Systematic Theology – Eschatology

Eschatology and Prayer

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 12 of 32

Track: #12

Year:

Dictation Name: 12 Eschatology and prayer

[Rushdoony] Let us begin with prayer.

All glory be to Thee oh God who of Thy grace and mercy hast made all things for Thy purpose, and has called us to be members of the royal family, citizens of the kingdom of God. We pray our Father that we may at all times be mindful of how rich an inheritance we have in Jesus Christ, that in Him we may be by Thy grace and by Thy power more than conquerors. That we may be spirit filled, and spirit ruled, and in all things joyful because we are Thy people, the people of victory. Bless us now as we give ourselves to the study of Thy word, in Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture is I Timothy 2 verse 1-4 and our subject Eschatology and prayer. I Timothy 2 verses 1-4, eschatology and prayer.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

2 for kings and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;

4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

We have for a number of months now been studying eschatology, the doctrine of last things, and we have seen that in our time there has been a total concentration on end time eschatology. That is death, the resurrection, and the world to come, and things associated with that; such as the last judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. But eschatology is of two kinds, not only end time, but end point. When God brings something to pass, or we working in the Lord bring something to pass in history, in time. The flood was an end point eschatology. Another example of that was the fall of Jerusalem, the fall of Babylon, and many things more.

Our concern today is with prayer, and prayer is eschatological in nature. Every time we pray we are witnessing to our personal doctrine of eschatology. If our prayer is self-centered then we are saying the end of God’s operation should be to take care of us, to the exclusion of other things. But we should have Christ’s kingdom in view, the totality of things. We should not feel that the goal of history is our self-fulfillment; rather we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Now the strength of liturgical prayer is that it fixes our prayers on more than ourselves. Its weakness is that there is an insufficient prayer on our personal life, and our personal needs. In the evangelical churches the strength of extemporaneous prayer is that it does bring into focus the needs of the individual, and of the immediate congregation, but it is too often narrow and does not see the kingdom of God in all its ramifications and its work.

Now to turn to I Timothy 2 verse 1-4 in terms of this fact. The sad fact about this text is that the meaning is lost because of the controversies associated with verse four, particularly the first clause “who will have all men to be saved.” And there are many who argue that God’s purpose is the salvation of every man, that this is evidence of universal salvation. When the Universalist church was very much more prominent in this country, it is now merged with the Unitarians; it did make heavy use of this text to say that everybody is ultimately going to be saved. Armenians makes heavy use of this to attack predestination, but that is using one scripture to pit against another, because the scripture is plain that God predestines to salvation and to reprobation, and therefore we cannot tamper with one text in order to choose another.

As a result it is important for us to understand the meaning of this text, John Gill in commenting on this in The Cause of God and Truth several centuries ago made this point, which was very well taken, and I quote “By ‘all men whom God would have to be saved’ we are not to understand every individual of mankind since it is not the will of God that all men, in this large sense, should be saved. For it is His will that some men should be damned and that very justly for their sins and transgressions. Ungodly men who are before of old ordained to this condemnation, Jude 4, and to whom it will be said “go ye cursed into everlasting fire.” Moreover if it was the will of God that every individual should be saved, then everyone would be saved; for who has resisted His will, or can do it? Does He not do according to His will and the armies of the heavens, and among the inhabitants of the earth? Nay does He not work all things after the counsel of His own will? And it is certain that all men in this large sense are not saved, for some will go away into everlasting punishment when the righteous shall go into eternal life.”

Now Gill’s point is well taken, John Calvin in commenting on this text simply dismissed all the argument about it and said, very rightly, that this text has nothing to do with salvation, and he was right. What does it mean when we read “who will have all men to be saved.”? Well the word translated into English as “saved” is transliterated from the Greek s-o-z-o, sozo. Now, this word can mean salvation, but it does not always mean salvation. One of our problems of course in the translations of the Bible is that sometimes languages are poor. There are three words for love in the Greek, two of which are regularly used in the New Testament, but only one[I think it meant only one in English]; and yet there are great differences in the meaning. There are several words for salvation, and the word that is here used does not by any means always mean salvation. For example we have its use in Matthew 8:25, the same word when the disciples are with our Lord out on the sea, and a great storm comes up and they wake up Jesus saying “Lord, save us, we perish.” Now were they saying “save us from hell to heaven”? No, “save us from drowning.”

