Christ Died in Our Place

Posted on 22 Feb 2005 by James Johnson

Leon Cathey wrote:
> > Here be my problem. The penalty for our sin was not our death on the
> > cross, nor was it our temporary separation from God, i.e., a little
> > time in hell. I see Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins, something we
> > could not do nor are we expected to do, but not as one who stepped
> > into our place. I see Jesus as paying the penalty for sin by being the
> > perfect sacrifice for sin, something only Jesus could do.

I think there are several things involved in the sacrifice of Christ in
regard to the sacrifice for sin. One thing is found in Mt 18:24 regarding
the man who owed the king 10,000 talents. The parable likens the debt
owed the king to the debt our sins incur in relation to God. The parable
points out that while our debt/fine is enormous, it it finite. A second
thing is that if you are in prison, you can’t pay the debt because you
don’t have a job. Men who die and are in Hades do not have anything with
which to pay. Therefore, they can never get out. They are captives of
the Devil. Our debt of sin did not merit eternity in hell, but we had
nothing to pay it with. Merely suffering in torment did not pay the fine.
The fine became eternal because man had no means of restitution. He had
nothing with which to pay the fine. As the parable says, “And his lord
was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all
that was due unto him” (Mt 18:34). How fast do you reckon that guy paid
off a debt of $100,000,000 while he was being tormented?

From the day of Adam’s sin Adam and Eve and all their children were under
the curse of death: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen
3:19). Since Adam’s children’s bodies were cursed with death as a result
of Adam’s curse, no man had anything left with which to pay the wages of
sin–death (Rom 6:23). Merely dying did not pay the wages of individual
sin, for even innocent babies are under the curse of death by virtue of
being Adam’s child. Offering an innocent baby did not gain you anything
because the baby already owed death his body as a result of Adam’s curse.
The baby’s body was already in hock to death. By killing the baby, you
just paid the debt sooner. Any sins a man commits therefore incur a debt
that he has absolutely no means to pay. At his death man therefore
becomes a perpetual prisoner of the Devil because man has no means of
atoning for his sins. Man’s guilt is not infinite. A man in Hades simply
has no means to pay because he is already dead and therefore cannot die as
payment for his sin and can therefore never get out.

Jesus is a the answer to man’s dilemma. Jesus is the Creator of heaven
and earth (Jn 1:1-3). The Creator is greater than the things that He made
(Ro 9:20). A man’s life is worth more than all the world (Mk 8:36-37).
Since Jesus’ life was greater than the whole Creation, His giving that
life in His death was worth more than all debts incurred by that creation;
past, present or future.

If Jesus had been a son of Adam, even He could not have died for our sins.
That is how important the virgin birth is. Therefore God exempted Him
from the curse by making Jesus a Son of God, just like Adam was (Lk 3:38).
Since Jesus was not in hock to death as were the sons of Adam, Jesus’ life
was free from entangling encumbrances and was His to give, if He chose.

Jesus was not under the curse of Adam and was not subject to death as a
result of Adam’s curse. He likewise was not subject to death as a result
of His personal sin (Heb 4:15, Rom 6:23). When the Devil took Jesus, the
Devil commited an act of war on God. It was an unjustice and he stole
something from God to which the Devil had no right. Because the Devil
declared war on God, Jesus had the right to take spoil of the Devil, if He
was able.

Prior to the death of Christ, God could do nothing for the souls in prison
in Hades. They were the rightful property of the Devil because he had the
keys of death and Hades (Heb 2:14). Dead men rightfully belonged to the
Devil who had the power of death, because they were dead, and God could
not directly intevene. However, God had a plan to save man that He kept
secret from the foundation of the world (Mt 13:35), because if the Devil
had known what God’s plan was, he would never have killed the Lord of
Glory (I Cor 2:8).

When the Devil saw Jesus, he recognized Him for Who He was (Mk 1:24, 34).
He knew Jesus was without sin (Jn 8:46). However, Jesus was too tempting
a target. The Devil surmised that if he could kill Jesus, the Heir, the
world would be the Devil’s for ever (Mk 12:7). The Heir would be in the
Devil’s prison for ever and the Heir’s heritage would become the Devil’s
permanent possession. There was one slight problem with the Devil’s
calculation. He did not have any right to Jesus’ soul, and God was not
going to let Him keep it (Acts 2:26-27). Furthermore, when Jesus died,
the death of Christ paid the price for sin for every man (II Cor 5:14-15).
The Devil therefore no longer had any right to the soul of any man in
Hades. Jesus death paid the price for all of them because as the Creator
His life is worth more than all of His creation.

When Jesus descended into Hades the Devil had a problem. He had committed
an act of war against God, and the Devil had taken Diety captive into the
Devil’s realm where Deity had previously no right to enter by force.
Since Jesus’ soul was unjustly captive through an act of war, He could
resist the power of Hades by force and justly spoil the Devil of all that
He found there (Lk 11:22).

While He was in Hades, Jesus preached to the spirits that were in prison
(I Pet 3:19). The spirits there were given a chance to evaluate Jesus’
claims to divinity without the evidence of the resurrection. Their belief
would therefore have been walking by faith and not by sight since they
were not witnesses of the resurrection. Those who believed the evidence
and accepted Jesus’ claims went with Him when He left Hades (Eph 4:8).
One hundred and forty four thousand of them were permanently resurrected
(Rev 14:4) as evidence of Jesus’ everlasting power over sin and death by
virtue of His payment of our debt (Col 2:14) through His vicarious death.

