The framework within which we place an event — the perspective from which we see it — determines the meaning we give to it. That's true even in regard to our own spiritual experience. Here we try and show the connection between Christian experience and the end of the world as we know it.

Regeneration — the new birth — we all know about that. It is the work of the Spirit bringing us from death to life. He creates within us spiritual faculties of sight and hearing, of obedience and faith. He implants spiritual life, renews our wills and leads us to embrace the Saviour. It is a personal, internal experience, making us radically different.

That lies at the heart of our preaching so we know what regeneration is. Or do we? For there is another way of speaking of regeneration. Jesus said to his disciples:

I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things (or, "at the regeneration" (AV)) when the Son of Man sits on his glo­rious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.Matthew 19:28

Here "regeneration" doesn't refer to the work of the Spirit in the heart of an individual; it describes the work of God in bringing in a new and eternal order. This clearly draws our thoughts to the Day of Judge­ment and the events connected with it.

The dramatic climax to this world's history will then take place. Then "the heavens will disappear with a roar; the ele­ments will be destroyed by fire" and "a new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteous­ness," will be brought into being (2 Peter 3:10-13). Then the events that creation has been looking forward to with "groaning as in the pains of childbirth" will become realities. It will be freed from "its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:19-23). Then too the children of God will re­joice in the redemption of their bodies.

Or as R. C. Trench strikingly describes it: a day will come when all nature shall put off its soiled workday gar­ments, and clothe itself in its holyday attire, the times of restitution of all things (Acts 3:21).Synonyms of the New Testament p.63

All this is de­scribed as a "regeneration".

Parallel Experiences⤒🔗

We have then an interesting situation. The word used in Matthew to describe a cosmic rebirth — a renewal of the physical world and all that that involves — in Titus (3:5) refers to the inner, spiritual, experience when the Holy Spirit is poured out on a person abundantly, bringing him to the experience of God's mercy. The Bible, therefore, knows two areas in which regeneration operates. What happens in one area seems to run parallel to what happens in the other area. What God does on a personal basis, he will do on a worldwide scale. What he performs on a spiritual level, he will do on a physical level. What he does inwardly in the secret of the heart, he will ac­complish outwardly for every eye to see. What he does now, he will do then.

This gives us ground for thinking that there is a connec­tion between the two. Our pre­sent inner and personal experi­ence should be viewed as an anticipation and foretaste of the great events which wind up the history of the world. The future breaks into the present experi­ence of the believer. The forces that will make all things new are already at work in the hearts of his own.

Nor is it simply in regard to "regeneration" that this parallel between the present and the fu­ture may be seen.

Justification: Now and Then←⤒🔗

One of the most obvious features of the great day coming is that it will bring a time of judgement. Jesus taught that his Second Coming would involve a separation between sheep and goats and either gracious re­ception or judicial rejection by the Father (Matthew 25:31-46). Paul speaks of us all "appear­ing", that is, being made mani­fest, "before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad" (2 Corin­thians 5:10). James intimates that "the Lord's coming is near" and immediately says "the Judge is at the door" (James 5:8-9). John's description of judgement locates it at the end of the world: "I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence" (Revelation 20:11). For most people, the Judgement is the event associated with the Second Coming.

If eschatology is the teaching about the last things, then judgement is an eschatological act. Acquittal and condemnation are linked in our minds with what is yet to come.

Yet the testimony of Scrip­ture is by no means as uniform about this as we might suppose. Jesus could say: "Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out" (John 12:31). Further words of John explain this:

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:18

In a very real sense, Jesus brought future judgement into the present time. In his person and work, the decisions to be made on the judgement day were anticipated and by their reaction to himself, people were acquit­ted or condemned.

Moreover, this is an ongoing experience. Taking the tradi­tional view of the doctrine of justification, it is generally ac­knowledged that the background to the word "justification" is a legal one: it deals with such matters as responsibility before the law and legal status as pro­nounced in a court of law. The Shorter Catechism includes in its definition of justification the idea that God "accepts us as righteous in his sight" (Answer 33). Justification involves a gracious act of legal acquittal.

