|
continued |
Biblical Reasons Why We Should
And Practical Suggestions on How We Can
Create Heaven on Earth
Creating heaven on earth: isn't that somehow a denial of the Gospel?
This is the question I get from people who believe they are going to heaven, but can't really tell me what the Gospel is.
What is "the Gospel?"[2] That sounds like a simple question, and most Christians could probably give a simple answer, but their answer would be, in most cases, simply inadequate. The overwhelming majority of "christians" today have a crippled view of "the Gospel."
|
Do I sense an impenetrable circle here?
One of the words most frequently associated with "gospel" (or the Greek word for "preach the gospel") is "kingdom" (Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 24:14; Mark 1:14; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43; Luke 8:1; Luke 16:16; Acts 8:12). The Gospel has something to do with the reign of Christ the King, which was "at hand."
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, {15} And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
(Mark 1:14-15)
But for most Christians, the reign of Christ is either limited to one's own heart, or postponed to the increasingly-distant future.
|
|
In Part One of The Christmas Conspiracy we saw the Biblical evidence for a Christian conspiracy to take over the world. The Architect of this conspiracy is the Triune God of Scripture. Jesus Christ came into the world on the first Christmas to put this Conspiracy into effect. The Machinery of His New World Order has been set up, and now He is raising up co-conspirators to take over the planet. The recruiting of billions of co-conspirators is the present task of His followers. We shall succeed. Part Two of The Christmas Conspiracy proves this guarantee of success from Scripture.
The God of the Bible has predestined The Christmas Conspiracy to succeed. The "Vine & Fig Tree" vision of heaven on earth spoken of by the Prophets will one day be "mainstream," although it is now just a minority.
Again, we look to the Prophet Micah, who has already described the victory of Christ's Kingdom:
|
And
Jesus came and spake unto them saying, 'All power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age'
(Matthew 28:18-20).
Here are some of the more popular "gospels" going around today:
Neo-Platonism is the view that the material is inferior to the spiritual. The body is to be despised, the soul (or spirit, or mind, or heart) is to be our focus. The "good news" of the Neo-Platonist is that we shall soon leave the planet and live forever as disembodied spirits. Until then we can ignore society-wide injustice, ignore the creation, become ascetics and perhaps, like the great Neo-Platonists of old, mutilate and abuse our bodies as a sign of our great self-control. Upbeat "evangelical" neo-platonists will sing about the "joy" they have "down in my heart."
The New York Times does not really tell us which are the best-selling books. Books sold in Christian bookstores or by direct-mail solicitations predicting that Christ will return before 1988 have not been counted by the Times, even if such books have sold more copies than the entire Times top ten list combined. This may be bad news for Hal Lindsey, but it makes for "good news" which is "fit to print" for those who cringe at the "good news" according to Hal: Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth. Millions sold.[3] "Good News"?
Deuteronomy 28 (and the rest of the Old Testament) speaks of God "blessing" those who seek first the Kingdom of God and "cursing" those who reject His Kingdom and Law in search of the "blessing" of the Empire of Man. The "good news" heard in the overwhelming majority of fundamentalist churches today is that no one is obligated to undergo metanoia (radical repentance) according the Standard set forth by the Law and the Prophets. "We're not under law, we're under grace."[4] No need to worry about being a peacemaker, or hungering for justice. The bad news? No "blessing." Except "down in your heart" (see "The Neo-Platonist Gospel").
From two Greek words, "A" (without), and "millennium" (golden age), this eschatological[5] option holds that things get worse and worse until we die or Christ comes back and everybody goes to heaven. (see "Neo-Platonism")
From "pre," (before), and millennium, this view of the Good News holds that Jesus comes again a Second time, before the "millennium" starts. The bad news: before He comes, the Roman Empire is revived, millions are tortured to death by the United Nations, and Russia nukes a third of the Earth into oblivion, beginning with Israel. Christ then returns to set up a top-down hierarchy administered by an army of born-again bureaucrats headquartered in Jerusalem, where He has reinstated Jewish-mandated animal sacrifices. More bad news: In the United States, at least 50 million people follow preachers of this "gospel." (see "Dispensationalism.")
In reaction to the pessimistic and Neo-Platonic "gospels" above, a growing number of Christians are attempting to "have an influence" in their society. They hope to replace secular politicians with Christian politicians. While they want the family and the institutional church to be strengthened, they do not challenge the state-centered paradigm of the Secular Humanist world. They believe that the State, rather than the "free market," is necessary to bring social order, health, harmony, and peace -- all concepts which are part of the Biblical word for "salvation." But the "good news" in the Bible is not that the political machinery of Babylon "will be the habitation of the saints." The "good news" is "Babylon has fallen!" (Revelation 18:2)
Where was "the Gospel" first preached? Early in the book of Acts? The Middle of Matthew? What was the content of this message? What exactly are the "glad tidings"? Galatians 3:8 gives us an answer:
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, "
In thee shall all nations be blessed."
