The Aaron Papers  www.the-aaron-papers.net  6

 RAPPROCHEMENT ESCHATOLOGY

-THE ARGUMENT-

Part one                     

PREFACE

From the Westminster Confession of Faith:

G.I. Williamson

THESE excerpts from The Westminster Confession of Faith are being offered because of the Reformed /Presbyterian faulted view toward the one general resurrection.  Though these selected writings are laboriously difficult, we desire to more clearly comprehend their complete understanding in this critical matter in order to demonstrate what is most Scripturally correct.

We begin here on p.252

XXXII OF THE STATE OF MEN AFTER DEATH, AND OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

“1. The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls, (which neither die nor sleep), having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them.  The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day.  Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.”

The above statement is essentially true, for there are factually only two places in God’s dominion where the souls of the dead reside: Neither of which is in the immediate presence of God.  Only the elect priests, especially those from this dispensation of grace, because they have already passed from death unto life (Ref.Jn.5:25), are promised a heavenly presence with their Lord and with their God.  These are precisely the same circumstances that I have described here, as the Westminster has determined for the “souls of the righteous”.

p.253

“The death of the body is prerequisite to the resurrection of the body with new and glorious qualities.”

At death: “The soul of believers immediately become sinlessly perfect and enter upon the joy of immediate presence with God.” 

“But we must understand that this intermediate state is simply a more perfect development, a more advanced phase, of that new life which has its beginning in the soul of the believer at regeneration.”

This described location in God’s presence for the departed souls of the righteous is fully supported by Rev.20:4-6.

I would agree that “the soul of the believer” would become sinless at the time of regeneration.  If Christ dwells within this inner region that we call our soul, it must be sinless.  A regenerated soul cannot sin! Ref. Ps.32:1, 2; Rom.7:25

pp.255, 256

“2. At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up with the self-same bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls for ever.

3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honour, and be made conformable to his own glorious body.”

          Unfortunately, this picture of the “one general resurrection” is essentially non-responsive to the special revelations given by Jesus in John chapters 5 and 11.  What they seem to be describing here is the resurrection of the DEAD that is pictured in Mat.25:31-46 and Rev.20:11-15.

“`It is appointed unto men once to die’ (Heb. 9:27).  This is the statement of what we see to be the universal fact of our existence.  There is no class or race of men that escapes this appointment.  Each generation faces the same terminus.”

“BUT obviously, there will be one generation that will not ‘pass away’ from this earthly scene as others before them, for the simple reason that Christ will return while they are yet alive.” Ref.1Th.4:15

This is surely an attempt on the part or the Reformed /Presbyterians to have it both ways.  To state that all men are appointed once to die: The very same theological reasoning by which you have determined that statement as a universal fact of our existence, where is there any room left here for a BUT?  This statement, in the exact form in which it is given, creates a clear contradiction.  These folk are mistakenly amalgamating the Jn.5:25 LIVING and the Jn.5:28-29 DEAD.  And where is there any indication of some “yet alive” in the General Resurrection described in Mat.25:31-46, Jn.5:28-29, or Rev.11:11-15?

p.257

“The Scripture does not tell us nearly so much with respect to the resurrection of the unsaved.  We do know (1) that it will be at the same time as the resurrection of believers.” Ref. Jn. 5:28,29

Because their statement also includes the living dead—the invisible elect priesthood, this is the very statement that has generated a great deal of confusion within their Eschatology and the basic reason for all of these comments.  You can be assured that this issue is much more complex than this statement seems to present.  When we consider the departed souls of God’s collective peoples, we must be able to distinguish between LIVING dead and the DEAD dead. Ref.Rev.20:4-6  The LIVING dead have a living soul existence in heaven, and the dead DEAD are dead!  The DEAD corporate peoples of God will not come alive (anazao) until the intermediate time period (the thousand years of Rev.20) is finished.

p.259

XXXIII.  OF THE LAST JUDGMENT

“1. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.

2. The end of God’s appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect, and of his justice in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient.  For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and refreshing which shall come from the presence of the Lord; but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin, and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity; so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.”

“The teaching of the Westminster standards is that there will be a general resurrection of all men, and then, without delay, a general judgment.”

