Essentially Eschatological

December 22nd 2024

Isaiah 9:3-7

Before we get to the Main Point of this Morning’s Sermon, I want to, like always, give you guys a refresher of where we are. If you can remember, this series that we are about to close out in just one more Sunday after today, while it is a “series”, I have been trying to present it as one complete Sermon. Next week we will recap the entire “Sermon”, but before we get there I wanted to bring up two important truths in regards to Eschatology (the study of the end of the World) in general. They are: #1) God has something to say about the end of the World, so we need to care. And #2) There are no “Eschatology specific” instructions in Scripture. Meaning, how we are to live in accordance with our understanding of the end of the World, is simply how we are supposed to be living every single day of our Christian lives. We are always to be loving God and loving neighbor, regardless of what we think the end of the World is going to look like.

Last week we proved that every Christian is a Christian Nationalist, because human societies cannot operate without reference to God. We talked a lot about “presuppositions”, in that, all Laws are an attempt to legislate morality, and if the morality they are seeking to legislate doesn't correlate with the objective truth of God, then they are immoral Laws. One of the main themes of last Week’s Sermon is that God has destroyed Nations here on Earth for not following His Laws. We read the phrase “the land will vomit out its inhabitants” in Leviticus 18, and concluded by understanding that if we don't want God to vomit us out of America, then we need Christian Nationalism. We need to be a Nation whose Laws and the processes by which those Laws are codified, are loved and approved of by God. We need Laws that God loves, not Laws that God hates. In fact, our Verses this morning, Isaiah 9:3-7, could have been used in talking about Christian Nationalism, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Before we go any further, let’s stand and read the Word of the Lord together. We will be looking at a very famous section of Scripture this morning, especially around this time of Year, that will help us with the Main Point today. 

The Main Point of today’s Sermon is to show you that Christianity, by nature, is eschatological. What I mean, is that if we try and “section off” the Doctrine of Eschatology from the rest of our Doctrines (Doctrine = Teaching), if we try to keep it separate from everything else, then we will destroy our understanding of not only the end of the World, but will destroy our understanding of God. Simply speaking; if we try to separate Eschatology from the other Doctrines of Christianity, then we won’t be talking about Christianity at all. This fits in nice and neat with something we have discussed the past few Sundays, which, now that I'm thinking about it, is the Thesis of our entire Series:

“How you understand the end of the World

is nothing less than how you understand God.”

If you can remember something I said at the beginning of this Series, it’s that every Doctrine is interconnected with the others. There are no “Stand Alone Teachings” in the Bible. All of the teachings of Scripture exist inside of an intricate and intentionally woven tapestry, when, viewed from a distance, is beautiful and astounding. We can see the threads of Baptism connected to the threads of Communion. We can see the teaching of what Sin is, connected to the teaching of Creation. And on and on these teachings connect with each other, and all of them connect to the Golden Thread of the divinity of Christ and the redemption of sinners. The main thread of Scripture is that God is God, we are not, and something ought be done about it. And every single teaching of Scripture is artistically and exquisitely connected to it. To not sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist, it all is, in fact, connected. It's all connected. And this interconnectedness of every Doctrine includes Eschatology as well, and foreshadows the Main Point of our Sermon this morning. When we take a step back and view Christianity from a distance, the shimmer of each doctrinal thread gives us one complete picture.

To mix the metaphor just a little, each teaching sings its own part in the chorus of Christianity. Some parts are loud, some a little quieter, but each one is essential to the Chorus as a whole, singing with one voice that Jesus Christ is God. That is the melody, it is each Verse, it is the Bridge between the Verses, and it is the Chorus. For today’s Sermon, we can understand this to mean that;

The song of Scripture is one that not only testifies

that Jesus Christ is God…but that He is doing something.

God isn’t simply sitting in Heaven biding His time until the End. There are important, pivotal actions that He is taking, here and now, that once we see them, it will help us with our Main Point.

What is God doing, here and now?

