Daily Meditation

Anticipating Heaven

Ligonier Ministries

Do I as a living, breathing, conscious person have a concrete hope for my future? What do I have to look forward to? At times, when I discover that my own spirit is sagging and a sense of heaviness intrudes on me, I sometimes wonder why the gloomy cloud is perched above my head.

Biblical eschatology gives us solid reasons for expecting a personal continuity of life. Eternal life for the individual is not an empty human aspiration built on myth, but an assurance promised us by Christ Himself. His own triumph over the grave is the church’s hope for our participation in His life.

We have heard so much ridicule and mocking about pie-in-the-sky theology that I’m afraid we’ve lost our appetite for it. What the Scriptures promise for our future involves a lot more than a perpetual visit to Mother Butler’s. Jesus Christ and Simple Simon have very little in common.

The promise of heaven is indeed glorious—a promise that not only anchors the soul but fires the soul with hope. Life is not an outrageous horror, though we witness outrages daily. The outrage is not the bottom line. The sting of death has been overcome.

The victory of Christ is not established by platitudes or conjured-up positive mental attitudes. Jesus is not the Good Humor Man. His call to joy is rooted in reality: “Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Therein resides our future hope—that Christ has overcome the world. He stared directly into the face of death and death blinked.

Coram Deo

Reflect on this truth as you face your problems today: Jesus overcame the world and has given you the power to do likewise.

Passages for Further Study

Revelation 21:1–3

Daily Meditation

The Millennial Reign of Christ

“I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (v. 4)

- Revelation 20:1–6

Ligonier Ministries

Of all the aspects of eschatology, the doctrine of the last things, perhaps none is more controversial than the millennium. Even in an era when many people do not devote much effort to studying theology, much time is spent trying to figure out the teaching on the millennium in Revelation 20:1–6.

The different millennial positions can be attributed in part to the highly symbolic nature of the language in Revelation. It can be difficult to know when to take the book figuratively and when to take it literally. Furthermore, Revelation 20:1–6 is the only passage in Scripture that deals with the millennial reign of Christ explicitly. Because the data is sparse, there is a greater propensity for divergence in interpretation because there is little else to directly confirm one’s view.

In the history of Christian theology, three major millennial views have been advocated. First is the premillennial view. This position holds that the one thousand years in Revelation should be read as an actual time designation, that when Christ returns He will reign over an earthly kingdom that will last for a literal one thousand years, after which the new heavens and earth will arrive.

The amillennial interpretation of Revelation 20 affirms a figurative view of the millennium. The entire period between the ascension and return of Christ is the millennium, which means that it is much longer than an actual one thousand years. Christ is ruling now over a spiritual kingdom that will be immediately consummated at His return, and the new heavens and earth will then be in place.

Finally, the postmillennial position agrees with amillennialism  that the millennium will take place before the return of Jesus. However, postmillennialism holds that there will be a time of widespread peace and prosperity before Christ’s return that will result from the preaching of the gospel. Great numbers of people will be converted and society will be transformed, and then Jesus will return. This is different from amillennialism, which says things will mostly continue as they are until Christ returns, with the gospel spreading widely in some places and being resisted in others.

Good and godly Christians have differed over this matter, so it is difficult to hold any of these views too strongly. Whatever view one holds, what we must affirm is that Christ is ruling and reigning over the cosmos now. For He has been exalted to God’s right hand and must reign until all things are put under His feet (1 Cor. 15:25).

Coram Deo

Given the disagreements over the millennium in church history, it is wise to hold our millennial views with humility. We should not divide with others who affirm the present reign of Christ over His kingdom if they differ with us on their millennial view. Instead, we should work together to proclaim the present reign of Christ and His command for all people to repent and bow to His lordship.

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 2
Isaiah 11
Acts 1:6–11
2 Peter 3:8–10

Daily Meditation

Regarding the Present in Light of the Future

Ligonier Ministries

An analysis of socioeconomic classes in America focused on the observable differences evident in value systems, behavioral patterns, and customs that exist between the classes. One of the most interesting dimensions of the findings was with respect to the question of how people regard the present in light of the future.