The word that is here translated as “saved” has the primary meaning of “make us safe, give us safety.” Now when you grasp that it gives an entirely different meaning. Only when the text plainly requires the meaning of salvation in the eternal sense are we to use this word to mean salvation.

Now, with this in mind what does this text mean? Paul says that he requires prayer for all men, and he includes especially kings and all that are in authority. This is a command, “I will therefore” he says in verse 8, “That men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.” “I will” “I command” that you pray so. Now what is it here that requires a commandment? Paul is saying that you’re not going to like this, but you’re not going to do it in wrath, and you’re not going to do it in doubting. Well let’s take one aspect of it alone. Prayer, intercessions, giving of thanks, be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority. Well put yourself in the place of the Christians of that day, and remember the fact that most of them, the overwhelming majority, were converted Jews. Therefore doubly they had no liking for people in authority. As Jews they knew the oppressive power of Rome, and before that of Greece, as Christians they knew it doubly. They did not like kings and people in authority, and if they were going to pray for them they were going to pray in wrath. They were not going to say “Lord, bless the king” or “Bless Caesar”. They would be more likely to say “Lord, damn Caesar”.

So the early church had that fact to deal with; a hostility to the regime based on good, solid fact, oppression, problems, serious problems. The powers that be, the authorities, were not liked, and with good reason. And here we have a commandment to pray for all those in authority. In the past few years that has meant that we have a duty to pray for Regan, and Carter before him; or for Ford, or Nixon, or Johnson, or Kennedy, it turns your stomach, doesn’t it? [General laughter] That’s exactly what Paul was writing about when he said “don’t pray in wrath.” And we do have prayers in many churches “Lord bless the president” that does not fulfill Paul’s commandment. Why bless a man who’s not doing the will of God? Why ask good upon him upon him who’s not doing what God requires of him? What does it mean? I require Paul says, that prayers and thanksgiving, thanksgiving, be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and honesty, alright.

What is Paul talking about, is he saying “these men, pray for their salvation”? Not in this context. Elsewhere Paul tells us to be in prayer, elsewhere we are told that God seeks the salvation of the lost, but here it’s about another matter. It’s a myth to believe that the Bible is talking only about eternal salvation. In fact you can go through most of the Bible and it’s talking about other things, weights and measures, diet, work, calling, laws regarding everything under the sun, our duty to our parents, our duty to one another, our duty as husbands and wives; the Bible is mostly talking about other things. This does not take away the importance of salvation; rather salvation is part of one total picture which says that God requires something of the totality of our lives. So why are we to pray that all men be saved, in the sense of “made safe”? Why? That we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all Godliness and honesty. So Paul is saying that God requires of us that we be in prayer for everyone around us, and to give thanks.

Give thanks, what for? Well think about what life would be like without a plumber, or an electrician when you needed one, or a mechanic. In other words we live in a world of interdependence, and God wants us to be mindful of it. That in the church we are members one of another, and in the world at large we are interdependent, and we are to pray that we may lead a Godly and a peaceable life, an honest life, a quiet life. Pray for all these men as they do their work, and pray that the rulers give us that peaceable, honest, and quiet social order; this is what Paul is talking about in his text. For the gospel to flourish this is the environment that is needed, and Paul is saying we have a duty to be grateful and to be Thankful to God and to those above us for the order that we enjoy every day. That we’re not, as we go past bush, likely to have us jump out and conk us over the head. We have an obligation therefore that the orderliness of life continue, and to thank God for those who have a part in its continuation.

