6
THE HEAVENLY ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH
In their frustration over
trying to account for the rapidly-appearing sophisticated technology of ancient
man (architectural marvels, navigation, etc.) while denying the biblical record
of the origin of civilization, various unbelieving authors have speculated that
extra-terrestrial beings somehow influenced ancient man. Supposedly, these
beings from outer space periodically visited the planet to help humanity evolve
from primitive ape levels to advanced human levels.
There is some truth buried
in these speculations. Angelic beings did interact with the human race (not
primitive apes, but fully-developed recent created mankind) before the flood (Gen.
3:24; 6:2; II Pet. 2:4-5). All through later biblical history they interacted
in ways which were occasionally revealed by the prophets (e.g., II Kings
22:19-23; Dan. 10:12-14). However, as the saying goes “truth is stranger than
fiction.” Not only has humanity been influenced by “extra-terrestrial beings”,
these very beings themselves have been superseded in rank by a representative
of the lowly human race, the Son of Man. Not only has He ascended far above
them, He has begun a new human race on earth of a different species, a divine
work that fascinates the angels (Eph. 3:10).
The Church, it will be
learned in this chapter, originated from beyond the furthest point in outer
space, from beyond the entire universe. The Church was created on this planet
because of Jesus Christ’s efforts after He ascended and arrived at the throne
of God. His work in founding the Church from beyond outer space has been
repeatedly remembered in the famous creeds. The Apostles’ Creed, written in the
first or second century, for example, says: “I believe. . .He ascended into
heaven; and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; From there he shall come
to judge the quick and the dead.”[1]
After looking at Christ’s
ascent using the NT observations, we will examine how that ascent and the
subsequent session is interpreted by NT authors who relied upon prior OT truths
and pictures. We will then move on to study some of the doctrinal consequences.
Christ’s session-work in heaven is the cause of the unique features of
spiritual life in this dispensation. To prepare for this study please read
Daniel 7, Psalm 110, Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and Acts 1:1-11.
THE HISTORICAL ASCENSION AND
FOLLOWING SESSION
Like the other events in the NT picture of Christ’s career on earth, his unique ascension and session were literal historical events, not mere mythical stories manufactured by Church “spin doctors.” Unlike the other events, however, this one could only have been partially observed by mankind. The first part of his ascent into heaven was observed, but the rest of the ascension and his session at the Father’s throne could not be observed. That part of the event occurred in heaven far beyond man’s limited powers of observation. Study of this event, therefore, requires a two-fold approach. For the initial ascent we rely upon the material in the gospels and the book of Acts. For the rest we must rely upon how the NT writers utilized OT material to describe what had happened.
PREPARATIONS FOR AND
OBSERVATIONS OF THE ASCENSION
Christ had tried to prepare
his disciples for his coming departure many times. e repeatedly prophesied not
only of His death but also of His ascension. The Apostle John later reflected
upon Jesus’ ministry and reports how He boldly proclaimed that He would return
to where He was before the incarnation (John 6:62; 16:28). He would go to be
with God in a sense utterly different from that of ordinary dying (John 7:33).
When He would arrive in God’s Presence, He would somehow empower his disciples
left back on earth (John 14:12), an empowerment for which they should be happy
(John 14:28). Jesus taught that once back in heaven He would send the Holy
Spirit to the disciples for a world wide ministry of convincing all men
everywhere of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11).
In spite of all of these
remarks by Jesus during their training, the disciples were utterly astonished
when He arose into heaven from the Mount of Olives. Three times the NT records
the departure of Christ before His amazed disciples. In Mark 16:19 it is
described in passive terms. Christ “was received up into heaven.” In Luke
24:50-51 Jesus actively leads the disciples eastward out of Jerusalem and to
the Mount of Olives between Jerusalem and Bethany. The text notes that while He
was blessing them, He “parted from them.” In Acts 1:8-9 the passive and active
elements are combined. Here the “blessing” is explained as including the
promise of the Holy Spirit and the ascent begins while the disciples apparently
look on speechless.
The Acts reference also
reports that two angels appeared after the ascent began (1:10-11). They inform
the disciples that the physical ascent of Jesus up from the earth will one day
be reversed and He will return physically. The angels’ words clearly imply that
Christ’s second coming is not to be thought of as some unseen, “spiritual”
event that can be identified with Pentecost or with the AD 70 destruction of
the Temple. Just as the ascent was physical, so must the descent be!
After this ascent all the
post-resurrection appearances of Christ which had been going on for forty days
(Acts 1:3) ceased. From this point in time whenever Christ appears, He always appears from heaven. Stephen,
for example, saw Christ in heaven (Acts 7:56). Paul heard Christ’s voice
speaking from heaven (Acts 9:3-6). The ascension plainly marked a new stage in
the career of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also challenges cosmological ideas of
geometry since Christ in a resurrected body is located at some point which
projects as “up” relative to wherever one stands on the spherical earth.
INTERPRETATION OF THE
ASCENSION
Beyond the direct
observations of the beginning of Christ’s ascent, the NT also provides
interpretation of the rest of his ascent to God’s throne. According to the NT
Christ’s ascent was not a
mere disappearance but was a real journey through space. I Peter 3:22 describes
the ascent as a journey into heaven where He attained command over all angels.