Jesus not only took the souls of the righteous with Him when He left Hades
(Eph 4:8, Rev 6:9), He also obtained the keys of Death and Hades (Rev
1:18). He also took the title of the earth (Mt 5:5, Lk 19:17) the Devil
had obtained when Adam (Gen 1:26, 28) elected to serve the Devil (Rom
6:16). In this way Jesus spoiled the strong man (the Devil) in his house
(Hades) of his armor (death) in which he trusted (Lk 11:22).

Jesus actually paid our individual penalty for sin since the wages of sin
is death. We could not pay it because we really needed to die many times
in order to justly pay our debts. Jesus was not rightly subject to death
because He was not a son of Adam and He could therefore justly pay the
price for sin. Therefore by His vicarious stripes and death we are healed
(I Pet 2:24).

Posted in Soteriology | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Millennium and the 144,000

Posted on 17 Feb 2005 by James Johnson

Revelation is a big subject. The reason it is big is that it deals with God’s eternal plan for man and it draws in things from all over the Bible. It requires a comprehensive understanding of the scriptures to get your arms around it.

Revelation 20 with the 1000 year reign and the first resurrection has been a sticky wicket for me. The issue about the First Resurrection requires you to have an understanding of the setting of Rev 20 and what is going on. I have only recently come up with a solution that seems to work. Here are the
constraints I see on Rev 20.

Christ is reigning now in heaven (Jn 18:36, Mt 28:18, Acts 2:34-35). He
will reign there until the Second Coming when He will return and destroy the
last enemy (I Cor 15:25), death, by the resurrection from the dead. After
the resurrection of the nations He will be seated on the throne of His glory
(the throne of David) and will hold the general judgment of the nations (Mt
25:31-32). When Jesus sits on the throne of David, there will never be any
interruption of His rule (Lk 1:33). Now, somewhere in all this we have to
have a temporary rule of Christ for 1000 years. However, since Christ must
rule in heaven until the Second Coming (I Cor 15:25), His temporary rule
cannot be in heaven, because His rule there does not end soon enough to allow Satan’s little season that must happen before He returns. His temporary 1000 year rule must therefore be upon the earth–it’s the only place left. However, since He stays in heaven until the Second Coming, His rule on earth must be by proxy. That is, He must use others as mediators to carry out His will.

In Rev 20:4 there are, as I read it, three groups of people in heaven with
Christ:
1) those who sit upon the thrones
2) the souls those who were slain for their testimony of Jesus
3) the souls of those who had not worshipped the beast or his image

It is only Group 1 that is not just disembodied souls. Groups 2 and 3 are
the souls of dead saints. However, the fact that we see disembodied souls
in heaven tells us that the scene is before the general resurrection of
the dead. These events must therefore be describing things that happen
before the Second Coming.

Group 1 sits upon thrones and they reign with Christ for 1000 years.
However, their reign ends before the end of the world because Satan is
released after the end of their reign to go and deceive the nations. That
must happen before Christ comes again and establishes His eternal reign on
the throne of David.

Who then is sitting and ruling on the thrones? They are the ones who
participate in the First Resurrection. They do not appear to be dead. They
have thrones and crowns and rule, but their rule is temporary.

The ones ruling on the thrones also are the First Resurrection (Rev 20:6). These who participate in the First Resurrection are also the ones who rule with Christ (Rev 20:6). The only ones I know of in the Bible who are risen from the dead and who could be in heaven are the ones in Mt 27:52. They likely are the ones on the thrones, because they are the only ones risen from the dead. I think these ones in Rev 20:4, 6 are the same ones who are described in Rev 7:4 and Rev 14:1 (the 144,000). In Rev 7 you see them rising from the dead. In Rev 14 you see them entering heaven, and in Rev 20 you see them ruling on thrones in heaven.

The sticky part of this explanation is the requirement to for them to rule
on earth while they reside in heaven. I am not certain how that can be
carried out. My thinking is that these 144,000 who constitute the first
resurrection rule by proxy over part of the earth. If you look at history,
you can see that the church was supreme over Europe for 1000 years from
about AD 344-1344. I think it is clear that the church ruled during this
period, but how did the saints in heaven rule? My explanation is that they
ruled through the agency of angels. We have some evidence of this through
the letters to the seven churches. Those letters were to the seven angels
who were associated with the churches (Rev 1:20, 2:1, 8, etc.). They were
busy doing something for those churches, though the text does not say what.
We also know that I Cor 6:3 indicates that the saints will rule angels.
Based upon this evidence, I conclude that the resurrected 144,000 were busy
through the millennium managing the affairs of the church on the earth
through the agency of angels.

Since the resurrected saints are promised a crown, it is fitting that these
firstfruits from the dead would have been given a kingdom, since that is
what we are promised when we rise from the dead (II Tim 4:8). Their crowns
and thrones give assurance to the rest of us that we also will receive a
kingdom since these firstfruits from the First Resurrection have already
received a throne. The kingdom of Christ is actually already underway. He
received authority in heaven to take possession of His kingdom on earth (Lk
19:15), but His enemies are in rebellion here and will not have Him to rule
over them (Lk 19:14). Therefore God told Him to rule on God’s throne until
God made Christ’s enemies the footstool of His feet (Acts 2:34-35). The
firstfruits from the dead, those in the First Resurrection, are our
guarantee the it was not just Christ that rose from the dead, but that He
truly has conquered death and these 144,000 are our insurance that we will
rise and rule.

