Berita NECF Newletters

The Church in the Last Days

Description: By Rev. Loh Soon Choy

Do We Need Another 'Church Eschatology'?

Can one write anything new and profound on the ‘Church in the End Times’ that is not already in the Scriptures, in general and symbolic terms? Is there a church eschatology separate from a world eschatology?

Arguably, there could be one. Just as the world has spiritual impact upon the church, the church has historical and sociological dimensions in its relations with the world. We could talk for example of how new technologies and new configurations power will affect the institutional church.

Old and New Testament histories also show that ‘the world’ – through the successive ancient civilisations of Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece and Rome – had its special traumatic impacts on the called-out communities of God’s people.

The chariot and building technologies of Egypt were disastrous for Israel who was thoroughly enslaved. Assyrian, Babylonian and each subsequent civilisation developed harder metals, more formidable weapons and conquest strategies and power structures to ‘unite’ and subdue yet larger and larger lands.

Where was ‘God’s church’ or the OT Covenant community then in the scheme of world affairs? What a God who even prohibited them from simple modernisation processes, such as building chariots (Jos. 11:6, Deut. 20:1–9) and improving their governance and administration through the institution of a kingship except only with great reluctance (1 Sam. 8)!

The purpose? That they may trust Him and not in the icons of power, property and wealth. God had His own sovereign and decisive but very different ways of dealing with those challenges and crises represented in the most fearsome manner by monstrous beasts and other apocalyptic imagery (see Daniel and Revelation). Israel was crushed as a nation not because of these beasts but because of their sins. Yet, Israel – and later, the crucified Jesus – was raised up again.

Lest we become triumphalistic and escapist, the Bible has given us a cultural or creation mandate to be involved with and be "in the world but not of the world". The Bible has also given us a sort of outline of world eschatology. Hence the flood of literature on what may happen to the world (including the church) before Jesus comes again.

Our NECF Malaysia Eschatology Commission – later re-named Research Commission – and the Watchmen’s Forum, are premised on these biblical ‘givens’. Even if our works are imperfect but biblically and theologically responsible reflections, they can be, in God’s mercy, become wake-up calls and exercises in pastoral reflection and watchfulness. They also help check irresponsible, alarmist or over-dogmatic tendencies in some of the literature produced by some prophecy groups, publishers and authors that hurt the church and its testimony.

In its eschatology, mainstream Protestantism has suppressed the blood, the chaos, and the terror of the Apocalypse; and these have leapt out like the bogeyman from under the bed. If mainstream churches cannot give a satisfactory account of the End, is it surprising that many people will choose to go elsewhere where their questions can be addressed?

Therefore, let us teach the Scriptures, which already gives us a world eschatology with enough blood, chaos and terror. However, the need for a further and separate ‘church eschatology’ is controversial. For, the church is already an eschatological event instituted by God according to His salvation plan for the world. This is also repeatedly commemorated at the Lord’s Supper, which is "until He comes."

Identity of the Subject: The Church Itself is an End-Time Thing

Another issue is: What exactly is meant by ‘Church’? The term comes from the Greek kuriakon (that which belongs to the Lord). Many wonderful people, groups and para-churches belong to God, but they are not ‘churches’. We shall not enter into this here except to remind ourselves of Paul’s best-known images of the church as the Body and Bride of Christ.

Historically, Bishop Ignatius of Antioch in about AD107 left us a memorable one-line definition: Where Jesus Christ is, there is the church. Irenaeus, a generation later, said, "Where the Spirit of God is, there is the church and every grace."

The great reformers Calvin and Luther were wise to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials (a procedure we need to learn afresh) in describing the church. These essentials in their writings were (a) a worshipping fellowship of believers; (b) the preaching and discipline of the Word; (c) the presence of the Holy Spirit; (d) the observance of the Sacraments; and (e) the practice of Service. Yet, if we would, we could expand their descriptions to include dimensions and scenarios about modern churches they did not foresee.

Perhaps we can here appreciate Wayne Grudem’s simple definition of the church as "an assembly of all true believers for all time". The "for all time" defines the church as a ‘supra-temporal, eternal entity’. The "all true believers" defines its supra-racial identity. Being supra temporal, the Church is eternal and has no end. It is God’s most important ‘last thing’ before Jesus comes.

Conclusion

Since Process (Methodology) is as important as the substance of the content in any Christian work, we conclude with the following reminders:

1. With regard to our intellectual or theological Methodology, we are often caught between several extremes. As John Stott says in regard to current affairs and the future, "we need… an unusual combination of the conservative and the radical, the dogmatic and the agnostic, the fixed and the free. Our starting point is Scripture, which we accept as God’s unique and trustworthy revelation. Yet in seeking with loyalty to conserve this truth for God, we attribute no infallibility to our own Evangelical traditions. If we seem to the reader to be always sure about the truthfulness of Scripture but sometimes less than sure in our understanding of how to apply it to complex contemporary questions, then we have accurately grasped our mood." This is the basic humility and reverence required of us as we approach and apply the Scriptures especially to end times.

2. With regard to our Spiritual Mood and Attitude, we can be caught with one of three wrong ones:

i) Because it is God’s church, the ‘gates’ or powers of hell cannot prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). It will, by divine grace, finish triumphantly in this world but that does not mean we can be triumphalistic and complacent. Our Basic here is to live theologically as a latter-day end-time disciple and to engage with the world.

ii) Because of the reality and power of sin, Satan and his evil principalities and powers, the church will also go through great suffering and persecution – as had happened in history as well as today. Our Basic here is not to be fearful and despair (Ezek. 37 and 38, Rev. 17 and 18).

iii)Because of so much disunity, worldliness and sin even in the church, we can become cynical and indifferent towards, not only its future but also Truth itself and the call to radical discipleship. This is further worsened for the intellectual by the 21st century ‘post-modern’ mood that is sceptical of the earlier 18th and 20th century presuppositions and ideologies, whether these are based on reason or on faith or supposedly on facts. Our Basic here is a renewed way of returning to the Scriptures, the fountain of Truth, and not be seduced by the hype and trendy, supposed insights and challenges from modernity (post-modernity).

If Adam had not been put to deep sleep, he would have tried to control God’s hand in creating Eve. Such is our Philistine tendency to want to know and control everything, but our own insatiable curiosity. Such curiosity is a form of control in itself, a control over the future. It fosters anxiety, restlessness and loss of priorities and our very spirituality.

It can lead us to use Scripture to demonise opponents or glorify violence. Scripture itself warns us against our tendency to deny the limits and boundaries set by God beginning from the Garden of Eden.


(This article is contributed by the NECF Malaysia Research Commission.)



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