The Glories that should follow

 

Dr. Spargimino - Thank you for your brief but inquiring response - this past weekend Dr. Barry Leventhal visited one of our local fellowships (New Hope Christian Fellowship), and, as you may know, he is of Jewish background and found his Messiah through the preaching of Campus Crusade for Christ with Hal Lindsay while at UCLA--I too frequented a number of those campus gatherings during the time Barry found the Savior.

 

Barry is a most gifted and genuine brother--he is now the Dean of Students and Professor at Southern Evangelical Seminary with Dr. Norman Geisler, one of the finest apologists within our ranks. 

 

I passed some of my impressions (RE:  UNSEALING THE END OF DAYS) to Barry while he was here.  One of them is directly related to the dispensational issues surrounding the Church's "mystery" and of Paul's singular revelation thereof and of how brethren, like Miles Stanford, credit Paul's revelations of the Church's parenthetical exposure during the "Age of Grace." 

 

It is in this respect that I broached the subject of I Peter 1:10-12 wherein it is my present conviction that the OT prophets assuredly forecasted, not only the "sufferings of Christ" but "the glories that would come to you" (i.e., the brethren of the Diaspora (Jewish Christians)). 

 

I raised some of the following possibilities to Barry:

 

(1)    The suffering brethren (i.e., "the sojourners of the Dispersion"  or "Jewish believers in Jesus" as well as, I am confident, Gentile believers in Jesus - I Peter 1:1) were reassured by Peter that their "incorruptible inheritance"  awaited them as their perseverance attested to their faith - "though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials." (I Pet. 1:4-6). 

(2)    The "genuineness of" their "faith" - "though it is tested by fire . . . would be found to praise, honor and GLORY at the revelation of Jesus Christ . . . who having not seen you rejoice with joy inexpressible and FULL OF GLORY." (I Peter 1:7-8) - I highlight GLORY for specific purposes here.

(3)    That the "salvation" spoken of in I Peter 1:5 and 9 was the same salvation which the OT prophets "inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you" (I Peter 1:10).

(4)    That not only did the OT prophets prophesy of this GRACE (and I find it altogether difficult to detract that prophetic insight from the present Age of Grace) and of this very salvation (through Jesus Christ) but they also prophesied the "Age-of-Grace believers" who would (for the "sufferings of Christ" are our supreme example) suffer but that in that "suffering" (and in that identification with Christ in His "sufferings") there would also be "the glories that would follow" or ("the glories that would be").

(5)    Furthermore, such salvation, grace and glories--it is said by Peter--"To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to look into" (I Peter 1:12)--i.e., the OT prophets foresaw the very ministry of the Holy Spirit (it was revealed to them)--and in that revelation these OT prophets ministered even now to the Diaspora (and for that matter--to all believers in Christ).

 

Finally - the "glories" that were prophesied by the OT prophets are, I believe, alluded to by Peter throughout his epistles--namely:

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His GLORY is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.  If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the SPIRIT OF GLORY and of God rests upon you . . . if anyone suffers as a Christian let him not be ashamed, but let him GLORIFY God in this matter" (I Peter 4:12-14, 16).

 

This "glory" is not only revealed at His coming (2nd Advent) but NOW in the suffering of Christians throughout the Church Age.  I do NOT take away the "glories" that shall be manifested in His Millennial Reign on this earth (viz., the latter chapters of Isaiah); however, in the context of these verses--and we must take them within their context--the OT prophets foretold of Christ's sufferings, "this" salvation, this "grace" and of this "glory" in trial and tribulation specifically.  Therefore, I find it increasingly difficult to render these "glories" as apart and separated from the Church Age.  Their predictive specificity is so remarkable that to obfuscate the Church's appearance as part and parcel of these glories (since Christians are clearly in view here relative to such "glories" in the midst of suffering) seems to circumvent the precise insights of the prophets who, under the inspiration of the very "Spirit of Christ," so testified of this very time!

 

Again, I am hard pressed to believe that the revelation of the suffering Church/Christians were not announced by the Hebrew Prophets in their writings--for not only did they foretell of Christ's suffering, but of the SPIRIT OF GLORY that would rest upon those Christians in the very midst of their sufferings on His behalf and that their suffering would, in divine fact, be the very "sufferings of Christ" ("as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings" - I Pet. 4:13 (cf. II Cor. 1:5-7; Phil. 3:10)--i.e., these OT prophets foresaw the "glories" as well!

 

The "Church" is a "revealed mystery" - but the prophets of the OT were NOT silent relative to the Church's experience--just as they were not silent concerning both the "cutting off of Messiah" as well as His "sufferings" among those who would believe on Him--nor, for that matter, the salvation, grace, and glory that would accompany the believers whom they addressed (i.e., "revealed to us") in their declarations.

 

All this to say--I surely do not wish this on-line publication's demise to find itself "filed away" somewhere--your comments (confidential) would be appreciated--and, yes, I am fully aware of the complexity and controversy that such a reading contains--indeed, I am fully confident of its obvious fallibility; however, after years of serving Him, I am convinced that we must come to terms with the "simultaneous dealings" of the Almighty within the context of Daniel's 70th Week of both Israel and the Church and that the "Premillenarian Church" that witnesses to the physicality of His coming, must take a much closer look into what has been branded "progressive dispensationalism" - it is NOT the Trojan Horse it has been made out to be!  In point of fact, it may just be General Patton's Third Army to our rescue from Preterist/Amil./Post-Mil. encirclement. 

 

Again, I deeply respect your writing of this precision text--it was devastatingly accurate in its exposure and true to God's Word. 

 

Bro. Doug