Dale Partridge - Jeff Durbin & Dale Partridge Define Jesus Christ

00:00:00.000 What would you say to somebody who claims themselves to be a Christian, a follower of Christ,

00:00:05.300 would maybe even say these words like King of Kings, Lord of Lords, but actually, you know,

00:00:10.920 is against the idea of Christianity influencing the government or Christianity having some sort

00:00:17.820 of interplay in the culture at an influential level that would actually change the way that

00:00:23.120 the culture views authority. Yeah, I would say to that person, you have a misunderstanding of

00:00:31.300 the scope of the gospel. And typically, what we understand the gospel to mean today is one aspect

00:00:38.440 of the gospel, and that's reconciliation and peace with God through faith in Christ. We're talking

00:00:43.400 about things like the atonement itself, we're talking about the imputation of righteousness,

00:00:47.700 God forgiving our sins, because of what's accomplished at the cross. So in other words,

00:00:52.080 what we understand the gospel to mean today popularly in evangelicalism is this personal

00:00:58.980 intimate relationship with Jesus. That's really it. Is that, you know, Jesus died for you and

00:01:04.600 rose again so that you can have a personal romance with him. Now I'm saying that to make sure that

00:01:08.720 it's very clear. Like we're not saying something else. We're, we're, we're, we're dumbing down

00:01:12.920 the gospel itself to this personal intimate relationship with Jesus, which by the way is

00:01:17.900 true. I am saved by him. I am known by him. I'm loved by him. My name was on his hands. He

00:01:24.580 understands my sins. He forgave me my sins. It's finished. It's very personal. My name's in the

00:01:30.880 book of life. That is a personal name. It's mine. But that's not all it is. Exactly. So I would say

00:01:35.500 that it's sort of a taking the gospel itself and squishing it down to one concept, justification

00:01:43.320 by faith. And really, what you see Jesus teaching in, say, just the gospel according to Matthew,

00:01:49.160 just read the first five chapters, and you'll see that Jesus very clearly understood, and it's very

00:01:54.680 clearly being taught there in Matthew, that he has the royal right to the throne. That's why his

00:01:59.180 genealogy is there, because the king of the world, who was going to have dominion over the entire

00:02:04.120 earth, and the knowledge of God was going to cover the earth like the waters cover the sea, and all

00:02:07.500 the nations were going to obey him. Matthew has to show you that he has a right to that throne.

00:02:11.460 So he gives you Jesus' genealogy, I think, through his adopted father, Joseph, the royal right to the throne.

00:02:17.520 Luke is Mary's, clearly.

00:02:19.360 And so he has a physical right to that throne, and he has the royal right via adoption through Joseph's lineage. 0.77

00:02:24.540 That's just an excursion.

00:02:26.400 But when you read Matthew chapter 3, you see John the Baptist, the first thing that he's preaching when he comes in.

00:02:31.280 He's saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, the rule of God in the world is at hand. 1.00

00:02:36.580 Now, it's important because that's what the Jews were expecting.

00:02:38.700 they were expecting a kingdom that would bring justice and righteousness and salvation

00:02:43.140 to all the nations every tribe tongue people and nation so it's good news to them when john the

00:02:48.820 baptist says the kingdom of heaven is at hand they were anticipating this ruler uh this messiah to

00:02:54.680 come and bring salvation and justice righteousness and the law of god to the nations so it's good

00:03:02.520 news to them so when jesus goes into the wilderness defeat satan the temptation the first thing that

00:03:07.440 he's preaching when he comes out of that temptation is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

00:03:12.000 and it says that he's going about preaching the here it is gospel of the kingdom so evangelicals

00:03:17.840 today have squished down the gospel to this one concept of justification and they've missed the

00:03:22.580 good news of the kingdom so when someone says well i'm against the whole idea of like christ

00:03:27.060 ruling and reigning over every single nation i would say well you don't understand why the rule

00:03:30.800 of christ is good news then so in other words you don't have any good news of his kingdom

00:03:34.460 You have good news of reconciliation and peace with God through faith, but you don't know what makes the kingdom, the rule of the Messiah, such good news for the world.

00:03:44.380 And it's good news for the world because, and this is a problem, you know, we talked today about so many evangelical pastors that will make claims or at least teach theologically in line with something like what Andy Stanley teaches where you sort of have to unhitch the Old Testament from the New Testament.

00:04:02.380 You know, the Old Testament, that's just that law stuff.

00:04:04.600 That's that mean old God from the Old Testament.

00:04:06.480 And what we have in Jesus is a sweet God who just loves us and just wants to, you know.

00:04:10.920 Personal relationship with Jesus.

00:04:12.080 And that's the focus.

00:04:13.160 Right.

00:04:13.420 And whereas the Old Testament, same God.

00:04:15.740 And by the way, same gospel being proclaimed.

00:04:18.440 And that revelation of God is the same God.

00:04:21.680 It's his word.

00:04:22.180 That revelation of God told the story of a Messiah who would bring the nations to God.