In Hebrews 4:14 Christ is said to have passed through multiple heavens,
as though beyond our atmosphere and outer space there are other “layers” of the
created cosmos. Ephesians 1:20-21 pictures the ascent as one to a position
above every created power as in the I Peter 3:22 passage. In Ephesians 4:8-10
the ascent is visualized in terms of Psalm 68:18 which describes a theophany in
which Yahweh commemorates His victory over the world powers from Sinai to the
reign of David. Psalm 68 is a “song of victory” type of psalm like Exodus 15,
Deuteronomy 32, Judges 5, and several psalms in the book of psalms. These songs
of victory were used in Israel and in surrounding pagan nations to picture the
successful conclusion of military conquest. The God or gods were seen to
descend from their holy mountains, give victory to their nations’ armies, and
then retire back to their holy mountains. In Israel’s history Yahweh descended
to Mt. Sinai after the exodus to take command of his people for the campaign of
conquest of Palestine. Yahweh’s throne during this campaign was the Ark of the
Covenant where His Glory was always located. Observe how Moses and the
Israelites saw the Ark as the location of God in Numbers 10:35ff and Joshua
3:3f. In David’s day (Psalm 68 is a Davidic psalm) the Ark of the Covenant
finally arrived at Mt. Zion, the site of the future Temple (II Sam. 6:12-19; I
Chron. 15-16). Psalm 68, therefore, appears to be a victory song David wrote to
commemorate Yahweh’s faithfulness in bringing the nation into the land and
securing its borders from the surrounding pagan threats.
In Ephesians Paul sees an analogy
between that OT theophany and Christ’s ascension. Observe in Table One the
details of this analogy and its implications. Paul in application alters the
verb “receive” in Psalm 68:18 to
|
Psalm 68:7-18 |
Ephesians 4:7-10
|
|
Yahweh left His throne to
lead Israel in the conquest & settlement from Sinai to the victorious
establishment of the Ark on Mt. Zion, the site of His final throne and the
place where before Abraham the last of
His faithful servants in the Noahic family reigned (Melchizedek, Gen. 14) |
Christ victoriously
“ascended far above all the heavens” from where He
once was (although in pre-Incarnate
form, John 6:62; 16:28).9 |
|
Yahweh leads
prisoners-of-war in a triumphant procession |
Jesus Christ declares victory
over defeated angelic powers (cf. Col.
2:15, I Pet 3:19) |
|
Yahweh receives booty from
His defeated foes |
Jesus Christ gives the
booty to His Church |
Table 1. – Analogy between Yahweh’s military campaign of
conquest and settlement and Jesus Christ’s
campaign of birth-life-death-resurrection. Both end in
a triumphant celebration.
“receive” in Ephesians 4:8
to bring out the grace of Jesus Christ in sharing the booty of victory with his
Church. If nothing else, this analogy shows how NT writers viewed Christ as
identical to the God of the OT. It shows that Christ had ascended to the place
of God Himself when the journey was completed. This concept also explains the
meaning of the expression in Hebrews 12:22 where the Church “comes” to Mt.
Zion, the “heavenly Jerusalem.” The full ascension from earth to heaven,
rightly interpreted, teaches the literal transport of Christ’s human nature
through space to a definite geometrical point where God’s throne
in located.
What did Christ do after He
completed the ascension? That question is covered by the term “session.” To
explain the session, NT writers, continued to use OT analogies. It should come
as no surprise that the Creator has so designed the universe and historical
experience that certain features are repeated in different contexts over and
over. Some writers refer to these features as “typologies” rather than
analogies. In any case they are corollaries to the creation doctrine. Three
major OT passages supply most of the imagery that NT writers employ to explain
the session of Jesus Christ.
The Son of Man and the Fifth
Kingdom (Daniel 7). Israel had been called out of the paganized Noahic civilization to
form a disruptive counter-culture but as we discovered in Part IV of this
series, Israel disobeyed and suffered Yahweh’s discipline. When Israel’s
kingdom fell in 586BC, God showed Daniel that the Kingdom of God would still
come on earth but only after a time of delay. There was to be an intervening
period of Gentile domination.
(We will further study this
delay in Appendix A.) In Daniel 7 God presents the moral qualities of each of
the five kingdoms which would dominate the world from 586 BC to the end of
mortal history. Each kingdom except the final fifth one is represented by a
sub-human creature, a picture showing that these four prior kingdoms as unfit
for true human living. The fifth kingdom is depicted by a human being, the Son
of Man, indicating it alone is fit for mankind and the consummation of the
Genesis mandate.
To what does this Son of Man
image refer—an individual or a group of people? In Daniel 7:18, 27 a group of
people, believers, who are called the holy ones of the most High, are associated with the Son of Man image.
Nevertheless, the other kingdom images in Daniel 2 and 7 seem to be associated
with the individual founding kings (7:17,19-20, 24-26; cf. 2:31-43, especially
2:37-38). The best interpretation of the Son of Man image, therefore, is that
it refers to both an individual founding king and the people of that kingdom.[2]
The founding king characterizes the people who populate the kingdom. And this
final fifth kingdom follows the casting down of all previous kingdom
authorities (7:9). The OT image in Daniel 7:9-14 thus teaches that God would
establish His Kingdom in future history after His judgment through a genuine
human founder who would reign over all the earth.
