July 1995
Dear Co-laborer,
Eschatology, Part
12
The Jews, during the days of our Lord's ministry, were
deeply involved in eschatology. Simeon
and Anna both anticipated seeing God's Messiah.
When the "wise men from the east" inquired in Jerusalem, the
"chief priest and scribes" were familiar with Old Testament prophecies
predicting Messiah's coming.
Added to this was the heightened expectation generated by a
number of books written during the period between Malachi and Matthew, the
inter-testamentary period. These
include Esdra, the Book of Jubilees and I Enoch. All of these were indebted to the book of Daniel and the
prophecy of seventy weeks.
Throughout the Old Testament, God revealed, in a rather
specific way, His plans for the future of Israel. For example, God told Abraham that his descendants would be
captive in a strange land for four hundred years.
Thus it wasn't hard for Moses and the Israelites to predict that their
time of deliverance was close. Jeremiah
predicted that Judah would be in Babylon seventy years,
and Daniel knew this when he prayed for Israel's deliverance.
This is the promise that God makes to the nation of Israel:
"Does a bird fall in a snare on the
earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when it has taken nothing? Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
Does evil befall a city, unless the LORD has done it? Surely the Lord GOD
does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets."
It was not difficult, therefore, for the Jews of Jesus' day
to calculate that, according to Daniel's seventy weeks, they were living in the
days of Messiah's coming.
LOSS OF HOPE
Jewish scholars surviving the destruction of Jerusalem
rejected the previously popular Jewish apocalyptic literature with the
expectation of Messiah's coming. On
this point the noted scholar F. Crawford Burkitt makes an interesting
observation.
Quoting Johanan ben Zakkai, that God revealed to Abram this
world, but not the world to come (Ber. rab. 44 [on Gen 15:18]), he says that
there was a renunciation of the apocalyptic idea, the literal creation of the
Kingdom of God on earth. It was
this ideal that inspired the whole series of Jewish Apocalypses, and was the
central thought of the earliest preaching of Christianity, intoxicating the
Jewish people in their wild struggle with Rome.
"Johanan ben Zakkai was a realist, content 'to let the future age
wait for God’s good time,’ and in the meantime channeled Jewish thought into
new directions. On the other hand,
the Christians believed, ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.'"
A HOPE TRANSFERRED
As the Jews were losing hope in the imminent, literal
fulfillment of the Old Testament promises regarding the Kingdom of God, the
Church was becoming increasingly Gentile, allegorizing these same Old Testament
promises and applying them to the Church. Inconsistent
in their hermeneutic, they interpreted the Revelation literally and the Old
Testament figuratively. This was
how they became "historic pre-millennial."
Those who condemn the patristics for being pre-millennial
because they were "Jewish" in borrowing from Jewish apocalyptic
literature, must ask themselves why it was that Christians incorporated it into
their doctrine? The only plausible
answer is, they looked for the imminent return of Christ to establish His
earthly reign. From where did they
get this idea? Again, the plausible
answer is, from the apostles and those who followed them.
Jesus' disciples believed in His return and establishment
of an earthly reign. Being Jews,
however, they saw it in Jewish terms, applied to Israel, simply because in their
minds they did not see a Church - Israel distinction. When wrestling with the Jew - Gentile distinction, they
concluded that the two could unite in Christ.
But this did not abrogate the Old Testament promises being fulfilled to
Israel in an earthly kingdom with Jesus on the throne of David. It became a "Church event" only after a Gentile
Church, in their anti-Jewishness, found no room for the Jews.
Let's continue from here with brief looks at some of the
other early church fathers.
CLEMENT
Clement of Rome was of noble birth and part of the family
of the Caesars. His father Faustus
was related to the reigning emperor; his mother Mattidia was also a kinswoman of
Caesar's.
His first letter to the Corinthians was written in approximately AD 96,
or about 40 years after Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, about the time
of the persecution of Domitian.
Some of the ancient manuscripts make him the successor of Peter as pope
in Rome. In his I Corinthians
epistle, Clement seems to indicate that he personally knew both Paul and Peter.
To understand Clement's position on the millennium, we need
to remind ourselves that the Jews believed in what O'Hagan calls a
"material re-creation."