00:04:27.020 He would bring salvation and reconciliation and peace with God.

00:04:29.580 but he would also rule over the nations and all the nations were going to come to obey him. It's

00:04:34.020 one of the things you ask the question about Christian nationalism and like Christian nations,

00:04:39.320 the nations obeying Jesus. Yeah, it's in the first book of the Bible. I mean, not only do you have

00:04:43.680 the promises to Abraham of him having offspring like the stars and like the sand of the sea,

00:04:48.240 that's a very successful kingdom in my book. That's a lot of people. But you also see that

00:04:52.820 those movements towards this understanding of the messianic king that actually rules the nations

00:04:57.760 like Genesis 49, 10, this one who is coming, to him shall be the obedience of the nations.

00:05:03.780 The obedience of the nations sounds like Christian nationalism, right?

00:05:09.060 Yeah. I mean, when we look at that, just that basic term, I think about what you're saying

00:05:12.740 here, Jeff, you have me so many things that are firing off of my brain, but you know,

00:05:16.860 we often think that Christianity is some fairly new religion when reality, we need to think about

00:05:21.860 it as the fulfillment of a very old, and I would say that very first and true religion.

00:05:25.920 And so we need to recognize, obviously, the systematic nature of the Old Testament, the New Testament, how that the Jews were looking forward to a king, yet we are not looking to Christ as king as we should. 0.53

00:05:38.080 But as Savior. 0.61

00:05:39.180 But as Savior only, yes.

00:05:40.400 Savior only.

00:05:41.060 Yeah, so we look at him as Savior, we don't look at him as king, we don't look at him as Lord.

00:05:44.520 And I know, actually, the emphasis in Scripture, I think, as Savior is used very few times in comparison to the term Lord in the Greek is used many, many, many times.

00:05:53.380 It's actually the primary description of Jesus' character.

00:05:55.920 What he does is savior, but who he is is Lord.

00:05:58.920 And I think that focus has been obviously missed,

00:06:00.900 but I think about like a backyard.

00:06:02.240 I used to live in Oregon and we'd have this backyard

00:06:04.820 where it was grass and then it was the trees

00:06:07.640 and it was the foothills and then it was the mountains.

00:06:10.700 And I think a lot of Christians today 0.87

00:06:12.380 are focused on the backyard,

00:06:14.260 which is that personal relationship with Jesus,

00:06:15.900 the gospel of Jesus Christ, the thing that I'm saved,

00:06:19.040 justification by faith alone and Christ alone.

00:06:20.920 And we get that.

00:06:21.920 And that's what even a lot of the reform camp

00:06:23.580 focuses so heavily on.

00:06:25.240 but we miss the kingdom and all the other elements

00:06:29.080 that come with that gospel.

00:06:30.400 And as soon as we bring those elements up,

00:06:32.140 people are shocked, like what,

00:06:33.360 is this a different version of Christianity?

00:06:34.960 It's like, no, this is actually

00:06:36.320 the historic version of Christianity.

00:06:38.320 And it's why people were building,

00:06:40.340 spending 300 years building buildings

00:06:42.460 and establishing governments and establishing rule

00:06:45.080 and allowing Christ in every part of their life.

00:06:48.100 And why we are having such a different view

00:06:50.500 where we're building churches inside of strip malls.

00:06:52.780 And we're just, what I'm leading into

00:06:55.040 is this element of eschatology, long-term view,

00:06:58.880 looking at Christ as King, the last things.

00:07:02.000 How should we be looking at this whole discussion

00:07:06.520 of Christian nationalism as it relates to eschatology?

00:07:09.440 And I know that we're both post-millennial,

00:07:11.660 we both have that view.

00:07:14.260 For someone that's coming into this world

00:07:16.280 that's got a pre-millennial view or a dispensational view,

00:07:19.680 they might not even know what the amillennial spot is.

00:07:22.080 I don't want you to spend a lot of time

00:07:23.200 describing all the positions.

00:07:24.840 but explain the post-millennial position

00:07:27.540 and how it contrasts to the pessimistic view

00:07:31.160 that's generally held by most people in the church.

00:07:33.660 Yeah, well, it goes back to the question

00:07:36.400 of the Old Testament.

00:07:38.240 What does it say about this coming Messiah, this King?

00:07:42.040 It's important that we recognize that the New Testament,

00:07:46.100 the New Covenant, New Testament documents

00:07:47.900 are not a novelty.

00:07:49.280 It's not something that dropped into the first century

00:07:51.880 as something that would totally surprise them.

00:07:54.040 I mean, Jesus actually chastises people

00:07:56.360 for not believing what the scriptures had said about him.

00:07:59.560 Like after he's raised again from the dead,

00:08:01.260 he's on the road to Emmaus.

00:08:02.280 He's got some very confused disciples.

00:08:03.880 They're like, oh, we thought he was the Messiah

00:08:05.060 and everything else.

00:08:06.080 Well, Jesus calls them slow of heart

00:08:07.600 to believe all the prophets had spoken, right?

