Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

More documents

Recommendations

Info

14:19-20 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. And I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed; But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it. For the Vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the House of Israel, And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. (Isa. 5:1-7) 19-20 The Vineyard is judged: The angel threw his sickle to the Land, and gathered the vine of the Land, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God to produce the substance that will be poured from the chalices in Chapter 16. The repeated references to the Land (six times in verses 15-19), combined with the imagery of the vine of the Land, emphasize that this is a judgment on the Land of Israel. Reviewing the extensive Biblical background of the vineyard idea, Carrington concludes: “It does not seem possible to suppose that St. John could have intended to apply these words to any other country than Israel, or to any other city than Jerusalem. They echo the words of St. John the Baptist, with which the whole Christian prophetic movement began, Even now is the axe laid to the root of the tree. What is contingent in the Baptist is absolute in Revelation. Israel is rejected.” 20 The imagery of this passage is based on Isaiah’s prophecy of the destruction of Edom, where God is described as a man crushing grapes in a wine press. He explains why His robe is stained with “juice”: I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger, And trampled them in My wrath; And their juice is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. For the Day of Vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. And I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. And I trod down the peoples in My anger, And made them drunk in My wrath, And I brought down their juice to the earth. (Isa. 63:1-6) And the wine press was trodden outside the City, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of sixteen hundred stadia. It is unfortunate that translations such as the New American Standard Version, due to literalist presuppositions, render this measurement into a modern American measurement: two hundred miles. While that translation does provide a good idea of the magnitude of the bloodshed, it entirely misses the important symbolic figure of sixteen hundred, a number which again emphasizes the Land: four squared (the Land), times ten squared (largeness). Sixteen hundred stadia is slightly more than the length of Palestine: The whole Land of Israel is thus represented as overflowing with blood in the coming nationwide judgment. The streams of running blood become a great Red Sea, reaching up to the horses’ bridles in a recapitulation of the overthrow of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots (Ex. 14:23, 28; 15:19; cf. the extensive use of Exodus imagery in the following chapter). Zechariah had foretold of a day when all things throughout the Land would be holy, when the Land would be filled with pure worshipers, when HOLY TO THE LORD would be inscribed even “on the bells of the horses” of Israel (Zech. 14:20-21). But God had raised up on Mount Zion a new, pure Israel, in whom the promises would be fulfilled. Old Israel had become apostate and unclean, her horses swimming in blood. The bloodshed covers the Land, yet it is outside the City. The historical fulfillment of this was, from one perspective, when “Galilee was all over filled with fire and blood,” as the troops of Vespasian and Titus overran the country. The whole Land, except for Jerusalem, was covered with death and devastation. 21 Theologically, however, the fulfillment of this text must also be related to the sacrifice of Christ, for that was the definitive bloodshedding “outside the City.” In the Old Testament sacrificial system, “the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Hence, let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting City, but we are seeking the City which is to come” (Heb. 13:11-14). Outside the City, therefore, was the place of judgment, where the bodies of sacrificed animals were disposed of; and it was the Place of Judgment, where Christ’s blood was shed by rebellious Israel. In this layered imagery, then, the blood flowing outside the City belongs to Christ, sacrificed outside the camp; and it is to be the blood of apostate Israel as well, cast out and excommunicated from “the Jerusalem above” and disinherited by the Father. Here is the doctrine of Limited Atonement, and with a vengeance: Blood will flow – if the blood is not Christ’s, shed on our behalf, it will be ours! “In A.D. 70 the Vine of Israel is cut down and trampled in the Winepress; but this destruction is the culmination of a process which has lasted over forty years; it began Outside the City, when one whom they despised and rejected trod the Winepress alone, and of the people there was none with Him. It was in that moment that Jerusalem fell.” 22 20. Carrington, p. 256. On Christ’s use of vineyard imagery in His parables, see Chilton, Paradise Restored, pp. 76-82. 21. See Josephus, The Jewish War, Book iii. 22. Carrington, p. 261. 154
