The Boneman

What is dispensationalism?

It has been many years since I dealt with dispensationalism on a regular basis, but once in awhile I will make passing mention of it and someone will ask me what it is.  I tend to fumble around and give answers that are overly technical or generally incoherent, so here is my quick attempt to answer the question, "What is dispensationalism?"

Dispensationalism is a two-hundred year old strain of Protestant theology that believes the establishment of Christ's kingdom is delayed until His second coming at the end of the age.  Until Christ physically returns, the world remains in a general state of corruption as the playground of Satan.  The Old Covenant promises of worldwide peace and restoration will only come when the nation-state of Israel (not the gentile church) is fully established and a new temple is built under Christ's direct rule.  He will reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years as he brings the world under His control.  After a final rebellion is crushed at the end of the millennium the eternal state will be ushered in.

Dispensationalism is the majority-report in American evangelicalism today, but represents a significant departure from historic Christendom's understanding of the already / not yet nature of the kingdom of Christ.  While different branches of the church have different nuances of the what / how of Christ's kingdom, all of them believe there is a sense in which it is already here and awaiting final consummation.  The church is not merely a temporary holding place for gentile believers, but a manifestation of the new Spirit-filled temple, Christ's body, and heaven on earth.  Christ will indeed come again for His bride, but His promises to the world are already being realized through the agency of His people, the church, who have been grafted into the people of Israel.

I don't believe the differences between dispensationalism and the rest of Christendom regarding the kingdom are merely academic.  What Christians believe about the nature of Christ's reign shapes how they understand their own piety and the role of the church in the world.  Dispensationalism leads to retreat from the world because it sees it as a place of decay.  Personal piety is therefore more about "quiet times" and soul-saving than earthly engagements and transformation.  For the dispensationalist, the world is destined for fire, not for progressive renewal.

I want to believe that the practical implications of dispensationalism are eroding its foundations because it fundamentally opposes the work of the Spirit in and through the church.  The kingdom is here whether folks want to admit it or not.  The church is the Spirit-filled temple whether folks understand it or not.  The body of Christ is present among us whether they realize it or not.  Satan has been defeated and is being trampled even now despite ourselves.  Dispensationalism is false and time will erode its influence as much as strenuous Biblical exegesis.  

N.T. Wright on Colbert

What on earth is happening?

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:11)

God withheld a benediction over the 2nd day of creation because Heaven and Earth were not meant to be separated forever (Gen 1:6-8).  God's plan was always to bring Heaven and Earth together and He planned to do it through the agency of His image bearers (Gen 1:26).  The fall of man did not derail this plan, but ushered the Son of God into the world as Jacob's ladder (Gen 28:12, John 1:51) and God's Tabernacle.  After Christ's ascension He sent His Spirit to fill His people, the church.  As His body, the church is now transforming and reconciling the world by the power of the Gospel.  The New Jerusalem is descending and filling the earth with God's glory (Rev 21:1ff).  This has been progressively unfolding for about 2000 years now and will continue until the nations are discipled and the Lord returns for His bride.

The Great Commission and the Geopolitical Gospel

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..."  (Matt 28:19,20)

Almost every time I have heard The Great Commission uttered, preached, or explained, people seem to understand it as taking the Gospel to every individual person in every country.  It is as if they translate it as saying, "Go and evangelize every person everywhere."  I have come to believe that it means so much more than that.

Without getting into a lexical debate, check this out for kicks.  One Greek lexicon defines the Greek word, "ethnos," (nation) as, "The largest unit into which the people of the world are divided on the basis of their constituting a socio-political community."  In the New Testament, "ethnos" is also used to denote "Gentiles" or non-Israelites, but in many texts it also has clear political / nation-state connotations (Mt 24:7, Mt 24:14, Mk 11:17, Jn 18:35, Acts 24:17).  I suppose you could argue that the word in the context  of Matt 28 could just as easily be rendered, "heathen," or "Gentiles," but I think you would be ignoring the rest of Scripture.