Posted in Eschatology, The Millennium | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Saints to Reign on the Earth–Rev 5:10

Posted on 16 Feb 2005 by DayStar

In the KJV, NASU, CJB, NIV, et al., Rev 5:10 reads “we SHALL reign on the
earth”. If we are supposed to reign over the earth now, how is it that we
are persecuted (II Tim 3:12) and despised (Jn 15:19) and the offscouring of
the earth (I Cor 4:13)? Mt 5:5 also says, “Matthew 5:5  Blessed are the
meek: for they SHALL inherit the earth.” Our inheritance is therefore something that is yet reserved for the future. The text says, “Knowing that of the Lord ye SHALL receive the reward of the inheritance” (Col 3:24). Right now we are in a transition period. Christ is raised, and some aspects of the kingdom are already in effect (e.g. Col 1:13), but the full inheritance is still for the future. It is as Paul said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (I Cor 15:19), and “Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing” (II Tim 4:8).

Rick asked:
>Then it says Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the
>first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they
>shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a
>thousand years. ASV Could this not be that we who are baptized into
>Christ the second death which is [eternal] has no power over us.

Rev 20:6 can only be true of mortal Christians if it is impossible to fall
from grace. Since it is possible for a child of God to so sin as to be
eternally lost, I cannot see any way that Rev 20:6 can be talking about
mortal Christians. Also since Christ is in heaven, the ones who are
participants in the first resurrection have to be in heaven too since they
are with Christ (Rev 20:4). Also since these ones who are resurrected are
with Christ and reign with Him for only 1000 years, what happens to the
those who become Christians after the 1000 years are over? Why do they not
reign with Christ? I don’t see any way to make it work. I believe the
first resurrection is speaking of the resurrection in Mt 27:52-53. I
believe those who rose in Mt 27:52 are the ones who are the first
resurrection. They did not die again, but they are the ones who were
captives of the Devil in Hades who rose from the prison of Hades, ascended
with Christ, and entered heaven along with Him as is described in Eph 4:8.

I believe the 1000 year reign is over and that Satan has been loosed. I
believe that a Man of Sin will appear as II Thes 2 speaks of. I do not
believe there will be a future 1000 year reign. When Christ comes, He burns
the earth and starts over (II Thes 1:7-9, II Pet 3:10-12). Christians will
reign with Him on the earth for ever (Rev 22:5, Ezek 37:24-25).

Posted in Eschatology, Judgment, The Millennium | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Symbols of Revelation

Posted on 15 Feb 2005 by DayStar

A reader (Joe) wrote that he believed that Revelation 19’s battle between good and evil was a figure of the destruction of Jerusalem. However, there is no reason to believe that Revelation 19 is a symbol, because the birds eat the dead. People declare Revelation 19 to be a figure of speech mainly because it does not agree with their theology, and if you grant a man the right to declare any scripture “symbolic” and give him the ability to tell you what the figure means, you grant him the right to rewrite the Bible to suit himself. By taking the Bible figuratively and interpreting the figures to suit your purpose, you can spin the Bible in any manner that
you please. My rule for determining a symbol in the Bible is to assume that
all is literal unless the context demands that it be taken figuratively.

Furthermore, if you take a passage figuratively, you must have a Bible key
to unlock it. You are not permitted to make the explanation anything that
you want. An example is Rev 1:20 where Christ explains the seven stars.
He says they are the angels of the seven churches. We therefore have a Bible
key as to the meaning of the stars, and we do not have to guess. Most of
the time, though, commentators are not satisfied with Christ’s explanation
of the figure of the seven stars. They make the explanation of the figure
of the seven stars (the angels of the seven churches) into yet another
figure and explain that the angels of the seven churches stand for
something else entirely. That approach is not good hermeneutics.

Joe believes that the harlot of Rev 17-18 was Jerusalem, and ties that with the account in Revelation 19. However, John resets the context in Revelation 19 with the words, “After these things”. The context of Revelation 19 follows the destruction of Rome and the battle is at the end of the world, because Christ returns and defeats all of the evil. The great harlot in Revelation 17 is the religion of Rome that was first the apostate Gentile religion that had forgotten God’s revelation by the prophets (Heb 1:1, Rom 1:21-23) and was next the apostate church that absorbed almost all of the features of paganism and just called them by Christian names. The fact that she is a harlot tells us that she is apostate religion (Ezk 23:4-5). We know that the harlot is Rome because Rev 17:18 tells us “the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth”. Rome reigned in John’s day, but Jerusalem certainly did not. Rev 17-18 shows us a future destruction of Rome by 10 kings (Rev 17:12, 16). The events of Rev 17-19 happen after the release of Satan at the end of the 1000 years (Rev 20:7, 17:8, 12).

Shortly after the destruction of Rome, Christ comes again. That is what is happening at the beginning of Rev 19. After the destruction of Rome you find the world dominated by these 10 kings (Rev 13:1, 17:3, 16:13) whom the Man of Sin soon reduces to 7 (Dan 7:8) and they in turn give themselves to the service of the beast, the Devil (Rev 17:13, Rev 13:4). The beast and his allies rule the earth for 3 1/2 years (Rev 13:5), the same duration as the ministry of Christ. At the end of that 3 1/2 years, the Devil amasses an army from the whole world to attack Jerusalem (Rev 9:16). They assault the city and kill the two witnesses (Rev 11:8) who then arise from the dead after 3 1/2 days (Rev 11:11). They ascend up to Christ in a cloud (Rev 11:12), even as I Thes 4:17 says that we will do at the resurrection at
the coming of the Lord.

