As a tribute to the late Reverend Arthur Carver, I have decided to insert a passage from his book The Great Consummation.
This is from page 34 of chapter 4, The True Biblical Character of the Kingdom
SUMMARY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING
We have seen that the Advent and its vast attendant happenings were no minor part of that ministry. Rather that Day was the grand climax to which a large part of his utterances were directed. He sets it before His hearers in a manner calculated to illumine the mind and solemnise the heart. We have seen that here a no darkly-veiled mysteries, but an embracive, detailed setting forth of the events connected with the Great Consummation, in language so clear and plain that "the wayfaring man need not err therein ". To suggest that our Lord would speak otherwise betokens lack both of wisdom and reverence.
What, then, have we discovered? If we adopt a dispensationalist point of attitude and look for "significant omissions", the result of our labour is clear. There is no statement of a "pre-tribulation Rapture", no word about a "two phased Coming", no sentence about distinguishing between the "coming of the Lord" and the "coming of the Son of Man", no announcement of a series of resurrections and judgments, no mention of an earthly throne of David, no pointing to a thousand years' reign on earth, with a further Satanic outbreak; in fact NOTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE VERY THINGS DISPENSATIONALISTS ARE FOREVER TALKING ABOUT.
We put the obvious question: "If all these things, which form the marrow and substance of Futurism, are part of the Doctrine of Christ, why is it that they are nowhere to found reading of the Master's words?" Can it be because they are, after all, only the innovations of mistaken men?
When we look at the positive side, the results are just as clear, and the conclusions equally destructive to the 19th Century prophetic theories. They can be summarised as follows:
There are only two Ages from the time of Messiah's Advent, "this age" and "the age to come"; The end of "this age" is accompanied by the severance of the righteous and the wicked to their eternal portion ( e.g. Matthew 13 ); The "age to come" is the age of "ever- lasting life", where there is no marriage, sin or death ( Luke 20:36 ), but the "righteous shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father" ( Matthew 13 ); The "end of the age" is attended by "The judgement", "The Throne of His Glory", and "the furnace of fire"; It is, indeed, "The Last Day" of Time for both saint and sinner; The only event. set before Christians, for which they are to watch is the Son of Man appearing in His Glory; There is but one appearing when He comes in the threefold glory of Himself, His Father and the holy angels; this Appearing will be as the Flood of Noah and the Sodom Judgement, bringing destruction to all the ungodly, but east and west enjoy everlasting bliss, "eating at His table" and reigning on thrones; From this Kingdom, every evil thing has been forever banished.
The full text of Arthur Carver's book, The Great Consummation, is available from
http://www.stilltruth.com/2012/great-consumation
Please my blog of 31 March 2011 for further comments about Arthur.
This is from page 34 of chapter 4, The True Biblical Character of the Kingdom
SUMMARY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING
We have seen that the Advent and its vast attendant happenings were no minor part of that ministry. Rather that Day was the grand climax to which a large part of his utterances were directed. He sets it before His hearers in a manner calculated to illumine the mind and solemnise the heart. We have seen that here a no darkly-veiled mysteries, but an embracive, detailed setting forth of the events connected with the Great Consummation, in language so clear and plain that "the wayfaring man need not err therein ". To suggest that our Lord would speak otherwise betokens lack both of wisdom and reverence.
What, then, have we discovered? If we adopt a dispensationalist point of attitude and look for "significant omissions", the result of our labour is clear. There is no statement of a "pre-tribulation Rapture", no word about a "two phased Coming", no sentence about distinguishing between the "coming of the Lord" and the "coming of the Son of Man", no announcement of a series of resurrections and judgments, no mention of an earthly throne of David, no pointing to a thousand years' reign on earth, with a further Satanic outbreak; in fact NOTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE VERY THINGS DISPENSATIONALISTS ARE FOREVER TALKING ABOUT.
We put the obvious question: "If all these things, which form the marrow and substance of Futurism, are part of the Doctrine of Christ, why is it that they are nowhere to found reading of the Master's words?" Can it be because they are, after all, only the innovations of mistaken men?
When we look at the positive side, the results are just as clear, and the conclusions equally destructive to the 19th Century prophetic theories. They can be summarised as follows:
There are only two Ages from the time of Messiah's Advent, "this age" and "the age to come"; The end of "this age" is accompanied by the severance of the righteous and the wicked to their eternal portion ( e.g. Matthew 13 ); The "age to come" is the age of "ever- lasting life", where there is no marriage, sin or death ( Luke 20:36 ), but the "righteous shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father" ( Matthew 13 ); The "end of the age" is attended by "The judgement", "The Throne of His Glory", and "the furnace of fire"; It is, indeed, "The Last Day" of Time for both saint and sinner; The only event. set before Christians, for which they are to watch is the Son of Man appearing in His Glory; There is but one appearing when He comes in the threefold glory of Himself, His Father and the holy angels; this Appearing will be as the Flood of Noah and the Sodom Judgement, bringing destruction to all the ungodly, but east and west enjoy everlasting bliss, "eating at His table" and reigning on thrones; From this Kingdom, every evil thing has been forever banished.
Such then, are the teachings of the Lord Jesus. There is no
room in them for millennialism of any kind. It was the unanswerable challenge
of this teaching that shattered the writer's traditional belief in the
eschatology of Brethrenism, and showed an earthly millennium to be a useless
mirage. We have pleasure in presenting the same challenge to the reader. All we
ask is, that he should honestly endeavour to divest his mind of the theories he
has been taught for years regarding the Coming of the Lord, and then come
simply to the reading of the four Gospels. Let him listen to the Beloved
Master; examine all He said on this momentous subject. We are confident that
not one in ten thousand would ever discern there the intricate system of
Comings, resurrections, judgements and Kingdoms which adorn the Temple of
dispensationalism. This temple has been reared upon ideas as mistaken as filled
the minds of the apostles in the Holy Mount; as for us, the voice from Heaven
speaks once again: "This is My Beloved Son; hear ye Him."
The full text of Arthur Carver's book, The Great Consummation, is available from
http://www.stilltruth.com/2012/great-consumation
Please my blog of 31 March 2011 for further comments about Arthur.
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