How is the imagery of Daniel
7:9-14 used in the NT to interpret Christ’s session? One way the NT uses this
imagery is in teaching that Christ received full authority over the earth when
He came to the Father on the throne. Just as the Son of Man figure in Daniel
“was given. . .dominion, and glory, and a nation” (7:14), Christ was given
glory and honor at his session (note the ideas expressed in Matt. 26:64, 28:18;
Mark 14:62; Heb. 2:9; Rev. 1:18). Christ at the session is thus recognized by
the Father as the king of the final kingdom. He is set to gain what Satan tried
to offer Him during the temptations (cf. Matt. 4:8-9).
A second way the NT uses the
Daniel 7 imagery is in showing that the kingdom which ultimately is given to
Christ will be made up of “all people, nations, and languages” (7:14). In like
manner Christ is given authority over all nations so that his disciples are to
penetrate every culture on earth with the gospel (Matt. 28:18-20). The Apostle
Paul notes this cultural dominance in his Athens address (Acts 17:30). The session
thus marks a point in history when God’s revealing and saving program returns
to all nations where it had been in the era between Noah and Abraham. Readers
are reminded that Israel’s ultimate meaning is a channel of blessing to all
nations. Though a Jew by birth, Jesus Christ has a larger mission than just
being Messiah to Israel.
Finally, a third way the NT
uses the Son of Man imagery is to reveal by its negative usage of Daniel 7
details the postponement of the full exercise of Christ’s session authority. In
Daniel 7 the Son of Man image represents the people of the kingdom as well as
the king. If Christ is the king, He must have a people in order to bring the
fifth kingdom into existence. Until that people exist, there can’t be a
kingdom. Moreover, Daniel 7 imagery also shows that the nations must be judged,
the Satanic beast slain, and all remnants of the previous four kingdoms set
aside prior to the actual reign of the Son of Man. By omitting specific
references to these details the NT shows that the session did not fulfill all
of this OT imagery.
The Royal Son of God
Reigning in Victory (Psalm 2). The second OT imagery used to explain the session of
Christ is taken from Psalm 2. This particular imagery came out of Israel’s
experience with her monarchy. At her founding at Mt. Sinai, Israel was
established as a kingdom under Yahweh (see Part III of this series). This
preliminary form of the Kingdom of God depended upon Israel’s continued
sanctification and upon her victorious waging of holy war against the
degenerate Canaanite culture of Palestine. Unfortunately, within a century of
her founding, Israel failed in her task. A monarchy with human kings became
necessary. As the weaknesses of these human kings became apparent, OT saints
looked increasingly to an Ideal King who would reign in perfect fellowship with
Yahweh and put down all of Yahweh’s enemies.
Psalm 2 pictures the Ideal
King, the Royal Son, reigning triumphantly from Mt. Zion after being formally
accepted by Yahweh (“Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee”). The
Ideal King is to pray to Yahweh for world dominion (2:8). He then attains
global dominion “with a rod of iron” (cf. Rev. 2:27). Before this forcible
conquest, however, the nations are given the choice to bow to the Son’s authority
(2:10-12).
The NT uses this Royal Son
picture to interpret Christ’s session two ways. First, just as the Royal Son of
Psalm 2 was formally accepted by God, so Christ is formally accepted with full
honors at his session. Because of His perfect loyalty to God’s will, Christ
received “a more excellent name” (Heb. 1:1- 5; cf. Phil. 2:6-9). Although prior
to His session while on earth, He had been pronounced as “God’s Son” (Matt.
3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:22; cf. Acts 4:23-30), it was not until the finishing
of his earthly work that the Son acquired full legal authority (note Eph.
1:20-22). This full legal authority extended over not merely the human race on
planet earth but also the angelic beings throughout the universe.
The NT non-usage of details
in the Psalm 2 picture, as it does with its avoidance of details in the Daniel
7 imagery, again points to the delay in full exercise of Christ’s authority.
The Son of God must rely upon the Father to attain global dominion in spite of
His being formally recognized as king. Christ holds back his judgment in the NT
(cf. Rev. 2:26-27; 19:6,15). He does not now rule “with a rod of iron.” Also
very obvious is the discrepancy between Psalm 2 that pictures the Davidic
Messiah on the physical Mt. Zion at Jerusalem and the NT that speaks of the Son
of God sitting at the Father’s right hand in heaven. Whereas Psalm 2 reveals
Christ as the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, as the eternal extension of
the House of David ruling over the nations on earth, the NT pictures Christ
ruling over all the angelic powers throughout the heavens. Analogies exist
between Psalm 2 and Christ’s present session because both.12 concern the same Person in
ruling functions, but the NT doesn’t declare the present session as the fulfillment
of the Davidic Covenant.[3]
The Everlasting King-Priest
in the Order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110). Besides the imagery of Daniel 7 and Psalm 2, the NT
also uses imagery in Psalm 110 to interpret Christ’s session. Psalm 110 is a
stunning revelation of the Messianic King fulfilling a pre-Israelite, Gentile,
office of king-priest. As with Psalm 2 David catches the vision of his
Messianic Descendent in the context of the future destiny of Jerusalem and Mt.
