The Forsaken Promise

How did we forget it? How could we have cast it aside as we did? By the scheme of the devil, the church has dismissed a glorious gift from the Lord; promised to His beloved saints. And how brilliantly devious was this scheme from the father of lies!

In our failure to be discerning & hold tightly to his promises; in our failure to recognize the reason behind the imperative of the great commission, darkness has crept back into places that the light of the church once touched.

Though I have pulled you along enough without clarifying what this “promised gift that we have dismissed” is, let me pull you a little bit further as I show my hand in revealing my presumptions. I believe that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, that all dominion and authority in heaven and on earth (spiritually and physically) has been given unto Him, and that he currently reigns whilst sitting at the right hand of God the Father; this is the imperative of the great commission that we must not misunderstand. Additionally, I believe what the scriptures state about the final outcome, namely as Psalm 86:9 states “All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify Thy name.” Or even more specifically, Psalm 22:27 “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the families of the nations shall worship before thee”. In other words, I have a postmillennial view of the future. I believe that the world shall become more Christianized, not less; the church will be victorious in its great commission to disciple the nations, not a failure. The mustard seed shall grow into a great tree, not spring for a time, and then wither away. The day will come, even before the return of Christ, that the Lord will subject every enemy under His feet, that includes all nations and their governances that deny and oppose Him. For as the scripture clearly states “The LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!” (Psalm 110: 1-2).

The reason I bring this presupposition to light is that it is of importance regarding the promised gift the Lord has given. However, even if you disagree with my presupposition, there is enough to argue from scripture and reason alone for the reality of this promised gift.

Now then, this gift that I am speaking of is the same gift the Lord gave to Adam & Abraham, it is the same promise that Daniel prophesied. That the earth and all its inhabitants, dominions & kingdoms will be given unto us through Christ.

“And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” – Daniel 7:27

The majority of those in the church today have been led to believe that God’s promised kingdom is only spiritual, with no physicality to it, or that the physical aspect of the kingdom will only come when the day Christ returns. Both understandings are in err and have led the church to further misunderstand the obligation being made in the great commission. That is, to subdue the earth and reform it through the Word of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, along with the administering of the sacraments.

Repeatedly we see in scripture this promise that the earth shall be given unto the Lord’s Beloved. For example, this promise is found in Psalm 37:11 and then reestablished by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 5:5) “the meek will inherit the earth”.

Now, I can already hear the murmuring voices exclaim that the “earth” being spoken of here is the “new earth” that God will create after Jesus returns & destroys/ annihilate the old, corrupted earth. However, I want to propose something that you might not have heard before seeing as it is no longer taught in today's dispensational era, but I assure you has biblical grounds. That scripture was not referring to a completely “new” earth, but rather the scripture is prophesying of a “renewed” earth. When Jesus taught us how to pray, He stated “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”. This will surely take place, for it has already begun and is currently unfolding until the final culmination of when peace and righteousness will cover the earth as the nations believe in the Gospel and bow the knee to Christ. This earth will be refined and purified but not recreated from scratch. Again, I know this probably rubs most wrong like a cat being petted against the grain, but I assure you there is biblical validity along with historical backing from men like John Calvin and Johnathan Edwards in the latter part of his ministry. That’s right, I have both Johns, need I say more? Just in case that still doesn’t satisfy you, I will give 5 reasons (to keep it brief), though there are multiple scriptural and theological arguments for this interpretation.

First, in the passages that speak to these “new heavens and new earth” found in 2 Peter 3:12-13 & Revelation 21:1, the Greek word for “new” was not “neo” which would have meant “new in time”, but rather saint Peter & John decided to use the word “kainos” which translates to being “qualitatively new or renewed”. This same Greek word, “kainos”, is also used by apostle Paul when he described Christians as “new creatures”. In the same manner that we are not obliterated into non-existence & then recreated from a new substance, but rather in a spiritual essence our old self has passed away being made new (renewed/kainos), so shall the earth. Additionally, we can also look at the example of the covenants. When God spoke of a “new” (kaine) covenant to come, did he mean unrelated with no connection to the old covenant or a renewed covenant with His people, with better promises? Please stay with me Baptist brothers. Let’s look at Romans 11 for a clear answer. The cultivated olive tree in Romans 11 is meant to represent the Lord's covenant people. God did not supplant the old tree and decide to replace it with a completely different tree. Rather, He used the same tree, pruning off the dead branches, and grafted in branches from wild olive shoots. The same tree yet renewed in nature.

Second, we find in Romans 8 that creation is groaning for liberation from the curse under which it has been placed.

19For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Must I even expound on this passage as it speaks so clearly for itself? The creation is not waiting eagerly to be destroyed, but rather to be liberated and made new under the children of God. This is the verse John Calvin points to for his reasoning against recreation. For those that may object and point to how Peter states that the earth and the heavenly bodies will burn up, I ask you to reconcile creation waiting for liberation (not death) along with directing you to Paul’s similar metaphor in 1 Corinth 3:10-15, where everyone’s work will be revealed by fire and all the additional passages that God uses of the word “fire” as a symbol of refining/purifying (1 Peter1:7, Malachi 3:2-3, Zechariah 13:9, Isaiah 48:10, Job 23:10, Jeremiah, 9:7, 1Peter 4:12-13, Luke3:16)

Third, Jesus Christ as the last Adam will fulfill all that the first Adam failed to do as commanded by God. The first Adam was told to subdue the earth and have dominion over all things that are upon it, but Adams fall in the garden, he failed to be the gardener and governor in which he was instructed to be, thereby forfeiting not only his life but even his dominion over the land, being cast out of the garden as an exile. But now, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ; and He being victorious will complete what Adam left undone; that is to subdue the whole earth & take dominion over all that is upon it with no end. He is the true gardener who will bring forth good fruit across the world. For every nation will bow the knee and kiss the Son; professing He is LORD as they come to worship upon His holy hill.

Fourth, this earth was & still is God’s gift to His people.

Daniel 7:26-27 “But the judgment shall sit, and they (the saints) shall take away his (worldly kings) dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His (Jesus) kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”

As seen clearly in this prophecy by Daniel, God has given the physical earth as a precious gift to His beloved, with Christ as their King.

And finally, the fifth point, “for God so loved the world”. I do not believe this simply means “the people of the world”, but in addition to that, His creation itself. As stated above, in genesis He called the creation “good”; in Romans, it states that He subjected it “in hope”, and here in John 3:16, we see His unwavering love. A gardener tends the garden out of affection for the garden.

To bring this full circle, all this is to emphasize that God truly has given us a precious and marvelous gift. And more importantly, how are we to respond considering this promised gift? By thinking generationally, keeping the right end goal in mind, and pursuing the fulfillment of our duty for the glory of Him who sits on the throne! If we do not have the right understanding of our objective, our daily lives will not be aligned with what is expected of us and pleasing to God. Yes, we are to share the gospel and make disciples, but let us not think that is the end-all and be-all the great commission. We are called not only to disciple the people, but also the nations. This includes as Daniel 7 points out, all the governance of. To do this, we must reform societies' culture from the foundation up: business, education, legal system, etc. All authority on earth has been given to Christ, and all principalities are subjected and obliged to submit to His will. We the church, as His body, are the vessel that is to go forth and take dominion through the preaching of the gospel, raising up godly offspring, and giving glory to God as we live our lives according to His beautiful and sanctifying Word.

If we are to succeed in the great commission, we are to reform this world according to His Word. His word is the standard, His laws are the lamp to our feet, His gospel is our blessed hope, His faithfulness our strength, and His Son our all in all.