Glorified Beginning

"Viewed as a whole, firstly, the Christian account of history is eschatological not only in the sense that it comes to a definitive and everlasting end, but in the sense that the end is a glorified beginning, not merely a return to origins" (Peter J. Leithart, Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, & Hope in Western Literature, xi).

Christianity's Deep Comedy: "All Will Be Well, And All Manner Of Things Will Be Well"

Author Peter Leithart in the "acknowledgements" to his book Deep Comedy says: "This book is dedicated to my third daughter, MargaretAnn, who at five exemplifies as well as anyone I know what it means to live out of and in deep comedy. She is a constant source of amusement, with her bizarre, frequently gruesome stories, her prankishness, her wildly expressive eyes. More imprtantly and profoundly, she exudes the childlike confidence and careless freedom that comes from knowing all will be well, and all manner of things will be well. And with her on my lap or in my arms, I am reassured that it will."

American Church

From the Pew Forum. I take statistics with a grain of salt, but these benchmarks ought to be alarming.

Key Findings and Statistics on Religion in America

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

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The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%).

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Although there are about half as many Catholics in the U.S. as Protestants, the number of Catholics nearly rivals the number of members of evangelical Protestant churches and far exceeds the number of members of both mainline Protestant churches and historically black Protestant churches. The U.S. also includes a significant number of members of the third major branch of global Christianity - Orthodoxy - whose adherents now account for 0.6% of the U.S. adult population. American Christianity also includes sizeable numbers of Mormons (1.7% of the adult population), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.7%) and other Christian groups (0.3%).

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Eschatology of Hope: Benchmarking Church Growth and Community Impact for a Christian Future

Benchmarks for Community

Loose collection of thought-fragments on the Christian future . . .

• Construction of brick-and-mortar churches that aren't going anywhere for a while, i.e., think of Notre Dame de Paris, or Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, but think of them as actually functioning as vibrant churches, instead of being mere landmark or tourist attractions--these brick-and-mortar churches would point to the acts of God in the past as well as the Christian future.
• Construction of mercy-ministries (predominantly overseen and ran by local churches) with military-like organization and influence/efficacy, e.g., soup-kitchens and rescue missions that provide a segue from homelessness, hunger and poverty, financial and social instability, as well as functioning as a training-ground for developing a professional skillset that in the future might provide a protective-hedge for individuals (and families) from falling back into those vulnerable circumstances.
• Construction of Christian-mediation groups to assist with legal disputes (outside of courtrooms) between Christians (this work would be only a segue until Christian Law was the law of civic courts). 
• City-based trans-denominational elders meetings focusing on collaborative/strategic prayer, evangelism, mercy ministry, etc., for shared cultural space. 
• Closing of abortion-mills, Planned Parenthood facilities, and the like.
• Closing of Casinos, State Lotteries, etc.
• Closing of strip-clubs.
• Closing of wannabe strip-clubs, e.g., restaurants like Hooters, The Tilted-Kilt, etc.
• Closing of oodles and oodles of Federal, State, and County "Department of whatever-wealth-redistribution-program-comes-to-mind"

What should be added to the list?

Chicken Little the Patron Saint of Dispensationalism

"Only the fool living under the sun determines to 'Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.' What then do we make of those under the Son who claim 'Evangelize, evangelize, evangelize, for tomorrow we are raptured?' No one wants to come out against evangelism, especially me. It may very well be that in the providence of God the threat of an impending rapture, and of a tribulation to follow, may actually have motivated a few folks to spread the Good News. Wouldn't it just be like God to use such a thing to bring His sheep into His fold? There's a true sign of the sovereignty of God--He is strong enough to use even a dispensational eschatology for His glory. On the other hand, it may be that one day all their apologetical labors will fall on deaf ears when they come to be seen by the world as those whose patron saint is Chicken Little" (R. C. Sproul, Jr., Eternity in Our Hearts: Essays on the Good Life, 55).

The Christian Future: Leaning Forward! Leaning Forward!

"The Christian faith is eschatological, always leaning into the future, standing on tiptoes, eager to see what God is bringing to birth among us. We are created for no better purpose than the praise of God. This is our true destiny. Yet any fool can see that the world is not like that, at least not yet. So Christians, in the Lord's Prayer, are busy leaning forward toward that day when all creation shall be fulfilled in one mighty prayer of praise" (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer and the Christian Life, 57).

I've often talked about "leaning together into the Christian future." Now I remember where I picked up that thought-and-phrase.

Also, note their optimism: "Yet any fool can see that the world is not like that, at least not yet. At least not yet, indeed.

A Daniel We All Are

"The Church at the present time is in a temporary state analogous to that of Israel when she sinned against God. The Church is in something of an "exile." Individual Christians at this point in history are in a situation analogous to that of Daniel in exile. This Christian "diaspora" is not permanent, however, Christ's prayer will be answered, and there will be visible unity in the Church again. This unity will be the work of God. it will be a visible unity based in Christian truth, not a Roman uniformity based on late medieval papal theories or an ecumenical unity based on compromising the essentials of the faith [Think - Evangelicals and Catholics Together]. It will be a biblical and ecclesiastical unity under one Lord, confessing one faith, and administering one baptism. The one visible Church will once again recognize and confess the rightful role of Scripture and her proper relationship with it" (Keith A. Mathison, The Shape of Sola Scriptura, 325).