00:08:09.820 And so he challenges them

00:08:11.000 that you were supposed to know this.

00:08:12.760 The prophets foretold this.

00:08:14.260 The message of Jesus is not a novelty.

00:08:17.500 This is really, of course, Old Covenant, New Covenant,

00:08:20.100 Old Testament, New Testament,

00:08:21.140 but it's really one revelation from God

00:08:23.180 of what he's going to do in redemptive history. So you can't divorce one from the other. And it's

00:08:28.760 important to make the comment about this personal relationship with Jesus. The person who sort of

00:08:34.940 takes the gospel and squeezes it down to justification of this personal relationship

00:08:39.620 with Jesus, we're not saying that it's either or. It's the gospel of a kingdom or it's what you got.

00:08:44.600 We're saying that you are missing the glory of it because it's not just personal salvation for you.

00:08:51.000 it was salvation for the nations yes you're missing that what we're saying is that it wasn't

00:08:56.480 just this you know private relationship with jesus for a few people here or there it was that

00:09:01.180 jesus came to win the world to god the knowledge of god covering the earth like the waters cover

00:09:06.520 the sea is all-encompassing uh you know psalm 22 where it gives us that vision of the passion of

00:09:12.280 the messiah down to details like they pierce his hands and his feet well how does that psalm end

00:09:16.940 and this is just three, this is peppered throughout the entire Old Testament. You've got

00:09:20.700 all these different portraits of the Messiah, you know, this ruling reigning king, this one who

00:09:25.440 brings justice to the nations, this holy one, this righteous one, this one who won't grow faint or

00:09:30.780 weary until he's established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law, Isaiah 42.

00:09:35.700 It says in this passion psalm, it says like, here's what he's going to do. Clearly he's going to die.

00:09:41.120 But then it says as a result, as a result of this passion, it says all the families of the earth

00:09:46.400 will return to worship Yahweh. Well, that sounds like Christian nationalism to me. Yes. All the 0.93

00:09:50.440 families of the earth, all the nations coming to worship Yahweh. That's the scope. So it's bigger 0.96

00:09:56.180 than my private salvation. It's the world. And so when you look at the Old Testament, there's no

00:10:01.760 getting around the fact that the kingdom of the Messiah is going to be all encompassing.

00:10:08.740 The kingdom of the Messiah was going to be here on this earth with real benefits to the world.

00:10:14.020 and the reason I'm saying that is not to go into all the details of the differences between

00:10:18.180 amel and pre-mill. It's not spiritualized. It's not just the spiritualized thing. It's not just

00:10:23.080 out there somewhere in this gassy experience or vaporous existence out there. We got to get to

00:10:28.580 that spiritual realm out there, whereas God's not concerned with the physical. You can't get away

00:10:32.680 from the fact the pre-millennialists have it right. They're right when they say, no, I'm sorry 0.99

00:10:39.700 that this rule of the Messiah is going to impact this world. It's physically going to impact this

00:10:43.980 actual world. They're right about that. Yes. They're wrong in the timing. Yeah. But the

00:10:48.980 amillennialists who will essentially spiritualize the whole thing away out there and really just 0.97

00:10:53.240 essentially operate on the basis of like God's not really concerned with this physical world

00:10:57.120 and the transformation of institutions in the world. The kingdom's going to come after this

00:11:00.560 world. It's like out there somewhere. Well, they're right in that it is a spiritual reign

00:11:06.120 that began in the first century. Postmill and Amill all agree on that because that's what

00:11:09.720 Jesus and the apostles taught very clearly. But they're wrong in terms of they're missing what

00:11:15.660 the Old Testament and New Testament clearly teach about the reign of Christ and the impact it

00:11:21.100 actually has in this world. So as an example, I think it's most important not to say, you know,

00:11:26.280 Jeff, can you articulate this in a way that inspires me so I'll follow? I don't want that.

00:11:32.280 What does the scripture say? Genesis 49.10, one of the first promises where you begin to get a

00:11:37.000 a vision of who this messianic king is it says that uh to him should be the obedience of the

00:11:42.040 nations now i often point this out because i think it is powerful that when the apostle paul

00:11:47.960 gives a systematic explanation of the gospel in romans that's where we love to go to explain

00:11:53.720 justification but that's only part of his discussion it's a very important part it's

00:11:58.280 everything we need to die for it but romans 1 he opens up his letter to the church in rome

00:12:04.120 by saying about christ that the goal is to bring about the obedience of faith among the nations

00:12:10.520 for the sake of his name what's that sound like yeah that sounds like genesis 49 10 all the

00:12:15.560 nations obeying this one and paul opens his explanation of the gospel with those very words

00:12:21.000 all the nations obeying jesus and he ends romans 1 romans 16 he ends with that he ends with to bring

00:12:29.960 bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations for the sake of his name.

00:12:34.560 So when someone says, you really want all the nations to obey Jesus? I'm sorry, that's Christianity. 1.00

Dale Partridge - February 10, 2023

Jeff Durbin & Dale Partridge Define Jesus Christ

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