Zion. Yahweh in David’s vision speaks to this Future One Who must sit and wait
for Yahweh to subdue His enemies (110:1). This Descendent receives priestly
authority as well as kingly authority. He fulfills the early pre-Israelite
Noahic rule modeled by Melchizedek in Abraham’s day at the location of
Jerusalem (Gen. 14:18-20). His priesthood is distinct from the Jewish Aaronic
priesthood. Thus the imagery includes a global reign of One Who combines
political and religious offices in Himself.
The NT applies Psalm 110
imagery to Christ’s session in two ways similar to the two applications of
Psalm 2. On one hand Christ in His human nature is accepted into the full
presence of God during the session. He sits at the Father’s “right [ruling]
hand” (Heb. 1:3; 6:19-20; 9:12, 24; 10:12). Being from the tribe of Judah Jesus
cannot participate anyway in the Aaronic priesthood of Israel. His priesthood,
therefore, is rooted further back historically in the original structure of
Noahic civilization and therefore reaches outward beyond the domain of Israel
to all nations. On the other hand Christ waits there for the defeat of his
enemies before fully reigning (Heb. 10:13). An extended period of time must
pass before all his enemies are put down in historical experience. The NT
interprets this “subduing” in the original Genesis
sense, a subduing of the
entire earth including death itself (I Cor. 15:23-28).
These three OT images—the
Son of Man in Daniel 7:9-14; the Royal Son of Psalm 2; and the King-Priest of
Psalm 110—are key OT devices for understanding the NT session of Christ. They
all teach the same two truths: that Jesus Christ ascended to the very throne of
God where He was given authority over all the universe; and that He now awaits
a future time when He will exercise that authority directly over all the
nations of mankind. Figure One summarizes these two truths.
|
OT Image |
Source Accomplishment of the Session |
Accomplishments Still Awaited |
|
Daniel 7 |
Christ given kingly
authority to rule over all nations;
comes face-to-face with the Father |
Judgment of nations; acquisition
of a kingdom people; evil powers set aside |
|
Psalm 2 |
Christ given kingly
authority to rule over all nations
by a decree of the Father |
Subduing of the nations;
nations given opportunity to bow to Christ’s authority before they are forced
to; Christ not sitting on David’s throne at physical Mt. Zion |
|
Psalm 110 |
Christ given both kingly
and priestly authority to rule
over all nations; sits at the Father’s right hand |
Enemies not yet defeated |
Figure One. Pictures how OT images are used in the NT to interpret Christ’s session through a selected set of features.
The ascension and session,
then, is an event loaded with new details about how the OT promised Kingdom of
God comes about. The King has come, has been rejected, and leaves. His “coming”
has been split in two—a first advent and a second advent—with an inter-advent
period of history that now comes into existence. During this interim time
period the King doesn’t reign over the global physical-political domain on
earth that was the expectation of the OT. He doesn’t sit on David’s throne in
Jerusalem. Instead He sits with the Father in heaven at the helm of cosmic
history.
His throne is the Father’s,
not David’s. At this throne He awaits the conditions for the start of the
promised OT Kingdom. The NT authors add the detail that from this throne Jesus
Christ outranks all angelic powers. It is this new detail that introduces the
key to understanding what purposes the new inter-advent age accomplishes.
History from the time of the ascent and session of Jesus Christ will now be
known as the “last days” (Heb. 1:2; 2:26; I Pet. 1:20; I John 2:18). During
these “last days” God imposes the gospel invitation to trust in Christ or face
exclusion from the Kingdom onto all men everywhere in every culture after the
manner of Psalm 2:12 (Matt. 24:14; 2:19-20; Acts 17:30-31; Rom.1:5). Viewed in
this light, the gospel message is not a sweet, anemic religious appeal to
humanity. Rather, it is a very sober
combination of grave and
threatened judgment.
DOCTRINAL CONSEQUENCES OF
THE ASCENSION AND SESSION: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN OF JUDGMENT / SALVATION
The earlier historical
events of the flood in Noah’s day and the Exodus in Moses’ day provided a
preview of God’s final judgment upon evil and salvation of His people. Evil, it
will be remembered from Part II of this series, will not forever plague
history. Of this truth God gave believers historical assurance by the flood and
the Exodus. With Christ’s death, resurrection, and subsequent ascension and
session, however, the years of anticipation ended and the final countdown to
the complete judgment and salvation began. The present era is described in the
Bible as the “last days” during which the final subduing of creation under
Jesus Christ occurs. Previously we have looked at the twin themes of judgment and
salvation under five headings (Parts II and III of this series). Let’s look
again at each of those five areas of truth.
Before the flood judgment
God provided over a century of gracious warning to mankind (Gen. 6:3; cf. II
Pet. 2:5), and before the Exodus He gave many gracious warnings to the
Egyptians (Exod. 5-11). These warnings set the precedent for the era of grace
separating Christ’s first and second advents. This inter-advent period of grace
is just that. It is an age in which humanity is being given another chance, its
last chance, to bow the knee to the Creator and Savior. All mankind everywhere
regardless of culture or race or people group are commanded to radically change
their world view and basic beliefs (i.e., repent as in Acts 17:30-31).