It is exactly here in the above statement that this eschatological difficulty for the Reformed /Presbyterians rests.  To include the LIVING dead who are identified as being in Christ with those who are included in the resurrection of the dead, is missing a main teaching of Scripture and also missing some of God’s important promises that are reserved for His invisible elect priesthood.

pp.260, 261                    I. PREMILLENNIALISM

1. Classical Premillennialism

“This view was held in the ancient era by Irenaeus and others.  The main outline is as follows:

(1) World history is to extend 6000 years, a thousand years for each of the days of creation (cf. 2Pe.3:8);

(2) toward the end of this period (the sixth day, which began with Christ’s first coming) suffering and persecution of believers will increase until climax in the rise of Antichrist (cf. I Thess. 2:3-10, I John 2:18);

(3) at the height of Antichrist’s power Christ will appear in heavenly glory to triumph over all his enemies, resurrecting the saints and establishing his Kingdom which will last a thousand years (the seventh day, Sabbath, or Millennium).  During this period Jerusalem will be rebuilt, the earth will prosper, and there will be universal peace;”

Now to accomplish all of these things that I have underlined here in (3), we need only look to the clear fulfillment of Rev.11:15, Mat.24:31, Mk.13:27, Lu.21:25, 26, 1Cor.15:23-26, and 1Thes.4:15-17.  All of this occurs at the close of The Year of Jehovah’s Favor and the very beginning of The Day of the Lord.  With this pre-Armageddon gathering, only the invisible elect saints/ or priests who are living on earth at the time of this gathering and the living dead who have been selectively chosen are to be included here.  These represent all of those who have spiritually come to life from the spiritually dead—Jn.5:25, as well as the souls from under the heavenly alter—Rev.6, who are being resurrected /or translated and gathered UP in the clouds of glory.  This separate resurrection includes every living saint (dead or alive) elected during God’s entire reconciliation.  All of which is essentially the resurrection of God’s hidden priesthood and His Kingdom.  All of these elect priests who are being resurrected /or translated, are being caught up into the clouds—where they are united forever with their Lord: A gathering which, because of its specific description and location, has an obvious separation in view.  So it would be impossible and unnecessary to ever include this special group that includes the LIVING dead in with the DEAD dead that we see pictured at the general resurrection scene of Mat.25:31-46, Jn.5:28-29, and Rev.20:11-15.

The Classical Premillennial view would be fairly accurate if they could have clearly understood the two-fold location of their so-called Millennium.  Though they have primarily applied this millennium to the saved ones, this millennium that they have assigned to the seventh day applies just as much to all of the lost of this world.  This Millennial Seventh Day will surely be a time of joy and bliss: A Heavenly Sabbath for all those who are in the body of Christ and who collectively constitute the hidden kingdom of God.  But this same Millennial Seventh Day—The Day of the Lord, is also a time of great tribulation for all the inhabitants dwelling upon the earth.  These two parallel millennial events that are being defined here will occur at the same time.

By missing the two-fold location of this millennium, the Classical Premillennialists have mistakenly located the hidden Kingdom of God upon the earth where they identify it as a Millennial Kingdom.  Remember that the completed Kingdom—the resurrected body of Christ, is to be delivered up to God. Ref.1Cor.15:24  I know of no exact Scripture that would relocate this gathered Kingdom that was so clearly delivered up to God, back down to the earth for this Premillennial defined millennium.  The Premillenarians are also mistaken in their analysis of these end time events.

(4) at the end of this period the wicked will be raised for the final judgment;

Because there is more than just the wicked involved in (4), we should begin here by clarifying exactly who will be resurrected in the resurrection of the last day:

John 5:28, 29 “Marvel not at this: for the hour comes, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” Ref.Mat.25:31-46; Acts.24:15

This is a picture of the end of The Day of the Lord.  All of the DEAD dead are being resurrected, so as to attend to the final judgment: All of the lost are surely raised at this time, and all of God’s institutional corporate peoples who have died while living under God’s Abrahamic covenant of grace as well. Ref.Rev.20:4-6; Heb.11:13, 39, and 40  To properly understand the precise details of the final judgment, we must be cognizant of the many special promises that are made in the New Testament.  Promises that generally apply principally to those who are elected /chosen during this dispensation of grace; promises that principally apply to those who are in Christ.

