| The Bible
is an optimistic book. The New Testament is also full of the
kingdom of God. Over and over again it speaks of the greatness of
Jesus’ victory on the cross. He has destroyed the power of
Satan. By God’s great power he was raised from the dead. He has
ascended into heaven, and now sits at God’s right hand far above
all power and authority. And he must reign in heaven until all his
enemies have been defeated. He reigns as king in heaven, and will
eventually rule in all the earth. There will be no end to the
glory of his Kingdom.
The Bible is an optimistic book,
but it is also very realistic. It recognises the effects of sin
upon the hearts of men and the works of the Devil in the world.
The Bible acknowledges the reality of the powers of evil in the
world, but it is equally certain that God has triumphed over sin
and evil in Jesus. He is absolutely victorious. From beginning to
end the Bible is full of hope.
In contrast, the church of our
time is strangely pessimistic. Most Christians have lost all hope
of victory over the world. They are so overcome by the evil at
work in the world, that they no longer believe that total victory
can be achieved. The church has taken on a defeatist attitude, and
retreated from the world. This is really a loss of faith in Jesus.
We have lost a sense of the greatness of what he has achieved.
There are three reasons for this
loss of faith.
1. Newspaper Theology
Christians have tended to base
their views on the course of history on what they read in their
newspapers, rather than on what they read in the Bible. We
certainly live in evil times, and our newspapers make rather
dismal reading. But the Bible is quite realistic about evil. It
warns us to expect times when evil will rise in power. However
this realism is never allowed to detract from the certainty of
Christ’s victory. Despite the worst that Satan can do, Jesus and
his church will eventually be victorious. It is time for the
church to rediscover this important biblical message.
2. Retreat from the World
In the last two centuries,
Christianity has increasingly become a spiritual and inward
affair. Faith is seen as a very personal thing. There has been an
emphasis on inner spiritual experience. As this style of faith has
grown, Christians have felt that they should not be involved in
worldly matters. They have tried to live good moral lives, but
have given up trying to apply the lordship of Christ to all the
world. They have not applied biblical principles to education,
law, economics, politics, and government. Christians have actually
retreated from these areas. Those who have remained have kept
their faith private, and have not applied the principles of their
faith to their work. We have many Christian politicians who make
their political decisions on the same philosophical bases as
secular politicians. They live good Christian lives, but their
faith has no impact on their politics. This has been true in many
areas of life. There are Christian teachers who teach with
humanistic methods. Christian economists will often teach secular
economic principles. This retreat from the world can be seen at
its worst in the United States. Although a majority of the
population is Christian, and almost everyone believes in God, the
public life of the nation is dominated by the philosophy of
humanism.
As Christians have retreated,
society has become increasingly secularised. This has allowed men
without faith to determine the direction of society. The whole of
western culture, although rooted in Christianity, is now dominated
by secular humanism. Christians must rediscover the universality
of the kingdom of God. Jesus is Lord over every area of life and
not just spiritual things. The Bible sets out God’s guidance for
every decision that must be made. Christians must begin to extend
the Kingdom into every area of life. Biblical principles must be
applied to the way that Christians live in the world, and not just
to spiritual matters. We will then begin to see the victory of the
Kingdom.
3. False Eschatology
Defeatism has developed from a
false understanding of God’s plan for history. God has got a
plan, but it is set out in a way that is not always easy to
understand. Some details of the plan are contained in the
apocalyptic books of the Bible: Daniel, Joel, Zechariah, and
Revelation. These books are written in a language that is hard to
interpret. This has made many Christians frightened to read them.
They have left the interpretation of these books to the prophecy
buffs and "cranks". The result has been the propagation
of many false ideas about the message of the Bible. The parts
describing the growth of evil have been emphasised at the expense
of those emphasising the victory and sovereignty of Christ.
Many Christians have learnt all
they know about God's plan for history by reading several novels
about the end times, but have never read the Book of Revelation or
Daniel. As a result, they
now believe that the Bible teaches that things will
continue to get worse and worse in our time. Christians are not
generally taught to expect the kingdom of God to be established
prior to the second coming. Most expect evil to increase. This is
not true, but because people believe it, it is starting to happen.
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