Everything in this verse strikes out at modern-day Evangelicalism. Modern evangelists limit the Word of God to but a few passages or books in the Bible (usually in the New Testament) and are surprised to find the Gospel in the book of Genesis. But it is also the content of this Gospel that is so foreign to most evangelists today. Again, for the overwhelming majority of "christians" in the latter part of the 20th century, "the gospel" is a crippled version of the original: it is the "good news" that although the world is getting worse and worse, I'm going to be "raptured" out of history and out of responsibility, and into eternal self-indulgence.
The Gospel which was preached to Abraham was that "all nations shall be blessed!" This is indeed "Good News!"
It is impossible to understand the Gospel without understanding the Law. In the Law of Moses (that is, the first five books of the Bible, and "The Book of the Covenant" [Ex. 24:7] - the "case laws" - in particular) we have not only promises of the coming Messiah but also concepts which are foundational to the Gospel. Without an understanding of these concepts the Gospel cannot be understood.[6]
According to Galatians 3:8, the Gospel is the promise that "all nations shall be blessed." What is "blessed?" This word is defined in the Law and the rest of the Bible assumes this definition without necessarily repeating it. We must, therefore, study the Law to find out what the Gospel is.
Perhaps the clearest definition of "blessing" is to be found in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy. The entire chapter is devoted to explaining the concept of "blessing" and its opposite, "cursing." Blessing comes upon the obedient, while cursing comes upon the disobedient. The first two verses set the stage for an explication of the word "blessing:"
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
We will see in more detail what exactly God commanded; by the time Deuteronomy 28 was handed down, it was already abundantly clear. The prophets made it clearer. Then Jesus upheld all these commands[7] (Matthew 5:17-20) and the rich, the powerful, usurers, adulterous politicians, religious extortioners, military imperialists, and self-indulgent escapists all clamored for His execution. Something in the Law of God obviously irritated these kinds of people.
The next twelve verses give the details of what it means to be "blessed." These include:
Rather than print the verses here, I will allow you to read them in your own Bible, as you may wish to underline or mark the passage. (You may also wish to compare Leviticus 26.) All of these (very material) "blessings" are offensive to the Neo-Platonist.
The verses that follow (vv. 15-68) give a detailed description of the opposite of "blessing," which is "cursing." Verse 15 serves the same function as verses 1 and 2 did:
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
That so much of the chapter is devoted to setting forth the meaning of cursing rather than blessing is due to the fact that Spirit-less Israel was not predestined to believe the Gospel, would not obey the LORD (as had already been hinted [Deuteronomy 17:14f.] and would shortly be more fully set forth [ch. 32; cf. 31:20-21]).
But the glorious fact about the New Covenant is that "all nations shall be blessed!" Of course, this is just another way of saying that, in sharp contrast to Israel, the heathen nations would be obedient to the LORD, in terms of His Covenant.[8] As Deuteronomy 28 makes very clear, blessings come upon the obedient, while upon the disobedient come cursings. That all nations would indeed[9] be obedient is set forth in the many Gospel promises found in the Old Testament. Let us examine some of them.
To
understand the Old Testament prophets, it is necessary to recall[10] that in "the last days" of the Old Covenant world, Jesus the Messiah inaugurated a New Age, the Age of a Spiritual[11] Kingdom, wherein believers are priests and kings under the Christ, through whom He extends His reign through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the Word. We can begin our survey, as does Galatians 3:8, with Abraham.The Gospel is given to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. "...in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." More specifically, "in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 28:14). The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 3:16 that Abraham's seed (singular) is Christ; thus in Christ shall all families be blessed; more specifically, in those who are "in Christ" (Galatians 3:7,9,14,28-29; Romans 4:16; 9:8), and for this essay, that means Jesus' "co-conspirators" and others who believe the Biblical Gospel.
Another promise of the successful spread of the Gospel is given in Genesis 49:10:
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between His feet, until Shiloah come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.
"The gathering of the people" was a concept picked up by ancient Empires and attributed to their acts of conquest and captivity.[12] They perished (Matthew 26:52). The Law and the Prophets spoke of this gathering as occurring freely, spontaneously, without tyranny. Only an all-powerful King could guarantee the coercion-free prosperity and spread of His Kingdom. Such dominion was prophesied of Christ by Balaam in Numbers 24:17-19:
There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel.... Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion.
