Biblical Theology 4: Inaugurated Eschatology 4

The Great Tribulation: when does it begin and what difference does it make? Contd

Links between 2 Thes 2 and 1 John 2:18
  • both develop what Daniel 7-12 says in the light of Jesus' teachings
  • 2 Thes 2 talks about a man of lawlessness that will be revealed in the end time. In John 'sin is lawlessness'
  • both passages are set in an end time context 
  • Both contain deception
  • 2 Thes 2:4 is a clear illusion  to Daniel 11:36
2 Thes 2
  • Some thought the end had already come. Paul corrects in v3. The falling away comes first and the man of lawlessness needs to be revealed
  • v4 'temple of God' is found ten times in the NT. Every time with one exception the phrase refers to a non-literal temple. The exception is when Christ talks about his body as a temple.The temple of God in Paul is always the church. 
  • The man of lawlessness will have substantial influence in the church of God.
  • v3 the falling away (apostasy) comes in the church before the end and then the appearance of the end time opponent comes in the flesh. 
    • Parallel text: Rev 20:8. The devil is released from the pit able to deceive nations
    • Rev 7 talks about the beast and two witnesses. The witnesses are the church- 2 because there are 2 faithful churches in Revelation. 2 is the number for witness. The beast is the anti-Christ who kills the church. This relates to physical persecution and death. 
  • v6 the restrainer is an angel as in Rev 20. 
  • 'the mystery of lawlessness is already at work' the idea that he is coming and already at work is similar to the way John describes the anti-christ in 1 John 2:18. 
    • Not making the word central in every area of life is having 'the mystery of lawlessness at work'. 
    • The mark of a true believer is desiring the word of God
    • The 'spirit of the time' is whatever the world does to make sin acceptable
    • We are involved in the fight of our lives
    • Part of sanctification is becoming sure of our election. Grievous sin should take away assurance of salvation. When we compromise significantly our soul is at steak. 
To not think that we re in the great tribulation is to be deceived. We are not fighting personal battles. We are always fighting a fight that is a cosmic and redemptive battle. 

Redemptive Historical Patterns: how God works to save His people
  • The trial and temptation of this age is that Christians are always undergoing deceptive influence against them (Eph 4:14, 6:11-12)
    • we must wear the armour in Eph 6. Isaiah prohpecies about Christians winning the end time battle with armour
    • the influence is not to believe in Christ and his precepts
      • covenant community apostasy is to not make a big deal about disobeying God's word
      • Mark 13:11 speaks of love growing cold towards God
  • The deception of Satan used on Adam is used again at the end of the age
    • epistle of Barnabas 6:13 (95 AD) 'I make the last things like the first things'- based on a phrase in Isaiah
    • 1 John 3:8 John says that sinning is being like the devil because he has been sinning from the beginning
    • John talks about 'seed abiding in him'. Idea from Genesis 3
    • 1 John 3:12 'love one another not as a Cain'. John is making parallels from the early world to the last days
    • The better we understand Satan's first temptation, the more we'll understand how he operates now
      • he dislodged their loyalty to God by saying 'has God really said?
      • Eve misquotes God by minimising the judgement ('surely die'[die die in Hebrew] reduces to 'die') and maximising the prohibition (says that God has said that they couldn't touch the food)
        • this implies not being committed to the word- they don't remember it. They should have been helping each other to know it. 
      • Adam and Eve call each other liars- this reflects the father of lies. The marriage is hurt. 
      • Satan makes evil seem good
    • If we don't think this is a highly-charged time we will be less committed to the word of God
The Son of Man in the gospels as a beginning fulfillment of the great tribulation prophecy in Daniel 7
  • 4 beasts that are oppressed- Kings are called beasts when they don't do what Adam is meant to do. Kings are sons of Adam who should rule the world like Adam ruled the garden. 
  • The son of man receives authority from an eternal King. v11 the beasts are destroyed.
  • The son of man is set up as the second Adam who will rule well
  • v15-28 is the interpretation but doesn't feature the 'son of man'. 
    • Instead the phrase 'saints of the most high' is used(7:18, 7:27)- implies that the son of man is a collective term for Israel. 
    • the 'son of man' reigning should be Israel reigning
  • Christ identifies as Israel by talking about himself as the son of man in three groups of sayings:
    • the son of man will come
    • the son of man will suffer
    • the son of man will come again
      • Jesus fulfills the son of man prophecies by experiencing the start of the great tribulation through his sufferings
      • When we reign over sin we reign in the messianic kingdom

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World: Introduction to the Christ Centred Model of Preaching

Lectured Tim Keller In order to prepare a good sermon the preacher should be asking: What does this text tell me about the person and work of Jesus? In preaching the preacher should be asking the people: How am I failing to rejoice in and live as if this text is true about who Jesus is? The preacher should be showing that people are poor due to their lack of faith in Christ. The aim of every sermon is to experience Christ through the text. You need to get people to adore and enjoy Christ through the text. We shouldn’t preach principles or example to live up to but re-assure people that living a holy life is derived from faith in Christ. In a lecture the aim is to transfer information. In a sermon the aim is to be get the listener to worship on the spot. Three types of questions to evaluate a sermon: 1) Was it a sound sermon? Was Jesus the climax of the text? 2) Was it practical? Was Jesus presented as the solution to spiritual problems? 3) Was there a sense of God? Was Jesus made visib...
Read more

Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World: Expounding Christ in the Psalms

By Edmund Clowney The Psalms are the praises of the redeemed centred on Christ. A song is a covenant witness. In Deut 31:19 God gives to His people the songs they are to sing. Songs are not simply a response to God but a God-given ordination. The people were to memorise them. Jesus is presented as the living Christ singing in the midst of the congregation (Hebrews 2 quoting Psalm 22:22). We sing with Jesus our singing saviour. Structure of Psalm 22 1-2 the cry of lamentation 3-5 the confession of trust 6-8 another lamentation 9-11 another confession of trust 12-18 another lamentation 19-21 cry for deliverance 22-24 confession of deliverance 25-31 praise for deliverance The suffering servant signs from the depths to the heights In Psalms 2 and 24 the royal King sings. The song of Christ is seen as the song among the Gentiles (Rom 15:9). Jesus signs a missionary song among the nations (Psalm 96). The NT authors gained their theology from the OT. They were people absorbed in OT doctrine. ...
Read more

Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World: Expounding Christ through the Structure of Redemptive History Part One

By Edmund Clowney We must see scripture as a whole. When Christ met with His disciples leaving Jerusalem in Emmaus they were discouraged. Christ says that the disciples didn’t understand the whole of scripture. They didn’t understand that the concept of spiritual redemption came from the Jewish scriptures. Christ showed them that Old Testament is all about Him. The disciple’s hearts burned within them. In scripture we have one complete story with Christ being the completion of this story. We live in the time of climax. He said ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). The Lord in His own redeeming act initiated redemptive history The Exodus was a move of liberation on God’s part. The Israelites were delivered by the power of God. God didn’t only bring them out of Egypt; He brought the people into covenant relationship and the promised land of Canaan on eagle’s wings (Exodus 19:4). In Leviticus 26 God promises to walk among His people and be their God. He promises His presence through the construc...
Read more