The Upper Register Blog

I was on iTunes last night downloading some new music for my iPod and I discovered that they have all of the great Petra albums. Awesome! I enjoyed listening to Petra when I was a teenager. The thing you have to understand is that the church of my youth (the Assembly) taught the old classic fundie line that rock music was the devil’s music since it was allegedly based on African drum beats. So listening to CCM – and Petra was one of the edgier bands at the time – was a great way to rebel in a kind of safe Christian way.

I liked Petra’s album This Means War (1987), as well as Petra Praise: The Rock Cries Out (1989) (”The King of Glory Shall Come In” always pumps me up). But Back to the Street — which came out in 1986 (the year I graduated from high school and started college at UCLA) – has a special place in my heart because of these two great songs:

King’s Ransom

It’s such a paradox - it’s such a mystery
Why a King would leave His throne to save humanity
They could not have known when they mocked Him in disgrace
They could not have known when they spit upon His face

(Chorus)
The Rose of Sharon wore a crown of thorns that day
The carpenter had a nail right through His hand
The Master of the earth became a servant of no worth
And paid a King’s ransom for my soul
He paid a King’s ransom for my soul

Creator of the earth - Name above all names
Some just stood in unbelief when listening to His claims
They could not have known when they hit Him with their fists
They could not have known when they nailed his feet and wrists

The ransom that He paid was the sacrifice he made
The life of a King in place of me
The shame that He bore for the rich and for the poor
Changed His crown of thorns into glory

Fool’s Gold

Some say this life I live is only foolishness
No waiting pot of gold in the faith that I possess
But the treasures of this life will slowly turn to dust
And this fool will find His gold in the Savior that I trust

(Chorus)
Fool’s gold - it’s waiting in a crown
Fool’s gold - in a city coming down
I’ll leave the gold I can’t afford
For the higher prize I’m pressing toward
I’ll preach the foolish cross of Christ
And wait for my reward
Fool’s gold

The wisdom of the cross - is easy to receive
But only foolishness - to them that don’t believe
They may say that I’m a fool for the cross that I proclaim
But the gold that I must seek won’t be found in earthly fame

When the crowns of gold are laid before His feet
Then the worthy Lamb of God is the treasure we will keep
Some may call me foolish - some may call me odd
But I’d rather be a fool in the eyes of man
Than a fool in the eyes of God

Although I really liked the arena rock style that began with Back to the Street (and the new lead singer), one of their older songs may actually be their best:

Not of This World (skip to minute 2:00)

We are pilgrims in a strange land
We are so far from our homeland
With each passing day it seems so clear
This world will never want us here
We’re not welcome in this world of wrong
We are foreigners who don’t belong

(Chorus)
We are strangers, we are aliens
We are not of this world

We are envoys, we must tarry
With this message we must carry
There’s so much to do before we leave
With so many more who may believe
Our mission here can never fail
And the gates of hell will not prevail

Jesus told us men would hate us
But we must be of good cheer
He has overcome this world of darkness
And soon we will depart from here

After the Republican National Convention this week, these are some good songs to orient us to what really matters. This past week has been discouraging for me because just when it seemed like my party was actually going to nominate a post-partisan reformer to lead us beyond the polarization of the past eight years, all of a sudden we have a full-blown Rovian culture war on our hands with the addition of Sarah Palin to the GOP ticket. I’m not even sure McCain realizes what forces he has unleashed. The conservative whining about the alleged mistreatment at the hands of the mainstream media, the us vs. them, heartland hockey-moms vs. Beltway elite crap is just driving me nuts.

Anyway, folks, this is a good time to remember that we are not of this world and that we are waiting for a city coming down. Take it away Petra!

When I heard that the winning word of the Scripps National Spelling Bee this past Friday was “guerdon” (=reward), I was reminded of a great hymn in which this word is used:

Art thou weary, art thou languid,
Art thou sore distressed?
“Come to Me,” saith One, “and coming,
Be at rest.”

Hath He marks to lead me to Him,
If He be my Guide?
In His feet and hands are wound prints
And His side.

Hath He diadem, as monarch,
That His brow adorns?
Yes, a crown in very surety,
But of thorns.

