Intertestamental days are here again...

The Drama Of Scripture: Finding Our Place In The Biblical Story
by Craig G. Bartholomew, Michael W. Goheen | ISBN 0801027462


MWS 501 – Post 3

[Yes, the jingle from the Wal-Mart commercials is ringing in my head.]

I have never really studied the intertestamental period, though I have wondered what it would feel like to have lived during that time. I found that B&G’s Interlude gives great insight not only into that span between the Old and New Testaments but also into much of the Evangelical culture I have been immersed in these past few years.

The “already, not yet” reality I have seen fleshed out in the lives of my dispensational brothers and sisters is very much like Intertestamental times. They live as if we are sandwiched in time between A) the life, death and ascension of Christ and all that preceded it, and B) His glorious appearing. Fundamentalists in this camp could also be compared to the nation of Israel, which during this time “seethes with anger, and dreams of one day throwing off the yoke of oppression” (113). While Israel longed to be set free from bondage to the Roman Empire, dispensationalists long to be set free from the confines of this physical, evil world.

Many in the Jewish nation longed for a messiah. The intertestamental time is a time of groaning and aching. But when the Messiah came, they did not recognize or receive Him. They are still waiting, longing and hoping for their messiah to come. Jewish people are still stuck in Intertestamental times. In my own life, I realize that I have missed the Messiah. I have missed the setting up of His Kingdom on earth. I have spent years waiting for His return, stuck in this season that isn’t even worth its own book! But the Kingdom of God is here among us. The Messiah has come. Yes, there is so much more to look forward to as Christ returns and consummates all He has begun. But Christ has set us free from the curse and bondage of sin. I/we need to stop sitting around waiting for the King to return and get busy doing the King’s business now. Not just the business of winning more souls, but the business of holistically cultivating His kingdom and creation on earth.