Part Five COVENANT SUCCESSION AND CONTINUITY : THE SEVEN CHALICES (Revelation 15-22) Introduction As we have seen, the final section of Revelation corresponds to Christ’s letter to the angel of the church at Thyatira, which speaks of His judgment on “Jezebel,” the False Bride; and, like the letter to the angel of the church at Laodicea, it speaks against the economically wealthy yet spiritually wretched church (Judaism), which Christ is about to spit out of His mouth. This section also corresponds to the last of the four living creatures, the man-cherub, and (in St. John’s order) the last quarter of the Zodiac, ruled by the constellation of Aquarius the Water-Pourer; accordingly, the symbol of judgment in this section is that of the angels pouring out God’s wrath from their Chalices. We have also noted that the last division in Revelation corresponds to the fifth and final part of the covenantal treaty structure: the succession arrangements. This deals with the continuity of the Covenant, the disinheritance of illegitimate members, and the inheritance of those who are faithful to their sworn obligations (cf. Deut. 31-34). 1 Moses begins this section of Deuteronomy with orders for extending the Covenant into the future. He charges the people (31:1- 6), Joshua (31:7-8), and the priests (31:9-13) with the duty of following the Covenant program and ensuring its transmission to the coming generations. Then (31:14-15) God appears in the Glory-Cloud at the doorway of the Tabernacle to meet with Moses and Joshua, and instructs them to teach a Song of Witness to the children of Israel. He says to Moses: “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the Land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My Covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they shall be consumed, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them. . . . Now therefore, write this Song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this Song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. . . . Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this Song will testify before them as a witness” (31:16- 21). As Kline shows, the Song of Witness (Deut. 32) is “Yahweh’s covenant lawsuit against his ungrateful and unfaithful people, prophetically delivered through Moses, ‘the man of God’ (see Deut. 33:1, ‘the man of X’ being a title for the messengers of great kings).” 2 A model Covenant Lawsuit, the Song itself is structured according to the standard form of the treaty document. Thus we have the familiar outline: I. Preamble (32:1-4) II. Historical Prologue (32:5-14) III Record of Rebellion Against Covenant Stipulations (32:15-18) IV. Sanctions: A. Curses Against Covenant-Breakers (32:19-25) B. Blessings on the Remnant Through Redemptive Judgment (32:26-43) V. Succession Arrangements (32:44-34:12) 3 Both Moses and Joshua taught the Song of Witness to the people (32:44); it might well be called “the Song of Moses and Joshua.” Accordingly, in the corresponding fifth section of Revelation, St. John begins with a manifestation of God’s glory at “the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle of the Testimony,” where God gives a covenantal commission to seven angel-priests; as choral accompaniment to all this the Remnant sings “the Song of Moses the bond-servant of God and the Song of the Lamb.” The Lamb, as all St. John’s readers know, is Jesus, the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua; the Song is therefore “the Song of Moses and (the Greater) Joshua.” In Revelation 15 and 16 the Tabernacle is opened and the priests are sent forth to pour out their Chalicejudgments upon Israel as punishment for her harlotry – the chief crime that called forth the original Song of Witness (Deut. 31:16). Here we should note one important element that ties Chapters 15-22 together as a literary unit. After the seven angels have poured out 1. See Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963), pp. 135- 49; cf. Ray R. Sutton, That You May Prosper: Dominion By Covenant (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1987). 2. Kline, Treaty of the Great King, p. 139. 3. See ibid., pp. 140-49; I have slightly amended Kline’s outline. 155
Page 1:
But when you see Jerusalem surround
Page 4 and 5:
Copyright @ 1987 by Dominion Press
Page 6 and 7:
FOREWORD Foreword Readers of the Bo
Page 8 and 9:
PUBLISHER’S PREFACE Publisher’s
Page 10 and 11:
PUBLISHER’S PREFACE case for esch
Page 12 and 13:
PUBLISHER’S PREFACE this book bec
Page 14 and 15:
PUBLISHER’S PREFACE In contrast,
Page 16 and 17:
INTRODUCTION St. Irenaeus is somewh
Page 18 and 19:
INTRODUCTION we must be saved” (A
Page 20 and 21:
INTRODUCTION previous relationship
Page 22 and 23:
INTRODUCTION You have lain down as
Page 24 and 25:
INTRODUCTION are only elaborating a
Page 26 and 27:
INTRODUCTION early churches had suc
Page 28 and 29:
INTRODUCTION actions mean more than
Page 30 and 31:
INTRODUCTION Some will complain tha
Page 32 and 33:
INTRODUCTION Outline of Revelation
Page 34 and 35:
1:1-3 that must shortly take place.