History appears on the
surface to continue in the same fashion as it did before Christ came. The
“times of the Gentiles” that began in 586 BC with the fall of the OT kingdom
continue (Luke 21:24).[4]
The Kingdom of Man is being
allowed to run its course and reveal the all-encompassing nature of evil.
Appearance, however, is not necessarily reality. The NT authors exhibit a
powerful optimism and assurance of the final outcome based upon their faith in
the ascension and session of Christ. There is a “victory” over death (I
Cor. 15:50-57), a coming separation from all evil (Gal. 5:21), and a coming
reckoning with Christ as Judge (II Tim. 4:1, 18; II Pet. 1:11).
This is the consequence of
viewing Christ’s session in the light of OT images such as Psalm 2:12 “Do
homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, for His
wrath may soon be kindled.” The present age must not be interpreted as God
giving up on His centuries-old program (a hope of pagan unbelief). Rather it is
an age given to mankind in spite of the rejection of the King and an age that
surely will end in a confrontation with that same King. It is not merely grace;
it is grace before judgment.
PERFECT DISCRIMINATION
Discrimination (like the
other politically incorrect topic, violence) is an inescapable biblical
concept. Discrimination is a corollary of God’s justice: He discriminates
between good and evil. During both the flood and the Exodus God kept His elect
people separate from the ungodly at large (Gen. 6:8,18; 7:1; Exod. 8:22-23;
9:6; 10:23; 11:7; 12:12-13; II Pet. 2:5b,9). As a derivative of God’s justice,
all law necessarily discriminates between those who conform to it and those who
violate it. The present day use of the word “discrimination” is trivial and
manipulative.
God’s discrimination in
these OT events foreshadowed the discrimination caused by His Son. From the
moment of the Incarnation men are judged on the basis of what they do with
Jesus Christ (see Part V of this series). God discriminates between those who
submit to the Son’s authority and those who rebel (Matt. 3:11-12; 7:13-23;
22:11-14; John 3:18-21, 35-36; II Pet. 2; I John 2:19). Mankind is being
separated into these two categories by
their response to Jesus
Christ (II Cor. 2:14-16). In spite of the modern mantra about “pluralism”, in
God’s eyes there is only a dualism that hinges upon His Son.
This dualism is seen most
clearly in the concept of imputation. Imputation is an act of crediting
something with a value, an economic term. In Philemon 1:18, for example, Paul
urges the Christian owner of the slave, Onesimus, to credit Paul with whatever
debt is owed to Philemon. Imputation is inherently discriminatory in that it
has boundaries that circumscribe its application. A value is ascribed to a
definite object and not another. The NT authors insist that God imputes a value
to each of two distinct human races. All who trust in Christ are said to have
His righteousness imputed to them and have been transferred to a new human race
“in Christ.” All who reject Jesus Christ remain “in Adam”, that is, they are
credited with Adam’s sin. God thus discriminates now and will discriminate
forever between these two human
races—the one still in Adam,
sharing his sin and punishment; and the other being formed in Christ, sharing
His righteousness and blessing.
Walvoord comments: “The
concept is expressed that Christ is the Head of the new creation composed of
all those who are in Christ in comparison to Adam, the head of the old
creation, which is composed of those who are in Adam. .
. .
The concept of the new
creation is that just as the old creation partakes of physical birth, the sin
nature and spiritual death in Adam, so one who is a new creature partakes of a
new birth, a new nature, righteousness and sanctification, and inherits certain
wonderful promises. . . .[5]
God’s actual pronouncement
that imputes Christ’s righteousness to one who believes is called justification
and was studied in Part III of this series. Justification is the result of
imputation and expresses divine discrimination over against the pagan
insistence upon the universal brotherhood of man.
At the very heart of God’s
saving work is the Cross of Christ. As we studied in Part V of this series, the
Cross cannot be properly understood without the biblical concept of God’s
justice. God’s wrath against our sin must be accepted before the substitutionary
blood atonement can be appreciated. All attempts to “reinterpret” the Cross are
products of the fleshly mind that flees the presence of God and denies ultimate
responsibility before Him. This rebellious disposition inevitably tries to
reconstruct a new god that fulfills its wishes for irresponsibility and
arbitrary, cheap forgiveness.
Thus all pagan religions and
Christian heresies must reject the Cross of Christ as the only way of salvation
and are left with their “right” to go to hell in their own
way.
The death of the King as the
sole way of salvation, however, was anticipated in humanity’s prior history of
the flood and the Exodus. In the flood the only way of salvation was Noah’s
Ark. In the Exodus the only way of salvation was the blood of a sacrificial
lamb smeared on the door. The Cross continues this same truth because God is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. He ever remains holy. There can be no
arbitrary forgiveness without at the same time compromising His holiness. Every
non-biblical scheme of salvation, therefore, at bottom compromises the holiness
of God and with that, destroys all hope of an ethical absolute.[6]
ALL CREATION INVOLVED
When God judges and saves, He involves, nature as well as man. The flood was a geophysical catastrophe, not just a family adventure story. The Exodus involved many biological, chemical, and geophysical phenomena on a scale sufficient to break the power of the then reigning world superpower. Biblical salvation is never merely sociological or psychological, but objective, historical, and physical. Nature is involved as well as man because the fall affected both (Gen. 3:17-19; Rom. 8:20-23). In Part V of this series we studied how nature as well as man shall manifest one day the full glory of God as pictured in Revelation 21-22. But there is more to God’s
final judgment and salvation
in Christ than mankind and physical nature. We now come to a neglected part of
Christian doctrine: the angelic conflict.
