Systematic Theology – Eschatology

The Real Presence and Eschatology

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 16 of 32

Track: #16

Year:

Dictation Name: 16 The Real Presence and Eschatology

[Rushdoony] Oh Lord God of host unto whom all things belong, who hast made us for Thyself and for Thy holy purpose. Give us grace to submit ourselves to Thy will, to know that Thou art God and beside Thee there is none other. Oh Lord our God we beseech Thee, cleanse us of all efforts on our part to play God and take upon our shoulders the government of all things. Teach us to submit ourselves to Thee, to be faithful to Thy word and to Thy kingdom, and to know that it is Thy way alone which is righteous, that Thou art the way, the truth, and the life. May Thy will and Thy purpose prevail oh Lord, and the councils of nations, and the lives of men, and in us, Thy people. Grant us this we beseech Thee, in Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture is from Hebrews 12 beginning with the 18th verse. Our subject is The Real Presence and Eschatology.

“18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

22 But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

27 And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

29 For our God is a consuming fire.”

We have seen that the doctrine of God speaks of His transcendence and His imminence. God is a transcendent God in that He is in His being above and beyond creation; He cannot be intermingled with the universe. He is uncreated being and the entire universe is one of created being. On the other hand, God is also imminent; He is present in every atom of creation, in every moment of history. He is closer to us than we are to ourselves, by Him were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made. All things therefore are themselves only in terms of what God made them, and God knows all things better then all things know themselves.

Moreover we are told in Hebrews 4:13 that all things are naked and open unto His sight. Thus the central fact of scripture is that we are ever in the presence of God, and we have therefore to view all things as David did, and expressed it in Psalm 139 where David says in verses 1-14.

“O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

God is present therefore, and active in all things, He is active through law, His law, government, providence, and judgment, and much, much more. To illustrate how He is present in all of creation the ten commandments tell us “honor Thy father and Thy mother as the Lord Thy God hath commanded Thee, that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” We have here something that we discussed some months ago, the eschatology of law. We are told very definitely that there is a connection between longevity, prosperity, and the honoring of one’s parents. Now this must be an article of faith for us. We must believe that there is a connection here. Now because, as we saw, causality is not a one to one thing, there are times when those who do honor their parents do not live long because there are many causes that impinge upon every effect. But as a general rule, we must believe as an article of faith that the scriptures are true. That when they say there is a connection between honoring ones parents, and longevity and prosperity, they speak the truth. God is present in every one of His laws, in every event, in every moment of history. God is never absent, nor remote.

Now, having said this, we must say then the doctrine of the real presence with regard to the Lord’s Table, which we dealt with about a year ago when we were dealing with the doctrine of the church, is an important doctrine of scripture. All of scripture speaks about the real presence of God, the real presence of Christ, the real presence of the spirit. Now, to say suddenly that given this fact God is not present in the elements of the sacraments, in the bread and wine, and in the water of baptism, is a serious error. It is to say then that God who says “I am present in all creation”, closer to us (remember) than we are to ourselves, is not present very things He has designated and has said “take, eat, this is My body broken for you.” That’s a contradiction; it is to deny a reality that God affirms. To make the Lord’s Table simply a memorial and to say that baptism is a public profession and affirmation of faith is very wrong because baptism for one thing is very plainly connected to the forgiveness of sins. It’s not our concern here to say how but scripture says it is; and communion is a covenant bond at the very least.

Now granted that the identification of the bread, wine, and water of baptism with God or His power can lead at times, and has, to heresies. God in His creation can never be identified, or absorbed, one into the other. Remember we said there can be no comingling of God and His creation; there can be at times a total presence, but not a co-mingling. The Uncreated and the created cannot be comingled, that of course is basic to the formula of the council of Chalcedon.

But it is another thing to deny that the word of God and a sensory element cannot, in some sense, come together. God who created all things is present, He is omnipresent. He can be in a moment of time, although He is always beyond time. Christ was in moments of time, thirty-three years of them. The Holy Spirit is present in every moment of time. The Holy Spirit is present in us, He has not comingled with us, but He indwells us, and we have the real presence. As a result we cannot say that the real presence of God cannot be linked to a sensory element. The spiritual realm of God is separate from the sensory realm, but never absent from it. So while we cannot identify the two realms and comingle them, neither can we ever abolish God from the sensory realm.

The real presence cannot thus be identified with the elements, but neither can He be separated from them. Similarly God’s grace cannot be separated from baptism and communion, but neither can it be made one with them. There is a unity between God and the sacraments, not an identity.

Now, because this fact of the real presence has been ignored, largely neglected, or limited as to its scope, eschatology has suffered, endpoint eschatology has been neglected. Now we saw when we dealt with Hebrews 12:1-4 Jesus Christ is presented as our motivating force. We are to look unto Him as the author and finisher of our faith. Then we are told that God is no less active in our affairs than in Israel’s wilderness journey. We are further told that because we are the children of God we must endure chastening, because if God did not chasten us we would not be children, but bastards. And we are warned as we undergo all these things in this life to beware lest there spring up in us a root of bitterness which will separate us from God. Then we are told that even more than Israel and Sinai, we are in the camp and the presence of the Lord on earth, now that’s what our scripture is about Hebrews 12:18-29. What we are told there is indeed in Sinai there was a tremendous manifestation of God, the mountain quacked, any animal that touched, or person, that mountain unauthorized, was to perish. They were near the real presence, but they were barred from it; there was a line they could not cross.