Aphoristic Commentary: Psalm 120:6-7 and 1 John 4:4-6 & 13

Psalm 120:6-7, My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

1 John 4:4-6 & 13, Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error....Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

We can have an optimistic/postmillennial eschatology, so long as we allow it to organically flow from and bend before Scripture: even with an optimistic/postmillennial eschatology, we must never forget the antithetical relationship between Christ and his enemies, between the Church and the world. Thus, we must always remember, not in spite of, but because of our optimistic/postmillennial eschatology, that we are separated unto God by the Holy Spirit!

Lordship of Christ and the Christian Future

Philip Schaff reflecting on God's hand of providence in the midst of Heathenism:

Greece gave the apostles the most copious and beautiful language to express the divine truths of the Gospel, and Providence had long before so ordered political movements as to spread that language over the world and to make it the organ of civilization and international intercourse, as the Latin was in the middle ages, as the French was in the eighteenth century, and as the English is coming to be in the nineteenth (History of the Christian Church, vol. 1, 77).

Before Christ (BC)

God providentially used heathen empires and languages of olden times to prepare man for Jesus Christ. All of Western history and culture, i.e., Mesopotamia, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Sparta and Athens; Grecian epics, lyrical poetry, and dramas; the rise of Rome, etc., was a tool in the hand of God, preparing the sons of Adam for Jesus Christ. Schaff says, "In Judaism the true religion is prepared for man; in heathenism man is prepared for the true religion" (58).

Anno Domini (AD)

Christ came. Christ ascended and now rules at the right hand of the Father. And Christ used the events of AD history, i.e., fall of Rome and Romish and Byzantium schism; 7th-10th century Islamic growth and development of medieval civilization; economic, technological, and political European transformations and the Renaissance; Protestant reformation and Western expansion; etc. and etc., for , as Schaff said, the "gradual diffusion of his spirit and progress of his kingdom."

Christian Approach to the Future

So, if we want to craft a Christian approach to the future, then we need to remember that Christ is King and is using the events of AD history to push his Kingdom into the corners and the shadows of this world. But how do you think and live if that is the approach you are trying to take? Well, here are a couple examples:

1) International Economies

Christ is using international economies to subdue the world, even when the captains of those international economies are tyrants. Eventually those tyrants are going to be overthrown, but in the meantime Christ is using them as a tool to cultivate the world, and from those figurative fields the Lord will grow and feed his Church.

2) Internet

The Internet is an incredible vehicle for delivering stuff. The glorious thing about the Internet is that it is an infrastructure that is both ubiquitous and flexible, e.g., you can get nearly everything (audio, video, text) anywhere (via wireline, WiFi, Satellite, etc., communication channels). The Internet is a powerful tool that Christ is leveraging for expanding his Kingdom, e.g., with the click of a finger you can send the entire writings of the Ante-Nicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers to a village in middle of the Congo. And parallel to the Internet is technology in general: you can smuggle all the Western Christian classics and multiple translations of the Bible into Communistic countries on itty-bitty SD cards. Boom Shakalaka!!!

3) Cities

Cities are growing and growing and growing and growing, and even though lots of cities are bastions for sin (read: NY, LA, etc.), have faith that God is shoving people into cities for a reason. I thinks that when God begins to pour out his Spirit of revival and renewal there is going to be a lot of (positive) collateral damage, merely because of the fact that God has shoved a whole lot of humans into cities. My best guess is that it will look like the revolution that took place when the early church grew in the midst of Roman paganism: back then there was a lot of "positive" collateral damages, e.g., God's common grace was dispersed through the mercy ministries of the church: through the creation of orphanages, and care and dignity was given to the sick and infirm; also, a great many abandoned babies were saved and given homes, etc. On the front-end, all of that revival and renewal requires sustained prayer, so that the church is prepared and made-ready. That way when the moment comes all of us are ready to roll-up-our-sleeves and jump in! But on the back-end, it is going to be so cool to see God's Spirit poured out that we're going to want to crack a beer and just bask in the enjoyment of watching the glory of widespread-revival. But I digress.

The thing to remember in the midst of all this optimism is that Christ does not convert the nations at the edge of a sword. Christ uses AD history for the "gradual diffusion of his spirit and expansion of his kingdom,"  but he uses it after the specific pattern exemplified by himself and his Church: it is the pattern of peaceful martyr and witness. Christ didn't march into Jerusalem armed to the teeth, rather he peacefully rode into that city, all the while knowing he would be crucified as a martyr. God raised Christ from the dead, so the church follows the example of Christ. The church knows that God brings life out of death, therefore, the church has always been an optimistic witness of the efficaciousness of martyrdom.