Angels and Israel. When God inaugurated the
Mosaic Covenant He called upon angelic powers in the physical environment to
act as witnesses to His treaty with Israel. In Deuteronomy 32:1 through His
prophet Moses God calls upon these unseen powers to witness His covenant.
Later, when He invokes the treaty curses during the decline and fall of the
Kingdom, He again calls upon these witnesses to His covenant faithfulness and
Israel’s rebelliousness (Isa. 1:2; Mic. 6:1-2). In some way not wholly revealed
the angels act as witnesses to God’s historical behavior with His chosen
nation.
At other times in Israel’s history angels minister to the nation. Angels visited Lot (Gen. 19:1-22). Angels were involved at Mt. Sinai (Acts 7:53). Evil angels empowered the false religion of Ahab (I Kings 22:19-23). Angels were involved in explaining the meaning of visions sent to Israel’s prophets and wise men (Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel). Angels were involved in the background of international relations between Israel and the pagan nations (Dan. 10:10-21). These angels were closely identified with “natural” phenomena such as fire and wind (Psa. 104:4). However it was not with Israel only that angels interacted.
Angels and Antediluvian
Civilization.
The flood narrative clearly states that the “sons of God” or “divine ones”,
i.e., angels, got illegitimately involved in sexual intercourse with human
females toward the end of the antediluvian civilization and produced a strange
form of human being called the “nephilim” or “fallen ones” (an early form of
genetic engineering?—Gen. 6:1-4). We also know that during the antediluvian
period angels had the power of capital punishment (Gen. 3:24). Angels may have
acted as “rulers” in this period prior to the origin of the institution of
human government after the flood which then carried over to post-diluvian
civilization the connotation, rulers=divine beings (cf. Psa. 82). Perhaps it
was through abuse of their authority that the interbreeding between angels and
humans began. In any case, Peter and Jude report that those angels that were
involved are today incarcerated in a special compartment of hell called
Tartarus (II Pet. 2:4; Jude 6).
As rulers the antediluvian
angels may well have been involved in geological catastrophes between the curse
of Genesis 3 and the great cursing of the flood in Genesis 6-8. After the
general curse upon the ground in Genesis 3, God further cursed the ground due
to Cain’s sin in Genesis 4:10-12.
Recently, Gentet, a
creationist author, has noted that: “the punishment was directed at the
earth itself. There is no mention of God using capital punishment prior to
the Flood event. People seemed to automatically understand that God personally
took revenge for sin by increasing the penalty (the Curse) on the earth. . . .
It was a world of terror, violent people, and violent ecological disasters from
the hand of God, ending in total human destruction at the [Genesis Flood Event]
except for those in the Ark. . . .[7][Emphasis
original]
The antediluvians, living as
they did in an arrangement involving interaction with angels and physical
nature, looked forward to relief from these judgments. The relief came when God
promised in the Noahic Covenant that He would not curse the ground any
more (Gen. 8:21). Judgment henceforth was to be turned over to the new
divine institution of human civil government (see discussion in Part II of this
series).
“The pre-Flood world was a
time of exceptional Divine interventions upon the earth. Even in post-Flood
times, when God takes a strong hand to show His displeasure over sin, floods,
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, plagues, etc., are cited in Scripture. . . .
When God dealt with ancient
Israel as a theocracy, He stressed that punishment on the Covenant people would
be given with increased intensity. . .(Lev. 26:14,18,21,24,28,32). This increasing
degree of punishment in order to bring about repentance seems indicative of how
the Lord has acted in history towards sin. The account of the pre-Flood world
is brief in Scripture, but Divine activity appears to have been even more
forceful in the pre-Flood world before God sanctioned human government to act
on His behalf in dealing out punishments.[8]
Angels were profoundly
involved in the antediluvian civilization in ways we do not understand. They functioned
as armed guards around Eden, lived closely enough with mankind to become
sexually involved (obviously possessing the capability of manifesting in
corporal physical human bodies as they did in Genesis 18-19), and probably
ruled in some sense through the physical environment.
The Angelic Conflict. Angels, including Satan,
are creatures made by the hand of God. After creation all the angels worshipped
and praised God (Job 38:7). Sometime after the creation Satan and some angels
rebelled and originated evil. The primeval history of this fall is revealed in
prophecies against the rulers of Tyre (Ezk. 28:11-19) and Babylon (Isa.
14:3-23). (Note the association once again of angels and political rulership
just as Yahweh and the Israel’s king are linked together.) From these passages
we learn that behind the King of Tyre was Satan himself who once stood in Eden
as the anointed or “messianic” cherub, the most beautiful of all creatures
(28:12-15). In judgment God will eject him from His Presence (28:16-19).