#1) - Praying for His children

One of the many, many things that He is “doing up there”, is praying for us. Yes, there is meaning and purpose and honest results that come from when other Saints are praying for you. When you are in the throes of trauma or tragedy, and your parents, your spouse, your Pastor, tells you that they are praying for you…it accomplishes things. Prayer works. Never brush it off as some Christian pleasantries when your brothers and sisters in the Faith tell you that they are praying for you. But, and hear this clearly brothers and sisters, it can't be stressed enough…above and beyond the effective and fervent prayers of a righteous man that avails much (Jm. 5:6)...are the sinless and perfectly aligned with the will of the Father, prayers of Jesus.

Here and now, in the midst of suffering and strife,

Jesus Christ is praying for you.

Jesus is “...at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” says Romans 8:34, and teaches us that there, in the Golden Courts of Eternity, seated at the Father’s right hand, the position of power and authority, the incarnate King of the Cosmos, Jesus Christ, is praying for you. He sees what you are going through, He knows what you are-and-aren't able to stand against, and His prayers are in perfect divine harmony with the will of His Father. Jesus is praying for you.

To not treat that truth lightly, we must keep moving forward. God is not sitting in eternity, watching things unfold here on Earth.

#2) - Putting His enemies beneath His feet

The second “thing” that God is doing here and now, which fits in perfectly with our Sermon last week, and helps us with our Thesis today (that Christianity is eschatological by nature), is that He is continually putting His enemies under His feet. In Psalm 110:1, which is referenced by Jesus Himself in all three synoptic Gospels (Mt. 22:44; Mk. 12:36; & Lk. 20:42-43) it says this: “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”.” Jesus is, here and now (I keep repeating this phrase because of how important it is to understand), putting His enemies underneath His feet. Paul references this in 1st Corinthians 15:24-27 when he says this: “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. [25] For he must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. [27] For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”...”

Right now, Jesus is putting His enemies under His feet,

and He will continue to do so until the end of the World.

I hope you can see how this relates to our message last Sunday on Christian Nationalism. And, as much as I would love to violate the Johnson Amendment this morning, we need to keep moving forward. 

God is not simply watching things happen here on Earth. He is praying for us. He is putting His enemies under His feet, and He is sanctifying us. 

#3) - Sanctifying His children

In 2nd Corinthians 3:18 we learn that as we go through life in this sin-sick World, we are being changed more and more into the image of Christ. We are becoming Christlike. Through every single event we will ever experience, we can trust the truth of Romans 8:28 which says: “ that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Whatever shots fly our way, and no matter which enemy it is that is doing the shooting, be it the World, the Flesh or the Devil, it will all be used by God for our good. And our good is to be made, more and more, day by day, to resemble Jesus Christ. 

We are going to be hurt, because Christ was hurt. We are going to be abandoned by those we love, because Christ was abandoned by those He loved. We are going to be cast out and betrayed. And we are going to die. But, lest we think our life is nothing but doom and gloom, we are also going to feel the presence of our Father. We are going to see the salvation of God’s enemies, and we will even be the means by which that salvation comes to them. We are going to have our prayers answered. We are going to be loved and directed by a Father who can not fail. And we are going to be glorified after our death, following the breadcrumbs of Christ’s blood out of the grave.

Everything that God is doing here and now in Heaven;

Sanctifying us, Praying for us, and putting His enemies under His feet;

is all for the purpose of the direction we are going in.

What we need to understand, brothers and sisters, is that life is always going to keep moving forward. There is no such thing as a stationary, sedentary existence, and if you choose to sit on the sidelines of your own life and watch it unfold from the Bench you put yourself on…then you will have to answer to God for the talents you buried. (Mt. 25:14-30) Yes, there is rest, but even in our rest life keeps moving forward, which actually creates the need for rest, but all of that is another Sermon.

The entire cosmos, the whole Universe, all of created reality is continually and uninterruptedly moving forward. All of the Saints in the Old Testament were pointing forward to something that we are now pointing backwards too…but with our other hand we are pointing forward to something else.

Where are we headed?

