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NOTE: This essay is the first of three chapters in my book, The High King of Heaven, dealing with the Revelation. My goal here, and in the two essays to follow, is to help you tackle what may be the most difficult chapter in the Bible: Revelation 20, John’s vision of the 1000 year reign of Christ. As you will soon see, I believe the Revelation is best characterized as the Grand Finale of All Scripture. Hopefully, these humble preludes will enable you to hear and enjoy that special music as never before.

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At the beginning of our journey, we identified three fundamental flashpoints of controversy in the Great End Time Debate: The Kingdom of God, the Millennium, and the Consummation. Happily, our close study of the Kingdom supplied welcome insights into the other two questions.

Having learned that the Kingdom appears in two simple stages—the Kingdom of the Son (i.e., the heavenly, mediatorial reign of Christ) followed by the Kingdom of the Father (i.e., the glorified World to Come)—we realized that the thousand years of Revelation 20 cannot be a third, intermediate stage of the Kingdom sandwiched between the other two, as premillennarians assert.

Similarly, having learned that the two stages of the Kingdom are separated by a single Consummation at the Parousia of Christ, we realized that the Consummation cannot be fragmented into multiple comings, resurrections, and judgments, as premillennarians also assert. In short, our study of the Kingdom has gone far towards resolving the End Time Debate in favor of the classic amillennial view of Salvation History.

It remains, however, for us to probe Revelation 20 itself. If it does not describe a future millennial reign of Christ on earth, what exactly does it describe? If, as I have suggested along the way, it speaks of the Kingdom of the Son, is there anything in the Revelation broadly, or in Revelation 20 itself, to support this view? Our purpose in Part 4 of our journey is to find out.

Let us begin, then, by getting a feel for the Revelation as a whole. In particular, let’s see if there is anything in the purpose, literary genre, and structure of the book that will help us better understand the Millennium of Revelation 20.

The Purpose of the Revelation

We begin to discern the purpose of the Revelation when we consider the circumstances in which it was given.

The year, according to most scholars, is around 95 A.D. John, in all probability the last living apostle, is now in his 80’s (John 21:21-23). Because of his faithfulness in preaching the Gospel, the Roman authorities have exiled him to a penal settlement on the island of Patmos (1:9, John 21:21-23). It has been over 60 years since Christ’s ascension. The Lord is tarrying, and among many believers the expectation of his Parousia is waning (2 Peter 3:1f). The demonic emperor Nero (A.D. 54-68), a vicious persecutor of the Roman Christians, has come and gone. Titus has decimated Jerusalem (70 A.D.). Under Domitian (A.D. 81-89), persecution has spread throughout the Empire and reached Asia. More is now looming (2:3, 10, 13).

Beyond this external threat, there are internal perils as well. Heretical “Christian” sects have grown in size and number, whose members are seeking to penetrate the orthodox churches and draw away disciples (2:2, 6, 14-15, 20-24). Some churches are even tolerating them in their midst (2:14f, 20f). Meanwhile, others are in decline: The love of certain Christians is growing cold (2:4, 3:1-2); others, having thus far escaped the fires of persecution, are falling in love with the world, and sinking into apathy and hedonism (3:14-21). The situation is dire. The faltering Church needs a word from the Lord.

The Revelation as a Gift to the Universal Church

The Revelation—all 22 chapters—is just such a word. Notably, at the very outset it is described as a gift: a gift from God the Father—through Christ, through the Spirit, through angelic mediation, and through the apostle John—to the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 1:1-6, 9, 22:8). Seven, however, is the biblical number of perfection or completeness (Gen. 2:2,3). The meaning is clear: God gave the Revelation, not just to the seven churches of Asia, but also to what the seven churches represent: the complete Church, the Universal Church. Likewise, the seven lampstands symbolize the one universal Church, especially in her present ministry as the Light of God and Christ to a world sunk in deep spiritual darkness (Rev. 1:13, 20). (1)

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that history bears out this important truth. Like the seven churches, the universal Church has always had strengths and weaknesses; like the seven churches, it has always faced persecution, deception, and temptation; and like the seven churches, it has therefore always needed the Revelation. The book is, then, a great gift from the head of the universal Church, to the universal Church, for the help of the universal Church. Note carefully an important implication of this truth: the Revelation was not meant to be a closed book: not when it was given, not now, and not ever (Rev. 22:10). The Lord desires his whole Church—past, present, and future—to understand, obey, preach, and profit from the Revelation.

And that includes chapter 20, as well!

The Revelation as a Prophecy to the Universal Church

John also describes the Revelation as a prophecy (Rev. 22:10, 18). Now according to the apostle Paul, he who prophesies speaks to men for edification, exhortation, and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3). This short definition wonderfully captures the flavor—and the purpose—of the Revelation. Everywhere we turn, we hear the exalted Christ prophesying to his Church. Everywhere we find him teaching, warning, and encouraging her, so that she may “overcome” all opponents and safely enter the completed Kingdom at his return (2:11, 2:26, etc.).

Since this idea is so important—namely, that the Revelation is essentially an extended prophecy—let us develop it a little further by looking at the three fundamental ways in which the High King of Heaven here prophesies to his beloved Bride.

     1. The Prophet Teaches His Church

First, Christ teaches the Church. Here I especially have in mind the way he builds up the Church Militant in her understanding of her true place in the world and in history; in other words, the way in which he gives her a biblical worldview.

In this regard, Revelation 12 is central. It begins with a vision of the Bride, God’s elect of all times and places. From the very outset, we see her as God sees her: She is a heavenly Woman with an earthly mission (12:1). In her OT embodiment, she gives birth to the promised Seed of the Woman—to Christ (12:5a; Gen. 3:15). When she does, the Dragon and his demonic minions try to kill the infant Jesus, but cannot (12:4). Yes, they succeed in putting the Lamb of God to death, but they altogether fail in “devouring” him, for he rises from the dead and ascends to the Father’s own right hand, where he now sits as High Prophet, Priest, and King of heaven. And from that heavenly seat he shall soon come again, this time to act the part of a shepherd against the enemies of his flock, shattering them once and for all with a rod or iron (12:5b, Psalms 2:9, 23:4).

For now, however, the Woman (i.e., the Bride in her specifically NT embodiment) must remain upon the earth. Therefore, in an eschatological Exodus from the Domain of Darkness, she flees into the wilderness of this fallen evil world (12:6). There she will remain for “1260 days” (or “a time, times, and a half a time,” or “42 months,” Rev. 11:2, 12:14, 13:5). Recalling the prophet Elijah’s three and a half year exile in the wilderness, these symbolic numbers mark the entire inter-adventual era—the Era of Proclamation—as a season of exile and tribulation for the people of God (1 Kings 17:1f;). They will not, however, endure it alone: The Lord will faithfully nourish and aid his people all throughout their long wilderness sojourn, even as he did Israel and Elijah in theirs (12:6, 14-16).

But what exactly will the Church in the wilderness be doing as she awaits Christ’s return? The answer is found in verses 7-12: She will be waging war. Yes, the text itself says that Michael and his angels will wage war against the Dragon and his angels. But on closer inspection, we realize that this is simply a picture of heaven’s part in a war that the saints will be waging on earth. It is a not physical war, but a spiritual (2 Cor. 10:4, Eph. 6:12). It is the fulfillment of the Great Commission; the proclamation of the Gospel; the declaration of the saving power of the blood of the Lamb; the faithful testimony of the people of God to the Person and Work of the Christ of God (12:11). As they preach and teach—and as God’s elect everywhere hear the truth and receive it—the Kingdom of Christ continually pours into the earth (12:10). As it does, the kingdom of Satan, who formerly deceived and ruled the whole world, is continually spoiled and cast to the ground (Mt. 12:29). Hence Satan’s fury against the Woman; hence the Groom’s diligent watch-care over his beloved and persecuted Bride (12:13-17).

Here, then, in a prophetic vision of stupendous theological reach and power, we find Christ teaching the Church Militant who she is, what she is about, what she can expect, and upon whom she can count, as she makes her way out of eschatological Egypt, through the eschatological wilderness of Sin, and into the eschatological Promised Land. Fittingly, this rich chapter stands in the middle of the book, for in many ways it supplies us with the keys to the whole book. Thanks be to God for such a wonderful prophetic gift!

     2. The Prophet Exhorts His Church

Secondly, the Lord exhorts the Church. In particular, he exhorts her by teaching and warning about four great enemies she will encounter over and again during her long journey through the wilderness of this world.

The first is the Dragon, that serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan (12:9). He—along with his host of evil angels—is the invisible spiritual ruler of the fallen world-system through which the saints must pass on their way to the Promised Land. As we have seen, this teaching pervades the NT. However, in the Revelation the Spirit draws upon various OT texts to depict the world-system as an unholy trinity; an unholy idol that fallen, rebellious, and deceivable mankind is all too inclined to worship. It is comprised of the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Harlot. As we are about to see, these OT symbols correspond to God-given institutions, originally designed for the good of mankind, but now co-opted and corrupted by the Dragon (13:1, 4, 16:13). Ever since the Fall, he is the one enemy lurking behind the other three. Let the saints understand and beware (1 Peter. 5:8).

The second enemy is the Beast (13:1-4). This is the political or governmental face of the world-system (Daniel 7:1f). The NT teaches that civil government is a good, post-fall gift of God, designed to restrain evildoers through a faithful administration of his retributive justice (Rom. 13:1f). However, it also teaches that sin can and does corrupt human governments, sometimes to such an extent that they become unconscious instruments of the Satanic (2 Thess. 2:1f, Rev. 13:2, 4). When this occurs, deceived sinners will worship the Beast, rather than God (13:4). And when this occurs, the Beast will wage war against the people of God who, out of loyalty to their heavenly King, refuse to worship the Beast, and urge sinners to turn away from it towards Christ (11:7, 13:7, 17:14).

In the Revelation, Christ repeatedly exhorts his people concerning the Beast. Above all, he warns them not to receive his mark—his name, or the number of his name—on their right hand or on their forehead (14:9, 11, 15:2, 20:4). Here again the Spirit draws upon OT imagery to speak symbolically to God’s NT people (Ezekiel 9). The saints now have the seal of the living God on their foreheads (7:3). In other words, because of their faith in Christ they now belong to the Father; they are his adopted sons and daughters, carrying his Name (Rom. 8:15, 1 Peter 1:17). How then shall they give their ultimate allegiance, whether in thought (symbolized by a mark on the forehead) or in deed (symbolized by a mark on the hand), to any mere man or human institution? Note also that in Scripture six is the number of man (Gen. 1:26ff, Rev. 13:18, NIV), and three is the number of God Triune. Therefore, 666 is the number of man seeking to supplant the triune God; the number of man audaciously representing himself as the proper object of all human worship (13:16-18). The implications are clear: Men take the mark of the Beast whenever and wherever they worship the anti-christian, self-deifying State. And again, throughout the Revelation Christ warns his own that they must never do this evil thing.

Additionally, the heavenly Prophet exhorts his people not to succumb to the threats or actual persecutions of the Beast, even if this means the loss of work, supply, reputation, or life itself (2:10, 13:17). He buttresses this exhortation with a two-fold promise: The Lord will always be at his suffering people’s side, and he has already prepared a victor’s wreath for each one who overcomes (2:10, 12:14-16). Note carefully that in Revelation 20, as elsewhere in the book, Christ again exhorts the whole Church concerning the Beast: Those who refuse to receive his mark (of ownership), but instead remain faithful until death, will enter heaven as disembodied spirits, there to reign in life with their High King until he comes again at the end of the age to raise them from the dead and bestow upon them the glories of the World to Come (20:4-6). More on this later.

