29. Note the threefold designation for the entirety of the OT: “Law of Moses, Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24:45). This is merely another common designation for referencing the entire OT.
30. In both instances Jesus has the entire OT in view: First, He utilized the twofold designation of “Moses and the Prophets” (Luke 24:27); then he refers to it according to the threefold designation of “Law, Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Both, however, customarily refer to the entirety of the OT from Genesis through Malachi as we know it.
31. Cf. Mark 9:12; Luke 24:46.
32. “The prophets” can be a general reference to Scripture, which was commonly referred to as “the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 7:12; 11:13; 22:40; Luke 16:16; 24:44; John 1:45; Acts 13:15; 24:14; 28:23; Rom 3:21) or “the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets” (Luke 24:44).
33. For example, Isaiah 52:13—53:12. This passage, which is widely recognized by Christians to refer to the Messiah, is perhaps in its original context of Isaiah about the people of Israel (cf. Isa 44:1, where the servant is explicitly called Israel and Jacob). There is no doubt that the NT understands it as fulfilled in Jesus! The point is that Jesus is fulfilling a prophecy that relates to the suffering of the people. That is, Jesus is the people of God and the fulfillment of the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16).
34. Joel Green acknowledges, “One would be hard-pressed to locate specific texts that make these prognostications explicit. Even to attempt to do so would be wrongheaded, however. The point of Jesus’ words is not that such-and-such a verse has now come true, but that the truth to which all of the Scriptures point has now been realized!” (Green, Luke, 857).
35. “Torah” generally refers to the first five books of the OT, which are traditionally attributed to Moses. In these instances it is equivalent to the Christian designation the “Pentateuch” (five rolls or books). “Torah” may also have a broader meaning that includes the entirety of the OT, and occasionally it can include the entirety of Jewish teaching and practices.
36. The following relies heavily on my entry on “John” in Longman, Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
37. John 2:1–11.
38. John 2:12–25.
39. John 3:1–21.
40. John 4:7–15; 7:37–39.
41. John 4:20–24.
42. John 5:1–47.
43. John 6:1–71.
44. John 7:1—9:41.
45. The Mishnah states, “He who has not seen the joy of the place of water-drawing has never in his life seen joy” (Mishnah Sukkah 5:1–4).
46. See John 10:1–39.
47. Burge, John, 288.
48. McKnight, King Jesus Gospel, 131.
49. This thought will be developed more fully in ch. 8.
4
Jesus, the End Times, and the Arrival of the Kingdom
And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14–15)
The end times are a present reality since the first coming of Jesus. This is the conviction of Peter, Paul, John, Jude, and the author of the epistle to the Hebrews. The conviction that the present time is the “end time” derives from the belief of the apostles that Jesus is Israel’s promised Messiah in whose person, ministry, death, and resurrection God has fulfilled his promises of salvation.50
Introduction
In the previous chapter it was argued that the Bible must be read in light of Jesus. He is the fulfillment of the entirety of the narrative of God’s work of redemption and restoration. Now I wish to venture further and suggest that the coming of Christ must not only be understood in terms of the fulfillment of the OT story, but also in terms of the inauguration of the kingdom of God, which itself is the beginning of the eschaton (i.e., end times, last days, etc.). Thus, in contrast to many of the popular conceptions that suggest that the end times are future, it is my contention, which is widely acknowledged among the scholarly world, that they began with the coming of Christ, continue in the present through the work of the Spirit, and await the consummation at his return.51
The importance of understanding that the kingdom of God has come in and through Christ cannot be overstated. For the central thesis in this book is that eschatology matters. It matters because we are living in the eschaton. We are not waiting for it to come. We are not called to scour the newspapers and Internet to discern if the “signs of the times” are being fulfilled in our generation. Instead, we are to be busy living in the kingdom as agents of the kingdom! Thus, understanding the NT from the perspective that in Jesus the eschaton has arrived not only provides a needed clarity to the message of the NT, but it also more clearly delineates the nature and mission of God’s people. To say that Christ came the first time to be our Savior and to die for our sins and that he will return to become the king not only overly simplifies things, but also fails to understand the mission of Jesus and the nature of the kingdom of God.
The question I wish to investigate, then, throughout this chapter is: Does viewing the NT and the life of Jesus from an eschatological perspective provide the best foundation for understanding the NT? G. K. Beale, in fact, suggests, “Just as when you put on green sunglasses, everything you see is green, so Christ through the Spirit had placed eschatological sunglasses on his disciples so that everything they looked at in the Christian faith had an end-time tint.”52
Understanding the NT in Light of the End Times
I often ask my seminary students several questions that appear on the surface to be simple Bible trivia. The answers, however, are not straightforward. In fact, I would suggest