People in the upper levels of the class register tend to be much more future-oriented than those in the lower range. The trend in the lower classes is in the direction of immediacy. Consumption of goods, spending money, and other decisions are made with a view to short-range gratification. Planning for the future, sacrificing present impulses for future reserve, capital investment for long-range benefits, and the setting of goals are endeavors not often found in this segment of society.

The societal phenomenon illustrates an important lesson for the Christian: one’s future orientation often has a significant impact on one’s present patterns of behavior and an enormous impact on our growth as Christians.

Everybody has some kind of eschatological viewpoint or expectation. The viewpoint may not be consciously developed or carefully worked out, but some assumption about the future is made by everyone. It is unavoidable. As creatures of time and space, we are tethered not only to the past, but also to the future. Hence we say, “Right now counts forever.”

Coram Deo

What decisions are you making today that will affect your future? Remember, right now counts forever.

Passages for Further Study

Matthew 24:14
Matthew 24:30–31

Keeping Our Feet On the Ground

The Dangerous Folly of "Newspaper Exegesis"

We read once about a (fabled) US Naval Captain who enjoyed a stellar career.  In order to keep himself on track professionally, as it were, he used to keep a piece of paper in his cabin safe.  Every day he would get the paper out, read it, then return it.  It was later found out that upon the paper was written a simple message: "Right=Starboard; Left=Port"

Many of us have out grown the foolishness of what is known as "Dispensationalism", but in our late teenage years it was all the rage amongst "Bible-believing" Christians--ourselves included.  Once a year, lest we be tempted again, we get out a piece of paper recounting the number of times Dispensationalism had (wrongly) predicted the end of the world.  Then we replace it in the office safe for another 12 months--lest we forget. 

Historian Dwight Wilson summarized the never-ending litany of exploded claims concerning the "End times".

Maranatha

A Foretaste of What Is To Come

We have recently finished reading William Williams' Christianity Among The New Zealanders.  Our edition was published by Banner of Truth Trust in 1989.  This, in turn, was a republication of the original, first published in 1867.  William Williams was the brother of Henry Williams.

In our view, the missionary annals ought to be required reading for every NZ Christian.   

Both of these stalwart warriors of the Kingdom of God arrived in New Zealand towards the end of 1823.  Both were men of great faith and faithfulness, along with their wives and children.  Many times their collectives lives would be threatened over the next 40 years or so.  They did not deflect from their duty or course during that time.

William Williams was the more scholarly of the two brothers.  Eventually, he was appointed Bishop of Waiapu, an area stretching from Tauranga down to Napier.

At the end of his account of Christianity among the New Zealand Maori he asks the question, What of the future?  He had lived to see staggering progress of the Gospel amongst Maori.  He also witnessed what we might call the Corinthian phase--the first falling away of many from the faith--due to increasing exposure to migrants from the UK.  Many of these folk were more Victorian than Christian, more nominal than true believers.

Expectations and Hopes

A Second Christendom

The first Christendom is over.  The West has now succumbed to a form of technological atheism.  The resident deity is Man.  The question, What will happen next? becomes more pressing.  The respective answers or "outlooks on the future" amongst Christians and the Church become more critical in our life and witness.

One influential stream of thought within churches has been pre-millennialism, in most cases taking the form of dispensational pre-millennialism.  The looks forward to the triumph of the Kingdom of God upon the earth, but only after Christ's coming again to earth and setting up the nation-state of Israel in a more perfect form.  The temple upon Mount Zion will be literally rebuilt.  The sacrificial system will be re-instituted.  The Church will disappear.  All believing Christians will have been taken up into heaven.

Pre-millennialists are often fervent evangelists.  The more people converted to become Christians, the sooner the new Jewish millennium will come.  But beneath the system there is a theme of defeat.  The world is getting worse.  Evil is on the march.  Only the supernatural intervention of Christ to set up the millennial Jewish Kingdom will stop the rot.  Meanwhile, the hope of the pre-millennial believer is to be whisked away to heaven.