The third enemy is the False Prophet, also called the Beast from the Earth (Rev. 13:11-18, 16:12-16, 19:20, 20:10). A careful reading of the relevant texts shows that this beast symbolizes, not simply false religion, but false religion willingly pressed into the service of the self-deifying State. Energized by Satan (13:11), and authorized by the State itself (13:12), those people who function as the False Prophet use both coercion (13:12, 16-17) and religious deception (13:14-15) to set up “an image” to the Beast. That is, they seek to organize, implement, and encourage the worship of the State and/or the person in whom the State is embodied at any given moment in history.

The False Prophet is present throughout the entire Era of Proclamation. In John’s day he was embodied in “ . . . the emperor cult and the Commune of Asia, a council of distinguished representatives promoting loyalty to the emperor.” (2) In our own day, he rears his head wherever government propagandists encourage the adulation of the King, the Fuehrer, the Chairman, the Ayatollah, or the President. Notably, Revelation 13:13-15 implies that in some instances Satan will actually empower the False Prophet(s) to deceive men with miraculous signs.

Most assuredly, this will be the case at the end of the age. The Gospels and epistles warn us that when the (final) Antichrist arises to deceive the whole world, he will perform “false signs and wonders” (Mt. 24:24, 2 Thess. 2:1-2, 9-12). Not surprisingly, we receive the same warning in the Revelation: John sees three unclean spirits coming out of the mouth of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. They are demonic spirits, performing signs and going abroad to the kings of the whole world, in order to assemble them for the battle of the Great Day of God the Almighty (16:12-16). As I will argue later, Revelation 20:7-10, in remarkably similar language, predicts this very thing one final time. Clearly, the High Prophet of Heaven very much desires his Church to be fully prepared for the last (embodiment of the) Beast, the last False Prophet, and the Last Battle.

The fourth and final enemy is the Great Harlot, also referred to as Babylon the Great and the Great City (17:1, 3, 5, 18). The relevant chapters make it clear that the Harlot represents the economic, commercial, and cultural face of the world-system. As such, she is not so much a persecutor or religious deceiver as she is a seductress (17:4). In former times, she tempted the world through such luxurious commercial centers as Babylon, Tyre, and Sidon. In John’s day, she tempted it through Rome. In our own she tempts it through wealthy, pleasure-mad cities now situated all over the globe, and also through omnipresent electronic wizardry wherein she bares her ample bosom and offers herself freely for a simple click.

John sees that at any given moment the entire world-system is in bed with the Harlot, spiritually speaking: Nations, kings, and merchants—all have fallen to her allurements (18:3). As a general rule, she likes to collude with the Beast and the False Prophet, doing all she can to persecute the Church (17:6) and entice saints and sinners alike with her sorceries (i.e., fake, demonic spiritualities, 18:23). Accordingly, no sooner do we begin to learn about the Harlot, than we hear the prophetic word of the Lord to his Church: “Come out of her, my people, that you may not share in her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues” (18:4, 3:14-22). As he speaks, the saints receive both warning and promise: Satan’s woman, the Harlot, is doomed to destruction. In part, it will come at the hand of the Beast himself, who will one day turn against her (17:14-18). However, in far greater part it will come at the hand of Christ, who, in a single hour, will make her utterly desolate (18:19) and render her an eternal prison house of Satan and his demons (18:2). Meanwhile, Christ’s Woman—comprised of all who hear his call, flee the Great City, and loyally cling to him in faith—is destined for final rescue and restoration; is destined to become a Holy City and a glorious Bride, forever dwelling with God and Christ under brand new heavens in a brand new earth (19:7-8, 21:2). Let all the saints be warned . . . and take heart.

     3. The Prophet Comforts His Church        

Finally, the heavenly Prophet uses the Revelation to speak comfort to his Bride. Yes, as trembling Christians well know, the Revelation repeatedly issues warnings of inevitable tribulation and certain judgment. However, the more they read, the more they realize how much comfort is offered along with those warnings, and how many different forms that comfort takes.

For example, at the very outset of the book, Christ comforts his pilgrim people with a majestic vision of his own divine nature, covenant faithfulness, and Messianic glory (1:9-20).

He then comforts them with manifold assurances of his presence in, and faithful watch-care over, all his churches, even as he manifests the tough love that he feels for each one (2:1-3:22).

He comforts them with rich, symbolic representations of his heavenly, mediatorial reign, the saints share in it, and his absolute sovereignty over all remaining history (4:1-5:14).

He comforts them with scenes of the spirits of departed believers safely home in heaven, praying for divine justice, and waiting eagerly for the resurrection of their bodies at his return to the earth (6:9-11, 20:4-6).

He comforts them with portraits of his own Parousia in power and glory at the end of the age (14:14-20, 19:11-21).

In conjunction with that, he also comforts them with visions of ultimate justice: of final rewards for the faithful saints, and of final retribution against the persecuting and God-hating “inhabitants of the earth” (6:9-17, 11:11-19, 15:1-4, 16:17-21, 20:7-15).

Similarly, he comforts them with several “sneak-previews” of the glorified Church surrounding the throne of God Triune, exultantly lifting up the eternal worship that will fill the World to Come (7:9-17, 14:1-5).

And, of course, he comforts them with two luminous chapters supplying mysterious, thought-provoking glimpses of the (eternal) life of the saints in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21-22).

Conclusion

Summing up, we have seen that the great purpose of the Revelation is prophetic; that in it, God, through Christ, speaks to the universal Church in order to teach, warn, exhort, and comfort her, so that she might make a worthy and triumphant pilgrimage through the wilderness of this world into the eschatological Promised Land.

This is highly relevant to Part 4 of our study for the very important reason that it naturally and powerfully inclines us to an “ecclesiastical” interpretation of Revelation 20. In particular, it suggests that Revelation 20 cannot possibly be what many premillennarians claim it is: a divine afterthought, in which the Spirit suddenly shifts his focus from the Church to ethnic Israel, and from the Church era to a future Millennium. No, just like the rest of the book, chapter 20 must also focus on the Church, and on the present evil age through which the Church makes her difficult pilgrimage (Rev. 12). As we have just seen, this conclusion flows naturally from the One who gave it (the Head of the Church); from the ones to whom he gave it (the seven churches, emblematic of the universal Church); and from the purposes for which he gave it (to teach, warn, and comfort the Church). Moreover, as we shall soon see, it also flows naturally from a careful study of the structure, contents, and symbolism of Revelation 20 itself.

The Literary Genre of the Revelation

The Revelation is an outstanding example of a literary genre called biblical apocalyptic. The Greek word apocalypsis conveys the idea of the removal of a veil, so that something once hidden is now revealed. There is, then, as sense in which one might say that all Scripture is “apocalyptic,” since in all Scripture there is an unveiling of special God-given truths that sinful man could not otherwise know, understand, or enjoy. However, as a general rule, theologians use this word far more narrowly. That is, they use it to speak of a particular kind of Scripture. For interpreters such as these, biblical apocalyptic may be defined as a species of predictive prophecy in which the Holy Spirit—using vision and symbol—unveils divine truth about the course, character, and consummation of Salvation History.

In our discussion of OTKP, we have run across this kind of literature more than once. For example, chapters 24-27 of Isaiah, which focus on final judgment and final redemption on the Day of the LORD, supply an outstanding example of pre-exilic apocalyptic. From the season of Israel’s exile we have Daniel 7, which is likely the single greatest OT depiction of the course and character of Salvation History. From the same era we also have Ezekiel 38-39, which is likely the single greatest OT depiction of the consummation of Salvation History; of the Last Battle and the Day of the LORD. Finally, from post-exilic times we have the visions and prophecies of Zechariah, all of which again make rich use of symbols to display both the course and conclusion of Salvation History.

In the NT, apocalyptic texts are less plentiful, seeing that in NT times there is an unveiling of all that God had previously hidden under type, shadow, and symbol. Nevertheless, the NT is not without its apocalyptic elements. Some of Jesus’ parables have an apocalyptic feel to them (Mt. 13:36-43, 47-50). His Olivet Discourse, alluding as it does to a number of OTKP’s, contains the marks of biblical apocalyptic (Mt. 24, Mark 13). Similarly, Paul’s discourse on the Consummation, written to the Thessalonian Christians, draws frequently upon OT apocalyptic texts, even as it teaches us on distinctly apocalyptic themes (2 Thess. 2).

And then there is the Revelation—a book that is manifestly apocalyptic, (almost) entirely apocalyptic, and uniquely apocalyptic vis-à-vis the rest of Holy Scripture. Do we wish to understand it properly? If so, we cannot ignore its genre. Nor can we ignore the unique way in which it embodies this genre. Therefore, drawing upon the definition given above, let us take a few moments to examine the Revelation as a true but biblically unique instance of biblical apocalyptic. Under four separate headings, I would argue that it is:

A Predictive Prophecy

We have already discussed some of the ways in which the Revelation is a prophecy; the ways in which it teaches, warns, and comforts Christ’s Church. However, in doing so it frequently incorporates predictions of historical events yet future to the reader/hearer. Therefore, this long prophecy clearly falls into the category of biblical apocalyptic.

It is, however, biblical apocalyptic of an extraordinary kind. Why? Because in making its predictions about the future, it tells us little or nothing new about the future. That is, it tells us little or nothing that was not already foretold in OTKP under type, shadow, and symbol; or it tells us little or nothing that was not already unveiled, explained, and practically applied in the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles.

Think for a moment about the prophetic themes we just discussed. In the Revelation, Christ gives John—and the Church—visions of the Dragon, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Harlot. How are we to understand them? The answer is: We could not possibly understand them unless Christ, in the rest of the NT, had already given us keys by which to unlock their meaning; unless he had given us straightforward didactic teaching about all four. And the same is true of OT apocalyptic. How are we to understand the visions and prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah? The answer is: We cannot, apart from the revelations of the Didactic NT. The latter is the hermeneutical key to the former.

This point cannot be overemphasized. Yes, like all biblical apocalyptic, the Revelation contains predictive prophecy. But because of its unique place in the biblical canon—because it serves as the Grand Finale of all Scripture—the things it predicts in vision and symbol cannot be new. For if, in the Revelation, God meant to give us new truth about the future (e.g., new truth about a seven year Tribulation, or the career of the Antichrist, or a future millennium, etc.), he would also have had to give us more didactic revelation by which to interpret the symbols used to convey the new truth. But he did not. Instead, he simply closed the canon with the Revelation. Therefore, we may safely assume that the truth hidden beneath its symbols is old truth, and that everything we need to understand those symbols has been given to us previously in the rest of the NT. In short, the Revelation is not a puzzle to be figured out; rather—for those who know their Bibles and understand NT eschatology—it is a celebration to be enjoyed. I will have more to say on this important point below.

Singing the Glory of the High King of Heaven

Biblical apocalyptic is predictive prophecy with a particular theme. It likes to explore the course, character, and consummation of Salvation History, and to do so in ways that encourage God’s suffering people with the hope of final justice and redemption: of final rescue from the powers of evil, final retribution against the agents of evil, and final restoration to the promised covenant blessings of God.

