Dec
9
2011

The Living Dead and the Dead Living
Creation: In part 1 we saw that the theme of the first stanza of 2 Thessalonians 2 was the “Sabbath” rest of the church. Paul writes to remove the alarm caused by the “conspiracy theorists” who attempted to disturb it.
Division: The second stanza concerned the splitting of the church into two — those who would persevere despite the growing threat of tribulation throughout the empire [1], and those who would succumb to their fears. The attacks would culminate in the completion of Herod’s Temple and the Nero’s burning of Rome in AD64. The first threw doubt upon the words of Christ concerning the Temple, and the second, though hardly believed, was an excuse to scapegoat this new Jew-Gentile sect, now legally separated from the protection afforded to Jews by Rome. The gospel tore Judaism in two. Then it united those believing Jews with Gentiles. But as in the wilderness, new Israel would be threshed and purified.
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no comments | tags: AD70, Atonement, Booths, Dispensationalism, Feasts, James Jordan, Literary Structure, Paul, Ray Sutton, Revelation, Ten Commandments, Thessalonians | posted in Bible Matrix, Biblical Theology, The Last Days
Nov
9
2011

Micah Martin (brother of one of the authors of Beyond Creation Science), has kindly read Bible Matrix II and written about my adherence to the Genesis account of Creation as both Covenant and history (i.e. the account is not simply an account of the physical world being given a Covenantal purpose as a Temple, but also its actual Creation). There is much that we agree on, but the disagreement on this subject couldn’t be sharper, or of more importance.
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2 comments | tags: Abraham, AD70, Against Hyperpreterism, Babylon, Covenant Creationism, Dispensationalism, Flood, Noah | posted in Against Hyperpreterism, Bible Matrix, Biblical Theology, Creation, Quotes, The Last Days
Oct
31
2011
or The Cultic Core of Revelation

“Revelation is not just a vision of the King of Kings,
but of the King of Kings in His court.”
Preterists have a go at dispensationalists for interpreting the Bible through the lens of current headlines. We recognize that the Bible must be interpreted in its historical context, for its “first audience.” But there’s a brand of “newspaper exegesis” that plagues preterism as well.
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no comments | tags: Dispensationalism, Ezekiel, James Jordan, Josephus, Kenneth Gentry, Moses, Preterism, Revelation, Tabernacle | posted in Biblical Theology, Quotes, The Last Days
Apr
15
2011

or Baptizing the World
After Pentecost, the firstfruits church met in the Temple. Over the next few decades, the Jewish leaders barred these worshippers from their premises. What they didn’t realise was that the glory was departing as it did in the time of Ezekiel, only this time it was inside people who were living Temples as Jesus was.
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10 comments | tags: Baptism, China, Dispensationalism, Persecution, Postmillennialism | posted in Biblical Theology, Christian Life, Creation, Ethics, Totus Christus
Jan
25
2011

or Ulterior Motifs
Jesus’ reference to sun, moon and stars in Matthew 24 has nothing to do with the physical world, and everything to do with the microcosmic world of the Temple. Because of this, the Covenant Creationists think Genesis 1 is only about the Covenant with Adam, not about physical creation. They’re wrong, just as the literalists are wrong about Matthew 24 predicting the end of the world.
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2 comments | tags: Baptism, Covenant Creationism, Creation Week, Dispensationalism, Genesis, Lampstand, Literary Structure, Matthew 24, Tabernacle, Table of Showbread | posted in Against Hyperpreterism, Bible Matrix, Biblical Theology, Creation, The Last Days
Jan
17
2011

or The Rapture is History
“And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.” Job 19:26
Full preterism leads logically to gnosticism. If death is already defeated, salvation has come to the world, and all is now perfect, then of necessity all three — death, salvation and perfection — have to be redefined. They are only Covenantal, “spiritual.” You can probably understand why doctrines like these don’t originate from the persecuted church. Some hope.
However, that said, I agree with 97.3963798475% of full preterism. Their take on the parousia texts is logical and contextual. Jesus actually did come back soon, as He promised, to rescue the persecuted firstfruits church. The textual ping-pong of the well-meaning partial preterists (who can’t agree between themselves on which parousia texts refer to the end of history) is a confusion of which our God could not possibly be the author. So what’s the answer?
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28 comments | tags: Against Hyperpreterism, Covenant Theology, Daniel, David, Deuteronomy, Dispensationalism, Ezekiel, Ezra, Job, Leviticus, Paul, Resurrection, Saul, Tabernacle | posted in Against Hyperpreterism, Biblical Theology, The Last Days, The Restoration Era
Oct
11
2010

