The Paradigm Shift
Eschatology and soteriology are both
tied together,
so either they, eschatology and soteriology, both stand or fall.
Why is it that two people who love
the Lord, and read the same scriptures; yet comes up with two totally
different views? Could it be that one is stubborn or unreasonable? I do
not think so, because each of us has what we call a “paradigm”
on what life is really all about.” “The word ‘paradigm’ means a model or
map,” and “inside each of us is a map or model of what life ought to be
like.” One’s paradigm is a picture of life; each of us has our own
paradigm even when it comes to eschatology.
Eschatology, as you know, is a word
that scares people because they do not understand it that well so
the become afraid of it. “When I talk
about eschatology, I am not talking about the end of time,
but the time of the end.” There is a strong difference
between those two statements, when it comes to eschatology. Eschatology
is the doctrine of last things but it is the last things of God's plan
to redeem us, not the last things of planet earth.
Each of us interprets life through
our own paradigms. We look at our lives to try and compare it to our
models to try and come to a conclusion on if “…life is good, bad, right
or wrong.” Life is interpreted through the model we have developed over
time when looking at our lives. “Most people don't question the models
that they have developed; we all assume that we have the right model.”
When it comes to eschatology, the
paradigm to eschatology has mostly been developed either in your church
upbringing or by the influence of others. The main eschatological
paradigm, that is going around out there today, in churches is that
“…the late great planet earth exploding in a cataclysmic destruction of
fire.”
Paradigm Shifts – changes we
make in life
“There is a thing called a paradigm
shift which is when you view things one way and then you shift and view
them another way. For example at one time most all men held the paradigm
that the earth was flat. Then at a point in time men made a paradigm
shift and began to believe that the earth was round. As another example:
A man was on a subway in
Long Island
New York.
As he was riding the subway, a gentleman got on the subway with three
small children. The three children were about as rowdy as kids could
get, they were bothering all the other passengers on the subway. The
longer the man sat there and watched this the more irritated he got with
the father of the children. Finally he couldn't take it any longer. He
was so angry with the irresponsibility of the man that he couldn't
contain it any longer. He said, ‘mister don't you think you should get a
handle on your kids they're bothering everyone in the subway car.’ The
man looked up and said, ‘I'm sorry, you're right, we just came from the
hospital where their mother died and I don't know how to handle it and
I guess they don't either. I'm sorry.’ The
man's feelings were pulled inside out because what he thought was one
way was in fact not that way at all. He experienced a paradigm shift.
Paradigm shifts are in Scripture and they are part of your life and my
life. Paul had a paradigm shift on the road to
Damascus.
He thought that Jesus Christ was a heretic and he was preaching against
him. Then Paul met Jesus on that road and everything he believed about
him was turned inside out. The person he preached against now became his
life. That is a paradigm shift.
An Educated Study
There is an
Educational Study that I would like to share with you.
In an educational
study people were given a new concept (such as the earth is
round, or that eschatology is tied to soteriology) and asked to believe
it, which resulted in them setting aside some things they already
believe. It required a paradigm shift. This is very applicable to our
study.
50% believed it
immediately -- without thinking.
30% didn't believe
it, immediately -- without thinking.
15% wanted to wait
awhile while they make up their minds, but asked for no clarification
and no further information.
5% analyzed all
the details and finally came to a conclusion.
The results of the
study go like this, It is estimated that
5% of the people think, 15% of the people think they think, and 80%
of the people would rather die than think. I think that the
Bereans in Acts 17 were among the 5% that
think. They analyzed the details and came to a conclusion.
Acts 17:10-11 (NKJV)
Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to
Berea. When they arrived,
they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded
than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all
readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these
things were so.
The
Bereans, "were more fair-minded" in that
they: (1) "received the word with all readiness," (2) "searched the
Scriptures daily," (3) apparently had the true spirit of open-mindedness
for religious thought, and (4) in the spirit of truth sought to
understand "whether these things were so" which Paul had spoken.
I
am asking you to be one of the 5% that think, I am asking you to be a
Berean, to search the Scriptures -- not to
poll your friends, not to see what Church history says, not to search
the commentaries, but to search the scriptures to see if these things
are so. The cry of the reformation was "Sola Scriptura" --
the Scriptures alone! Anything that contradicts Scripture must be
set aside and the Scriptures must be authoritative.
Paul and Peter – Do they
agree or not?
