Paradise Restored Paradise Restored
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PARADISE RESTORED PARADISE RESTORED A Biblical Theology of Dominion David Chilton Dominion Press Tyler, Texas Copyright @Dominion Press Fkst Printing, January, 1985 Second Printing, Aprd, 1985 Third Printing, March, 1987 Fourth Printing, December, 1994 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chilton, David Paradise restored : a biblical theology of dominion / David Chilton. p. cm. Includes biblio~aphical references and index. ISBN 0-930462-52-1:$17.95 1. Dominion theology. 2. Eschatology. 3. Bible. N.T. Revelation-- Critiasm, interpretation, etc. 4. Prophecy-- Christianity. I. Title. BT82.25.C48 1994 230’.O46--dc2O 84-62186 CIP AU rights reserved. Written permission must be secured horn the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. Quotations from On the Zncamatwn, by St. Athanasius (trans- lated and edited by Sister Penelope Lawson, C.S.M.V.; New York: MacMillan, 198 1), are reprinted with the permission of MacMillan Publishing Company. Published by Dominion Press P.O. Box 8000, Tyler, Texas 75711 Printed in the United Mates of Amertia TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE . ix Part One: AN ESCHATOLOGY OF DOMINION I. The Hope . 3 Part Two: PARADISE: THE PATTERN FOR PROPHECY 2. How to Read Prophecy . 15 3. The Paradise Theme . 23 4. The Holy Mountain . 29 5. The Garden oftheLord . 39 6. The Garden and the Howling Wilderness . 49 7. The Fiery Cloud . 57 Part Three: THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM 8. The Coming of the Kingdom . 67 9. The Rejection of Israel . 77 10. The GreatTribulation . 85 11. Coming on the Clouds . 97 12. The Rise of Antichrist . ...107 13. The Last Days . ...115 14. The Restoration of Israel . ...125 15. The Day of the Lord . ...133 16. The Consummation of the Kingdom . ...143 Part Four: STUDIES IN REVELATION 17. Interpreting Revelation . ...151 18. The Time Is at Hand . ...159 19. A Brief Summary of Revelation. ...169 20.The Beast and the False Prophet (Revelation 13) . ...175 21. The Great Harlot (Revelation 17-19) . ...187 22. TheKingdomofPriests(Revelation 20) . ...195 23. TheNewCreation(Revelation21-22) . ...203 vii . Vlll Paradise Restored Part Five: TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH 24. Fulfilling the Great Commission . 213 APPENDIX A–The Eschatology of Dominion: A Summary. ..223 APPENDIX B – Josephus on the Fall of Jerusalem . ...237 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY . ... 291 SCRIPTURE INDEX . ...297 INDEX . ...313 PREFACE This book was written as a general introduction to both a Biblical eschatology and a way of reading the Bible; the former, I believe, grows naturally out of the latter. It also serves as a prologue to my larger work (in progress), a commentary on the Book of Revelation. For this reason, the present book does not claim to answer every conceivable question about prophecy. Those who wish to find out more about the perspective presented here should con- sult the bibliography. In addition to my commentary, several other works on eschatology are in various stages of preparation, most notably by the Rev. James B. Jordan (Matthew 24) and the Rev. Ray Sutton (Daniel). Many readers will (I hope) find the material on the Garden of Eden fascinating, as I did when I first heard Jim Jordan’s lec- tures on the subject in 1977. They will be happy to hear that his book Trees and Thorns, a comprehensive survey of the Edenic patterns, is nearing publication. I highly recommend this work. Another scholar whose studies have influenced mine is Dr. Meredith Kline; his book Images of the Spirit is a masterpiece of Biblical Theology. (1 hasten to point out, of course, that he should not be held responsible for any of my conclusions.) The Bible quotations are generally from the New American Standard Version, including its marginal notes; on occasion I have altered the quotations slightly in favor of a more literal rendering. I am very grateful to a number of good friends who gave me their counsel and assistance during the writing of this book. First among these is my publisher, Dr. Gary North, who origi- nally asked me to write it, and whose suggestions were consis- tently fruitful and challenging. The manuscript was read by the pastors of Westminster Presbyterian Church (Tyler, Texas): the ix x Paradise Restored Rev. Lewis Bulkeley, the Rev. Robert Dwelle, the Rev. James B. Jordan, and the Rev. Ray Sutton; their theological insights have influenced virtually every page of the book. Others who read the manuscript and gave valuable com- ments are the Rev. Mark House, pastor of First Presbyterian Church (Manhattan Beach, California); Spencer