And because Paul knew that it went against the grain to pray for rulers he said “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.” You may not like the man up at the top, and with good reason; and it may be necessary at times to pray for God’s judgment upon them, but you also pray for them, that they are enabled by God to maintain order. So you pray without wrath, and without doubting. Because God says He is able to turn the hearts of kings to do His will. Kings who are not in favor of doing it, can be turned to doing it. So we are not to doubt; God can work even in the heart of a Bregneth {?} and a Reagan, and anyone else, even in our hearts. So we are to pray that God accomplish this.

Now it is important for us to realize this duty of prayer, and to realize it has, in our time especially, been neglected. As we look over the history of a church we find that the neglect is especially strong in our day. In the past prayers for those in authority constituted a regular part of the church liturgies and orders of service; sometimes the prayers were not adequate. For example in the Book of Common Prayer, one of the classics of liturgy, if not the great classic, we have a prayer for the president of the United States and all in civil authority. It reads: “Oh Lord our heavenly Father, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, Who dost from Thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; most heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant the President of the United States, and all others in authority, and so replenish them with the grace of Thy Holy Spirit that they may always incline to Thy will, and walk in Thy way. Endue them plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant them in health and prosperity long to live; and finally, after this life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Now it’s a good prayer, although there is a hint of the Erastianism of the Church of England.

Calvin in the daily offices of Geneva had a general prayer which read, with respect to civil authorities accordingly, and I quote: “Rule Thou and govern with Thy spirit all kings, princes, and lords, who hold the administration of the sword. That their dominion be exercised not in avarice, cruelty, and oppression, or any other evil and inordinate affection, but in all justice and rectitude. May we also living under them pay them due honor and reverence and lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.” As you can see in this general prayer, the section of which I quote, Calvin has in mind I Timothy 2 verses 1-4 and clearly saw it’s true meaning.

John Knox had a similar prayer in the Church of Scotland and paragraph three of the prayer for the whole estate of Christ’s church reads: “Moreover because the hearts of rulers are in thine hands, we beseech Thee to direct and govern the hearts of all kings, princes, and magistrates to whom Thou hast committed the sword, especially oh Lord according to our bounden duty we beseech Thee to maintain and increase the noble estate of the Queen’s majesty and her honorable council, with all the estate and whole body of the commonwealth. Let Thy Fatherly favor so preserver her and Thine Holy Spirit so govern her heart that she may in such sort execute her office, that Thy religion may be purely maintained, manners reformed, and sin punished according to the precise rules of Thy holy word.” Again, this is very clearly mindful of Paul’s passage to Timothy.

Now when we turn to Catholic liturgies we find that their isn’t quite the same emphasis, but there is one by the way which is too much neglected in all Protestant churches, prayers for Christians in persecution in all parts of the world. However more recently the 1966 New Saint Andrew’s Bible Missile {?} of Saint Andrews Abbey has an excellent series of intentions for prayer. To quote: “That Christian people everywhere assume their responsibility to be witnesses to God’s kingdom in matters of state, we pray to the Lord. That Christian officials by their obedience and witness to the truth prove their belief, that all power comes from God, we pray to the Lord. That our persecuted brethren by their patience convince their masters of the power and rights of God, we pray to the Lord. That the new nations of the world do not become self-centered or forget the rights of other countries and of God’s people everywhere, we pray to the Lord. That the members of our parish assembly accept in every way their duty to take part in the affairs of this community, we pray to the Lord.”

Now these prayer do bring out what Paul is here teaching, the necessity of being mindful of those in authority, to believe that God can turn the hearts of kings and rulers, to do His will, and to be in prayer for all men, and grateful for their contribution to the whole fabric of society, to recognize with gratitude our interdependence with them. Thus Paul here is concerned with the peaceable, with the favorable conditions for preaching the gospel and for the growth of the kingdom. All men contribute to the general order, and to the general peace; and we are to thank God for all that they contribute to our lives in any way. But this does not mean we do not also pray for the eternal salvation of all men. The Lord’s Prayer tells us that we are to pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.” That men and nations be brought into the kingdom of God, that by faith and by the working of the Holy Spirit they may be made one body in Him. The Lord’s Prayer however gives us a God-centered focus. Thus when we pray for people we are not to pray that John Doe be saved from hell, but that John Doe know the Lord, and serve and glorify God as a redeemed member of His community, there is a difference. Daily needs are a part of the Lord’s Prayer, and they have their place; but the priority is God’s.