A second school of thought is amillennialism.  This teaches that Israel bears no significance any longer in God's Kingdom.  Christ has set up the eternal kingdom in heaven where He reigns amongst the saints, the angelic host, and over the Church upon earth.  When the precise number of the elect (known only to God) has been gathered into His Kingdom, He will return to earth to re-create it, re-make it, and set up His eternal throne upon earth.

Amillennialists don't see much hope of triumph or victory upon earth, until after the second coming of Christ.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Reformation Fail?

Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog

So I don’t want to come across like a fastidious person or anything, but there were a couple of things recently that I thought were kind of in poor taste. (“Just a couple? Where do you live, man?”)

I mean a couple of things regarding Reformation 500, the half-millennium anniversary of the Reformation yesterday, and I am talking about a couple things from the Protestant side. I am not talking about all the funny Wittenberg door memes, or the general horsing around that characterizes robust theological debate. (“No, I am not fixing the door. I am fixing your theology.”) So it is not that I think we have to be all sanctimonious about Reformation history. I mean, it is not like we are talking about the signing of the Declaration of Independence or anything.

Special note to a select cadre of my readers. That was a joke. 

But here’s the thing.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Savior of the World

Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog

Introduction:

As we come to the conclusion of our study of kingdom optimism, the best summary would be to turn in order to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we think through these issues carefully, we must recognize that the basic issue is really the view we have of our Lord Jesus.

At the same time, we want to guard our hearts so that we don’t fall into the trap of covenantal presumption.

The Text:

“Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king’s Son. He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice . . . In his days shall the righteous flourish; And abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the river unto the ends of the earth . . . And blessed be his glorious name for ever: And let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen” (Ps. 72:1-20).

Jesus Christ is Lord of All:

Consider what Paul tells us in Philippians 2:9-11. At the name of Jesus, every knee is to bow, and not just those in heaven. In heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, let Jesus Christ be praised. We are seeking nothing less than to exalt Him in every place.

That at the Name of Jesus . . .

Jesus Christ is Savior of the world—“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). Jesus did not come in order to try to save the world, if the uncooperative world would only let Him. He came to save the world;

Roots and Origins

The Power and the Glory

The questions, Who are we, and where did we come from? are always pertinent.  The most potent cultures are those which have a long lineage faithfully recorded, analysed, critiqued, and learned.  In this sense the most potent is the Christian culture because of the length of our lineage and the rigour with which it has been recorded, passed down, and reflected upon.  Not that there is no room for improvement in this regard, but the reality abides that the Christian faith is a historical religion, steeped in history, genealogies, kingdoms, and records--which Christians are expected to know and meditate upon perpetually.

We refer, of course, not just to the post-Ascension era, but to human history from the Creation and Fall onwards up to the present.  In this sense the Christian faith is unique.  We regard Noah and Abraham as our forbears, our fathers.  Moses is our great redeemer, a faithful forerunner of the incarnate Divine redeemer.  David is our king, a lesser messiah before his greater Son.  We are citizens of the restored Davidic Kingdom (as Christ is David's greatest son, and the kingdom has been given to Him, Revelation 22:16).  These references are not mere images or metaphors.  They are historical, literal, and prophetic realities.

The modern secularist culture knows little of these realities.

Daily Devotional

It's Harvest Time

"Let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen."
Psalm 72:19

Charles H. Spurgeon

This is a large petition. To intercede for a whole city needs a stretch of faith, and there are times when a prayer for one man is enough to stagger us. But how far-reaching was the psalmist's dying intercession! How comprehensive! How sublime! "Let the whole earth be filled with his glory."

It doth not exempt a single country however crushed by the foot of superstition; it doth not exclude a single nation however barbarous. For the cannibal as well as for the civilized, for all climes and races this prayer is uttered: the whole circle of the earth it encompasses, and omits no son of Adam. We must be up and doing for our Master, or we cannot honestly offer such a prayer. The petition is not asked with a sincere heart unless we endeavour, as God shall help us, to extend the kingdom of our Master.

