God's Conquest of the World

by the Preached Word

The Eschatology of Preaching
Rev. Joe Morecraft, III
In my late twenties I finally laid to rest
the pessimistic, rapturistic view of the
future in which I had been raised, and
adopted a victory-oriented view of the
kingdom of Christ in history before the
Second Coming. It happened after a
struggle and with much serious study and
prayer. What finally pushed me into the
postmillennia!' camp was the Biblical doc-
trine of the preaching of the Word of God.
What the Bible taught about the nature and
triumph of the preached Word made any
defeatistic, pessimistic view of the future
of Christ's kingdom in history impossible,
It was what the Sixteenth Century Puri-
tans and the contemporary French Calvin-
ist, Pierre Marcel's book, THE REL-
EVANCE OF PREACHING, said that God
used to help me see what the Bible taught
about the nature and power of preaching.
Preaching with the power of the Holy Spirit, I
Thessalonians 1 :4-5, the Lord working with his
preachers and himself confirming the word which
they proclaim, Mark 16:20, the power of this
preached word is the very power of God, I Corin-
thians 1: 18, for it accomplishes the works which
the Godhead alone is able to perform in the hearts
of lost men; its effectiveness is divine. It produces
the very fruits of God, Colossians 1 :6.- Marcel, p.
14.
Let the pastors boldly dare all things by the
word of God, of which they are constituted
administrators. Let them constrain all the power,
glory, and excellence ofthe world to give place to
and to obey the divine majesty of this word. Let
them enjoin everyone by it, from the highest to the
lowest. Let them edify the body of Christ. Let
them devastate Satan's reign. Let them pasture
the sheep, kill the wolves, instruct and exhort the
rebellious. Let them bind and loose, thunder and
lightning, if necessary, but let them do all accord-
ing to the word of God. John Calvin, Sermon LXI
on Deuteronomy, quoted by Marcel, p. 59.
What was particularly enlightening about
the power of preaching was what I learned
from the Bible about the relation of the
exalted Christ and the faithful preaching of
.His ministers. Since His ascension to
God's right hand, Jesus Christ has actively,
really, personally, directly and powerfully
carried out His ministry as the prophet-
preacher-teacher of His Church through the
faithful preaching of His Word by those
whom He has sent to preach that Word.
Christ's own voice, by the power of His
Spirit, is heard in the voice of men who
faithfully preach Christ's Word. This is
what makes preaching so powerful in the
saving and sanctifying of people and na-
tions. Man's preaching is totally powerless
in saving sinners, transforming lives and
reforming societies, without Christ's
preaching in our preaching. Paul makes
this unmistakably clear in Romans 10:13-
IS-Whoever shalI calI upon the name of
the Lord shalI be saved. How then shalI
they calI npon Him in whom they have
not believed? And howshalI they be-
lieve in Him whom they have not heard?
And how shalI they hear without a
preacher? Notice the progression. Every-
one who worships Christ as the Lord shall
be saved; but no one will worship Him as
Lord unless he believes in Him. And no
one will believe in Him until he has heard
His voice, which is heard in the preaching
of the gospel by one sent to preach.
In a very real Sense, Jesus Christ is the
only preacher of the gospel whose preach-
ing is effective in saving people from their
sins and in the transforming of lives and
cultures. He preaches through us with
incomparable authority, unfathomable wis-
dom, inescapable persuasion, irresistible
power and thorough penetration. In fact,
He has said concerning His own preaching
that it is the Spirit who gives life; and
the flesh profits nothing; the words that
I have spoken to you are spirit and life,
John 6:63.
.
4 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - December 2000/ Jannary 2001
To the Ephesians Paul wrote: He [the
risen Christ] came and preached peace to
you who were far away, and peace to
those who were near, Ephesians 2:17. In
explaining the reconciliation all believers
have with each other in Christ, Panl re-
minds the Ephesian church that their own
reconciliation with God, they owe to the
fact that Christ came and preached peace
to you. The risen Christ came to the
Ephesian church and preached to that
congregation, not in a dream or theophany,
but through the preaching of the apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, teacbers and
preacbers mentioned in Epbesians 4: 11 and
3:7-8.
