Eschatology and Anticipation
Notes
Transcript
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.”
Introduction
Introduction
God calls man to exercise dominion over the earth at creation, while he begins man’s redemptive restoration to that call immediately after the fall. Following God’s revelation in Scripture we may trace the Redeemer’s line, developing the hope-filled eschatological expectation of the comprehensive redemption that he will surely bring.
We talked last week about the failure of Adam and Eve to accomplish the Creation/Dominion Mandate because of their sin and rebellion. The Creation Mandate is an incredibly piece of the puzzle if we’re trying to understand proper eschatology. We have to find out what it means, how it develops in Scripture, and how it can be applied today.
Judgement and Common Grace
Judgement and Common Grace
17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.
21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
First note we have to make on this passage: We have a picture of God’s judgement here, a historical example of God’s justice being done in history because of man’s sin. We see many examples of this sort of thing happening in Scripture, but this is the most all-encompassing…except for the final judgement, the one that all of these minor historical judgement have been leading up to. We see that all of these historical judgement are merely types, foreshadowing of a greater judgement that is to come, the final justice that God gives all of humanity at what we call the Great White Throne Judgement.
This shows us a few things: First, it shows us that God cares about justice. He acts in history to right wrongs and give judgement to people’s who have stored up wrath for themselves. Let’s back up and see this in .
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Genesis 6:11-
We see this time and time again in other places in Scripture, God allowing evil to occur for only so long before judging the sinners and ending their destructive ways. Many pagan nations are described like this, as well as Israel herself, which brings us back to what my dad talked about with the judgement of Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The important thing to remember in those examples and this one is that God gives humans ample time to repent. Now why would he do this? If he already knows if they are going to repent or not, why doesn’t he just wipe them out as soon as they reach that point of no return?
This brings us to the idea of God’s “common grace”. If you were there for the Spring Retreat, you’ll remember that I talked about this concept. It’s the idea that God has two kinds of grace “specific/redemptive grace” for those who he saves and draws to him…and “common grace” for all of humanity.
Now it was common grace that led God to give so much time to all of these nations (and the whole world in the Noahic story) to continue to live in rebellion even after God had seen their wickedness. The wicked people of the world got 120 more years while Noah was building the ark to continue to live. That was an amazing gift of God.
Now the reason we’re talking about this is because this will help us understand other concepts when we get down the road in this study. For now, though, we’ll move on and talk specifically about the covenant God made with Noah.
The Noahic Covenant
The Noahic Covenant
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
The Covenant made with Noah was part of the Covenant of Grace, a continuation of the redemptive work that had begun in
The Covenant made with Noah was not a “common grace” covenant (though it did have implications for many unbelievers who would exist in the future and would receive common grace despite their rebellion against God) but rather a specific redemptive covenant on the basis of sovereign grace and blood sacrifice.
Why is this important? Because this shows us the first step of the transition between the Creation Mandate being the task of all of humanity and instead being the task of the covenant people of God. We see the Noahic Covenant be reaffirmed as part of this specific redemption of the covenant people of God in the following verses.
18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.
20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.
17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,
10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.
11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
Gene
Where before Adam and Eve and their offspring were tasked with the fulfillment of the Creation Mandate, now that specific task has passed on to the redeemed people of God. Noah and his family were considered righteous, and God saved them from judgement through his redeeming grace. We’ll see this ongoing work of grace get more and more specific as we work through the Old Testament today. HARKEN BACK TO ABRAHAM HERE
Noah and his family were considered righteous, and God saved them from judgement through his redeeming grace. We’ll see this ongoing work of grace get more and more specific as we work through the Old Testament today.
One last point before we move on to the Abrahamic covenant:
God Cares About Justice
God Cares About Justice
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
This verse is important because we see God ordaining a civil and physical expression of his judgement through the way mankind is tasked to interact with each other. God ordains capital punishment, by which humans are supposed to carry out the judgement of God. This is further proof that God cares about justice and peace between men in the here and now and not just in some distant eternal future.
