Transcript Resurrection and Amillennialism

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
 Christ the Eschatological Messianic-King comes into the
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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.
 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.
 Christ will redeem
Creation itself.
 Redemption is of
cosmic proportions.
 Christ also will redeem,
not just natural born
Israelites, but all nations.
 “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.
 “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.
 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.
 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."
 “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’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.
“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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 “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 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 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.
 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.
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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.
 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.
 “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.
 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!
 “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
 “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.
 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.
 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 New
Jerusalem.
 “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.
Take the message of your
resurrected Lord and
declare it to the world!