In our study of OTKP, we saw the manifold ways in which the Spirit developed these great themes in OT times. In prophet after prophet, he spoke of a final regathering of God’s people; of their final restoration to the Promised Land; of the coming of the Messiah; of the advance of his kingdom in the Days of the Messiah; of the conversion of the Gentiles; of ongoing victory over God’s enemies; of the Last Battle, the Day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, and the eternal World to Come. Importantly, these themes are the sum and substance of NT eschatology, as well. However, in the OT “true truth” on these themes remained largely veiled under symbolic, typological language. Moreover, because of this veiling, the exact sequence of the great eschatological events also remained obscure. For this reason, God himself pronounced OTKP in general—and OT apocalyptic in particular—a closed book; but a closed book that would indeed be opened in the last days (Jer. 23:20, Dan. 12:4, Heb. 11:1).

When, however, we reach the NT, the wraps come off. The mysteries of the Kingdom are revealed. The heart of Salvation History (the Eternal Covenant in Christ) is disclosed. The character of Salvation History—that it consists of successive administrations of the Eternal Covenant—is manifested. And the course of the Salvation History—the stages in which it unfolds, and the key events proper to each stage—is illumined once and for all. As a result, God’s people hold in their hands, at long last, the key to understanding all Salvation History, all OTKP, and all OT apocalyptic.

But if this is so, why, in the Revelation, would God revert to the use of biblical apocalyptic in order to prophesy to Christ’s pilgrim Church? I have already suggested an answer to this important question: He did so because he desired not only to teach, warn, and encourage the saints one final time (just as he had in the rest of the NT), but also to give them the Grand Finale of all Scripture. That is, he desired to weave the Christ-centered history, poetry, prophecy, and doctrine of the whole Bible into the final movement of the great symphony of Scripture. In the eyes of the High Poet of Heaven, biblical apocalyptic was apparently the perfect vehicle for doing this very thing.

We must, however, look a little closer. Yes, like all biblical apocalyptic the Revelation has as its theme the course, character, and consummation of Salvation History. But here again it is unique, this time because its focus is largely on a particular portion of Salvation History: the Heavenly Mediatorial Reign of Christ. Or, to state the case more precisely, its focus is largely on the Exaltation of Christ; on all the eschatological acts and events by which the Father is pleased to honor the One who, out of love for him and his people, humbled himself even to the point of death on a cross (Phil. 2:1-11).

In a moment we will examine the structure of the Revelation, in order to see exactly how God accomplished this cherished goal. Here it suffices to say that in this unique expression of biblical apocalyptic God was pleased to draw upon all previous biblical revelation in order to focus the saint’s attention on the High King of Heaven: on his resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of the Father; on his absolute sovereignty over all the subsequent events of history; on his infallible declaration of the Gospel—through the Church Militant—to “the (sinful) inhabitants of the earth:” on his faithfulness to his persecuted pilgrim people; on his continual judgments against their enemies; on his rush to the rescue of his little flock in the days of the Last Battle; and especially on his glorious Parousia at the end of the age, when he himself will execute final judgment, administer final redemption, and bring in the new heavens and the new earth, the eternal home of God and the redeemed.

Does all of this help us to understand Revelation 20? Indeed it does! For if the theological focus of the whole book is on the High King of Heaven—on the course, character, and consummation of his heavenly, mediatorial reign—how likely is it that this one chapter suddenly takes up the theme of a future earthly reign? No, the Revelation is a predictive prophecy that through and through sings the glory of the High King of Heaven. To see this is to see the meaning of Revelation 20 as well.

Communicated By Way of Vision and Symbol

This is the third element of biblical apocalyptic, namely that it uses vision and symbol to communicate prophetic truth about Salvation History. But once again we find that the Revelation does this in a unique way, since it uses vision and symbol, not to veil truth yet to come, but simply to celebrate truth previously unveiled in the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles. Therefore, its language is not really “mysterious,” since in the Didactic NT we already have the keys by which to understand it. It is, however, still symbolic, with the result that we must interpret its images symbolically, rather than literally.

If there were any doubt about this, it should be quickly dispelled simply by looking at the first verse of the Revelation. There we learn that God “ . . . sent and signified (the Revelation) by his angel to his servant John” (1:1). The Greek word for “signify” is semaino, a verb closely related to the noun semeion, meaning “sign.” So then, in choosing this particular word to describe the prophecy as a whole, the Spirit teaches and admonishes us to interpret the Revelation as a book of signs or symbols. If we will obey him, we will not go far wrong.

It is true, or course, that all interpreters, whatever their eschatological persuasion, are ready to acknowledge that the Revelation contains symbols. However, some interpreters, while agreeing that the Revelation contains symbols, refuse to acknowledge that in virtue of its literary genre it is in fact a book of symbols, a book that must therefore be interpreted symbolically from start to finish.

The result of this refusal is in an inconsistent hermeneutic. For example, pressured by the obvious, the prophetic literalist will readily concede that the sword coming from Christ’s mouth is a symbol for the word of God (1:16); or that the Spirit symbolizes the exalted Christ as a Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes in order to remind us that our Sacrifice for sin is now the omnipotent and omniscient High King and High Priest of Heaven (5:6). When, however, the literalist comes to the 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel (7:4); or to the two witnesses who prophesy and (briefly) perish on the streets of the Great City (11:8); or to Christ’s admonition to the saints against taking the mark of the Beast (13:16-18); or to the gathering of the kings of the whole world at the Mountain of Megiddo (16:14) . . . then he suddenly abandons the symbolic hermeneutic for a literal, thereby abandoning a consistent method of interpretation for an inconsistent. More than once I have heard literalists complain that a symbolic, typological hermeneutic will leave the prophetic interpreter “at sea,” bobbing up and down on the swells of mere subjectivity. But perhaps it is really the literalist who is at sea, bobbing back and forth at his own good pleasure between two diametrically opposed approaches to the interpretation of apocalyptic literature in general, and the Revelation in particular.

If, then, we hope to understand the Revelation—and especially chapter 20—we must recognize that it is indeed a unique instance of biblical apocalyptic; that it communicates previously revealed NT truth in vision and symbol; that it does so consistently, in all portions of the book (save for chapters 2-3, where didactic teaching predominates); and that in order to understand it, we must consistently adopt an appropriate hermeneutic. That would be the NCH, according to which we see all biblical prophecy as using types, shadows, and symbols to communicate “true truth”—NT truth—about Christ, the Eternal Covenant, and the two-fold spiritual Kingdom he introduced under that covenant. When we do, we will immediately understand the 144,000, the Two Witnesses, the Mark of the Beast, the Battle of Armageddon, and the thousand year reign of Christ proclaimed in Revelation 20.

Serving as the Grand Finale of All Scripture

I have argued that the Revelation is indeed an instance of biblical apocalyptic, but also that it is a unique instance, appearing as it does at the end of the Bible, where it serves as the Grand Finale of all Scripture; of all special revelation. Since this point is so important for a proper understanding of the book as a whole, let us pause to consider it more closely.

Think for a moment of your favorite symphony. Now think of its final movement. What is it that makes the final movement a grand finale? Three simple answers come to my mind.

First, it appears at the end of the symphony: There is no more music to come.

Secondly, it reprises all the themes heard in the previous two or three movements. However, when it does, it does so very “grandly.” That is, it skillfully, artistically, and majestically weaves together all the earlier motifs, so that we not only hear them again, but also hear them afresh; hear them in new, startling, and beautiful relations with one another; hear them in such a way that the whole symphony is somehow poured into the last part of the symphony.

And thirdly, because it is a grand finale, it does not typically introduce new musical themes, but rather devotes itself more or less exclusively to a fresh, inspirational recapitulation of the old.

All three of these observations apply to the Revelation, and in a way that helps us understand the book to its very depths.

Like a grand finale, the Revelation appears at the end of the great symphony of biblical revelation. Doubtless it was the last book of Holy Scripture to be given by God. Appropriately enough, it therefore appears as the last book of our Bible. Moreover, its contents veritably scream to us that it should be the last book, since it so thoroughly is taken up with the Last Things: the character and course of the Last Days, the Last Battle, the Last Resurrection and the Last Judgment, all of which occur at the Last Coming of the Last Man, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. The claims of Church History’s false prophets notwithstanding, Christians find it unthinkable that God, having given us a book like this, should give us any more, as indeed the Revelation itself implies (Rev. 21:18-19). The Revelation is the Book of the End, and so rightly belongs at the end of the symphony of Scripture as its final glorious movement (1:8, 2:26, 21:6, 22:13).

Like a grand finale, the Revelation also incorporates and skillfully weaves together ideas and images from the preceding movements of Scripture, whether OT or New. Here, biblical allusions abound, whether to the Garden of Eden, Moses, the Exodus, Elijah, Mt. Zion, the Temple, the birth of Jesus, the cruelty of Herod, the preaching of the disciples two by two, Christ’s resurrection, ascension, session, heavenly reign, and Parousia. Indeed, the Revelation cites or alludes to so many biblical texts that when we delve into it we immediately find the center columns of our reference Bibles bulging at the seams! Westcott and Hort counted nearly 400 references to the OT, and many later commentators argue that they found too few. In Revelation 12 alone, there are quotes from, or allusions to, Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Daniel, Zechariah, Matthew, Luke, John, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, 1 Peter, 1 John, and Jude. All of this makes it clear that the Revelation is not historical narrative, law, poetry, gospel, or epistle. Rather, it is something unique, something completely new under the biblical sun: It is a final prophetic word to the universal Church, clothed in raiment from all that has gone before it, and so serving not only as a prophetic word, but also as the Grand Finale of all Scripture.

If this is true, the implications are truly important. For if the Revelation is indeed the Grand Finale of all Scripture, then we ought not to expect it to introduce any new doctrines. It is not the purpose of a grand finale to introduce new themes, but rather to recapitulate the old. And when we closely examine the Revelation, that is precisely what we find. Here, there is nothing new; nothing other than what Christ and the apostles have already taught us in the Didactic NT; nothing new about the Holy Trinity, the creation, the Fall, the Eternal Covenant, the nature and structure of the Kingdom, or the Consummation at Christ’s coming. What we do find is the Spirit speaking again—and over and over again—about all these “old” things. However, he does so in new and wondrous ways; in beautiful, powerful, and supremely inspiring visions and symbols; in a Grand Finale that incorporates and weaves together all that has gone before in Holy Scripture, even as it celebrates, one final time, the glory of the High King of Heaven.

The implications for the End Time Debate are easy to see. If the Revelation really is the Grand Finale of all Scripture, how likely is it that just a few measures prior to its end (i.e., in chapter 20) the Lord Jesus would suddenly introduce a completely new eschatological theme (i.e., a future earthly stage of the Kingdom lasting a thousand years); a theme that would radically modify, if not completely overthrow, all he had previously taught us in the Didactic NT about the nature and structure of the Kingdom, the Consummation, the relationship of the Old Covenant to the New, and the proper interpretation of OTKP?

The answer: NOT likely. Why? Because to do so would be to destroy the Grand Finale, belatedly and unexpectedly transforming the final movement of Scripture into the vehicle of a whole new movement; a new movement that must radically transform the Christian’s understanding of every movement that preceded it, even as it postpones the completed Kingdom—and the Christian’s completed joy—for an extra thousand years!