It is interesting, however, to note that according to the Cate­chism one of the benefits that believers receive from Christ at the resurrection is that they will be "openly acknowledged and acquitted on the day of judge­ment" (Answer 38). The differ­ence between the experience of justification and the experience of judgement is that the former is internal — a new legal status given to a believer which he enjoys in the intimacy of a per­sonal relationship with God —while the latter involves the public ratification of that status. Justification runs parallel to the pronouncement of judgement on the Great Day, just as the expe­rience of the new birth runs parallel to the final restoration of all things. The one is a fore­shadowing, a foretaste and an anticipation of the other.

Justification often raises a problem in people's minds. If we are already acquitted, why do we need to ask for forgiveness for present sin? If we are already accepted, why are we judged by works on the day of judgement? To see justification as in some sense an anticipation of the day of judgement will not resolve these problems. It will, however, help us to see matters from a different perspective. We live in a time of tension. We are justified, but not yet openly. We are being renewed inwardly, but the outward man is perishing. We have known an anticipation of future acts but not the fulness of them. Even now we experience eschatological forces, but not yet to the full. If we could look at the Christian life in that way we would be able to see things from a more Biblical perspective.

A New Creation←⤒🔗

There is another key concept that fits into the same pattern. John saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. He was assured that there would be no more crying or death for the old order of things had passed away. The explana­tion offered of all this was: "I am making everything new" (Revelation 21:1-5).

Newness is a recurring theme in regard to what the future holds for God's people. Peter says, as already mentioned: "We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness". This in turn is an echo of Isaiah 65:17: "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered nor come to mind." In other words, we wait for a manifestation of God's creative power bringing a new order into being.

But the teaching of the Scriptures is that such an expe­rience has already taken place on an individual experience in the hearts of God's people. Paul says:

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.Galatians 6:15

and: If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.2 Corinthians 5:17

In these verses, the saving experi­ence currently enjoyed is de­scribed in terms which are reminiscent of eschatological events. There is a striking par­allel between what the believer enjoys personally in the newness created by the Spirit's influence and the wider and complete newness which he will experi­ence at the winding up of this world as we know it. The one who will make all things new has already been at work in that renovating power in the hearts of his own. Eschatological events have already begun in the life of the believer.

In Conclusion←⤒🔗

We have referred to the new birth, the judgement and the new creation and we have seen how these concepts apply equally to what is and what is yet to be. Other terms — such as resurrection, adoption and sal­vation — used about an indi­vidual's experience of grace, are also connected with events at the end of time. It is this that has caused a Reformed scholar like Geerhardus Vos to summarise Paul's outlook thus:

The shap­ing of soteriology (that is, the doctrine of salvation) by es­chatology is not so much in the terminology: it proceeds from the actual realities themselves and the language is simply ad­justed to that ... The closely woven soteric tissue derives its pattern from the eschatological scheme which bears all the marks of having had precedence in his mind.The Pauline Es­chatology pp. 46 and 60

In other words, already the believer has tasted of the powers of the age to come because al­ready regeneration, adoption, justification, resurrection and the new creation are his in the spiritual realm in Christ. A foretaste of the future is granted to the believer now.

This way of looking at our experience as the intrusion of the future into the present is worth reflecting on. It is not dry doc­trine, or something obscure which is of no practical sig­nificance. On the contrary, it helps us to understand the shape of things to come including the nature of the Christian life.

Tension is what characterises history and the experience of the Christian. The kingdom is here, but it is yet to come. Judgement has come, but it is still to be. The forces of the age to come are at work in the Christian, but they are still to be displayed in all their fulness and power. Things are now in a state of tension.

Much could be said about this — and we might take up the subject again — but just note how this should affect the general outlook of the believer.

This tension as far as the experience of the believer is concerned is summed up most sharply in the saying of Paul: "though the outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed day by day". Decay and renewal go on side by side in the life of the believer. Longing for what is yet to be and rejoicing over what we already have are legitimately found to­gether in the believer's heart.

But surely the latter is not as strong as is fitting considering the magnitude of what has been done for the believer. Heaven has come down into his heart; the power that makes all things new is at work in his soul; al­ready the judgement of "not guilty" has been pronounced; he is even now seated in heavenly places in Christ; what will be done on a worldwide scale has already been done for him. The earnest of his inheritance — that is, the down-payment and guarantee of his inheritance — has been given to him.

How rich we are. How plen­tifully provided for. How con­fident we have every reason to be. But how little we see all that — because we fail to see our experience as a foretaste and anticipation of the great events connected with the end of the world.