Satan’s rebellious attitude is revealed as a lust to be at the same level as
the Creator,
above all the created order
(14:13-14). That defines the heart of sin.
Ever since his fall Satan
has gathered around him an organized kingdom of angels who fell with him and
who are intent upon struggling against God and the righteous, unfallen angels
(Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:4,7). Satan’s program includes blocking evangelism (Matt.
13:19), persecuting believers on earth (I Pet. 5:8); accusing them in heaven
(Job 12; Zech. 3:1; Rev. 12:10), weakening the nations (Isa. 14:12), and ruling
the cultural and spiritual environment of civilization (John 12:31; Eph. 2:2;
II Cor. 4:4). His strategy hinges on casting God the Creator as an unjust,
unloving liar (note the implicit accusation in Gen. 3:1-5; Job 1-2).
Against this cosmic angelic
struggle in the background of human history, what effect does Christ’s death,
resurrection, ascension, and session have? If the angelic conflict is included
in God’s judgment/salvation, what has been accomplished? Just as the flood of
Noah judged the earth and the Exodus judged the land of Egypt, so the finished
work of Christ judged the angelic realm of Satan that stands behind the
physical cosmos (John 12:31; 16:11; Col. 2:15). In what manner? Here we come to
one of the great neglected truths of the work of Christ that is revealed in
connection with his ascension and session.
The pictures we see in
Psalms 2, 68, 110, and in Daniel 7 all point to a conflict that lasts until
some future time when the Son of Man / Son of God is given victory and makes
His enemies His footstool. Who are these enemies? The nations? Yes, but more
than human societies are involved. We’ve just studied that angels and Satan
have been “behind the scenes” of the world’s power structures since at least
the initial paganization of the Noahic civilization.
During His incarnate life,
Jesus was tempted by the Satanic offer of rulership over the nations (Matt.
4:8-9). The OT pictures cited above show that once seated at the Father’s right
hand, above all principalities and powers, the Lord Jesus receives the
authority to rule over the nations. It’s no longer Satan’s to offer! Satan lost
that total authority once Jesus Christ was seated in heaven.
Nevertheless, Satan is still
called the “god of this world” (II Cor. 4:4) and “the prince of the power of
the air” (Eph. 2:2). And the OT pictures note that the ultimate victory has not
yet come about. How can it be that Jesus Christ has all authority over all
things, including hell and death (Rev. 1:18) and can open historic doors of
ministry defying all political power (Rev. 2:7-8), and yet not have the total
victory? The answer is that the angelic conflict has been strategically
transformed. Prior to the session the conflict was primarily in the
spiritual realm between the fallen and unfallen angels as God played out His
plan with the nation Israel. The contending angelic forces worked in and
through human rulers, the nations against Israel, and inside Israel the corrupt
kings and false prophets against the Davidic line and the godly prophets
following Moses. After the session, however, a member of the human race, a
category of creation made at first lower than the angels but made for eventual
dominion under God (Psa. 8), finally fulfilled the ultimate design of ruling
all of nature including this background spiritual realm of angels. Man, not
Satan, now holds the “high ground.” Satan’s ethical claim to supremacy over man
through the fall is undone.
As the Last Adam, the head
of the new human race (Rom. 5:12-21; I Cor. 15:45), Jesus Christ has taken
dominion from Satan and already has “judged” him (in the sense of John 16:11)
by earning the right to reign through His perfect obedience. Jesus
accomplished the mission of the human race where Adam failed. Moreover, Satan
cannot contest Jesus’ obedience as not being that of a true human because of
the doctrines of the hypostatic union and kenosis which we studied in Part V of
this series. Table Two shows why Jesus’ obedience qualifies Him to reign and
why Satan cannot appeal His supreme position. From this “high ground” of
|
Name of the Doctrine |
Content of the Doctrine |
Satan’s Possible Appeal
Refuted |
Hypostatic Union
|
Undiminished deity and
true humanity united forever in one person without
confusion |
True humanity is what
historically and perfectly obeyed the will of God; Creator-creature
distinction not violated at any time. |
Kenosis
|
As God-man, Jesus Christ gave up the independent
use of His divine attributes
and accepted a 100% creature (dependent) existence
during his mortal life |
Jesus’ obedience was by
faith in the same manner as any other member of the human race; He never used
His divine power to avoid trials and temptations (as Satan indeed tried to
get Him to do) |
Table 2. – The basis for Jesus Christ permanently attaining the Throne that Satan tried to attain and failed.
strategic conquest, Jesus
Christ now wages a war that transforms the angelic conflict. No longer is it simply
“the good angels and God” against “the bad angels and Satan.” The spiritual
forces of evil have lost all hope of attaining the throne because it’s
already occupied by One Who possesses credentials that can never be challenged.
This war that Jesus wages,
however, is an unusual one. It doesn’t involve a direct strategy of one power
against another, Jesus directly against Satan in a spiritual version of “OK
Corral.” It is a war of maneuver and indirect strategy that manifests the
archetypical wisdom shown by the best military campaigns of history.[9]
Jesus is slowly unseating
Satan and his hordes by eradicating their ethical claim upon fallen men. Like
David of old, once anointed King, Jesus bides His time, waiting for the undoing
of Satan’s kingdom just as David waited for the fall of the dynasty of Saul.
