Christ came into the world of Old Testament Israel to "put away sin" (Heb.9:26-28) and to "bring in everlasting righteousness" (Dan.9:24-27; 2 Pet.3:13), thereby effecting the restoration of man to the presence of the Living God (John 14:1-6). Christ did not come, however, to accomplish this within the boundaries of the Old Covenant economy. In the words of Paul, "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law" (Gal.3:21). Instead of putting away sin, the Law was added "that the offense might abound" (Rom.5:20), "that sin through the com­mandment might become exceedingly sinful" (7:13), "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (3:19). God's design in this was "that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe" (Gal.3:22).

 

The Law's inability to deliver the promise of life and righteousness is the backdrop for the age-changing role of the cross, and accordingly this gives us insight to the meaning of the departure, the absence, and the second appearing of Christ (John 14:1-3). Through the cross, Christ left the Old Covenant cosmos for the reasons stated above. Sin could not be "put away" in that world. The "hope of righteousness" could not be fulfilled in fleshly Judaism (Gal.5:5; Phi1.3:1-9). From the standpoint of "the promise", Christ was of another world (Rom.4:13; John 8:23; 18:36; Gal.3:13-18). He could not take up his messianic reign in "the world below" (John 8:23; 18:36).

 

This point is being stressed because if one does not understand the world from which Christ departed neither will one have a correct understanding of the world of his second appearing.

 

The fundamental rea­son for the rejection of Christ by his own people was their failure to see that the Mount Sinai creation was not designed to be the world of the coming Messiah wherein God's promises to the fathers of Israel would be fulfilled. In coming to "his own" (Jn.1:11), Christ did not come to his world. He was no less "a stranger and pilgrim" in earthly Palestine than was Abraham who also sojourned in the earthly, temporal, typical land of promise "as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb.11:9, 10).

 

Unlike many of his faith-less descen­dants who focused on the earthly things of the Mosaic Covenant, Abraham saw the true, spiritual, higher plane of the promise in Christ. His sight was not set on earthly Canaan. Instead, in keeping with the promise, he desired "a better, that is, a heavenly country" (v.16), and this is a clear reference to the "better things" of the "better covenant" that was "confirmed before by God in Christ" (8:6; 12:22-24; Gal.3:17).

 

With this in mind, we call attention to Christ's statement to the Pharisees who challenged the validity of his testimony concerning himself. Jesus said, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh ... You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world" (John 8:14, 15, 23).

 

The statement, "You judge according to the flesh" (v.15) pinpoints the root problem in Israel's failure to see Christ and the promise in terms of a New World exclusive of the Law. To judge "according to the flesh" simply meant that the Torah-zealous Jews were looking for a messi­anic restoration in accordance with the earthly, fleshly state of affairs under the Old Covenant. But Christ and his message concerning the new age to come did not fall into this pattern of Israel's assess­ment of their messianic future. In this same connection Paul wrote, "Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer" (2 Cor.5:16).

 

The word "flesh" often is used in scripture to denote Israel's mode of life under the Old Covenant. This is clear, particularly in Phi1.3:1-9, where Paul equates "confidence in the flesh" with the things of the Law in which he once trusted. But now (from the standpoint of the cross and Christ's departure from fleshly Judaism), Paul said, we no longer know Christ (or any one else) according to those fleshly standards. Through the gospel of the Spirit, Paul had come to know the true world to which Christ and the promise belonged—the world for which the cross was the decisive turning point.

 

Therefore, when Christ said to the Jews, "for I know where I came from and where I am going" (Jn. 8:14), he was speaking of the world of promise to which he belonged from the day that God made his covenant with Abraham and confirmed it with an oath (Gal. 3:15­18). The Abrahamic promise and the New Covenant as confirmed in Christ represented the world of messianic promise, and therefore the world of Christ's second appearing "apart from sin" (Heb. 9:28).

 

In antithesis to the Old Covenant cosmos, the world above is where sin has been "put away" (Heb. 9:26), and "in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet. 3:13), according to God's promise to Israel (Isa. 65:17-19). Clearly Christ was speaking of the New World (or creation) of the New Covenant in John 8 in saying to the Jews, "I know where I came from and where I am going." His world, "the world above" (v.23), stood in contradistinction not to planet earth but to the world of Old Covenant (fleshly) Israel.

