What Will Become of the Earth: A Nashville Bible School Perspective
New Heaven and Earth.
Nineteenth century Restorationists, from Alexander Campbell to David Lipscomb, spoke and wrote about these subjects. They often disagreed, however.
Alexander Campbell was a postmillennialist. James A. Harding was a premillennialist. Walter Scott changed his mind several times. David Lipscomb was uncertain.
However, these all agreed that
the most important aspect of the Christ’s second coming
was the regeneration
not only of the SOUL,
but the BODY and the whole
COSMOS.
Jesus said that He didn't pray for the World,
the Kosmos, The ecumenical kingdom of the Devil marked by
gender-conflicts manifested in all DO efforts.
kosmos , ho, Isoc.2.32: metaph., of ornaments of speech, such as epithets, Id.9.9 (pl.), Arist.Rh.1408a14, Po.1457b2, 1458a33; hadumelē k. keladein to sing sweet songs of praise, Pi.O.11 (10).13 (s.v.l.).
Strab. 10.3.10 And on
this account Plato, and even before his time the
Pythagoreians, called philosophy music;1
and they say that the universe is constituted in accordance
with harmony,2
assuming that every form of music is the work of the gods.
And in this sense, also, the Muses are goddesses, and
Apollo is leader of the Muses, and poetry as a whole is
laudatory of the gods. And by the same course of reasoning
they also attribute to music the upbuilding of morals,
believing that everything which tends to correct the mind is
close to the gods
Gary Holloway Ecumenical: First, [ecumenical] is biblical. “Ecumenical” is from the Greek word oikoumena, which is used 15 times in the New Testament for “the entire inhabited world.” The most interesting passage that relates to the modern meaning is Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
INHABITED: Late Latin oecumenicus ; from Classical Greek oikoumenikos, of or from the whole world ; from oikoumenē (gē), the inhabited (world) ; from oikein, to dwell, inhabit ; from oikos:THE MARK of the Kosmos [oikoumena], a Pythagoras dogma silenced in Romans 14.
Dik-ēma A.dwelling-place. esp. bed-chamber, temple, shrine, brothel, the kosmos .
Dioik-eō “diōkēsamēn” keep house: hence, generally, control, manage, administer, manage after one's own will and pleasure, managing to make such iniquitous profits, act collusively with ton kosmon” Id.Phdr.246c;
kosmos , ho, A. order, kata kosmon in order, duly, shamefully, generally, of things, natural order, ornament, decoration, esp. of women, metaph., of ornaments of speech, such as epithets, to sing sweet songs of praise, world-order, universe, first in Pythagoras, of earth, as opp. heaven, 3. in later Gr., = oikoumenē, the known or inhabited world, 5. houtos ho k. this present world, i.e. earth, OPPOSITE. heaven, Ev.Jo.13.1; regarded as the kingdom of evil, ho arkhōn tou k. toutou ib.12.31.
Kosmo-krator epith. of ouranos, Orph.H.4.3; “Zeus Mitras Hēlios k.
Dam.Pr.131; hoi k. tou skotous toutou the cosmic rulers of this sinful world, dentified with Apollon.
Ep.Eph.6.12; “hoi k. hoi ta hupo selēnēn stoikheia dioikountes”
Gary Holloway First, [ecumenical] is biblical. “Ecumenical” is from the Greek word oikoumena, which is used 15 times in the New Testament for “the entire inhabited world.” The most interesting passage that relates to the modern meaning is Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."...this sect crowned the image of Jesus along with those of Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle. Further, there were impostors of all varieties: magicians, soothsayers, jugglers, deceivers and hypocrites, 'who appeared using mighty words with a host of unintelligible formulae and taking up with scandalous ceremonies in order to rob men of their money." (Int. Std. Bible Ency., Gnosticism, p. 1246).
ALSO OF THE SECTS SILENCED IN ROMANS 14
Abaddon-Apollon as leader of the muses (Locusts) was called the WASHER claiming that the music-induced madness purified the soul.
The Orphic creeds were the basis of the Pythagorean brotherhood, which flourished in southern Italy beginning in the 6th century bc. The Pythagoreans were aristocratic fraternities that sometimes had a political scope.
Their main achievements, however, lay in the fields of music, geometry, and astronomy.
They discovered that these subjects could be explained by numbers and ratios. Combining Orphic eschatology (the study of the last things, especially death and afterlife) with their discoveries, they invested music, geometry, and astronomy with religious values. According to their doctrine, the original home of the soul was in the stars. From there ...