What you see in Rev 19 is from heaven’s side of the Second Coming.
Instead of an earthly perspective of the Second Coming, you see the heavenly
perspective. You see the conquering Christ coming with His army at His
Second Advent. Revelation 19 is a more detailed account of the brief synopsis of
the Second Coming that Paul presents in I Thes 4:13-18. In I Thes 4 Paul
tells us that God and Christ will come to the earth accompanied by
archangels and the souls of the righteous. II Thes 1:7-9 tells us that
the mighty angels also accompany Christ when He comes again as does Mt 13:39.
Rev 19 presents a view of the righteous with Christ in the air before they
descend to earth to fight the armies of the beast. It is as Isaiah
promises, “They shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isa 40:31). The
resurrected righteous come mounted on Pegasus horses to destroy the forces
of evil for ever. The forces of Christ descend on Bozrah in Edom to meet
the armies of Satan who are gathered to annihilate the last organized
resistance to evil on the face of the planet (Micah 2:12, Jer 49:22, Isa
63:1).

In Rev 19:5-10 a multitude in heaven praises God for the fact that His
plan has come to fruition. Christ is coming, His enemies will all be
destroyed and He will then go to the wedding supper of the Lamb (Mt
22:10-11, Lk 14:16) where the redeemed will receive their eternal kingdoms
and crowns (I Pet 5:4, Rev 2:20, Jas 1:12, II Tim 4:8, I Cor 9:25, Lk
19:15).

Beginning in Rev 19:11 John provides an account of the Second Coming. The
description of Christ’s eyes flaming is the same as when we were first
introduced to Christ in Rev 1:14. There is no reason that we cannot take
the many crowns, the flaming eyes, the name written, the garment dipped in
blood, and the sword coming from His mouth as actual literal things. The
armies clothed in white are the fulfillment of the promise Christ made in
Rev 3:4 that the faithful would walk with Christ in white. The white
garments are literal, but they got them because they were righteous.

The sword of the lips of Christ is found in several places (Isa 11:4,
49:2, Rev 2:12, 16) and seems to be quite literal. Sometimes it is
described as the rod of His mouth (Isa 11:4). Sometimes it is described
as the breath of His lips (Isa 11:4). Sometimes it seems to be a breath of
fire (Isa 30:27, II Sam 22:9). All of these various descriptions are
literal because whatever He uses, He literally kills people.

One’s approach to understanding Rev is inseparably linked to his
philosophy of interpretation. If one approaches it from the viewpoint that
Revelation is the DOJ, that’s what he is going to see. If one approaches it from the
viewpoint of what does this really mean, then he has a chance to
understand the text.

Here is my high-level outline of Revelation. As you can see from the outline, Revelation is not a chronological story. It is a series of parallel stories. I have found six separate accounts in Rev of the coming of Christ. Most of these various comings of Christ relate to the fates of the various entities under discussion. The first one concerns Christ’s power over judgment (Rev 6:16-17). You can see the various other comings are related to the fates of various entities in Rev 8-22. Besides the
fact that we have figurized Rev to point of irrelevancy, the parallel accounts
make the book difficult to comprehend. The outline below summarizes my
studies to date:

I. Introduction to the glorified Christ, our High Priest (Rev 1:1-1:20)

II. Letters to the seven churches (Rev 2:1-3:39)
1) These letters to seven literal churches are the keys to
understanding the subsequent figures in Rev
2) Jesus takes us from seven known literal churches and shows us
how He mixes figures with plain text
3) Jesus expects us to use the techniques established in Rev 1-3
to understand the rest of the book
4) Jesus starts with the known literal churches and takes us to the
unknown future history of the world.

III. The throne of God and the Coronation of Christ (Rev 4:1-5:14)
1) Rev 4 shows the Father as He was before the cross
2) Rev 5 shows the Father granting all power in heaven and on earth via
the transfer of the book of power

IV. Christ’s exercise of the power of the seven seals (Rev 6:1-7:17)
1) Christ demonstrates His power over the book of power by opening the
seals on it.
2) The first six seals are Christ’s power over
a) The domains of human governments
b) The promulgation and outcome of war
c) Transportation and commerce
d) Death and Hell
e) The souls of the righteous
f) Final wrath
3) Chapters 8-22 describe Christ’s power over the seventh seal, the
course of human history.

V. The Jew First-The Fate of Israel (Trumpets Rev 8:1-14:20)
1) The fate of the earth from Israel’s vantage (Rev 8:1-11:19)
This time is the antitype of the Feast of Passover-10 plagues
2) The intermediate fate of national Israel (Rev 12:1-12:17)
These events are the antitype of the Feast of Firstfruits
3) The fate of the harvest of Israel and her enemies (Rev 13:1-14:20)
These events are the antitype of the Feast of the Ingathering

VI. And Also the Gentiles-The Final Fate of the Gentiles (Bowls of wrath
Rev 15:1-20:15)
4) The fate of the Gentiles (Rev 15:1-16:21)
5) The final fate of the idol-worshipping apostate church
(Rev 17:1-19:4)
6) The final fate of evil government and its ancillary pagan
religion (Rev 19:5-19:21)

VII. The Final Fate of Christians/the Redeemed
7) The final fate of the Devil (Rev 20:1-15),
8) The glorious fate of the righteous (Rev 21:1-22:5).