 

We believe that what has been laid out above is the biblical framework for understanding the “world below” from which Christ departed and the “world above” to which he returned for the express purpose "to maintain the truth of God by making good his prom­ises to the patriarchs" (Rom.15:8, NEB). This application of John 14:1-3 will bear up under a rigorous scrutiny of all the teachings of Christ and his apostles, hav­ing the full support of all that is written in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning Christ, the promise, and the new age to come.

 

We now will focus on the absence of Christ - the interval between his depar­ture and his second appearing – focusing on the coming of the Holy Spirit’s eschatological ("last days") mission.

 

Unfortunately, the inseparable connection between the Spirit’s work and Christ's preparation of a place for his dis­ciples has been ignored for the most part. In the first place the absence of Christ commonly is understood as being coex­tensive with the last 2,000 years of the so-called Christian age. This is manifestly wrong. We know why Christ departed from the Old Covenant age, but at least he was there for a time, which is more than can be said for the Christian age if he is absent from the point of its incep­tion until its very end. Does it make sense that Christ died to establish an age that would stand between him and his disciples until he returns to bring it to a conclusion? That doesn't say much for the cross.

 

Furthermore, in this erroneous exten­sion of Christ's absence the current age is seen as the range of time for the eschatological work of the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-8). Thus the label "last days" has been stamped on the current age - the age of the everlasting covenant. This is incongruous, and equally so are the consequences.

 

The attempt to string out the Spirit's eschatological mission for 2,000 years has become the impetus for a rampant Spirit-centered gospel that counters everything that is taught in scripture about the special, deferential, eschatological role of the Holy Spirit re­garding Christ, the promise, and his sec­ond appearing in his glory and the glory of his Father. In generation after genera­tion, efforts have been made to recover, reclaim or reproduce in some fashion the special gifts, ministries, and functions of the Holy Spirit peculiar to apostolic time. Through the centuries many have attempted to resurrect the eschatological moment that enshrouded the infant church until its maturation at the consummation of the age (Matt. 24; 1 Cor. 13:8-13; Eph. 4:11-16).

 

To clarify the Spirit’s eschatological role, there is an urgent need to return to the New Testament's historical setting for all that was said and done in that "fullness of time."  From this perspective we can see the biblical correla­tion of Christ's absence and the Spirit's eschatological mission within "the last days" peculiar to Christ and his apostles; i.e., the "last generation" living during the closing pe­riod of the Old Covenant age (Joel 2; Acts 2, Matt. 24).

 

We have shown the correlation of Christ, the promise, and his world with the Abrahamic covenant that preceded and superseded the temporal, typical covenant given at Sinai. At this point, we want to add to this the Holy Spirit.  Or perhaps, more properly stated, we want to bring in the Holy Spirit. (We'll comment on this difference later). For now it is important to understand both the timing and the purpose of the coming of the Spirit.

 

From an Old Testament per­spective, Joel's prophecy may be the clearest relative to the promise of the Spirit (Joel 2:28-32) because Peter confirms Pentecost as the initial fulfillment of this prophecy in say­ing, "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16).

 

However, while there is general agreement that the Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, another text says elucidates the timing of the Spirit’s coming. On the eve of his betrayal Jesus said to his disciples, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you" (John 16:7).

 

Here we learn that Christ's departure is the decisive factor for the coming of the Spirit. Jesus said, "If I do not go away, the Helper (Gk. Parakleto, literally “to call along side”) will not come to you." This raises many questions. Why must Jesus go away in order for the Spirit to come? Are Christ and the Spirit opposites? Why would it be an advantage to the disciples to have the Spirit rather than Jesus with them? Is the Spirit greater than Jesus? Does the Spirit offer a greater salvation than Christ? These are important questions that bear directly on how the Spirit and his coming fit into this redemptive trio of Christ, the promise, and his world. The answers will surface in the following point.

 

Jesus instructed his disciples in many things during his time with them, but there remained much more to be communicated in the after­math of Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension. He tells them, "I still have many things to say to you, but you can­not bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and de­clare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (John 14:12-15).