Now I Timothy 2:1-4 does not preclude praying for judgment as I’ve said earlier, and it is often necessary. We need to pray for judgment upon rulers when they depart from God. But what Paul is speaking about here has to do with our common life, for anarchy is no aide to our work and our life. Moreover what Paul says here is not new to scripture. For example, when Babylon took Judea, Jeremiah ordered the people to pray for the peace of Babylon. We forget passages like that in scripture, because we go through mining the Bible in terms of “what does it say about my personal life?”. But although Jeremiah gives the full account of the horrors of the captivity, he also says this judgment came upon Jerusalem and Judea because of their sins, and they are now going to Babylon, and if they are going to be God’s people they are to pray for the peace of Babylon. For example in Jeremiah 29 verse 7 he says: “seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” Can you imagine that? Paul [I think he meant Jeremiah] telling the captives as they were going into captivity “pray for these people who killed some of your loved ones and are now taking you captive. Pray for the peace of Babylon.”

The essence of eschatology in prayer is that we have God’s endpoint in mind. We cannot be egocentric, “even the wrath of man shall praise God,” Psalm 76 verse 10 declares. WE must therefore thank God for the order around us, the order that we enjoy. And we enjoy it, whatever defects it may have, far more here than in much of the United States, and certainly in much of the world today. We are to thank God for that order, and pray for those who provide that order, and those who are a part of it; and God will bless us therefore when we fulfill His will, for He commands us to pray for all men, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all Godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we thank Thee that Thy word reminds us of our duty to be thankful for all men who contribute to the order in which we live. We thank Thee for those who are in rule over us, and for their part in that order. And we thank Thee that Thou art able to turn the hearts of supervisors, presidents, governors, and kings, and make them Thy servants. Give us grace therefore to do Thy will, without wrath and without doubting, and to be joyful in the order Thou dost give, and to contribute to the fulfillment of Thy purposed order, to the end that the kingdoms of this world might be the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Our God we praise Thee, in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Yes?

[Audience member] I assume there in verse 15 “notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing” I assume that there’s the same connotation there, as there is up here in verse 4.

[Rushdoony] Very good, that’s exactly the case. There’s no eternal salvation promise.

[Audience member] It goes on, it says “if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety”. In other words, she shall be saved in terms of the physical aspect of childbearing; she’ll bear successfully if they continue in faith and charity and holiness, etc. Is that the…?

[Rushdoony] Yes, exactly. If you didn’t catch that, verse15 “notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” It’s the same word, same meaning. It tells us that there is an order we enter into, and we are blessed in it, and we are blessed when we contribute to the ongoing order around us because this is God’s will.

Yes?

[Audience member] I wonder if you could explain verse 6 then “who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time”

[Rushdoony] Yes. Now, in verse 3 it says “this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Then Paul goes on to make clear that God and Christ are one, and that Christ is very God of very God, He is the mediator between God and man, and he is also man, the man Christ Jesus. Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, and from Him I am ordained a preacher.” So this is one of the passages where God and Christ and identified very clearly by Paul. So he’s saying “This is the will of God the Father, but God is also God the Son. So he says “I speak the truth in Christ, and why not.” In other words, He who did these things ordains this.

[Audience member] Well what about the word all, isn’t that a limited all?

[Rushdoony] What?

[Audience member] The word “all” in the verse, isn’t that a limited all?

[Rushdoony] Who gave Himself a ransom for all…yes, but all there does not necessarily refer to every man living, I see your point, yes.

[Audience member] Who is the all referring to then, all those who are saved?

