big Story is clear in your mind, it will amaze you how much more some of the smaller stories make sense to you.
There’s an old axiom: “Nothing is meaningful without context.” Rapidly, our culture and even the Church is loosing the vision of the Big Story. And without the Big Story concretely in place, the climax of the Story, the Gospel of Jesus scarcely makes sense. As Paul said, to the Greeks, those without the Big Story, the “word of the cross is foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Therefore, for both our own understanding and our ability to make much of Jesus through sharing his Gospel with others, we need a thorough grasp of the Big Story of the Bible.
Blessings,
Kevin
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