Tag Archive for 'eschatology'

Turning Point of History

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. He came to bring order and reconciliation to a world fallen into sin. The birth of Jesus is not merely a fact of ancient history.  We can live triumphant today with the knowledge that the defeat of all of our foes commenced with the death and resurrection of Jesus in the first century. The story begins with the promise of the offspring of the woman who would come to defeat the serpent:

The Lord God said to the serpent . . .
” . . . I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)

The people who lived before Christ lived in general darkness, but Christ came to bring light to the world:

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

. . . when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away  . . .  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed  . . .  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another . . . (2 Corinthians 3:14-18)

Jesus was born into the world to rule the world in peace, justice, and righteousness:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

All authority over all things was given to Jesus by the Father:

“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Jesus will continue to reign until all enemies have finally and completely been abolished:

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death  . . .  When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:25-28)

Merry Christmas!

Published on December 25, 2008. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Timing in 1 Corinthians 15

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul gives some crucial information that should affect our eschatology. The key is in verse 26 when Paul calls death the “last enemy.” Verses 23-26 taken as a whole show that death is defeated by the resurrection of believers. That resurrection of believers occurs at the Second Coming of Christ as stated in verse 23. The Premillennialist must explain how there can still be a multitude of enemies to be defeated 1,000 years after the resurrection of believers has already occurred. When “all rule and all authority and power” has been defeated, Christ will return to resurrect His own people. This resurrection is the defeat of death – the “last enemy.”

Published on December 13, 2005. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Why I Became a Postmillenialist

Alistair recently posted on his site a very good treatment of his theological history. I very much understood where he was coming from and wanted to express here some of the reasons I believe the things I do.

Many of the people that I still have as friends continue to be mildly dispensational and definitely Baptist. I understand why I am a postmillenial, paedobaptist presbyterian. Many of my friends on the other hand don’t understand at the least and at the most think I’m crazy. I became very interested in Greg Bahnsen after a friend (a baptist friend) loaned me some of his debates with atheists. I was very impressed with Bahnsen’s thinking and saw how much of what he said fit with the scripture. I tend to be slow to latch on to new ideas but at times I run into things that are rather close to what I was already thinking but I didn’t really know how to put it to words. Listening to Bahnsen made me want to understand more of his reconstructionism and his postmillenialism. I still remember the day that I was listening to his tapes “Why I am a Postmillenialist”. I felt that he had a better grasp of eschatology than I had heard before but I wanted to be sure that what he said was really in the Bible. After listening to his explanation of 1 Corinthians 15 and especially verses 20-28 a few times I came to understand what he was saying. It kind of clicked when I came to understand that the passage leaves no room for a millenium on earth after the return of Christ. The dispensational premillenialist can hold his position by ignoring the clear idea that the defeat of the last enemy is accomplished by the final resurrection. The last enemy (death) is defeated by the resurrection that occurrs when Christ returns. There is no place for future enemies at the end of the millenium as the premillenialist must claim.

The biggest problem my friends have with this is Revelation 20 and their literalist reading of that (and their view of Israel). One problem among many with this is that they cannot put a “literal” reading of Revelation 20 up against a literal reading of 1 Corinthians 15. They may say that I ignore Revelation 20 (without basis) but it seems to me they ignore 1 Corinthians 15. They can’t have it both ways. Some say that Revelation 19 depicts Christ coming on a literal horse from heaven but that the sword coming out of his mouth is figurative. Why? Isn’t it rather clear that it is all figurative. Yes, the word of Christ is a two-edged sword that defeats the enemies of God. Isn’t this nothing more than a picture of the triumph of the gospel in this age?

Just like Alistair, it becomes easier to look at a wider range of beliefs and look for the good. When postmillenialism and amillenialism is linked to unbelieving liberalism it makes you wonder. If some people cannot even understand where the postmillenialist is coming from (to the extent they call them liberal) can we be sure that they know where others are coming from?. Just some of my thoughts. Thanks for reading.

Published on March 3, 2005. 6 Comments Tags: , , .