Page 36 and 37:
1:4-6 accomplishment. We probably h
Page 38 and 39:
1:7-8 observe that a central aspect
Page 40 and 41:
1:9 14 And His head and His hair we
Page 42 and 43:
1:16 That all the peoples, nations,
Page 44 and 45:
1:20 things that must shortly take
Page 46 and 47:
INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO Part Two H
Page 48 and 49:
INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO The confli
Page 50 and 51:
2:4-6 endure evil men. . . . And yo
Page 52 and 53:
2:9-10 dead, and has come to life:
Page 54 and 55:
2:14-16 expression (none of which m
Page 56 and 57:
2:18-23 and leads my servants astra
Page 58 and 59:
2:26-29 end, to him I will give aut
Page 60 and 61:
3:4-6 church, or even against a nat
Page 62 and 63:
3:8-11 And I will clothe him with y
Page 64 and 65:
3:14-16 sons disinherited and cast
Page 66 and 67:
3:21-22 the elders of a church, and
Page 68 and 69:
INTRODUCTION TO PART THREE The laws
Page 70 and 71:
4:2-3 numerous names and descriptio
Page 72 and 73:
4:5-8 superseded and transcended; t
Page 74 and 75:
4:5-8 19) led Biblical writers to s
Page 76 and 77:
5:1-4 family worship; it is radical
Page 78 and 79:
5:5-7 St. John; and it seems as if
Page 80 and 81:
5:8-10 have gained the victory for
Page 82 and 83:
6:1-2 6 IN THE PATH OF THE WHITE HO
Page 84 and 85:
6:3-4 forth conquering, and to conq
Page 86 and 87:
6:9-10 And authority was given to h
Page 88 and 89:
6:15-17 that Israel’s time has ru
Page 90 and 91:
7:4-8 Though he flourishes among th
Page 92 and 93:
7:4-8 they were listening to the Ap
Page 94 and 95:
7:9 is presumably deliberate, for i
Page 96 and 97:
7:10-14 inheriting the Kingdom (Mat
Page 98 and 99:
7:15-17 They will not hunger or thi
Page 100 and 101:
8:3-5 for that would be about the l
Page 102 and 103:
8:6-7 rout the Midianites, in Judge
Page 104 and 105: 8:12 13 And I looked, and I heard a
Page 106 and 107: 9:13 The vegetation of the earth is
Page 108 and 109: 9:20-21 lations advanced by some co
Page 110 and 111: 9:20-21 men much more atheistical t
Page 112 and 113: 10:2-4 beyond reasonable doubt that
Page 114 and 115: 10:8-10 the Spirit at Pentecost was
Page 116 and 117: 11:1-2 angelic priest measures the
Page 118 and 119: 11:7 have the power to shut up the
Page 120 and 121: 11:11-14 climax with the murder of
Page 122 and 123: 11:16-18 month in the liturgical ye
Page 124 and 125: 12:1-2 12 THE HOLY WAR The Book of
Page 126 and 127: 12:1-2 birth to the Christ, to brin
Page 128 and 129: 12:4 Daniel repeats the same idea i
Page 130 and 131: 12:5-9 Chronologically, this explan
Page 132 and 133: 12:12 And when we see the Lord warr
Page 134 and 135: 12:17 for the action of Pharaoh, wh
Page 136 and 137: 13:3-4 of the ten imperial province
Page 138 and 139: 13:8-10 The Beast was given authori
Page 140 and 141: 13:13-14 character and office (1 Co
Page 142 and 143: 13:18 work throughout Revelation ar
Page 144 and 145: 13:18 ✩ ✩✩ ✩★✩ ✩★
Page 146 and 147: 14:1 14 THE KING ON MOUNT ZION St.