But we are told that we don’t have that line. We are now in the mountain itself, in the general assembly of the firstborn, with an innumerable company of angels. We are told that the real presence in the Christian era means that God is with us in history, to shake all things which cannot be shaken, so that only the unshakable may remain. We are told that history is a great shaking, and we are also to be shaken all of us so that only the unshakable in us might remain, that which is of the Lord’s doing; and you know so often we cling to that which is not of the Lord’s doing in us, and we want that to stay unshaken. But God says the things which cannot be shaken will alone remain; the shakable in us will be shaken.

We are told moreover that at Sinai there was a mountain that could not be touched on the peril of death, and a trumpet and words, but now it is different. The people then stood apart, we are a part of that mountain, that community, and we have an indwelling Spirit. The real presence was not as full then at Mount Sinai as it is now with all of us. All the more then we are told in this scripture that we must serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. What does this mean? That the real presence is intensified! Then Israel stood at a distance as the mountain burned and smoked, then the pillar and the cloud of fire went before and after Israel to protect them, now we are in the midst of it. The real presence is now intensified, not diminished, and therefore the consequences of faithlessness are more devastating, and we are told therefore; “see that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escape not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.” The penalties are much more now because we have the real presence in a way that they did not then have. It is to look back, is it not, and to say of Israel how blind they were, after seeing the real presence of God, seeing all these manifestations. The minute Moses was gone for a while they turned to the worship of the golden calf. Well we may not do it that conspicuously, but are we not more oblivious to the real presence of much of the time, when we have it more thoroughly, more completely, than Israel did at Sinai; and so much more must we beware.

God has not left the world alone, in other words, at the close of the New Testament camp. He warns against disobedience, the penalty is greater now because the presence is greater. As our Lord says in Luke 12:48 “for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” We have been brought into the heavenly presence in a greater way, and we cannot place a wall between God and history. We cannot have a wall of separation. The real presence rules our world and ourselves, we are told that He is God the judge of all, a present judge; He is not a remote power at the end of history, but a present power in history and in all things. So that we are now in the general assembly and church of the firstborn, we are in mount Zion, in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, in the company of an innumerable company of angles. “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.” All this is because Jesus Christ is the mediator of the renewed covenant; we are members of a new humanity, a humanity that is a member of Jesus Christ, a humanity that has its roots in eternity, in heaven.

Moreover we are told that Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, is the one to whom we come, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Able. This is an interesting statement, because the blood of Jesus Christ is spoken of as a living, present, power. Now when Hebrews was written a decade or two, or more, had passed since the crucifixion. But Paul here speaks of the blood of Jesus Christ as a living power, and a presence in our lives. A presence that speaks not of victimization as of Abel’s blood, but a victory of a very present and a living power; And therefore the punishment of Israel is cited to remind us of our responsibility to obey the Lord. The word from Sinai is the law, and we who are now brought into that city, brought up into the mount, have all the more an obligation to obey the every word of God. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven. There is no valid ground whatsoever for antinomianism.

Moreover, because we are told that this shaking so that only the unshakable may remain, brings us ever closer to the end and Christ, because with the progress of history the things which can be shaken will be progressively destroyed by our God who is a consuming fire, and the shaking brings us closer to the great and the new creation, and the return of our Lord. The real presence rules in all this, and His work becomes more manifest with the passing of time. He burns up those things which are not of his making but are of sin, and He purges and purifies us and all of history.

But of course this is what was predicted concerning the coming of Christ. We read in Malachi 3:1&2 and in Malachi 4:1 those very words of prophesy, that Christ comes to purge, to shake, to purify. “Who may abide in the day of his coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap, and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and He shall purge the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. For the day cometh that shall burn like an oven, and all the proud, yeah and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, ‘and the day that commeth shall burn them up’ said the Lord of host, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

Now remember, these words of Malachi are prophesies concerning the first coming of our Lord, His first coming. Then He comes to make atonement for sin, and then by his presence and by His indwelling Spirit in this world to burn up all that is to be burned, and to purge us who are to be purged and refined. This is why the doctrine of the real presence and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit are so essential, because they speak of the ongoing fact of Christ’s work as the purifier whose real presence governs every moment and every atom of history. On the one hand His real presence means destruction. On the other hand the real presence means a purifying and a blessing and a healing, thus the Lord accomplishes His purpose. Let us pray.

