Will the Chicken Little cries of crisis obsessed media outlets drive a Christian to the Scriptures to learn about how the world will actually come to an end, or cause him to forget that according to Scripture neither “climate change” nor a “deadly” virus will make humanity go extinct?
Will the infringement of a Christian’s God-given rights inspire him to intellectually, spiritually, and politically fight against his tyrannical rulers, or give him justification for believing the lie that creation and man’s participation in and experiences of it are devoid of lasting value and, therefore, not worthy of defending?
Sadly, over the past two years many Christians have answered these questions in a way that has more in common with Buddhism than it does with anything remotely hinted at in the Bible. For many, a kind of nihilism specific to Christians has replaced biblical axiology.1 The specific kind of belief I’m referring is what I’ve called evangelical nihilism. It is the false belief that the present age has either no value whatsoever in light of the age to come, or only has instrumental value toward achieving the higher goal of apotheosis2 and the beatific vision3 in light of the age to come.
Evangelical nihilism has the effect of divorcing our spiritual duties from the natural duties which God in the beginning gave us to perform for the duration of our earthly lives, and for which he still holds us accountable. It not only does not have a basis in the Scriptures, but contradicts their clear teaching on creation, man, the unity of the Old and New Testaments, and Jesus Christ himself.
Between the Old and New Testament Saints: Christ the Reality
The last time I preached, I emphasized the point that, according to the apostle Paul,4 Old Testament saints and Christians have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.5 Whereas the Old Testament saints typologically anticipated Jesus’ incarnation and redemptive work by their righteous thoughts, words, and deeds, however, Christians testify to the fulfilled reality of the incarnation and completed work of Christ, as the Spirit conforms — in our thoughts, words, and deeds — us to his image.
This necessarily implies that when OT saints righteously opposed tyrannical kings and defied governmental orders that infringed upon their right and duty to worship God, they were anticipating Christ’s person and work. They were heavenly minded, with their feet firmly planted on the earth, and their actions showed the unity of both realities. For them, the distinction between the present age and the promised age to come was not justification for becoming a practical nihilist.
Scripture tell us:
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.6
Note the paradoxical relationship here: The Old Testament saints demonstrated that they were strangers and exiles on the earth by their actions in the present age. The Holy Spirit makes this clear when he says that they
…through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.7
They did these things not in spite of the fact that they believed in the perfected age to come, but because they believed they were the recipients of that city. Yet in the name of piety, many today invert this relationship, thinking that heavenly mindedness is equivalent to psychological, emotional, and spiritual detachment from the good and evil comprising the historical fabric of this present age. Clearly, that is not the teaching of Scripture.
Lest the reader misunderstand, the point here is not that Christians will conquer the world for Christ if they truly have faith. Rather, the point is that it is not merely those who suffer for Christ who are, thereby, exhibiting Christlikeness. The kingdom conquering saints, as well as the suffering and imprisoned saints, were both shadowing forth the person and work of Christ. And the same is true of Christians today. We demonstrate that this world is not our home precisely by doing what these saints also did.
Moreover, in doing so we testify to the truth of the hypostatic union, in which we are taught that
…in the one person of Christ are perfectly united the divine nature and a human nature, and that this union is without confusion, mixture, separation, or division, each nature retaining its own attributes…Christ is one person with two natures.8
We have always believed that Christ is God, as well as the ideal man after into whose image we are being formed.
And here is what Scripture teaches about the God-Man —
While Jesus knew that his friend would betray him, he still enjoyed the company of Judas, and was deeply saddened by Juda’s betrayal.9
While Jesus knew that Lazarus would rise from the dead, but he nonetheless wept at his friend’s grave.10
Conversely, although Jesus knew Lazarus would die again after being raised, he still raised Lazarus from the dead.
While Jesus knew that man’s most important need was righteousness, he still provided others with food and temporal health.
Likewise, although Jesus knew that those whom he fed would turn away from him, he still fed them.11
Now if it is only the age to come that really matters, then why did the Son of God, who is fully God and full man, do these things? Why did he treat every moment and event and experience of this age as if they had intrinsic, as well as instrumental value?
Because they do.
We Are Not in The Dark
Scripture explicitly gives us a portion of the history of Jesus that is sufficient and necessary to bring us to saving faith. There are moments of Christ’s earthly life, however, that are not mentioned. This has led various unbelievers to argue that this somehow implies that Jesus’ teaching is incomplete, that the Son of God may have traveled to other places in the world teaching other doctrines that have been lost to history forever.12
Yet while Scripture may not tell us that Jesus did x, y, or z in the 18 year span between his time in the Temple and the beginning of his teaching ministry, we know that the Logos did not change his mind when he became flesh. In the beginning, the Word of God declared all of his creation to be “very good;”13 his coming in to the world to save sinners, judge his enemies, and restore and transform creation only served to confirm those initial declarations.14
What is The End of the Matter?
Ecclesiastes is a helpful corrective to the evangelical nihilism that exists among some today. This is because it teaches us that “there is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This…is from the hand of God…”15 It also tells us clearly that
God has made everything beautiful in its time […] that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.16
Solomon, of course, warns men about the judgment. However, he also states very clearly that it is
…good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.17
To be sure, Solomon warns men of the coming judgment.18 However, he does so while also acknowledging the intrinsic value of things in the present age, some of which will not exist in the age to come (e.g. marriage).19 In fact, it precisely the reality of the judgment to come that serves to reinforce that everything in this present age is important.
Solomon, like the Wisdom made Flesh that he typologically anticipated, was not an evangelical nihilist. And if we, like Solomon, are going to testify to the reality of the incarnation and finished work of Christ by our thoughts and words and deeds, we must reject evangelical nihilism.
-h.
“Axiology is the study of values and how those values come about in a society. Axiology seeks to understand the nature of values and value judgments.” (Source)
See Rom 8:29-30.
See Diaz, Hiram, Studies in Mark Pt. 33, Port Cities Reformed Baptist Church, https://portcitiesreformed.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Studies-in-Mark-Pt-33.mp3; You can also download the PDF manuscript here.
Heb 11:13-16.
Heb 11:33-34.
“The Chalcedonian Solutuon,” Ligonier Ministries, June 29, 2018, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/chalcedonian-solution.
Speaking prophetically of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, David in Ps 41:9 states —
Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
(emphasis added)
See John 11:32-26.
See John 6:22-66.
For instance, see Davids, Paul. “Jesus' Lost Years May Finally Have Been Found,” Huffington Post, April 26, 2009, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jesus-lost-yearsmay-fina_b_179513.
Gen 1:31a.
This is, in fact, a point that the fathers made against the Gnostics in writings like Irenaeus’ Against Heresies and Athanasius’ Against the Heathen.
Ecc 2:24-25.
Ecc 3:9-13.
Ecc 9:7-10.
Ecc 12:13-14 —
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
See Matt 22:30.