The good news of the Gospel is that God is restoring the whole world, not just individual souls residing in each country on earth.  The Gospel extends to every part of life and every system - even political ones.  Jesus isn't called the "Lord of lords" and "King of kings" for nothing.  God's promise to Abraham wasn't just that he would be the father of the Jews.  God's promise was that Abraham would "be a father of many nations." (Gen 17:4-6)  In Romans 4:13, Paul interprets this as meaning that Abraham would "be the heir of the world."

It is unsettling for many Evangelicals in America to realize that the United States is not a Christian nation.  Our systems may have the residue of "Judeo-Christian" ethics, but our nation itself has not been discipled.  Individual souls may have been converted, but our systems are fundamentally secular and separated from the Gospel and the word of God.  I don't know what to expect in the case of the United States, but I do believe that in time the church will succeed in discipling all nations.  (Acts 3:19-21)

Worship: Heavenizing Earth (Heb 12:18-29)

An Expository Outline of Hebrews 12:18-29
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I.  Where we are (vs 18-22)
    A.  Not at Sinai (commencement)
    B.  Come to Zion (consummation)
II.  Who we are with (vs 22-24)
    A.  Angels
    B.  God the Judge
    C.  Spirits of just men made perfect
    D.  Jesus the Mediator
III.  What is happening (vs 24-29)
    A.  Sprinkling
    B.  Speaking
    C.  Shaking
    D.  Receiving

"Therefore... serve (Gk. "latria" = worship) God acceptably with reverence and godly fear..." (Heb 12:28)

For more on the heavenly pattern and context of our corporate worship, be encouraged by this brief article posted at the OPC website: "The Heavenly Pattern of Worship"

Roots vs. Symptoms

It is fascinating to see how people diagnose problems.  Most of the time, people see an issue and focus on that issue rather than what is causing that issue to occur.  It is like a doctor who gives you an ointment for a rash without investigating what is causing the rash in the first place.  It comes down to diagnosing root causes versus symptoms.

Dr. Leithart has diagnosed the roots of the current controversy in Reformedom in this recent post.  I heartily commend it to you.  From my point-of-view, he is absolutely 100% correct. 

"Thy kindgom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..."

Ann Coulter's Eschatology

The older I become, the more cynical I become about American politics and politicians.  The demagogeury by both Democrats and Republicans is just astounding and massively discouraging.  Nevertheless, my economic and social leanings are decidedly conservative.  I empathize with the emotional longings of many Democrats, but I just don't think their policies will achieve their goals.  In fact, I think much of liberalism is downright dangerous...

And so it should be of no surprise that I get a kick out of Ann Coulter.  Yes, she can be ascerbic as he**, but she is almost always right on the money.  My wife picked up her latest book, "Godless," and as I read some of the first pages I was stunned!  Ann Coulter is a postmillenialist!  Seriously!  She is willing to say what so many Reformed luminaries aren't!  Consider these quotes:

• The core of the Judeo-Christian tradition says that we are utterly and distinctly apart from other species.  We have dominion over the plants and animals of the Earth.  God gave it to us, it's ours - as succinctly stated in the book of Genesis...
• Our religion says that human progress proceeds from the spark of divinity in the human soul...
• We say humans stand apart from the world and our charge is Planet Earth...
• We believe in populating the Earth until there's standing room only and then colonizing Mars...
• Our book is Genesis...

Wow.  I think she actually attends Tim Keller's PCA church in Manhattan, but don't know for sure.  What I do know is that her worldview operates in an eschatology of dominion and kingdom expansion.  Sometimes I wish she could be a little less combative, but given the stakes of the battle we're in, I say, "Amen, sister.  Preach it!"

