Chapter 11: the Second-Level Fulfillment—Kingdom Consummation

Scripture Passages

Daniel 2:31-45
2 Peter 3:8-13
Revelation 20-22

The Final Countdown

We come now to the final chapter in the unfolding drama of the kingdom of glory. God created the universe to be a cosmic temple, a universal kingdom of glory. The covenant of creation was a covenant of works with Adam as the federal head. He was supposed to accomplish the work, but failed. The kingdom of glory was forfeited. But God in his grace made a promise, in spite of man’s failure, to accomplish what Adam failed to achieve. The coming seed would inherit the land. The promise was fulfilled in two stages: a prototypical stage in which the eschatological kingdom of glory was set up in miniature form in the theocracy of Israel in the land of Canaan, and an antitypical stage in which the kingdom was set up by Christ. The first fulfillment was merely a type and shadow; the second fulfillment was the reality and the substance. “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col 2:17). “The law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (Heb 10:1). The second-level fulfillment in Christ unfolds in two phases: the inauguration of the kingdom in the death and resurrection of Christ, and the consummation of the kingdom in the second coming of Christ. When Christ came the first time he accomplished the decisive “one act of righteousness” (Rom 5:18) that merited the kingdom of glory for his people. But the kingdom of glory was not yet manifested in geopolitical theocratic fulness the way it was intended to be manifested. Satan was defeated but not yet destroyed. The wicked still inherit the earth, the righteous still suffer. It will only be at his second coming that the ungodly will be destroyed, like the Canaanites under Joshua, and the theocratic kingdom inheritance granted as a possession to God’s people.

As we come to the consideration of this final wrap-up of the kingdom of glory, we are dealing with issues that are more traditionally thought of as falling under the topic of eschatology. Although eschatology has been our concern from the very outset (as far back as Gen 1:1), we now see how the eschatology that is yet future from our current position in time will unfold. As we do this, we must recognize that there are a variety of views among Bible-believing Christians, particularly in relation to the question of the millennium or 1000-year reign of the saints with Christ mentioned in the last book of the Bible, in Revelation 20:1-6. So at this point, we will address alternative views of the millennium.

There are three main views: premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. The first two views are distinguished using the pre- and post- prefix. The point of that prefix is to fix the timing of the millennial relative to the second coming of Christ. Premillennialism is the view that the second coming occurs before (pre-) the millennium. Postmillennialism is the view that the second coming occurs after (post-) the millennium. The alpha privative (a-) in amillennialism is really a misnomer, for amillennialism does not deny that there is a millennium; rather, it holds that the millennium is identical to the church age between Christ’s first and second comings. Technically, amillennialism is a species of postmillennialism, since amillennialism agrees that the second coming occurs after the millennium. Amillennialism and postmillennialism differ, however, in their understanding of the nature of the millennium. For postmillennialists, the millennium will be a golden age for the church; whereas for amillennialists, the millennium is a time of witness and suffering for the church. Kline is a strong advocate of the amillennial interpretation and a critic of the other two millennial options. Let us look now at his critique of the premillennial and postmillennial views.

Critique of Premillennialism

In 2 Peter 3, Peter speaks of “the day of the Lord,” and it is clear that he is referring to the Parousia or second coming. This is evident because he says it will come “like a thief,” a metaphor used elsewhere in the New Testament for the suddenness of the second coming (Matt 24:43; Luke 12:39; 1 Thess 5:2, 4; Rev 3:3; 16:15). Peter asserts plainly that the day of Christ’s coming is the day “when” (v 10) or “because of which” (v 12) the physical creation will experience dissolution/purification. This rules out premillennialism which states that there will be 1000 years separating the Parousia and the cosmic dissolution.