VIII. Exhortation to obedience and faithfulness (Rev 22:6-22:21)

The outline below is another way of looking at the last two thirds of
Revelation. It describes the Seven Fates controlled by Christ in His
exercise of the power of the Seventh Seal and the course of human history
as shown in Rev 8:1-22:5.

The destiny of Israel as God prepares the world to let His
people go (Rev 8:1-12:17)
The destiny of the Promised Land (Rev 13:1-14:20)
The destiny of the Gentile nations (Rev 15:1-16:19)
The destiny of the apostate church (Rev 17:1-19:4)
The destiny of the rulers of the darkness of the earth (Rev 19:5-19:21)
The destiny of the Devil (Rev 20:1-15)
The destiny of the redeemed (Rev 21:1-22:5)

As far as the white horses of Rev 19:11, 14 are concerned; there is
nothing in the context that would require that they have to be taken figuratively.
Good hermeneutics then requires that we understand the horses literally.
It is certainly within the realm of possibility that what Rev 19:14 shows is
the saints after their resurrection and rising to meet Christ in the air
when they begin to fulfill Christ’s promise in Rev 2:26. Joseph Seiss in
his book “The Gospel in the Stars” quotes ancient sources showing that the
ancients understood the constellation Pegasus (the flying horse) to be a
prophecy of the coming Messiah. Christ’s literal advent mounted on a
flying white steed is within the realm of possibility and there is no compelling
reason to take the passage as a figure.

On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing in the Bible to relate
Christians on white horses to the army of the saints today wielding the
sword of the Spirit. The text does not even say that they have swords.
It says they are an army and we would assume weapons from the fact they are
an army, but it does not define their weapons. Jesus promises us that we
will use a “rod of iron” (Rev 2:27). Perhaps the rod is another description of
a sword just like Christ’s sword is described in various ways, but the
weapons of the saints are not specified in Rev 19. There is no basis for tying
Rev 19 with the Christian’s current warfare.

Another problem with the “Rev 19 is happening now” theory is that the
chapter happens after (Rev 19:1) the 10 kings destroy Rome (Rev 17:18).
You cannot harmonize Christ’s return with the faithful on horses “after these
things” at the destruction of Rome with a current battle. If you take Rev
19 to be something that happens throughout the Christian age, then it
seems to me that you have to give up the notion that Rev 1:1 means it was all
fulfilled in the first century.

Joe wrote:
> > I also believe Rev. 1:1
> > through 22:21 to have been fulfilled. Further, Carolyn, I believe Matthew
> > 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 have also been fulfilled. In fact, everything in
> > the Law of Moses, in the Psalms, and in the Prophets about Jesus has been
> > fulfilled.

Joe, with your view on Rev I would have to ask if you believe that the
Second Coming, the Resurrection, the Judgment and eternal reward are yet
future events and on what basis you establish your belief? Can you not
relegate every Second Coming passage in the NT to the past on the same
basis that you relegate Rev to the past?

Posted in Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

God’s Seed

Posted on 30 Jan 2005 by James Johnson

The entirety of Ps 22 is a Messianic psalm that in the first 21 verses of
the chapter speaks of the suffering Messiah. In v22 the Psalmist begins a
victorious refrain and begins to speak of the future glory of the Messiah
that He acquires as a result of His humiliation. The preeminence of the
Messiah is seen in His leading the universal congregation in the praise of
Jehovah (v22, 25). The complete dominion of Jehovah over the earth of the
future is described (23-28). V29 speaks of the Judgment where the
righteous enjoy the wedding supper of the Lamb, all those who had been
dead in the dust bow down before Jehovah, along with those who cannot keep
their soul alive, that is, those condemned to Gehenna. Following the
Judgment a Seed shall serve the Father. The seed will be the source of
all posterity (“it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation”).

As I studied the statement regarding the Seed, I was struck with the
seminal nature of the Messiah and the incredible work that God wrought
through a single Seed. The entire earth was corrupted with sin (Rom
5:12). Man was doomed to death (Rom 3:23, 6:23) and the creation over
which man ruled was brought into bondage through man’s transgression (Rom
8:20-21, Gen 3:17). Heaven itself was corrupted due to rebellion and sin
(Job 25:5, 4:18, 15:15, Rev 12:4, 7). Out of the morass of wickedness in
a creation sunk into ruinous rebellion, God rescues and restores it all
through one single Seed (Gal 3:16). The Father plants one single Seed in
Mary’s womb (Lk 1:35) and from this one God-Seed He brings forth life and
peace and all generations for heaven and earth for eternity (Ps 22:30).
The Seed becomes the means of all rising from the dead (II Tim 1:10, I Cor
15:45). The Seed brings many sons to glory (Heb 2:10). The Seed restores
peace and harmony to the earth and the creation (Acts 3:21, Rom 8:23).
The Seed purifies the things in heaven (Heb 9:23-24). Out of a creation
sunk into hopelessness of sin and death God restored it all with a single
Seed! What incredible wisdom and power! The single Seed becomes the
means of all posterity unto the Lord for ever (Ps 22:30) as the kingdom
of God’s Christ increases without bounds forever more (Isa 9:7). Truly,
the generations sprung from the One Seed “shall come, and shall declare
his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done
this” (Ps 22:31).

