History's Coming Capstone

By Earl Radmacher, Th.D.
President/Professor Emeritus, Systematic Theology, Western Seminary, Portland, Oregon

The ultimate purpose for the history of the earth is to graphically demonstrate the glory of God by showing God alone is sovereign Ruler over all creation. This is why Jesus taught His disciples to pray after this manner: “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven,” Matthew 6.10.

The ultimate display of God’s will is coming, when Jesus Christ, together with His saints will bring the first perfect government to this earth: 1 Corinthians 15.20-28.

God has allowed the usurper, Satan, to reign thousands of years as the “god of this world,” 2 Corinthians 4.4; and the “prince of the power of the air,” Ephesians 2.2, but Satan’s control will come to an abrupt end. Satan’s last government will be a mighty, hands-on, desperate effort to succeed in his rebellion against God: Revelation 12 – 13.

The first prophetic declaration of the supremacy of God over Satan came early in Scripture when the Lord God declared to the serpent, “It (Christ) shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel,” Genesis 3.15. Several thousand years later, Jesus vividly portrayed the breaking of Satan’s power: “I beheld Satan fall like lightning from Heaven,” Luke 10.18. Thus, Jesus set His face like a flint toward the cross, where the curse of sin and death Satan introduced through his deception in Genesis 3 would be reversed. Satan was judged at the cross: John 16.11; but the execution of the judgment is yet to come: Revelation 20.10.

The destruction which will take place on earth after the Rapture will be so intense, Jesus characterized it as “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be,” Matthew 24.21 and Daniel 12.1. Jesus prophesied, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days…shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory,” Matthew 24.29,30.

We must not confuse the gift of redeeming grace with the reward or prize which may cost us our very lives. God’s grace determines where we go at the end of this early sojourn. The reward Christians receive for their obedience to Christ determines the position of service they have in Christ’s Kingdom. Paul succinctly summarizes the concepts of grace and rewards for Timothy in poetry, which became a First Century hymn:

For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him, Romans 6.1-8.
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him, Revelation 2.26-28.
If we deny Him, He will also deny us, Matthew 10.32,33.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful. “He cannot deny Himself,” 2 Timothy 2.11-13.

Ninety-three times in the New Testament our Lord and the apostles use descriptions of service in the coming Messianic Kingdom to move Christians out of infancy into faithful service. In summary, our future is determined by what we do with what God has given us.