The Old Testament promises a physical restoration of this earth, during
which time the nations will be at peace and the lion will lie down with the
lamb.
It is during this time that Messiah sits on the Throne of David and rules
the world. Throughout Clement's I
Corinthians, he holds for a "material re-creation" in the cosmic
sense, following clearly the Jewish tradition.
A re-creation of the world as envisioned by the Old
Testament prophets necessitates a millennial framework in which a new earth
exists. No eschatology other than
pre-millennialism has a place for this. Post-millennialism
comes close in teaching that the church will capture the world for Christ before
His return. Only pre-millennialism
argues for an eschatological re-creation of the world; all other eschatologies
teach that after the return of Christ we move into Revelation 21-22.
A-millennialism replaces this Old Testament hope of a reconstituted world
with the cultural mandate.
We will explore this further in future issues of this series, but it is
this "material re-creation" that Clement and others embraced, even
though they may not make reference to the millennium of Revelation 20.
POLYCARP
Reputed to have lived approximately 69 - 155 AD, Polycarp
was "bishop" of Smyrna during the days when Ignatius was martyred.
Irenaeus, as a youth, knew Polycarp and wrote of him:
"But Polycarp also was not only
instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was
also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also
saw in my early youth, for he tarried (on earth) a very long time, and, when a
very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom departed this life,
having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and
which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true."
Irenaeus also says of Polycarp: "...so that I can even
describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse - his
going out, too and his coming in - his general mode of life and personal
appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also
how he would speak of his familiar intercourse with John, and with the rest of
those who had seen the Lord; and how he would call their words to remembrance.
Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the Lord, both with
regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp having thus received
(information) from the eye-witness of the Word of life, would recount
them all in harmony with the Scriptures."
The nineteenth century scholar, Lightfoot, comments that
the Apostle John lived for more than a quarter of a century after the
destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70) in the province of Asia. headquartering in
Ephesus. Polycarp was one of the
disciples John gathered around him. He
may have been privy to the Revelation of John when he was on Patmos.
John made him bishop in the church of Smyrna.
In his epistle, Polycarp uses the language of Jesus who
said, "... in the new world, when the Son of Man shall sit on His glorious
throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel."
Polycarp says, "... and promised the kingdom of heaven to those who
follow after righteousness."
Again, "They that are true citizens of Christ's kingdom now shall
themselves be kings with Him hereafter."
Finally, "... the saints shall themselves judge the world, as Paul
teacheth."
Polycarp seems to distinguish between the promised kingdom
of heaven and ruling with Christ as they judge the world.
By deduction can we conclude that Polycarp was chilliest?
It seems so, for Irenaeus,
the disciple of Polycarp, claimed his own teaching was the product of learning
from Polycarp (and therefore of the Apostles and Christ).
We shall see that Irenaeus was definitely a millenarianist.
CONCLUSION
In the next issue we will look at Justin Martyr, an
important, if not the most important, patristic from the perspective of our
study on eschatology. I don't have
room to cover him in this issue.
You notice that sprinkled throughout this series are quotes
from various scholars, substantiating the over-arching theme of this study.
They are not polemicists seeking to prove their own bias; many may not
even be believers in Christ. E.C.
Dewick, writing at the turn of the century affords us a partial summary of where
we have been with a glimpse of where we are going.
Reviewing the period of the patristics from the time of
Irenaeus forward, there is a slow, steady decline in an eager, imminent return
of Christ. Actually the decline
begins in the New Testament,
and with every fresh decade the primitive hope silently retires more and more
into the background. This doesn't
mean that it ever entirely disappeared; quite the contrary, it has always
remained ready to revive in times of tribulation.
But generally speaking, when the church is trouble-free, it has ceased to
be a living power in Christendom.
In what Dewick calls "primitive Christianity,"
even in the waning anticipation of an immediate Second Coming there is the
belief in the Millennial Reign of Christ on earth. It was most strongly opposed by those favoring a
"subjective" religion combined with a liberal use of allegory.
Origen and some of the Gnostics are illustrations.
This, combined with the Augustinian conception of the church as the
Kingdom of God on earth, contributed to the demise of millenarism.
Eager
for His return,