Posted in New Earth, Soteriology | Leave a comment

Christ’s Eternal Humiliation

Posted on 19 Jan 2005 by James Johnson

Christ, the second Adam, is the righter of what Adam wronged. Adam brought the curse. In Christ who was cursed for us (Gal 3:13) we have release from the curse (Rev 22:3). Because of becoming sin for us and being cursed for us, Jesus accepts personal demotion from equality with God (I Cor 15:28, Php 2:6). To me, the permanent effects of Christ’s humiliation make me more sad than the temporary effects of the cross. He has to bear the consequences of our iniquity through eternity. That is a really raw deal. Not that having a name that is above every name for eternity (Eph 1:21) is bad, mind you, but it is really crummy that Christ has to accept a position inferior to equality with God for eternity. I really hate it that He had to do that. I love Him for it, but I hate it that saving me cost Him so much.

Posted in Second Coming, Soteriology, The Millennium | Leave a comment

II Pe 3:8 and Rom 5:12–A Day Is a Thousand Years

Posted on 19 Jan 2005 by DayStar

I have taken a lot of heat for daring to assert that II Pet 3:8 might
mean what it says, that is, a day is like a 1000 years to God. Some
want to make it mean that God has no regard for time. I take it more
literally in that I believe that Adam dying at 930 years of age would
satisfy God’s penalty that in the day that he ate of the tree that he would
die (Gen 2:17). If 1000 years is as a day, then 930 years would qualify as
a day also and Adam died physically in the day that he ate of the tree. The
big deal with Gen 3 is that men die physically because of Adam’s sin. Men
do not die spiritually because of Adam’s sin, at least not directly.  However, every man dies physically as a direct result of Adam’s sin. Denny
says that Rom 5:12 is regarding spiritual death because Adam and Eve
hid themselves from God.  While it is true that they hid themselves from
God, the big point of Rom 5:12 is the problem of physical death. Spiritual
death did not pass upon all men as a result of Adam’s sin because we don’t
inherit Adam’s sin, nor are we forced to sin. Millions of people die every
year without sin–idiots and babies. They die sinless.  Therefore, they are not separated from God. Like Paul says, he was alive to God once, then sin revived, and he died (Rom 7:9). Paul was a baby born without sin. Then sin came alive in Paul’s life and he died to God.

However, spiritual death is not what Paul has in view in Rom 5:12. He is
talking about the problem of everyone dying physically, for THAT is the
universal problem that Adam has brought upon men. It is a universal problem
initiated by the first man. It has a universal solution by the second man, Jesus.
(In Jesus, who is last, he will be first. The Jews who were first God’s
people will be saved last (Rom 11:26)).  Adam who was first is after the
second man, Jesus (Eph 1:21)). It is at the resurrection that Christ’s last
enemy is destroyed (I Cor 15:25-26), and that enemy is physical death. Our
bodies literally come forth from the grave. Our flesh literally rises as
Christ’s flesh rose. We literally come to life again in substantial,
material bodies (Rom 8:11)

Christ, the second Adam, is the righter of what Adam wronged. Adam brought
the curse. In Christ who was cursed for us (Gal 3:13) we have release from
the curse (Rev 22:3). Because of becoming sin for us and being cursed for
us, Jesus accepts personal demotion from equality with God (I Cor 15:28, Php
2:6). To me, the permanent effects of Christ’s humiliation make me more sad
than the temporary effects of the cross. He has to bear the consequences of
our iniquity through eternity. That is a really raw deal. Not that having
a name that is above every name for eternity (Eph 1:21) is bad, mind you,
but it is really crummy that Christ has to accept a position inferior to
equality with God for eternity. I really hate it that He had to do that. I
love Him for it, but I hate it that saving me cost Him so much.

Posted in End Times, Eschatology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Adam’s Death Shows That God Views 1000 Years as a Day

Posted on 19 Jan 2005 by James Johnson

I have taken a lot of heat for daring to assert that II Pet 3:8 might mean what it says, that is, a 1000 earth years is a day to God. Some expositors want to make Peter’s words mean that God has no regard for time. I take it to mean that God actually views 1000 years as one day. The truth of this can be seen in the fact that Adam died when he was 930 years old. In God’s view Adam therefore died in the same day that he sinned (Gen 2:17). If 1000 years is a day, then 930 years from Adam’s sin would qualify as the day in which Adam ate of the tree, and he died the same day. Some have contended that Adam died spiritually in the same 24 hour day in which he sinned, but that was not the penalty for sin. God never threatened to punish Adam with spiritual death. God’s actions in Genesis 3 shows that His intent was that Adam would die physically, for He cut Adam off from the tree of life in order that Adam might experience physical death (Gen 3:22-24). Men do not inherit Adam’s sin, and men do not die spiritually because of Adam’s sin, at least not directly. However, every man dies physically as a direct result of Adam’s sin (Gen 3:19). Some conclude that Rom 5:12 is regarding spiritual death because Adam and Eve hid themselves from God and were thus separated from Him. While it is true that they hid themselves from God, that was not the physical death that both of them were promised. Spiritual death did not pass upon all men as a result of Adam’s sin, because we don’t inherit Adam’s sin, nor are we forced to sin. Millions of people (idiots and babies) that never sinned die physically every year. Even though they never sinned, they die physically. Spiritual separation from God was never given as punishment. Physical death was. Like Paul says, he was alive to God once, apparently when he was an infant, then sin revived in him at his age of accountability, and he died (Rom 7:9). Paul was a baby born without sin. Then sin came alive in Paul’s life and he died to God.