No, not likely at all!

Conclusion

We conclude, then, that a good understanding of the literary genre of the Revelation is most helpful for resolving the millennial controversy.

Yes, this book is an instance of biblical apocalyptic, but it is a unique instance.

Yes, it contains predictive prophecy, but it predicts nothing new.

Yes, it gives us the course, character, and consummation of Salvation History, but it tells us nothing new about them, preferring instead simply to exalt and sing the glories of the One who dwells at the center of them all.

And yes, it communicates in symbols, but in symbols whose meanings are old; symbols whose meanings have been disclosed previously in the Didactic NT, so that (for God’s NT scribes) the Revelation is an open book, and not a sealed one.

For all these reasons, it appears that Revelation 20 cannot possibly be introducing new truth about a future millennial stage of the Kingdom; new truth that would radically modify, upend, and overthrow the old. Rather, Revelation 20—and indeed the book as a whole—must simply be giving us the Grand Finale of all Scripture. It must be recapitulating and celebrating old truths, albeit in a new and breathtakingly beautiful way; a way that, fittingly enough, exalts him who is the living heart of all divine revelation: the High King of Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ.

NOTES

     1. In the Revelation, the seven lamps before God’s throne—also called the seven spirits of God—symbolize the one Holy Spirit. Seven is the number of perfection; lamps give light. The symbols appear to mean that the Father and Son have given the one Spirit of Truth a perfect, many-faceted ministry to the saints, by which he will guide them into the true Light, bringing them to Christ, keeping them in Christ, conforming them to Christ, and equipping them to serve Christ (Rev. 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6; John 16:13, Acts 2:33, Rom. 8:29, 1 Cor. 12::1f, 1 Thessa. 5:23).

     2. The Reformation Study Bible, p. 1862.

Preface

This essay is an excerpt from a theological work called The High King of Heaven: Discovering the Master Keys to the Great End Time Debate. It is a book about eschchatology, a study of such fascinating biblical themes as The Kingdom of God and the Second Coming of Christ.

The essay comes from a chapter dealing with the proper interpretation of Old Testament Kingdom Prophecy (OTKP). There are many such prophecies, and Daniel 9:24-27 is among the most difficult and controversial.

As a you will see if you read on (and I hope you will!), I have studied the different views with some care, and settled upon an interpretation that I believe is not only sound, but inspiring and timely.

In the essay you will run across the acronym NCH. It stands for New Covenant Hermenuetic. The NCH is the method the apostles used to interpret the OT in general, and OT Kingdom prophecy in particular. In order to understand the NCH better, you may want to read this short article first.

My hope and prayer is that in this essay you will catch a fresh, exhilarating glimpse of the High King of Heaven, his awesome plan for the ages, and the glorious inheritance that he has prepared for his beloved Bride.

Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Sevens

(Daniel 9:24-27)

The year is 539 B.C. Daniel, still in captivity under Darius the Mede, has been reading the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11-12, 29:10). He realizes that the 70 years of Jerusalem’s desolation are nearing an end, but also that many captive Jews remain unbroken and impenitent (9:13). They are not spiritually qualified for the great restoration promised decades earlier.

So Daniel prays (9:3-23). First, he rehearses and confesses the sin of God’s covenant-breaking people (9:3-10). Then he acknowledges God’s justice in sending them into captivity (9:11-15). Finally, he makes his petition. Appealing solely to God’s mercy, grace, and zeal for the honor of his Name, he pleads with the LORD to fulfill his promise given through Jeremiah: to restore his City, his Sanctuary, and his Holy Mountain (9:16-19).

His words are not in vain. Even as he is praying, the angel Gabriel arrives and stands before him, declaring to Daniel that God has indeed heard his prayer and answered it. He (Gabriel) has been sent to give Daniel “insight and understanding” about the coming Restoration (9:20-23). In the four long verses that follow, he does (9:24-27)

Are you familiar with this famous OTKP, often referred to as the prophecy of Daniel’s Seventy Sevens (or Weeks)? If so, you know at least one thing for sure: A whole host of commentators have been seeking insight and understanding ever since! In the paragraphs ahead, we will see why.

The Three Main Views

Close students of this short but complex OTKP know that interpreters differ widely on the exact meaning of dozens of the details found herein. To give but one illustration, Biederwolf cites at least eleven different opinions as to when, historically, the seventy sevens start. (1) This is hardly an auspicious beginning! And yet, when we stand back and look at the history of interpretation surrounding this prophecy, we discover something both interesting and encouraging: In the end, the vast majority of conservative commentators espouse one of three main views. My purpose in this section is briefly to introduce them, and to explain why I believe that the Lord is now putting his finger on the one that is true.

The Traditional First Advent View (TFAV)

First, we have what I will call the Traditional First Advent View. It has been around from the beginning, and is still popular today. The basic idea here is that the terminus ad quem—the goal or end point—of the seventy sevens is the first advent of Christ.

Regarding the seventy sevens, there are differences of opinion. Some say they are 490 consecutive years, a commitment that forces them to look for a viable historical starting point. Others argue that they are symbolic, a commitment that delivers them from unwelcome computations and manipulations. But all agree that the great burden of the prophecy is to unveil the redemptive instrument—the New Covenant, and the Christ of the New Covenant—by which God will make end of sins, bring in everlasting righteousness, and so create, once and for all, his eschatological City, Sanctuary, and Mountain (v. 24).

How will God do this? Turning to the text itself, proponents of the TFAV reply: He will send a Messiah: an Anointed One, a holy Priest and Sacrifice, who, by God’s foreordination, will be cut off for the sins of his people (v. 25, 26). Because of this, he will be able to make a firm covenant with his people—a New Covenant—, and in so doing will bring the Old Covenant sacrifices and burnt offerings to an end (27).

And that is not all that will be brought to an end. For another prince will come—the Roman general Titus—to destroy the former city (Herod’s Jerusalem) and the former sanctuary (Herod’s Temple) (v. 26). This is indeed a divine judgment against the Jews, who rejected their Messiah. But it is also a message from God: Christ’s death has rendered the temple (and it sacrifices) abominable in his sight; therefore, he has decreed its perpetual desolation, a desolation that began with Titus’ assault (v. 27).

There is, however, great good news: When the Messiah comes, and when he makes a New Covenant with his own, then a new City and a new Temple will arise: the Church. As the NT teaches, it is in the Church—and all throughout the Messianic Church Era—that God will accomplish the great eschatological Restoration that he promised through Jeremiah, and for which the prophet Daniel so fervently prayed (v.24).

Modern proponents of the TFAV include E. Hengstenberg, E. Pusey, E. J. Young, K. Riddlebarger, and I. Duguid.

A Critique of the TFAV

Because of the fluidity—indeed, the ambiguity—of the language of this prophecy, the TFAV seems, at first glance, to open it up quite well. However, upon closer inspection, we encounter some serious problems.

If, for example, the great Restoration envisioned in verse 24 is fulfilled under the New Covenant, why should the terminus ad quem of the prophecy be the first advent of Christ, rather than the second, when that restoration will be complete?

What of the sixty-two sevens of verses 25 and 26: Why do the proponents of the TFAV simply add them to the first seven, rather than pause and probe a little deeper for their significance?

Why do they assert that the “he” of verse 27—the one who will confirm a covenant with many—is Christ, when the person most recently spoken of in the preceding verse (v.26) is the prince (allegedly Titus) who will destroy the city and the sanctuary?

Why, if the “he” of verse 27 is Christ, does the angel again point to his death here (“He will bring an end to sacrifice and offering”), when, in verse 26, he has already spoken of the (alleged) destruction of Herod’s city and sanctuary?

Why, if this is Christ, will he establish a covenant with many only for one seven, rather than forever (v. 27)?

Why is the prophecy silent as to what occurs in the last half of the seventieth seven, after Christ brings an end to sacrifice and offering (v. 27)?

And why does it conclude with such a great emphasis upon the destruction of the temple? Is this not an odd way of wrapping up a divine revelation meant to unveil the Messianic restoration of all things!

Perhaps, then, in light of all these questions, there is a more satisfying interpretation than the one offered in the TFAV.

The Dispensational Two-Advent View (DTAV)

The second view is the Dispensational Two-Advent View. Unlike the TFAV, it holds that here Daniel refers not only to Christ’s first advent, but also to his second, when he comes again at the end of a seven year season of tribulation for ethnic Israel. This view has little historic precedent, having arisen in mid-19^th century England among the Plymouth Brethren. And yet, for reasons discussed earlier, it has become widely popular in evangelical circles. It is the most complex and controversial of the three interpretations. If, however, we confine ourselves to the basics, it is fairly easy to describe and understand. Let us briefly survey it, verse by verse.

Dispensationalists reckon the seventy sevens of verse 24 as seventy weeks of years; as 490 calendar years. They acknowledge that the six blessings here promised to Daniel’s people are achieved by the earthly work of Christ, and that they will reach their full fruition in the New Heavens and the New Earth. Nevertheless, in a major departure from the TFAV, they do not agree that Daniel’s people and city appear here primarily as OT types of the eschatological People and City of God: the Church. Instead, Dispensationalists insist that Gabriel is speaking primarily of spiritual blessings that God will bestow upon ethnic Israel in the Millennium; in the Dispensation of the (earthly, Jewish, and Messianic) Kingdom that is (allegedly) the true theme of all OTKP.

The subject matter of verse 25 is the (events of the) first 69 weeks. These total 483 calendar years. According to (most) Dispensationalists, they began in 445 B.C., when king Artaxerxes issued a decree authorizing the restoration of Jerusalem, which was indeed rebuilt in stressful times under the leadership of Nehemiah (Neh. 2:1f). They ended either at the birth of Messiah the Prince or at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Notably, Dispensationalists cannot quite make this scheme chronologically viable, and so resort to massaging the numbers involved. Some suggest that Artaxerxes actually issued his decree in 455 BC, while others say that here the Spirit reckons a year as 360 days (2).

Along with the proponents of the TFAV, Dispensationalists hold that verse 26 speaks of: 1) the rejection and death of Christ, who thereby “has nothing” of his royal prerogatives; 2) the coming of the Roman “prince” Titus; and, 3) the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by Titus’ legions.

However, upon reaching verse 27, Dispensationalists diverge sharply from their traditional brethren. Here, they say, the Spirit suddenly lifts us up and carries us ahead to certain dramatic events that must befall ethnic Israel at the close of the present evil age. Obviously, this raises an important question: What in the world happens during the intervening years?

With scant help from the text itself, Dispensationalists respond by asserting that throughout this time God is pursuing a different plan for a different people. The plan is the “mystery” of the Dispensation (or Era) of the Church. The people is the Church itself, the Bride of Christ. According to Dispensationalists, the OT prophets—including Daniel—did not foresee or speak of either, since their sole concern was to encourage the OT saints with promises of Christ’s millennial Kingdom.

Moreover, they did not foresee still another mystery, one that will bring the Church Era to a close: the Rapture. At the Rapture, God will send the glorified Christ secretly to lift his Bride into the skies above the earth and then carry her to heaven, where she will be safe and secure from the vicissitudes of the seven terrible years now to begin: The Tribulation (Mt. 24:6, 15, 1 Thess. 4, 1 Thess. 4:13ff, Rev. 7:14).

