Tag: eschatology

Alternative society?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

I wrote a few days ago about ‘no kings’ and ‘no temples’ and thought I would give a bit of a follow up on that post. First my background. I was shaped from around 20 years old (50 years ago!!) by what was termed the ‘House Church Movement’ in the UK; its roots go back to very early explorations (1950’s) of ‘church’ and its NT form. Many of the early participants were from a Plymouth Brethren background so already came in with an anti-clerical perspective; they also came with a background in ‘Dispensationalism’! The thrust of those very early conferences was that of ‘the restoration of the church’ and inevitably there was a clash between that hope and belief and the pessimistic outlook of the eschatology (I had a copy of some early notes and in the margin someone had written ‘what about Laodicea?’, indicating the clash. In such movements (and I observed this in my years of travelling to the USA teaching on eschatology goes on the back-burner for a while… until the conviction is strong enough on ‘the restoration of the church’.)

Texts such as Acts 3: 20,21 were fairly central:

Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration [restoration of all things] that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.

That was to be understood as the return of Christ would not take place until (‘until’ being a key word) there was the restoration of the church (something that had begun in earnest with the Reformation – apologies to all prophetic voices such as the gentleman in Rome). Add to that Ephesians 4 with the foundation being the apostles and prophets so that the body might grow up (mature) until it was presented to the Lord without ‘spot or wrinkle’.

Dating the house church movement is not an exact science, but there was distinct growth from the late 1960s and the magazines of the two distinct streams (though there were other less defined streams) Fulness and Restoration had a major influence in the UK and beyond. (Even yesterday I was on a zoom with a representative of a significant stream in Brazil that drew from those magazines from those early days.)

Gradual restoration? Maybe I am still influenced by that perspective, but more below. (In 1997 I completed a thesis on the Eschatology of the New Church movement with some interesting (and fair) examiners. Partly to push back on them I had a section in there that suggested that the idea of ‘restoration’ was not novel to some ‘apostles and prophets’ but that theologians were so convinced they had made advance that they now knew more about what Paul meant than he did! True/false? Simply the fruit of good scholarship / the fruit of the Enlightenment?)

Before coming to ‘and the truth that I believe today’ section (whole truth and nothing but the truth of course) I am coming back to the former post. God works everywhere – as evidenced by the king being anointed and the Temple filled with God’s presence… those manifestations being rooted in a rejection of God! Yet God is always ‘looking’ for something and where does s/he look for it? Among those who have taken on the name of Jesus. I see a very big principle in the words of Jesus when he said, ‘you have heard it said… but I say to you…’ If we want to see a shift in ‘murder’ there has to a shift at a ‘seed’ level etc. The Christian faith is not here to give us a ticket to heaven (a Hellenistic reading into the text) but to enable us to be seed within society. Seed and harvest with a time gap between the two, hence long-term vision is required. The phrase made popular in the Civil Rights movement that originated during the abolitionist period remains so apt for us:

The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.

God is always at work… and at work means working toward an eschaton. BUT… and here comes the but! But does not work independently, but with those who at some level are aligned to that work. I can see it no other way but the Pauline mission was not a big evangelistic tent crusade but a proclamation that ‘new creation’ had broken in and the right response was that of repentance toward God, faith in Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit and to carry the message of reconciliation (of all things) throughout their world. In it all was the transformation of the world.

Back in the day it was that of ‘get the church right and all will want to come join’. Let the body of Christ manifest an alternative society. Some part of that still seems right! But the centre is not the ‘church’ but the world with (as those of ancient times wrote) the body of Christ as the soul / life source to the world in the same way the ‘soul’ is to the body.

I am not a millennialist – it is understandable that some (only some) within that original Restorationist perspective of the House Church Movement were post-millennial (Jesus in heaven until) – I am not post-, pre- (not even in its historic, pre-rapture form), nor a-millennialist. Maybe I am apocalyptically-milennially? Beasts with heads, allowed to run riot for 42 months etc… Put away the calendar and the time lines, and I suggest we do the same with the millennium. Let Revelation and the throne room of heaven stand as the true and every other throne with 24 elders around it be seen as counterfeit. Why do I mention ‘millennial’ at this point? Because it is often shaped by, and shapes, our expectations. Dispensationalism with God will get us out of here is shaped by a view of an antagonistic world, and further shapes and fuels all kinds of conspiracy theories; triumphalism looks within the four walls and a full stadium and proclaims the kingdom has arrived.