This is why our Thesis statement this Morning, our “Main Point”, is that Christianity is eschatological by nature. The end of the Word is inherent within everything that God is doing. He isn't making pointless decisions, or purposeless plans. He is moving us forward. The path of righteousness that God is leading us on, though it is through the valley of the shadow of death, actually leads somewhere. And it leads to the end of the World. He is leading His creation, He is leading His children, forward, onward and upward, defeating every single enemy, until the day when He “delivers the Kingdom to His Father.” (1st Cor. 15:24)

Every single moment, He is shepherding us into the one that follows; just as much as He is leading every Generation into the one that follows. He raises up leaders to raise up leaders; Nations and Cultures ro raise up other Nations and Cultures; He has raised up parents to raise up parents; and Churches to raise up Churches. The endless future of eternity is always “where we are headed” in the plan that God is enacting in our life. We are living amongst the unfolding glories of God as He shepherds His creation forward, and we have a divine obligation to not only acknowledge it…but to do something about it. We are not, brothers and sisters, made to simply meander through a thousand tomorrows as we watch life pass us by. We are called to live with purpose and intention, taking dominion over our life and dominion over the World.

We are dominion takers with a task from Heaven,

not passengers on a roadtrip asking 

“are we there yet?” every few generations.

We need to understand that the path He has us on, the path He has this World on, is relentlessly heading into the Eschaton (the End). We are barreling towards the end of the World, nothing can stop it, slow His pace, or change His plan…and it has always been this way.

We can see this in Genesis 3:15, where He says: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” Right there in the Garden, mere moments after The Fall, we see God promising that the “seed of the woman” -- Jesus, was going to crush Satan’s head, which He did at the Cross. This is what Jesus was talking about in John 12:31 when He said that “the ruler of this World was cast out”. Jesus placed His heel on the serpent's head, was wounded by it, but crushed the head of that snake into the bondage of the pit that we read about in Revelation 20.

This tells us that from the very beginning of the World, this was always the plan. Which means we should be agreeing with Job, when he said this in Job 42:2: ““I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” Nothing can stop God from shepherding the cosmos into the Eschaton. Nothing can stop God from ushering us forward.

The more we read, the more we think, and the more we simply observe reality, the more and more clear this truth becomes. The unending passage of time, whose current we can never escape this side of eternity, relentlessly moves us forward. We go through the events of the day, every day, lay ourselves down to sleep, then wake up to a new day filled with new challenges and opportunities of glory. Without indulging in a “Time-Out”...this is the appeal of thinking about Time Travel. It’s something we can never get back, and we have no idea how much of it still lies ahead of us. Anyways…we grow, physically, mentally, and spiritual. We learn new things, intellectually. We experience new things, physically. And we grow closer and closer to God, through His sanctifying power, every day of our time down here. We are always going to be changed more and more into the image of Christ, like we said earlier. In fact, God gave us a new heart for this specific purpose. To become like His Son -- someone who loves Him. We as Christians love God, and want nothing more than to be with Him, to seek His glory, to lift high His name among the heathens, and see His will reign triumphant in our life. This is what Jesus did, and we are becoming more like Him because of the heart that God gave us. In fact, because of this new heart, we will never not love God. We will get angry with Him, yes, then we repent of it…and move forward. We will sin, yes, then we repent of it…and move forward. “Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife.” (Joyful Joyful - 1907)

God is, and has always been,

moving us towards the end of the World.

Before we move forward (see what I did there?), however, let me clear things up a touch. We're going to get a little deep here, so stay with me.

There is a danger when speaking of God that we humans need to be aware of. When speaking about Jesus and the things He did, we like to try and parse them out, delineate them, and set them in order. What I mean is this: We can accurately say: “Jesus Christ’s death is how we are saved.” That is a true, Biblical statement. However, if we wanted to be little theology nerds, we could all adjust our glasses and say something like: “Well actually, it was His death and resurrection that saves us.” Which is also true. Then a Calvinist will crawl out of his humidor and say “I hate to correct you both, but it is His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension that saves us.” Which is also true. 

The danger comes in when we try to separate these aspects within the life of Christ. I'm going to be careful here to not commit some accidental heresy…while each of these different things we mentioned (His birth, life, death, resurrection, & ascension) actually do accomplish differing things in the life of a Believer, it is wholly impossible to separate them.

Are you still with me? I needed to get a little deep there to help us see that the Birth, Life, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ is a “guarantee” of the end of the World. It is on its way, and we can be sure of it because of the Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ. We can accept that God is moving us into the end of the World, because of Jesus Himself…He is the guarantee.

He is not only the Creator of the World, the one from whom all life comes from (Col. 1:16), but He is the one who will de-create the World as well (2 Pe. 3:10). He is the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13). Christianity, and all of reality, is essentially eschatological. 