The millennium—the 1000 year reign of the saints with Christ—does not begin after Christ’s return but rather ends upon his return. The millennium of Revelation 20 is coextensive with the church age. We see this when we examine more carefully “the first resurrection” in that passage. Premillennialism says the first resurrection is a bodily resurrection of the saints, but the term “first” in Revelation doesn’t set up a chronological sequence of two events of the same character. Observe the contrast between “new” and “first” in Rev 21:1: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” The “new” creation refers to the eschatological consummation. The “first” creation refers to the present creation prior to the eschatological consummation. This gives us a new insight into the meaning of the term “first” in the phrase “the first resurrection.” The first resurrection, then, must be a “resurrection” that does not belong to the consummation state. What is it then? It is the intermediate state: “I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God …. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Rev 20:4).

There is a paradoxical or ironic contrast between “the first resurrection” and “the second death.” If the first resurrection is a paradoxical way of describing the death of believers, the second death is a paradoxical way of describing the resurrection of unbelievers, that is, they are raised bodily in order to experience eschatological death. Kline put the contrast together using the following table:

	Saints	Wicked
Bodily death	“First Resurrection”	[First Death]
Bodily resurrection	[Second Resurrection]	“Second Death”

The items in brackets are not explicitly mentioned in Rev 20 and are not the focus. The items in quote marks are the ones explicitly mentioned. In fact, “the first resurrection” and “the second death” are explicitly contrasted in Rev 20:6: “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.” The paradoxical nature of the contrast is highlighted. The bodily resurrection of the wicked is not blessed but is really a “death,” and the bodily death of the saints is not accursed but viewed with the eyes of faith is a “resurrection.”

Kline’s interpretation of the first resurrection rules out premillennialism because it demonstrates that the millennium—the 1000 year reign of the martyred saints with Christ in heaven—partakes of the present pre-consummation age. The intermediate state of the departed saints does not belong to the consummation phase of eschatology but to the pre-consummation phase, this present time of suffering and waiting. The very fact that it is not endless but temporally limited shows that it doesn’t have to do with the consummation of all things, which is permanent and eternal. The intermediate state is just that, intermediate. It is not the final state. The millennial reign of the departed saints in heaven will come to an end when Christ returns and ushers in the consummation phase of eschatology. Revelation 20:1-6, then, does not teach that Christ’s coming is premillennial, that is that Christ returns before (pre-) the millennium.

Critique of Postmillennialism

Daniel 2 clearly teaches that the saints will not inherit the kingdom until the world power is utterly destroyed, which, everyone admits, will not occur until Christ returns. Daniel 2 tell us about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of an image with a head of gold (Babylon), chest and arms of silver (Medo-Persia), a belly and thighs of bronze (Greece), and legs of iron and feet of iron and clay (Rome). The unity of all these world powers may not be evident to the human eye, since they successively attacked and destroyed one another. But in the divine perspective they are really one. Together they constitute one idolatrous image of man as he attempts in Babel-like arrogance to set himself up as God. This entire world power will be destroyed at the coming of Christ, the “stone cut out by no human hand” (Dan 2:34).

Now here’s the key: this stone totally and completely grinds the world power (the image) to dust: “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace” (Dan 2:35 NASB). No trace is left of the image. The world power is not merely incapacitated or suppressed, leaving only a minority that later rears its ugly head. This total destruction of the city of man is then followed by the setting up of the city of God: “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever” (Dan 2:44 NASB).

So, then, the sequence is as follows:

The idolatrous world power has dominion for a time.
The world power is totally annihilated at the coming of Christ.
The eternal kingdom of God is set up forever.

Now it is true that the first coming of Christ resulted in the binding of Satan. Christ triumphed over the angelic powers behind the world power and placed them under his authority (1 Pet 3:22). A significant subjugation of the world power occurred then. By his triumphant resurrection Christ became “the ruler of the kings of the earth” in principle (Rev 1:5). All this is to be acknowledged. But no one would argue that the world power was totally annihilated “without leaving a trace” at Christ’s first advent. For “when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea” (Rev 20:7-8). Clearly, then, Daniel’s vision of a “rock” coming out of heaven to crush the image (Dan 2:34) was not totally fulfilled at the first advent of Christ.