The pessimist looks at the glass and it is half empty; the optimist and proclaims it is half full; I suggest the one touched by heaven says what can I contribute to raise the level in the glass? There might be a leak, but even if there is here I am to contribute. Judging the level of the glass contents is not to make a contribution!

I am so ignorant on so many topics and totally agnostic (and I do claim to have read the relevant Scriptures many times) on such issues as an antiChrist, a millennium, a great persecution and the like. Start with a system and one can work it all out (or start with a Bible with notes… read the text, don’t understand it, read the notes now I understand it – or the notes have become my Bible. The ‘brilliance’ of the Scoffield Bible). But ditch the system then just be free to make a small contribution that might make this world a tiny more like heaven (as the ‘citizens’ in Philippi were encouraged to do).

And on the corporate level the kings and temples (temple-mentality) really needs to be shelved.

I get briefly discouraged when there are ‘church’ exposures but then think ‘well that has to go if something more authentic is to come’… and then I think if there is something more authentic then there is hope that the long arc of history is bending in a good and righteous direction.

I have no idea what is to occur before the return of Christ and honestly do not believe that the Bible comes up with predictions, but it sure does come up with instruction in the meantime. In a heavily apocalyptic set of verses discussing the delay of the Lord’s coming Peter provokes us as to:

what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness.

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No kings… and no temple

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

‘I have a dream’ said the man in August 1963; ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth… I saw no temple in the city’ so said the Seer some 65 years after his Master had died (well not 100% sure of the date). We await the fulfilment of the dream and of the sight that was declared. When will they be fulfilled? Not a clue, and I don’t need a clue, for both are to provoke us in the present. I am reading in 1 Samuel at the moment and of course in there is the painful dialogue of ‘give us a king’. Samuel gets upset but God points out the rejection is not of Samuel but of God. They were never supposed to have a king… and how they loved to recount in later generations how amazing David was as king and that one day a king from that royal line will come and rule over them.

Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them (1 Sam. 8:7).

Yet God anoints the king… God’s blessing does not indicate God’s ‘approval’ of our choices.

Later the people realise they have gone in a wrong direction (1 Sam. 10) but Samuel responds with a perspective that further indicates God will work with whatever we present:

See, here is the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; see, the Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and serve him and heed his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well (1 Sam. 12:13, 14)

The temple – centralised, controlled worship – once a path is entered on there is a direction that is hard to reverse. Did God want a temple?

You shall not build me a house to live in. For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought out Israel to this very day, but I have lived in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ (1 Chron. 17:4-6).

The tabernacle – a tent, not so impressive as the grandiose temples of the surrounding nations. We so want people to be impressed by God we know we are the ones born to help God out. When Jesus appeared and ‘moved into the neighbourhood’ John uses the verb ‘tabernacled’ among us. Moving here and there, never giving undeniable proof, but to those of humble heart his glory (truth within the grace container) was there to be seen.

And then John who had many times made the journey to Jerusalem, that temple that had a city around it (20% of the land was temple and temple buildings). It was way beyond being a city with a temple (like Canterbury – a city with a cathedral) – it was a temple-city; the astounding vision he has is the city had no temple when describing the new Jerusalem. The contrast is enormous.

A tent!

Put it up, put it down. Move it from here to there. Mobility.

Never get discouraged when something comes that is the most amazing manifestation of God’s presence… and then it goes. Mobility. There will always be a ‘God is here’ shout. Meanwhile it is necessary to continue to hold a dream. ‘I saw no impressive people who were ‘head and shoulders’ above the rest of us; but I saw unimpressive people and God was moving here and there among them and through them’.

