Posted on 06/25/2010 5:34:44 AM PDT by Ken4TA
“Now these things happened unto them by way of example and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come” (I Cor. 10:11).
The revelation which God has given through the Bible begins with the creation of time — “in the beginning” — and ends with the announcement that “time shall be no more,” when there will be no need of sun or moon to mark time, for all will be eternity. In between there are the “ages,” and we live at the end of the ages.
The apostle Paul wrote the Corinthian letters long after the establishment of the new covenant. The old economy under the law of Moses had been displaced by the new economy, established by the death and resurrection of Christ. The “end of the ages,” therefore, did not refer to the end of the dispensation under Moses, for it had ended several years before; but rather to the end of all ages, a time beginning with the resurrection of Christ and extending to the culmination of time at the day of judgment.
It is highly significant of man’s broken and sinful condition that the farther he progresses toward the very end of the ages the less he is able to cope with them and the farther he is removed from the meaning of ages past. Refusing the revelation of God he seeks to create meaning for life and to understand the purpose of the present apart from ages past and the meaning God has given them. Tragically, the more he forces his own ideas upon the process of time the farther he gets from the purpose of the Creator, and the farther he gets from the Creator the less adequate he is to understand the purpose of his being. The closer he comes to the ultimate end of the ages the less understanding he has of what it is all leading to. He develops an attitude of hopelessness and helplessness. He gives up what faith he had and becomes pragmatic, taking the path of least resistance. This road leads to apathy and despair.
The apostle Paul explained that the things that happened in ages past were written in scripture for the example and admonition of us who live in this last age. Although we live under the new covenant it is impossible to understand it and to present it fully without knowing something of the ages past. For example to understand the curse of death from which Christ saves us, we must know something of the sin of Adam which brought about that curse in the first place. According to the record, death was brought about by man’s rebellion against the Creator. Failing to understand this has given rise to a multitude of false religions, false hopes and interpretations of death which are utterly preposterous as well as tragic. Failure to understand the curse that God placed upon the entire creation leaves men vulnerable to all manner of false interpretations of prophecy. That curse of death and disruption of the created order was extended to all the world, thus making it impossible for man to have dominion over it as he was commanded to do. When man fell everything under his dominion fell. The curse will not be removed until the day when the entire creation is destroyed, along with the destruction of ungodly men.
Old Testament history focused on the curse and its meaning. There we are shown the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise and eventually of their death because of sin, then the destruction of the world by water as a judgment upon sin and an example of the ultimate destruction by fire (Gen. 3:17, 6:7–23). There is recorded the example of Sodom and Gomorrah which Jude says is an example of the judgment of the ungodly, who are to be destroyed by eternal fire (Jude 7). And there are the other examples of judgment falling upon Israel after they had been saved out of Egypt, each of these judgments bringing death to those who sinned against God and defied his purpose. The sacrificial ceremonies, so meticulously observed, all point to the curse of sin and death and to the solution of it through the death of Jesus.
The center of all the ages is the gospel of Christ. Christ came into the world to become a curse for us — to take our humanity, to take our sins, and to take our death for sin on the cross — thus lifting the curse from those who by faith and obedience become his people. This is the meaning by which God satisfies His own justice, that man might have eternal life of his own. Failure to recognize this one issue is failure to be what we were created to be and thus to fly in the face of God’s purpose. It is sin — the opposition to God’s perfect purpose — that clogs the machinery of life and causes the tragic state of human suffering all around us.
When the apostle Paul was chosen to reveal the truth of God to the gentiles he wrote to Timothy that he should “suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God; who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but has now been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (II Tim. 1:8–10).
In the realm of eternity, before time had begun, God had clearly fixed His purpose for man that was yet to be created. The essence of that purpose was manifested by the appearing of Christ, by His abolishment of death and by His bringing immortality to light in the resurrection. In all of history there could be nothing more extreme than Christ leaving His equality with God and taking upon Himself human flesh, and nothing is seen as more absolute with regard to man than the finality of a public execution, which Christ underwent as our representative. The purpose of God has not been revealed to man by scientific discovery, by treaties and wars between great nations, nor its historic catastrophes. His purpose for all time — for eternity — is revealed in what happened at the cross!
All time is woven around the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul writes that the whole creation groans and travails until this day, looking for the time when the curse will be lifted at the day of resurrection, when there will be a new heaven and new earth and a new body for all those who are redeemed by Christ (Romans 8:20–23).
The culmination of the gospel and end of this period of redeeming man by faith in Christ will be the culmination of the ages and of all history. But what we are talking about here is entirely too extreme for sophisticated man. The Bible is talking about absolutes. Holiness is absolute. God is totally pure, absolutely righteous, and he expects man to be the same. Sin is absolute; that is, it is totally unacceptable to God, even a small sin, and must be eradicated — completely eradicated by destruction of the sin and the sinner in the Day of Judgment. Even the world itself, under the curse of sin because of man, finally is to be destroyed. This is entirely too much for man who imagines himself as a kind of landlord over the world and as having a kind of permanent domain over it. The modern religion of evolutionism has taught that not only has the earth been in existence for billions of years but that it must continue on for millions and perhaps billions more that evolution may continue the processes of change. For us to suggest — nay, for God to suggest — that He one day will bring down the entire structure in one fell swoop strikes at the very heart of the religion of evolution. It is easier to ignore the past ages and certainly more socially acceptable to deny that we are at the “end of the ages.”
