Puzzling to Me

 

 

Look out, my brother, my sister

For the return of Christ,

For the redeemed it will be great

For the unsaved, not so nice.

 

Yes, he is coming soon

To catch his bride away

And since these are the last days

It could be any day.

 

There’ll be a great tribulation

Of exactly seven years

And you will not want to be around

To experience such fear.

 

Immediately there after

There will be the millennium

In which Jesus will be the king

Ruling from Jerusalem.

 

 

A new temple will be built

And Jesus will rule with the Jews,

That this is the promise of God

Is the dispensationalist’s view.

 

I used to hold to this

But I have been forced to change,

A more in-depth reading of the Word

Shows me it is strange.

 

The first reason is the temple

That Jesus said would be destroyed,

However, that they must be another

Is an idea some employ.

 

Why revert to types and shadows

When the real has been fulfilled?

The knowledge that I am born again

Gives me an abounding thrill. 

 

As such, we are become lively stones

Built into the temple of Christ,

He himself is the cornerstone

And he alone does suffice.

 

Our bodies are his temple

If indeed we are of the born again,

To revert to a manmade temple

To me seems insane.

 

The second reason is the Jews:

Apparently, God is in their debt

Since he made a promise to them

And has not fulfilled it yet.

 

A promise made to Abraham

Relating to prosperity and land

And God is yet to fulfil either

In accordance with His plan.

 

Thus, a new temple must be built

And the Jews must indwell the land

As promised to the worthy patriarch

Whom we know is Abraham.

 

The promise was to Abraham

And to Abraham’s seed

That all the world would be blessed

Through the promised Holy Seed.

 

In Christ is the promised fulfilled

To the Jew first and the Greek

And this is still being fulfilled

Even as we speak. 

  

It is therefore puzzling to me

That we are yet about distinctions

When God, the faithful promiser,

Has made good our redemption.

 

Heirs and joint-heirs with Christ,

Already seated in Heavenly places

To enjoy here and now and all eternity

God’s manifold, abundant graces.

 

Stewart Russell © September 13, 2022

 

The Kingdom

 

 

The kingdom is coming

Nay, already come,

Actually, my brothers and my sisters

We are in the millennium.

 

This is kingdom building

Being done through the Church;

Read the Word for yourself

Before consulting experts.

 

From in Matthew chapter 4

The kingdom of heaven was at hand,

So, said the King, Jesus,

As he unfolded God’s plan.

 

And throughout the book

From Matthew chapters 4 to 14

He tells about the kingdom

He being the King on the scene.

 

 

If my kingdom were of this world

My servants would fight,

The essence of Jesus’ words

As he showed them their plight.

 

Go to St John 18 verse 36

For Jesus’ exact words,

This should not leave any doubt

Why Pilate was so disturbed.

 

Remember, it was the Jews

That had delivered him up

But Jesus framed it differently

Regarding his bitter cup.

 

They saw a political kingdom

Being under Roman yoke

So, this imposter they called Jesus,

Could never get their vote.

 

He was delivered to the Jews

Thus, to be crucified

And though the Romans killed him

It was at Jewish hands he died.

 

The king had come

And so too did his kingdom

And almost immediately after

Began the millennium.

 

It is not a political kingdom

And it never will be,

Political kingdoms are temporal

His is for eternity.

 

From eternity to eternity

That’s the kingdom of God,

And throughout the millennium

This is to be spread abroad.

 

From Jerusalem through Judea

Obviously first to the Jews,

Jesus' servants had to be scattered

To tell the good news.

 

Don’t be misled by a thousand

It only means a lot,

And even so, compared to eternity,

It is not even a drop.

 

I tell you the kingdom is here,

Jesus said it has come

And there is no other king but he,

God’s incarnate Son.

 

It is not the political kingdom

For which the Jews had yearned

But at present, a spiritual kingdom,

From the Bible we learn.

 

We are heirs to the kingdom

Heirs and joint-heirs

And with Christ we sit in the heavenly

Even while we are here.