The Christ Who is Present

"Christian preaching cannot be about a future that does not impinge on the present. Eschatology is less about the future per se than it is about how God's future works itself into present experience and expression. I think this corresponds well to Calvin's understanding: in the Christ who is present, Christ's past action is wed to his future kingdom, and the Christian finds oneself in a community living out God's purpose with Christ as one's head" (Thomas J. Davis, This is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought (Baker Academic, 2012), 111-112).

One Choice: Pagan Law or Christian Law

"The fact is that all law is "religious." All law is based on some ultimate standard of morality and ethics. Every law-system is founded on the ultimate value of that system, and that ultimate value is the god of that system. The source of law for a society is the god of that society. This means that a theocracy is inescapable. All societies are theocracies. The difference is that a society that is not explicitly Christian is a theocracy of a false god. Thus, when God instructed the Israelites about going into the land of Canaan, He warned them not to adopt the law system of the pagans:


I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if He does them; I am the LORD (Lev. 18:2-5).


"That is the only choice: pagan law or Christian law. God specifically forbids "pluralism." God is not the least bit interested in sharing world dominion with Satan. God wants us to honor Him individually, in our families, in our churches, in our businesses, in our cultural pursuits of every kind, and in our statutes and judgments. "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Prov. 14:34). According to humanists, civilizations just "rise" and "fall," by some naturalistic, evolutionary mechanism. But the Bible says that the key to the history of civilizations is judgment. God evaluates our response to His commands, and He answers back with curse and blessing. If a nation obeys Him, He blesses and prospers it (Deut. 28:1-14); if a nation disobeys Him, He curses and destroys it (Deut. 28:15-68). The history of Israel stands as a warning to all nations: for if God did it to them, He will surely do the same to the rest of us (Jer. 25:29)" (David Chilton, Paradise Restored).

Great Commission: World Begun Again

"The Great Commission to the Church does not end with simply witnessing to the nations. Christ's command is that we disciple the nations—all the nations. The kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of Christ. They are to be discipled, made obedient to the faith. This means that every aspect of life throughout the world is to be brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ: families, individuals, business, science, agriculture, the arts, law, education, economics, psychology, philosophy, and every other sphere of human activity. Nothing may be left out. Christ "must reign, until He has put all enemies under His feet" (1st Cor. 15:25). We have been given the responsibility of converting the entire world. . . .

"What would you say if you hired a worker, gave him detailed instructions, and all he did was to sit around wondering when the quitting bell will ring? Would you regard him as a faithful worker? Does God regard you as a faithful worker for His Kingdom? I repeat: the purpose of prophecy is ethical. It is God's assurance that history is under His control, that He is working out His eternal purposes in every event, and that His original plan for His creation will be fulfilled. He has placed us into the great war for world history, with the absolute guarantee that we will win. Even if He has to make the whole universe stand still for us (Josh. 10:12-13), the day will last long enough for us to achieve victory. Time is on our side. The Kingdom has come, and the world has begun again. Now: Get to work" (David Chilton, Paradise Restored).

Christian History: Prayer - Reign of Life

The reign of life: Matthew 6:13 - "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."

Christian History: Prophecy - Reign of Life

Contrasting the Greco-Roman and Christian view of history, Peter J. Leithart concludes that "...the biblical conception of history, particularly as evidenced in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament and the New Testament, is predominantly comic. Scripture teaches that history does not degenerate from life to death but is translated from the reign of death into the reign of life (Deep Comedy, xiii)."

The Great Commission: Kingdoms of Christ

“The kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of Christ. They are to be discipled, made obedient to the faith. This means that every aspect of life throughout the world is to be brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ: families, individuals, business, science, agriculture, the arts, law, education, economics, psychology, philosophy, and every other sphere of human activity. Nothing may be left out. Christ “must reign, until He has put all enemies under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). We have been given the responsibility of converting the entire world” (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, p. 213).

Plan of God: Restoration/Consummative

“Simple restoration to Eden is never all that is involved in salvation, just as it was not God’s plan for Adam and his posterity simply to remain in the Garden. They were to go into all the world, bring the create potentiality of earth to full fruition. The Garden of Eden was a headquarters, a place to start, But godly rule by King Adam was to encompass the entire world. Thus, the Second Adam’s work is not only restorative (bringing back to Eden) but consummative: He brings the world into the New Jerusalem” (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, p. 61).

Optimistic Eschatology: Psalms, Again

"If we are to recapture the eschatology of dominion, we must reform the Church; and a crucial aspect of that reformation should be a return to the singing of Psalms (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, p. 9)."

Optimistic Eschatology: Psalms

"The Psalms are inescapably Kingdom-oriented. They are full of conquest, victory, and the dominion of the saints. They remind us constantly of the warfare between God and Satan, they incessantly call us to do battle against the forces of evil, and they promise us that we shall inherit the earth (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, pp. 8-9)."

An Optimistic Eschatology

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." Isaiah 32:17