“Between the resurrection and the parousia, the church has the task of making the nations obedient disciples (Mt. 28:18-20; I Cor. 15:20-26; II Cor. 10:1-5), thus subjecting all things to Christ (Ps. 110:1-4; I Cor. 15:20-27; II Cor. 10:3-6; Eph. 1:21-23. The present age and the world to come overlap (Heb. 2:5-9); Vos stresses that that in Paul the future thrusts itself into the present, the Spirit being ‘the circumambient atmosphere in which we live and move. Suffering and expectation, mission and social action go together.”
Systematic Theology — p. 820
Tolkien in his trilogy caught some of what Letham gets at here. Tolkien’s High Elves lived in two worlds at the same time. Remember Glorfindel at Fords of Bruinen who accosted the Nine Riders as exhibiting his powers in the other realm. So, the Christian today walks in two realms at the same time. We live in this present wicked age but at the same time we belong to it as empowered by the Spirit and as citizens already in the age to come. The future Kingdom come has found its home in God’s people and we live NOW in that future while at the same time in the context of this present wicked age.
As people who belong to the age to come we are tasked with bringing the age to come to be present in this present wicked age. We are God’s eschatological people tasked with bringing the age to come to bear. We are God’s means of immanentizing the eschaton.
Because of this we suffer because of the resistance this present wicked age brings to bear on the agents of the age to come. This is why, in this life we “suffer with Christ.” We suffer with Christ because we are seeking to be the overcomers that we have been birthed from above to be — birthed by the Spirit so to be translated NOW into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, whom He loves.
This accounts for our postmillennial hope. God has tasked His people to have dominion. He will triumph in and through them. Their great liege Lord Jesus Christ is currently their great King leading them on to contend for His crown rights.
Any eschatology that insists that the Church is defeated in this age is an accommodation to the enemy and so is anti-Christ. The Church is set apart to attack the gates of Hell and is to pray “thy Kingdom come.” Do we dare believe those gates will be successful against the assault of Heaven’s Battalions?
Speaking of Tolkien and eschatology, the most direct Biblical borrowing in his works that I have seen is probably the story of “Akallabeth,” or the downfall of Numenor in “Silmarillion.” It is like combination of the Greek myth of Atlantis and Noah’s Flood, and Sauron is there a beautiful, devious Antichrist figure that seduces most Numenoreans away from the right path.
Compare:
“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
https://archive.org/details/silmarillion0000chri/page/276/mode/2up?q=temple&view=theater
“Now the lightnings increased and slew men upon the hills, and in the fields, and in the streets of the city; and a fiery bolt smote the dome of the Temple and shore it asunder, and it was wreathed in flame. But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed; and in that hour men called him a god and did all that he would.”
This is something we should never forget, no matter what the temporal odds against us may be.
Any thoughts on full preterism? I incline to the amillenial position, so I’m not fully informed regarding some nuances of the post-mil positions. Doesn’t a full preterist position deny a Second Coming of Christ … or affirm that he’s already come, and will have a here-and-now total victory through his people?
I found a very interesting link outlining an ‘Armageddon psyop’ that suggests a proper reading of Daniel 7 would say the ‘Second Coming’ happened in 70 AD. I don’t agree, but I think the article contains some original insights into present-day Jewish machinations to introduce a false messiah.
https://www.ethanlucas.com/post/modern-israel-is-not-biblical-israel-tool-for-the-armageddon-psyop
Full Preterism is heresy.
Yes, Full Preterist denies the second coming holding that said second coming already occurred. I’m not sure what they believe in terms of a here and now total victory. It is a varied movement so I can imagine there are several camps within the movement.
Thanks for the link.