The power in our preaching is Christ
preaching 'in our preacbing from His exalted
position at God's right hand by the power of
His Holy Spirit. He participates in our
preaching by speaking with His own month
that wbich we hear from the mouths of
men, I Corinthians 3:9. The preacbed
Word, tberefore, is a recreative, restorative
force in tbe cburcb and world because in it
Jesns Cbrist gives wbat He preacbes. He
brings what He declares. He causes to
bappen wbat He preaches to our hearts.
When tbe preacher preaches Christ's Word,
Christ causes that Word to happen. When
Christ preaches peace to a person or con-
gregation, He gives peace to that person or
congregation, Ephesians 2:17, John 16:33.
When He preaches repentance, Mark 1: 15,
He gives repentance, Acts 5:31, 11:18; and
wheu He preaches the kingdom of God,
Mark 1:15, He brings the presence and
saving power of tbat kingdom into the
hearts and societies of buman beings, until
those hearts and societies are fully perme-
ated with the leavening, transforming infln-
ence of the gospel.
In fact, Mark 4:21-25 is explicit in say-
ing that the kingdom of Christ makes its
way trinmphantly in this world, shining its
bright light and scattering darkness, leaven-
ing the whole loaf, and growing to be the
largest tree in the garden, by the preaching
of tbe message of the King and His king-
dom.
And He was saying to them, "A lamp is not
brought to be put nnder a peck-measure, is it,
or under abed? Is it not brought to be put on
the lamp stand ? For nothing is hidden, except
to be revealed; nor has anything been secret,
but that it should come to light. If any man
has ears to hear, let him hear." And He was
saying to them, "Take care what you listen to;
by your standard of measure it shall be mea-
sured to you; and more shall be given you
besides. For whoever has, to him shall more
be given; and whoever does not bave, even
wbat be bas shall be taken away from him."
Therefore, we learn from these texts
that the power of the preached Word by
which it accomplishes things only God can
accomplish is not in the eloquence or skill
of the preacher. It is to be found in the
connection of the preaching of Christ the
Living Word with the preaching of man as
that man faithfully expounds the written
Word. By His Spirit and Word, the .exalted
Christ continues to preach the gospel
through the faithful preaching of the minis-
ters of the gospel and the faithful witness
of His Church. In fact, it is with this very
point that the apostle Paul concludes the
Epistle to the Romans in his moving ascrip-
tion of praise to the living God in Christ.
Now to Him who is able to establish you
according to my gospel and the preaching of
Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery which has been kept secret for
long ages past, but now is manifested, and by
the Scriptures of the prophets, according to
the commaudment of the eternal God, has
been made known to all the nations leading to
obedience of faith; to the only wise God,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory
forever. Amen.- Romans 16:25-27.
Isaiah has much to say about the power
of the preached Word to convert people and
to realize divine promises. In chapter two
he prophesied of a day when the peoples
and nations of the world will stream into
the church entreating her to teach them the
ways of God-In the last days, the moun-
tain of the honse of the LORD will be
established as the chief of the moun-
tains, and will be raised above the hills;
December 2000/January 2001- THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon - 5
and all the nations will stream to it.
And many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of
the LOR,D, to the hOilse of the God of
Jacob; 'that He may teach us concerning
His ways, and that we may walk in His
paths, 2:2-3. It is the goip.g forth of the
law from Zion and the word of the LORD
from Jerusalem that will produce these
effects-For the law will go forth from
Zion, and the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem,2:3b. And by this proclaimed
law-word Christ Himself will act i.n moving
the world's nations to hammer their swords
into plowshares and their spears into prun-
ing hooks-And He will judge between
the nations, and will render decisions
for many peoples; and they will hammer
their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks, 2:4.
