Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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. All the benefits of the death would have had to
stand unappropriated for ever." Calvary and the
empty tomb must stand together, both as historic facts
and as history-transcending events.
The contemporary preacher, as he proclaims the past
and present Christ "mediate[s] the Real Presence of
Christ" to the congregat1on. 1 Stewart stated the
ideal;
Every time the message is told, the whole
situation is charged with the supernatural, the
whole redeeming energy of the eternal is
concentrated, Christ Himself is veritably at
work, and the Cross and the Resurrection are no
longer past events but present realities in
which the living God meets men and challenges
them to decision.16'
History, for Stewart, looks forward to the Parousia,
the day when Christ will return to this earth as
"apocalyptic transcendent Redeemer."- In one sense,
the new age has already come, but now man sees Jesus as
Lord of all only through faith. Pockets of evil appear
outside his control. The day will come when his total
rule will be obvious to all. (A note of mystery remains
in Stewart's theology: the state of the non-believer in
eternity. On this point, Stewart appears to have adopted
what he called the apostle Paul's "reverent
agnosticism." 2°) In any case, Stewart did not shrink
from asserting that the "the total meaning of history is
the universal reign of Christ".21
Jesus, on the cross, defeated the forces of evil.
The winner of the cosmic battle has been declared, yet