 

What this text says about the Spirit’s mission will clear up a lot of confusion and erroneous concepts about his work as we strictly adhered to it as we follow the Spirit through the New Testament to the end. We will make a number of crucial points as found in these verses and expanded on them from the perspective of what is taught about the Spirit in other passages.

 

First of all, the Spirit was sent to guide the apostles into all truth. But what is truth?  God's word is truth, but when truth here is seen from the standpoint of Christ, the promise, and the world above, we can understand the necessity for Christ's departure from the Old Covenant cosmos in order for the Spirit of Truth to come.

 

John wrote, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). While the Law of Moses came from God, Paul draws out the meaning of truth by Christ in writing that the things of the Law were "a shadow of things to come, but the substance (body) is of Christ" (Col.2:16,17). From this standpoint Christ spoke of himself as "the truth" (John 14:6). The "world below" was de­signed for the "shadows", not for the body (substance or truth) that Christ was in terms of the promise and the age to come. Therefore, his continued presence in the world below would have been counterproductive to the mission of the Spirit to guide the apostles "into all truth."

 

When Christ returned to his world, particularly through the power of the Spirit (Rom.1:4; 8:11), the wit­ness of the Spirit was effective in "dis­closing" the truth, i.e. the substance, re­ality, or body of the promise given in Christ in terms of the world above - the higher realm or nature of the New Cov­enant.

 

Jesus told the disciples that the Spirit of truth would tell (show or disclose) them "things to come" (John 16:13). What are these things, and when were they to come?

 

These are important questions for the following reasons. First, whatever was to be "disclosed" is what the Spirit does during the absence of Christ. Sec­ond, these are things that belong to Christ, given to him by the Father. Jesus said, "All things are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and de­clare it to you" (v.15). Third, these com­ing things would glorify Christ (v.14); i.e., they were the things of his world in which he would be manifested in glory (Mt.16:27; 19:28; 24:30; 25:31; Lk.9:26,27; Col.3:4; 1 Pet. 1:11; 4:13) at his second appearing (Heb.9:28).

 

Many books have been written about "things to come," and almost always the focus is on what the writer believes fol­lows the proverbial end of time (per Amillennialism), or the end of the church/Christian age (per Premillen­nialism). In these two schools of thought either this global earth or the church age has been made the antithesis of the world of Christ's second appearing. You see how this is a mistake if you have stayed with us thus far in what we have been saying about the world of Christ's departure. To leave the biblical framework of "the two covenants" (Gal. 4) in showing how Christ "puts away sin" and "brings in everlast­ing righteousness" misses the significance of the truth about Christ, the Promise and the World Above.

 

"The things to come" that the Spirit was sent to "disclose" were ful­filled in the coming new age during the "last days" of fleshly Israel.  Jesus declared in the context of the de­struction of outward Jerusalem, "For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be ful­filled" (Lk.21:22). In this same vein of end-time judgment Peter wrote, "But the end of all things is at hand ... For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God" (1 Pet.4:7,17)?

 

With respect to "things to come" it is important to recognize that the Spirit worked strictly out of Old Testament scriptures. Paul, who was guided by the Spirit, said that he preached "no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come" (Acts 26:22). By Divine design the Spirit-inspired writings of the Old Testament (2 Tim. 3:16, 17) contained in a veiled form everything that was to come through Christ and the New Covenant. The Old Testament prophets could not discern the meaning of those coming things (Matt. 13:17). They "inquired and searched diligently" to understand them, but Peter said, "To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us [Peter and his contemporaries] they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven - things which angels desire to look into" (1 Pet. 1:10-12).

 

1Peter 1:10-12 offers a specific example of the Spirit's doing what he was sent to do after Jesus departed from the Old Cov­enant cosmos. He was disclosing the "salvation" of "the prophets" that was "ready to be revealed" (v.5) at the revela­tion or second appearing of Christ (v.13). Peter said the Spirit had been sent down from heaven for this very purpose. Fur­thermore, the urgency of the moment at the time Peter wrote is unmistakably clear. The end was "at hand" (4:7). The manifold trials were "for a little while" (1:6-7), hence the saints of Peter's time needed "to gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end" (v.13). Any attempt to place the receiving of this "salvation" at the supposed passing of planet earth instead of at the consummation of the Old Covenant age misses the meaning of the Spirit's mis­sion and the time frame for the "things to come" spoken by the prophets.