"In cultic action music was used in preparation for prophecy. Julius Firmicus Maternus refers to this fact in his remarks on an African cult.
- With the air full of flute music,
- the priests would put on women's clothing and
- then call on the goddess so that,
- filled with a wicked spirit, they might
- predict the future to foolish men.
"In considering this cultic background it is necessary to understand the
- view of music as dispositive to divination,
- a view which derives from pagan philosophy.
This opinion resided in the old Pythagorean school, as Cicero notes. The Stoa also recognized the employment of music in the service of divination. According to Stoic teaching, ascesis and listen to music were preparations for the ecstasy which, along with purity of heart and a relationship with God, was considered to be the most favorable condition for prophesying.
The notion which was basic to this conception was closely connected with belief in the purifying power of music. In both instances there was a question of eleminating tensions and obstacles in man which could stand in the way of the infusion of the divine and its revelation. (Quasten, Johannes, pg. 4
The
Earth is NOT the Cosmos: Cosmos means "the universe
seen as a well-ordered whole." Universe means
"all existing matter and space considered as a whole;
the cosmos." The words can be used as synonym of
each other, or you can use cosmos when you are
referring to the well-ordered aspect of the universe.
There
may be 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way For
the Universe, the galaxies are our small representative
volumes, and there are something like 1011 to
1012 stars in our Galaxy, and there are perhaps
something like 1011 or 1012 galaxie
John
Mark Hicks: They believed God will refine
the present cosmos by fire and transform (renew) it into a
“new heaven and new earth,” just as God will raise our bodies
from the grave and transform them into bodies animated
by the Holy Spirit fitted for living on the new earth.
PAUL
CONTRADICTS:
1Cor. 15:42 So also is the resurrection
of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in
incorruption:
1Cor. 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory:
it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power
1Cor. 15:44 It is sown a natural body;
it is raised a
spiritual body.
There is a natural
body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Cor. 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual,
but that which
is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Cor. 15:47 The first man is OF the EARTH, earthy:
the second man is the Lord from heaven.
DUST
means that Adam was an ABORIGINE. God made or instructed him
with the BREATH or SPIRIT of LIFE.
Neither Jesus nor those who accept HIS Word are OF the
Earth.
Jesus said that He was from ABOVE but the Jewish clergy were
from BENEATH or Tartarus.
John Mark
Hicks:They believed, as Alexander
Campbell put it, that “the hope of the resurrection to
everlasting life” in
“the new earth and the
new heavens” was essential to the Christian vision of life and
hope,
central to the gospel of
grace itself (Millennial Harbinger, 1865, p. 494).
NEW is not REFINED:
William J. Nottingham Global
Ministries.
This is evidenced in the
decisions concerning missionaries growing out
of this fervor leading up to the Cincinnati
convention: Dr. and Mrs. James T. Barclay
were the first. It was in their parlor in
Washington, D.C., 1843, that the congregation had
been organized which became the Vermont Avenue
Church and in 1930 the National City
Christian Church.
They went to
Jerusalem, not because of Acts 1:8
"beginning with Jerusalem" as a popular Disciples
legend has it, but
because it was taken for granted by
Alexander Campbell and his followers that
the Jews were to be converted before the
return of Christ.
That was a false
assumption: the Millenial Harbinger's major thrust
was not to SUPPORT Millerism but to defeat it.
Campbell denies that Jesus will return to
Canaan. Because the Church of Christ did not
believe in William E. Miller [Ellen G.
White]. You will notice that it was the
Disciples who were tilted by Miller.
Nottingham:
In the Millennial Harbinger of 1841,
we read in what is
called The Protestant Theory:
[NOT that of Campbell]
"The Millennium, so
far as the triumphs of Christianity is concerned, will
be a state of greatly enlarged and continuous
prosperity, in which the Lord will be exalted and his
divine spirit enjoyed in an unprecedented measure. All
the conditions of society will be vastly improved; wars
shall cease, and peace and good will among men will
generally abound. The Jews will be converted, and the
fullness of the Gentiles will be brought into the
kingdom of the Messiah."
SEVERAL men foreordained to TRASH the
Historic Church of Christ do not or cannot under who
is doing the speaking.
A.C.M.H The birth of Jesus the Christ is, of course, the first topic. His human ancestry, maternal and paternal, his nativity, his kindred, his native country, his associates, his manners and customs, the character of his cotemporaries, his manner of preaching and teaching, his miracles, his persecutors, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension to heaven, his coronation, his mission of the Holy Spirit, his administration of the affairs of the whole universe, his second coming,
his resurrection of the dead, his final judgment of angels, men and demons,
his CREATION of a NEW universe, NEW heavens, nNEWew earth, all things new;--these are themes in harmony with the cravings,
desires and necessities of humanity in all its phases, desires and aspirations.
