Below are some thoughts from Dr. John Davis of Grace Church in Philadelphia, on the “Already, Not Yet” Kingdom of Jesus. Pastor Davis is the overseer of Sonship Ministries, the church I am privileged to call home. You can read his blog here.
1. Already a Kingdom in which the King offers redemption through his death and resurrection; not yet a kingdom in which redemption is applied to all of creation.
2. Already a Kingdom which one sees and enters through repentance and faith (John 3:3-5); not yet a kingdom which one sees with the physical eye.
3. Already a spiritual kingdom in which the King rules over the hearts and lives of his subjects, not yet, a geo-political kingdom in which all the universe is in subjection to His righteous rule.
4. Already a kingdom in which the subjects of the King are learning to love one another and live in unity; not yet a kingdom in which the subjects of the King perfectly love another and live in unity.
5. Already a kingdom in which its subjects hold title to an eternal inheritance; not yet a kingdom in which the subjects are in full enjoyment of the inheritance.
6. Already a kingdom in which its subjects are granted the New Heavens and Earth; not yet a kingdom in which they possess the New Heavens and Earth.
7. Already a kingdom which is in conflict with the powers of darkness; not yet a kingdom which is fully triumphant over the powers of darkness.
8. Already a kingdom in which the power of the King over death, disease, and the devil is evident; not yet a kingdom in which death, disease, and the devil are banished forever.
9. Already a kingdom growing mysteriously and gradually (Matt 13); not yet a kingdom manifested in power and glory.
Thank you for posting this, sister. The already/not yet truths, like so many truths that seem to pull in two directions, or seem to oppose one another, can only be lived by the grace abiding life. Praise God that Christ is the Vine and we are the branches and that we do not abide alone or of ourselves.
Blessings to you, dear sister.
AMEN and AMEN! Christina, this was a wonderul literary piece of truth! Thank you so much for sharing this and for the link. You are truly blessed to be under such godly and insightful leadership! Praise God for that!
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” I Corinthians 13:12
Already read the nine statements; not yet finished thinking about the applications to my life.
Hi Christina,
This is a profound post indeed. The implications of which are scarcely grasped. Of course this is a biblical idea which was really first quantified by Gerhardus Voss(19th Centiry) but then later refined and popularized by Gerge Eldon Ladd(20th Century). I would like to commend some of their works on this issue to you and your hearers…..
Voss – Biblical Theology
Ladd – The Presence of the Future
Ladd – The Gospel of the Kingdom
Ladd – The Blessed Hope
Ladd’s contribution to this idea was particularly helpful because he drew from the great benefits of Voss and others in their understanding of the covenants and then melded them with a historical grammatical hermeneutic which actually became todays clearest defense of the eschatological position we call Historic Premillennialism. Ladd’s writings on this subject i dare say have influenced more evangelicals since the 1960’s than any other when it comes to an understanding of echatology (the study of last things). I for one am extremely grateful to God for his insights. He helped me to quantify my rejection of a Pre-trib Rapture and understand the implications behind the Olivett Discourse and Pauline writings on these matters. His insight into the Kingdom is Now/Not Yet helps us to clearly delineate between Christ present spiritual rule and His yet physical rule upon the earth, ruling from Jerusalem with all his saints in the future Millennial Kingdom.
I have commented briefly how these things relate to the Gospel here… http://www.heavenslight.org/theology/The_Gospel_and_the_Kingdom_of_God.pdf
Eddie, in regard to how this applies to our life now consider….
1. The Gospel proclaims that through repentance and faith you can be redeemed, but it is much more than this. The Gospels proclaims that Christ will powerfully come in the future and establish His kingdom upon the eart and bind Satan and arrest evil until all, is enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
2. Now, we walk by Faith and not by sight.
3. We Christians have come under the Lordship of Christ….let us therefore willingly subject ourselves to His rule….the whole world will soon come under His global Lordship.
4. We Christians are being sanctified now and still learning to be conformed to Christ’s perfect character. The time will come when we wil be glorified by God’s power and be perfected and immortalized.
5. Our Hope of the Kingdom is only now realized by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, but will later be fully realized when we take on immortality and rule and raiegn with Christ as His kings and Priests.
6. Hope is the key here…..looking for and hastening the Day of God…..
7. Spiritual warfare is our daily lot until Christ returns….let us fight valiantly for our God and for the expression of His Glory and virtue.