Therefore, the statement that “the rock struck the statue and became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Dan 2:35 NASB) will be fulfilled only at the second coming of Christ. The rock will not become a mountain and fill the earth until Christ totally destroys the kingdoms of this world at his second coming. Only then will the kingdom of this world become “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” (Rev 11:15). Only then will the kingdom which Christ achieved in principle at his first coming be realized in fact in visible, external power and glory. “And he shall reign forever and ever.”

The Second Coming

The second coming of Christ involves a complex set of events that will unfold quickly but not necessarily in an instant. First, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with his angels and “with the clouds of heaven” (Matt 24:30; quoting Dan 7:13). The clouds are not rain clouds but the clouds “of heaven,” that is, the Glory-Cloud. And just as the Glory-Cloud had two effects, judgment on the enemies of Israel and salvation for Israel (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19-20, 24-25, 30-31), so Christ will come in a dual judgment that will have two effects: the judgment of the wicked and the glorification of the saints as they are transformed by the same Glory-Spirit into the glorious image of Christ, himself invested with the Spirit. This twofold effect is described by Paul in these terms: Those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, a destruction that comes from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints” (2 Thess 1:9-10, translation mine).

Second, all mankind, both the living and the dead, both the righteous and the wicked, will be raised to stand before the judgment throne of God. Thus raised to stand before Christ, the final judgment will take place, for both the righteous and the wicked. For the righteous, it will not be a judgment that determines their eschatological destiny, since they have already been given glorified bodies, an act which itself vindicates them and demonstrates that they are saved and already justified. Nevertheless, they will give an account of their service to him and receive reward (not anything physical, but Christ’s “well done” and praise), as well as their vindication before the entire moral universe of the genuineness of their profession of faith in Christ. The wicked, also raised to judgment, but not given glorified bodies, will be judged on the basis of their deeds and will receive the condemning sentence of the just judge.

Third, a fiery judgment that removes the wicked from the earth and purifies the earth of all defilement and sin, and even destroys all the monuments of human culture that had been created by man (both the elect and the non-elect) during the long era of post-Fall common grace. Kline insists that the order of common grace, and all its cultural products and effects, will be terminated in the eschatological judgment.

The New Creation

The new creation will emerge from the ashes of the present creation. At this point we must deal with the issue of continuity and discontinuity between this creation and the new creation. When Peter speaks of the cosmic dissolution in 2 Peter 3:10-12, we must not assume this means total annihilation. Peter piles up verbs of dissolution: the universe will “pass away” (1x), “be dissolved” (3x), “burn” (3x), and “melt” (1x). But note that none of these verbs literally means “annihilate.” When you “dissolve” sugar in your tea, the sugar is still there. Theologically, we must affirm the basic concept that God is not going to let his ultimate purposes for creation be defeated by Adam’s sin. The pattern is: God is the Alpha and the Omega, the Creator of the universe, who is also its Redeemer and Consummator. In addition, in Romans 8:18-25 Paul teaches that this creation will be set free from its bondage to corruption, and will experience glorification. We can appeal to the analogy of the resurrection of the body, which, as Paul teaches, has both continuity and discontinuity with the body that dies (1 Cor 15:37, 42-44, 50-51). God will “make all things new” (Rev 21:5). The veil that currently separates the invisible realm where God dwells with his angels from the visible realm will be removed, and the whole earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the earth. Kline describes this as the “heavenized earth.”

There are many metaphors that the Bible uses to describe the eschatological eternal state, but I want to focus on these three: City-Temple, Sabbath, and Glory-Image. All three go back to the creation account, for the eschatological goal was originally held out to Adam if he had passed the probation.