Spiritual death is not what Paul has in view in Rom 5:12. He is talking about the common problem of man–everyone dies physically. THAT is the universal problem that Adam has brought upon men. Not everyone dies spiritually. However, physical death is a universal problem brought to all by the first man. It has a universal solution: salvation through the second Adam, Jesus. In Jesus there is a reversal of what Adam did. It starts with the last and goes back to the first. Salvation (eternal life) started with the Last Adam in the first resurrection and it goes back to Adam at the general resurrection. Likewise, in Jesus he who is last, will be first. The Jews who were God’s people first will be saved last (Rom 11:26). The Gentiles who were last have been saved first. Adam, who was first, is to be subordinate to the second man, Jesus (Eph 1:21). Because of the Second Adam, at the resurrection our last enemy will be destroyed (I Cor 15:25-26), and that enemy is physical death. Our bodies literally come forth from the grave. Our flesh literally rises from the dead as Christ’s flesh arose. We literally come to life again in substantial, material bodies (Rom 8:11).

Posted in End Times, Eschatology, Types | Leave a comment

What Do Men Inherit from Adam’s Sin?

Posted on 15 Jan 2005 by James Johnson

> Augustine noted Rom 5:12 where Paul said
>
> “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into
> the world, and death through sin, and so death spread
> to all men, because all sinned.” -Rom 5:12
>
> Because of Adam, a baby is born to die; some do die one
> day old, not because of their own sin, but because of
> Adam’s sin. That’s a given. But Augustine also recognized
> that not only do we die physically in Adam, but we also
> die spiritually. So, he concluded that not only was the baby
> doomed physically in Adam, but also spiritually. I think
> we would say yes to the first, but no to the second.

James replied:
As a consequence of Adam’s sin, God cursed the earth (Gen 3:17). Because
man is taken from the earth and composed of it (Gen 2:7), man’s body
is cursed because the source of his body is cursed. Because of God’s curse,
all men are doomed to die.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil changed man’s perception of reality
from that of a child to that of an adult, and Adam recognized he was naked. It
may be that as a result of Adam eating of the tree that Adam was changed
genetically. Therefore, all of Adam’s children suffered a weakening of the flesh,
and this weakening of the flesh is what inevitably leads every man to sin.
Corruption has entered the world through sin.

As a result of God’s curse and the effects of the tree, our flesh opposes our
spirit (Rom 7:19). Because our flesh is cursed and opposes us, we face certain
spiritual death (Rom 3:23, 6:23). As Arminians have pointed out, we are not
born in sin and do not inherit Adam’s sin, but we do inherit Adam’s curse,
because God cursed the earth from which we spring and to which we return.
There is also a curse on Adam’s seed, that is, the curse is on you and me as
children of Adam.

God has promised that there is no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man and will with the temptation provide a way of escape that we
may be able to bear it (I Cor 10:13). While that is true, it is also true
that every man sins (I Ki 8:46). Since man is cursed, and every man sins,
the obvious reason is that because of the weakness of the flesh, man
inevitably falls into sin (Mt 26:41). Because of Adam’s curse that
degrades our bodies, it is simply not possible to live a lifetime free
from sin. While each individual sin has a way of escape, and it is
theoretically possible to avoid every sin, over the long haul, we will
succomb to sin (II Chr 6:36). God does not make us sin, but our flesh
will sooner or later be so weak that we will sin. The idea that we can
live a whole life without sin based on the fact that we can avoid every
individual sin is like the false logic that we can walk a mile without
stopping, therefore we can walk a thousand miles without stopping. The
logic breaks down because there are other factors that come into play as
you scale up the problem. Just like the fact that your flesh cannot walk
1000 miles without stopping because of limitations on the flesh, even so
in life sooner or later you will succomb to sin due to weakness of the
flesh. When you succomb to sin, then you die spiritually. Because the
earth is cursed, all of Adam’s children who are of the earth (I Cor 15:47)
are cursed as well. Because their flesh is cursed, they all sin. Because
they all sin, they all die spiritually.

Because we are of the earth, we cannot avoid sin because the earth is
cursed. Herein lies the big deal with Christ’s virgin birth. He is not
of the earth (I Cor 15:47). Because He is begotten of God and is from
heaven, he did not inherit Adam’s curse. He was not of Adam but of God
(Lk 1:35) and was of heaven. His body was therefore special (Heb 10:5).
He was not cursed in His body, because He was not of father Adam and the
earth was cursed for Adam’s sake. The curse on the earth comes through
Adam, not Eve. When Jesus was born of a woman, He did not inherit the
curse of Adam in His body and was therefore able to live in accordance
with God’s commandments. Since Jesus was not married, the serpent could
not get at Him through His woman (Gen 3:12), and He was able to live a
perfect life (Heb 4:15).

It is worth noting that in the resurrection our flesh (Lk 24:39, I Jn 3:2)
will be a vastly improved version. The Word says that we will then run
and not grow weary (Isa 40:31). Like the resurrected Jesus Who now reigns
24/7, we will not need to sleep. Because of the improved version of our
resurrected bodies, we will then be able to walk the thousand miles
without stopping. That portends good things about our ability to resist
temptation in the future, for it is through the weakness of the flesh that
temptation comes (I Jn 2:16). If the endurance of our flesh is to be so
vastly improved in the future, then it illustrates how much the weakness
of it that plagues us in the present age is to be improved. We know that
the flesh will be vastly improved, because the curse on our flesh will be
removed (Rev 22:3). Removal of the curse on our bodies and the
improvement of the constitution of our flesh in the resurrection is what
the text means when it says that our bodies are raised spiritual (I Cor
15:44). Because the resurrected body supports the spirit instead of
fighting against it, the body is a spirit-supporting instrument and thus
spiritual. Removal of the curse on the earth and our bodies allows them
to operate at least as well as God created them, and that was very good
indeed (Gen 1:31).

