DAVID AND DISPENSATIONALISM

 

DAVID, CHARLES, AND CRAIG

Revised dispensationalism (Ryrie, Walvoord) is much closer to classic dispensationalism (Scofield, Chafer) than to the more recent progressive dispensationalism (Blaising, Bock). (For more information on the changing scenery of dispensationalism, see my February, 1997, newsletter: "Out with the Old; In with the New"). As I noted last month, the revised dispensationalist prefers the zip-lock approach to dispensations: dispensations are kept fundamentally distinct from one another. This keeps things neat and tidy.

But the young progressive dispensationalists have come home from school (Dallas and Talbot Seminaries) and messed up the room. They are opening the zip-locked bags and spilling the contents all over the place. As their name suggests, they see progress between the dispensations. This progress allows developmental overlap between the dispensations. Ryrie would just as soon send them to bed without any supper for such naughtiness.

One area in this regard where we see a large impact on dispensationalism is with respect to the question of the Davidic reign. Dispensationalists see the Old Testament prophecies of David's future arising to his throne as references to a future millennial kingdom. For instance, Ryrie writes: "Promises about the coming millennial kingdom will not be fulfilled until Christ's second coming" (D2, p. 57). (Given the dispensational scheme, this seems to be a bad idea for God, for as Ryrie notes: "The millennial kingdom will be climaxed by widespread rebellion against the personal reign of Christ the king" [D2, 35].)

But progressive dispensationalists allow a partial fulfillment of the Davidic rule of Christ in the present age. Blaising comments on Peter's sermon in Acts 3:12-26: "Peter's sermon confirms that blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are mediated by the Christ. As the Davidic covenant is fulfilled with Him, so the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are fulfilled with respect to its various recipients. However, the fulfillment will occur in stages which are tied to the history of the Christ. Certain blessings are now available. Other blessings await the time of His return" (Blaising, PD, p. 188). Elsewhere he writes: "the Davidic nature of Christ's present activity guarantees the fulfillment of all of the Davidic promise in the future, including the national and political dimensions of that promise" (PD, p. 180).

In these two statements by Blaising we clearly see the now/not yet nature of the progressive dispensationalist in reference to the Davidic promise. Christians today are presently experiencing certain aspects of the "Davidic" rule of Christ. This, of course, is anathema to older forms of dispensationalism. It involves a rupture of the hermetic seal between dispensations.

However, the completion and fulness of the Davidic promise, according to Blaising, await Christ's second advent and the establishing of the millennial kingdom. This is anathema to covenantal theology, for it involves a return to the era of temple worship and involves a second humiliation for Christ (see above statement on the rebellion against Christ's rule at the end of the Millennium).

Ryrie summarizes the progressive view and attempts to refute it from his own revised dispensational perspective:

"A word should be said about the Progressives' revised interpretation of Acts 3:19-21 and the phrases 'times of refreshing' and restoration of all things. The former phrase, they say, refers to the present time (the 'already' aspect of the kingdom) and the latter to the future return of Christ (the 'not yet' phase). But that would not have been what Peter's audience understood, nor is it supported exegetically. The 'that' (Gk.: hopos) in verse 20 introduces a purpose clause; i.e., repent for the purpose of or with a view to. The purpose involves two things happening — the coming of 'times of refreshing' and the coming of Christ. Progressives believe that the times of refreshing refer to the present time, preceding the return of Christ. But the construction links the two events: the times of refreshing (the millennial, Davidic kingdom) will come when Christ returns and not before. The two clauses (with two subjunctive verbs) that follow hopos cannot be separated, as Progressives do, in order to support their already (present Davidic kingdom, the 'times of refreshing') and not yet (future Davidic kingdom, 'restoration of all things') concept. Nothing grammatically separates the promises; in fact, they are joined together by the connective kai. Therefore, both expressions refer to the promised restoration of the nation Israel in the Millennium. This teaching of an already inaugurated Davidic reign in revisionist dispensationalism is far from firmly established by clear exegesis of the relevant texts"(Ryrie, D2, pp.168-169).

Is the Davidic rule of Christ wholly confined to the millennium as a distinct dispensational entity, as in revised dispensationalism? Or is partially realized now, but awaiting a future, literal, earthly rule of Christ? As a covenantal Christian I would allow neither approach.

