In this issue of TFT, we come to the end of articles which have generally been philosophical and theological in approach. From the next issue, we shall be addressing current issues of interest from a Biblical point of view and try to learn how to respond to them. These would include our responsibilities as Christian citizens of this country and the pressures we are likely to undergo as followers of Christ. We will also be dealing with subjects of evangelism - we would be adopting the approaches whose theological under-pinnings have been outlined in earlier issues.
As we reach the end of the 20th century, one of the facts that have come to the notice of our cosmologists with compelling force is that the space-time universe in which we live is finite and has had a beginning. Scientists these days unblushingly talk about the ‘creation event’ when they refer to the ‘Big Bang’, the interval of time between 0 and 10 raised to minus 43 seconds when this universe of space and time is supposed to have come into existence from nothing. During this infinitesimal gap, the laws of physics known at present break down. The Cause of this universe has therefore to be an Entity Who is outside of space (and matter) and time. Gen. 1:1 appropriately records this event as having been caused by a (or the) God Who is Eternal (non-time) Spirit (non-matter) - ‘in the beginning…’ rather than ‘once upon a time…’! The majestic opening line of the Bible which really can not be improved upon indicates that God who began history dwells outside of time and space. In this essay, however, we will concern ourselves with the end of history. Such a study will inexorably lead us to contemplate the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity and strive to see the centrality of His work as the Lord of history. He Who began time by His creative Word is now qualified by virtue of His salvific work on Calvary and His triumph over sin and death to open the symbolic ‘seven seals’ (Rev.5) and thus usher in the end of the age. Don’t you think that as Christians it will be most appropriate for us to be preoccupied with this aspect as we reach the start of Y2K? After all, is not history tied inextricably to this Person?! The parallel to the Genesis passage in the New Testament is John 1:1 which significantly refers not to the world but to the Word! - ‘In the beginning was the Word..’. The Son of God who broke into human history in the ‘man Christ Jesus’ is Co-dweller with God in eternity (Jn.1:1b).
As we survey the philosophies of the world, we ought to be struck by the polarisation between time and timelessness. Some of these concern themselves with Eternity, time being nothing but a meaningless cycle of births and deaths. On the other hand, there are the atheistic schools of thought which talk of time being the only entity there is and deny the existence of any eternal reality. The tendency has been to consider these entities as being mutually exclusive. It is within the Biblical revelation alone that we find the tension between time and eternity (as well as matter and spirit) being satisfactorily handled. (I have resisted the temptation to make the suggestion that this tension can be resolved!)
God not only began history but continued to intervene in it in the choice of Abram, a moon-worshipper from the Chaldean countryside (Gen. 12:1). It is quite obvious that he would be a blessing to the ‘peoples (families) on earth’ not on his own but through the One who would be born through him many centuries later. It is significant that the ‘Table of Nations’ in Gen. 10 is far wider than Abram’s ancestry and anticipates the promise of the Nations which the Father makes to the Son (Ps.2:8). Thus the first missiological notes are sounded within the first eleven chapters of the Bible. The nations and their rulers are invited to make peace with the Lord of history as He sets up His kingdom. The interweavings of promises of the Messiah throughout the chequered history of the Jews is a striking fact that forms one of the many unique facets of the Lord Jesus Christ. The probability that the many scores of precise predictions should zero in on one Human among billions is so astonishingly low that the fulfilment of the prophecies alone has been an instrument in leading many to faith in Christ. Truly this planet had precisely albeit unconsciously been prepared for the advent of the unique Lord of history!
It should be admitted that Jews were very conscious of their role in history and surely considered themselves as a nation of destiny. However, they were not quite aware that the promised Messiah Who would be born in the kingly tribe of Judah, one of the less distinguished of the 12 sons of Jacob, was the One Who would accomplish the outworkings not only of their own but of cosmic history. They had understood His function too narrowly in that they assigned to Him only the role of being their own political Leader. They thought of themselves as God’s special people (which was true enough) but considered that special calling as an end in itself rather than as means to a greater end - namely, the blessing of all the nations. While they carefully copied the Old Testament statements which may not have quite suited their proclivities, they failed to understand the global implications of their own history. Isaiah 19:25 would have astounded their mindset - how can Egypt, the nation where their forefathers were held captive and Assyria where the northern half of their kingdom was carried away as prisoner share with them the blessing of Jehovah, relegating their own nation to a poor third place?! Zechariah 8:20-23 was probably understood by them more as a statement of the superiority of their God over those of other nations rather than the Jewish nation being the means by which those very nations would be led to the knowledge of the true God. It is true that their own great prophet Moses had extolled the greatness of their immanent God and His moral pronouncements (Deut.4:7,8) and by implication their own derived greatness as well. The visiting queen of Sheba was overwhelmed by the splendour of Israel and her king (II Chr.9:1-8) and acknowledged the happiness of her people. However, the fact that their forefather Abraham had been chosen generations earlier to be a blessing to the Nations - Gentiles - (Gen.12:2,3) including the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in a somewhat tragic way (Gen.18:16-33) was lost on them.