In chapter eleven Isaiah graphically
prophesies the effects of the incarnation of
the stem of Jesse, i.e., the Messiah, 11:1-
2. After describing Christ's righteous
character, II :3, he prophesies that Christ
will strike the earth with the rod of His
mouth, and with the breath of His lips
He will slay the wicked. "What comes
forth from His mouth is His Word, and that
Word is a judging, smiting Word. How
powerful and efficacjous is the .breath of
God's mO,uth."- Edward L Young, ISAIAH,
NICOT, Vol. I, p. 385. T,his will not only
slay the wicked, it will accomplish the
transformation of the character of the
peoples and nations of .the world resulting
in international peace, because the earth
will be full of the knowledge of the
LOR,D as tlie waters cover the sea, 11 :6-
9.
Isaiah 27:13, written in imagery Israel of
Isaiah's day could understand, is inter-
preted by Jesus Himself as speaking of that
preaching of the gospel throughout the
earth that will lead to the conversion of
many peoples globally. It says: It will
come about in that day that a great
trumpet will be blown; and those who
are perishing in the land of Assyria and
who were scattered in the land of Egypt
will come and worship the LORD in the
holy mountain at Jerusalem. , In Matthew
24:31, Jesus speaks of Himself as tlie
reigning Christ who will .send forth His
messengers with a great and
they will gather together His elect from
the four winds, from one end of the sky
to the other. Notice what these two
passages have in common. The instrume,nt
He shall use to gather His elect is the great
trumpet in the mouths .of His
the great trumpet of the preached Word.
Throughout the book of Isaiah, God is
spoken of as a preacher whose preaching
brings about what He preaches. In 42:9,
He says, I am the LORD, that is My
name; I will not give My glory to an-
other, nor My praise to, graven images.
Behold, the furmer things bave come to
pass. Now I decline new things; before
they spring forth I proclaim' them to
you.
In Isaiah 44:24-28, the Lord identifies,
Himself as the' 'Redeetner and Creator of .
Israel, who is"the Maker of everything in'
the universe, and who causes the 0Illens of'
boasters to fail, maki,ng fools out of tbe
diviners, turning the alleged knowledge' of'
the humanists into foolishness. This is the
God who ,will sovereignlyancl.graciously . '.
rebuild Jerusaleni; using even
to accomplish His purposes. But for oll,r
purposes, we LORD
will accomplish all this in Verse 26, by
confirming the Word of His serva.ni:and.
performing the purpose, of
gers'. This reininds us of what Paul said
about the effects of preacbing in I Corin-
thians 1 :18-21. The preaching of the
cross is ... to us who are being ,
saved ... the power' of God, vs. 18, by
which God will destroy the wisdom oftbe
wise ... For since in the Wisdom of God
the world through its .wisdomdid not,
come to know God; God was
pleased through the foolishness of
preaching to save those who believe,
vss. 19,21.
In Isaiah 45:22-25, God issues aC,om
c
mand and makes a promise. After identify-
ing Himself as a righteous God and a '
6 - THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon - December 20001 January 2001 ,
Savior, He graciously calls upon the
world's nations and peoples from all the
ends of the earth to turn to Him and be
saved from sin and its judgment. And then
He promises that His word will be success-
ful in drawing the world's peoples to Him-
self-The Word has gone forth from My
month in righteonsness and will not tnrn
back, that to Me every knee and every
tongue will swear allegiance. They will
say to Me, "Only in the LORD are
righteonsness and strength." Men will
come to Him, and all who were angry at
Him shall be put to shame. Notice that it
is by means of the Word that goes forth
from God's mouth that God will cause every
knee to bow and every tongue to confess
that He is their Lord and Savior in Christ.
Isaiah 51 :4-8 contains a graphic proph-
ecy of the conversion of the peoples of the
world by the preaching of the Word of God.
