|
PLAINER WORDS ONLINE …
THE APOSTLE PAUL’S LAST WORDS
By Tom L Ballinger
The last
words of great and wise men should certainly be heeded. The
wisdom of the aged should be listened to, passed on to future
generations, and acted upon. The shame is that most men are not
inclined to pay attention to the counsels of elder statesmen or
men of God.
We could
mention the farewell advice given Americans by George
Washington, this country’s first President, when he warned;
“Beware of foreign entanglements.”
Or, Thomas
Jefferson’s admonition; “That government that governs least
governs best,” as well as, “Bind the politicians down with the
chains of the constitution.”
Or, Dwight
W. Eisenhower’s wise counsel in his farewell address, in 1961,
when he stated that “war is the biggest business in America.”
Then, he warned that we should beware of the powerful “military
industrial complex.”
By our
government’s actions, it might as well have thrown the documents
on the ground and stomped on them.
However,
we will not belabor the fact that counselors of the past have
been relegated to the limbo as far as men heeding their wise
advice. But regrettably, we must point out how Christians have
refused to follow through on the last gracious command given to
us by the Apostle to the Gentiles—Paul, the aged.
In Paul’s
Last Will and Testament, 2 Timothy, he makes the case for
“the man of God” to preach the Word, be prepared to do so
anytime because Christians will get to the point that they will
not endure sound doctrine. Paul even spells out what Christians
should be reminded of in time of apostasy.
The
question arises as to why Christians ignore Paul’s “charge”
for-last-day-believers? Is it their unbelief? Are they fearful
of adversaries? Have they been side-tracked by teachers who are
entangled in the admixture of truth and error? Are the eyes of
their understanding clouded with spiritual cataracts? Or, could
it be that many just don’t understand?
Paul’s
last “charge” (2 Timothy 4:1) concerns one of the most momentous
passages of Scripture as it relates to a future judgment. This
judgment is one which is misunderstood to such an extent that it
is almost totally ignored. We have checked the following
Christian works and found that they are virtually silent on this
major subject; New Unger’s Dictionary, Smith’s Bible
Dictionary, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,
Nelson’s Bible Dictionary, Chafer’s Systematic
Theology, Scofield Reference Bible, The Companion
Bible, and Adam Clarke’s Commentary, as well as
Matthew Henry’s Commentary. They all mention various
judgments, at various times, relating to various people and
places. But, none addresses this one.
THE CHARGE
“I
charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his
kingdom;” (2 Timothy 4:1).
Whatever
the reason is the good news of the “Kingdom Judgment” is not
preached, taught, or proclaimed today. It is avoided like the
plague. We are convinced that because of the dispensational
ideas which men have constructed, there can be found no place
for the “Kingdom Judgment” of 2 Timothy 4:1 to fit. For the most
part, Dispensationalists have laid a foundation for
dispensational truth in which there is no room for Christ “to
judge the quick and the dead” because they have not factored in
“His appearing and His kingdom.” Therefore, most “right
dividers” make “His appearing” (Epiphaneia) to be “His
coming” or “the rapture,” by referring to 2 Timothy 4:1 as
meaning; “Christ will appear the second time at His Coming (Parousia).”
However, they are very embarrassed by this verse because of the
“universal judgment” of mankind.
Adam
Clarke’s translation of 2 Timothy 4:1 illustrates the
universality of the judgment; “I charge thee therefore before
God, Whose hearld you art; and before the Lord Jesus Christ,
Whose salvation thou art to proclaim. And Whose appearing to
judge the world—all that shall be
found alive, and all that have died from the foundation of the
world.”
After the
Apostle Paul told Timothy that the Scripture completely equips
the “man of God” for “every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17), he
charges Timothy with the good work described in 2 Timothy 4:1-2.
“Therefore,” Timothy is charged to do a good work (2 Timothy
4:1). Looking at the word, “charge,” we find it to carry with it
the idea of “an order, injunction, mandate, or a command.” Also,
“that which is enjoined, committed, entrusted or delivered to
another, implying care, custody, oversight, or duty to be
performed by the person entrusted” (Webster’s Dictionary of
1828). In plainer words, Timothy was given the “duty” to
preach the Word because of the fact that Christ Jesus was about
to be judging the quick and the dead. Since the judging hasn’t
yet begun, we believe that this “duty” (i.e. charge) has passed
on to every succeeding member of the Church over which Christ
Jesus is the Head. As it is said today; “The ball is in our
court.”
TO JUDGE
Here, we
read that Jesus Christ “shall judge the quick and the dead at
His appearing and His kingdom.” The word, “judge,” does not mean
fixing the final destiny of either the living or the dead. The
word, “judge,” is krino which means “to decide; to
choose; to decree; to pronounce an opinion concerning right or
wrong; or the weighing of evidence (Thayer’s). A more meaningful
English word for this act of Jesus Christ judging the “quick and
the dead” is to adjudicate (to make a formal decision
about a matter).
