Meditation on the Text of the Week

In the Days and Years of Our Lord

Therefore, if any man is in Christ he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.
II Corinthians 5: 17

Things have changed for good, and forever. This is the undoubted Christian faith. We believe that human history is decisively shaped and conditioned by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of our Lord. The Cross is the archimedian point of history. All history before the Cross was leading up to it. All history after the Cross was and has been shaped and controlled by it. For the Christian, the future is nothing other than an outworking of an act—a divine act—which is already past these now two thousand years, yet remains the determinant of our present days.

We do not know how long the current dispensation will continue—which is to say, we (no-one) knows when the Final Advent of our Lord will occur. The Final Advent may be thousands of years hence (for which there is some Scriptural evidence). But we do know that the longer time elapsed between the events of Calvary and the Final Advent, the more the Cross and its attendant realities will intrude, shape, effect, and ultimately control human history.

It is only Christians who have this understanding and view of humanity and its course upon the earth. It is only Christians who have this philosophy of history or of mankind. At the centre stands the Cross; all else is either prequel or denouement. Here is a summary of how “things” changed radically and comprehensively at the Cross.

1. Atonement was made for the sins of Christ's people (I Peter 3:18). All evil, guilt and its consequences have been removed from the gaze and consideration of God. We are free! As far as the east is from the west, so far have our transgressions been removed from us.

2. The Ruler of the world up until the time of Christ was dethroned and cast out. Satan was dethroned from his position of controlling men and nations. (John 12: 30,31: “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”)

3. The Ruler of this world became the risen, ascended Christ. He was invested with all power and authority in heaven and upon earth. From the time of the Ascension onwards human history has been at His design and command. (Philippians 2: 9—11: “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”)

4. A Kingdom was set up which would break all humanist realms and kingdoms and would expand to fill and control the whole earth. This is the whole point of Daniel's proclamation to King Nebuchadnezzar. The four great empires of Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman were all part of one vast human statue: they were humanist realms, under the dominion of the then Ruler of this world. But a stone made without hands came and crushed what was in reality one empire; but that stone of God expanded to fill the whole earth. Daniel left us in no doubt of the significance or meaning. (Daniel 2:44. “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”)

5. Jesus Christ was appointed as the Man who would judge the whole earth, and the day and hour of that court session was also appointed. So Paul declared to the Athenians. (Acts 17:31 “Because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.”) Both the court date and the Judge has now been set.

6. All the nations of the earth are to be discipled, in fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham that he would bless and be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Thus, human history since the Cross is not primarily about wars and rumours of wars, about kings and empires, or trade agreements or living standards. It is about the progressive and inevitable discipling of all the nations to the Lord. (Matthew 28:18—20 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'”)

7. A new humanity is being created. Christ rose as the second Adam to create a new human race which replaces the old, fallen race. The new human race lives in deep and growing gratitude to the Son of God; all walls of division and partition are broken down. None of the divisions and enmity, which have so racked the old humanity and divided it asunder into warring factions, can gain any traction. There is neither male nor female, rich nor poor, slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile, Arab nor Israeli, and neither black nor white. Christ is all in all. (Colossians 3: 11) Now, of course the white man does not stop being white. Nor does a slave stop being a slave. Nor does a woman cease to be a daughter of Eve. In a wonderful way, each of these distinctive characteristics becomes more distinct and pronounced—and welcomed and appreciated. It is just that these distinctives are not the currency of strife and division—for the bonds of Christ are stronger and tighter than anything else. The more the Kingdom comes, the more these realities come to the fore. The more they are evident.

This unity and love in Christ makes the new humanity a reality. But it is utterly impossible for the old humanity to replicate or reproduce a similar phenomenon. The old lies torn, rent, broken, and misshapen—and always will.

We are blessed and privileged to live in the times of Messiah. We know what we are asking for when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”