Most dispensationalist say that Peter
and Paul were teaching both a different gospel, one for the gentiles,
which is the church age, and another for the Jews which they claim will
occur at the end of the world. There is even some,
hyper-dispensationalist, pastors who would even say that there is no
need in sharing the gospel with the Jews since they are saved another
way. When some of the pastors claim that the Jews are saved another way
what they are saying is that they do not need to come to Christ for
salvation and will be saved when they reinstitute their old animal
sacrificial system; in all practical reality, the animal sacrificial
system, was only a shadow of better things to come.
As you heard earlier, I have affirmed
that most dispensationalist claims that Peter was teaching another
gospel then Paul’s and even worse still the dispensationalist even say
that “it is Paul’s own gospel,” but even if Paul’s gospel was different
than the one Peter was sharing still either Peter or Paul had to be
wrong. If either Peter or Paul is wrong then all the words and work they
have done, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was all in vain
because we would have to remove their writings from what we call the
Bible, and just hearing that Paul claims it is his own gospel is still
even much worse because in Paul’s own words he shares that “…if any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed.” If Paul’s own words be true then Peter was teaching another
gospel but if Peter’s words be true then it was Paul who taught another
gospel. Just Paul alone saying “my gospel” would be scary in and of
itself.
How can we know if one of them is
wrong? Wouldn’t just hearing that Paul claims that it is his gospel is
evidence enough to prove him wrong? But, instead of asking whom we could
prove who is wrong let us instead try to prove if both of them could be
right by seeing what Peter himself has to share in 2nd Peter
3:15, when he says, “And account that the longsuffering of our
Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also
according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you.” So,
if we have read Peter’s words correctly, we can affirm that both Peter
and Paul are sharing the very same salvivic hope.
Adam Clarke as well shares from
another author who states a good comment that both Peter and Paul shared
that same message when we read from Adam Clarke’s commentary on 2nd
Peter 3:15 which shares:
“’This epistle being written to those
to whom the first epistle was sent, the persons to whom the Apostle Paul
wrote concerning the long-suffering of God were the Jewish and Gentile
Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
Accordingly, we know he wrote to the Ephesians, (Eph_2:3-5), to
the Colossians, (Col_1:21), and to Timothy, (1Ti_2:3,
1Ti_2:4), things which imply that God’s bearing with sinners is
intended for their salvation. The persons to whom Peter’s epistles
were sent were, for the most part, Paul’s converts.’
- Macknight.”
As Adam Clarke has shared from the
comment by Macknight that “The persons to whom Peter’s epistles were
sent were, for the most part, Paul’s converts.” Just Macknight’s comment
alone clarifies that Peter and Paul were sharing the same gospel
message.
Since we have now affirmed that Peter
and Paul were sharing the same gospel message would it not also affirm
that “the last days” was tied into their soteriology or better put could
their soteriology be tied into “the last days.”
So, if “the last days” are still
claimed to be a future event , in our future that is, would it not also
affirm that we are still waiting upon our salvation in which Paul said
was near (Rom. 13:11).
Romans
13:11
And that, knowing the time, that now [it
is] high time to awake out of sleep: for now [is] our salvation nearer
than when we believed.
The Bible alone declares that:
-
"The
Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand." (Matt.
3:2)
-
"The kingdom of heaven is at hand."
(Matt. 4:17)
-
"The kingdom of heaven is at hand."
(Matt. 10:7)
-
"...the age about to come." (Matt.
12:32)
-
"This generation will not pass away
until all these things take place." (Matt. 24:34)
-
"The
kingdom
of
God
is at hand." (Mk. 1:15)
-
"There is about to be a
resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." (Acts 24:15)
-
"The God of peace will soon crush
Satan under your feet." (Rom.
16:20)
-
"The gospel ...was proclaimed in
all creation under heaven." (Col. 1:23; Compare Matt. 24:14; Rom.
10:18;
16:26; Col.
1:5-6; II Tim.
4:17; Rev.
14:6-7; cf. I Clement 5,7)
-
"...things which are a shadow of
what is about to come." (Col. 2:16-17)
-
"For the Law, since it has only a
shadow of the good things about to come..." (Heb. 10:1)
-
"...salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time." (I Peter 1:6)
-
"It is the last hour." (I Jn. 2:18)
-
"The time is near." (Rev. 1:3)
“The last days spoken of in the N.T.
were the last days of the old covenant, and Revelation was a
prophecy , concluded in apocalyptic language,
of its passing. “…the Old and New Covenant had coexisted for a time—ca.