In sum, Dispensationalists hold that God has placed a great “parenthesis”—a huge temporal gulf, now some two millennia long—between the end of verse 26 and the beginning of verse 27. Again, they call this gulf the mystery of the Church Era. When it began, God’s prophetic time clock—his stated plans for ethnic Israel—stopped (v. 26). But as soon the Rapture occurs, it will start to tick again (v. 27)!

What will the seventieth week—the Tribulation era—look like? In reply, Dispensationalists take us to verse 27. The “he” with which it begins is not, they say, the prince of verse 26 (i.e., Titus). No, it is the “little horn” of Daniel 7, the Antichrist. This wicked Roman prince will enter into a seven-year covenant with “many” Jews, presumably guaranteeing them certain political and religious prerogatives. However, mid-way into the final week, he will break the covenant by suppressing Jewish ritual worship, “desolating” the (restored) temple with his abominable idolatries, and launching a fierce persecution against Israel. In other words, for three and a half years Israel (along with the persecuting world, as well) will endure what Dispensationalists call “the Great Tribulation.” However, Christ himself—at his visible coming again in power and glory—will bring all hostilities to an end. When he appears, he will pour out complete destruction upon the Antichrist (and his followers), after which he will introduce the manifold blessings of the thousand-year Messianic reign upon the earth (v. 24). (3)

Daniel 9: The Rock of Dispensationalism

Before commenting further, I want very much to emphasize that this text—or rather their interpretation of it—is foundational to the entire Dispensational system; that it grounds the Dispensational picture of all Salvation History. We can best understand why by considering once again some of the key propositions it involves, propositions that at any number of points put Dispensationalism and orthodox Protestantism in opposite corners of the theological ring.

There are at least seven of them: 1) God does not have one eschatological blessing for one new people (i.e., eternal life for Jews and Gentiles, members together of the Body of Christ), but two different blessings for two different peoples (earthly blessings for Israel and heavenly blessings for the Church); 2) the people of God spoken of in OTKP are not spiritual Israel (i.e., the Church), but ethnic Israel; 3) the sphere of fulfillment of OTKP is not a two-staged spiritual kingdom introduced by Christ under the New Covenant, but a future millennial kingdom introduced by Christ under the Davidic Covenant; 4) there will not be one, but (at least) two eschatological comings of Christ: the first for his Church (the Rapture), and the second for ethnic Israel (the Parousia); 5) God has been pleased to use a single OT text (Dan. 9:24-27), rather than a multitude of NT texts, to reveal the true structure of Salvation History; 6) God has been pleased to use a single OT text (Dan. 9:24-27), rather than a multitude of NT texts, to give us the key to the Olivet Discourse, the Revelation, and other major NT prophetic passages; and, 7) God’s Church—both Catholic and Protestant—has more or less completely misunderstood this crucial OT passage, and has therefore misunderstood his Plan of Salvation for some 1850 years!

A Critique of the DTAV

Yes, for Dispensationalists like C. I. Scofield, J. Walvoord, L. S. Chafer, D. Pentecost, C. Ryrie, J. McArthur, C. Smith, T. Ice, T. LaHaye, and many more, a very great deal rides upon this distinctive interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27. But is it viable? Our previous study of NT eschatology strongly suggests it is not. Moreover, when we closely examine the text itself, we find a good deal to awaken serious doubts about the soundness of the DTAV. Let us pause again to consider some of the major problems involved.

Is it really the case that the seventy sevens are seventy weeks of years? Do not the particular numbers employed at least hint at a symbolic meaning?

Considering the character, reach, and ultimacy of the blessings promised in verse 24, is it likely that they are reserved more or less exclusively for ethnic Israel and the (physical) Jerusalem below (Gal. 4:25-26)?

Is it exegetically certain that Messiah the Prince appears at the end of the 69 weeks? Could it be that he appears instead at the end of the first seven (v. 25)?

Is it really the case that the people of the prince to come are the soldiers of Titus (v. 26)? Could it be that they are actually the followers of the Antichrist, and that their assault is not against Herod’s (physical) city and temple, but against Christ’s (spiritual) City and Sanctuary: the Church?

By what possible biblical justification can we insert over 2000 years of Church history between verses 26 and 27, especially since the “he” of verse 27 clearly refers either to the Messiah or “the prince to come” of verse 26?

And again, seeing that the Spirit’s central concern in Daniel is to disclose the stages and grand finale of Salvation History, how is it that in verse 27 he takes us, not to the Consummation, but merely to the beginning of the Millennium, during which—and at the end of which—so much more of eschatological interest is (supposed) to occur?

Questions like these cast long shadows of doubt over the DTAV, even as they hint at a far more satisfying interpretation. We will consider it now.

The Reformed Two-Advent View (RTAV)

Our third and final interpretation I have called the Reformed Two-Advent View. It is Reformed because it is rooted in the amillennial eschatology of the leaders and creeds of the classic Reformation. It is Two-Advent because it finds Daniel referring both to the first and second advents of Christ. Like the DTAV, the RTAV is a recent historical development, having arisen in the late 19th century; though in hermeneutical approach it is much like the TFAV. Leading proponents include T. Kliefoth, C. F. Keil, and, in our day, C. H. Leupold. My indebtedness to Leupold’s fine Exposition of Daniel will soon become clear.

By my lights, the RTAV is easily the most satisfying interpretation of Daniel 9. Unlike the other two schemes, it harmonizes perfectly with the details of the text itself, and also with the majestic purpose and contents of Daniel’s other prophecies. More than this, it abundantly confirms, and is illumined by, NT eschatology. As a result, it not only fills us with confidence as to its truth, but also gives us, as Leupold declares, “ . . . one of the grandest revelations of the course and climax of Salvation History to be found in the prophetic Word.” (4)

Let us take a moment to examine this view in some detail. My approach will be to go through our text verse by verse, offering interpretations guided by the RTAV. The translation, with slight (and significant) modifications imported from other versions, is that of the very literal New American Standard Bible.

Verse 24                       

Seventy sevens have been decreed over your people and over your holy city, to finish (the) transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity; to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

In this verse, Daniel gives us the theme of the entire prophecy. It is, as it were, a condensed and cryptic heading, of which all that follows is the detailed elaboration.

What is the theme? Advocates of the RTAV would sum it up this way: God has decreed a set period of time in which he will fulfill all his redemptive purpose and plan; in which he will bestow all his redemptive promises upon all his redeemed people. In other words, Gabriel here declares that the prophecy to follow will give us the remainder of all Salvation History, from Daniel’s day to the Parousia of Christ at the End of the Age. It will survey all that the LORD will do between now and the Consummation to bring his people and their world into the eternal Kingdom of God.

This soul-stirring interpretation is more than confirmed at the very outset. Gabriel declares that seventy sevens are decreed over the people of God and the Holy City. He says nothing of years, or weeks of years. Manifestly, these numbers are symbolic. But why were they chosen, and what do they mean? Doubtless they allude to the seventy years of Israel’s exile and captivity, and therefore appear here by way of a grand promise that in the seventy sevens ahead God will fully deliver his people from their captivity and fully restore them to all his covenant promises.

The key word in all this is “fully.” In the Bible, the numbers seven and ten symbolize fullness, perfection, and completion. Seventy sevens, being 7x7x10, mystically expresses perfect completeness (see Mt. 18:22). So then, speaking as he did, Gabriel was simply saying, “God has decreed a set period of time within which he will fulfill, perfect, and complete his redemptive purposes. I am about to tell you what will happen in it.”

Leupold puts it this way: “The seventy heptads is the period in which the divine work of greatest moment is brought to perfection.” If this interpretation is correct, it means that the terminus ad quem of the prophecy is indeed the Parousia of Christ at the End of the Age. This in turn implies that the seventy sevens are not calendar years, and that henceforth no calculations (or 360 day years) are possible or needed. What a relief!

God’s decree concerns Daniel’s people and his Holy City. Who and what are they? Here, we must take care. The Jerusalem of verse 25a is indeed earthly Jerusalem, and the people who rebuilt it were ethnic Jews. But as I will argue in a moment, the City of verse 25b, and the City and Sanctuary of verses 26-27, are different. They appear after the coming of Messiah the Prince (25b). They arise in NT times, under the New Covenant. Therefore, according to the NCH, they represent Christ’s Church. As we have seen, Daniel and his godly OT compatriots are members thereof in excellent standing (John 10:16, Heb. 11:40)!

Gabriel now unveils six redemptive blessings that God will bestow upon his Israel over the course of the seventy sevens (Gal. 6:16). They appear in two triads: The first three pertain to redemptive rescue from sin, the second three to redemptive restoration to eternal life. While textual peculiarities make the exact translation of some these words difficult, the basic message is clear enough, and the NCH richly helps us to uncover the meanings involved.

My take is as follows: By the end of the seventy sevens—and because of the total redemptive work of Christ, both in his humiliation and exaltation—God will have completely: 1) finished (or consummately restrained) the transgression of his people (i.e., stopped their transgressing, as well as the power of their former transgressions to condemn them); 2) made an end of (or sealed up, concealed) their sins (i.e., stopped their sinning, as well as the power of their sins to condemn them); 3) made atonement through Christ for their iniquity, thereby reconciling them to God; 4) brought in everlasting righteousness (i.e., imputed and imparted Christ’s righteousness to his people, so that in the end they may dwell where perfect righteousness dwells, 2 Peter 3:13); 5) sealed up vision and prophecy (i.e., caused both visions and prophecies to cease, owing to the fulfillment of all his redemptive purposes and all previous visions and prophecies, Rev. 22:18-18); and, 6) anointed the Most Holy (i.e., bestowed divine glory and perfect holiness upon his eschatological Sanctuary: the Body and Bride of his Son, the Church, Eph. 3:21, Rev. 21:1-11).

These are Kingdom blessings, to be introduced by the New Covenant that will create the Kingdom. Therefore, since the Kingdom comes in two stages, there is a sense in which we Christians already enjoy them; there is a sense (largely forensic) in which we have already taken possession of them. Nevertheless, the accent here definitely falls upon the end, the eschaton, the final state. Commenting on the blessings of the completed Kingdom, and indicating Gabriel’s purpose in declaring them to Daniel, Leupold writes:

“In these six statements we have the sum of all the good things that God promised to men perfectly realized. With this verse we stand at the ultimate goal of the history of the Kingdom of God. What follows will unfold the successive stages by which this goal is realized and present the main features to be looked for and borne in mind by the people of God. We have just seen the essentials of God’s program for the ages.” (5)

Verse 25

So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven sevens; and for sixty-two sevens it will be built again with open square and moat (or wall), even in troubled times. 

This verse spans the bulk of the remainder of Salvation History: 69 of the 70 sevens. According to the ESV, the marginal reading of the ASV, and the advocates of the RTAV, it is properly divided into two distinct parts: the first seven, and the following 62 sevens. The first seven begins with a decree to restore and rebuild earthly Jerusalem. Most likely it is the decree issued by Cyrus in 538 BC, though the precise date is of little importance, since the first “seven” is not a week of years, but an era of Salvation History whose exact duration is unknown (Ezra 1:1-4, Isaiah 44:28; cf., Dan. 9:23). The first seven ends with the coming of Messiah the Prince. This is first advent of Christ, through whose earthly work—through whose humiliation—all the blessings of v. 24 were purchased and are thereafter bestowed.

