Joshua and Judges: Abrahamic Covenant - Covenant theology vs. the New covenant. Jos 5:1-3; Rev 20:1-10; Rom 11:25-29.

Title: Joshua and Judges: Abrahamic Covenant - Covenant theology vs. the New covenant. JOS 5:1-3; REV 20:1-10; ROM 11:25-29.   

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

 

REV 20:1 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

 

REV 20:2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

 

REV 20:3 and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

 

At all times in human history, Satan has worked tirelessly to defeat any and all aspects of the purpose and program of God.

 

The millen­nial age is to be the age in which divine righteousness is to be displayed (ISA 11:5; 32:1; JER 23:6; DAN 9:24). It is also to be God’s final test of fallen humanity under the most ideal circum­stances.

 

Christ's divine righteousness is openly displayed on earth through Himself, in resurrection body, and seated on the throne of Israel, the throne of David, for a full thousand years.

 

It is clearly observed in the Bible that the millennial age finds the complete fulfillment of all that God promised to the nation of Israel. Satan vehemently attacks these scriptures along with the people.

 

Yet also, what is displayed is the final test of fallen humanity. For the first time humanity will live in a world that is without the influence of Satan, while is it fully influenced by Christ, openly and completely. All outward sources of temptation must be removed so that man will demonstrate what he is apart from Satanic in­fluence. The book of Revelation shows us that mankind does very poorly in this last test.

 

So that there can be the full manifestation of righteous­ness and a test of humanity apart from external temptation, Satan must be removed from the sphere.

 

Therefore, at the second advent he will be bound and removed from the scene for the entirety of that millennial period.

 

REV 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

 

REV 20:5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

 

REV 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

 

The first resurrection in this passage is composed, not of church age saints alone, but of all individuals, of whatever dispensation, who are raised to eternal life.

 

While this resurrection takes place at different times in reference to different groups, the result is the same in each case—the resurrection to eternal life. These resurrected ones are said to be priests and to reign with Him. This first resurrection in REV 20:6 can not be made to apply only to the church saints, for those here resurrected are those that have gone through the great tribulation and thus would not be included in the body of Christ, since the resurrection of the church has preceded this. And yet they are in the first resurrection and will reign with Christ. This must mean that all those who par­take in the first resurrection have a common destiny, the New Jerusalem, from which they will be associated with Christ in His reign, whether they be Old or New Testament saint.

 

Amillenarians follow three basic principles of interpretation:

 

1. Spiritualization of the scriptures rather than literal interpretation.

2. OT promises to Israel are fulfilled in the Church.

3. Rev 20 can only be interpreted symbolically.

 

This leads us back to covenant theology, most of whom are amillinnialists.

 

Covenant theology, born in the seventeenth century, teaches that before and after the fall of man, the relation between God and man was a covenant. They have two covenants that they base their entire theology upon: the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.

 

The covenant of works was the covenant of God with Adam and the woman before the fall.

 

After the fall, according to them, this covenant was replaced with another.

 

Covenant of grace: that gracious agreement between the offended God and the offending but elect sinner, in which God promises salvation through faith in Christ, and the sinner accepts this believingly, promising a life of faith and obedience. [Berkhof]

 

L.S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol. 4, p. 156-157.

 

"Upon this human invention of two covenants Reformed Theology has largely been constructed. It sees the empirical truth that God can forgive sinners only by that freedom which is secured by the sacrifice of His Son--anticipated in the old order and realized in the new--but that theology utterly fails to discern the purposes of the ages; the varying relationships to God of the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church, with the distinctive, consistent human obligations which arise directly and unavoidably from the nature of each specific relationship to God."

 

CT believes that God can only forgive sinners on the basis of the cross, but it fails to discern the purposes of the ages and the varying relationships to God of the Jews, Gentiles, and the church.

 

By putting all peoples under one covenant there is no distinction between the peoples. The covenant theologian acknowledges the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Davidic, Palestinian, New, and Mosaic covenants, but does not see them as distinct. Instead, each covenant builds on the previous ones (part-truth), all culminating in the new covenant. So then, to the covenant theologian there is no distinction between Israel and the church. They see them as one people under the title of church, which consists of all believers from Adam onward.

 

There is one plan of salvation, but that does not infer that there in one people, or one plan, or one program for all unless the Bible says so, and it doesn't.

