Of Last Things: Part 3 – A Great Kingdom Reversal

So far we have read about the judgement of God that will bring to an end the present material and celestial orders. However, what will become of the new humanity that God is redeeming for Himself? The Bible never gives us a detailed account of God’s plans for the world to come, in fact it specifically tells us that we aren’t even able to comprehend those truths (1 Cor 2:9). That said it does give us several glimpses into that reality, at least in forms that we are able to apprehend, so as to comfort us as we go through afflictions in our present life. These glimpses strengthen the Christian’s resolve to persevere in the faith, knowing what lies ahead. These glimpses are of things promised to us by God Himself and therefore we can be certain that we will inherit those promises if we persevere in Christ.

Of Last Things: Part 2 – The End of the Present Celestial Order

We have seen how the created order consists of both a material and a celestial component and how these realities reflect each other. At Babel God divided the nations as an inheritance to powerful celestial beings called the sons of God. These beings had rebelled against God under the banner of Satan. Earthly nations were ordained to be a manifestation of their rule from the high places. These beings, along with the sons of God and angels who were loyal to YHWH formed God’s Divine Council. This forms the basis for the present celestial order. Even though these beings were cast out of the Divine Council on Christ’s ascension, that established order whereby the sons of God rule over the nations of this world remains - Satan himself retaining the title of god of this world (2 Cor 4:4). However, as we have seen a judgement on a nation was a reflection of the judgement on its gods and vice-versa. Therefore, the end of the present material order also spells the doom of the present celestial order. This doom was already proclaimed in Eden, ushered in at Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension and on the last day, it will become a consummate reality.

Of Last Things: Part 1 – The End of the Present Material Order

Of all the intrusions of the Day of the Lord into space and time, the flood in Noah’s day was the greatest. As we have already seen, this was a judgement on a global scale that resulted in the death of all living things, save for Noah, his family and a pair of every animal to repopulate the world. Not only were the humans of the first world killed, all their works, their cities and everything they built and stored up were destroyed in the deluge. In other words, the works of civilization did not survive the destruction of the first world. After this destruction, we have seen how God established a general covenant with all of Noah’s descendants, promising to preserve the world and its natural order - day and night, summer and winter, cold and heat, springtime and harvest. Yet, this promise was given under the backdrop of the ultimate destruction of the order - for the covenant was made as long as the earth remaineth (Gen 8:22), indicating that there would be a time when it would no longer remain. Though there was a promise that the world would not be destroyed in water, the ultimate end of the second world has always loomed on its horizon.

The Inauguration of Christ’s Kingdom

Let us use some of these Apostolic methods of interpreting Biblical prophecy to understand when Christ’s Kingdom began. If we understand when this Kingdom of God was inaugurated we can devote ourselves to studying  Christ Himself as the substance of Scriptures and how that ought to affect our lives. Placing the inauguration of Christ’s kingdom is critical to understanding where we are today and where we are headed. Is the Kingdom of God a future event? Or is it something that has already been inaugurated?

Eschatology Matters: Temporal Gain vs Eternal Reward

Postmillennials love to mock those who reject their carnal doctrine as pessimists. While I have demonstrated prior that this label has no basis [1], it would be pertinent to write about Christian motivation as far as this age is concerned under the shadow of eternity. If as the Scripture teaches, we are to not expect victory in this age along with the transformation of societies and nations, then it would seem like our efforts in this life are futile, especially with regards to things that don't have direct continuity in the age to come, like our work, marriage, children, etc. This is a charge often levied by the Postmillennials against those that hold to an Apocalyptic (Amill/Historic Premill) view of eschatology. However, the New Testament provides much motivation for the Christian to live his life faithfully under the shadow of the cross and in the light of eternity while rejecting the Jewish dreams of a carnal Kingdom of God.

Eschatology Matters: A Primer on Apocalypticism

In the past week, I've run across a surprising number of posts and articles by figures popular in the Dominionist stream of Christianity on the significance of eschatology. The central thesis of these writings is that Premillennialism and Amillennialism, having no optimistic theology of victory for this present age, do not produce in their adherents the right kind of attitude to win the "Culture War". Since Postmillennials look forward to the promised victory of the Christ in this age through the work of the Church, they are rightly equipped and motivated to engage the culture and take dominion for Christ. It is certainly true that our theological positions have serious practical implications. One need to look no further than the Hyper-Grace Christianity prevalent in Evangelicalism today. It has made having a "messy" Christian life normal and even ideal. Christians more often desire to associate with David's moral failings (ignoring the majority of his life) than with those who are called in Scripture perfect and upright, like Daniel, Joseph, Job and David (in the rest of his life apart from Bathsheba). Thus, the authors of these writings are absolutely right in pointing out that our theological positions affect our actions. Going beyond that though, it was unsurprising that these writings were full of optimistic presuppositions that have no basis in Scripture.

Postmillennial Eisegesis of the Great Multitude of Revelation 7

I can't recall how many times I've had Postmillenials quote this verse to me to justify a massive conversion of mankind to Christianity, a time when all those passages concerning persecution and being a remnant will become a thing of the past, prior to the Parousia of our Lord! In reading select Apocalyptic and Prophetic texts in this manner, the Postmillenial commits the same error of the Dispensationalist, and reads such Literature with a literalist rather than a spiritualist hermeneutic. The presumption made is that "which no man could number" indicates a number in the billions or even more, or as some claim, the elect in history outnumber the reprobate.

A simple survey of the Biblical usage of such terminology, however, would indicate that the Postmillenial conveniently uses a literalist hermeneutic for this Text while ignoring the figurative usage of such terms in the breadth of Scripture. Lets consider the census in Numbers for instance.

Christianity and Culture

Let us then like the Early Church and the Christians during the apostasy of Rome accept persecution, suffering and the reality that we will always be a remnant saved by grace (Rom 11:5) and not a conquering majority. Indeed the Apostle Paul has called us more than conquerors in our Lord (Rom 8:37). Yet our conquest and success is not visible in materialistic terms and would never be considered success by the standards of depraved man. The Apostle never asserts that our conquest lies in the establishment of a Christian State but posits that it lies in all the afflictions we face for being part of the Kingdom of God while living in a world filled with darkness. We are more than conquerors because the Light has already triumphed over the darkness. Christ is victor, we have no need to establish a Christian Country. The only Christian Country that ever will be has already been established, it is the Church, the Kingdom of God, with Jesus Christ as King.