It is within the context described above that they failed to recognise the Messiah when He actually arrived in their midst. Jesus did not have the trappings of a King although his genealogical credentials were impeccable. In the paradoxical combinations He displayed of authority and compassion, majesty and humility, purity and love for the impure, Jesus threw the Jewish expectations of Messiahship to the four winds in order to fulfil the larger requirements of His ministry. In order to reverse the rebellious flow of human history whose downslide started generations earlier in the garden of Eden, and to redemptively bring it to a grand conclusion, Jesus had to fulfil three vital roles - those of prophet, priest and king. In a way typical of the Biblical narrative, these roles had been prescribed and different persons chosen to live them out over the long history of Israel. No wonder the Westminster Confession of Faith considered each of these offices as a subset of His mediatorial role.

We ought to return to a closer study of the hymn of praise to the Lamb (Rev.5:9,10) which we alluded to earlier. Do we not see that it is more than a coincidence that this song is a prophecy about the Lion of the tribe of Judah Who has made of people from every background kings and priests to God the Father? He however could not have accomplished this feat without His sacrificial work on Calvary. Human history could boast of many illustrious personalities who made the planet a better place to live in by their various contributions. (TIME Magazine, in celebration of the end of this century has devoted 5 special issues this past year to identifying 100 of the its great leaders, artists, builders, scientists and heroes. There is also a poll being taken by this magazine to decide the one who should be nominated the person of the century and I am told that Jesus Christ is ahead of the rest of the pack in this race!). The point that is totally missed in this kind of popularity exercise is that we live in a notoriously twisted world and any final solution has to radically deal with the moral disorder that has enveloped us. While it is right to recognise achievements, we need to temper our enthusiasm with the sobering plight of the human race as it battles exploitation of every kind - we often end up exaggerating the cosmetic improve-ments that have been the hallmark of this century and ignoring the proliferation of evil that has engulfed us during this period. It is only in this light and at this point of human history that we Christians need to appreciate and communicate the content of this worship song to Jesus - His accomplishments have everything to commend themselves to the world’s consideration because they were achieved by paying the price that justice required - His own precious life! It is for this reason alone that Jesus Christ, through His birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and session assumes these three mighty offices of Prophet, Priest and King. As Priest, He speaks fully and finally on behalf of His people to God, His Father. In ancient Israel, the High Priest made atonement for the sins of the people. On a daily basis, animals were sacrificed, the blood of which spoke symbolically of the cleansing of sin. More importantly, the High Priest, once a year went into the Holy of Holies to personally atone for the sin of Israel as a nation (Lev.19). He alone was allowed into this room; the veil, separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Tabernacle, silently depicted the separation of the human race from God by sin. Through His atoning death, Jesus caused this veil to be torn from top to bottom. As Matthew, the Jewish evangelist to the Jews records this striking event (27:51), one could only imagine the emotions that would have filled his breast - the distant God of Sinai is now accessible and the curtain of separation between Him and humankind has been done away with! Another Jewish writer in the New Testament could talk of the veil as being a type of the body of Christ (Heb.10:20). Thus alone, the High Priest and his sacrifice could have anticipated the true and climactic atonement to be brought about in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is also the final High Priest, ensuring that covenant requirements are fulfilled. Like Israel’s High Priest, Jesus identified Himself with the weak and erring people (Heb.5:1-10) and was appointed by God to become the mediator of the new covenant by setting us free from the sins committed under the first covenant (Heb.10:15). He is the great Intercessor Who lives for ever to pray for us who come to God through Him (Heb.7:25). He is the Mediator Who has fully identified Himself with both the parties to the New covenant - God and humankind; He is the Man Christ Jesus (I Tim.2:5).