Let us consider Peter's sermon in Acts 3, particularly verses 19-21, to show how both the revised and progressive dispensationalist viewpoints miss the mark.

A COVENANTAL VIEW

Acts 3:19-21 reads: [19] Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,[20] and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,[21] whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Acts 3:19-21 is a favorite passage for the dispensational search for a special future for Israel in the New Testament record. It is thought to establish the premillennial expectation against all others.

Notice the following dispensational references to this passage:

"But Heaven has only received Him until the time of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all holy prophets (Acts 3:21), when He shall come again, to sit in the throne of His Father David. This again proves His coming to be pre-millennial" (Blackstone, Jesus Is Coming, p. 47).

"The king is 'exiled' in heaven (Ac 3:20-21; 7:55-56). . . . Scripture everywhere repudiates and disproves the doctrine that Christ is now reigning as Prince of peace, seeking through the church to extend His kingdom on earth by means of the gospel." (Charles E. Stevens, in Charles Lee Feinberg, ed., Prophecy and the Seventies, pp. 102-103.)

"The declaration is that, if the nation repented and believed, the Messiah would return and establish the promised kingdom." (Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary, 1:414.)

"Acts 3:17-21 shows that Israel's repentance was to have had two purposes: (1) for individual Israelites there was forgiveness of sins, and (2) for Israel as a nation her Messiah would return to reign," i.e. in the Millennium. (Stanley D. Toussaint, "Acts," in Walvoord and Zuck, Bible Knowledge Commentary, 1:362.

"In two passages, the national future of Israel is most definitely assured.... [W]e find Peter preaching to the crowds in Jerusalem, 'Repent therefore and return' with a view to the coming of 'Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time' (Acts 3:19-21). There can be no doubt that this 'restoration' about which the Old Testament prophets spoke focused on national Israel" (Blaising, PD, p. 268).

A covenantal (and postmillennial) understanding of this passage is more satisfying than either of the dispensational views mentioned above. The covenantal approach recognizes the over-arching Jewish context in light of covenantal expectations.

CONTEXTUAL RELEVANCE

In the context we must recognize with the dispensationalist (!) that Peter is preaching a message most relevant to the Jews of that day: He opens with "Ye men of Israel" (Acts 3:12), emphasizing their lineage from "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (3:13a). They are the "sons of the prophets" and the sons of "the covenant" (3:25). These highly favored people were guilty of crucifying the Messiah: "God . . . glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and [you] killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses." "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers" (Acts 3:13b-15, 17).

Keeping this in mind — along with some additional contextual notations to follow — let us now seek to gain the proper understanding of Peter's statement.

After pointing out their guilt in the crucifixion of Christ, Peter notes God's sovereign prophetic ordering of the event (Acts 3:18). Then he exhorts these guilty crucifiers of Christ to "repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (3:19a). This call to repentance from their sins contextually speaks of their horrible guilt in the crucifixion. With an eye to the coming A.D. 70 judgment, he issues a warning from Moses: "And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people" (Acts 3:23). This is reminiscent of his previous allusion to the "blood, fire, and smoke" threatened upon Jerusalem and his urging of his Jewish auditors to "be saved from this perverse generation" (Acts 2:19-21).

He then adds to this urgent call: "so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19b). The "times of refreshing" holds forth for Jerusalem the promise of "a respite from the judgment pronounced by Jesus, as it brought the Ninevites a respite from the judgment pronounced by Jonah" (F. F. Bruce, Acts, p. 91n). These times of refreshing speak of the glorious salvation that God mercifully offers them along with the favor of God that would issue forth from it. This refreshing is especially glorious in being contrasted to the horrible wrath under which they lived and which was soon to crash down upon them.

COVENANTAL CONOLATION

But perhaps they would lament their having destroyed the only one who could bring them such consolation — a fear much like he had encountered before (Acts 2:37). In order to circumvent such, Peter sets a promise before them. That promise is that Christ will yet come to them in salvation: "and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you" (Acts 3:20 NASV). It is true that he is in heaven physically away from them; in fact, "heaven must receive [Him] until the times of restoration of all things" (3:21). Still, there is the promise that God will send Him to them in salvation. Though he is in heaven he is not beyond their reach, for he comes to dwell in those who have faith in Him (John 14:23; Rev. 3:20). As the gospel is preached, the hearers discern the voice of the living Christ (Eph. 2:17).