Are there not some who neglect both to plead and to labour? Reader, is it your prayer? Turn your eyes to Calvary. Behold the Lord of Life nailed to a cross, with the thorn-crown about his brow, with bleeding head, and hands, and feet. What! can you look upon this miracle of miracles, the death of the Son of God, without feeling within your bosom a marvellous adoration that language never can express? And when you feel the blood applied to your conscience, and know that he has blotted out your sins, you are not a man unless you start from your knees and cry, "Let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen." Can you bow before the Crucified in loving homage, and not wish to see your Monarch master of the world? Out on you if you can pretend to love your Prince, and desire not to see him the universal ruler. Your piety is worthless unless it leads you to wish that the same mercy which has been extended to you may bless the whole world.

Lord, it is harvest-time, put in thy sickle and reap.

No Fatal Wounds Possible

The Beginning of the End

When Rommel was finally defeated in North Africa, Winston Churchill uttered his memorable sentiment to the effect that  this was not the end.  Nor was it the beginning of the end.  It was perhaps the end of the beginning.

Christians operate in a similar, yet different frame of mind.  Human history is a war between two human races: those called the "seed of the woman", and those called the "seed of the serpent".  What divides these two seeds (or human races) is not their respective goodness, for "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)  The "seed of the woman" are those who have repented of sin and have believed in Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

So, two human races.  Not distinguishable by race, ethnicity, intelligence, appearance, or in any other way, except that one race has sworn loyalty and devotion to Christ; the other has not, and in fact refused to do so, leaving their ultimate loyalty to man.

In the struggle between these two for the control of the world (for this is what is at stake) the seed of the woman, known as Christ-ones or Christians, often are in a minority, and face reverses on every side.  But the Head of the new redeemed human race is the Resurrected One, and out of death comes life.  It is His way.  But there is something else.  The decisive battle has already been won.  Christ faced Satan at Calvary and defeated him--once, and for all time.  The god of this world had been cast down and broken.

Merry Warriors and Paper Tigers

Enjoying the Battle

Psy-ops has a long and ignoble history in warfare.  In poker it's called bluffing.  In commerce, it's called marketing.  Getting into the mind of your opponent or target can pay great dividends.  Consequently, it is not surprising that in the Great Battle between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man the latter would engage in psy-ops as often as possible.

One of the most effective psy-ops weapon is within your grasp when you have a chance to convince your enemies that their defeat is inevitable.  There have been many deployments of this stratagem in our generations.  Jesus Christ is passée.  The Age of Science has replaced the former ages of ignorant myths.  The real is the material; anything else is either fabrication or imagination.  Only fools and horses still believe in the Bible.  Nothing will be able to withstand the forces of reason and the science.  And so on.

It is true that there is much that might discourage the Christian.

Armageddon?

Portents of Prophecy

Whenever geo-political tensions arise in Arabia and the Middle East some streams making up the great river of the Christian Church get excited.  These folk subscribe to the idea of an Israel-centric final conflagration, just prior to the final advent of our Lord.  With the rise of Islamism, of Al Qaeda, and of ISIS, with civil war in Iraq and Syria, and the on-going, simmering hostilities between Hamas and Israel, many of these Christians are seeing portents of the end of the world. 

It has long been so.  Ever since Napoleon, then Kaiser Wilhelm II were identified as "the Beast", these mistaken Christians have put forward a lengthy list of candidates for the position--including Hitler and Henry Kissinger.  All have subsequently proven to be false accusations--but the underlying theology on which their apocalyptic vision rests has remained.  Once more, given events in the Middle East, the febrile speculations have burst forth again.  The quasi-liturgical chant, "We are in the end times", is being heard again.  The search for the Beast has recommenced.  Is it the new Caliph?  Maybe.  Who knows?  After all, Osama Bin Laden has relinquished the position.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow (About Babylonian Exiles)

The R2K Crucifix Problem

Douglas Wilson

Blog & Mablog

August 14, 2014

 

Carl Trueman recently wrote A Church for Exiles for First Things, which you may read here. If you would like, a good response from Joel McDurmon can be found here. But my response to Carl will be a tad shorter than Joel’s — just enough to register a few basic concerns.