I am NOT post-millennialist (mainly because I am not millennialist) and have no idea of what will be. But I continue with a dream. And while on such subjects as the ‘end-times’ the way we are headed there will be an antiChrist (or many more to join the ones already here… but not because the Bible says so (I don’t think it makes such a prediction!)… there will be because that is the outcome of where we are pushing. God’s people hold the key and the more we continue to believe in ‘we need a king’ and promote platforms the more we are sowing into the realisation of an anitChrist. Look at the trajectory from 1 Sam. 8 to the crucifixion – the inevitable outcome is ‘we have no king other than Caesar’!!!

I would rather be off the wall with my (lack of) end-time beliefs and hold on to a dream of ‘one day no king and no temple’ than have a set of beliefs that stop the dream.

Many others have carried a dream – but again I give thanks for MLK and that Seer on Patmos.

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A summary of ‘all Israel’

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

From time to time I write an ‘extended article’ where it is to explore a theological topic. As part of the ever-so-slow to write on various aspects of eschatology but also as feeding into issues surrounding soteriology (salvation – what does that entail) this latest piece on Israel seemed to be what came next. The full article can be read /downloaded:

All Israel will be saved

It is a bit of a read so now that it is completed here is a summary of the key points.

‘Jew’ and ‘Israel’ are not used synonymously

Consistently from the Exile (597BC) and even from the Assyrian conquest (722BC) the term ‘Israel’ and the term ‘Jew’ were not used synonymously. Jew being the term for the people of the southern kingdom (of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin); Israel never returning to the land (northern 10 tribes) – though Samaritans claimed to be Israelites. This Samaritan claim was debated but never was it debated that they were Jews. Consistently in what is termed Second Temple Judaism the term ‘Israel’ was only applied to the whole nation (or the ‘lost’ tribes), to the people when referring to them in history past, or when expressing a hope in the future of their restoration (hence the question to Jesus by the disciples).

  • All Israel will be saved is not referring to the Jews of Paul’s day, but is expressing the hope that has been carried for centuries, such as is expressed in the New Covenant promise of Jer. 31 – a covenant made with both houses (north and south) thus with ‘Israel’.

Paul does not use a temporal phrase such as ‘and then’

The phrase he uses is ‘and in this way’ all Israel will be saved. This is the normal way the phrase is used and the consistent way he uses the phrase in his writings. He could / would have used a totally different phrase should he have wished to convey something that will suddenly occur at the eschaton.

He has been arguing from the opening Romans 9 concerning how God has been and continues to be faithful to his/her promises. He is not outlining a timetable nor even seeking to explain why so many Jews had not welcomed their Messiah.

  • God is faithful and Paul argues that there is a process going on that will lead to all Israel being saved. That process is already taking place – and the process involves the Gospel going to the nations (the Gentiles – ta ethne).
  • Israel (as in the northern tribes) are among the nations (Josephus goes to great lengths to explain this) so for them to come in the Gospel has to go to them, even though the majority of them have been ‘Gentilised’, such is the faithfulness of God.

Those Gentiles who respond to Jesus are incorporated into Israel

Converted Gentiles do not become Jews but the terms used of Israel are applied to them. Israel’s ancestors are their ancestors; Paul describes converts as ‘when you were Gentiles’ and as ‘chiidren of Abraham’.

  • Thus a second strand of ‘all Israel’ is that of Gentiles being incorporated in – or as described in Rom. 11 – grated into the (one) Olive tree.

‘All Israel’ never meant ‘all Jews’ and it also never meant all physical descendants of Abraham, for not all ‘children / offspring of Abraham’ were the ‘seed of Abraham’. Faith meant that those who were of Abraham was (both) smaller than those who were physically descended from Abraham and also that it was bigger than those who were physically descended from Abraham.

  • Salvation then is a process that is ongoing as the good news of Jesus comes to the whole world, and in this way the promises will be fulfilled by the faithful God.

Of course there is much more in what I have written in the article and I acknowledge the recent research and writings of Jason Staples (such as ‘Paul and the Resurrection of Israel’).