The Lord grants legitimate authority to the civil government to enforce capital punishment. God bases this on the fundamental principle we went over in depth last week—namely, God’s image in man, and gives it to the world through the covenant people of God. This is so important.
This gets fleshed out more in the Mosaic covenant, where God declares His holy standards for justice and right and wrong between men. It is was then the responsibility of the people of God to show this standard to the world. That is still our job today—to proclaim to the world what God’s justice demands and show them how to properly carry out civil justice. We’ll discuss that more later.
On to the Abrahamic Covenant!
The Abrahamic Covenant
The Abrahamic Covenant
In the Abrahamic Covenant God intensifies his redemptive work designed to bring man back to himself:
1 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.”
Now there are three important features of the Abrahamic promise: The Seed, The Land, and The Nations. Let’s look at where these promises are reiterated:
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:
Genesis 15:5
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
Genesis 15:
Now these are some amazing promises, but it would be easy to pass them by and say “that was just a prophecy for the Israelites. We aren’t the literal descendants of Abraham, so we can’t claim these promises.” Well, let’s look further into how scripture treats the Abrahamic covenant to get a better picture of how we can apply this passage as Christians.
First, we can all agree that there were literal, physical fulfillments of these promises in history. For example, let’s take a look at some OT passages that show us that Abraham’s literal descendants gained the Promised Land.
43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there.
44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands.
45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.
21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.
23 You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess.
But the fulfillment of this promise goes deeper than that.
Covenants are Conditional
Covenants are Conditional
God’s covenants and promises are conditioned upon ethical obedience, even when this is not specifically stated. Covenantal promises are like prophetic utterances in this regard: “It is the conditional nature of all prophecy that makes the outcome contingent on the ethical decisions of men.”
For instance, God clearly tells Jonah that he will overthrow Nineveh in forty days.
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
yet God “relented” his determination
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
God informs Paul that no life will be lost on the ship:
22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
But he later adds a condition
31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
The conditions of the Abrahamic covenant include the ethical obligation to “keep the way of the Lord”
17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
So what does this mean? Did Abraham’s literal descendants keep the way of the Lord? No, they failed, they rebelled time and time again, and finally God judged them in 70 AD and took away the Land and the Promises from them.
Now does this mean that God failed to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish? No, this was his plan all along. He always kept for himself a remnant who continued to follow the way of the Lord, even when all of Israel turned against him. He did this in 70 AD by sparing the church from tribulation and then giving them the New Covenant. How do we know that those in the New Covenant can claim these promises? Because we are the true Israel.
The True Israel
The True Israel
5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Romans 9:
Explain the passage.
Israel failed to follow the ethical commands laid out by God time and time again:
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 2:17-3
Israel is called a whore in very colorful language, for going after other gods. Later in Revelation this symbolism returns:
1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,
2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”
3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.
4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”
6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
Revelation 17:1-
Israel not only failed to follow God, but persecuted God’s true people, and killed Jesus himself:
Acts 4:10-
10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
However, God made a promise: that the true Israel would still be kept, sovereignly by God, in the covenant. Not through anything that they did, because they couldn’t keep the covenant on their own, but through God’s own intervention through his spirit.
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
Ezekiel 36:22-
This passage is quoted in Hebrews in reference to the New Covenant
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
“Those days” is after the tribulation and judgement on Israel we have discovered is prophesied in and Revelation
And so there we have it: Since we are the true Israel, the ones who are kept for God after physical Israel fails to keep the covenant, what does that mean for our future? How do the promises of the Land and the Nations come into it?
We have to wait until next week.
We have so much more to cover that I had to split this week’s lesson into two parts. So this time we covered Noah and most of Abraham. Next week we’ll finish up Abraham and the Promised Land and talk about something called the Protoevangelium. Then we’ll go through the Psalms and the Prophets and see what they have to say about the promises for the reign of Christ as King now on the earth.
For now, let’s pray.