8. We have read the end of the book….we win! Let us know fight the good fight of the faith with much confidence and perseverance!
9. Know this….the Kingdom of God will prevail over evil, indeed every evil thing shall be brought under the glorious rule of Christ…. Phil 2:9-11
9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. NASB
In these things we have great conficence and hope….let us not grow weary in doing good but let us prevail for the glory of our God, and this by His power!
1 Cor 6:2-4 – Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life? NASB
Standing on the promises,
Shaan
Hi Shaan,
Wow! That was quite a response! Thank you so much for taking the time to put that all together. We have Ladd’s “The Gospel of The Kingdom”. I think John Walvoord has made an enormous contribution to resurrecting Premillennialism (The Millennial Kingdom: A Basic Text in Premillennial Theology) even though he is not Calvinistic and he is a pre-trib guy. I don’t really know where I stand on that – how bout you tell me? 🙂
Marv Rosenthal’s Pre-wrath Rapture gave us all something to think about in 1990 although I think Bib Sac did come back with a careful rebuttal of that. It’s been a long time since I looked into the rapture timing and really need to brush up on it all.
We know that Papias (AD 60-130), and Polycarp were the earliest of the church fathers to hear premillenialism taught directly from the Apostle John. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus who was discipled by Polycarp and Tertullian were also strong premillenialists.
To my understanding (which leaves MUCH to be desired!) Augustine introduced Amillenialism which the Catholic Church held, and which was adopted without question by the Reformers. They had much bigger fish to fry back then, God bless them all!
This year’s Shepherd’s Conference had a lightening speed presentation by Nathan Busenitz where he traced the origins of the Amil and Premil position back to the time of Augustine and the post apostolic fathers. Robert (my husband) said it was just awesome but I can’t find any transcripts for it yet. I did find the mp3 and plan to listen to it this week. Here’s a link to download that message if anyone is interested.
http://media.shepherdsfellowship.org/2010/SC1034.mp3
Oh for that day!!
Diane
Shaan, I meant to say I don’t know where I stand on the timing of the Rapture – I do know where I stand on Premillenialsim – that is with the Apostle John! 🙂 Now, there will be no fighting kids!!
Hi Diane,
Well, I am with you and the Apostle John, Premill. Also, in staying with the earliest Fathers, Historic PreMill. This means I am not a Dispensational PreMillennialist (pretribber) like Nate Busenitz, although I do highly respect Nate and many Dispys and all their hard work and contributions. I was in the seminar you speak of this year at the Shepherds Conference.
Historic Premillennialism is Post-Trib Premill, and the Pre-Wrath position you mention would fall into this camp, but with some slight variations from its somewhat official guidleines as compiled by George Ladd. There are some differences in the two positions but both are clearly Post-Trib PreMill, which is the basic criteria for Historic PreMillennialism (although this is hard to quantify as it has been held by so many through church history). What we know for sure is the majority of the earliest Fathers were both PreMill(Christ will return before the Millennium), and Port-Trib(rapture after Tribulation), the church will go through the Great Tribulation period as indicated by Jesus in Matthew 24:15-31, Mark 13:14-27. This also Paul’s emphatic statement in 2 Thess 2:1-3. This also means that the Rapture and the Second Coming are the same event in Hist PreMill, which is Jesus clear teaching in Matt 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27, which very closely paralells Paul’s statement of the same in 1 Thess 4:15-17, affirmed again in 1 Thes 5:1-4 when Paul equated the Day of the Lord with the parousia of 4:15-17. I have commented extensivley on these texts here…
http://www.abqhcf.com/lessons/09-10/handouts/abc/1Thess_p45-47.pdf
http://www.abqhcf.com/lessons/09-10/handouts/abc/Text%20Comparison%20Chart.pdf
http://www.abqhcf.com/lessons/09-10/handouts/abc/1Thess_p49-52.pdf
http://www.abqhcf.com/lessons/09-10/handouts/abc/1Thess_p53-55.pdf
Sorry I dont have it all on one page yet. I just finished going through 1 Thess for my Bible class in May. All the audio is here…
http://www.abqhcf.com/lessons/09-10/abc.html
Obviously this rapture timing issue can be complex and sensitive, but it doesn’t have to be. Jesus clearly says in no uncertain terms that the rapture and the Second Coming happen after the Great Tribulation period in the Olivett Discourse Matt 24:21-31(see specifically v-29). Paul did not mix any words in saying that the rapture and the Second Coming would not happen until after the AntiChrist is revealed and the falling away happens (see 2 Thes 2:1-3). If you want a good brief, conscise, biblical defense of this see Ladd’s “the Blessed Hope” or better yet Van Kampen’s “The Rapture Question Answered.”