What most men want from Jesus is not this kind of absolute and extreme truth and action. What men want from Christ is assistance on their merry way to fulfilling their own ambitions which they design for themselves. A man wants to eat, drink and make merry in his own way and when the way gets difficult he calls on Jesus to give him a hand. He would be embarrassed to do this as a total alien so he joins the “church of his choice” and observes the more obvious rituals. He divides his attention between church activities and the general concern of the state, and is careful not to make waves or to become “too radical.” Conveniently he accepts the Jewish concept of a millennium and interprets the prophecies accordingly, instead of interpreting them as centering on Christ and His lifting the curse through His death and ultimately ending it through judgment. It isn’t nearly so absolute and final to think of some day in the future with a thousand years of earthly bliss as it is to see that this is the last age and the last chance.
The issue of the age is radical and extreme, a life and death issue. Salvation is not a matter of merely making life more comfortable in this world, but of redeeming man from this world and its false hopes. It is a hundred and eighty degree turn from the view point of the world to the view point of God, from pursuing one’s own designs to pursuing the will of God, and from the ultimate end of death to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s purpose which is immortality in His image for His people. The issue is all the more sharply defined by the fact that we are living in the last age!
The church today is splintered into a thousand fragments over issues which would vanish if we saw, as did Paul, that the “end of the ages” has come to this generation. The basic issue is not resolved by speaking in tongues, or being physically healed, or by generating “exciting” experiences. It is not resolved by forcing an attitude of equality or wider fellowship or making church music contemporary — which in many cases means destroying it. What difference do any of these things make to the world, or to a person in the church who is unaware of the purpose of God? Millions are sidetracked from the purpose by Millennial hopes. The principle concern of a great portion of the church today is with a future age, which will never come, because this is the last one.
Our concern, therefore, must be in making known God’s eternal purpose through the Gospel, the death and resurrection of Christ, and bringing our lives into line with God’s purpose by keeping His commandments. All the things written in the Old Testament, as well as the New, are there for our admonition, to teach us the nature and will and purpose of God, in this age — not some future one. The future is eternity, with life for God’s people and for God’s people only. He does not deal in half-measures. His purpose is pure, absolute and inexorable, and the means by which it is accomplished is extremely radical and totally conclusive, as well as totally different from the cheap grace that is being offered today by religious quacks who tell you to just whisper a prayer to Jesus and all is well. The purpose of the Creator demanded the death of His Son and it demands that all who fulfill that purpose become “dead unto sin,” not only by their baptism into His death (Romans 6:3) but also by denying the demands of sin that are so loud in the world today.
We face a world of powers that are devoted to Satan, potential problems and forces too vast to estimate, and fears men have seldom felt before. But all that God has performed in the past is recorded for our benefit, for us “upon whom the end of the ages are come.” The issue of this year, and all the years left, is the issue resolved at the cross. This year, let us subordinate all other purposes and causes to the purpose of God revealed in Christ. It is the one purpose that is eternal, and cannot fail.
1. The Promise to Abraham
2. The Millennial Syndrome
3. Daniel’s Prophecy
4. What About The Rapture?
5. The Abomination of Desolation
6. ARMAGEDDON
7. Building the Temple (Part One)
-----And the updated one Building the Temple (Part Two)
8. The Holy City
9. End of the Ages
Amillennial? I have so far only seen “What About the Rapture,” and that’s what his summary sounds like.
That's not what Paul just said and the author just quoted. Here is what you just quoted:
"Now these things happened unto them by way of example and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come” (I Cor. 10:11).
The ends of the ages is plural, meaning that at the time Paul wrote this there was/were more age[s] to come.
Then he tells us in Ephesians 2:7 that there are more than just one age to come but atleast two:
"That in the ages to come He might show us ...".
Note "ages" is plural -- more than just one. Therefore there are more than just one age to come. There are atleast two more ages to come after the church age that Paul was living in.
Dispensationalists are better at both math and grammar than you replacement theologians. Learn something for once --
ping
That's debatable. However, I do agree that dispensationalist are way better at making mountains out of mole-hills and twisting words into pretzels :-) That's something I really learned.
Not quite!
I have so far only seen “What About the Rapture,” and that’s what his summary sounds like.
Read them all and you will see what Curtis' view is on prophecy.
But there are ages to come, just as Paul says in Ephesians 2:7 ["That in the ages to come ...], arent there???
“But there are ages to come, just as Paul says in Ephesians 2:7...”
.
Are you basing a doctrine on one verse, the intent of which is subject to much question?
.
Ohh — there are others including I Co 10:11: “. . . ends of the ages”.
When Paul wrote the letters to various churches and people what he said was true. And it is also true today - there are many ages in any age. The word used in Ephesians for "ages" is "aiosin" instead of the normal terms "aion" and "aionias", if you care to look them up in a good Greek Lexicon, preferably to an Eastern early-aged lexicon which is the closest one can get to the meanings used in the 1st century of Christianity.