If I find Him, if I follow,
What His guerdon here?
Many a sorrow, many a labor,
Many a tear.

If I still hold closely to Him,
What hath He at last?
Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed.

If I ask Him to receive me,
Will He say me nay?
Not till earth and not till Heaven
Pass away.

Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is He sure to bless?
Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, Yes!

[John M. Neale, Hymns of the Eastern Church (1862)]

Neale adapted the hymn from the writings of an 8th century Greek monk named Stephen who lived from the age of ten in the monastery of Mar Sabas in the wilderness of Judea.

What if we follow this lowly king who has thorns for a crown? What will our reward be for such valiant labor? Most soldiers expect to receive great prizes of land, booty, and honor in reward for their service. Our King follows the same pattern – suffering first, then glory — but with this difference:  the suffering itself is part of the guerdon!

What is our guerdon here, in this life, for serving our King? “Many a sorrow, many a labor, many a tear.”

And if I hold closely to him, what does he have to offer at last? “Sorrow vanquished, labor ended, Jordan passed.”

Is it worth it? “Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs - answer, Yes!”

Kim Riddlebarger has a good post in which he draws out the implications of the NT’s two-age model of eschatology (this present age and the age to come). In particular he appeals to the two-age model to point out one of the major weaknesses of premillennialism. Key quote:

From these texts it is clear that our Lord understands these two ages as successive and qualitatively distinct.  “This age,” say Jesus, is characterized by marriage and things temporal.  “The age to come,” on the other hand, is characterized by resurrection life and immortality, hence the impossibility of natural, earthly life continuing in any form after the general resurrection which occurs at our Lord’s return (John 6:39-40, 44, 54).  This notion of a the general resurrection occurring at Christ’s Second Advent presents a very serious problem for those forms of premillennialism in which it is argued that people in natural bodies continue to populate the earth during Christ’s millennial rule after the resurrection of the righteous.  If the “age to come” is the age of resurrection in which there is no marriage or sexual relationships, just how is it that people somehow escape this universal event so as to repopulate the earth, after Christ returns?  This is an impossibility.

As Kim points out, the basic dilemma for premillennialists can be exposed by asking them, “When does the consummation phase of ‘the age to come’ begin on your scheme?” If they say it begins at the parousia (the second coming), as the NT seems to teach, then they must admit that in the consummation phase of “the age to come” there will be natural life, marriage, procreation, disease, tribulation, sin, death, and ultimately apostasy. If they want to avoid such a preposterous picture of ”the age to come” by shifting ground and claiming that the consummation phase of “the age to come” begins after the millennium, then they must admit that the parousia is an eschatological non-event since it does not usher in the consummation phase of “the age to come.” (I’ve been using the phrase, “the consummation phase of ‘the age to come’” because I want to safeguard the NT’s teaching that ”the age to come” has in some sense already been inaugurated in the death and resurrection of Christ.)  If they take the second option, in what sense is the second coming “the blessed hope” that we are all supposedly longing for? The continuation of “this present evil age” for 1000 years more, even if presided over by a Jesus literally reigning in Jerusalem, is no hope at all but a horrible let-down. 

The amillennial scheme is much more faithful to the NT witness. The concentrated hope of the body of Christ is focused precisely on the glorious appearing of our Lord when all the disappointments and failures of this fallen world will be replaced by the perfection of the age to come. All sin will be erased. All injustice will be overturned. The last enemy, death, will be destroyed by the raising up of the bodies of the elect unto eternal life. In view of the fact that the age to come has already been inaugurated through the death and resurrection of Christ, we expect nothing less. If the age to come has already begun de jure, the next phase must be the age to come de facto. If the judgment of D-day has already passed, we look forward to nothing less than total victory of V-day (hat tip to Oscar Cullmann). We have the firstfruits of the Spirit within us as we groan in these earthly tents, waiting for and expecting the redemption of our bodies. In Christ we already enjoy a foretaste of eternal glory. Therefore, we expect the next phase of God’s eschatological plan to be nothing less than the absolute perfection and untainted joy of the freedom of the sons of God in the inheritance of the new heavens and the new earth, centered upon communion with Christ, free from all corruption and engulfed in the uninterrupted glory of God.