How great Thou art oh Lord, and how marvelous in Thy ways, make us ever mindful that as we move in our daily routine we are never far from Thee. That Thou art closer to us than we are to ourselves, that Thy real presence is in all the world, and that Thou art at work to burn and to destroy those things which can be shaken, to purge and to purify Thy children, to bless and to heal and build up. Make us joyful in Thy work oh Lord, and make us ever faithful in Thy service to the end that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. In His name we pray, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

[Audience member] That idea of not being able to cross the line into the mountain, and now we are a part of that, is a tremendous transition that was made, as you say, by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Is that it?

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience member] That’s what I thought.

[Rushdoony] Right, and you see the routine perspective of so many churchmen is that after the coming of Christ there was a decrease in the presence of God in history. He performed a lot of miracles but after the resurrection and the apostolic age the real presence somehow left us. Whereas we are emphatically told it is the reverse, that now there is a vast increase in the presence and working of God. That we are now part of it, that’s a tremendous fact and this is why the church is dead so often, because it pays no attention to this fact it acts as though; “well we believe every article of the faith, but God is somehow very distant and remote, and it all ended when the New Testament cannon was closed and somehow we must recognize that we’re on our own now.” That is very, very wrong.

Yes?

[Audience member] You referenced the golden calf, the thought occurred to me that when they were in Egypt they, the Pharaoh was God-king on earth, and perhaps they might have attributed that quality in some degree to Moses since God spoke to Moses, and they were absent from the Pharaoh, now that Moses as absent from them, so God was absent from them.

[Rushdoony] Yes well, let’s pursue that a little further. The essence of the Egyptian worship and faith, and that of paganism generally, was that it mingled the divine and the human. Therefore Pharaoh was a God and in him the divinity that was inherent in all being came to a focus. And therefore wherever there was power there was a manifestation of that divinity. Now the golden calf was a bull calf, and a bull represents strength; and what they were saying as they looked at the mountain and all it was “well, strength is a part of this world, divinity is a part of this world, and we’re going to worship the divinity in this world, and the Egyptians may not have done it right, they worshiped a calf, a bull calf, and we’re going to do it better. And therefore this is the power we worship that is represented in the world

. Now they may have been ready to see it in Moses, although they said “he’s left us, we want a very present power; a power that is of us.” So there was a sense of continuity in paganism between created and uncreated being, in fact there was no uncreated being for them. All the gods, all the supernatural beings, were simply a part of creation they had developed; they had evolved, to that point. And the sin of Israel over and over gain was to fall back into this paganism, and it has very commonly been the sin of the church as well, to assert continuity. I could speak by the week on the theologies that from the beginning of the church to the present have fallen into that continuity concept, and in a sense constitute a worship to the golden calf. On the other hand others have just pushed God out of the world; they’ve said “yes there’s a difference between God and creation.” But they pushed him out of the world and said “we’re on own here and we have to do it by ourselves, and God we won’t see anymore of until the end of history when Christ comes again.”

Yes?

[Audience member] Well then that doesn’t differ much from a deistic position then.

[Rushdoony] Exactly. Deism carried to the nth degree a tendency that has often been latent in the orthodox, and certainly some of the orthodox groups of our day would deny that they are deist’s, and in a sense they are not. But they still abstract God from the world, and this is a serious error.

Any other questions or comments?

Yes?

[Audience member] Well then would that be why a postmillennial eschatological perspective would be unpopular?

[Rushdoony] Would be what?

[Audience member] Would be unpopular.

[Rushdoony] Oh yes it is unpopular because what it does assert is that we, who are the temples of the indwelling spirit, working in and through the spirit have a responsibility that everything does not wait for the end, but the spirit is working now, the Lord is working now, and we are a part of that work. It forbids a separation of man from the Spirit, and from the present work of God. About the only work that is left in a dead orthodoxy, or evangelicalism, is to convert people, but that’s all. You just convert them and wait for the end.

Any other questions or comments?

Yes?

[Audience member]You mentioned here that His real presence is not in some of the sacraments like communion, you know some churches don’t, am I right in what you said?

[Rushdoony] Yes, for some churches they’re just a memorial.

[Audience member] Just a memorial. In other words they don’t… Well I thought the Catholics understood that that was the Holy Spirit there, and that was the body and blood of Christ.

[Rushdoony] There are a number of churches that have historically held to the real presence, they’ve had differing arguments and interpretations. Now I’m not concerned with that now. Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, various of the Eastern churches, Calvinist’s in the early years, have held to the real presence. Now others have disagreed with it emphatically in the Catholic communion at the time of the Reformation, Erasmus for one spearheaded and incredible group that definitely did not believe it. On the protestant side the Anabaptist’s and Zwingli definitely did not believe in the real presence and today of course the doctrine of the real presence is a very minor thing for most people.

Well let us bow our heads now as we conclude in prayer.

Oh Lord our God whose blessing makes rich, and Thou dost add no sorrow to Thy blessing, we thank Thee that Thou hast blessed us through Jesus Christ, and made us heirs of all creation. Give us joy therefore in our calling to reclaim all things, to recapture them from the enemy, and to dedicate all things to Thy service, and to be members in all our being of Thy kingdom. Bless us to this purpose, in Jesus name, amen.