BTW, my copy of the Greek Book of Ephesians doesn't really have "that in the ages to come...". Rather it literally says "And raised us with and seated us with in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, in order that he might show forth in the ages coming on the exceeding riches of the grace of him in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." While I have quoted both verse 6 and 7, one must have the context Paul was speaking in: the real complete context of these verses start in 2:1 and continues through verse 10. Taking just a part of one verse to make a point verges on the edge of taking it out of context and making what was said prove your doctrine is a very sad way of handling scriptures. I rest my case.
E.S. "Are you basing a doctrine on one verse, the intent of which is subject to much question?"
IMHO, Uncle Chip has been doing that in most of his posts.
And all those posts taken together contain a multiplicity of verses -- all of which back up that indisputible doctrine.
I just prefer to dispense them in short dispensational bites that are easily digestible -- rather than all at once.
Baloney --
So then in every hour there are many hours??? and in every minute there are many minutes??? and in every day there are many days??? Is that your point???
No wonder you have a hard time understanding the scriptures.
I hesitate to even comment on this statement as the chance for misunderstanding me here will be very great.
The problem with this purpose is that this purpose is NOT all-encompassing. It is limited in its scope to the redemption of man. God has more purposes than just saving men from sin.
I submit that any ultimate purpose statement that ignores a doxological purpose of history falls short ... and, in some sense, should we even presume to know what Gods ultimate purpose is (other than the general thought that He will bring glory to Himself)? Curtis believes Gods ultimate purpose has been revealed in the NT. Could He not have a larger purpose that He has not revealed as of yet? Could He not also have themes from the OT that will have their fulfilment after the church age but before eternity?
My conjecture as a dispensationalist is that since the latter is true, the former is probably true as well.
As I read these articles by Curtis it is manifestly obvious that the man is a deeply committed believer in Christ. But how we approach the study of the text of the Bible is vastly different, even though we would both claim to be using a grammatical-historical hermeneutic, the starting point for Biblical exegesis is different. It is due to differing theological method. He starts with the New Testament, we start with the Old Testament ... and these two approaches are not likely to reconcile well. Maranatha
Sidetracked from what?
Our beliefs in a coming tribulation lead us to share the gospel of Christ with urgency. And if we have urgency about sharing Christ ... that is not a bad thing.
Sidetracked from what?
From all the suppositions created from looking for signs to predict the future actions of God, and from disregarding the plan of God as laid out in the Scriptures. All these articles posted from Curtis' writings were written in response to inquiries from many Bible students who were having difficulty in harmonizing the general (traditional) view of man's destiny with the Word of God. Let me quote him.
"It is as sure as any promise that God's children who seek the truth shall find it, and the truth will make them free. But, while the truth makes us free, it does not come free. We must 'buy the truth', sometimes at the price of our own cherished theories, or pride, and often at the price of friends who consider us to be departing from the truth because we abandon their concepts of it. Nevertheless, whatever the price may be, it is worth it, for the truth of God's ultimate purpose is no light matter, Whatever men may 'think', the question that CHrist came to settle is a question of life and death, hence it is worthy of all our attention until we are assured of life everlasting. ...
To take up another point, we would emphasize that there must be NO test but Scripture for proof of a doctrine. It will not do to condemn a doctrine because it is sometimes held in conjunction with false doctrines....We recognize but one criterion of the revealed mind of God, viz., what saith the Scriptures." (Preface to "Man and His Destiny".)
Our beliefs in a coming tribulation lead us to share the gospel of Christ with urgency. And if we have urgency about sharing Christ ... that is not a bad thing.
Same here, and with Curtis Dickinson in his many writings. But our beliefs are tied to a vaporous "coming tribulation", but rather a present "tribulation" when we share the Gospel with urgency because it is urgent that people be presented with the facts that sin is the "wages of death", and we don't want anyone, just like God, to die in their sins. If "urgency" is preached because tribulations are "coming" (always around the corner in the future), well, if one is preaching to keep people from that supposed period, one is preaching "fear" instead of hope. That's my take on it. However, if one is preaching Christ and His plan of salvation, I'm not against him one bit!
I hesitate to even comment on this statement as the chance for misunderstanding me here will be very great.
That is possibly true!
The problem with this purpose is that this purpose is NOT all-encompassing. It is limited in its scope to the redemption of man. God has more purposes than just saving men from sin.
I admit the purpose -for eternity- needs some explanation; and that explanation I'm sure you would agree with. Curtis will expound upon that in an article to be posted as #14 in this series on prophecy fulfillment. So, I'll not address it yet.
He starts with the New Testament, we start with the Old Testament ... and these two approaches are not likely to reconcile well.
Yes, I guess you could say Curtis starts with the NT. However, as I do, he takes the OT very seriously, even to say that the Gospel is contained therein. But the NT expounds upon the OT, clearing up some things that are contentious; which the Jews at Jesus' time held (although they don't really use the OT, but the Talmud in their teachings). Yes, the two approaches are not likely to reconcile well, for many reasons. The OT does not overrule the NT by any means - my take on it.
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