The Eschaton: Sending the Spirit and Giving the Word

Not only is the sending of the Holy Spirit a “last days” event; the giving of the inspired Word is likewise an intricate part of the God’s design for the “last days.” By God’s design, the Holy Spirit would not guide (odhghsei, hodagasei) the Church into all truth unilaterally, John 16:13, but would direct the Church through the written Word. No substantive distinction should be made between the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the word inspired by the Spirit, and the glorification of the Son by the Spirit, “And he shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you,” John 16:14.

Both the Word and Spirit comprise the “already” epoch of the “last days” and as such are precursors to the final consummation of the “last days” which are “not yet.” Because the “last days” cannot be bifurcated or splintered into separate epochs of time based on the sole, final and fullest revelation of the Father in the Son, the Word and Spirit already serve to glorify the Son in these monolithic last days and will continue to so until eschatological consummation in the yet coming eternal state.

Following the “already…not yet” paradigm, inspired Scripture “already” represents a glimmer of the glory of the eternal state throughout history in the Church. There is no future “glorification” of the Word of God, in that the Scriptures evidence the marks of divinity, and are the words of God. After Christ ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit was imparted to the Church at Pentecost, but the Spirit was not left to regenerate and sanctify the Church alone. The Holy Spirit was the active agent and initiator of the Apostolic message in the dictating of the holy scripture, 2 Peter 1:20-21. Both the Word, the image of the Spirit, and the Spirit, the Teacher of the Word in concert would continue the redemptive work began by Jesus Christ in the Church. What Christ did alone as the Living Word teaching and preaching the spoken word, the Spirit and written Word would accomplish in his absence. The inauguration of Christ’s Kingdom authority continues today through the Word and Spirit working in the lives of the redeemed. The future trajectory of the Word and Spirit is to magnify the Son, bringing redemptive history to eschatological consummation, Isa. 59:21.

Since the late 19^th c. the modern Church’s evaluation of Scripture has been that of an ancient document disconnected from its given eschatological purpose. Scripture has been perceived and treated not as an “last days” image of the Holy Spirit but as a document restrained by the entropy of passing time. According to current thinking, not only can the Scripture not be eschatologically oriented, but it is also not capable of escaping the ravages of the first century. Scholars speak of the initial text rather than the original text resigning themselves to the impossibility of reconstructing the autograph. The comparison between an eschatologically oriented text and the notion of an initial text illustrates how defunct modern scholarship has become. Its century-long feckless endeavors have resulted in the need to move the goal posts to achieve some semblance of credibility. But how credible is a disciple that by its own acknowledgment is incapable of accomplishing anything other than a fluid, scholarly anomaly. The futility of modern textual labors resides in the academy’s unwillingness to see the Scripture for what it truly is – God’s Word – and, until that paradigmatic transition occurs, all that can be expected is a misappropriation of erudite minds in the phenomenal search for the unattainable.

Scripture as the “already” precursor to the eternal state stands as the historic expression of Christ’s consummative authority as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Scripture cannot be made capable of entering the last days of the eternal state by means of some external impetus simply because it was given to be the “last days” image of the Spirit. Scripture was, from the moment of its immediate inspiration, ontologically one with the nature of the eternal state and remain so to the consummation of redemptive history because it is the word of the sovereign, eternal, King, Jesus Christ. To tamper with Scripture is therefore to attempt the usurpation of Christ’s final authority in the eternal state where he reigns supreme. Every attempt by man to add, subtract, or modify the word of God is to corrupt, and therefore disqualify the text of Scripture as an exemplar of the eternal state by asserting some notion of anthropological autonomy over the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This usurpation, then, is not a mere scholarly venture but is a trespass against the King, carrying with it the everlasting penalties described within its pages. And while the attempt to replace Christ’s Kingship with surrogates has always been in vogue among prideful men, the word of God has from its inspiration remained the immutable, pure word of the King, historically reflecting and pointing to the eternal state where Christ will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The keeping of this immutable, pure Word, while seen through various historic venues, can only be secured by the inscrutable oversight of God.