God .calls upon all people to pay close
attention to what He has to say. And then
He tells them: a law will go forth from
ME; and I will set My justice for a light
to the peoples. My righteonsness is
near. My salvation has gone forth; and
My arm will jndge the peoples, the
coastlands will wait for Me, and for My
arm they will wait expectantly. The law,
(torah), is the authoritative expression of
the will of God for all mankind, and His
justice or judgment is that which serves as
the rnle of right in God's kingdom. It is a
synonym for true religion and salvation.
This law and justice shall go forth as a light
to the peoples of the earth bringing them
out of their darkness. This is obviously a
prophecy of what will happen during the
reign of Christ. As God's Word goes forth
and the gospel is preached, God will bring
His righteousness near and send forth the
blessings of salvation in Christ. By His
preached Word, He will both judge the
wicked and bring salvation to those around
that world that wait expectantly for Him by
faith.
In Isaiah 52:1-6, Isaiah, God's preaching
messenger, calls Israel to awaken to repen-
tance and to spiritual renewal-to clothe
herself with the beautiful clothes of the
holy city of God. This command is accom-
panied with a prophecy that: (1). [vs. 1]
N ever again will the nncircumcised and the
nnclean come to Zion. God will cleanse
His people of their corrupted life and cor-
rnpted worship and will bring them to true
holiness of life and the pure worship of God
in Christ. God's strength will enable them
to do what in their own strength they are
unable to do. God promises His people that
He will restore them to a position of honor,
dignity and holiness, free from all tyranny
and oppression. (2). [vs. 6] Therefore My
people shall know My name; therefore
in that day I am the One who is speak-
ing, "Here I am." Because God's name is
so continually blasphemed and disrespected
among the heathen as long as Israel is
apostate and in exile, He will deliver His
people and restore them to a secure and
free position so that they will know and
love the revelation of the character and will
of God in His name.
Beginning with verse 7, He shows how
what He has promised in verses 1-6 will be
fulfilled-by means of speeding messengers
Zion receives the announcement of her
deliverance. To say that the feet of those
who bring the gospel are lovely is to say
that the appearance of the messengers of
the gospel is beautiful to those who receive
their message. They proclaim a message of
salvation and deliverance, which Paul
interprets as the preaching of the gospel of
Jesus Christ in Romans IO:13-15-Who-
ever shall call npon the name of the
Lord will be saved. How then shall they
call upon Him in whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe
in Him whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they
are sent? Jnst as it is written, "How
beautiful are the feet of those who bring
glad tidings of good things!" John
Murray said of this text: "The word from
Isaiah is thus applied to that of which the
restoration from Babylon was typical. And
as the prop)Iecy found its climactic fulfill-
ment in the Messiah Himself so it continues
to be exemplified in the messengers whom
December 2000/Jal)uary 2001- THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon-7
He has appointed to be His ambassadors."-
ROMANS, NICNT, Vol. II, p. 59.
Now back to Isaiah 52. Notice the three
participial phrases in verse 7 that explain
the proclamation of good news:
Who announces peace... This is the effect
of preaching.
. And brings good news of GOODNESS This
is the content of preaching.
Who announces salvation... The proclama-
tion of the gospel is the means by which God saves
sinners.
Notice also the main theme of preaching
in verse 7-Your God reigns! The God of
Israel will in Christ reveal the fact that He
sits upon a great throne governing all men
and cultures, to whom all men and cultures
are accountable. This is the theme of
Jesus' preaching according to Mark 1:14-
15-And after John had been taken into
custody, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of God, and say-
ing, "The time is fulfilled, and the king-
dom of God is at hand; repent and be-
lieve in the gospel." In other words, the
"The gospel that God will use to
save men and nations from their
sins is God-centered not
man-centered."
gospelthat God will use to save men and
nations from their sins is God-centered not
man-centered. It begins and ends with the
total sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of
God's grace in the bestowal of salvation,
and the total accountability of man to God.
