A great discussion with Paul Henebury and Peter Goeman. Some dispies have their blinkers on regarding this topic. Great two see two of them not afraid to look at this biblically.
We know that Spurgeon was an Historic Premillennialist and not a pretribulationist. He also spoke of signs associated with Christ's Second Advent. Spurgeon can be difficult to understand because he was also an historicist and held to Covenant Theology. These things affected his eschatology, though he didn't delve into it in any real detail.
For more on this, check out Michael Svigel's Go Deeper Excurses.
We do know that Spurgeon valued the attitude of imminence. You can search this blog for more. But, not only did he prize it, he also believed that Christ could come at any moment. This can be found in his sermon Looking unto Jesus.
Perhaps to-day, the hour we are assembled, Christ may come—"For of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels in heaven." Christ Jesus may, while I yet speak, appear in the clouds of glory. We have no reason to be guessing at the time of his appearing, he will come as a thief in the night; and whether it shall be at cock-crowing, or broadday, or at midnight, we are not allowed to guess; it is left entirely in the dark, and vain are the prophecies of men, vain your "Apocalyptic Sketches," or ought of that. No man knoweth anything of it, except that it is certain he will come; but when he comes, no spirit in heaven or on earth should pretend to know. Oh! it is my joyous hope, that he may come whilst yet I live. Perhaps there may be some of us here who shall be alive, and remain at the coming of the Son of Man. Oh, glorious hope!
Maranatha!
Dr. Paul Henebury (aka Dr. Reluctant) has a new blog HERE. You'll notice on the right side of my blog that there are currently two versions. The older version will eventually drop away once the feeds stop. I won't remove it unless it ceases to exist..
But the other important news is that Paul's new book "The Words of the Covenant" Volume 2 (New Testament Commentary) is now available. Read about it HERE.
Check out Rev Reads' review...
I want to highlight Michael Svigel's work on the eschatology of the early church fathers. You can find my post on that topic at Zeteo 3:16 HERE. Aside from his book, Dr. Svigel is offering valuable "Deeper Excurses" data free on his website, Fathers on the Future.
One caveat when looking at this material is to understand that the early church fathers embraced forms of Replacement Theology soon after the Apostle John died. So, while some were premillennial, the blurring of Israel and the church affected their eschatology. For more on this, see Larry Pettegrew's "Forsaking Israel," as discussed HERE.
Worth a watch...
...Carl Teichrib continues with the study through his book, The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-Enchantment and is playing The Game of Gods. In the section “Worshiping Man, in chapter four, Carl points out: “For all the talk of rationalism and naturalism and the end of Christianity, Modernity revealed the inescapability of religion. Reject the transcendent God who created the universe, and humanity worships itself. We fashion a ‘God substitute’ formed in the image of what we think is best.” The Apostle Paul points this out in Romans chapter one as well.
Below is a great YouTube discussion on Genesis with Cornelis Van Dam. I highly recommend his book, "In the Beginning: Listening to Genesis 1 and 2."
As an aside, Van Dam has also written, "The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel." See this Amazon Link. I learned of it via Douglas Bookman's chapter (excerpt), "The Urim and Thummim: The Theocracy in Microcosm," in "to seek to do & to teach", essays in honor of Larry Pettegrew.