A return to the land was always predicated on repentance; nowhere in the New Testament is there indicated that there are two paths to salvation (an using that word we should not reduce it to the binary understanding of ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’).

I do suggest in the article that there is a particular focus on the land we call Israel as a place where reconciliation of differences should be manifested; I do not look to the land as somehow carrying a ‘promise’ in the way that Christian Zionism does – I think Paul gives that hope to the world (kosmos).

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Armageddon? Not!!

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Something along the following lines is being quoted by a number of sources:

A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer. From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night (https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a70590863/jesus-trump-military-iran-war/).

So here we go… again! The news interpreting the Bible… and in the course of it the Bible takes a hammering. Putting my cards on the table: Armageddon does not exist – there is no such place. There is no such mountain and to make it into the ‘plains of Megiddo’ rather stretches biblical interpretation, and then where does it appear: in the Apocalypse which uses (wait for it) apocalyptic language!

Worse though is ‘anointed by Jesus… to cause Armageddon’. As if. And check out Islamic eschatology – Jesus is coming back, Armageddon-type warfare, but Jesus at the head of the Islamic forces. All of it madness.

Eschatology; Israel and the need for more land to be what was promised. What if (as I believe) there is almost nothing predicted about the future… that the land promises are radically re-shaped in the New Testament… that Revelation is the critique of all time concerning Imperial power that is shown to be in total contrast to the kenotic activity of heaven… what then should we do? What then should we look to consider is anointed of God? What if Scripture encourages any consideration of ‘end-times’ to be responded to with a response of dedication to commitment to first principles of ‘let your kingdom come’?

I hope we can move away from the madness.

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This time next year

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

During Passover for the Jews of the Diaspora there would be a toast ‘next year Jerusalem’. What about us in a year’s time? Tough decisions are made by politicians and from the arm chair they can be easy to critique. My focus (and not necessarily one for everyone) is of a new Europe that might point a way toward the future. We await a Saviour from heaven (not we wait to go to heaven!) and not till then will there be the end of death, destruction, sin etc; not till then will the powers (sin, death and mammon?) be finally defeated but as we align ourselves with that eschaton we pray, work and hope (give an answer for the hope that is in you) for manifestations in the here and now of what will take place universally then. I don’t think I am being melodramatic to suggest that we are seeing an increase in pace of a new global matrix.

Around 2 years ago I was praying, looking at a map of the world and suddenly the American southern hemisphere (what we term ‘Latin America’) moved eastward and was located under Europe replacing where Africa is currently, and at the same time the African continent moved east and relocated under China. India did not move. All three aspects struck me and I suspect that in some way we are about to see re-alignments play out over the next – who knows – 2-3 years.

There is a move to the East with some kind of new world order coming into play. All the attempts to ‘go back’ or to redefine our futures simply along the ‘Christianity got us here’ so we must resist all change does not carry the weight to bring in a good future… reason being is it is more dependent on Christianity than on Christ.

Understanding ‘trade wars’ is beyond me, but for sure trade is no small theme in Scripture so I am not surprised that for now conflict over trade is central.

So what are you looking for? We have got to see way beyond ‘my investments are decreasing’. Please!!! John said he ‘saw a new heaven and a new earth’; Martin Luther King said ‘I have a dream’. Both spoke into situations that were not looking too promising. One locked up on the Island of Patmos; the other soon to be assassinated. But eyes that saw. The powers were not in agreement with them – how things were was going to be what was maintained… but those two saw.

As those Jews outside the land raised their glass at Passover with ‘Next year Jerusalem’ we are about to come to our ‘Passover’ where we focus on proclaiming his death (victory over all powers that resist the future) until he comes.

The hope that is within me is so key. Not a hope that is outside but within, that cannot be squashed.

This is why I am focusing on ‘reconciliation’ in every aspect of life. And if we focus on life for sure Jesus will be present at some level. His death is probably better understood from the ‘other side’ – it is a presentation of a perfect human life to heaven… representative life, for me, for you, for the world.

