- Luke 17:20-21 – “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you" (NKJV).
- John 18:36 – “Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here"” (NKJV).
How are we to understand our times? Of course you know that we are members of the Kingdom of God if we have been born again. By the new birth we enter into the eschatological future of God. In this article I want to use two big words: eschatology and evolution. Eschatology has to do with future hope. Evolution is the big word describing humanistic philosophy and cultural change. What is the difference between an evolutionary philosophy of history and the biblical eschatological understanding of history?
We will not be exhaustive, but speak only with broad brush-strokes.
Naturalistic Evolution and Supernatural Eschatology are opposite world views. Naturalistic evolution says we are merely drifting into an uncertain future comprised of many factors including the survival of the fittest and the progress of scientific discovery. Supernatural eschatology is the study of God’s sovereignty, direction, and involvement in the world, past, present and future, and the affect of Godly believers taking dominion in life and history in the Name of Jesus.
- Dan 11:32, “The people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits” (NKJV).
- Compare this with Dan 12:3, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (NKJV).
Society, impacted by a secular swing toward evolution as its world and life view, unknowingly entered into an bottomless abyss. Evolutionary thought embraced a philosophy of “hands-off” drift from purpose to aimlessness. God ceased to be the subject acting, and natural unknown factors became the subject acting. In English grammar sentence structure, the subject identifies the actor or agent of the acting (verb). From my viewpoint, whenever society sinks into a maze of subjectless evolution where there is no subject allowed to influence thought and action, it enters into thoughtless chaos. A sentence without a “subject” leaves a vacuum; no one is specifically acting, and things become unclear. In this instance, the subject is God and when God is removed from an ideology, only humans are left to be the subject. The consequence is the vanishing not only of universal justice by divine standards, but also the vanishing of a practical sense of justice and righteousness important to daily life and societal order.
The battle between Marxism and democracy has raged for decades. Ascending into society today is a strong resurgence of Marxist socialistic thinking. Although democracy seemed to win the battle, it is too early to declare Marxism dead, for “democratic-socialism” has taken its place--Marxism under a different name. Both, of course, are accompanied by a rejection of a Christian world view centered in the reality of the Kingdom of God. Historic Marxism was a modern discovery of the world as the plane of history stating that humans can be subjects of their own history. Marxists thought was that the average person should rise up and seize the power of the ruling class. History has revealed that when this happens, then these “average persons” become the new ruling class with the tendency to repress all who do not agree with them. The result is a swing of political power and the influence of a different set of values--hence cultural change with the power of enforcement.
How are biblical Christians to think and what are they to do in the face of this swing? Are Christians too other-worldly conscious and not enough this-world conscious? In its commitment to other-worldly orientation, Christianity over time seemed to lose its relevance for real life for many in the public square. Today Christianity needs to rediscover its relevance to the horizontal aspects of history. Christianity needs a restoration of understanding of what moved and motivated Jesus to declare, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Does the Kingdom of God have any earthly meaning and societal implications, especially in light of Jesus’ statement, “My kingdom is not of this world”? Is it possible for the spiritual kingdom of God to affect social thought and cultural norms without becoming political and power conscious, especially in light of what Jesus’ stated, “Indeed, the kingdom of God is within you”?
Unfortunately, in our day this argument has been cast as right wing or left wing politics, while the deeper issue is the distinction between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. Man’s human kingdoms centralize power in their own hands; whereas God’s divine kingdom distributes power to the individual who is yielded to God’s Lordship—a power that flows through humans responding in obedience to God.
From a practical and historical view, there are two great areas of human concern, plus a third ultimate concern: (1) the negative problem of suffering (issues of injustice, crime, etc); and (2) the positive need for sufficiency (issues of supply, finances, etc), both of which tend to snuff out a larger issue: (3) the ultimate problem of spirituality and relationship to God (issues of salvation, well being, etc). The problems of suffering and injustice tend to feed the communist orientation for a whole society-wide solution, or at least, the liberal approach with political solutions. The problems of sufficiency have tended to feed the capitalistic orientation for free-flowing enterprise based on supply and demand with a profit motive awakened. The strengths and weaknesses of each orientation are evident today--each one unable to bridge the great gaps existing in history.
There is however, a current awakening in the Christian community, at least in my heart and as I see it. Are we as Christians involved in influencing and shaping history? Are we players on the world scene; or are we merely waiting to escape and go to heaven? Do we have an adequate understanding of history, or even a biblical theology of history?
Even as Marxism developed a philosophy of history, simultaneously rejecting Christianity, so now a fresh concern arises in Christian leaders to understand how conservative Christianity may have remained in a vertical only (heaven above) viewpoint--paying primary attention to life after death and only dealing with the real life problems superficially, often leaving issues of suffering and sufficiency to the politicians, with their trying to solve problems without a biblical reference.
Perhaps, rather than remaining in a Hellenistic-Platonic heritage with its tendency to separate non-earthy, non-physical realms from earthly, physical realms, Christians need to return to a more concentrated understanding of Hebrew roots and Jewish theology which had a vision of God active in history. The early church’s understanding of eschatology was that God was actively involved through His people in the forward march of history to a final, ultimate, point in which God rules all and all. Christians today need to embrace this understanding.
- 1 Cor 15:22-25, 28 – “22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. … 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (NKJV).
The New Testament Church knew that in Christ Jesus history had been impacted and life on the historical plane forever changed. In fact, the early believers understood history as the powerful enactment of the Kingdom of God now in time. Progressively they anticipated the time when all things come under the Lordship of Christ, leading to the consummation, when “all things were under Him” that “God may be all in all.”
Therefore, we the Church and God’s people must enter into these grand issues of time and space--the negative problem of suffering and injustice, and the ever-present need of sufficiency and supply for the peoples of the world, around us and abroad, even as we maintain a steadfast focus on the need of people to come to salvation and experience the fullness of spirituality in God.
How does this relate to individuals in the local church? Even as we seek to introduce people to God as Heavenly Father and to personal salvation, we must not lose awareness that people around us are going through great suffering and often experiencing critical lack of supply.
- Matt 25:31-40 – “31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. … 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me'” (NKJV).
Even as we embrace the vertical (upward) implications of the Kingdom of God--His rule and reign among humans, we also embrace the apostolic (outward) implications of advancing the Kingdom of God on earth as ambassadors of Christ and as His instruments of love and compassion to others.
Thurlow J. Switzer, Logs for the Fire 06-24-2010
Add on to article submitted to Ram’s Horn at Northgate
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