Systematic Theology – Eschatology

The Eschatology of Covenant Man

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 8 of 32

Track: #8

Year:

Dictation Name: 08 The Eschatology of Covenant Man

[Rushdoony] Let us begin with prayer.

Great and marvelous art Thou oh Lord in all Thy works, and great and marvelous is Thy grace unto us through Jesus Christ our Lord. We gather together joyfully knowing that Thou who art Lord of heaven and earth hast ordained all things in terms of Thy sovereign purpose, and it is Thy will and Thy victory that shall prevail; and so our God we come to be armed by Thee for victory, and to be more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, amen.

Our subject this morning is the Eschatology of Covenant man, and our scripture is in Genesis 12 verse 1-3 “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

We have been studying the doctrine of eschatology, that is, the doctrine of the last things. A great deal is said about eschatology on television and radio by various preachers. But all of it has to do with the end time. We shall deal with the end time later on as we bring this study to a close. But as we have seen, the Bible very definitely speaks of both an end time eschatology, the last things, and an endpoint eschatology. The wages of sin are always death; the soul that sinneth, it shall die; the flood was an endpoint eschatological event. The judgments upon Jerusalem and Judea, upon Samaria and Israel, upon Babylon, upon Rome, upon nation after nation throughout history, represent end point eschatology. God has a judgment in history.

Moreover man has a part in eschatology by affecting God’s righteousness or justice on earth by means of restitution and restoration man has an essential role. Thus when we function in a Godly way, when we bring justice to bear on a situation, we are affecting end point eschatology. Thus by making a stand in this country against false economies, against crime, against lawlessness in every form we are saying “we, because God has laid a burden upon us, are bringing the end to certain things”. This is what eschatology is about; an endpoint eschatology is a part of the everyday work of man.

Paul in Galatians 3 verses 6-9 says we are blessed with believing Abraham, and the blessing that is described is that of Genesis 12 verses 1-3, which we just read. The promises of Abraham that is made by God to Abraham are valid for all who by faith are children of Abraham; and for Christians to make no claim to these promises is to deny that we are children of Abraham. Therefore when God says to Abraham that: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing, and I bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” we have to see that as a promise to us. As the promise that God wants to fulfill here and now in history, and is fulfilling inescapably, inevitably through His faithful people.

So it is important to look at that promise very carefully. First there is the promise of a land, for us it is the entire earth. The promise to the immediate seed of Abraham was Palestine. But our Lord says in the great commission “Go ye therefore unto all the earth and disciple all nations.” The Old Testament promise is that the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace; and our Lord restates this promise to the blessed meek, that is the meek meaning those who are tamed by God who are broken to harness, broken to usefulness. The promises of God material and spiritual are only increased by the coming of Christ, so it is very, very wrong that the Old Testament promises were material and the New Testament promises were spiritual. The Old Testament promises were very clearly material and spiritual. There was no restriction placed upon the spiritual promises. Can we believe that with the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of all things the promises of God are contracted and made less, and that there will be fewer material blessings upon us, or none? On the contrary materially and spiritually the promises for us as Christians are greatly increased from the time of Abraham.

Then next, God declares, “I will make of thee a great nation.” The Israel of the Old Testament was only a preliminary stage in the fulfillment of God’s promise here. God, by the way, does not despise the idea of a nation, contrary to some liberals today. When he says “I will make of thee a great nation” it is because the idea of a nation is a good one, it’s a Godly one. The kingdom of God is a world community of nations; the churches are the advanced guards in an army of occupation, as our Lord says in Luke 19:13. In due time the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, Isaiah 11:9 tells us. Moreover God goes on to say “and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.” Proverbs 10:22 tells us about the blessing of the Lord “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” Proverbs like Genesis sees the blessings of God as both material and spiritual.

The word that is used, “great” in Proverbs 10:22 is a very interesting one, as in Genesis. When God says “I will make thee a great nation” and that, “I will make thy name great” the two words are different in the Hebrew, but are related one to another, and the implication is great in power, great materially, great upon earth; so that there is a promise here of exaltation, in status and power on earth. God’s promise thus is the very material as well as the spiritual one, and this promise is a necessary part of the previous clause “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great.”

Now, we have to see the two together. There have been great nations in history, but they have not usually been blessed ones. The USSR, the Soviet Union, is a great nation; but it is not a blessed one. “And thou shalt be a blessing”, being a blessing and having been made rich, God says we will be a blessing to all the earth so that we must see ourselves not as a group in a corner, but as a group that are to be the light of the earth, the salt of this earth; a blessing unto all men and nations, thou shalt be a blessing. Moreover God says to Abraham and to us “and I bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.” The yardstick of judgment in God’s site is on the hand His law, God judges men in terms of His law. Second He judges men in terms of how they deal with His faithful people. This tells us something about current events; if the United States continues to deal with Christian churches and schools as it is now dealing, God says “I will curse them that curse thee.” And it tells us that there is a judgment ahead for the Soviet Union, and a very grim one. “I will bless him that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee.” So when we face the hostility of this world, when we are persecuted for righteousness sake, because we are just; we know that God is going to deal with them in terms of how they deal with us.