In this time of global flux and resultant change we learn not to simply hold on to what has brought us thus far (and probably served us well) but to embrace uncertainty of what we hold / held firm to (what not who). I know since the beginning of this year Gayle and I have been raising many issues as we know transition is here. ‘Next year…’ might be a change of location, maybe not, but each year we proclaim ‘next year more of the kingdom of heaven’ not a greater meeting but greater shalom in our streets.

Seek the shalom of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its shalom you will find your shalom.

Next year then is not ‘next year Jerusalem’ but ‘next year here’.

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This is nuts

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

The last Zoom that was on Eschatology: Here not There I found quite encouraging and illustrated that what we think on such supposed ‘academic’ questions really affects the practical… indeed the questions are not so academic, this one was simple ‘is it all about us going there, or is it about there coming here?’ The problem is the subject has been hijacked and we have been taught what the answer is, and by taught I suppose I mean brainwashed with no small amount of money and resources behind the onslaught on our thinking.

After the Zoom I was sent this page to look at (not from someone thinking the page was good but illustrating the ‘nuttiness’ of so much that goes on). It might be extreme and on the edge but here it is:

Rapture Ready Index

Check it out if you have time. Basically through a series of indexes (currently numbered at 45) it becomes clear how close we are to the rapture. More ‘bad things’ the higher the score, so examples are floods, drug abuse, wild weather, Satanism, globalism. As each one gets worse that score goes up and the aggregate score of the 45 indices give us a total – so as of right now we are at a score of 181 and we are informed that a score above 160 indicates we are to ‘fasten our seat belts’. The rapture was actually closer in 2016 with a score of 189. Maybe it was so secret that even the creators of the system that gives us the inside information missed the sound of the trumpet and the shout of the archangel! (Not going to be so secret then? Other than Paul is making NO reference to said event in passage quoted.)

The craziness of all this is we should actually be rejoicing when disasters, ‘natural’ or ‘moral’ take place for they are hastening the time of our escape. A perversion of eschatology and a total debilitater to prayer and action.

Thankfully there is such a move away from that kind of eschatology but I suspect there still is a ‘well it is all going to burn up in the end anyway’ leaning that remains. We will be OK – palace in the sky is where I am headed, and at the same time the oligarchs of the West figure out that they will be OK with their palace in some safe place, even if that safe place is somewhere in space where they have planted their flag (thank you Naomi Klein for making the connection). Meanwhile we do not take in the words of Scripture concerning the destruction of those who destroy the earth.

I have come across from many angles the four way relationship / reconciliation: Godward, otherward, selfward and planetward. Wherever we start we cannot end there. Simply being reconciled to self can end up with a perversion if we do not go beyond that to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’ for example. And I cannot truly love God (I am reconciled to God) and there not to be a ‘before and an after’ on every other area. Reconciliation is a work in progress. And let me repeat… wherever we start we cannot end there – and yes that does have implication for soteriology, and has to, as the biblical examples of the use of the word cannot be reduced to one-dimension. It is all a process, and theologically all four aspects flow from the cross and resurrection. That is an eschatology that is deeply practical as it flows from you + me + ‘others’ (every tribe) with God present with ‘us’ in a creational context so that shalom is tangible – no more weeping, suffering, death.

A theology, for example, that quickly jumps to God gave the land to Israel so maybe this idea of moving the Palestinians out could just be OK… well maybe I jump quickly to the parallel exodus of the Philistines and that they need their land restored, and who might be in that today? (Thanks Amos for that insight. It’s a good book to read so I won’t simply give a one verse reference.) When can we get an eschatological vision (a true vision for the globe) such as Paul, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, advanced in the Torah beyond his peers… who simply said that Israel was not promised the land. I appreciate I am trampling on toes and giving little substance to back up what I am writing, but I am doing that to push back against ‘what a mess, but it is all prophesied and we will be OK’. And certainly pushing back against the ‘and if there is yet more mess we simply add it to the total score to tell us where we are’.

There is a book ‘I’m OK You’re OK’. There is a God who said ‘You’re not OK I’m not OK’. The God who followed us out of Eden is the God who is worthy to be followed.