(5) finally, the new creation will appear (cf. II Pet. 3, Rev. 22).

“This basic scheme has had advocates throughout Church history, although this must be called a distinctly ‘minority’ view.  In the 19th century this view became much more popular, and was held (with some variation) by such able scholars as Bengel, Godet, VanOosterzee, Moorehead, and others.  Then toward the end of the century and throughout the (twentieth) century to an even greater degree, there has come a new and radically different type of premillennial doctrine.”

2. Modern Dispensational Premillennialism-

(See Section 1 for my analysis)

II POSTMILLENNIALISM

(See Section 2 for my analysis)

                            III AMILLENNIALISM

“Amillennialists do not believe that the Scripture predicts a golden age in world history prior to Christ’s return nor do they believe that it predicts such an age in history after Christ’s return before the final judgment. (Yes, I would agree here with the Amillennialists.)  

They believe

(1) that there will be a progressive maturation of the forces of good and evil (Mat.13:24-30, 37-43, 47-50).   (I would agree)

(2) Some believe there will be tribulation and much (or great) apostasy throughout this era (Again, I agree), while others believe that the apostasy (II Thess.2) will come as an event concentrated in time immediately prior to Christ’s return. (A progressive apostasy.)(?-This is a questionable conclusion that they are making here)

 As the end of the age approaches, the apostasy that affects the Church will become progressively worse and worse.

(3) Some believe that there will be no sign of Christ’s return (Yes, I would agree), still others believe there will be

(a) the great (concentrated in time) apostasy,

(b) conversion of the Jews (en masse),

(c) a state of affairs in which it can be said that the gospel has been preached to all nations.

I would agree with this view of (3) as it is given through the very first part; that portion which precedes the (Yes, I would agree).  There will be no sign of Christ’s return.  There will be greater and greater apostasy.  The gospel will be preached to all the nations as well. 

I could agree with (4) “Christ will return and resurrect all men at the same time.” if it is viewed only in the context of John 5:28 and 29—the general resurrection of the dead,

I could agree with (5) “The general judgment will follow.” if it is viewed in the context of Mat.25:31-46 and Rev.20:11-15, and

I could agree with (6) “The new heavens and new earth will appear to abide forever.” if it is viewed in the context of 2Pe.3:13, Rev.21, and Rev.22. 

I would note that my main problem with the A-millennial view continues to be their failure to recognize the dispensational distinction that is made in the Scriptures for those who are in Christ.  This distinction is best defined from the words that we find in Jn.5:25

“Truly, truly, I say unto you, The hour comes, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live (zao).”  The dead that is pictured here in this passage, is clearly talking about each and every person on earth.  Every person on this planet earth is initially dead in his or her own trespasses and sins.  Now once any person “hears the voice of the Son of God”, which is the process of regeneration, they become spiritually alive [zao]—they begin to live.  This is openly defined in John 11:25 and 26  “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes on me, though he die, yet shall he live (zao); and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Ref. 1Thes.4:14-18  Now this passage from John is talking about a very distinct group of peoples that, after being regenerated by God’s Holy Spirit (after hearing the voice of the Son of God that brings with it new spiritual life—1Pe.1:8-9), receive the guarantee of eternal life from Jesus Himself.  We might identify the members of this distinct group, as being in Christ.  Then we have this added promise: When any of these living ones who are in Christ dies, their regenerated souls, because it has been infused with the life of Christ, go immediately into heaven to live and reign with their Lord. Ref. Rev.20:4-6; 2 Cor.5:8 and Phil.1:23

This separate resurrection principle for God’s hidden priesthood and Kingdom, is best received through the incorporation of a small part of the eschatology from Classical Premillennialism:

“(3) at the height of Antichrist’s power Christ will appear in heavenly glory (in the air - 1Thes.4:16-18) to triumph over all his enemies (Rev:15:11), resurrecting the saints and establishing his Kingdom which will last a thousand years: the seventh day, Sabbath, or Millennium (Rev.20:4-6).” 