As Prophet, Jesus Christ fulfilled the requirements of the office as laid out in Deut.18:15-22. He was the ultimate prophet, having been called by God from eternity to bring God’s Word to His people. He was both nabi, a messenger from God to His people, and hoseh, the one who received God’s revelation. By His life and words, He spoke of a righteous God Who was also loving. He was more the Forth-teller than a Foreteller in this role. He evoked consternation in the hypocritical religious leadership much like His counterparts in the Old Testament (Is.28:7; Jer.23:11; Ezek.7:26; Mal.1:6). Common people heard Him gladly even as He silenced the wise and the learned (Mk.12:35-40). As prophet, He foretold God’s plan of redemption and fulfilled it as He submitted Himself to the Father. He was despised in His own town (Mk.6:4) and yet He was absolutely sure that His message had to be proclaimed to every nation (Matt.28:18-20; Acts 1:8)
As King, His message was that with Himself, the kingdom had now come and one must repent and believe in Him (Matt.4:17). He was (and even now is) in the business of selecting subjects for His kingdom - quite the reverse of what we are proud of doing in a democracy! This kingdom was not a realm or a region of this world (Jn.18:36) but was the rule of God in the hearts of men and women (Matt.6:10). The kingdom community was to be built up waiting for the consummation of all things when He would come again to set up His kingdom on earth. As Lord of History, the Lamb alone is the One who is qualified and able to open the seals on the scroll, thus setting history on its final road to a grand culmination. The contrasting qualities of the Lamb and the Lion are combined in the worship song of Rev.5:9,10. As the Lamb of God and the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He now reigns in heaven as the glorified, incarnate king of all the universe. His kingship assures us, His covenant people of His sovereignty over all affairs of the new heaven and the new earth. As redeemed people, we are special in all of creation, and we thus set the pace for worship in heaven (Rev.7:9-12).
We should conclude by looking at our response to what Christ has accomplished for us. We will do well by beginning with the Old Testament. It was in anticipation of the comprehensive work of the Messiah Who would be His one and only Son that Jehovah had spoken to His people on the eve of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai that they- wonder of wonders - would be a royal (kingly) priesthood for Him (Ex.19:3-6). He had made it clear to Israel that the whole earth was His but they, His special chosen people, would fill these roles on His behalf before the nations and, in so doing, serve a prophetic function as well of representing Jehovah before the nations who did not know Him. This prophetic role (which is not explicitly stated in this passage) was carried out by the very fact that the Almighty God had intervened on their behalf in Egypt and that would be a testimony to the nations because of which terror and dread will fall upon them (Ex.15:15,16; Deut.2:25). But that was not all - it was in full obedience and faithfulness to the covenant that the fact of Israel being a treasured possession will begin to dawn upon the nations (Ex.19:5).

How is it that Peter many centuries later had no hesitation in applying that very same passage to the Church at large (I Pet.2:9,10)? In the Old Testament, what Jehovah had accomplished was to be mediated to the nations through His people. In the New, salvation in Christ which will bring the whole universe to its climax is to be communicated through the Church of Christ. In other words, these three sub-roles of Christ are intimately connected to the life of the Church before a watching world. It is also important to note that the implications for us of the prophethood, priesthood and kingship of Jesus Christ are ecclesiological, eschatological and missiological.
The ministry of Christ is to be carried out by His Church - ecclesia - a community and not just by a collection of individuals. Today, our evangelical theology is alternating between western individualism and eastern collectivism. We are struggling to achieve in practice the right tension between individual and community. We cannot truly represent the truth of God before a watching world unless the truth about the Church dawns on us. Very often, our understanding of the Church is limited to the organisational, denominational and bureaucratic. We sometimes could swing to the other extreme of understanding the Church in purely religious and sacramental terms. What is left between is the life of inter-personal relationships which could reflect the self giving paradigm of the blessed Trinity. The three-fold ministry of Christ liberates our personhood from the shackles of self so that we can become truly integrated and relatable beings as we were meant to be. This relational criterion was emphasised by Jesus as the outstanding evidence of our discipleship to Him (Jn.13:35).
The community of Christ’s disciples have to be a beacon of hope to an otherwise pessimistic world. The tendency to turn to non-rational avenues of hope like astrology and the new age is a strong indication that the world is in search of a reliable hope. As believers in the One Who alone can bring history to its desired end, we are in possession of the knowledge of the eschaton - the last things. Our eschatology is not entirely futuristic but applies to the present as well. In fact, these two aspects of our hope cannot really be separated. As Martin Luther said, “If I knew Christ was coming tomorrow, I will plant a tree today!” This understanding of hope will avoid tragedies similar to the ones accompanying the arrival of the Hale-Bopp comet! The audience to whom we shall present the hope is the entire inhabited world of humans. I had stated at the very beginning of the article that God had the whole world on His heart when He chose Abraham and His descendants to be His special people. The Church which is the Israel of God is now to be involved in the mission of bringing the message of Christ to the whole world. This would be through the preaching of a comprehensive message which touches the world of the present and the future and addresses questions of the spirit as of the body, of time as well as of eternity.
May God prepare and equip us to be heralds of the coming of the Lord of history!