The end is now!… and not yet.Realistic Hope for Everyday Christian Life

Lesson 7 – Eschatology, the People of God,and the Mission of the Church

Resurrection and

Amillennialism

Christ the Eschatological Messianic-King comes into the fleshly order of existence which is characterized by weakness, sin, and death, and proclaims the presence of his eschatological kingdom.

He is obedient as the second and last Adam.The eschatological life Adam forfeits Christ obtains.He is raised into a new imperishable order of existence.He comes into eschatological possession of the Spirit in his

resurrection.He pours out this Spirit on his Church and so delivers his

people from the present evil age into a new age marked by the Spirit.

Thus he is the giver of eternal (eschatological) life through his Spirit, that is to say Christ has become life-giving Spirit.

Summary

Christ, Eschatological Messianic-King works through his people, by His Spirit, to bring the announcement of Christ and his work to all Israel and to the nations.

Act 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Pentecost propels the Church into its mission.This means that the mission of the Church is

nothing less than the eschatological announcement of the Good News of God’s eschatological salvation, his final and eternal work in Christ.

Eschatology and Mission

Christ will redeem Creation itself.

Redemption is of cosmic proportions.

Christ also will redeem,not just natural bornIsraelites, but all nations.

The Last Adam and New Creation

“The nature of the church is a crucial point of difference between classic, or normative, dispensationalism and other doctrinal systems. Indeed, ecclesiology, or the doctrine of the church, is the touchstone of dispensationalism.” – Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism, pg. 143.

“The dispensationalist believes that throughout the ages God is pursuing two distinct purposes; one related to the earth with earthly people and earthy objectives involved, which is Judaism; while the other is related to heaven with heavenly people and heavenly objectives involved, which is Christianity.” – Lewis Sperry Chafer, Dispensationalism, pg. 107.

A Critique of Dispensationalism

“The apparent dichotomy between heavenly and earthly purposed means this: The earthly purposes of Israel of which dispensationalists speak concerns the yet unfulfilled national promised that will be fulfilled by Israel during the Millennium as they live on the earth in unresurrected bodies.” – Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism, pg. 159.

Given what we have studied, thus far, we can not only see how problematic the idea of a “millennial kingdom” is but also how foreign such a division is to Scripture .

The New Testament knows no division between God’s earthly and heavenly objectives, and between his material and Spiritual promises.

A Critique of Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

There is no Scriptural basis for dividing up the people of God or His promises.

A Critique of Dispensationalism

From the very beginning of Israel’s existence she is called to be a blessing to the nations.

Gen. 12:1-3 - Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Israel and the Nations

“God’s call of Abraham was explicitly for the ultimate purpose of blessing the nations (Gen. 12:1-3). This fundamentally missionary intention of the election of Israel echoes through the Old Testament at almost every level. There was a universal goal to the very existence of Israel. What God did in, for and through Israel was understood to be ultimately for the benefit of the nations.” - Christopher Wright, Deuteronomy, pg. 11.

Israel and the Nations

Israel’s monotheism is inherently missional.Deut. 6:4-5 - "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our

God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Zech. 14:9 - And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

The eschatological hope of Israel is that one day all nations would profess loyalty to YHWH.

Israel and the Nations

“The historical particularity and redemptive character of Old Testament monotheism coincide in the person of Jesus. It is not enough to acclaim merely the unique power of Jesus’ life, or insights, or teaching, or example. The New Testament witness is that in Jesus the mission of Israel was accomplished (as the gospel went to the nations in fulfillment of the promise of Abraham) and that in Jesus YHWH himself had been encountered in human life. God is God as revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.” - Christopher Wright, Deuteronomy, pg. 11.

Israel and the Nations

1 Cor. 8:5-6 - For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth--as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"-- 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

“Paul is not adding to the one God of the Shema a ‘Lord’ whom the Shema does not mention. He is identifying Jesus as the ‘Lord’ whom the Shema affirms to be one. In this unprecedented reformulation of the Shema, the unique identity of the one God consists of the one God, the Father, and the one Lord, his Messiah (who is implicitly regarded as the Son of the Father).” – Richard Bauckham, “Biblical Theology and the Problems of Monotheism,” pg. 224.

The Shema and Christ

Rom 3:29-30 - 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one--who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

“From the fact that God is one and that there is no other God than he who has revealed himself to his people Israel, it is therefore concluded that the God known and worshipped by Israel must also be the God of the gentiles. Precisely that which for the Jews was the ground for their particularism – apart from Israel’s God there is no God – here becomes the ground for the universalism: all men have to do with one God in judgment and grace.” – Herman Ridderbos, Paul, pg. 339.

Paul, the Shema, and the Gentiles

Luke 24:45-49 - 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.“

Pentecost propels to Apostles in their eschatological task to proclaim the good news of Christ to the nations.

This is an eschatological proclamation.