Now the 62 sevens begin. They too symbolize an era, the era in which Christ’s builds his Church. However, here Gabriel uses OT typological language to speak of NT realities, casting the growth of the Church in terms of the growth of the City of God. The reference to its open square (or streets) suggests expansive growth outwards. The reference to a moat or wall suggests divine protection. Pointing to the real but limited success of world evangelization, Leupold paraphrases, “She shall again be built extensively, yet within fixed limits.” (6) The growth shall occur “in troubled times,” a phrase echoed in the Revelation, where the Spirit refers to the Church Era (and indeed to all Salvation History) as “the great tribulation.” Yes, God has decreed the rearing up of Christ’s Church; but he has also decreed much trouble for the saints who will build it (Rev. 7:14; Acts 14:22, Rom. 5:3, 2 Cor. 1:4, 1 Thess. 3:4).

This division of the 69 weeks into two distinct eras (an OT and a New) is decisive for the interpretation of the prophecy as a whole, seeing that it places Christ’s first advent at the end of the first seven, rather than at the end of the 69. In particular, it radically challenges the interpretation of verses 26-27 offered in the TFAV and the DTAV. However, the superiority of this approach to verse 25 is so clear that one wonders how we could have missed it for so many years! Above all, it immediately helps us to understand why Gabriel did not simply refer to 69 sevens, but instead referred to seven sevens and 62 sevens. Moreover, as we are about to see, once we accept this framework, it sheds an abundance of fascinating—and eschatologically vital—light on the 70^th seven of verses 26-27. We turn to them now.

Verse 26

Then after the 62 sevens the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its (or, his) end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are decreed.                         

This is the first of two verses dealing with the seventieth seven; with the third and final stage of Salvation History. Again, it is not a week of seven literal years, as repeated exposure to Dispensational claims may incline us to believe. No, it is an era of brief but uncertain duration, the era in which God will bring Salvation History to a close in final conflict, final judgment, and final redemption. This interpretation buttresses the RTAV, since it finds Daniel doing here exactly what we would expect, exactly what he has done before, and exactly what he will do again: give us nothing less than the Consummation, the dramatic closing scenes of God’s plan for the ages. With respect, on this score the other two views are not worthy to be compared.

The theme of verse 26 is the end-time agony of the true spiritual Church of Christ. The close of the present evil age is near. The Great Commission is nearly accomplished. Lawlessness abounds, and deep darkness covers the earth. At this point, says the angel, Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. Obviously, this cannot refer to his atoning death, as is argued by the two other views. But what does it mean? Leupold suggests that the “cutting off” is best illumined by the “having nothing”:

“(The “having nothing”) implies that he shall not have that which normally might be expected to fall to his lot, such as followers, influence, and the like. If that is the case, then the preceding statement must have involved his being “cut off” in the sense of losing all influence and prestige that he ever had before men. The season of the successful building of the City and the Sanctuary is at an end. As far as the world is concerned, Messiah shall be a dead issue. His cause will seem to have failed.” (7)

At that time—amidst such widespread apostasy from the law and Gospel of God—the world-system will take action: The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the City and the Sanctuary (1 Thess. 2:1ff). The prince is not Titus, but the Antichrist, the very Antichrist whom we meet over and again in Daniel’s visions (7:8, 11, 21-22, 24-26, 11:36ff). His people are the eschatological seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15), the “sons of the evil one” (Mt. 13:38), the followers of the Beast (Rev. 13:1f). As to the City and the Sanctuary, Leupold opines: “These represent the visible institution called the church. These shall be destroyed, and with them the influence of the Christ that we now still know and feel to be abroad in the earth” (p., 428). Doubtless this destruction will involve a new measure of Christian martyrdom. Nevertheless, the primary meaning is that religious freedom for Christians will be universally denied, and the institutional Church forced underground. Daniel has already seen this coming (7:21, 25). It is explicitly predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. It appears also in Revelation 11:7-10, where the Spirit represents the end-time Church under the image of two OT witnesses; witnesses whom the Beast kills and leaves for dead on the bloody streets of the City of Man, just as he did their Lord.

Regarding the final sentence of this verse, Leupold contends that it is the Antichrist whose end will come with a flood of divine judgment at Christ’s Parousia; like Pharaoh and his obedient armies, he will be utterly swept away (2 Thess. 2: 8, Rev. 15:1-4). This could be. However, the context seems to favor the idea that here too the outward, institutional Church is in view: Her end will come with a flood of opposition and persecution (Psalm 18:4, Isaiah 59:19). To the very end of the seventieth seven, there will be war against the saints (Rev. 12:15, 17). Desolations—both of the institutional Church and her persecutors—are determined (Rev. 11:1-2).

Verse 27

And he will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction—one that is decreed—is poured out on the desolator.

Here Gabriel further instructs Daniel about the key events of the seventieth seven, this time with a concluding emphasis upon the destruction of the destroyer, the Antichrist. As the long verse opens, we learn that throughout the final seven, “he”, the Antichrist, will cause a strong covenant to prevail over “the many.” Leupold explains:

“The idea is that as he seeks to take place of the Christ, so he shall imitate Him in some way. As the Lord made a covenant with his own to give them strong assurances as to what he would do, so Antichrist will inaugurate a covenant that will prevail; which is to say, compel the masses to accept it and abide by it. It shall not, therefore, be a gracious covenant of love, as are the Lord’s covenants, but a covenant of terror, compulsion, and violence.” (p. 432).

1. F. Keil, an early proponent of the RTAV, concurs. Highlighting the religious dimension of Antichrist’s “agreement” with the world, he writes, “The ungodly prince shall impose upon the mass of the people a strong covenant that they should follow him and give themselves to him as their God” (Rev. 13:4). (8) The interpretation offered by these two outstanding commentators is compelling, seeing that 2 Thessalonians 2:1f supplies a more or less identical picture of the purpose, character, and career of the Man of Lawlessness.

How will the global rule of the Antichrist affect the Church? In a reprise of the message of verse 26, Gabriel answers by declaring that in the middle of the last seven he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. This means that (roughly) half way through his hegemony, he will suddenly turn against the Church and suppress her public worship. At this point, he will become “one who makes desolate,” a destroyer. With destructive intent, he will now come against the Church “upon the wing of abominations.” That is, he will fly into global power and influence—and so to apparent victory over Christ’s little flock—riding upon the persuasive force of detestable idols: a counterfeit gospel (i.e., religion, ideology) and counterfeit signs and wonders that seem to validate it (Mt. 24:23-24, 2 Thess. 2:8-12).

This will indeed be the Church’s darkest hour (Mt. 24:21, Rev. 13:7). Yet it is, after all, only an hour, and one that her Redeemer himself has triumphantly passed through. Therefore, it is an hour of hope. For no sooner will the counterfeit prince launch his great war against the saints, than the glorified Christ will appear in the skies above the Earth to rescue them. Then, in the Judgment that follows, he will pour out complete destruction upon all who thought to destroy his own: Apollyon, Antichrist, and “the many” who so foolishly followed them into the Last Battle (Mt. 24:29-31, 25:31ff, 1 Thess. 4:13f, 2 Thess. 1:3-10, 2:8, 11-12, Rev. 19:20, 20:10). (9)

Conclusion

The prophecy of Daniel’s Seventy Sevens—possibly the most difficult in the entire prophetic canon—is a case study in the indispensability of the New Covenant Hermeneutic. Without it, the vision is a maze; a labyrinth from which there is no escape. With it, the way into the open field of truth becomes clear at last.

Our survey of the three main interpretations has made this evident. Because the advocates of the TFAV have indeed grasped the true structure of NT eschatology, as well as the importance of the NCH, they have produced a fairly viable interpretation, one that has understandably remained popular over the years. However, we have seen that upon closer inspection it fails to do justice to the nuances of the text itself, and also to the grand theme and substance of the book as a whole.

Meanwhile, advocates of the DTAV, having largely misunderstood NT eschatology and imposed an alien OT hermeneutic upon it, have given us an exotic interpretation that is exegetically untenable and theologically flawed. The popularity of this view in our day suggests a serious failure on the part of the modern Church to grasp the true structure of NT theology, and the NCH that naturally flows from it. However, Dispensationalism in general—and its view of this prophecy in particular—are on the wane. I do not think it can be otherwise, seeing that in the end the Spirit of Truth must (and will) draw Christ’s Church back to the NT, where alone they will receive the keys to OTKP, Daniel 9, and all the eschatological truth they will need to stand strong amidst the rigors of the Consummation.

The NT itself promises this very thing. It tells us that the Lord loves his Bride (John 13:1); that he would prepare her for the Last Battle (John 16:13); and indeed, that one day he will cause her to attain to the unity of the faith, right down to eschatological faith (Eph. 4:11f). When he does, I believe he will draw her to the RTAV of Daniel 9.

The reasons are many. Again, this interpretation includes all the strengths of the other two, while avoiding their weaknesses. It is true to the text, and true to the context: the Book of Daniel as a whole. It harmonizes perfectly with NT eschatology, and draws upon it richly, as it must, for a right understanding.

But best of all—to my mind at least—is the intriguing fact that the RTAV seems to come to us at just the right time. Somehow, it suits the dark, difficult, and dangerous days into which we are now entering, fittingly reminding us all of the sufferings of Christ’s Church and the glories to follow (2 Tim. 3:1f, 1 Peter 1:11).

In short, I think it likely that this interpretation of Daniel’s Seventy Sevens is an eschatological gift from the exalted Lord himself, by which, even now, he is supplying his beloved Bride with just the right mix of tough realism, steadfast hope, and earnest expectation of the soon return of the High King of Heaven.

NOTES

1. Wm. Biederwolf, The Millennium Bible,(Glad Tidings, 1924), p. 218.
2. C. I. Scofield, ed., The Scofield Reference Bible(Oxford, 1967), p. 913.
3. SRB, p. 913.
4. H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Daniel(Baker, 1969), p. 405.
5. Leupold, p. 411.
6. Leupold, p. 417.
7. Leupold, p. 427.
8. Cited in Biederwolf, p. 224.
9. For a close, thought-provoking examination of the many parallels between the character and career of Antiochus Epiphanes (the OT antichrist), and the NT Antichrist of Daniel 9:26-27, see Leupold, pp. 437-440.
10. For further studies of miscellaneous OTKP’s, please visit my blog at: www.clr4u.wordpress.com

Reflections on God’s Guidance from the Book of Acts

In his letter to the Roman Christians, the apostle Paul declares, “As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). What a thought! Can it really be that part of our inheritance in Christ is to be guided by the Spirit of God in all our decisions, just as the Lord Jesus was? Paul certainly seemed to think so! Moreover, as we read through the book of Acts, we find that for the early Church this was indeed the case: In manifold ways, God graciously guided His people in the fulfillment of their mission, and in so doing provided helpful instructions and examples for us to follow. The purpose of this essay is to spotlight the main ways in which God guides his New Covenant children, and to illustrate them from the Book of Acts. May this brief meditation enrich your confidence for walking with him!

