The World to Come

The book of Revelation speaks of the New Heaven and New Earth to come, the eschaton, the future that the prophets spoke of and that Israel was expecting. Christ is the eschaton and in Him we have already entered the future state with Israel. His kingdom, Christ in us and in the church, is the first fruits (Rom 8:23). We will discuss this in the next chapter.

We wish to quote this statement from John Calvin again, because it sums up what we are saying:

Here the world to come is not that which we hope for after the resurrection, but that which began at the beginning of Christ’s kingdom; but it will no doubt have its full accomplishment in our final redemption (resurrection). (Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 2:5).

When we know that we are in His kingdom now, we partake of it now and we expect to see the Lord reign now and we do not just wait until His Second Coming.

In the 17th Century John Owen spoke to the British parliament about the New Heaven and New Earth. The sermon was called, The Advantage of the Kingdom of Christ in the Shaking of the Kingdoms of the World. You can read it on www.ccel.org/ccel/owen. Owen is often considered to be the best English speaking theologian in history. In this sermon he taught what we are teaching in this chapter.

Owen gave an a-millennial scenario of the kingdom of Christ and said that in the centuries to follow He will bring in a very large harvest of souls in world missions. Owen challenged the British parliament to get out of their selfishness and become interested in the things of Christ, or be set aside by Christ.

Owen’s work had a very significant influence on the years that followed, as Christians laboured in missions, politics and education to impact the world. Owen’s views became the bedrock of Christian and political development in early America, making it a nation with the purpose of reaching the world with the gospel. Owen’s vision of the future was fulfilled exactly as he set it out 400 years ago.

Summary

In this chapter we have seen the Idealist interpretation of the book of Revelation. As a school of thought, idealism claims the Revelation has no exact historical application, but covers themes that relate to Christian life. The book depicts the reign of Christ over the nations. This reign is also depicted in Psalms 2, 22 and 110, as well as in Isaiah, Daniel and all of the prophets.

During this reign Satan is bound, meaning that he is under the complete dominion of Christ, but is released seasonally to gather Christ’s enemies against Him. This results in their destruction and the continued victory of Christ and His church in history, as God gathers in His elect from the four winds. At the end of the current church age the devil shall be cast into the lake of fire.

Eschatology is simple. It is one thing: Jesus came to establish the New Covenant that has its climax in His Second Coming and the resurrection of our body. This is all that there is to eschatology. There is no Jewish state.