Which we must first see from these Scriptures as a Heavenly Sabbath.

Yes, “Christ will appear in heavenly glory to triumph over all of his enemies”. Ref. Mat.24:30, Mk.13:26, and Lu.21:27: This appearance happens at the very beginning of The Day of the Lord. Ref.Rev.11:15 

Next, we see Christ “resurrecting the saints”. Ref. Mat.24:31, Mk.13:27, 1Cor.15:23 and 24, and 1Thes.4:14-18. 

The presence of the Kingdom was actually established at Christ’s first coming—Ref. Rev.12:10.  What they see here as “and establishing his Kingdom” is, in all reality, the collective completion [or fullness] of His Kingdom as it is delivered UP. 

Then at that exact same time, Christ is taking His authority over the earth as well—“And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Rev.11:15 Ref. Rev.10:6, and 1Cor.15:24.  The gathered Kingdom—the resurrected /and /or translated hidden priesthood, at this point in God’s table of time, is complete and ready to be delivered up to our God and Father.  I would like to repeat this important fact about what has just been said: By Scriptural necessity, all of these things happen at the very beginning of The Day of the Lord—Pre-Armageddon.

Now focusing back on the A-millennial view, we also believe that this so called “millennium” is being fulfilled during this dispensation of the fulness of times—during this year of Jehovah’s favor.  It is important for us to see that the Kingdom development stage is surely set within this “thousand years” of Rev.20:1-4: Where we are precisely told that Satan’s power and dominion has been sharply curtailed during this specific one thousand years: This millennium.  Also key to this line of thinking, is properly understanding the reign of God’s peoples during this dispensation of grace—this millennium.  Where the complexity of this reign once again increases dramatically because of its two-fold character.

First, we see the earthly reign defined in Rev.1:5b and 6 “Unto him that loves us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood; and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”  Along with Rev.5:9 and 10 “And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for you was slain, and did purchase unto God with your blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and you made them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon earth.” [RASV]  This is a prophetic picture of this present dispensation of grace.

Second, we see the interim heavenly reign for the hidden elect priesthood defined in Rev.20:4-6 “⁴And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. ⁶Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” 

Though the souls that are pictured here in Rev.20 are the martyred saints, they would surely include all of the departed invisible elect priests from this dispensation of the fulness of time as well.  Those who now sleep in Christ. Ref. 2Cor.5:8 and Phil.1:23   This picture would clearly define the [zao] soul presence of the elect in heaven.  They are in heaven, living and reigning with our Lord Jesus. Ref. Rev.6:9-11  Now the life that we have—to live and to reign with Christ, comes only from our Jn.5:25 experience.

(4) Christ will return and resurrect all men at the same time.    

Now this is also another true fact.  Christ will indeed return at the end of The Day of the Lord and resurrect all of the dead. Ref. Jn.5:28,29; Mat.25:31-46

Special note: John 5: is an example of a passage that is parenthetically written.  I would consider Jn.5:24 and 25 and Jn.5:28 and 29 as a parenthesis: And within this parenthesis we would have the entire Year of Jehovah’s Favor and The Day of the Lord.  Jn.5:24 and 25 is the beginning and Jn.5:28 and 29 is the ending.  This is the same situation that we find in the Old Testament passage—Isa.61:1 and 2 [Ref. Lu.4:18, 19]: Where the parenthesis within Isa.61:2 announces the beginning of this dispensation of grace—The year of Jehovah’s Favor, as well as the prediction of God’s final epoch—The Day of the Lord; the day of vengeance of our God.  In reality, the parenthesis that is created by Jn.5:24 and 25 and Jn.5:28 and 29, would fit exactly around the parenthesis that is made up by the statements from Isa.61:2.  This is an extremely important teaching for establishing any correct eschatology.

(5) The general judgment will follow.

This is a true fact as well.  After all the dead have been called forth from the place of the dead and Death and Hades, Christ will surely sit as Judge. Ref. Mat.25:31-46, and Rev.20:11-15

(6) The new heavens and new earth will appear to abide forever.”

Also true. Ref. Rev.21:, Rev.22:, and Isa.65:17-25