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Preachin's Blog A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way. |
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![]() Monday, March 22, 2004 I went to the Southwest Regional Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society two weekends ago on Saturday March 13, 2003 at DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary.) An excellent meeting with some wonderful presenters and discussions...not to mention 50% list price on books! One of the papers I was able to sit in was presented by Adam Harwood, the Executive Pastor at Tate Springs Baptist Church and a good friend of mine. The paper was on the Messianic Expectations of the Jews in the First century; an excellent topic and paper. The matter at hand was whether or not the Jews of the first century were expecting the Messiah which was Jesus Christ. Adam used various writings from that time period to point out that these Jews were expecting a political ruler, a military leader, and liberator amongst other characteristics. The problem was not that God failed to live up to their expectations, rather that their expectations were simply wrong. Jesus Christ came as the perfect fulfillment of prophecy and regardless of whether the Jews thought He was to be something else, He still was the promised Messiah. I believe the implications for our own eschatology are just as striking. There are plenty of people running around proclaiming to know how Jesus Christ is going to come back and in what manner He is going to return. While I don't doubt for a second the second coming of Christ, I must give pause to be mindful that this attitude of expectation and anticipation is similiar to that of the those first century Jews. How mindful must we be that even though we think Christ is going to return in a particular way and at a particular time, that our reading of Scripture could be wrong. Our anticipation of that glorious eschaton must not go away, yet we should anticipate that day with humility and willingness to allow God to be God and operate according to His will and not in any particular way. Now I am by no means saying that we Christians should all become this foolish "pan-millenialist" (that its all going to "pan" out) for I am reminded that we are commended to work out our salvation (and inherrently our doctrine) with "fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12) While we still consider our eschatology let us remember that though we might have a particular view of things to come, we still could be anticipating something that is not going to happen exactly as we think. Thanks for reading. posted by Preachin Jesus | 2:19 PM | |
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