The Age of the Spirit, the Coming Kingdom, and the Gospel

A couple posts ago, I talked about the fact that the thousand year reign of Christ mentioned in Revelation 20 is happening right now and that Satan is bound. I also briefly mentioned what Satan's being bound looks like - namely, "that Satan has been chained up 'that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended' (Revelation 20:3). It means that the gospel message propagates throughout all tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations without demonic hindrance, that 'the mystery hidden for ages and generations...[is] now revealed to his saints' (Colossians 1:26)." But we can do a little better than that - I'd like to unpack this idea a little more in this post...namely, how has the extent of Satan's influence changed from before Christ to the time of his coming?

Going back to Matthew 12, Jesus says he is able to cast out demons because of two things - (1) he has bound the strong man (Satan) by overcoming the desert temptation, and (2) he works with the power of the Holy Spirit. This second point is very important. It is important because Jesus realizes his own ministry on earth was limited. While he had most certainly bound the strong man, Jesus in fleshly form working in the power of the Spirit could only be in one place at one time. This is the reason why he tells the disciples in John 16, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7). The outpouring of the Spirit prophesied about in the OT prophets could not take place until Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father (e.g. Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Joel 2, etc.). After Jesus ascends to the Father's side, he pours out his Spirit at Pentecost (exactly 7 weeks after his resurrection from the dead, denoting a Sabbath rest coming with the age of the Spirit and the inauguration of Christ's kingdom in this world).

Now Christ has overcome the grave and the Spirit is here - so what has changed? Looking back at Revelation 20, John says that Satan has been bound during this millennial reign of Christ, no longer able to deceive the nations as he did before (Revelation 20:3). But does that mean that everyone in the world will now believe the gospel? Paul clarifies what this new age of the Spirit looks like - he says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Only those "who are perishing" are still blinded by Satan's deceptions - and Paul mentions again in Ephesians 2 that those who are perishing under the deceptions of Satan are the "sons of disobedience", those "following the prince of the power of the air [Satan]" (Ephesians 2:2). But the favor and mercy of God has found a select group, the saints of the Lord. In that group, the same God who declared at creation, “'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). This veiled nature of the gospel throughout biblical history is the reason why Paul continually refers to the different aspects of the message of Christ crucified as the "mystery hidden for ages" (Colossians 1:26), "the mystery of Christ" (Ephesians 3:4), and the "mystery of [God's] plan" (Ephesians 1:9).

On the other hand, the restraining of Satan is mentioned by Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians, when he says, "the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The one who restrains the "man of lawlessness" is probably the archangel Michael, mentioned earlier in Daniel 10-12 as the one who, as the protector and prince of Israel, contends with the rulers, authorities, and principalities - the same Michael who is mentioned in Revelation 12 as the one who battled against Satan in heaven and cast him down. Michael is able to battle the lawless serpent, cast him down into the lower parts of the earth, and restrain his current efforts of deceiving the nations on the sole grounds of Christ's resurrection - on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus. In a future post, I will try to show how all of these events correspond with the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19) and the "keys to Death and Hades" (or "the keys to the abyss," Revelation 1:18, 20:1).

So while there is still a partial veiling of the gospel to the world by the ploys of Satan, it is only to those who are perishing. But to God's saints, he dispenses his Spirit, enabling men to respond by faith to the message of Christ's dying for our sins and being raised for our justification. The universal deception of all the nations is over. God is currently restraining the efforts of evil, is renewing his creation order, and is reconciling the lost to himself. And while we still dwell in these "earthly tents" (as Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5), something mysterious has occurred in the realms unseen - "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14).

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The Cosmic Scope of the Resurrection at Easter

Today is Good Friday, the day in accordance with the Jewish lunar calendar when Christ was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem some 2000 years ago. I know there will be devoted Christians everywhere who will get slightly offended when the world commercializes the idea of Easter for their capitalistic benefit. They respond with the patented answer, "Easter is about Christ's crucifixion and resurrection!" I agree wholeheartedly, but, in the same breath, Easter is a celebration with cosmic implications - not just concerning the resurrection in isolation, but what the resurrection means and represents throughout the ages. To be sure, we as Christians rejoice at the idea of the empty tomb, not because of the act in and of itself, but because it is the wonderfully anticipated climax of all the promises of God in the Old Testament. The resurrected Christ is the true son of Abraham through whom all the nations are blessed, the Passover Lamb offered up for the sins of many, the true Temple where God meets with man to forgive transgression, and the true son of David through whom the Lord establishes his kingdom forever. But in Scripture, there is yet another event tied in with the cosmic story of Easter Sunday - namely, that of the story of our origins, of Adam and Eve in the garden.