Page 148 and 149: 14:6-7 have seen, the Church on ear
Page 150 and 151: 14:9-13 understanding (Prov. 9:1-6)
Page 152 and 153: 14:14-16 I may find them prompt; na
Page 156 and 157: their Chalices of wrath, one of the
Page 158 and 159: 15:3-4 sacrifices; and the Glory of
Page 160 and 161: 15:8 We should be reminded in this
Page 162 and 163: 16:1-3 5 And I heard the Angel of t
Page 164 and 165: 16:10-11 the heat of the sun by the
Page 166 and 167: 16:15-16 established here, for the
Page 168 and 169: 16:19 thereof, concerning which the
Page 170 and 171: 17:1 17 THE FALSE BRIDE While some
Page 172 and 173: 17:3 action throughout history in s
Page 174 and 175: 17:8 Jerusalem’s whole history, i
Page 176 and 177: 17:13-16 (v. 2), as the instruments
Page 178 and 179: 18:1-2 priority over the kingdoms o
Page 180 and 181: 18:6-8 His people to come out of Ba
Page 182 and 183: 18:17-19 sanctuary two lampstands r
Page 184 and 185: 18:20-21 They went down into the de
Page 186 and 187: 19:1-2 19 THE FEASTS OF THE KINGDOM
Page 188 and 189: 19:3-8 of vengeance, in order that
Page 190 and 191: 19:10 Church admitted its members t
Page 192 and 193: 19:12-15 Let the heavens be glad, a
Page 194 and 195: 19:16-18 of wealth, or wasting dise
Page 196 and 197: 20:1 20 THE MILLENNIUM AND THE JUDG
Page 198 and 199: 20:1-3 Christ established His media
Page 200 and 201: 20:1-3 The great fathers and teache
Page 202 and 203: 20:4 The relationship between the p
Page 204 and 205:
20:5-6 earth? The answer should be
Page 206 and 207:
20:7-8 ministry; that was Satan’s
Page 208 and 209:
20:9-10 St. John’s image for the
Page 210 and 211:
20:12 redeemed with Thy precious bl
Page 212 and 213:
21:1 21 THE NEW JERUSALEM The Bible
Page 214 and 215:
21:1 Pet. 3:5-7; cf. the same analo
Page 216 and 217:
21:3-5 will be established finally,
Page 218 and 219:
21:9-11 The New Jerusalem (21:9-27)
Page 220 and 221:
21:15-21 Covenant of Grace; the fac
Page 222 and 223:
21:24-27 And deep darkness the peop
Page 224 and 225:
22:3-4 Paradise is not, therefore,
Page 226 and 227:
22:6-9 Final Warnings and Blessings
Page 228 and 229:
22:17-21 unconquerable strength and
Page 230 and 231:
CONCLUSION the pure Bride-City, is
Page 232 and 233:
CONCLUSION does not exempt us from
Page 234 and 235:
APPENDIX A it is reflected in “It
Page 236 and 237:
APPENDIX A make him a pillar in the
Page 238 and 239:
APPENDIX A and wine the night befor
Page 240 and 241:
APPENDIX A Babylon, falsely priestl
Page 242 and 243:
APPENDIX A B. CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 1.
Page 244 and 245:
APPENDIX B been the defining mark o
Page 246 and 247:
APPENDIX B The Bible teaches us tha
Page 248 and 249:
APPENDIX C APPENDIX C Common Grace,
Page 250 and 251:
APPENDIX C for all eternity because
Page 252 and 253:
APPENDIX C better arrangement cultu
Page 254 and 255:
APPENDIX C be destroyed. The two ex
Page 256 and 257:
APPENDIX C universe. It is governed
Page 258 and 259:
APPENDIX C completed, the world was
Page 260 and 261:
APPENDIX C deceive the nations. The
Page 262 and 263:
APPENDIX C creeds and theological u
Page 264 and 265:
APPENDIX C coherence that at least
Page 266 and 267:
APPENDIX C There is continuity in l
Page 268 and 269:
Athanasius. On the Incarnation of t
Page 270:
________. The Institutes of Biblica
show all

Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?