In verses 8-10, the voice of the preach-
ers is heard crying out their message to the
people, impressing us with ,the fact that the
content and goal of our preaching is the
redemption and sanctification of sinners.
These preachers are to lift up their
voices and shout joyfully together to the
people that they will see:
The Lord restore Zion
The Lord comfort His people
The Lord redeem Jerusalem
The Lord laying bare His holy ann in the sight of
all the nations
That all the ends of the earth may see the
salvation of our God.
He will bring and apply the blessings of
these accomplishments of the Lord in
Christ to the personal experiences of His
people as His preachers lift up their voice
and shout joyfully together the glad
tidings of good news that Jesus saves.
Isaiah 53 teaches us about the accom-
plishment of the redemption of God's
people by the substitutionary sacrifice of
the Suffering Servant of God, i.e., the
Messiah. Isaiah 54 sets forth the blessings
that messianic Servant of God has secured
for His redeemed people. And in Isaiah
55:1-5, God's gracious and free invitation is
extended to all nations to come and partake
of the salvation the Lord has accomplished
in Christ and now offers to them through
the preached VVord.
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the wa-
ters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and withont cost.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with
you,
According to the faithful mercies shown to
David.
Behold, I have made him a witness to the
peoples,
A leader and commander for the peoples.
Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,
And a nation which knows you not will run to
you,
Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy
One of Israel;
For He has glorified you.- Isaiah 55:1-5.
The prophet is an evangelist and he
invites the thirsty who cannot satisfy their
thirst to come, buy, and eat without money
or price. This water, wine and milk cannot
8 - TlIE COUNSEL ofChalcedon" December 2000/ January 2001
be bought or earned. They are undeserved
and free gifts of God's grace. Water signi-
fies the refreshment of salvation, wine the
exhilaration and joy of salvation, and milk
the spiritual nourishment of salvation. All
these blessings are offered to all who come
to Christ and find in Him those blessings
they SO desperately need which only God
can provide.
After offering salvation so freely to
sinners, now in verses 6 and 7, God com-
mands all people to seek Him in faith and
repentance. Behind all these offers and
commands is God's sovereign grace, for He
cannot be found at auy time, but only when
He desires to be found.
Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
- Isaiah 55:6-7.
To receive the blessings of salvation a
person must turn away from evil and turn to
God with a wholehearted embracing of the
promise of salvation in Jesus Christ. And
when we turn to God for forgiveness, we
find that the very act of turning is a mani-
festation of God's mercy to us, enabling us
to do what we could not and would not do
in ourselves.
In verses 8 and 9, we see the reason
behind God's call to repent and seek God's
mercy.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways," declares the
LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are My ways higher than your
ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." -
Isaiah 55:8-9.
In these words of God are two reasons
for the necessity of faith and repentance in
sinners if they are to experience the com-
passion and abundant pardon of God.
1. God's thoughts and ways are not the ways
aud thoughts of man. "God's ways and thonghts,
nnlike those of the wicked, are righteous; and for
that reason the wicked must abandon his own
ways and thoughts."- E.J. Young, ISAIAH,
NICOT, Vol. II, p. 382.
2. God ways and God's thoughts are infinitely
higher than the ways and thoughts of man. In
other words, God's ways and God's thonghts are
incomprehensible to man. They cannot be under-
stood by reason unaided by revelation; and even
with the assistance of revelation, they cannot be
grasped fully and exhaustively. Therefore, man
must seek God's ways and thoughts, not in his own
reason and experience, but in God's self-revelation
in the Bible and in Christ.
In verses 10 and 11, God teaches us that
His preached Word, which calls people to
faith and repentance, and which is based on
the revelation of God's thoughts, always
accomplishes the purposes for which God,
sends it forth.
