In addition to devoting themselves to fellowship, sharing, and prayer, the early church was devoted to hearing and understanding “The Apostle’s Teaching.” And this was the subject of the last few blogs, as we considered the historical and cultural setting in which the early church grew starting in Jerusalem, and then throughout the Roman Empire.
We saw that in order to understand and properly interpret their teachings in the New Testament, we needed to pay attention to the fact that they were writing during the Period of Covenantal Transition, and as they wrote, they were writing to people who lived in the first century, and by God’s grace, their documents have been preserved for us to read and make appropriate theological and practical application in our lives today. We called this Audience Relevance. We also saw that statements of the authors regarding “time” are important for us to consider, specifically, that “soon” or “near” for them does not mean “soon” or “near” for us today. If we do so, we are essentially making any references to time meaningless.
But some believe that there is a way to get around this issue by referring to the commonly used “bail out” verse that appears to solve all of those pesky timing problems. Here is the verse:
“With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet 3:8).
When the Apostle Peter penned these words, his intention was to help his readers understand God’s relationship to time. This passage simply states that God, the Creator of time, is not bound by time. Therefore, it is suggested, that God always intended for the recipients of the New Testament documents to look at time, not from man’s perspective, but from God’s. But those who suggest such an explanation fail to realize that the Scriptures were not written for God, but for human beings who live in a world in which time is very important. After all, we are exhorted to “number our days” (Ps 90:12) and to “make the most of our time” (Eph 5:16). Notice that we are to number “our” days and make the most of “our” time, that is, the time that God has given us here on planet earth.
Indeed, whenever you and I read the New Testament and come across the words, “soon,” “near,” or “at hand,” let’s remember that the author was writing from his own perspective, that is, from the perspective of first-century human beings in which time was very significant. The authors were aware of the timeframe of the period of Covenantal Transition, and that timeframe was within Jesus’ own generation, just as He told His disciples on the Mount of Olives. And that timeframe was between AD 30-70, a period of 40 years, commonly understood to be a “generation.” The authors of the New Testament fully intended for their audience to understand that “soon,” “near,” and “at hand” meant that their expectations would be fulfilled within this time period. After all, the writer of Hebrews in AD 64 knew for certain that the passing of the Old Covenant would happen “soon,” and indeed it did, right on schedule.
And so, how are we to understand these timing passages? What are the author’s telling us? Simply, they were not referring to some “end of the world” scenario, but to the “end of the Old Covenant” (or we might say, the “world” of the Old Covenant) which the writer of Hebrews said was “growing old and about ready to disappear” (Heb 8:13). Furthermore, in the very first verse of the Book of Hebrews, the author tells us that “in these last days God has spoken to us in His Son…” (Heb 1:2). What was that? Once again, the author was not talking about the “last days of planet earth,” but the “last days” of the Old Covenant. This is confirmed by the fact that the author referred to “these” last days, and “these” last days are not “our” last days! The “last days” were the days in which they were living. Furthermore, “these” last days” would mark the “end of the age,” because the author was referring to the “last days” of the Old Covenant age,” not the last days of another age, or even the last days of planet earth!
So friends, let’s be faithful students of God’s Word and not manipulate the text in an attempt to make it mean what we think it should mean. Just as I was taught many years ago in seminary, students of the Bible are supposed to interpret Scripture not by eisegesis (reading our preconceived notions “into” the text), but exegesis (extracting truth “out of” the text). Whether you have been to seminary or not, I pray that you will be faithful and thoughtful students of God’s Word. And as you read the New Testament, always pay attention to the fact that their documents were written during the Period of Covenantal Transition, and that Audience Relevance, with particular attention to those “timing” passages, is a critical component of our study of God’s Word.
Blessings to all. We will return to our study in the Book of Acts next week.