The resurrected Christ is the second Adam who crushes the serpent's skull. Something mysterious occurred in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned. It had cosmic implications for not just Adam and Eve but all of human posterity afterwards. All of humanity without exception born into this world would be born into sin, under the curse of the first Adam. As a result of this event, the Lord told the ancient serpent of old that there would be an Offspring from Eve that would rise up and crush his skull (Genesis 3:15), that he would deal Satan such a blow as to render him impotent. John expands on this in Revelation by saying that it was Christ who dealt this blow to Satan by the powerful workings of his own resurrection. John records that on the grounds of his own blood, Jesus cast down the ancient serpent from heaven, that he might not accuse the brothers in the courtroom of the Lord any longer. Prior to this, the great Deceiver accused the brothers day and night to the Lord (see Job 1) and deceived the nations from knowing the one true God, but now, by the power of his resurrection, Jesus has crushed the serpent's skull, rendered his efforts ultimately ineffective, and confined him to gloomy chains (Revelation 12:9-11, 20:1-3). But that is not all - Paul says further that the second Adam also succeeds where the first Adam failed. Where the first Adam disobeyed, Christ perfectly submitted to the will of his Father. And in this one act of righteousness - namely, that of offering himself up as a penal substitute for sinful man on the cross - he now gives grace that abounds to eternal life for those who by faith identify themselves with him (Romans 5:12-21).

With the resurrection, the second Adam reverses the curse of the first Adam. Adam's disobedience pervades into Israel's own story, as they move from exodus through the wilderness to attempt to claim the promised land. It was because of Israel's own disobedience, echoing the failure of their father Adam in the garden, that they could not maintain their kingdom habitation in Canaan. The second Adam and true Israel of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, succeeded where his historical types had failed. His bodily resurrection from the grave, conquering sin and death and thereby inaugurating his kingdom into this world, comes to us in the powerful message of the gospel today.

Happy Easter - soli Deo gloria!

The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ

How does Christ's kingdom come into this world? Do we think of America as a holy nation like Old Testament Israel? Does America advance the influence of righteousness and God's glory through the conquest of surrounding nations? I believe when people are put to this question, they would probably say no - but I think maybe subconsciously, many in America think along these lines. Maybe this is why we think we should have a Christian president, or that schools should allow us to pray and read the Ten Commandments, or why people continually reference back to our "Christian" forefathers - we inwardly believe that the nature of God's kingdom should be external and visible in America. I would like to offer a few Scriptural points to think about -

1. The nature of Christ's kingdom is one of suffering and persecution - "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).
2. The nature of Christ's kingdom does not come with signs to be observed - "The kingdom of heaven is not coming in ways to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of heaven is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:21).
3. The nature of Christ's kingdom is one of righteousness, peace, and joy - "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men" (Romans 14:17-18).
4. The saints of Christ's kingdom do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against demonic powers - "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:11-12).
5. The saints of Christ's kingdom do not wage war with swords and guns but with the gospel that destroys strongholds - "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

The theocracy of Israel in the Old Testament was established as a typological pattern, meant to teach both Israel in the past and us today what the kingdom of Christ might look like. It is similar in many ways...but not exactly the same. It taught us that God is the sovereign King, that his people are redeemed by the gracious work of his Son, and they obey his Law and worship by means of the Holy Spirit as a royal priesthood in the sanctuary of the Lord forever. The implications of what I am saying is that the kingdom of Christ is present in grace but not yet consummated in glory - we live in the "wilderness" between exodus (being liberated from the bondage of our sin at the resurrection of our Lord) and conquest (the final judgment of sin and evil at Christ's return, along with the vindication of the righteous, the revealing of the sons of God, and the renewal of all things), in the tension of the already and not yet.

As a side note, I spoke of this topic in an earlier post about the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent from Genesis 3. It can be found here.

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The Enmity between the Woman's Seed and the Serpent's Seed

The coming of Christ's kingdom into this world can best be described from the perspectives of already and not yet - the kingdom of Christ is already present in grace, but not yet consummated in glory. This is sometimes referred to as the church militant and the church triumphant, respectively. The church militant is living in the midst of this present evil age - just like the wheat that grows alongside the weeds in Jesus' parable, so the church continues to reside in tension with the rest of the world until Christ comes back with power and in glory.

The "tension" is first mentioned in the serpent's curse in Genesis 3, where God declares to the satanic snake, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring" (v. 15a). This is a prophecy foretelling the future struggle between the children of the serpent and the offspring associated with the one who will "crush the serpent's skull" - a broader description of the strife that would continually escalate throughout history between the Lord's saints and the rest of creation still under Satan's sway.

This struggle is teased out again and again throughout Scripture - the warring between the surrounding pagan nations and the people of Israel as they march in to occupy Canaan, the battle between David and Goliath (a wonderful typological portrayal of Christ's ultimate victory over Satan), the disciples casting out demons and healing the sick during the ministry of Jesus, and even the continual persecution of the church around the world, all the way up to the present day. Even John in his revelation tells of that ancient serpent of old who has now grown to the scale of a "dragon" becoming furious with the "woman" (this time, not just Eve in particular, but with Israel symbolically) and proceeds to make war with the rest of her offspring (all those keeping God's commands and confessing Jesus as Lord, Revelation 12:17). The enmity between the woman's seed and the serpent's seed is a reality that cannot be denied.

And unlike those who believe in some Utopian Christian age when there will be no persecution of the saints or antagonism towards the gospel, or those who believe in a pretribulational rapture where the saints conveniently miss all trials and suffering, this enmity will continue between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan until Christ comes - when he will come with the clouds of heaven to separate the weeds from the wheat (Mark 13:24-27). So here is the summons - Christian, the fight is inevitable and long-lasting, and you must persevere to the end. But Christ assures us that while we will experience tribulation in the midst of this present evil age, we should take heart, for he has overcome the world (John 16:33).