For as the rain and the snow come down
from heaven, and do not return there without,
watering the earth, and making it bear and
sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and
bread to the eater ... - Isaiah 55:10.
The elements of rain and snow are under
the complete control of Almighty God, who
uses them to accomplish His purposes for
His creation. When He sends rain and
snow to nourish the soil so that it will
produce food for people, the rain <Lnd snow
always accomplish their divinely-given
purpose "In the rain and snow, falling from
heaven, we see the power of God bringing
to completion His purposes in nature."- E.J.
Young, ISAIAH, NICOT, Vol. II, p. 383.
So shall My Word be which goes forth from
My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty,
without accomplishing what I desire, and
without succeeding in the matter for which I
sent it.- Isaiah 55: 11.
if God's use of rain and snow is so
powerfully effective always to accomplish
His purpose in His creation, how much
more is it true with respect to His Word
which goes forth from His moutll? (Verse
11 begins with so, referring to what has
just been said in verse 10.) The Word
which proceeds from God's mouth is His
December 2000/January 2001- THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 9
God-breathed Scriptures, II Timothy 3:16.
This Word originates in the mind of God
and goes out from His mouth in the Spirit-
inspired prophets and apostles, and is
proclaimed by those whom He has sent out
to preach it. This Word always, always
accomplishes whatever purpose God has for
it. It never returns to Him empty, frns-
trated,or failed. It always succeeds in
doing in the lives of its hearers whatever
God has predestined for it to do. It always
succeeds because it is divine. "The Word
is God's; it belongs to Him, and for this
reason fulfil1s its task."- Young, Vol. II, p.
384. It is the Word of Him who declared:
My purpose will be established, and I
will accomplish all My good pleasure ..
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it
to pass. I have planned it, surely I will
do it.- 46: 10-11. Surely, just as I have
intended so it has happened, and just as
I have planned so it will stand. - 14:24.
The point is that only a sovereign and
almighty God can have an almighty Word
that is always efficacious in the salvation
of believers and in the condemning of the
wicked. And this is the Word we are
privileged to preach! No one and nothing
can stop the preached word, which is the
power of God. unto salvation, from accom-
plishing whatever God wants it to accom-
plish in the lives of all those who hear it.
Now, what is the purpose for which God
"No one and nothing can stop the
preached word, which is the power of
God unto salvation, from accomplishing
whatever God wants it to accomplish in
the lives of all those who hear it."
sent out His Word? What does He intend
for His preached Word to accomplish in the
church and world? Verses 12 and 13 an-
swer these questions.
For you will go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace. The mountains and the hills
will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their
hands. Instead of the thorn bush the cypress
will come up; aud instead of the nettle the
myrtle will come up; and it will be a memorial
to the LORD, for an everlasting sign that will
not be cut off.- Isaiah 55: 12-13.
God's Word creates joy and peace in
the lives offormerly guilty and condemned
sinners, whose sins have incurred God's
anger and so separated them from Him.
Now because of the effects of the Word of
God in their hearts, everything has
changed. The Word has changed them.
Now they have joy, which is the absence of
. fear and gratitude that their deliverance has
come in Christ. They have peace. God's
order has been restored in them. They,
who were at war with God, are now recon-
ciled to Him as His friends and children.
Their hearts are ful1 of trust in Him who
leads them. (You will go out may reflect
upon the exodus of Israel from Egypt, and
their redemption from slavery.)
Not only will individual believers and
their families experience the joy and peace
of salvation by the Word of God, but this
promised redemption is the redemption of
creation. AI1 of creation wil1 feel the
transforming effects of the powerful Word
of God. The trees wil1 clap their hands for
joy. The useless and offensive plants will
be replaced with noble trees. And al1 of
creation longs for this day: .For the anx-
ious longing of the creation waits ea-
gerly for the revealing of the sons of
God. For the creation is subjected to
futility, not of its own will, but because
of Him who subjected it, in hope that
the creation itself will be set free from
its slavery to corruption into the free-
dom and glory of the children of God.