In other words God says very definitely “I am partisan, I am the ultimate judge in the universe and I am very strongly partisan to those who are faithful to me.” “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” This has primary reference to Jesus Christ, but in Christ we are not only blessed but we are a blessing to all the families of the earth. When we are faithful covenant people this is what our position in the world is, the covenant is a covenant of law and it is also a covenant of grace; and the world is judged by its relationship to the covenant man Jesus Christ, and to His covenant people who are members of His body. The world does persecute us sometimes for Christ’s sake, and for righteousness sake, for justice sake. But our relationship to the world is not a one way street. Sometimes we don’t take God seriously enough at this point. For example, we are emphatically told that God has some remarkable promises for those who help us. In Matthew 10:42 we read “and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water in the name of the disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.” Again in Mark 9:41 we read “for whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”

Now our Lord, like preachers ever since, often repeated himself. The context in which he makes this statement is different in both cases. In Mark the disciples come to him, John in particular, to say “there is somebody Lord out there casting out demons in your name, but He’s not of our fellowship.” And our Lord says “Forbid him not” that “a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shall have its reward.” Matthew’s citation of the statement comes at a different point. The 12 disciples are commissioned and sent out to go throughout the length and breadth of the land and preach the gospel, and they are told that they shall be protected and blessed; and that anyone who gives them a cup of cold water will be blessed. But judgment will be upon those who reject them. In Matthew as He gives the commission our Lord makes this statement preceding that promise “he that receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and He that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And who so ever shall give to drink to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water, only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no-wise lose his reward.”

Now, in this instance our Lord sets up four categories, and He says a prophet, or rather a disciple, who is received in my name, anyone who receives them receives me; and anyone who receives a prophet, and a prophet here means anyone who preaches the word shall receive a preachers reward; and anyone who receives a righteous, that is a just, man, shall receive a just man’s reward, and anyone who receives one of these little ones, the humblest of those who follow me, shall receive he reward; even if it’s a cup of cold water given in my name.

Now our Lord is saying “anyone who stands” let’s take one of those instances, to illustrate “a righteous man” or that is, a man who is standing for justice; and those who will stand with him or say “I’m on his side, he’s a godly man, he is fighting against injustice” are going to receive the reward of a just man. They’ll be blessed together with this man who’s leading this cause. So our Lord says there is nothing that does not receive a reward, no matter how trifling it is. If we stand with Him, His disciples, His prophets or preachers, every just man and the humblest disciple, the humblest follower, the humblest believer, even to giving them a cup of cold water in the name of cold water in the name of Christ. Now this is an important point because our Lord is saying how important we are as He judges the world; we’re talking about eschatology. And our Lord says, if they reject you they’ve rejected me and our going to be judged, and if they receive you and give you a cup of cold water, they’re going to be blessed. What He is doing is applying the promises He made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 very literally, down to a cup of cold water. We need to take these promises very seriously.

To a receive a disciple, to receive any believer because they are a believer, is to receive the Lord. Receiving means believing, it means accepting them for what they are and knowing and recognizing the truth of what they are. But the sad fact is that the church from the beginning has had trouble believing these promises; and in Revelation 6 verse 9-11 we are given a picture of the church crying out because it does not understand God’s timing.

“9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

Paul tells in Romans 8:36 “for Thy sake we are slaughtered like sheep all the day long.” And this has often been true in history, and certainly is true now in some portions of Africa, in Red China, in the Soviet Union and elsewhere; and it was true in the times of the apostles. And in Revelation we have them crying out “how long oh Lord, holy and true, does Thou not avenge our blood on them that dwelleth on the earth?” And God tells them “rest for a while, I will avenge you to the uttermost.” And so we must recognize God does not take lightly the abuse of His property, which is what we are, we are not our own. We have been bought with a price, Christ blood. And so we are to recognize that God will avenge or bless in terms of what is done to us. That his law, and his covenant people are the principles in terms of which the whole world is going to be judged today and tomorrow, and at the end of time.

So as we look down the years, our time, the 80’s, the 90’s, we know we’re in a time of judgment; and all that has happened in this century God will avenge, and to be blessed we must be faithful. The Sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes pronounce blessings. “These are the things” he says “that shall happen to you. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” And we’re called to be the salt, the preserving agent of the world. To be the light of the world, and if we are not we are cast out unto the highways of history, to be trodden underfoot of men. This is eschatology, endpoint eschatology dealing with the here and now.