City-Temple

A key part of this new creation is the emergence of the eschatological temple, the New Jerusalem that is pictured in Revelation as “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2). The Metapolis that was envisioned in the pre-Fall covenant of works is now achieved by means of the program of redemption, first promised in Genesis 3:15, fulfilled when Christ defeated the serpent through his suffering and resurrection and exaltation, and now being applied to all the elect as the gospel is proclaimed throughout the world. The New Jerusalem is redemptive Metapolis. The first Adam sinned and so he did not even get the opportunity to build Megapolis, let alone see it transformed by an eschatological flash into Metapolis. But Christ the second Adam, born of a woman, born under the law, has undertaken to accomplish what Adam failed to accomplish. Like Atlas he bears the cosmic temple-building project on his back and is now building that temple throughout the church age by the calling of the elect. We see only bits and pieces of it now. We enjoy momentary flashes of it, when local congregations of Christ’s people gather on the Lord’s Day and lift their voices together in praise. But that is not the entire church, nor is it the perfect church, nor do we see those who have died in the Lord. But at the end of the age, when the curtain of history falls, the finished temple will be unveiled in its cosmic dimensions. All the elect of all ages, raised triumphant in glorified bodies, will form one body or temple, “the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:23).

Sabbath

On the seventh day of creation God rested. God’s Sabbath rest has been a reality since that time, but now through the work of redemption, all the elect will be ushered into that Sabbath rest. In fact, Hebrews 4:1-11 teaches that God’s Sabbath rest at creation is the eternal, eschatological Sabbath that we enter now by faith and that we will enjoy in its consummated form in the new creation. The Sabbath metaphor points to the reality that heaven will be a time of eternal rest. While we can speculate that we will continue to enjoy creation in all its diversity in the eternal state, yet we must always recognize that such enjoyment and exploration will not have the character of “labor” but will simply be the enjoyment of the eternal rest. All our labors will be ended. There will be no toil, no struggle, no cultural mandate in the new creation. There will be a ceaseless, untoiling enjoyment of God’s eternal rest.

Glory-Image

The glorious reproduction of his own image is the cosmic telos, the thing God is after. He reproduced himself in various images of the Glory-Spirit—the physical cosmos itself, the angels, and the crowning image being man himself, made after the image of God (Gen 1:26). Yet the universe and man as created at the beginning in the image of God had not yet attained to the fulness of that image, for the image contained an eschatological hope of ultimate glorification and physical transformation into the image of the glory of God. This is what God had in view from the beginning. Though seemingly derailed by sin, God will get what he desires. He will manifest through all the unending ages the glory of his eternal triune Being in and through his creatures. The physical cosmos itself will be glorified, and that will be a glorious form of the image of God. But the crowning achievement of God’s glory-replicating work is the bodily glorification of redeemed mankind after the image of the Glory-Spirit, a divine radiance that is like the radiance of the glorified Son of God himself. The redeemed will be transformed into the image of Christ, thereby constituting the ultimate replication of the Glory-Image. Jesus Christ will “transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil 3:21). “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor 3:18). The entire goal of salvation is that we “might be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29). God is “bringing many sons to glory” (Heb 2:10). As the glorious sons of God, made like the image of the eternal Son, we shall forever bring glory to God as we reflect and radiate his image forever and ever. And it will all be because of his grace. Adam threw a span into the machine, and it seemed to come to a screeching halt. But where the first Adam failed, Christ the second Adam succeeded. And so not only will God’s glory be manifested in the recreation of the image of the Glory-Spirit in the new creation, but “in the coming ages he will show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for us (1 Cor 2:9).

Kline References

“The First Resurrection.” Westminster Theological Journal 37 (1975): 366-375.

“The First Resurrection: A Reaffirmation.” Westminster Theological Journal 39 (1976): 110-119.

Both articles above have been reprinted in The Essential Writings of Meredith G. Kline. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2017.

“A Study in the Structure of the Revelation of John.” Unpublished class notes. Philadelphia: Westminster Theology Seminary, 1971.

God, Heaven and Har Magedon.

Discussion Questions

Why is the premillennial interpretation of Rev 20:1-6 incorrect?
How would you critique postmillennialism?
Read Heb 4:1-11. How does this passage teach that God’s Sabbath rest at creation is the same as the eschatological Sabbath?
What is the connection between sonship and image (cp. Gen 5:1-2; Heb 1:1-2)?
How much continuity will there be between this present creation and the new creation