DCW Week 10- Already Not Yet

Good morning One River,

We’re wrapping up our last few weeks on the Divine Council Series. Last week we looked at Jesus’ crucifixion and what the effects of that were through the lens of the Divine Council view. Jesus did, of course, die for the sins of all humanity. He was and continues to be our intercessor, between our heavenly father and our sinful selves.

But, in addition to those effects, he unmade the conditions of our supernatural fall from grace. Jesus lifted the condition of death. Jesus unified the language and races that were fractured at the time of Bab’el. He joined back together that supernatural and human leadership, that Yahweh split apart, unifying our language at Pentecost, and joining all tribes, both Jew and Gentile back together under the banner of the one true Messiah.

As followers of Christ, he gave us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power over evil spirits and Elohim. We have the ability to, both decern the difference between them, and to cast them out with his holy power.

Jesus unmade humanities fall. He repaired the relationship between us and Yahweh. Going far further than the OT Jewish law permitted. No longer must we bring forth an endless supply of sacrifices to merely keep holy the tabernacle before us. So that we can continue to keep Yahweh at arm’s reach, but still at least in our presence. Now the entire nature of the relationship has been transformed. Now, through the cleansing blood of Jesus, not the mere decontamination of animal sacrifice. Yahweh’s Holy Spirit is able to dwell in us. We are the temple, all of us.

The enemy never saw this coming. The battle is not over, but the war is won.

We’re in a place that we in the Vineyard call “the Already, and the Not Yet”. Most of you have been around the Vineyard a while. I’m sure you’ve heard that saying before. I’ve usually heard it redacted down to something like, “It’s where God get’s his way, but not all the time.”

Does that sound familiar?

This belief comes from a place in humanity where things kinda felt like they were turning for the human race, WWI.

Before this time, most Protestant theology around the kingdom of God was something like. Well Jesus came. He gave us a mission. He said the kingdom of Heaven is here. Now it’s kind of up to us to make everything better and eventually the kingdom will fully manifest on earth. This of course, is a broad oversimplification of the theology, but essentially accurate.

See, from the time of the Reformation forward things continued to get progressively better for the elitist class. The wealthy, the monarchies, the scholars, and yes, the clergy were all on a pretty consistent uphill move. Sure, history records a lot of turmoil. There were wars and depressions, all kinds of conflict. But for those at the top, those educated, generally speaking, things were always getting better.

Enough so that they could convince themselves that humanity was working on perfecting the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, largely unaided.

Well, WWI happened. All of a sudden, we looked around and decided, hey dude. Maybe we’re wrong about this stuff. Maybe the kingdom isn’t here right now, in full. Maybe we’re all going to kill each other. How could Jesus let this happen? What did we miss?

Several alternative theologies popped up. But a guy named Geerhardus Vos came up with this idea in 1903 that maybe this Kingdom of Heaven thing came in increments, or stages of fulfillment. He writes:

The idea of a preliminary Messianic kingdom on earth lasting for a definite number of years, to be followed by the consummation of the world and an eternal kingdom under totally new conditions may possibly have been developed as early as our Lord’s Day. In the later teaching of the New Testament a somewhat similar distinction certainly exists, as when Paul distinguishes between the present reign of Christ, dating from the resurrection, and the final state after he shall have delivered the kingdom to the Father, 1 Cor. 15:23-28.

1 Corinthians 15:23–28 (NIV)

23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

It took us 1900 years to figure out what Paul wrote down for us in 69 AD. This stuff comes in phases. We’re in the Messianic Kingdom, we’re awaiting the Eternal Kingdom. In the Vineyard we call this the Already Not Yet.

But what exactly does this mean?

Let’s look at one specific example. I told you last week that Jesus’ death conquered death. We sing songs every week about how Jesus conquered the grave. Yet we all know that people still die. And Paul tells us right here in verse 26, that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. So, who else is confused?

Let’s see if we can figure some of this out.