Anointed king but not able to reign as king, David gathered the nucleus of his
army out of Saul’s kingdom. “Everyone that was in distress, . . .in debt, . .
.discontented, gathered themselves unto him and he became captain over them”
(II Sam.
22:2). As we shall soon see
in this study, Jesus, too, is gathering the nucleus of his royal family, the
future administrators of His kingdom, out of the present kingdom of Satan. He
has been taking an ever growing number of prisoners of war (Eph. 4:8).
Satan can no more protest the acceptance of fallen humans—sinners like himself—by a holy God than he could protest the credentials of Jesus Christ. In his foolish attempt to stop Jesus from gaining the thrown, Satan unintentionally carried out the keystone in man’s salvation, the substitutionary blood atonement of the Cross. With the Cross now allowing the holy God to forgive sin without compromising His holiness, a door of salvation opens for man that Satan cannot shut. As Table Three shows,
|
Name of the Doctrine |
Content of the Doctrine |
Satan’s Possible Appeal Refuted |
|
Substitutionary Blood Atonement |
All grace is grounded upon total restitutionary
satisfaction of God’s just demands
against sin |
There is no unavoidable contradiction between
God’s holiness and His
acceptance of sinful creatures covered
legally by the SBA |
Imputation
|
God credits Christ’s righteousness to the
account of those who believe |
The righteousness that is
credited is that of Christ whose
credentials have been accepted
permanently at the Father’s Throne. |
Table 3.—The basis for permanent translation of human beings from Satan’s kingdom into the Kingdom of Christ.
in the light of the Cross and
of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness there can be no challenge to
forgiven and justified men.
If Jesus’ session was the
strategic victory, then each time when a person believes the gospel and is
justified a further tactical victory occurs in this cosmic angelic conflict.
Satan suffers the loss of a creature on his side. Each time a believer is
restored through confession of sin (see discussion of restoration in Part III
of this series), the central legal basis of salvation is affirmed. Each time a
believer chooses to trust the Lord over against Satanically-inspired doubts and
temptations, the reputation of God is vindicated against Satan’s impugning
assaults. This ongoing battle establishes the fifth characteristic of God’s
final judgment and salvation.
In both the flood and Exodus
those who were saved were those who exercised personal faith in God’s Word,
whether that Word promised an unprecedented global cataclysm or a surgically
precise death sentence on first born sons. Indeed, if there is a
Creator-creature distinction, if there is a universal fall and condemnation of
all mankind, and if salvation requires God’s intervention ‘from outside’, then
the only appropriate response can be faith. Tactical victories in the angelic
conflict cannot be won by human works that originate in the fallen impulses of
sinners. “Human good” carries no credit when it originates from an inherently
evil motive of self-justification. Satan could then claim that such works would
not be fundamentally different from anything he and his hordes could produce.
Satan could well make the
complaint: if God doesn’t
save angels, how can He justly save men on such a basis?” What defeats Satan
and glorifies (vindicates) God is faith in His Word. “Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).
SUMMARY
This chapter introduced the
first grand event in the establishment of the Church in the inter-advent
period. With Christ’s acceptance at the Father’s right hand, mankind has begun to reach
its created goal of dominion over all. The “last days” have begun as the
countdown of God’s judgment/salvation starts. Reaching further back into the
structure of creation, the session of Christ deals with all of creation,
including the shadowy (to us) “background” of the angelic conflict. It enlarges
the scope of concern beyond a mere Near Eastern ancient drama. Now all the
universe is involved. From this “high ground” at the Father’s right hand will
come the next strategic surprise: formation of something called the Church, an
entity that is not a nation, not a race, and not the Kingdom itself. Yet this
strategic maneuver moves history forward so that the Kingdom can come as
promised. The inter-advent age is not a static holding period or a historical
“time out.” To the contrary, God’s program is advancing inexorably toward its
foreordained goal. More details of how it is doing so and our role as believers
in it will follow in the next chapters.
[1] Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (New York: Harper Brothers, 1919), I, 21f.
[2] See discussion in R.T. France, Jesus and the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1971), p.170f.
[3] Certain “progressive dispensationalists” today insist upon “reforming” dispensational theology so as to make it more compatible with Reformed theology. Making Christ’s present session the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant is their chief maneuver. See discussion in Appendix A.
[4] The modern state of Israel like its first century predecessor is founded upon Gentile treaties and agreements such as the Balfour Declaration and various United Nations’ resolutions. Its struggle to exist since 1948 centers upon the question of its “right” to the land
[5] John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 226f.
[6] In Islam, for example, Allah is said to forgive sin because He weighs one’s sins against his good works as though human good in some fashion “balances” human sin. Allah just arbitrarily forgives without any basis in substitutionary blood atonement
[7] Robert E. Gentet, “The CCC Model and Its Geological Implications,” Creation Research Society Quarterly , XXXVII (June, 2000), 1, p. 16
[8] Ibid ., p. 17.
[9] Note the discussion in Part III of this series under the Conquest in which I quote the famous military historical B. H. Liddell-Hart who demonstrated that indirect strategy has always been used by the best military captains of history.