I had a conversation with Pastor Cory today about the length and depth of the study that Pastor Chris, Cory, and I have had over the last year in the book of Revelation. Certain themes of the book have impacted me deeply over the last year. Two themes that have emerged most significantly for me are: (1) The sovereignty of God, (2) The beauty of an interracial chosen bride from every tribe, language, people, and nation. As to the first, I don’t feel that I have to explain much to the readership of this blog, other to say that, the sovereignty of God in all things pours from Revelation. It screams truth from explicit passages on sovereignty and whispers wonderful comforting words of assurances in implicit passages. The study of the book of Revelation has driven my affections for the doctrines of grace deeper. I hope and pray that the Spirit would do the same for those people who are like what I was, leery of studying Revelation. Now to the explanation of what I mean in “The beauty of an interracial chosen bride from every tribe, language, people, and nation.” Let me start by sharing that I have wrestled long and hard about how to clearly articulate the importance of shattering the teaching of Dispensationalism in regards to its seemingly unbiblical stance on “ethnic Israel”, their understanding of the promises made to Abraham, and the resulting hermeneutic for interpreting the prophetic passages of scripture. Many times since we have started preaching through Revelation, I have been asked what the big deal is about holding to the views mentioned previously. At its basic level, Dispensationalism is harmless speculative table conversation while reading the newspaper. At its teaching and television level, Dispensationalism, I believe, is worthless, sometimes even heretical, garbage used to puff up men with pride. I grew up under Dispensationalism. I sang the songs, I watched the bad movies in cheap theaters, and I wanted the rapture to happen after I had finally kissed a girl. However, God in his mercy has revealed the joy and beauty of a better and more humbling understanding of His gracious and marvelous plan of saving a people for his Glory! To quote Joshua Harris, “I am ruined for anything else”.
One People, One Redemption-
I am fully aware, just as in any theological framework, that there are wide variations in the spectrum of views in Dispensationalism. This however, does not mean that there is not a good target to shoot at. So, what I am aiming at is the popular view that God separates believers into two groups: Jews and gentiles. How many times have you heard a Dispy say “Yes Jews are saved the same way as gentiles, but _____”? Fill in the blank. I’ll fill it with just a few that I have heard: God still has plans for them, the land belongs to them, the promises in the Old Testament are for them, etc. There is no difference between a Jewish believer and a gentile believer. Nowhere in scripture will you find a difference. There is only one people of God. Christ died once for all whose names are written before the foundation of world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain. I feel the most convincing passage of scripture to firmly establish that there is one people called by Christ is Hebrews 11. In this passage we find men and women from the Old Testament united not by their ethnicity but by their faith in Christ! We must demolish any view that holds one race of people above another.
It’s Not About the Stupid Land-
Why would we waste our time worrying about whose land the Promised Land is? We have a better promise. Christ himself! The Promised Land to Abraham is not about dirt. It is about Christ! To think anything less is idolatry. No one but unregenerate Israelites in the Old Testament thought otherwise. Again Hebrews 11 speaks of this.
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
8-10
Did you catch that? Abraham was not looking forward to the land but to the city built by God! Moses didn’t care about the land either. He cared about Christ.
“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”
24-26
Moses valued Christ more than the treasures of Egypt! I pray that our eyes would be lifted from ethnicity and dirt to the majesty of Christ! Let’s value Christ as the reward not the land.
I Can See Clearly Now the Rai…(hermeneutic of Dispensationalism) is Gone-
I recently read that the demonic army in Revelation 9 is most likely going to come from Asia. (S. Gregg, Four Views) When I read that to Pastor Cory he said, “Of course that makes sense, those Asians are sneaky.” Seriously, this is how we interpret scripture. How in the world would one come to that view, other then some over population bias? I have felt so liberated from fears of new economic trends in commerce (microchip credit cards) since leaving Dispensationalism. Liberated from fears of tattoos, mass communication devices, and nano-technology. I pray that we would leave the hermeneutical principles of interpreting scripture in light of history and news, and begin a passion for scripture interpreting scripture.
Conclusion-
Christ must increase, and I must decrease. Any hermeneutic or theological framework that does not consistently magnify Christ, and minimize man is junk. It’s not worth our time. Worse, it’s sin. Satan is a deceiver from the beginning. He is actively working in world to blind the minds of unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Let us pray that our views of eschatology would shine the glory of Christ to every tribe, language, people and nation.
By His Grace and For His Glory
Paul
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