How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Stuart Douglas & Fee Gordon D
Author:Stuart, Douglas & Fee, Gordon D. [Stuart, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Published: 2014-06-23T16:00:00+00:00
(Satan’s Time)
(The Time of God’s Rule)
characterized by:
characterized by:
sin
the presence of the Spirit
sickness
righteousness
demon-possession
health
evil people triumph
peace
The earliest Christians, of course, well understood this eschatological way of looking at life. For them the events of Jesus’ coming, his death and resurrection, and his giving of the Spirit were all related to their expectations about the coming of the end. It happened like this.
The coming of the end also meant for them a new beginning — the beginning of God’s new age, the messianic age. The new age was also referred to as the kingdom of God, which meant “the time of God’s rule.” This new age would be a time of righteousness (e.g., Isa 11:4 – 5), and people would live in peace (e.g., Isa 2:2 – 4). It would be a time of the fullness of the Spirit (Joel 2:28 – 30) when the new covenant spoken of by Jeremiah would be realized (Jer 31:31 – 34; 32:38 – 40). Sin and sickness would be done away with (e.g., Zech 13:1; Isa 53:5). Even the material creation would feel the joyful effects of this new age (e.g., Isa 11:6 – 9).
Thus when John the Baptist announced the coming of the end to be very near and baptized God’s Messiah, eschatological fervor reached fever pitch. The Messiah was at hand, the one who would usher in the new age of the Spirit (Luke 3:7 – 17).
Jesus came and announced with his ministry that the coming kingdom was at hand (e.g., Mark 1:14 – 15; Luke 17:20 – 21). He drove out demons, worked miracles, and freely accepted the outcasts and sinners — all signs that the end had begun (e.g., Matt 11:2 – 6; Luke 11:20; 14:21; 15:1 – 2). Everyone kept watching him to see if he really was the Coming One. Would he really bring in the messianic age with all of its splendor? Then suddenly he was crucified — and the lights went out.
But no! There was a glorious sequel. On the third day he was raised from the dead, and he appeared to many of his followers. Surely now he would “restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6). But instead he returned to the Father and poured out the promised Spirit. Here is where problems show up for the early church and for us. Jesus announced the coming kingdom as having arrived with his own coming. The Spirit’s coming in fullness and power with signs and wonders and the coming of the new covenant were signs that the new age had arrived. Yet the end of this age apparently had not yet taken place. How were they to understand this?
Very early, beginning with Peter’s speech to the astonished onlookers in Acts 3, the early Christians came to realize that Jesus had not come to usher in the “final” end but the “beginning” of the end, as it were. Thus they came to see that with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and with the coming of the Spirit, the blessings and benefits of the future had already come.
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