[Rushdoony] It could mean “for us all” or “all of us who are….those for whom He mediated” His kingdom, His realm.

Yes?

[Audience member] To me that understanding has always been that He gave for all, but not all partake. In other words the sacrifice is there for all men, there are those who will you see, there are those who don’t.

[Rushdoony] Yes, that is an interpretation that is made by many, and it has been an interpretation that in the earlier days was prevalent among Calvinists. That’s the difference between the universal atonement and limited atonement doctrine. The limited atonement says that the sacrifice was from all eternity made for those who would believe. Those who hold to a universal scope say it is for all, but only those who make use of it find it efficacious.

Now, I don’t want to get into that argument but the…because it is a considerable debate that has been prevalent throughout the history of the church. However, I hold to the limited atonement perspective, that it was efficacious for those for whom it was intended to be efficacious.

[Audience member] For me that’s very hinting at predestination.

[Rushdoony] Yes, it is.

[Audience member] That’s another subject though.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

Yes?

[Audience member] {?}

[Rushdoony] It doesn’t mean that it’s all people’s, tribes, tongues, and nations, yes. In some texts that’s very clear.

Any other questions or comments?

Let me say, by the way, that the one point at which subsequent Calvinism went beyond Calvin was precisely this. In other words, Calvin did not hold to a doctrine of limited atonement. But Calvinism very quickly developed it in the days after Calvin, and felt that it did so on grounds implicit in Calvin’s thinking and Augustine’s thinking, and of course in terms of scripture. So Calvin did not share the view of subsequent Calvinism here.

Yes?

[Audience member] I just have one more question Rush. IN verse 15 and 14, well I guess it starts earlier, but it says “and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in a transgression.”

[Rushdoony] Yes!

[Audience member] That first clause there “Adam was not deceived” are we, can that be understood in the fact that Adam knew full well he was doing wrong, and knew the implications of it?

[Rushdoony] Yes, exactly. Now, let’s look at the implications of that, because that’s a very important point. Adam was created to exercise dominion, and he faced a very difficult task. He had a pilot project, the Garden of Eden, he faced it with a duty to keep the whole thing, to till it, to take care of it, to prune it, to keep the wild animals in the Garden of Eden from walking over the vegetables or destroying the fruit; we know here what deer will do to a fruit tree. He had to fence it, and he didn’t have one tool, nor a stitch of clothing to his name. So he had a perfect situation in terms of sinlessness, but not perfect in that it was very primitive. So it was hard work. The first thing he had to do was make tools so he could function.

Now the tool making was apparently quite advanced before it over, in terms of what we know about Cain and the family, the tools, working with iron and so on, but all the same consider the nature of the job. And the first night in the Garden of Eden we’re told that a heavy dew descended every night, and in those days the nightly dew watered the earth rather than rain. Well think of sleeping out in the open. So the first thing he had to was to build a lean-to, and you can be sure when Eve was created she looked at that lean-to and said “that’ll never do” [laughter] “we have to have better housing than this”. So it was hard work, and the animals were still animals. They were walking over the vegetables, and getting into the orchard and what not, so he had fencing to do. Well that’s hard work.

Adam was not deceived, he was just tired of authority, and Eve was taking the leadership; and the tempter went directly to Eve. So Eve thought she could do better, and Adam was tired of taking the leadership. So Adam was not deceived, he was just weary with well doing, weary with authority. So that was the problem, and that’s what Paul is talking about here.

Any other questions or comments?

Well our time is virtually over, let us bow our heads now in prayer.

Lord we give thanks unto Thee that Thou hast made us Thine, that Thou hast given us work to do and joy therein. Make us mindful of all those who are a part of Thy creation, of their place in the ongoing work of society, that we may be grateful for their contribution, and that we may be mindful of their needs of Thee, and might ever be in prayer for them. Dismiss us now with Thy blessing, less us day by day in Thy service, and to Thy praise and glory. In Jesus name, amen.