At the time of Moses, the refusal of the people of Israel to listen to the Lord's prophets became particularly evident. But the LORD promised to raise up a Prophet Who, although human ("made of a woman" [Galatians 4:4; John 1:14]), would have the Power to enable the people to hear. Moses declared,
The LORD thy God shall raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken.
Deuteronomy 18:15
By God's grace and power, people would hear, not reject, this Prophet. Peter, in Acts 3:22, and Stephen, in Acts 7:37, said that Christ was the Prophet spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:15. The Apostle Paul knew that all nations would be gathered unto Him, and knew that Christ was that Prophet Who would be heard. For this reason, when the Jews treated Christ as they did all the other prophets (Matthew 23:37- 38; Matthew 21:43), Paul turned from their Empire-worshiping stubbornness and preached unto the Gentiles of all the other nations, victims of the violence of Pax Romana, knowing that they would gladly receive the Good News of Christ's Kingship (Acts 18:6; 28:28; 13:48).
When the Jews heard that Christ of Nazareth was the Messiah-King promised by the Scripture, they were not at all delighted, for they were hoping for a political king who would militarily deliver them from oppression so that they could begin to oppress their oppressors. But Christ was not a political king, and His power is greater than mere military power. He doesn't just change the external behavior of citizens through coercion or threats of force; in His Kingdom behavior change comes from the heart: by His Holy Spirit, the King changes people's hearts! Although greatly sought after, this is the kind of power modern socialist planners and psycho-political manipulators can only dream of. Thus, when Peter and the Apostles did not hesitate to preach the full-orbed Gospel to the Gentiles, King Jesus poured out His Holy Spirit upon them. Their hearts were opened, and they believed the Gospel (Acts 10:44-48; cf. Acts 16:14). Christ truly is the Prophet Who would be heard.
It should be noted, however, that the Spirit does not act to open hearts to a diluted, statist, neo-platonic "gospel." When our hearts are opened, we hear the Gospel which Jesus preached to the poor (Luke 4:18-19), and lived out in a life of Self-sacrifice. We become Patriarchs, like Abraham.
| Table of Contents |
|
Go to Next Installment of The Christmas Conspiracy: The Great Commission vs. the Wimp Commission
Other related resources:
The Biblical Doctrine of Salvation
(1)
"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. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet." (I Corinthians 15:24-25).(2) The literal meaning of the Greek word for "Gospel" is the "good news."
(3) Lindsey's publisher, Bantam Books, reports that by the end of the "Jesus Generation" only the Bible had sold more copies. Lindsey's book is thus the book for understanding Christendom at the end of the 20th century. (More information on Hal Lindsey's "apocalyptic" best-seller can be obtained by writing to Hal Lindsey's publisher, Bantam Books, Inc., at 666 Fifth Ave., NY, NY, 10103.)
(4) Everybody is "under law," culturally speaking. Our society is either under God's Law, or under Caesar's Law. Or as William Penn put it, "Men must choose to be governed by God, or they condemn themselves to be ruled by tyrants." The rise of "Dispensationalism" has also seen the rise in totalitarianism and mass destruction. Law is an inescapable concept.
(5) "Eschatology" is the Doctrine (Gk., logos) of "final events" (Gk., eschatos).
(6) See Essay Three in this series of essays.
(7) See Essay Three in this series of essays.
(8) Hebrews 8:7-10 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. {8} Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
Ezekiel 36:26-27 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. {27} I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Paul the Pharisee took the Gospel first to the Jews, then the Gentiles.
So they disagreed with each other; and as they were leaving, Paul made one further statement: "The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, {26} 'Go to this people and say, You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. {27} For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn-- and I would heal them.' {28} Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles [Gk.: ethnos]; they will listen."
(Acts 28:25-28)
Paul agreed with the indictment Christ leveled against the Jewish leaders:
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither permit ye them that are entering to go in. (Matthew 23:13)
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation [Gk.: ethnos] bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matthew 21:43)
Paul believed the claims of Christ, that He had bound Satan.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, {3} And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations [Gk.: ethnos] no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
(Revelation 20:2-3)
(9) (as well as in thought and word!)
(10) from your reading of Essay One.
(11) As in "Holy Spirit," not "Neo-Platonism."
(12) See our paper, "Emperors and Shepherds: Statist Rivals to the Christian Messiah."
For Further Reading: The Great Commission vs. the Wimp Commission
| Table of Contents |
|