This understanding of the "sending" (Gk.: apostello) of Jesus in salvation is no more awkward than is the Second Advent view. Neither the wording for the sending of the Son in salvation nor for the sending of the Son in the Second Advent expressly occur in Scripture. Though in the economy of redemption it is more precise to speak of the Father sending the Spirit in the gospel (John 14:26), we must understand that the sending of the Spirit results in the coming (sending) of the Son into the

believer (Rom. 8:9). And in the present context, the focus is on what they have done to Christ, who was perfectly subject to God. God foreannounced His incarnation (3:18); Christ was God's "Servant" (3:13, 26), "His Christ" (3:18), whom God sent (3:22). Hence the unusual manner of speaking: Christ is being emphasized as One Who is subject to the Father.

This particular sending of Christ does not await His Second Advent, despite both revised and progressive dispensational assertions to the contrary. Why would Peter tell the Jews that if they repent today, God will send the Son thousands of years later? The Christ is being presented to them at that very moment. In fact, the exaltation of Christ forever provides for the sending of the Son to lost sinners; this is particularly true for those to whom he is speaking: "When God raised up his Servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from his wicked ways" (Acts 3:26 NIV).

GOD'S TIMING

Peter continues. Christ must remain in heaven "until the times of restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21a). The word "until" shows Christ will remain in heaven, where he how is since being "received" there at his ascension. The force of "until" makes the times of restitution simultaneous with Christ's mediatorial session in heaven. When he returns he will complete, rather than initiate, the times of restitution.

This "restoration of all things" has already begun, having been instituted during the ministry of Christ. In fact, Peter informs his auditors of the events begun in their time: "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days" (Acts 3:24). This is also clear from Matthew 17:11, where John the Baptist functions as an Elijah introducing the restoration of all things.

The restoration is a reformation that supplants the old order (Heb. 9:10). It is a process leading to "the regeneration" of the fallen world as a system (John 1:29; 3:17; 4:42), where Christ's will shall be done in earth (Matt. 6:10), as His kingdom grows and spreads (Matt. 13:31-33; 1 Cor. 15:20-27). It is the fulfillment of all things "which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21), as in Isaiah 2:2-4; 9:1-7; 11:1ff. Acts 3:24-25 demonstrates that "these men of Israel who stood listening to Peter were 'sons of the prophets' — not in the OT sense of the words which denoted the professional prophetic guild, but in the sense that they were heirs of the promises made by God through the prophets — promises which had found their fulfillment before their very eyes. So, too, they were 'sons of the covenant' made by God with Abraham, and that in a special sense, for they had lived to see the day when that covenant came true in Christ: 'In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed'" (Bruce, Acts, p. 93).

This fulfillment progressively grows during "the times" of the "restitution of all things." "The gospel blessings that were to flow from His death and resurrection must spread abroad throughout the world, and then He would return from the right hand of power" (Bruce, Acts, p. 91). Even rebellious Israel will be re-incorporated into the kingdom (Acts 1:6; Rom. 11). Christ will not return in His Second Advent until this reformation/ restoration/regeneration has overwhelmed the earth.

CONCLUSION

The Davidic hope is not put onl hold until the future millennium, as per revised dispensationalism. Neither is it but partially here, only to be fully established in the future millennium, as per progressive dispensationalism. The Davidic promise as found in Acts 3:20-21 provides hope for the future, to be sure. But it is a growing developing hope in the present; a hope that results in a glorious time in earth history that is continuous with the present.

My basic problem with both revised and progressive dispensational premillennialism is that, despite their major differences, they are both still species of premillennialism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blaising, Craig A. and Darrell L. Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism (Wheaton, Ill.: BridgePoint, 1993). Abbreviation: PD.

Ryrie, Charles C., Dispensationalism (2d. ed.: Chicago: Moody, 1995). Abbreviation: D2.

SPECIAL NOTES

Christian Educational Materials

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