First, it is undeniable that exile is a strong biblical motif, and it is one that Christians do need to draw on. But in Scripture, it is always a paired motif — like salt and pepper, or ham and eggs. We find, all through the Bible, the patterns of death and resurrection, exile and return, cliffhanger and helicopter.

There is both a cross and a crown. Triumphalists are those who just want the crown. Defeatists are those who just want the cross. Trueman is a defeatist — for all his Reformed credentials, his faith is a crucifix faith. Note that both the defeatist and the triumphalist are partly right, but in such a way that their partial truths undo the point of the whole thing. “Jesus died” is true, but is not gospel apart from resurrection. And “Jesus rose” is meaningless nonsense if there had been no death.

Carl says this: the Reformed tradition “possesses the intellectual rigor necessary for teaching and defending the faith in a hostile environment.” I believe this is quite true. In fact, I agreed with many of the points that he made throughout the article — but he left out one crucial thing. Let me insert that missing element. “The Reformed tradition possesses the intellectual rigor necessary for teaching and defending the faith in a hostile environment, while preparing for our inevitable comeback.” Why? It is not just exile. It is exile and return. Nehemiah rhymes with Jeremiah after all.

New World Dawning

The Pretensions and Absurdities of the Latest Caliphate

The ISIS Islamic fighters have declared a Caliphate.  It stretches (ostensibly) from Syria across to Iraq.  It has proclaimed a Caliph--the ruler of the Caliphate--one Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The last Caliphate ended just on one hundred years ago when the Ottoman Empire fell.  What is the significance of this development?  In the immediate, very little.  But it does serve to underscore a number of realities.  Firstly, a definition of the Caliphate is required.  According to Wikipedia:

A caliphate (in Arabic: خلافة‎ khilāfa, meaning "succession") is an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader known as a caliph – i.e. "successor" – to Muhammad. The succession of Muslim empires that have existed in the Muslim world are usually described as "caliphates". Conceptually, a caliphate represents a sovereign polity (state) of the entire Muslim faithful (the Ummah, i.e. a sovereign nation state) ruled by a single caliph under the Constitution of Medina and Islamic law (sharia)

In Islamic doctrine and teaching, the caliphate is a sovereign state representing the entire Islamic population in the world.  In principle, the caliphate is a global government.  When it comes to its full expression, the Caliphate will be a global empire, into which all the nations and peoples of the world will have been subsumed, by conquest or surrender.

In historical terms, no such caliphate has existed; instead there have been assertions of a caliphate, but like the most recent manifestation in Iraq, they have represented little more than pretentious claims.  A caliphate in theory can command the loyalty and devotion of all Muslims everywhere, since it is a state representing the entire Muslim faithful, being ruled over by the successor to Muhammad.  Thus, not to submit and be loyal would represent rebellion against Muhammad and Allah.

It is obvious already that claims and assertions consistent with the ideology of the Caliphate are being made.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Nature By Grace

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2014  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog

All right. Now it is time to bring a number of threads together.

The great American classicist Basil Gildersleeve once said that the American Civil War was fought over a point of grammar. He said that it was over whether we should say “the United States is” or “the United States are.” Other great and complicated issues can be reduced to a simple question as well. When it comes to culture wars, same sex mirage, natural law, and so on, we are really asking this: “What is the universe actually like?”

There are two basic options confronting us today. Either the cosmos was created, made, fashioned . . . or it was not. Either God spoke everything into existence from nothing, or there is no God. Eternality is an attribute of something — either the living God, or time and chance acting on matter and energy. If the former, we must do what He says. If the latter, we may do what we want.