How God Guides His New Covenant Children

He guides us personally

In OT times God usually guided his people through appointed leaders such as judges, priests, prophets, kings, etc. To be sure, his Spirit worked in the hearts of all his OT elect, giving them ears to hear what their leaders were saying. But it was a rare privilege for God to speak personally to the OT saints. For this reason, the writing prophets looked forward to a happy day when God would speak directly to ALL his people (Numbers 11, Jeremiah 31:31f, Joel 2:28f). And according the Lord Jesus, that day has come, for now ALL his Spirit-filled sheep hear his voice and follow him (John 10:26-27, 5, 16:13)!

He guides us inwardly

In OT times God guided his people by a pillar of cloud and fire, the Scriptures, the Urim and the Thummim, the casting of lots, and the words of specially appointed leaders. These were outwards means of guidance; the people had little or no expectation of God speaking to them inwardly. Now, however, under the New Covenant, outward means of guidance have been replaced by inward; now God is committed to guiding each individual Christian by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Again, this great boon was promised in OT times (Isaiah 30, 54, Jeremiah 31, Ezek. 36-37, etc.), and fulfilled under the New Covenant in Christ (John 16:13a, 1 John 2:26, Rom. 8:14, Col. 1:9, 1 John 2:25-26).

He uses chosen instruments

As in OT times, so in the New: God is pleased to use various instruments to guide his people personally and inwardly. But since those instruments are unique to our day, it very much behooves us to know what they are, lest we turn to OT instruments for NT guidance! The Urim and Thummin are gone (or rather, they now live inside us!). No longer are we to cast lots or look to special leaders. Rather, we are to the look to the Lord himself, and to expect him to guide us according to the uniquely NT methods he has chosen.

Here is my view of what they are, illustrated from the book of Acts.

He guides us through the Scriptures

This is by far the single most important means of NT guidance. As we read the Bible, and especially the NT, the Holy Spirit illuminates and internalizes the Word of God. It becomes our internal guidance system. Slowly but surely, Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19), we receive the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), and our senses are trained to distinguish between good and evil (Heb. 5:14). The result: As we walk through life and face various decisions great or small, the Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures (or Scripture-formed intuitions) to guide us. As a rule we are barely conscious of his activity, but the Spirit and the Word are at work, nonetheless. Accordingly, it is written that the early Christians devoted themselves to the apostles doctrine (Acts 2:42). Paul commended the Ephesians to God, and to the Word of his grace, which was able to build them up in their most holy faith and give them an inheritance among those who are sanctified (Acts 20). It is, then, vital that each of us has a daily quiet time; that fathers and mothers lead their children in family devotions; and that we seize every opportunity to hear, ponder, and discuss the Word of God. In so doing, we are letting the Spirit internalize God’s premier guidance system! It is the plain sense of Scripture that marks for us the path of duty, and that stands as final arbiter over every other form of spiritual guidance (Gal. 1:8).

He guides us through special promptings of the Spirit

From time to time, Christians “feel impressed” by the Spirit to do this, that, or the other thing. Such experiences are biblical. Certainly we see them in the life of our Lord, who spoke of doing only those things He saw his Father doing. We also see them in Acts. When Peter beheld the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, he was prompted to speak a word of healing to him (Acts 3). When Paul observed all the idols in the marketplace of Athens, his spirit was provoked within him and he addressed the Athenians boldly (Acts 17). In Acts, such promptings are styled as “little infillings” of the Spirit. Peter, “filled with the Spirit”, addressed the rulers of Israel; Paul, “filled with the Spirit”, rebuked wicked Elymas (Acts 4, 13). All forms of divine guidance are supernatural, but special infillings of the Spirit feel a little more supernatural than others!

He guides us through open and closed doors

Christians understand that God is the High King of Providence; that he is causing ALL THINGS to work together for the good of His people who love Him (Rom. 8). Accordingly, when faced with a decision, they seek the Spirit’s help in discerning whether or not God has arranged their circumstances in such a way as to favor the decision or discourage it. It is written that the exalted Lord set before the Philadelphian church an open door that no one could shut; doubtless they walked right through it (Rev. 3:8)! In Acts, the Christians in Antioch rejoiced that God had opened a door to faith among the Gentiles (Acts 14:24). In watching for open doors, we must also watch for joy and liberty from the Spirit to go through them; inward affirmation and outward opportunity must go hand in hand. By means of an earthquake, God opened the door of the prison in Philippi, but Paul declined to go through it, lest the jailer be executed. Rather, he waited till the jailer, newly converted, ushered him through the door himself (Acts 16)!

He guides us through counsel and consensus

Because of immaturity, residual sin in our members, or the opposition of powers and principalities, some decisions are beyond us. In such cases, God encourages us to seek the counsel of other more mature believers who know and care for us (Prov. 11:14, 15:22). Moreover, if we have sought advice from a number of believers, and all agree as to the proper course of action, it would be wise indeed to listen hard (Mt. 18:19)! This principle is beautifully illustrated in the Jerusalem Council, at which the leaders of the infant Church had to decide whether the Gentiles must obey the Mosaic Law. Having “taken counsel” with one another in a lively discussion, they finally came to a unanimous decision on the proper course of action, a course that seemed good both to them and to the Holy Spirit. Such Spirit-wrought unity is extremely valuable for discerning the will of God in difficult situations. It should be noted, however, that on rare occasions God calls a believer to stand alone in a chosen course of action, even in the face of good, united counsel to the contrary (Acts 21).

He guides us with bolts of lightning

Though the Spirit normally uses the Scriptures, inward promptings, circumstances, and counsel and consensus to guide us, he sometimes uses what I like to call bolts of lightning: special, highly supernatural forms of guidance. We observe them all in the book Acts:

1. Dreams: Promised to NT believers (Acts 2), and apparently experienced by Paul at Troas (Acts 16)
2. Visions: Seen by Ananias at Damascus (Acts 9), and Peter at Caesarea (Acts 10)
3. Audible Voice of God: Heard by Saul at his conversion (Acts 9)
4. Angelic Visitations: Experienced by Philip on the road to Gaza (Acts 8), and Peter in jail in Jerusalem (Acts 12)
5. Prophets: The prophets gathered for prayer at Antioch (Acts 13); the prophecies of Agabus (Acts 11, 21)

It is important to understand that bolts of lightning are not God’s normal method of spiritual guidance; if we believe they are, we will certainly experience great frustration in our Christian life. Possibly, such things were more frequent in the days of the early Church, when the NT Scriptures were not yet complete and God was specially authenticating the ministry of the apostles. In any case, it is clear from the NT that God means believers to be guided primarily by the four methods mentioned above. That said, I find nothing in the NT even to suggest that God cannot or will not use bolts of lightning to guide his children. To shut ourselves off from the very possibility of such things is to say “No” where God has said “Yes,” and so to risk grieving the Spirit by a lack of openness to certain special adventures that the Lord may have for us in our walk with him!

He guides us by the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus

Every divinely ordained method of spiritual guidance can be counterfeited or contested by Satan’s powers and principalities. The devil can quote Scripture, burden us with dark impressions, give false readings of our circumstances, poison our minds against the counsel of the brethren (or poison the counsel itself), and feed us with lying dreams, visions, angelic visitations, and prophecies. For this reason, it is vital that God’s people learn to shield themselves from counterfeit guidance, not only by consulting the Scriptures, but also by maintaining a high view of God’s goodness; of the kind and loving way in which he is committed to leading his dear children along.

Over and again the NT reminds us of this liberating truth. The law of the Spirit of LIFE in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8). Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is LIBERTY (2 Cor. 3). The LOVE of Christ controls, constrains, and compels us (2 Cor. 5). We must let the PEACE of God rule (i.e., serve as an umpire) in our hearts (Col. 3:15). The wisdom (and the guidance) that comes from above is first of all PURE (James 3:13f). God has written—and today speaks—so that our JOY may full (1 John 1:4). And the list goes on!

One big reason we are so often led astray is that in our frailty we listen to voices from the dark side. Having a low view of God’s kindess, and of his immutable love for every son and daughter in the Beloved, we yield to Satan’s flaming arrows aimed at our flesh: doubt, fear, guilt, compulsion, anger, vain ambition, lust, and more. What do all these things have in common . . . besides that they result in terrible decisions? They are NEGATIVE, dealing out death. What do love, joy, liberty, and peace have in common? They are POSITIVE, bringing life. So then, if we deliberately embrace a Principle of Positivity—refusing to be led by negative inputs, but standing firm in our faith that a good and loving God is committed to leading us by positive inputs—we shall make great strides in our joyful, Spirit-led walk with the Lord (Phil. 4:8-9). (1)

He guides us as we do our part in the process

Paul writes that the Spirit within us moves us to will and to work for God’s good pleasure. This implies that in our quest for good decision-making we have a simple but important role to play. We must meditate regularly on the Word of God, and teach it to our children. We must obey it implicitly. We must pray to God for special wisdom, and trust that he will indeed give it to us. We must wait patiently till it comes, and, if necessary, be humble enough to ask for godly advice while we wait. And above all, we must watch: watch for the joyful, peaceful, liberating, life-giving witness of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, who, in one precious way or another, lovingly whispers in our ears, “This is the way, walk ye in it!”

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of Him in every place!”

Notes

1. True conviction of sin, wrought by the Holy Spirit, comes with godly sorrow, and is always a positive, life-giving experience. It is worlds apart from the condemnation and false guilt that control so much of our thinking, praying, and deciding. Alas, it is too true that Christians can sometimes resist the Spirit of conviction, and so bring chastening upon themselves until, humbled and broken, they finally yield to God, only to discover that, in perfect love, he has been there all along! (Rom. 8:1f, 2 Cor. 9:7f, Heb.12:1f)

Gird Your sword upon Your side, O mighty One. And in Your majesty,
ride forth victoriously, in the cause of truth , humility and righteousness.
Psalm 45:3-4

Note: In the days when I served as a pastor, I wrote this article for Christian young people, especially those attending public school.

As school days draw nigh, filling us all with thoughts of carpools, classes and careers, let’s pause–high schoolers and college students in particular–for a quick backward glance at one of the more troubling developments of the summer of ’94: the growing strength of the so-called Gay Rights Movement.

Recall, for example, the events surrounding Gay Pride Day in New York city. There were the Gay Games, with 20,000 lesbian and homosexual competitors. There was gay theatre, where angry, raucous, and sometimes weeping crowds cheered Tony Kushner’s play, Angels in America, billed as “a gay fantasia on national themes.” And there was the Gay Pride March, with over 100,000 participants trailing rainbow streamers, boldly declaring that the Queer Nation will have its place under the American sun.

Anyone willing to look beneath this veneer of bravado would certainly have found that most of the participants were deeply unhappy people, haunted by fear, guilt and shame. Yet columnist David Broder, speaking for a sympathetic liberal media, was rapturous: He counted himself lucky to witness history in the making, “. . . as another group of . . . brave, funny, addled, and angry . . . Americans were claiming their place in our culture and politics.”

All the World Loves a Cause

What are Bible-believing Christians to think of all this? Why are such movements so popular? How should we respond to them? And what can they teach us about our own place in the world?

These are complex questions. But perhaps we can begin to get a handle on them by recognizing first that all the world loves a cause. And perhaps by thinking for a moment about worldly causes, we can gain some fresh perspective on our own heavenly one.

A cause is a purpose or goal which animates a group of persons. They think it is right and important, that the rest of the world should recognize it, and that it is worthy of great dedication, toil and sacrifice.