For we know tbat the whole creation
groans and suffers the pains of child-
birth together until now. And not only
this, but also we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting eagerly for onr adop-
tion as sons, the redemption of our
body.- Romans 8: 19-23.
These two aspects of the saving effects
of the almighty Word of God-therestora-
tion of His people and the transformation of
life on earth, are frequent emphases in the
book of Isaiah. For example, the prophecy
10 - THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon - December 2000/ January 2001
of Isaiah 2 speaks of the effect of the reign
of Christ on the church; and the prophecy
of Isaiah 11 speaks of the effect of the
reign of Christ on the entire life of mankind
on earth. The purpose, then, for which God
sent out His Word, and which purpose will
most certainly be accomplished by the
Spirit-anointed preaching of that Word is
personal and global salvation: the restora-
tion of the church and the regeneration of
the world. These great things happen by
means of our faithfnl preaching of the
almighty Word of our Sovereign God.
Conclusion
1. So then, how can we hold to a defeat-
ist, pessimistic view of the church and
kingdom in history with snch a high view of
the preaching of the Word of God? We
cannot! At least, we cannot consistently.
We will have to give up one or the other.
2. Find ont what God intends to accom-
plish in history through the preached Word.
Then preach those things, praying for Jesus
to preach through you, and watch Jesus
accomplish those very things through your
preaching.
3. If you doubt that the preached Word
does have the power the Bible claims for it,
consider these words from James H.
Thornwell:
If the church could be aroused to a deeper
sense of the glory that awaits her, she would enter
with a warmer spirit into the stmggles that are
before her. Hope would inspire ardor. She would
even now arise from the dust, and like the eagle
plmne her pinions for loftier flights than she has
yet taken. What she lacks, and what every
individnal Christian lacks, is faith-faith in her
sublime vocation, in her divine resources, in the
presence and efficacy of the Spirit that dwells in
her-faith in the tmth, faith in Jesus, and faith in
God. With such a faith there would be no need to
speculate about the future. That would speedily
reveal itself. It is our unfaithfulness, our negli-
gence and unbelief, our low and camal aims, that
retard the chariot of the Redeemer. The Bride-
groom cannot come until the Bride has made
herself ready. Let the church be in eamest after
greater holiness in her own members, and in faith
and love undertake the conquest of the world, and
she will soon settle the question whether her
resources are competent to change the face of the
earth.- quoted by J.M. Kik in AN
ESCHATOLOGY OF VICTORY, p. 6.
1 Postmillennialism is the eschatological view
that sometime between now and the second
coming of Christ the world's nations will become
Christ's disciples, and vast majority of Jews and
Gentiles will become genuinely Christian. This
"latter day glory of the church" will continue for a
long period of time at the end of which Christ will
retum and perfect His etemal kingdom.
2 "Emphasis falls here upon prepositional
revelation. In contrast to the devious and esoteric
means of the soothsayers and diviners, who
represent human wisdom apart from God, God
Himself spealcs by means of words. He has given
to man a verbal revelation and this revelation He
causes to stand. - ... prophets are sent from
Jehovah to bear His counsel, His own wise plan of
salvation. This plan is the manifestation in history
of the divine connsel and planning. It is a plan that
must be revealed to man and declared to the nation
by the Lord's messengers ... This connsel He will
bring to fulfillment and completion. Thus, history
unfolds itself according to a plan predetermined by
the God ofIsrael, and it will continue to unfold
itself until the entire divine plan is complete. The
signs of babblers, therefore, are frustrated and
come to naught. They are meaningless and
accomplish nothing. On the other hand, the word
of Yahweh's servant will stand in that it will surely
come to pass, and the divine wisdom expressed in
the plan of deliverance will come to fruition."-
Edward J. Young, ISAIAH, NICOT, Vol. III, p.
190.
December 2000/January 2001- THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon-11