The present material universe, yet unrevealed in all its area, in all its tenantries, in all its riches, beauty and grandeur, will be wholly regenerated. Of this fact we have full assurance: since he that now [472] sits upon the Throne of the Universe, has pledged his word for it, saying, "
BEHOLD, I WILL CREATE ALL THINGS NEW"--consequently "new heavens, new earth,"--consequently, new tenantries, new employments, new pleasures, new joys, new ecstacies. There is a fullness of joy, a fullness of glory, and a fullness of blessedness, of which no living man, however enlightened, however enlarged, however gifted, ever formed or entertained one adequate conception.
There is no knowledge of greater importance than to know the meaning of God's WORD; and among the most fatal errors will be that of misapplying the prophecies. On this rock the Jewish church split. They misapplied predictions on which their salvation depended. The safety of the Gentile church is standing in jeopardy at this very time, on this very ground. Predictions relative to Christ's second coming and his universal reign are perverted or not understood. Similar faults, similar fates. The Jewish church fell upon the stone and was broken; the stone is to fall upon the Gentile, and grind it to powder.
The Old Jerusalem he called sodomBut when he appears as a Judge, "a fiery stream issues and goes before him, thousand thousands of angels minister to him, ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him, and the books are opened.
Earth and heaven shall FLEE AWAY and there is found no place for them. Our God shall come, and shall no more be silent, but speak out. A fire shall go before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall summon earth and heaven. The Lord shall descend with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. His voice shall be heard by every ear, dead and alive, in the whole universe--all that are in their graves shall hear it and come forth." But we hasten to the four great events attendant on his coming:--
The structure of the material universe shall be changed, and new heavens and a new earth created.
In the 102d Psalm we have this promise, "The heavens shall perish--they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture thou shalt change them."
Old Garments wear beyond use: The physical Earth has a limited supply of raw materials or some meteor will melt it. We will be a SPIRITUAL body and cannot use a FLESHLY habitation.
Therefore, according to the promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth: for, says Peter, quoting from an old Prophet, "The heavens and the earth that are now are reserved unto Fire, against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men."
In the day of the Lord "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up."
But He that sits upon the throne says, "Behold I create all things new" (Rev. xxi. 5); and accordingly John saw new heavens and a new earth. And from that point in the heavens where the saints of the Lord assembled around their Master during the general conflagration, John saw the New Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband, to locate in the new earth, the everlasting home of man; for the tabernacle of God is to be there forever.
Rev. 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was no more sea.
g2537. kainos, kahee-nos´; of uncertain affinity; new (especially in freshness; while 3501 is properly so with respect to age: — new.Rev. 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
g3928. parerchomai, par-er´-khom-ahee; from 3844 and 2064; to come near or aside, i.e. to approach (arrive), go by (or away), (figuratively) perish or neglect, (causative) avert: — come (forth), go, pass (away, by, over), past, transgress.
The Holy City or New Jerusalem Came down. However, it did not come down to the present earth
Rev. 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly;
and my reward is with me,
to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev. 22:14 Blessed are they that DO HIS COMMANDMENTS
that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city
.
Rev. 22:15 For without are dogs, [Catamites]
and sorcerers,
Plato, Euthydemus[289d] On what proof do you rely? I asked.[289e] For not only do these speech-writers themselves, when I am in their company, impress me as prodigiously clever, Cleinias, but their art itself seems so exalted as to be almost inspired. However, this is not surprising; for it is a part of the SORCERER'S art, epōdōn tekhnēs
Latin 289e: kai mentoi ouden thaumaston: esti gar tēs tōn epōdōn tekhnēs morion mikrō te ekeinēs hupodeestera.and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Thaumaston Is a Lying wonder which claims that your rituals are ordained by God.
-epōdē , Ion. and poet. epa^oidē , hē, A.song sung to or over: hence, enchantment, spell, LADEN BURDENou pros iatrou sophou thrēnein epōdas pros tomōnti pēmati
of the Magi, Hdt.1.132 oute pharmaka..oud' au epōdai” Pl.R. 426b ; thusiai kai e. ib.364b
charm for or against.., “toutōn epōdas ouk epoiēsen patēr” A.Eu.649.
1st. All the dead saints shall be raised.
2d. All the living saints shall be changed.
3d. All nations shall be judged and a final separation between the good and the bad shall take place.