Roundtree, a ruling elder of the Church of the Redeemer (Placerville, Califor- nia); James Whitacre, a fellow member of Westminster Presby- terian Church; and the Rev. George Grant, pastor of Believers’ Fellowship (Humble, Texas). In addition to his helpful criti- cisms (which he offered with reckless, prodigal abandon), George designed the book cover; the artwork was done by Randy Rogers, also of Believers’ Fellowship. I would also like to thank Oakton Reformed Fellowship (Oakton, Virginia) for their help in the publication of this book. In ways too numerous to mention, I am indebted to the pa- tient and dedicated work of two efficient secretaries at the Insti- tute for Christian Economics: Mrs. Maureen Peters and Mrs. Brenda West. At every stage of production their aid has been in- valuable, and is deeply appreciated. Finally, I am grateful to my wife, Darlene, who graciously assisted me throughout the project. Because her love is a contin- uing token of Paradise Restored, this book is dedicated to her. PART I AN ESCHATOLOGY OF DOMINION Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, Anointed universal King; all power I give thee, reign forever, and assume Thy merits; under thee as Head Supreme Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions I reduce: All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell. John Milton, Paradise Losl [3.315-22] When the sun has come, darkness prevails no longer; any of it that may be left anywhere is driven away. So also, now that the Divine epiphany of the Word of God has taken place, the darkness of idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every direction are enlightened by His teaching. St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation [55] 1 THE HOPE This is a book about hope. For too long, Christians have been characterized by despair, defeat, and retreat. For too long, Chris- tians have heeded the false doctrine which teaches that we are doomed to failure, that Christians cannot win –the notion that, until Jesus returns, Christians will steadily lose ground to the enemy. The future of the Church, we were told, is to be a steady slide into apostasy. Some of our leaders sadly informed us that we are living in a “Laodicean age” of the Church (a reference to the “lukewarm” church of Laodicea, spoken of in Rev. 3:14-22). Any new outbreak of war, any rise in crime statistics, any new evidence of the breakdown of the family, was often oddly viewed as prog- ress, a step forward toward the expected goal of the total collapse of civilization, a sign that Jesus might come to rescue us at any mo- ment. Social action projects were looked on with skepticism: it was often assumed that anyone who actually tried to improve the world must not really believe the Bible, because the Bible taught that such efforts were bound to be futile; as one famous preacher put it, “You don’t polish brass on a sinking ship.” That slogan was based on two assumptions: first, that the world is nothing more than a “sinking ship”; second, that any organized program of Christian reconstruction would be nothing more than “polishing brass.” Evangelism was an invitation to join the losing side. This was rooted in two problems. One was a fake view of Spir- ituality. The unbiblical idea of “spirituality” is that the truly “spirit- ual” man is the person who is sort of “non-physical: who doesn’t get involved in “earthly” things, who doesn’t work very much or think very hard, and who spends most of his time meditating about how he’d rather be in heaven. As long as he’s on earth, though, he has one main duty in life: Get stepped on for Jesus. 3 4 Paradise Restored The “spiritual” man, in this view, is a wimp. A Loser. But at least he’s a Good Loser. The teaching of the Bible is very different. When the Bible uses the term Spiritual, it is generally speaking of the Holy Spirit (which is why I use a capital S). To be Spiritual is to be guided and motivated by the Holy Spirit. It means obeying His com- mands as recorded in the Scriptures. The Spiritual man is not someone who floats in midair and hears eerie voices. The Spirit- ual man is the ma-n who does what the Bible says (Rem. 8:4-8). This means, therefore, that we are supposed to get involved in life. God wants us to apply Christian standards everywhere, in every area. Spirituality does not mean retreat and withdrawal from life; it means dominion. The basic Christian confession of faith is that Jesus is Lord (Rem. 10:9-10) – Lord of all things, in heaven and on earth. As Lord, He is to be glorified in every area (Rem. 11:36). In terms of Christian Spirituality, in terms of God’s requirements for Christian action in every area of life, there is no reason for retreat.