ETERNAL SHIP WITH HISTORICAL ANCHORS

The history of Christian interpretation has been highly idealistic in nature.  From the earliest days of the Greek expositors, to the Idealist scholars of today -- such as G.K. Beale -- there has been a healthy identification of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy with eternal things -- particularly in the person and work of Jesus Christ.   However, this approach has historically been inconsistent in maintaining that focal point.   Instead of seeing "all things" as being fulfilled in Christ, "Historical Idealist" views still look to the future for the great "consummation of the ages" in an earthly, apocalyptic sense.

Really, the one big mistake Christianity has made in losing sight of the earliest view of Christocentric fulfillment has been that it has taken the natural and historicizing methods of Old Testament interpretation and transferred them to the New.  This is why there are so many fruitless debates over what historical aspect is the true fullness of revelation.  For instance, consider these questions, while paying attention to the fundamental historicity of BOTH propositions:

• Was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to Sunday?

• Was the Kingdom transferred from Israel to the Church?

• Was the Passover transferred to the Lord's Supper?

• Was the Exodus fulfilled when Jesus came out of Egypt as a boy?

• Did the Old Heavens and Earth become the New in the 1st Century?

The problem with this type of dialogue is that -- and pay attention to this point, because it is the guiding interpretive principle of the entire website -- God's revelation does not go from natural to natural... but from natural to spiritual.  Therefore, instead of looking "horizontally" to the future for the substance of revelation, we are meant to look "vertically" and see how all biblical models are fulfilled in Jesus Christ alone.   Therefore, the Idealist point of view would suggest looking at the same controversies like this:

• The Jewish Sabbath only stood as a shadow of Everlasting Rest in Christ. (Heb 4:10)

• The Jewish Kingdom was always the picture of Everlasting Kingdom of Jesus. (John 18:36)

• The Passover always looked to our partaking of Lord's Self Sacrifice. (1 Peter 4:13)

• "Exodus" in the Bible points to deliverance from sin for Lord's children. (Heb. 3:10-13)

• Old Heavens and Earth only become new in Jesus Christ (II Cor. 5:17)

Please pay attention to the fact that, in no way, does this perspective minimize the importance of the natural and historical revelations.  Rather, it glorifies them by showing how they were given to glorify Jesus Christ.   When we glorify the historical shadows and models beyond their revelatory role, are we not actually holding them in idolatrous worship, just as with Moses' serpent in the wilderness?  By seeing the historical anchor for all of God's revelation -- most importantly and significantly in the person and blood-shedding work of Jesus Christ upon the cross -- we are given a wonderful context through which to see the actual ship which is moored up above!