But as it is, we are a rebellious house, and want to do what we want to do. We are a conclusion in search of a premise, and so it turns out that all respectable science testifies that Genesis is not a textbook of science, anything but that. The materialists say that Genesis is bogus, and the Christian abandoners of Genesis say that the book is crammed full of spiritual truths for your faith to believe, but you have to take care what you believe. You can’t believe everything you read. But the whole thing is a power play, seeking to drive from the field the only real alternative to their hellish vision for mankind.

Pop Contemporaneity

A Prisoner in a Dark Place

There have been plenty of warnings about the dangers of ignorance of one's heritage and history.  George Santayana's aphorism is notorious ("those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it").  In our recent experience tyrants have arisen deliberately attempting to remake the past exert greater control over a compliant population in the present (think Soviet and Eastern European Bloc communism).  We see it before our eyes as Islamic fundamentalists attempt to obliterate the cultural heritage of former civilisations in order to exert more extreme and complete control over their subject peoples.

The Scriptures are replete with injunctions, exhortations, and warnings not only not to forget the past, but also to reckon with it, and live in terms of it.  In the past, God's people see revealed His faithfulness to them; they also see the outcome when a generation arises which forgets what has gone before and what He and our forbears have respectively done.  It is our duty to observe, learn, and act appropriately.

Unfortunately and dangerously there are many modern Christian confessions which glory in a studied ignorance of the past.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

A Brief for Israel 

Culture and Politics - A Second Battle of Tours
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 19 November 2012

Yesterday I tweeted this . . .

"If you read the escalating fighting in Israel with anything other than sympathy for Israel, then you need to turn the book right side up."

. . . and the responses I got indicated I needed to say something more. So here it is. A few qualifications first.

First, it is easy for folks to guess where a sentiment like this might be coming from, and unfortunately, to guess wrong. I am no kind of Zionist, and the motive force behind all dispensational support for Israel has been left entirely out of my intellectual and theological framework.

If you want to know the theological term for what I believe, I am a supercessionist -- the Church is Israel now, and is the lawful recipient of all God's promises to Abraham.

Re-Setting the Chess Board

Truth Will Out, For Good or Ill

The times they are a changin'.  Or, to quote Cornelius Van Til,  both Belief and Unbelief, Christians and their opponents move inevitably over time to greater and greater epistemological self-consciousness.  The core conflict between Belief and Unbelief bubbles to the surface, as each becomes more true to itself and its fundamental axioms and beliefs.  The internal logic of a belief position works itself out.  Inconsistencies, throwbacks, restraints get removed.  Faiths become more faithful; their inevitable consequences increasingly reified and manifest. 

When socialism first became endorsed, then advocated by the Establishment, particularly in the United Kingdom, it had trappings of the Christian faith festooned on its battlements.

Chrestomathy

The Significance of AD 70

. . . the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple was not only a symbol, but in an initial sense the very coming of Christ into His Kingdom.  That coming of Christ into His Kingdom, which had been denied in explicit words, and negtived by public deed, when by wicked hands they slew Him, was vindicated, and, so to speak, publicly enacted when the Roman solider threw the torch into the Temple, and when afterwards Jerusalem was laid level with the dust.  As regard the men of that land and generation, it was the public proclamation, the evidence, that the Christ Whom they had rejected had come into His Kingdom.  By the lurid light of those flames no other words could be read than those on the Cross: "This is the King of the Jews".

I say, then, the burning of Jerusalem was to that generation--and  whatever kindred events successively came within the focus of the telescopic vision of following generations, were to them, the fulfilment of that prophecy, of which the final completion will be the Personal reappearance of Christ at the end of the Aeon.

Alfred Edersheim, Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, [1901] 1980), pp.132--133. (Alfred Edersheim (1825--1889) was born and educated in a Jewish home but later converted to Christianity. His perspective therefore is unusually keen and comprehensive on the subject of Jewish history and Old Testament prophecy and its fulfilment.)