“There is a curse on Mankind.
We may as well be resigned.
To let the devil, the devil
take the spirit of man.”
War of the Worldviews
I first heard Jeff Wayne’s musical version of The War of the Worlds when I was 11. My brother and I and some cousins listened to it in a dark room. It was electric and terrifying. Hearing it again years later, the worldview behind the story is much more apparent. One song in particular lays it bare, The Spirit of Man.
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no comments | tags: Biblical worldview, Culture, Demons, Dispensationalism, Evolution, Music, Postmillennialism | posted in Apologetics, Creation
Feb
2
2010

41. The cities of the nations never fell in A.D. 70 (Rev. 16: 19).
This is a symbolic passage, but when we understand its nature, its message is astonishing. The reference to Jerusalem being divided into three parts alludes to Deuteronomy 19:3 concerning cities of refuge. There is also a “trinitarian” judgment in Ezekiel 5. Both are the outflow of the structure of the Tabernacle, which in turn images the pattern of heaven. This verse in Revelation 16 is, ironically, at the Tabernacle/Ascension step in this matrix pattern:
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2 comments | tags: AD70, Dispensationalism, Ezekiel, Melchizedek, Revelation | posted in Biblical Theology, The Last Days, Totus Christus
Dec
12
2009
An interesting excerpt from James Jordan’s review of Wayne House and Thomas Ice’s, Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse?: An Analysis of Christian Reconstructionism
The quietist is committed to inaction. The pietist, by way of contrast, is frequently active in social and charitable affairs, but what makes his position inadequate is that pietism is in general uninterested in social theory. (In general, pietist movements are not much interested in theology either.) There is no self-conscious reflection on the concerns of political philosophy in the broad sense. It is simply a matter of “doing good” here and there, without reflection. This is not bad, but it does not go far enough.
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2 comments | tags: Dispensationalism, James Jordan, Philosophy, Pietism, Secular humanism, Theonomy | posted in Quotes
Dec
10
2009

Ending the False Dichotomy of Blood and Spirit
The Old Testament is a bloody book. Beginning with Adam’s “dissection” to build Eve and the animals the Lord made into tunics, it culminates in Revelation with the massacre of saints under Herod/Nero (Revelation 14) and then the massacre of Jews under Vespasian and Titus.
The Land is always bought with blood. Sitting around John Piper’s eschatology round table recently, the premillennialist (Jim Hamilton) and the amillennialist (Sam Storms) had problems understanding that postmillennialism is not about a sudden Utopia on earth. It is about buying the world with blood—this world. Yes, there is martyrdom, but then there is Christian culture. Following the example of Christ, it is being willing to die because you have one eye on the glory that can be bought for God. Like Wycliffe’s prayer from the stake that God would open the King of England’s eyes, it is Visionary Suffering. (See also Postmillennial Suffering.)
But blood is only ever a foundation. Spirit follows. The Law kills but the Spirit gives life. The slaughter of saints actually disarms the old worship, and Christianity fills the void. The atrocities of communism in China and Mongolia cast the ancient demons out of the house and the Holy Spirit finds it swept and garnished. He fills the vacuum like a mighty, rushing wind.
So, the Reformers didn’t need to keep dying. The firstfruits church didn’t keep dying. The “last days” are only ever the last days of the old order. A New Jerusalem is formed on the blood of the apostles and prophets—but then it is also filled! My friend Matthew recently posted:
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2 comments | tags: Amillennialism, Church History, Dispensationalism, Jewish war, John Piper, Martyrdom, Nero, Postmillennialism, Revelation | posted in Biblical Theology, Quotes, The Last Days