 

We wait in earnest anticipation

When the fullness will unfold

For at present, ours is a deposit

Of treasures untold.

 

Stewart Russell © May 6, 2021

Two Eschatological Views

 

 

The historicist and Idealist

The preterist and futurist,

Four eschatological positions

Comprise our last days list.

 

Feverish arguments

Concerning which one is right,

Each of the proponents

Claiming to have the light.

 

Like Armenians and Calvinists

Splitting Christendom in half

And people knowing no better

Sometimes having a laugh.

 

Mud-ites and non-Mud-ites

Arguing incessantly:

Concerning the healing of the blind

They disagree vehemently.

 

Four eschatological positions

Agreeing to disagree

And not necessarily agreeably

Or citing commonalities.

 

They have more in common

Than all that divide

But their focus on differences

Causes them to collide.

 

Two are particularly prominent

And two relatively mute,

I will focus attention on the two

At the centre of the dispute.

 

 

 

Preterist and Futurist:

These are the dominant two

The former adopts a past position

The latter: a future view.

 

Preterist indicates the past

Futurist is self-defining,

In terms of last days prophecies

Which, if either, is binding?

 

“Opinions” is not the truth

Though at times they converge

So, when arriving at a conclusion,

Hold to the Bible, I urge.

 

Neither position is salvific

Nor is a barrier to salvation

But both cannot be equally right

Is my humble submission.

 

Concerning last day prophecies

Most are already fulfilled,

The Futurist believe otherwise

They remain to be fulfilled still.

 

Concerning the Revelation

This book is about our future,

Preterist look at the 1^st century

And advance a different picture.

 

 

Preterist focus on stated time clues

And the audience relevance

While Futurist make light of these

And argue for a far distance.

 

Futurist prophetic stance

Is based on a modern-day Israel

Who from Old Testament times

Was God’s chosen people.

 

God broke off with the Jews

That Gentiles could be ushered in

And some spectacular event will occur

To bring most of the Jews to Him.

 

First: the rapture of the Church

Then a time of great trouble

For all those that are left-behind:

In particular the nation of Israel.

 

In this seven-year tribulation

The Jewish nation will turn to God

And in a single day

All Israel will answer God’s call.

  

Next will be the millennium

During which Christ will reign:

This will be an exact thousand years

Is what the Futurist claim.

 

The final judgment will follow

And the consummation of all things

And Jesus will hand over to God:

The Father and eternal King.

 

 

Conversely Preterist believe

In an inexact thousand years:

Of a period beginning at Pentecost

Till the second advent appears.

 

The time of the final judgment

When Satan is cast in the lake of fire

With all that rejected Jesus Christ

And were in Satan’s hire.

 

Futurist interpret prophecy

Via current events

The matter of signs and wonders

Is their intent.

 

Thus, they’ve erred many times

As to when the world will end,

Regarding world event after event

They often see a trend.

 

They use modern day tabloids

To make sense of the Word

As it especially relates to Israel

As we have already heard.

 

Conversely, for the Preterist

Revelation is an almost done deal

A record of 1^st century events

As they back then unreeled.

 

John’s generation back then

Not a 21^st century generation

Thus, the proof of Biblical prophecy

And the book of Revelation.

 

Some Preterist believe

No prophecy is left to be fulfilled

But their eschatological explanation 

Leaves me baffled still.

 

 

For Futurist Israel is the key

And it always has been,

God made a promise to Abraham

That all Israel will be redeemed.

 

The question, however arises:

Which Israel does the Bible mean?

“Since not all Israel is Israel”

This from Romans we glean.

 

Preterist believe Jesus is the key

As shown in Matthew 24

And all he said to his audience then

In Revelation he develops more.

 

It was urgent for them:

They would see Revelation unfold,

They were not left in the dark

By John they were told.

 

Let Scripture interpret Scripture

As you finally decide

But understand that on neither view

Does our salvation ride.

 

Salvation solely rests

On our acceptance of Christ

And the only offering that suffices

Is Christ’s expiatory sacrifice.