The Eschatological King, His Word, and the Nations

Isa. 2:2-3  - It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The Eschatological King, His Word, and the Nations

“Indeed, the rest of the book of Acts may be seen as the record of the onward march of the “word of the Lord” (see Acts 6:7; 8:14; 12:24; 13:48-49; 19:20; 20:32) beginning from Jerusalem (1:1-6:7), then into all Judea and Samaria (6:8-8:40), then, beginning with the calling of the apostles to the Gentiles, to the end of the earth (9:1-28:31)… The eschatological setting for the going forth of the new “law,” the “word of the Lord from Jerusalem” is announced at the beginning of Isaiah’s prophecy, “It shall come to pass in the latter days” (Isa. 2:2).” – C.E. Hill, “God’s Speech in These Last Days,” pg. 210

The Eschatological King, His Word, and the Nations

The resurrected and vindicated Christ now brings the mission of Israel to the nations to its final (eschatological) stage.

Acts 17:30-31  - The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

“Because He has been given all power in heaven and on earth, Jesus lays claim to the discipleship of all nations.” – Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, pg. 377.

The Eschatological King, His Word, and the Nations

The message that the Apostles and all those who follow Christ, bring to the nations is not that they are second class citizens in the kingdom of God!

“That salvation, whether now or in the Millennium, constitutes Jews and Gentiles as “members” of Christ. They are corporately one as a new humanity. Hence one cannot now contemplate splitting apart the new humanity that is under on head, under Christ. One cannot contemplate a Millennium in which salvation is in union with one man, the Las Adam, Jesus Christ, but in which that union is undermined by the disctinctiveness of two peoples of God with two inheritances and two destinies, on earth and in heaven.” – Vern Poythress, Understanding Dispensationalists, pg. 129.

Neither Jew nor Gentile

Eph. 2:11-22 - 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

One New Man

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by1 the Spirit.

One New Man

Paul’s point is that Gentiles who were once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel (v. 12) but now have become fellow citizens (v. 19)!

To say that the New Testament Church, Jew and Gentile, is not the heir of all the promises made to Israel is to say that there is still two peoples and not one new man!

Dispensationalism is right to maintain that there is a newness to the Church, a character that did not exist in the Old Testament, but that newness consists in the fact that the Church is the eschatological fulfillment of what Old Testament Israel foreshadowed.

One New Man

“The universal character of the church pertains to the fullness of the time, constitutes as well the content of the mystery, and is evidence of the coming of the eschatological time of salvation. As such it also pertains to the gospel preaching of the new creation of God that has become effective with Christ… The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, but also for the Greek (Rom. 1:16). Hence God is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the gentiles (Rom. 3:29).” – Herman Ridderbos, Paul, pg. 338.

One New Man

Gal. 3:16 - Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ.

Gal. 3:27-29 - For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Paul’s point is that by our union with Christ the true seed of Abraham we are heirs of all the promises made to Abraham, regardless of whether we are Jew or Gentile.

To say that we must be Jews to be full heirs of Abraham is to essentially agree with the Circumcision Party whom Paul anathamatizes in Galatians 1:8-9!

Heirs of Abraham

“Union with Christ leads to full enjoyment of all blessings, whether we are Jews or Gentiles. The future never undoes what Christ has accomplished. Such are the implications of Galatians 3. Thus Galatians 3 is a rock on which dispensationalist views of the future must break to pieces.” – Vern Poythress, Understanding Dispensationalists, pg. 137

Heirs of Abraham

Dispensationalism

GALATIAN

S 3

“The holy root of Israel continues to support all, the holy leaven permeates all, and the gentiles are grafted into the olive tree of Israel (Rom. 11:24). There is a re-creation, but there is also continuity, because Israel has always been the product of God’s life-creating grace; there is a New Covenant, but not without connection to, rather with the maintaining of what constituted the essential mystery of the Old Covenant. Thus, on the one hand Paul is able to see the church of the gentiles as endowed with all the privileges and blessing of Israel, and to see it occupy the place of unbelieving Israel, and yet on the other to uphold to the full the continuation of God’s original redemptive intentions with Israel as the historical people of God. And all this because of the gracious character of God’s election and because of Christ, who is the seed of Abraham as well as the second Adam: the one in whom the whole church, Jews and gentiles together, has become on body and one new man.” - Herman Ridderbos, Paul, pg. 361.

Continuity and Newness

Eschatology involves us in a Christian philosophy of history.That philosophy of history means that we must carry on the

mission of the Church, the eschatological announcement of the Good News of God’s eschatological (final, eternal) salvation in Christ.

Eschatology means you need to proclaim the Gospel to the nations, (Jew and Gentile alike)!

Rev 21:23-26 - 3 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

Eschatology and the Mission of theChurch

Cultural and individual diversity is not erased in the New Heavens and Earth, it is redeemed from the fracturing and division of the curse of Babel!

The mission of the the Church finds its fulfillment in the NewJerusalem.

The New Jerusalem and the Nations

“If Jewish Christians needed to discover that their special role in God’s plan was to lead to God’s opening the floodgates of salvation to all peoples, how much more should North American Christians take to heart God’s transcontinental plans for gathering his international family! History and our own nearsightedness have chopped our view of the church into little pieces, randomly sliced apart by mere political boundaries. But that fragmented, myopic view of the church is too small… What would change if, for example, North American Christians were to ask themselves seriously where in the world the Lord could best use the financial resources he has temporarily entrusted to us, or the resources for biblical and theological study at our disposal?” – Dennis Johnson, The Message of Acts, pg. 48.

Eschatology and Mission

Take the message of your resurrected Lord and declare it to the

world!

Implications of Biblical Eschatology