The Next Chapter - God's Big Picture, Ch 6
The present kingdom
The penchant God's people have for trying to figure out the time of the end times, all the while looking forward to the "coming kingdom" flies in the face of what happens as Roberts moves us into the New Testament and we read about the arrival of Jesus in the gospels.
The pattern we've seen, ever since the Garden of Eden, of "God's people, God's place, God's rule and blessing" finds its complete fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises, all the prophecies. He arrives to establish God's kingdom.
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's people. He is, not only the second Adam, He is the true Adam, able to do what Adam could not, live a sin-free life. It's the same for Israel. He is the true Israel. Jesus is able to obey God where Israel was not. Jesus and His followers inherit God's kingdom whereas Israel has it taken away from them (Mt 21:43). Roberts maintains that the people of God are no longer descendants of Abraham, but the true followers of Jesus, both Jew and Gentile.
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's place. Throughout the Old Testament, God's place was where His people met with Him, first in the Garden, then the Tabernacle, then the Temple. Now they meet with Him in Jesus.
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's rule and blessing. He ushers in a new covenant, a new rule. The law is fulfilled in Christ. those who are in Him, are declared righteous. Jesus is the new King. The Kingdom of God has come because God's King has come.
Jesus is the source of God's blessing. We can find rest in Him, the end-cycle of the creative rhythm (work, work, work, work, work, work, rest).
Roberts goes on the say that the fullness of God's blessing comes through salvation through substitution. Jesus took our place on the cross, took the wrath we deserved and imputed His righteousness to us. This brought a host of blessings; redemption, reconciliation, justification and conquest (victory over sin and death).
Even the unique theme of each Gospels tells of the establishment of the new kingdom. Matthew tells us Jesus is the Christ of the Old Testament. Mark portrays Jesus as the suffering servant who calls His followers to suffer as well. Luke proclaims the certainty that Jesus is savior of the world, John shows that Jesus is the son of God and brings eternal life.
Yes, there is a new heaven and earth coming. Yes, there is a future kingdom. But those who believe in Christ can reap the benefits and blessings of living in His kingdom right now! Far from any material gain or self-centered desires, they can have the peace that goes beyond understanding, experience unbound joy and find rest in Him.
Posts
Several thoughts on this chapter.
ReplyDelete1. The change (perhaps "clarification" is a better word) from the children of Abraham to the followers of Jesus reminds us how difficult it is for man to understand God’s word without the help of the Spirit. The Jews took too narrowly the promise made to Abraham, ignoring both the massive unfaithfulness of their ancestors as related in Scripture and the promises concerning all nations. The easy way out was to check the box saying yes, I am descended from Abraham, I’m OK. If that was not enough, checking more boxes (sacrifices, feasts, Sabbath observance, even washing hands) should be enough. Total surrender to God is the last thing we think of on our own.
2. I have some difficulty thinking of Jesus as a “place”. Perhaps the key to that is realizing that He was truly a physical human being, yet also, as part of the triune God, spiritual and omnipresent. What better place could there be than one who is always available, requiring no long pilgrimage, and with understanding and love that no mere place could offer.
3. The discussion of substitution is a reminder of why the theologians WBF tends to follow emphasize the need for a “high” view of God. Sinful man can never truly understand how thoroughly disgusted God is by our sin. Being sinners and accustomed to dealing with other sinners, we are both prejudiced in our own favor and hardened by immersion in a sinful world. This leads toward an opinion that we can be “good enough”, that God can surely forgive us if we aren’t Charles Manson or Joseph Stalin. Only when we face up (with the help of the Spirit) to the depth of our sin can we understand the absolute need for someone else to take on that penalty. Only then can we begin to see the huge gulf between a holy God and fallen, sinful man.
Charles Orndorff
Perhaps Roberts needs to re-read Romans 11 and see whose tree the gentiles are being grafted into. It is true that the Kingdom was taken away from the "chief priests and Pharisees" (Matt. 21:45) but there is that pesky promise in Rom. 11:26 that when the time of the gentiles if fulfilled, God will change their hearts and "all Israel will be saved" and be grafted back into their own tree alongside the branches from the wild olive tree that had been grafted in "contrary to nature." After all, as it says in Rom. 11:27, "As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers."
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Doug. Of course, it's clear that Israel must be "grafted back in" to the tree. I think many will read "all Israel" and try to make that mean "everyone who ever existed in Israel". But the passage starts with "the fullness of the Gentiles". This time ushers in a time when some of Israel will be "grafted back in.". I think membership in both groups, regarding salvation, is qualified by the rest of the verse in Rom 11:26-27 where it mentions the Deliverer that will "banish ungodliness" (make them righteous) and "take away their sins". Jesus Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jews and Gentiles). We also know that no one goes to the Father but by Christ. Just as those Gentiles that were grafted in by the work of Christ on the cross, so too, in order to be grafted back in, must anyone of Israel that will become part of the . The passage in Romans clearly tells us that "all Israel" is "all of Israel that receives Christ This actually supports Roberts original notion that we meet God through Christ, whereas, in the past, God met His people in the Tabernacle and Temple. To be clear, there is no salvation for those who reject Christ, Jew and Gentile. Christ pronounced judgment on those Jews who rejected Him. If, by God's grace, any or all of them are granted repentance, they will be saved, but only in and through the work of Christ.
ReplyDeleteWell said, John. I wondered what that statement "all Israel" meant and have thought much about the concept of Israel now that the New Covenant has been established. Abraham was considered righteous before the nation of Israel was ever established, and it was by his faith. We are also called righteous, but only by our faith in the One who died for our sin.
ReplyDeleteCharles, thank you for the reminder in your point #3 that we are prejudiced in our own favor and hardened by the sinful world in which we live. I remember a time when I measured myself against those who were, what I thought, "worse" than me. And if truth be told, I would imagine that we all still tend to measure ourselves at times against others in order to look better ourselves. But when we measure ourselves against truly holiness and perfection, Jesus Christ, we fall so far short of God's requires of us. Trying to measure up by any act of our own will never satisfy the righteous requirements of God. Christ satisfied those requirements. Praise God for Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.