Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/75

Contributor - H. Van Essen

Title - Eschatology: Teachings About That Which is Yet To Come

Topic -Eschatology

III. THE KINGDOM OF GOD HERE AND NOW

It is very tempting for many Christians caught up in the excitement about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to forget about today and to think only about the great things which are to happen in the future. Today is hardly worthwhile, except to "save souls", for we are living in "the last days,,. Years ago a good friend urged me to forget all about leadership training and things like that, because the Lord would return soon", in a year or so; all efforts therefore should go into evangelism! Now I also am convinced that we are living in "the last days"; and who can be against evangelism? Nevertheless, a church which forgets about today and spends all her time "saving people" (horrible expression! only God saves) is severely hurting her own well-being. Such a church will become so busy with things in the future, that she neglects her calling today, and often hardly realizes her task here and now.

Colossians 1: 13, 14

Let's look at these verses, "the Father has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Notice the perfect tense: the Father has already transferred us from the dominion of darkness to the Kingdom of His beloved Son! A Christian does not have to wait for the Kingdom of God to appear sometime in the future, no, he is already transferred into it. If you have received forgiveness of sins, you are in the Kingdom of Christ, and when at the end Christ hands over all things to the Father, then Christ's Kingdom will be the Kingdom of God (I Corinthians 15 :27, 28). The Kingdom of Christ, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of heaven are one and the same Kingdom.

Forgotten teaching

It seems to me that the fact of the forgiven Christian already having been transferred to Kingdom of God is often not taught. Usually there is proclaimed as the Gospel: the forgiveness of sins Through Jesus Christ, followed by the resurrection of the dead eternal life. But when you think of it, you realize that there is a large gap here between this forgiveness and the resurrection; this gap covers partly our life on earth from the time of forgiveness till our death. What do you do during that time? Often there is the call for personal holiness, and for evangelism; personal holiness is almost a Christian self-improvement course (with all the dangers of self-righteousness), while evangelism is leading people to the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins. It almost seems as if forgiveness of sins is the goal, the final end for which the Christian should pray here and now; later, after death, there will be life in glory.

The Kingdom of God now!

But it is not so. Mark 1: 14 informs us that the Lord Jesus Christ came preaching, "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom Of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel". That is the glad tiding: the Kingdom of God has come to earth! And the forgiveness of sins was brought about by the Lord Jesus Christ in order that the Father(!) (Col. 1 : 13, 14) could transfer those having received this forgiveness, transfer them from the dominion of darkness to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. The forgiveness of sins is not the goal, or the final end and purpose of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; the purpose of His coming is to bring God's Kingdom also on earth, and to have people on earth(!) become sons and daughters of God, heirs of the new creation, actual citizens of God's Kingdom. Forgiveness of sins is the key which opens the door to the Kingdom of God.

Heaven on Earth Now!

This simply means that a person, or better, that the people of God who have received this forgiveness, who are born again, who are transferred into the Kingdom of God, are called to live today as Kingdom people, to be people of Tomorrow here and now! They are to behave as Kingdom people, to speak, to act, to meet every situation today, here and now, as Kingdom people, and not as people under the dominion of darkness. Take as an example the parable of the Good Samaritan: the priest and the levite seek to save themselves; they are selfish, still under the dominion of darkness; but the Samaritan acts as only a Kingdom person can: his care brings a spot of heaven to earth.

Another example (Matthew 20:1-16, good for discussion) is the parable of the householder who hires unemployed farm workers at various times during one day; at the end of that day he orders that all of them be paid a day's wage, even though some of them only worked one hour. A day's wage in those days was just enough to allow a family to survive. But those who worked the whole day are angry! Yet the householder has acted according to the Kingdom: in the Kingdom you do not let some people starve while others hog it all; in this parable we see once again a bit of heaven on earth.

Eschatological People

Kingdom living is unacceptable today. Imagine it, the people of God meeting every situation today, here and now, as Kingdom people: in industrial relations, in world-wide marketing, in finances, in food and oil crisis, everywhere they are to strive to think, to decide, to act, as people transferred from the dominion of darkness to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. Their concern is not their own future, for the Kingdom of God is theirs already. Their concern now is their King's concern that justice shall roll like waves and righteousness as an ever flowing stream (Amos 5:24). The people of God serve Him, and, as far as their future is concerned, they trust the Word of the Lord, which says, "I know the plan I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare (prosperity) and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11)That makes the kingdom people the people of the future, the people living already here and now out of the things which are yet to come, or, to use the big word, that makes them eschatological people. (And if you ask me, then I would much sooner try my hand at some personal holiness and evangelism than at living now out of the future; this latter appears to me to be far more painful!)

Rejection and Persecution

When the people of God act eschatologically, when they seek to live today according to the laws of God's Kingdom which is coming and is in the midst of us, then they usually are rejected by present day society. In Communist countries they will very likely be called Western agents and counter-revolutionaries; in Western countries they may be viewed as subversive communist rabble rousers. But that happens because both Communist governments and Western political and economic structures really do not understand or permit a thing about the Kingdom of God. All they have heard about, especially in North America and in South Africa, is the salvation of individual souls for the hereafter. The transfer to the Kingdom of His beloved Son is supposed to take place following this life, not here and now! Any group who would start practicing what they preach about the Kingdom of God is rejected. There is no room for eschatological people amidst the powers, the structures and the thinking of this dominion of darkness; just as there was no room for the only perfect eschatological person who every lived, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reformed Position

All this would make us realize how far the churches have drifted away from the theme of Jesus' preaching, "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of heaven is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel". Historically it has been particularly the family of Reformed churches beginning with Calvin, who have proclaimed the Kingdom teaching. But the pressures of the world around the Reformed churches have often resulted in giving in and withdrawing to an individualistic-personal salvation in heaven, teaching under the influences of holiness and pietistic movements, which focus the attention upon the innerness of man. It means a withdrawing from the world, not fighting the good fight, letting justice and righteousness go to pieces more and more, allowing all kinds of instruments of the dominion of darkness to run the governments and structures of this world, while we wait and wait for the return of Christ.

When that happens, then eschatology becomes something like a game of monopoly. In monopoly you may come to own whole city blocks, houses, hotels, thousands of dollars worth; but you cannot do anything with it in this life. So eschatology may be intriguing, exciting, and you can easily spend hours discussing it or studying it, without relating it to this world here and now. If that is the case then the interest in eschatology is nothing but an escape from the here and now, dodging our God given responsibilities.

Eschatological people will be the light of this world and the salt of this earth, for they "are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, god's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (I Peter 2 :9)

Practical

Hopefully it will be clear from the above that our continued look at eschatology will involve at the same time a continued application for the Kingdom here and now.

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