We read this in Acts 17:30 & 31: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, [31] because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Did you see that? Jesus rising from the dead is an assurance of Judgement Day.  The resurrection assures us of the Parousia (His return to Earth).

We also read this, in Hebrews 9:24-28: “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; [25] not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— [26] He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. [27] And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, [28] so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

His resurrection assures us of the end of the World,

and His death allows us to eagerly await it.

He is the means by which all who will ever repent and believe are permanently inscribed into the glowing pages of the Book of Life. His Birth, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension… He is the means by which the will of the Father to never lose a single one of His sheep (Jn. 6:39) comes to fruition. Our salvation, and the future salvation of all who will ever believe, was fully and finally purchased by Jesus Christ. This is why His dying words were “It is finished.” (Jn. 19:30) Not: “It is ongoing”. It was done. Sealed. Finished. There was nothing left to do to ensure the salvation of everyone that The Father gave to Him (Jn. 6:37). And fulfilling the will of His Father, is the reason why He came to Earth to begin with. (Jn. 6:38; Mt. 26:39; Jn. 5:30)

Now, here is where we need to be careful again. It is true that we cannot separate these aspects of Christ, but that doesn’t mean we can’t say something Scriptural about each of them. The incarnation of Christ, His “putting on humanity” (Jn. 1:14), the event we are all about to celebrate in just a few days…Christmas, was the beginning of the end of the World. Yes…it was always the plan all along, which we will get to in just a moment, but we are still saying something Biblical when we say that His birth “started” it. We could very easily veer off into discussing how we might simply be talking about things from “our perspective” vs “God’s perspective”…but let’s stay on track. 

The incarnation of Christ was spoken of that day in the Garden, which tells us it was God’s plan all along, and when He was born of the Virgin that day in the barn, is when it all (from our perspective) started to temporally unfold.

The birth of Jesus Christ was the

beginning of the end of the World.

When we read in our Verses this morning (Is. 9:7) that the “increase of His government and peace will know no end”, it means that His government and peace is going to continually increase. More and more and more it will grow. In fact, it is going to keep growing, keep moving forward, and it will never stop. And given that one Verse prior to that, in Isaiah 9:6, when we read the promise of the Son, we can understand that eternity was always the plan.

All through Scripture,

Jesus Christ is promised to us.

And thus eternity.

And thus the end of the World.

We read this in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” And this in Micah 5:2-5: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” [3] Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel. [4] And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; [5] And this One shall be peace.”

And this in Jeremiah 23:5 & 6: ““Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. [6] In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

All through Scripture, the promise of Jesus Christ…the promise of eternity…the promise of the end of the World, is spoken of. In fact, most Theologians all agree that there are between 3 - 500 different references to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. He is who “all the peoples of the Earth will be blessed” by in Gen. 12:3. He is the “Scepter of Judah” in Gen. 49:12; the “Offspring of David” in 2nd Sam. 7:12&13; the “Son of God from Egypt” in Hosea 11:1; the “Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 53; and the “Perfect Sacrifice” in Psalm 40:6-8. 

For thousands of years, God was reminding humanity of the promise He made the day we left the Garden, and it was a promise that He fulfilled. All the Saints in the Old Testament were pointing forward to the first Advent of Jesus Christ, His birth. And today, we are pointing backwards with one hand, and with the other we are drawing the attention of everyone in our life to His second Advent. His return.

Now, I would be remiss to not speak on the fact that, yes, from our temporal perspective (inside of time) it all started with His birth; God said He would do it that day in the Garden, then He did it in a Manger 70 Generations afterward. But…it was always the plan, not simply from our perspective.

We see in Revelation 13:5-8, where, in talking about the “Beast from the Sea” God says this: “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. [6] Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. [7] It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. [8] All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

When speaking about the end of the World,

God talks about something from

before the beginning of the World. 

Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the World. Before God created reality, before light and dark existed, before the swirling galaxies and the shining stars, the plan of Jesus Christ taking on humanity, living sinlessly, dying under the weight of His Father’s righteous anger, rising back to life on the third day, then ascending to His right hand…was always the plan. Christmas was not a contingency. Jesus being born wasn't “Plan B”. It was always the Father’s will to crush His Son for the sins of His children. It was always the Father’s will to raise Him back to life. It was always the Father’s will to tell us about it in the Garden, to prophecy about it throughout the Old Testament, and then to fulfill it.