Posted in Soteriology | Leave a comment

Are the Abrahamic Promises Unconditional?

Posted on 6 Dec 2004 by James Johnson
> Perry Hall here,
> In reading a book on Theology, I came across the following argument:
> * In the Abrahamic Covenant, the land promise to Abraham was unconditional.
> * In the Mosaical Covenant, the land promise to Israel was conditional.
> * When Israel went into Exile, it was due to the conditional element of the
>    Mosaical Covenant.
> * When the Millennial Kingdom is established on earth, it will be due to the
>    unconditional element of the Abrahamic Covenant.
>
> Any comments? Thanks.

JJ: In the main I believe the above argument is biblical. My main objection is that Abraham’s covenant was conditional. It was conditioned upon faith (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3), but it was not conditioned upon works.

In the NT Paul makes an argument that contrasts the two covenants (Gal 4:22-31). Israel is compared to the Covenant of Moses with its law of bondage. Christians are compared to the covenant of Christ with its provision of grace. Israel was not successful (Acts 7:53) in keeping their covenant wherein the land would have been owed to Israel by works of the Law (Ex 20:12, Lev 18:26-28). Consequently, if Israel is to inherit the land, they inherit it through the promises to Abraham. That is why there is no difference between the Jew and Gentile in the church. Both Jew and Gentile are heirs to the promsies of Abraham through faith in Christ Jesus. Both Jew and Gentile alike inherit the promised land by faith through the Abrahamic covenant.

There is another point from the theology book with which I disagree. It is the millennial kingdom aspect. If you analyze Rev 20:4 it never says that Christ rules for 1000 years. What is says is that those who sat upon the thrones ruled with Christ for 1000 years. It says, “They lived and reigned with Christ 1000 years” (Rev 20:4, 6). The ones who participate in the first resurrection (I believe this is a literal 144,000 who rose with Christ in Mt 27:52-53) are the ones who reign with Christ. Since these arose in AD 33 and ascended with Christ to heaven when He returned there (Eph 4:8), then they are now partakers of the First Resurrection and the Second Death has no power over them. These are the ones who reigned with Christ for 1000 years. I believe that the literal 1000 years of their rule is over and we are now into the season when Satan must be loosed for a season.

The millennial theory of the 1000 year reign, as it is popularly believed, overlooks two salient points about the reign of Christ

1) Christ must continue His reign on His Father’s throne (Rev 3:21, Acts 2:34, I Cor 15:24) as King of kings (Rev 17:14) until death is destroyed at the Judgment (I Cor 15:25-26).

2) When Christ assumes His own throne (Rev 3:21, Mt 19:28, 25:31), the throne of His father David, His reign upon that throne will be eternal and not just 1000 years (Lk 1:32-33)

There is no time in the career of Jesus from His Coronation in Acts 2 until His eternal reign upon the throne of David when Christ does not rule. He is either ruling on His Father’s throne or on His own throne. There is no time when He quits reigning in order that Satan can be loosed for a little season (Rev 20:7). The people who quit reigning are the ones who sit upon the thrones (Rev 20:4). Therefore the 1000 year reign OF CHRIST is actually a misnomer. It is the saints who rule WITH Him who only reign for 1000 years. Christ reigns for ever. He reigns now on His Father’s throne and hereafter on His own throne. The saints will rise to rule the earth in the second resurrection (Mt 24:47, Lk 12:44, Mt 5:5), but the ones from the first resurrection reigned on thrones in heaven with Christ for 1000 years. Since the 144,000 are in heaven, it is not clear to me HOW they ruled on earth, but it is clear that they did so. They may possibly have ruled on earth in the same way that Jesus rules: through the agency of angels (Heb 1:14, I Cor 6:3). The millennial reign is past (possibly ca. AD 344-1344). What remains is the Second Coming, Resurrection, Battle of Armageddon, Judgment, and Inheritance of the Eternal Kingdom.

There is one more point that I want to make regarding the promises to Abraham. God promised Abraham that He would give Abraham all the land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates (Gen 15:18). As the prophet Stephen pointed out, however, God did not give Abraham any of the land at all, not so much as to set his foot on (Acts 7:5). The promise to Abraham is very explicit, however. God says,

Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

Since Abraham personally was promised the land and has received none of it, then the fulfillment of the promise must be for the time subsequent to the Resurrection, for God simply cannot lie (Tit 1:2). Gen 17:8 says that Abraham’s possession of the land will be “an everlasting possession” just as Gabriel promised Mary that her Son’s kingdom would have “no end” (Lk 1:33). Abraham’s possession of the land occurs at the same time that Christ rules from the throne of David for Ezekiel 37 says,

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

Ezekiel clearly wraps the Messiah’s eternal reign with the eternal inheritance of the land.

So you see that the theology book has some good points. I do like the part that says, “When the [eternal] Kingdom is established on earth, it will be due to the unconditional element of the Abrahamic Covenant.” Because of their inability to keep the covenant of law and works, both Jew and Gentile alike will inherit the promises to Abraham including the land promise through Christ’s covenant of grace through faith.

Posted in Abraham, Biblical Studies | Leave a comment