I know we often try to stay away from the Book of Revelation. In many Evangelical circles it’s basically considered the third rail, but let’s wade in a little bit and see if we can answer some of these questions. What if I told you there was more than one death?

Do we remember the second death?

Revelation 20:11–15 (NIV)

This segment is called the Judgment of the Dead

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Ok, so what’s the difference between the first death and the second death?

Anyone?

I will start by saying this is a point of contention. There are several theories about the differences between the first and second death.

Ready for a short trip down the philosophical rabbit hole?

We largely agree there are three shades to human life: your physical body, your soul and if you’re a Christian your spirit.

We all agree that your human body and life there is what it is. Where we disagree is the distinction between the soul and spirit. Some think there is no real distinction between the two. That your soul and spirit are basically just two words for the same thing. However, verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:23 state:

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This seems to make it clear there is a distinction. There are dozens more like this that separate out the two shades of our being. In Greek there is also a distinction between these two terms.

Spirit (pneuma): the human spirit that relates to God

Soul (psyche): the inner life without any regard to God; what all humanity may share, born again or not.

This is kind of what I summarized a minute ago.

I think we can all agree that Christ’s death and resurrection conquered death. But obviously not our physical earthly death, since we all still will presumably die and earthly death unless Christ returns in pretty short order. To date, throughout history all have died an earthly death with the possible exception of Elijah and King Melchizedek, which is a story for another day.

So which death did Christ conquer?

Ephesians 2:1–10 (ESV)

By Grace Through Faith

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, (wicked Elohim, remember Princes is one of those titles) This is a quotation or a rift off Jesus in the Gospel of John 12:31–32 (NIV)

31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Back to Ephesians: -the spirit (Spirit not Soul) that is now at work in (why now, cause it was dead, now it’s working) the sons of disobedience (this is a play on the term Sons of God, which is Elohim)—3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, (or Soul) and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So, what did Jesus save? Your spirit. Your spirit was dead, now it’s alive. This is your inner being’s ability to have a relationship and relate to Yahweh and Jesus.

This all goes back to the Garden of Eden. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’re probably starting to figure out everything goes back to the beginning of Genesis.

Yahweh always wanted family. He always wanted a Physical and a Supernatural family, and He wanted them joined together.

Why do you think Yahweh put those two pesky trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden it we were never meant to eat them?

Genesis 2:9 (NIV)

9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Part of the reason we got kicked out of the Garden was to protect us from ourselves, right?

Genesis 3:22 (NIV)

22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Here again we’re seeing the plural language of the Divine Council Worldview.

Yahweh didn’t put the trees in the middle of the Garden merely to be a stumbling block for us. He was always going to give us the fruit, but he wanted us to mature and grow before that happened.

We were too young for the knowledge of Good and Evil and it killed our Spirit. Right? We got kicked out of the Garden thereby destroying the beautiful relationship we had with Yahweh. No more walks through the Garden. No more personal conversations. And it took the death and resurrection of Jesus for us to get that back. Only now that our spirits are revived are we free to do this again.

But we still face an earthly death, a physical death. What about that?

There was a tree for that. The tree of life. This pops back up again at the end.

Revelation 2:7 (NIV)

7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the (Holy) Spirit says to the churches. (That’s us) To the one who is victorious, (That’s Jesus) I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise (Eden) of God.

Where’s Eden at the end?

Revelation 22:1–5 (NIV)

Eden Restored

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, (there’s that tree again) bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

This is the culmination of the battle within the Divine Council. Some of these Elohim will be with Yahweh and Jesus at the end. Many will suffer the second death, like unrepentant humans who’s spirit was never redeemed. This understanding of the Divine Council is, I think, imperative to a proper understanding of Scripture. It was woven throughout the Old and NT. Jew’s to this day still see this very clearly. It’s incumbent on us as Christians to understand the view they had, and frankly the view Jesus and the Apostles had, about the nature of the supernatural world, when we read and interpret scripture. Jesus already conquered our spiritual death, but he has not yet conquered our physical death. That will transpire in the Eternal Kingdom to come.

Questions?