God has not lost control of this World.

No matter what your Nation or your 

Families are going through, God is still ruling and reigning.

Now, lest we build a Doctrine off of that one Verse (Rev. 13:8), we should look at a few others. Just a few. This same truth is mentioned in one of the verses we already read together; Hebrews 9:26: “...He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” 

It is spoken of in Matthew 25:34 like this: “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…” The kingdom of God which every Saint will be inheriting, was prepared for us before the World existed. That is profound brothers and sisters, and should bolster our assurance of God maintaining control of not only the entire cosmos…but of our own lives as well.

One last Verse this morning that speaks to this truth is also seen in Revelation 17:7 & 8. It says this: “But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. [8] The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” While this is specifically speaking of our own salvation being predestined, which should comfort us beyond imagining, it would not be “stretching the text” to say that our names being written before the World was formed is proof that the end of the World has always been the plan.

Our Thesis:

As we come to a close this morning, I hope that you can see that Christianity is eschatological by nature. This is a tremendous comfort to us in this life, which we will close with in just a moment. But before we get there, we need to look at two more Verses that talk about what God is “doing up there.” 

We talked earlier about the numerous actions God is taking as He rules. He is praying for us. He is sanctifying us, & He is putting His enemies under His feet. All of which tell us that God us toward eternity…but that is not all He is doing.

In Colossians 1:15-17 it says that God not only created all things, but that in Him all things consist. The NASB and the ESV phrase it this way: “In Him all things hold together.” Meaning, that here and now, Jesus Christ is maintaining all of reality. Creation is not on “auto-pilot” if you will. The atoms and molecules of the wooden pews you all are sitting on, aren’t creating enough friction between themselves to remain a solid surface…because God is making them do it. He is “holding together” reality. He is ensuring the physical continuation of the cosmos. In fact, Romans 8:22 talks about this same truth when it says: “...that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” Meaning, that all of Creation, the entire Universe, every molecule and every Planet, is groaning and laboring for their own undoing. As in, they “want” to break down. To fall apart. The Fall cursed the entire Creation in such a way that rust, corrosion, thistles and thorns grow, and good things break down and fall apart. Our bodies, no matter how well we maintain them, break down over time. Even metaphysically (beyond the physical) we can see this. Why do families fall apart? Why do we continue to sin? Why do we have feelings of hatred and anger? Because;

the entire Creation is groaning in pain as it falls apart,

until the day God decides to let it.

In closing, this is an incredible comfort to the Children of God. Yes, nothing can slow His pace, but His pace is perfect, and He will never leave His children behind. Yes, the End has been the plan all along, but His plan is perfect. He will not fail in changing us into the image of His Son. Yes, you will go through every hurt that the World, the Flesh, and the Devil can bring to you…but He is praying for you. And just like the World…the Flesh and the Devil will come to an end as well.  Nothing can stop the End of the World…but we aren't there yet.

While you still draw breath, while your eyes still flutter awake every morning and your body lays down broken and weary every night…look to Christ. Your life may seem to be unraveling, it may seem like the end of the World for you right now…but it isn't. No matter how dark it may be, the Sun will rise tomorrow, and if we live to see the glorious and terrifying day of the Lord…the Son that rises that day is one that will never set. 

Look to Christ you worn and weary one. He is not only maintaining the World…He is maintaining your life. Only allowing things into your life that will change you more and more into the image of His Son. Look to Christ, for He is everything. He is our strength in times of confusion. In fear and worry and doubt and anger and anxiety, turn not to yourself to conjure forth strength and drive…turn to the Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ. It is Christ from whom all blessings flow. Christ from whom all love flows. Christ to whom we can lift our eyes no matter how bleak or dark or endless our tomorrows may seem to us --- Look to Christ! He is the assurance of our inherent worth. He is the assurance that our life has meaning and purpose. He is the assurance of our Salvation, of an eternity in unending comfort and peace regardless of how we have sinned. Repent and turn to Jesus Christ, before your world, and the World, actually does end.

Look to Christ, for He is the assurance of the End of the World.