 

The writer of Hebrews said that the Law (not this global earth) was a shadow "of good things to come" (10:1). Christ was a high priest "of good things to come" (9:22). The focus of scripture, and therefore of the Spirit's "disclosing" min­istry, was to the effect, "that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms" concerning Christ (Luke 24:44). The mission of the Spirit and the eschatological moment in New Testament scripture go hand in hand, and never do they get beyond the “at hand” moment from the perspective of the closing period of the Old Covenant age.

 

Paul, for example, wrote about "the sufferings of this present time" (his time) which were not "worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (the "us" refers to Paul and the "firstfruits" of his day, Rom. 8:18, 23).

 

"Our light affliction", he wrote, "is but for a moment," working "for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).  Notice, Paul refers to the affliction that he and his original readers were experiencing.  While painful, this tribulation was nothing in comparison to the glory (New Covenant glory which would arrive at the Parousia of Christ, Jn. 17) which would soon be revealed.

 

Thus in the eschatological moment of the Spirit's disclosing mission Paul confi­dently writes, "For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rom. 13:11, 12). Paul was not saying that this global earth was far spent, and cer­tainly he wasn't looking for a protracted “church age.” But something was ready to "van­ish away" (Heb. 8:13), and even a cursory reading of Romans (or any other book in the New Testament ) reveals what must pass away in order for Christ to "put away sin" and "bring in everlast­ing righteousness" in the New Creation that the Old Testament prophets spoke about.

 

The Spirit used the prophets’ writings in revealing the things to come not after the New Covenant age, but in its ultimate arrival at the end of the Old Covenant age. In that age-changing context Peter wrote, "We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Pet. 1:19). Is the New Covenant age the "dark place" where Old Testament prophecy shines "as a light" until a better day arrives? Is that the pur­pose of the New Covenant - to demon­strate that Old Testament prophecy has not been fulfilled, that Christ is absent, and that he is nowhere to be seen?

 

One more passage on the disclosing mission of the Spirit. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains why the "rulers of this age" crucified Christ, hav­ing failed to see "the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory" (1 Cor. 2:7, 8).

 

He points out in verses 9-14, "But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have en­tered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.’  But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

 

This text begins with a reference from Isaiah and focuses on "the things which God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). These things were not seen, heard or understood before Christ. But now (in Paul’s day) Paul said God had revealed them by his Spirit, "that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God" (v.12). This text is not dealing with things that have not yet come—things that can't be received until after physical death, the end of time, or the destruction of global earth. These are the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant creation that God promised in Christ and revealed through the imparted Spirit in the days of the apostles.

 

Notice the parallelism in Christ's statement, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:3), and Paul's statement concerning "the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor. 2:9). In both passages the reference is to "things to come" that the Spirit was sent to reveal. The Spirit, Jesus said, "will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine" (John 16:14, 15). Therefore, the things that Paul said God had prepared for the saints are the things that belong to Christ and thus pertain to the place where the disciples would dwell with Christ and the Father.

 

Again, may we be reminded that the Spirit was not sent to show the things to come until after Jesus departed from the Old Covenant cosmos - "the world be­low" (John 8:23). We see that the things of Christ and his glory are antithetical in nature to the things contained within the types, shad­ows, and patterns of the Old Testament economy.  The mission of the Spirit was to minister in the spiritual or heavenly things pertaining to Christ, the promise, and the world above - the New Covenant state of affairs that constituted the realm of Christ's second appearing and abiding presence. In this manner Christ fulfilled his promise to his disciples, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to My­self; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:3).

 

In part 6, we will give further consideration to the New Covenant ministry of the Spirit from the perspective of Christ, the promise, and the world of Christ's sec­ond appearing.

 

When the "things to come" such as the New Jerusalem and tabernacle of God (Rev. 21) are denied their spiritual (as opposed to fleshly Old Covenant) fulfill­ment, biblical and redemptive history have been abandoned and replaced with a futurist-materialist eschatology. The mission of the Spirit is thereby distorted, and turned into a Spirit-centered Christianity that over­shadows the presence, glory, and power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his everlast­ing kingdom.

 

URL: http://www.presence.tv/cms/jrn-presenceofgod-05.php

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