 

That’s soteriology not eschatology

Accept Christ today!

What think ye of Christ?

He is the only.

 

Stewart Russell © June 5, 2021

 

God’s New Thing

 

 

 

“God is doing a new thing

In His church today,”

The number of times I have heard this

I cannot actually say.

 

Neither can I tell you

How long this new thing lasts,

But as soon as another comes along

The other new thing is passed.

 

Over several periods of time

We’ve had more than one new thing

Such that it is even reflected

In the very choruses we sing.

 

“These are the days of Elijah”

Was the title of one of these songs

And it still puzzles me even now

How Elijah actually belonged.

 

What really would be new

That God would do these days?

I desperately need an answer

If God has changed His ways.

 

It is actually definitely true

That God makes all things new

But that this pertains to the believer

Is my considered view.

 

 

The believer is a new creation,

After all, he is born-again

And the fact that old things are passed,

He will never be the same.

 

From death to eternal life

From sin’s darkness to the light,

From no people to be God’s people

Once blind but now having sight.

 

The result of Christ’s coming

Comprises this new thing of God,

Ever since the advent of Pentecost

The Gospel is spread abroad.

 

This is the blessed millennium

That was long ago prophesied:

The preaching of the glorious Gospel

Of the Christ that was crucified.

 

Some view a millennium to come

As in an exact thousand-year reign,

I too once took that position

But I was compelled to refrain.

 

We are in the millennium

Ever since the day of Pentecost

And the whosoever is being invited

To come by way of the cross.

 

The new thing that God is doing

Was prophesied in the Old Testament

And in the words of John, the Baptist,

Calling all people to repent.

 

No special treatment for the Jew

And surely none for the Greek,

So, be like those wise men of old

And Jesus, the Saviour seek.

 

All that seek him will find him

And they will be made anew,

This is the new thing God is doing,

I thought it was time you knew.

 

Stewart Russell © April 28, 2021

 

 

The Kingdom

 

 

The kingdom is coming

Nay, already come,

Actually, my brothers and my sisters

We are in the millennium.

 

This is kingdom building

Being done through the Church;

Read the Word for yourself

Before consulting experts.

 

From in Matthew chapter 4

The kingdom of heaven was at hand,

So, said the King, Jesus,

As he unfolded God’s plan.

 

And throughout the book

From Matthew chapters 4 to 14

He tells about the kingdom

He being the King on the scene.

 

If my kingdom were of this world

My servants would fight,

The essence of Jesus’ words

As he showed them their plight.

 

Go to St John 18 verse 36

For Jesus’ exact words,

This should leave no doubt

Why Pilate was so disturbed.

 

Remember, it was the Jews

That had delivered him up

But Jesus framed it differently

Regarding his bitter cup.

 

They saw a political kingdom

Being under Roman yoke

So, this imposter they called Jesus

Could never get their vote.

 

He was delivered to the Jews

Thus, to be crucified

And though the Romans killed him

It was at Jewish hands he died.

 

The king had come

And so too did his kingdom

And almost immediately after

Began the millennium.

 

It is not a political kingdom

And it never will be,

Political kingdoms are temporal

His is for eternity.

 

From eternity to eternity

That’s the kingdom of God,

And throughout the millennium

This is to be spread abroad.

 

 

From Jerusalem through Judea

Obviously first to the Jews,

Jesus' servants had to be scattered

To tell the good news.

 

Don’t be misled by a thousand

It only means a lot,

And even so, compared to eternity,

It is not even a drop.

 

I tell you the kingdom is here,

Jesus said it has come

And there is no other king but he,

God’s incarnate Son.

 

It is not the political kingdom

For which the Jews had yearned

But at present, a spiritual kingdom,

From the Bible we learn.

 

We are heirs to the kingdom

Heirs and joint-heirs

And with Christ we sit in the heavenlies

Even while we are here.

 

We wait in earnest anticipation

When the fullness will unfold

For at present, ours is a deposit

Of treasures untold.

 

Stewart Russell © May 6, 2021