A popular cause usually has a leader and a spokesman. Occasionally, as in the case of Dr. King, the leader will become a martyr.

A cause will have a philosophy and a set of values to undergird it. It will unite its adherents with a feeling of esprit de corps. It will usually face adversaries, and may therefore elicit unusual courage (or unusual fanaticism) from its defenders.

Some causes are worthy, others evil. Some are weighty, others trivial. But whatever their character, the world is never lacking for causes, and men are ever eager to take them up.

Made for a Cause

Yes, all the world loves a cause, and as Christians we can understand why. We know that God Himself has designed and made us for a cause. As the Scriptures reveal, He has created us all to glorify Him through good works which He lovingly prepared even before we were born.

What’s more, in our cause He gives us a leader: His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us a true philosophy and godly values in His Word. He unites us with a supportive community, the spiritual family we call the Church. And He lays challenges before us, that we may grow in wisdom, courage, and perseverance.

In all this, we see why the world loves a cause: It’s just human nature. Yes, men can and do reject the cause their nature was created to serve. But no one can reject his nature itself. For this reason, everyone will serve a cause. The only questions is: Whose will it be?

Getting Ready to Ride

Christian youth returning to school must ask themselves just this question. The answer, I think, is found in Psalm 45.

There the writer is catching a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ, coming again in glory on the last day. And how is He seen? He is seen riding forth victoriously ” . . . in the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness.”

Here is the key. For if tomorrow Christ will return to vindicate all who welcomed the truth of the Gospel, then obviously we must commit ourselves to that truth today.

If tomorrow He will exalt all who served mankind in humility, then clearly we must resolve to become humble servants today.

If tomorrow He will reward all who loved righteousness, then certainly we must embrace, defend and promote righteousness today.

In sum, if Christ will ride out of heaven tomorrow to triumph in His cause, then nothing could be important than our riding through the earth to meet Him, this day and every day.

But if you are young, you must first spend some quality time getting ready to ride.

How can you do this?

Likely as not, you already know the answers. Take full advantage of your education. Acquire a biblical worldview. Understand the culture in which you are called to minister. Prayerfully begin to search out your gifts and callings. Strive to set worthy goals. Develop useful and profitable skills that will open wide doors of service. Maintain sexual purity. Establish godly friendships, disciplines, and convictions. And above all, prepare to give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that lies within you, with gentleness and respect.

Christian young person, understand that the world has always been filled with ungodly and unworthy causes. Tomorrow’s world will doubtless be filled with more. But your Leader tells you not to be distracted by them. Yes, he may ask you to do battle with worldy philosophies, values, and practices. But in the end, this is always with a view to rescuing those who hold them, to advancing the cause of Christ and the gospel. You are not to be of the world, but to ride through it, joyfully and singlemindedly fixing your eyes on Him.

If you do, be assured that a little flock of world-weary travelers will indeed take note. They will cry out to join you. They will beg you to lift them up.

That is a very great joy. Are you prepared for it? Are you dedicated to it?

As the school year begins again, are you getting ready to ride?

The anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, legalizing abortion on demand, has come and gone again. This year, however, there was little cause for hope in the pro-life camp. Even as pro-lifers rallied in Washington to stir the conscience of the nation, President Clinton swept aside regulations controlling fetal experimentation, abortions on military bases, and the use of tax-payer dollars for abortion and abortion “counseling” both here and abroad. A seemingly indifferent nation scarcely blinked an eye.

If it is true, as most polls suggest, that Americans are uncomfortable with abortion on demand, it is also an inescapable fact that they are not uncomfortable enough to do much about it. Whether from conviction, confusion, or consuming self-interest, Americans have in fact accepted Roe and the cultural mega-shift it represents.

If, then, abortion–and related practices such as fetal experimentation, infanticide and euthanasia–are to be woven into the very fabric of our national existence, let us at least be as clear as possible about what such a step really means, and where it will take us. Perhaps some careful thought along these lines will persuade us to think again.

In this article, I want to suggest that the abortion controversy is not only political in nature, as some would have it, but also spiritual. My thesis is that the ideology and practice of legalized abortion serves as a kind of window onto the American soul. Looking through the window, we see nothing less than an entire nation at a spiritual crossroads. We see America–indeed, all of Western Civilization–poised between two life-ways: Christianity or Paganism. And the choice we make is, appropriately enough, a matter of life and death.

By way of explanation, let us begin by viewing the life issues in historical perspective.

Though it is has sometimes been romanticized, serious students of history know that the pagan world was not a pretty place to live. Indeed, for women and children, it was often a deadly place. Whether in Persia, Greece, Egypt, Asia, India, Arabia or Rome, abortion and infanticide–especially of baby girls–were accepted practices. The abuse of the weak and innocent by the strong was acceptable routine.

In Rome, for example, a man might have one wife, but many concubines. If any concubine bore him a child, according to the tradition of paterfamilias he could kill it or save it alive, at his discretion. If the verdict was death, the child would be left on the city walls to die of exposure or be eaten by wild animals. Anyone who tried to save the child was liable to criminal charges.

Significantly, there was not a single pagan philosopher (unless we include Hippocrates in their number) who condemned such practices. Indeed, they recommended them, and callously described both methods and procedures.

Then, in the first century, a new philosophy began to spread throughout the Empire, a philosophy that would increasingly challenge the status quo. The followers of Jesus of Nazareth, guided by his teachings and those of the Hebrew Scriptures, began to proclaim that human life, being God’s highest and noblest creation, was sacred. Moreover, they solemnly warned and inveighed against its unlawful destruction by abortion and infanticide.

A crucial battle in this spiritual conflict occurred at the instigation of Basil of Cappadocia. In the course of his relief work among the poor of Caesarea, this pastor discovered a guild of abortionists called the sagae, who provided herbal potions, pessaries and surgical remedies for women who wanted to abort. The fetal remains were sold to cosmetologists in Egypt.

Appalled and outraged, he publicly condemned the sagae, and urged local officials to take action against them. He began to preach to his flock about the sanctity of life and exhorted them to open their homes to pregnant women and children. Finally, his tireless labors gained the attention of the emperor Valentinian, who later decreed that all parents must support the children they conceive, and that those who brutalize or abandon them should be subject to the full penalty of the law.

It was a pivotal moment in the history of the West, a triumph for the biblical vision of the sanctity of life. And from that time on, amidst all too many failures, countless earnest Christians–whether missionaries, pastors, doctors, feminists, lawyers, or just plain folk–have tried to show, by word and deed, the value placed on every human being by the Lord of life.

Their dedication–for which some paid the supreme price–has always been based on three simple biblical principles.

First, human life is both unique and sacred. This affirmation flows from the fact that God intended man alone to live in fellowship with Himself, and that He therefore created him, unlike the animals, in His own image and likeness, with special authority to rule over all other creatures (Genesis l:24-28, Psalm 8). We see the sanctity of human life even more vividly in the incarnation of God’s Son, who not only became a human being, but did so with a view to the salvation, not of animals, but of a new and eternal race of human beings (John 3:l6). In short, biblical teaching on the creation and redemption of man reveals both the uniqueness and infinite value of all people.

Secondly, the pre-born are fully human (though not fully mature) from the moment of conception. The Bible conveys this important truth in several ways. For example, it explicitly affirms that the soul–i.e., the seat of human personality–is the animating principle of the body (Gen. 2:7, James 2:26). Therefore, if a fetus is alive, it has a soul; and if it has a soul, it is indeed a little person. Not surprisingly, we therefore find the Psalmist speaking of the devloping fetus as a fully human being (Psalm l39). Along these lines, we also have the profoundly suggestive case of Elizabeth and Mary, whose pre-born children recognized one another while yet in the womb. Indeed, when little John (six months old) discerned little Jesus (one month old) in the room, he (John) not only recognized him, but leapt for joy (Luke l:39-44)!

Finally, God cares for all people at all stages of life, especially the innocent and the weak; moreover, He casts himself as their defender and avenger, ready to arise in judgment against all who would harm them (Exodus 22:22-24). In particular, He has laid it down as law that we must not kill the innocent (Gen. 9:6, Ex. 20:l3), but instead seek to protect them (Proverbs 24:ll-l2). The government–which is His appointed instrument of justice in the earth–bears a special responsibility in this regard (Romans l3:l-4).

In short, the distinctively Western conviction concerning the sanctity of every human life is rooted in a distinctively biblical world-view. This is expeically true of pro life people, whose ethical impulse usually arises out of a deep conviction that an infinite, personal, holy God stands as King and Judge over the creation He loves; and that we, having a small share in His dominion, must respect and defend all His creatures, most especially the sons and daughters of men.

The pagan world-view, on the other hand, is powerless to generate such concern. For the pagan, there is no living God from whom man ultimately derives his dignity, or to whom he is accountable. There is only matter in process, or perhaps an impersonal cosmic consciousness evolving towards some kind of mystical self-realization. In either case, it is man who is really in the driver’s seat. With no revelation of moral absolutes, pagan man is responsible to none but himself. He must create his own values, basing his choices on purely private determinations of what is desirable or useful or conducive to “personal fulfilment” and “quality of life.” Unfortunately, a Nero, a Hitler, a Pol Pot, or a Saddam Hussein may have one definition of “quality of life,” while their countrymen have quite another.

Here, then, is the deep, underlying significance of the abortion debate. More than a political crisis, the abortion controversy signals that we have now entered a profound cultural crisis, a crisis that forces us all to re-examine and redefine the very foundations of our corporate life, and then to choose the kind of future we want for ourselves and our children.

Though many will resist it, both the Bible and history assure us that in the end we really have only two choices. We can embrace the biblical world-view and the “sanctity of life” ethic that it generates, or we can embrace a pagan, humanistic world-view, and the “quality of life” ethic it generates. To put the matter more bluntly still, we can submit to the reign of the living God, or we can reign over ourselves. It is not a choice that we sinners have ever found easy to make.

Does the choice seem too narrow, and the options too few for our pluralistic, “live and let live” culture? Those who think so would do well to consider the following remarks of Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote about the brave new ideologies of his own era:

“There are those who believe that a new modernity demands a new morality. What they fail to consider is the harsh reality that there is no such thing as a new morality. There is only one morality. There is only true Christian ethics over against which stands the whole of paganism. . . All these blatant sham reformers, in the name of a new morality, preach the old, old vice of self-indulgence which rotted out first the moral fiber and then even the external greatness of Greece and Rome. If we are to fulfill our destiny as a people, then we must return to the old morality, the sole morality.”

Strong words, I admit, but amply vinidcated by the gulags, gas chambers, and killing fields that followed. And with 40 million innocent children now dead in Americas abortuaries, multitudes of our women scarred for life, and the last walls of legal protection crumbling all around us, perhaps we need some strong words.

Perhaps, before it is too late, we should reconsider our rich biblical heritage and the sanctity of life ethic that made Western Civilization and America great. Are we really prepared to discard them? What will happen to us and our children if we do? The warnings of Scripture, the dark course of modern history, and the un-pretty picture of ancient paganism supply a sobering answer.

Yes, America really is at a spiritual crossroads. And as for the nation, so for the individual: Each of us must choose. Therefore, since the hour is very late, let us hear afresh the word of God to every man, woman, boy and girl of every time and every place in the whole of this dark and tumultous world:

“Today I set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

So choose life, that you may live, you and your seed.”

(Deuteronomy 30:19)