 

This is the same error that dualism commits. Dualism states that there is good and evil in this world so they conclude that every thesis has an antithesis. That would mean that if there is a good God of light then there must be an evil God of darkness having the same power. Much of the pagan religions are based off of this. There are many thesis that have corresponding antithesis', but this is not always true. If it is to be concluded as true then God's word must state it.

 

Salvation is the same in all dispensations, faith in Christ, but while Israel was to put faith in a promise of Christ the church puts faith in the historical person of Christ.

 

As such, they see Christ first coming to be for salvation, but also to establish a new Israel as an invisible and spiritual kingdom, which they call the new covenant, the final manifestation of the covenant of grace.

 

The new covenant, which is simply an expansion of the Abrahamic covenant, states that God will put His law within them; that He will write it upon their hearts. It states that they all will know Him and that their iniquity will be forgiven and their sins He will remember no more. It states that He will give them one heart and a new spirit within them. It states that the Holy Spirit will be in them and through Him they will walk in His statutes and prophesy and see visions.

 

New covenant - an expansion of the AC and fulfilled in the Millennial reign: JOE 2:28-29; EZE 11:18-20; 36:27; 37:14, 26; JER 31:31-34.

 

The covenant theologian sees these promises as haven been given to the church, especially since in the church, the Spirit indwells every believer. But just because that point is the same does not mean that the whole of it is the same. In the Millennium, the work of the Spirit is very common and prominent, while in our age it is scarce. Plus, while prophesying and visions occurred in the very early church, those gifts ceased, however, according to the new covenant, they are prevalent throughout the Millennial reign of Christ. It doesn't matter that some in the church age believe they possess these gifts, the Bible states that they don't.

 

1CO 13:8

Love never fails [is eternal]; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

 

Of course, some state that the time when they are done away with is at the second coming, yet the gift of tongues, which is speaking in known languages, has not ever been heard after the first century, all that is heard is gibberish. Prophecy has not been uttered after the first century since nothing is to be added to the completed revelation of God in His finished canon. The gift of knowledge had no longer been practiced, from the same time, the completion of the canon, since all the knowledge conveyed to man by means of revelation has been recorded in the completed canon of scripture. The last vision given to man was given to the apostle John and that is recorded in the book of Revelation.

 

Since the Spirit indwells the believer in the church age, does that not mean that God will do the same, as He promised long ago, to Israel? All this becomes is a means of man putting his own limitations and boundaries on God. Since man would generally do things a certain way, they conclude that God will follow suit. It is arrogance and self-importance shining through.

 

PRO 14:12

There is a way which seems right to a man,

 

All men tend to think that things everywhere and in every time are fairly close to their own experience. Almost all of human history has not been like it has been in the last 150 years or so, and certainly not like the last 60-70 years when technology has changed so much.

 

Therefore, it does not see a distinction between Israel and the church, and since it is the church that will continue until the second coming then all the promises to Abraham, his people, and the nation of Israel are all passed on to, and fulfilled in the church. To make all this fit they have to make the covenant promises invisible and spiritual.  

 

Chafer continues:

"A theology which penetrates no further into Scripture than to discover that in all ages God is immutable in His grace toward penitent sinners, and constructs the idea of a universal church, continuing through the ages, on the one truth of immutable grace, is not only disregarding vast spheres of revelation but is reaping the unavoidable confusion and misdirection which part-truth engenders."

 

This theology penetrates no further into the scripture than that God is immutable in His grace toward believing sinners and so constructs the idea of a universal church, starting with Abraham.

 

As Chafer says, it is a part-truth, and so it is inviting and confusing. It is confusing enough that even a believer who has spent years learning doctrine from the dispensational premillennial viewpoint has a hard time understanding it. Our God is not a God of confusion. He's the shepherd and we are the sheep and He makes things as simple as possible for us. To allegorize the scripture and interpret things in terms of symbols opens up the scripture to a vast confusion of interpretations. However, to interpret the Bible literally, makes it simple to understand. Ask yourself which method of interpretation would you think God the Holy Spirit would give to us.

 

Chafer continues still:

The outworking of divine grace is not standardized, though the Covenant idea of theology would make it so; and as certainly as God’s dealings with men are not standardized, in the same manner the entire field of the corresponding human obligation in daily life is not run into a mold of human idealism. [Chafer]

 

Grace refers to the unmerited gifts of God by the unmerited favor of God. Did God give the same gifts to Israel and the Church? It is clear that He did not. Therefore, grace is not standardized, but it is always present.