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Not a good guy

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

Leadership is male when it comes to the predictions of the big bad antiChrist…

Some of you will join me tonight on a Zoom as we push into what (I think) is the final area of foundations – getting the direction right and losing the Hellenistic obsession with going somewhere when I die. Although I lean heavily toward I do go somewhere, the hope of Scripture is of the completion of this world – creation reaching an eschaton.

I am not sure what I will pick up next – maybe I will switch from eschatology to something else or maybe I will have a go at what do we understand about the big bad antiChrist. Anyway a few thoughts here to push in that direction.

Surprise, surprise there is so little in the Bible about antiChrist – four verses in total and all in two books that we assume are from the same pen (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3, and 2 John 7). Verses can be added (forced to fit) that draw in other aspects – one of the beasts of Revelation for example (beasts in biblical literature and particularly in apocalyptic literature speak of powers such as nations that are untameable). I think we have to look at Revelation separately and let it be the awesome exposure of Imperial power – Rome in that context… and for us?

There is the ‘man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2, but there we have a Pauline warning about what was to come… and for me it has already come – in the Jewish Wars of 66-70. Future for the original readers, past for us.

The Johannine Scriptures then are the core.

Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us, for if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us (1 John 2:18-19).

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also (1 John 2:22-23). 

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world (1 John 4:2,3).

Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! (2 John 7).

John seems to be writing in the main about people who have been associated / around these Christian communities, those who went out from them. [A little aside… the Reformers put forward that the pope was the antiChrist… Catholics have just a little issue with that – there view is that the Reformers / Protestants went out from them, thus the likes of you and me are more likely to be suspects!!!!] Those John wrote to had heard that antiChrist was to come, and it could well be that he held that belief also, though it is possible he is correcting what they believed with ‘You have heard… but…’ And in his second letter we read that John identifies any person who denies the humanity of Jesus as the deceiver and the antiChrist.

Not so clear… so of course once I come to write on it I will make all things so clear (or not) but here for now is my conclusions.

John, in line with the rest of Scripture, pushes us away from speculation and warns us that we need to place Jesus central (anti- can carry the meaning of ‘against / opposed to’ or ‘replacing’). I do not believe the Bible predicts a final one-world ruler… could there be one? The way we are going, quite likely, but not inevitable. Eschatology is not about a series of events, this + that, but about the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly some eschatology when pushed too far pushes Jesus off the map… that is pretty much anti-Christ!

I just do not see our Scriptures as being history set out in advance so that we know future events. The centre of all of Scripture is Jesus… let’s not replace Jesus with knowledge nor with speculation,

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‘Open’ Zoom Date

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Updates

I have set the next Open Zoom date for Tuesday, February 4th, 19:30 UK Time and the focus will be on the direction of movement in eschatology. The centre being from heaven to earth and the goal being the restoration of all things (‘ta panta’, the ‘all things’ of creation).

If attending please either read the pdf that I have written or watch the video that I have recorded. (The pdf is in greater detail and includes a critique of the ‘secret rapture’ / Dispensationalism.) Please read / view one or other…or for the keenies both! Here are the respective links:

Eschatology_directionDownload

Love how the video captures me looking speechless – must have been something so clever I said that it blew me away?

If planning on attending the link for the Zoom meeting can be found here:

Open Zoom Feb. 4th

I hope we can focus at some level on what would be the practical application to life if we held to an expectation of ‘God/Jesus arriving’ rather than ‘we departing’.

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Eschatology: video ‘There to Here’

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

This video is around 12 minutes long and it sits alongside the pdf I wrote little while back. The link to that article is found at:

https://3generations.eu/PeediePress/media/documents/Eschatology_direction.pdf

I cover in that pdf some of the history of ‘the secret rapture’ and Dispensationalism with the main focus on the ‘restoration of all things’, the renewal of creation. The video simply summarises this aspect of movement from heaven to earth. I will set a Zoom meeting with an open invitation and in that session I will summarise the content, respond to feedback, and I hope we can explore the practical implications for all eschatology begs the question: ‘in the light of this how do we live?’ If you plan / hope to come to the Zoom session please either read the pdf or watch the video.