Why I am not Panmillenial

Eschatology is the study of the "end" times - of the unfolding future according to God's plan.  It is essentially a philosophy of history and is fundamental to our theology and worldview.  There are basically four paths people take in their thinking:

1. The Bible is not clear about how the future will unfold except for the fact that Jesus will physically return to judge the living and the dead.  This is called "panmillenialism" because Christians should just believe it will all "pan" out in the end.
2. The world is getting worse and the church is holding on by the skin of its teeth until the 2nd coming of Jesus.  This is called "premillenialism," and has been a minority report within Christendom, but has been the most prevalent view among Evangelicals and Baptists for the past 150 years.
3. The world is in stasis (at best) as the church grows and the world decays at roughly the same rates - effectively cancelling each other out.  The promises of Israel's restoration are all spiritually realized in the Gospel.  This view is called "amillenialism" and has been the most prevalent view in Roman Catholicism and most of Protestantism.
4. The world is being progressively reconciled to God through the church.  The promises to Israel are realized in the extension of the kingdom through the Gospel people.  Jesus will return at an unknown time after the nations have been discipled through the church.  This view is called "post-millenialism" and has been a minority report throughout church history - although arguably held by some of Christendom's most important theologians.

The problem with panmillenialsim, premillenialism, and amillenialism is that they miss the thrust of God's program from the beginning.  From the beginning, God's program was to "heavenize" earth through His image bearers.  Man's task was to take the "raw material" of the world and press down God's heavenly pattern upon it according to His Word.  When man fell from this purpose through sin, God restored them to that purpose through the resurrection of the second Adam. 

The redeemed people of God are not simply on a rescue mission for souls, but are on a restoration mission of the cosmos.  Consider the following:

• The second day of creation (Gen. 1:6), when the heavens were separated from the earth, is the only day without a "benediction" from God.  God's purpose from the beginning was to fuse heaven and earth through the agency of His image bearers (Gen 1:26ff).
• When God's image bearers fell from their ability to do their work, God promised a Savior to restore them to this task (Gen 3:15, 2 Cor. 5:19).
• God flooded the earth to begin a new humanity in Noah through which the promised Savior would come (Gen 6:11). 
• God told Abraham that "all the families of the earth" would be blessed through the promised Seed (Gen12:3, Gal 3:16).
• Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 2) that the mountain of the Lord's house (the church, eg. Heb 12:22) would be established on the top of the mountains, and ALL nations would flow into it.  Sound familiar?  Does the Great Commission (Matt. 28) come to mind? 
• Daniel prophesied (Dan 2:31ff) that a stone without hands would smash the pagan nations and then become a mountain that filled the whole earth.  Could that mountain be the new heavenly Zion which is the worshipping church (Heb 12:22)?  Of course it is.
• Jesus taught that his mission was to bind the strong man (Satan) and plunder his house (Mark 3:27).  It isn't the other way around.
• Jesus taught us to pray that His kingdom would come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10).  Will that prayer go unanswered?  Certainly not.
• Jesus taught that His kingdom was like a mustard seed that grew to be a large tree in which the birds of the air (nations) would rest (Matt 13:31).
• Jesus taught that His church would assault the gates of Hades, and Hades defenses would not stand against the attack (Matt 16:18).  Hell is on the defense, and it is losing to the advances of Christ's church.
• The book of Acts shows us that the plan for the advance of the Gospel was to go from Jersualem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  Did the advance stop in Rome with Paul's imprisonment?  Of course not.  It is still growing today.
• In Acts, Peter preached that Jesus will remain in heaven and will not return again until "the restoration of all things."  (Acts 3:21) 
• At the end of Romans, Paul tells the church that "the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly." (Romans 16:20)  The imagery of Gen 3:15 and Psalm 110 are being applied to Christ's church - which is His body.  The church will progressively stomp-out the serpent that was dealt a death-blow by Jesus.
• Revelation 21 portrays heaven as the New Jerusalem (which is the church, Heb 12:22), the bride of Christ (which is the church, Eph 5:22ff), and the tabernacle / temple of God (which is the church, 1 Pet 2:4ff).  The church is the visible manifestation of the kingdom of God heavenizing earth.

The Bible isn't agnostic about the future of the world.  The Bible isn't pessimistic about the future of the world.  The Bible doesn't teach that the church is in a stalemate with the world.  No, this world is "passing away" (1 John 2:8, 17) as the kingdom takes the world by the force of Christ's preached Word (Rev. 19:15).