AD 30 – 70.” “…40 years length of a Biblical generation.” (pg 158
btvom)
The Resurrection – the hope of Israel
In one of those verses, I mentioned
earlier, that the Bible declares, is that:
"There is about to be a
resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." (Acts 24:15)
Has it ever passed through your mind
on how the Lord might put all these decayed bodied back together? “Will
He re-gather and reassemble all the scattered atoms and molecules which
composed individual bodies at the time of death?” This
issues is answered by M.C.
Tenney in his book, “The Reality of the
Resurrection:”
“When the body of Roger Williams,
founder of the Rhode Island colony, was exhumed for reburial, it was
found that the root of an apple tree had penetrated the head of the
coffin and had followed down Williams' spine, dividing into a fork at
the legs. The tree had absorbed the chemicals of the decaying body and
had transmuted them into its wood and fruit. The apples, in turn, had
been eaten by people, quite unconscious of the fact that they were
indirectly taking into their systems part of the long-dead Williams.
The objection may therefore be raised: How, out of the complex
sequence of decay, absorption, and new formation, will it be possible
to resurrect believers of past ages, and to reconstitute them as
separate entities?”
“This problem of joint ownership of
atoms and molecules is a big problem. After death, various body
particles returned to dust, reentered the food chain, got assimilated
into plants, eaten by animals, and digested into countless other human
bodies. At the resurrection, who gets which atoms and molecules back? As
you can see, it can get quite complicated. Another thing that bothered
me was why does God raise our dead decayed bodies,
put them all back together just to change them into immortal spiritual
bodies?”
What you have just heard is what the
churches, today, basically teach about the resurrection but is it what
the Bible says. “The cry of the reformation was ‘Sola Scriptura’ — the
Scriptures alone! Anything that contradicts Scripture must be set aside
and the Scriptures must be authoritative.”
Many other verses, by Paul, even
shares that “the hope of
israel’
was the resurrection:
-
Acts 23:6
(NKJV) But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the
other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Men and brethren, I am
a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and
resurrection of the dead I am being judged!"
-
Acts 24:15
(NKJV) "I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that
there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of
the just and the unjust.
-
Acts 28:20
(NKJV) "For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you
and speak with you, because for the hope of
Israel
I am bound with this chain."
-
Acts 26:6-8
(NKJV) "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the
promise made by God to our fathers. 7 "To this promise our
twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain.
For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. 8 "Why
should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the
dead?
So what Paul is affirming is that
“Jesus Christ came to redeem man from death, to resurrect man back into
the presence of God. The Bible is God's book, about His plan to restore
the spiritual union of His creation. Resurrection is not about bringing
physical bodies out of the graves, it is about restoring man into the
presence of God.
But some might be asking “what about
the passage in Job where he says:”
Job
19:26 “And though
after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see
God:”
I would than ask of that person to
read the whole book of Job, during your free time, to understand what
Job meant by that but to make the time short, for right now, lets go to
the last chapter, which brings forth a conclusion on what Job has meant
when he has said “…yet in my flesh I shall see God.”
Let’s read Job 42:5 which says:
Job 42:5 “I have heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth
thee.”
Adam Clarke said in his commentary of
Job that “I have now such a discovery of thee as I have never had
before. I have only heard of thee by tradition, or from imperfect
information; now the eye of my mind clearly perceives thee...” John Gill
shares, in his own words, “…he had a more clear and distinct view of the
sovereignty, wisdom, goodness, and justice of God in the dealings of his
providence with the children of men, and with himself, to which now he
humbly submitted.” As we can understand, from John Gill and Adam
Clarke’s comments, the seeing that Job was talking about was the
understanding as in the understanding, which comes about, when the Holy
Spirit removes the veil from our eyes and lets us begin to see the
things of God.
As we can confirm, with the word of
God, this is not a passage teaching upon a future fleshly resurrection
for believers but was a hope and outcome in Job’s own life when God
later on restored to Job the things he once lost when God has put him to
the test…we can see by looking at Job 42:12 – 16.
Job 42:12
So the LORD blessed the latter
end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen
thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen,
and a thousand she asses. 13 He had also seven sons and three
daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the
name of the second, Kezia; and the name of
the third, Kerenhappuch. 15 And in all the
land were no women found so fair as the
daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their
brethren. 16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years,
and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. 17 So Job
died, being old and full of days.