I am happy to give more extensive teaching and evidence…this is my privilege…. many of my charts are here….
http://www.heavenslight.org/endTimes.html
I am also happy to respond to any questions or concerns, either here or by email.
In our soon coming King, Blessings!
Shaan
Well, well, well.. isn’t it funny you were sittin in the same session as my hubby, our pastor and all our friends. I will email you a picture from the conference and maybe you’ll recognize someone!
The cobwebs of my aging brain are starting to clear as you go through these things. See, my hubby was in the pastorate for years up till 1996. When Rosenthal’s book came out he was persuaded against pre-trib rapture and taught it. (Went over like a LEAD BALOON! But then again so did his Reformed theology, which is why he’s no longer there…but that’s a long story that God is not done with! 🙂
Anyway, I agree, I could never see the case for pre-trib rapture either- mid or post made more Biblical sense. I think we’ll be getting back into it here pretty quick though –
I will look at the links here this week when I get a chance. This is so much fun!! Thank you!!
Blessings! I’ll try to figure out where to email – either your site or FB.
God bless your husband for preaching thr truth! Too many tares in the professing church to endure sound doctrine. Also, not enough love to bear with one another as we all come to know and understand the Scripture better.
Few Eschatological doctrines are essential enough issues that we divide with one another. Certainly NOT the timing of the rapture(nor the existence of a Millennium for that matter). So we are all Premillennial, but you think Pre and I think Post….we better separate??? God forbid…we have been bought with the precious blood of Christ! Christ died for us! I will die for you, I will die with you, you will bury me or I will bury you but we are members together in our precious Lord! Non essential issues help us to learn to study diligently and pray, while keep the main thing the main thing and Love God and serve one another in love!
Your story has been repeated 1000 times over…Devils who throw men of God in the street for speaking the truth are devils indeed! Leap for joy in that day! Shower them with kindness…God will have a day of reckoning! God will judge, you are free to love and forgive them!
Sorry, dont mean to go off on my soapbox….
If you watch my blog over the next few eeks, I will be dealing with the Rapture and the Day of the Lord from the text of 1 Thess 4:15-5:9. Dialogue can take place during each segment in comments.
If your hungry for better clearer understanding on these things….
George Ladd – The Blessed Hope
The Rapture Question Answered- Van Kampen
A Case for Historic Premillennialism – Blomberg
Grudem’s Systematic Theology(presents Historic Premill in the eschatology)
The Sign – Van Kampen (He refines and clarifies Pre-wrath far more than Roesenthal….but be discerning, he makes a few errors which are evident)
John Piper is Historic PreMill – check his sermons on 1 & 2 Thess, Mark 13
The Kingdom of Christ – Russell Moore (fabulous section on eschatology)
Check out this wiki….it references a few Historic PreMill guys…many who you know well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_premillennialism
By the way….I love Johnny Mac….he has had a profund impact in my life….I esteem him very highly in love because of his work….1 Thes 5:12-13
May God richly bless you,
Shaan
Shaan, Thank you again for all the links and books and your upcoming blogs. We’re on the road now but when things settle this summer and get home and back to our library, I will dive into all of it.
Robert and I absolutely agree with you, and always have that Eschatology is a completely ridiculous reason to part over. We fellowship very comfortably with our A -Pre-Postmil, & pre, mid,post-trib rapture brethren, – Robert used to joke that he was actually Pan-trib (It will all pan out in the end no matter what we all believe!) The same goes for many other more minor doctrinal issues.
When soteriology and separation from apostates enter the picture is where we stand/stood our ground – albeit with grace, hopefully. That’s where we have found great opposition and rejection.
I agree, some pastors’ major on minors in an arrogant and unloving way, which is the wrong way to minister.
Praise God for your wisdom and minstry!
Wise words my sister!
May God help us to understand the difficulties of managing our way through this deceptive age….with humility and lovingkindness…..yet discerning, making right judgments when necessary….shrewd as serpents, gentle as doves.
God help to grow up into Christ in all things….He is a glorious Master indeed!
Shaan