That’s why it’s so wrong to limit eschatology to the end, God judges all the way through history and we are in a time of judgment and God’s judgment shall strike the nations; and we have a responsibility, and that responsibility is to affect the righteousness or justice of God wherever we are. Because God says that we have a part in the fulfillment of the last things, and the endpoint last things, a very critical part; and to believe that we just sit back and wait for God to do it is nonsense. It’s like saying “God’s going to take care of me so I won’t work, I’ll stretch out on the ground and wait for God to feed me.” Anyone who takes that attitude is not of the Lord. God has given us a responsibility, and He tells us that the last enemy, death, will be destroyed at the end. But before that all Christ’s enemies are to be put under His feet, and that’s our job. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God we thank Thee that thou hast called us to do Thy work, to be Thy soldiers and to give battle against the powers of darkness; and we thank Thee our Lord that Thine is the army of victory, the army of time and eternity, and the gates of hell cannot hold out against it. Our God we thank Thee, in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Yes?

[Audience member] I suppose if we look at the possibility of the very real judgment of God telling all nations, such as the Soviet Union and United States, and others, we would have to assume that in the long run if judgment does come on these great nations, great in size not great morally, that in the end of the day the outcome would be better for God’s church, that is under the nations with their increasing injustice, to the cause.

[Rushdoony] Yes, very good point. In fact we would have to say if judgment did not come then we would have to say there is no God. But it is coming as it has come again and again, and the whole world order of our time is going to be judged. Already of course men’s hearts are beginning to fail them for fear as they feel the economic judgment coming.

Any other questions?

Yes?

[Audience member] {?} Kind of a question on the cultivation of the environment, and to take you up on what you said today, and I’m telling it right that you think that while, for instance the monks in the Netherlands, reclaimed land and {?} show Christians acting in working on the environment. But the main point, the conservation of the environment is that God’s people are faithful to Him, and then He blesses the earth. So it’s kind of an indirect way of dealing with the environment rather than us going out there…

[Rushdoony] Yes, modern environmentalism sees nature as the divine element, and so it puts nature, the environment, above man. It is ready to do anything to hurt man rather than the environment. That is emphatically not a Godly position, an excellent book on the subject has been written by Walter, an English scholar, and I wish it were available in this country, it’s superb. But our attitude has to be that the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof. And because the earth is the Lord’s it’s God’s property, and we have to deal with His property according to His word, and because we’re God’s property we cannot abuse ourselves anymore than we can the environment.

Yes?

[Audience member] To return to the matter that you mentioned just a moment ago, the judgment of the nations; I suppose one of the peculiar things in our present international situation is that the, let’s say the Capitalist and the Communist nations while certainly communism is obviously their own system, yet here the thing is that those hold to some sort of Capitalist position seem to be themselves so humanistic, so utterly corrupt, as far as being in favor of abortion and everything else that’s wrong; you wonder if {?} one is much worse than the other. I guess it is, but it does seem that judgment is likely to fall on both {?} situations, not all that one is standing in the right position. They both have compromised themselves so much that even the relatively better country is standing in the way of Puritan judgment {?} sins

[Rushdoony] Yes the whole world is going to be judged because the Bible tells us that if a person is, let us say is murdered, between two towns and they cannot find the murder, they must make atonement all the same. Restitution has to be made, and so they distance between the point of murder and the two cities is to be measured, and the town that is closest to where the body was found must make restitution to the family. In other words every crime, according to the Bible, requires restitution. The order has to be restored. So if person has stolen a hundred dollars he must restore a hundred plus another hundred and for some crimes up to fourfold and fivefold; so that no crime was to go without restitution.

Well consider the fact that now there is virtually no restitution, and only punishment for the victims. So it’s a very ugly situation and God is going to redress the balance on that and every country that is doing that, and it’s every country in the world today, will pay a price. Clearly the price that the Soviet Union is going to pay is far greater because by their own records, as were revealed recently in a book on the crimes of Stalin coming from a Soviet historian, a hundred million people were killed to the of Stalin’s death, a hundred millions peoples. Now this came out of the official records, because this historian had access to it, and because being blind and old he felt that his time was up, he wrote the book and had it smuggled out. It was published in New York in Russian and has been translated and is now available in English. The sad part of the book is that the man is not a Christian, and so the book leaves a bad taste. The next copy of the Chalcedon report will have an excellent analysis about the implications of that by Otto Scott.

Well if there are no further questions or comments lets bow our heads in prayer.

For the certainty of Thy grace and Thy government our Father we give Thee thanks, and for the blessedness of the victory that is ours in Christ. We thank Thee our Father that the nations are being weighed in Thy balances, and Thou wilt right the scales of history in Thine own good time. Our God we thank Thee in Jesus name, amen.