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Summary of ‘Long Awaited’

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

I haven’t yet put together a 7-10 minute video of the pdf on ‘Eschatology: Here not There’ but I thought I would just put together a very short summary here and why I consider it to be important. The article covers two areas – one a kind of rebuttal of the ‘secret rapture / Dispensationalism’ and then the second part being a positive – the direction of eschatology being focused on ‘here’ and not ‘there’.

Dispensationalism is late on the scene and the consensus of perspective is that it appears around 1830; some have suggested that J.N. Darby was influenced by a vision that Margaret MacDonald had around that time; others (myself included) see some measure of antecedent in the charismatic revelations / teachings from within Edward Irving’s movement. What is clear is that J.N. Darby developed the ‘dispensational’ scheme around that time and in the decades that followed. More latterly with the view that ‘the secret rapture’ was not found any earlier than this time frame there have been those who are committed to the ‘secret rapture’ teaching have sought to show that it was present in earlier church writings, however there is nothing that is clear, and the writings have to be interpreted through that presupposition.

Even if there are earlier references that can be found the real issue is that (for me) it flows not from Scripture but a later abandonment of the Hebraic worldview for Platonic / Hellenistic that saw the material realm as without value, the soul needing to escape the body, and this material world to be destroyed.

Beyond that the hope of the New Testament is that of the appearance / coming of the Lord Jesus (maranatha – Lord come), not of our disappearance. To change the hope changes how we then live – rather than looking for transformation we look only to see ‘souls saved’; rather than focus on life here we look to ‘life after death’ as all that is important; we tend therefore to draw the line of what is sacred and what is secular, rather than see all of life to be the place where God is present.

The Scofield Bible (and subsequent similar study Bibles) with its notes that explained the various dispensations, effectively replaced the text as the notes explained (replaced?) the meaning of the text. (Of course the same should be noted with all writings – even mine!!). Over decades there have been books written that have explained how current events fit with what we read in Scripture (my era – the writings of Hal Lindsey) who bizarrely explain the visions of Revelation with the perspective that John could not know what he was seeing as he was actually seeing realities of the 20th Century with such military equipment as attack helicopters, inter-continental missiles etc!!! Of course as his writings progress he has to revise what he wrote earlier. Add to books that ‘educate’ a set of novels and films and a very powerful understanding is planted in the sub-conscious and conscious minds of those who are exposed to this.

The danger is of an overriding desire to depart which at worst is that of an escape mentality.

That is the first part of the article, in summarising the second part I draw on numerous NT passages that show the movement is from there to here and the transformation of this creation, that any redemption of people does not stop at the human level but includes the whole of creation. Let me simply take one passage (that wrongly could be thought to underline that ‘this world is not my home’) to illustrate.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20).

The article expands on what I put below but in summary one of the challenges with Scripture is that it was not written to us so we can misread some texts if we assume the Bible is in parallel to our culture. In that culture and in Philippi specifically those who were born free were not citizens of, for example, Philippi but they were citizens of Rome. The reason for this was that there was a tendency for people to move from where they were based with a desire to get to Rome which caused a problem for Rome as the infrastructure struggle with the growth. So to counteract that issue people were made citizens of Rome with the desire that they would work to make sure where they lived had as much of the culture and values of Rome in their location. So when Paul wrote to Philippi his language would have been instantly understood, not as ‘Philippi is not your home, heaven is your home’ but as you live in Philippi so your desire needs to be to work / pray for as much of heavens’ values and culture shape the future of your city. In the same way that within the culture the citizens worked for Rome’s values to be expressed, the believers were to work for a heavenly culture to be expressed; the citizens had a hope that one day the emperor would come from Rome and in the same way the believers hoped for the ‘Saviour’ (a title the emperor also had) to come from heaven.

I hope the summary helps a little to position what I have written, and this again I consider as foundational before any discussion about such topics as ‘millenium’, ‘tribulation’ or even life after death.

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