By means
of adjudication, the Lord Jesus determines who will live under
His Godly rule of the world. The utterly amazing truth is that
He has the ability to bring the entire life of all men in review
before Him, one by one, and instantaneously adjudge them as
worthy, or unworthy, to live during the Kingdom of God. Jesus
Christ, the righteous Judge, will first review the life of every
living human being at the time. Then, He will do the same for
all of the dead, beginning with Adam up to the time of the
adjudication. This is the glorious truth which Christendom
ignores. Since there is no past or future with God, He can, at
any time He chooses, see our entire lives as a present fact. He
will do this when the Kingdom comes with all of its’ concomitant
events.
Many of us
have the wrong view of what “to judge” means in the Bible.
Usually, the first thing that comes to mind is “to condemn.” We
get the idea from the American judicial system where trials are
generally made before a jury, and when a jury reaches a verdict,
the judge issues the sentence. Biblical judges are based upon
the Hebrew concept of a judge. In fact, the Book of Judges
demonstrates what a judge is in the Biblical sense: he sets
things right that are wrong, and then rules.
This fits the Hebrew word, shaphat; to judge, to govern,
to rule, to reason. It is closely associated with the Hebrew
word, diyn, which also relates to “judge.” It’s
translated “judgment” in Daniel 4:37:
“Now I
Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven,
all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment (diyn):
and those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (Daniel
4:37).
“Judgment”
translated from diyn, according A. E. Knoch and others,
is best understood as “adjudicated.” Daniel 4:37 could be
comprehend as; “…and His ways adjudicated,” which is a much
broader and wider thought than just “judgment.” “His ways
judgment” doesn’t really make sense. “Adjudicate” is to
“adjudge” which means “to make a formal decision after
considering the matter.” So, Daniel 4:37 could be understood as:
“Now
I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven,
all whose works are truth, and his ways
are adjudicated
(diyn): and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
God’s
future “judgments” are really His adjudications when He corrects
all of the wrongs of the world by making things right—and then
rules. The word “judge” in 2 Timothy 4:1 is “krino,”
meaning to decide (mentally or judicially), hence to adjudicate;
“to pick out, select, to choose, to determine, decree, to
pronounce an opinion concerning right or wrong, based on
weighing the evidence; to rule or govern” (Thayer’s).
The true significance of the word,
judge, in both the Old, as well as, the New Testament, is
set right what is wrong—and then rule.
This would be the act of adjudicating.
A
close observation of 2 Timothy 4:1 discloses that Christ doesn’t
raise the dead and then adjudicate them as He will do at the
Great White Throne Judgment. Therefore, the “Kingdom Judgment”
will not fit into Revelation 20:11-15. Neither is there a fit in
I Thessalonians 4:14-18. As far as the dead are concerned He
only considers those who “are asleep in Jesus;” not all of the
dead, small and great. The “Kingdom Judgment” can not find a
place of realization in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
because, here, resurrections are accomplished in “the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet”—no consideration is to be given
to those who were not raised at the appearing and kingdom
because they are those who will not live again until the
thousand years has expired (Revelation 20:5). The resurrected
ones of 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 are to be the martyrs of the
Tribulation period.
THE INAUGURATION OF THE
KINGDOM
On January
20th every four years, a president-elect of the
United States takes the oath of office and this begins his term
of office. As the coronation is the beginning of the reign of a
king, so is the Epiphaneia the beginning of the Reign of
Jesus Christ in the earth. This is the inauguration of our Lord
Jesus Christ as King of kings, and so begins the long awaited
Kingdom in which He governs from Heaven.
The
“perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1) during the “last days” of the
Mystery end when, suddenly, Jesus Christ intervenes in the
affairs of the world and establishes His rule and reign. His
intervention in the Greek language is an “epiphaneia.”
The Greek speaking world used the word when they believed the
gods suddenly intervened in the world on their behalf. When
Christ intervenes, it is on behalf of mankind, and is truly an
Epiphaneia. His intervention ushers in the “restitution
of all things” (Acts 3:21), and the establishment of His
Government in the earth, thus, suddenly and dramatically ending
the “perilous times.”
The way
Biblical truth unfolds the words epiphaneia and
basileia, are intimately bound together. When the word,
“appearing” (epiphaneia), occurs one should connect it
with “kingdom” (basileia). “Epiphaneia” is Strong’s
Number 2015.
“I
charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing and his
kingdom;” (2 Timothy
4:1)
“Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to
me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing [and
kingdom]” (2 Timothy 4:8)
“Looking
for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing [and
kingdom] of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”
(Titus 2:13)
“That
thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the
appearing [and kingdom] of our Lord Jesus
Christ:” (1 Timothy 6:14)
It is as
if the time arrives in the “last days” of this dispensation when
the world appears that it cannot survive the “perilous times”
which has engulfed the world systems, that our Lord Jesus Christ
makes a miraculous intervention into world affairs—thus saving
the world from what would seem to be virtual annihilation. This
intervention will be His Epiphaneia and His Kingdom.
Thus, Christ will exercise His office as Savior of the World (1
John 4:14). Therefore, believers …
“Preach
the word [about the Appearing and Kingdom]; be
instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2).
We are to
do this even if no one listens or responds. If we do, then we
have discharged our duty—the Lord Jesus Christ is responsible
for the results. The consequences are His.
“For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,
having itching ears;” (2 Timothy 4:3).
Tom
L. Ballinger
|