4th. NEW heavens and a new earth shall be CREATED,
and the earth shall then be the dwelling place of Jehovah,
the centre of the universe, the throne of the Eternal, and all things shall be subdued to him.
Of Course there is no similarity of the FLESH and the SPIRIT world. Indeed, smart people can calculate 10 dimension plus TIME.
The following assumptions, while essential to this theory, are, nevertheless, fatal to the views of prophecy which they seem to entertain:--
1st. The day of the Lord's coming is the END OF ALL TIME
2d. It is also the end of the PRESENT heavens, earth, and sea.
3d. It is, moreover, the end of all the nations of the earth.Now, all this is only equivalent to affirming that, when the Lord comes,
the material heavens, earth, sea, time, and nations, shall be no more.
It is, therefore, incumbent on them to show that all the prophecies that respect these heavens, earth, sea, time, and nations, have been fulfilled. Indeed, this is their strong and oft-repeated assertion.
CONTRADICTING ALL BUT MILLENNIALISM AND HOLY SCRIPTURE JOHN
MARK HICKS CONTINUES:
Many are surprised to learn this about our forbearers in the faith because they associate a renewed, material earth with fringe groups and strange ideas. But it was the dominant perspective among churches of Christ in the late nineteenth century, particularly as articulated by David Lipscomb and James A. Harding, co-founders of the Nashville Bible School (now Lipscomb University).
What exactly did they mean by this, and why was it so important to them?
Creation. When God created the cosmos, God came to dwell upon the earth with humanity in the Garden of Eden. This was God’s sanctuary, and God enjoyed fellowship with humanity there. More than that, God shared dominion (rule) with humanity, and, made in God’s image, humanity was equipped to reign with God in the universe. Humanity was designed to reign with God forever and ever.
Fall. However, humanity turned the cosmos “over to Satan,” and a war began between the kingdom of God and the “kingdoms of this world, under the leadership of Satan” (Harding, The Way, 1903, p. 1041). God, in one sense, “left this world as a dwelling place” (Lipscomb, Salvation from Sin, p. 36), and now “Satan dwells upon the earth” to deceive the nations and devour Christians (Harding, The Way, 1902, p. 57).
Messianic Age.
Beginning with Israel, but revealed in the presence of Jesus
the Messiah,
God sought to restore
dominion over the cosmos
through a kingdom people
whose lives reflected the glory and character of God.
God drew near to Israel by dwelling in the temple, then came to dwell in the flesh, and now dwells in Christians by the Spirit. God’s restorationist and redemptive mission are presently advanced through the church in the power of the Spirit. God battles the forces of Satan through the church.
New Creation. God’s mission is to fully dwell again upon the earth just as in Eden and restore the full reign of God in the cosmos. On that final day, when the heavenly Jerusalem descends to the new earth (Revelation 21:1-4), “God will take up his abode himself with his great family upon this new, this renovated and purified earth” (Harding, Christian Leader & the Way, 190, 1042). Then the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), and all children of Abraham—through faith in the Messiah—will inherit the cosmos (Romans 4:13).
The creation—both humanity and the cosmos (heaven and earth)—is lost, then contested, and ultimately won and purified. On that day, Lipscomb writes, “earth itself shall become heaven” (Gospel Advocate, 1903, 328). The creation will again become God’s home. This is the story that shapes the mission of the church for both Lipscomb and Harding.
God’s good creation, then, is regained and renewed. It is not annihilated or eternally lost. The creation, including the children of Abraham, is redeemed.
While there was much diversity on many questions regarding the “last days” among our Restorationist forbearers, they agreed on one thing: God will not give up on the cosmos—God will renew it and come again to dwell within it.
And this calls us to do battle with the forces of Satan for the sake of restoring God’s kingdom to the earth, which includes both a reconciled humanity and a purified, renewed earth. We are called to practice both reconciliation and sustainability. Christians are both peacemakers and environmentalists.
[This article first appeared in Intersections of Faith and Culture (Summer 2015), a publication of Lipscomb University.]
Sources:
David Lipscomb, Salvation from Sin (Nashville: McQuiddy, 1913).
David Lipscomb, “The Kingdom of God,” Gospel Advocate 45 (21 May 1903), 328.
James A. Harding, “For What are We Here?,” The Way 5 (3 December 1903), 1041-2.
James A. Harding, “Man Was Created to Reign for Ever and Ever, “ The Christian Leader and the Way 19 (6 June 1905), 8-9.
James A. Harding, “The Kingdom
of Christ Vs. the Kingdom of Satan,” The Way 5 (15
October 1903), 930-932.
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