Stephen Jones — Eschatologie
b1 — Creation’s Jubilee
Millenniumvraagstuk en premillennialisme
Jones verdedigt een premillenniaal standpunt, dat hij aanduidt als “premillennieel universalisme”:
“The idea of a Sabbath Millennium is the earliest viewpoint of the known Christian leaders.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
“The Tabernacle was divided into three areas: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. […] the Holy Place typifies the Pentecostal Age and was 2,000 cubic cubits (10 x 20 x 10 cubits). The Holy of Holies typifies the Tabernacles Age and 1,000 cubic cubits (10 x 10 x 10 cubits).” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
Interpretatie: Jones gebruikt de afmetingen van de Tabernakel als typologisch bewijs voor een letterlijk 1000-jarig tijdperk (Loofhuttenfeestperiode).
De vroegste kerkleiders als getuigen van premillennialisme:
“In the Epistle of Barnabas, dated around 115 A.D., we read in chapter 13 […] ‘in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. […] then he shall gloriously rest in that seventh day.‘” (Jones citeert Epistola Barnabae, in Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
Jones stelt dat het millennialisme verloren ging door Griekse allegorisering:
“The most powerful adversary of millenarianism was Origen of Alexandria. […] He combated them expressly, and, owing to the great influence which his writings exerted […] millenarianism gradually disappeared from the ideas of Oriental Christians.” (Jones citeert Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. X, 1911 ed., art. ‘Millennium’, in Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
“St. Augustine finally held to the conviction that there will be no millennium… The first resurrection […] he tells us, refers to the spiritual rebirth in baptism; the Sabbath of one thousand years […] is the whole of eternal life.” (Jones citeert Catholic Encyclopedia, in Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
“It is ironic that the Roman Church repudiated Origen of Alexandria in the year 400 A.D. for his teachings on universal reconciliation, but they adopted his method of interpreting Scripture. This was how the teaching of the Sabbath Millennium was lost.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
Drie opstandingen (gerst/tarwe/druiven)
Jones onderscheidt drie opstandingsgroepen op basis van 1 Korintiërs 15:22-28 en de drie oogstfeesten:
Eerste opstanding — gerst (overwinnaars):
“The first resurrection is limited to believers, for Rev. 20:6 says, ‘Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection.‘” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
“The first ‘squadron’ to be raised […] ‘anointed firstfruits.’ […] This is the first squadron of believers; those who are to inherit the first resurrection. Paul carefully chose this phrase to describe the firstfruits of the barley harvest, which was to be anointed with oil.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
“It is not about citizenship in the Kingdom, but about rulership.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
Tweede opstanding — tarwe (gelovigen + ongelovigen):
“The second squadron of resurrected ones are ‘those who are Christ’s at His coming’ […] This is most clearly portrayed in Daniel 7 […] the second resurrection and includes both believers and unbelievers.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
“NOT ALL Christians will be raised in the first resurrection. Some must remain in the grave until the second resurrection, otherwise the statements by Jesus and Paul would be incorrect.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
“Paul offers a double witness […] ‘having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.’ (Acts 24:15) This can only be referring to the second, not the first resurrection.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 1)
Derde groep — druiven (de vijanden van Christus):
“And so, this third squadron represents the grape harvest. In order for God to obtain the wine, He must tread out the grapes, that is, He must ‘put all enemies under His feet.‘” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Aionios als aioonperiode — eeuwige straf vs. tijdelijk oordeel
Jones stelt dat olam (Hebreeuws) en aion/aionios (Grieks) een tijdperk aanduiden, niet eeuwigheid:
“In this chapter we will attempt to prove from plain Scripture that God’s punishments are NOT endless. The English translations which use the term ‘eternal’ and ‘everlasting’ in relation to both divine punishment and life in the coming age are actually mistranslations of the original Hebrew and Greek.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 4)
Over olam:
“This word means ‘to hide, keep secret, obscure.’ It is best expressed by the English word, ‘obscurity.’ In actual usage, the word refers to an INDEFINITE period of time, but NOT eternal. It is simply AN AGE.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 4)
Bewijs dat olam eindig is (Ps. 45:6):
“This proves beyond doubt that olam itself cannot refer to eternity, because when the Psalmist wished to express eternity, he had to say ‘olam va ad,’ or ‘the age and beyond.’ [Ps. 45:6] ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever [olam va ad, “the age and beyond”].‘” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 4)
Over aion:
“And so we can safely say that aion is meant to convey the same meaning as the Hebrew concept of olam. […] One of the most obvious New Testament passages where aion refers to an age is found in Matthew 13 […] ‘the harvest is the end of the age [aion]’ (Matt 13:39-40).” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 4)
Over aioonse straf en aioonse beloning als parallel:
“‘Eternal Life’ or Life in the Age? […] Aionian life is a specific promise of immortality IN THE TABERNACLES AGE, given to those who inherit Life in the first resurrection.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 4)
Over Augustinus’ onkunde van het Grieks:
“Augustine was severely handicapped because he was virtually ignorant of the Greek language. Peter Brown tells us this in his book, Augustine of Hippo, page 36: ‘Augustine’s failure to learn Greek was a momentous casualty of the Late Roman educational system; he will become the only Latin philosopher in antiquity to be virtually ignorant of Greek.‘” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 4)
Geleerden geciteerd in Appendix 6 (aionios/olam als beperkte duur):
- Ellicott’s Commentary (Matt. 25:46): “the Greek word which is rendered ‘eternal’ does not, in itself, involve endlessness, but rather, duration”
- The Encyclopedia Dictionary of the Bible (Catholic), p. 693: “The Hebrew word olam […] means in itself no more than ‘for an indefinitely long period’”
- Dr. F.W. Farrar, Mercy and Judgment, p. 378: “aionios means, properly, ‘belonging to an age,’ or ‘age-long,’ and anyone who asserts that it must mean ‘endless’ defends a position which even Augustine practically abandoned twelve centuries ago”
- Hastings Dictionary of the N.T., Vol. 1, p. 542: “There is no word either in the O.T. Hebrew or in the N.T. Greek to express the abstract idea of eternity”
- Dr. Marvin Vincent, Word Studies of the N.T., Vol. IV, p. 59: “Neither the noun nor the adjective in themselves carries the sense of ‘endless’ or ‘everlasting.’ aionios means enduring through or pertaining to a period of time”
- G.T. Stevenson, Time and Eternity, p. 63: “it appears very improbable that the derived adjective aionios would indicate infinite duration, nor have we found any evidence in Greek writing to show that such a concept was expressed by this term”
- Dr. Nigel Turner, Christian Words, p. 457: “All the way through, it is never feasible to understand aionios as everlasting”
(Allen geciteerd in Creation’s Jubilee, appendix 6)
Apokatastasis en universalisme
Jones verdedigt de apokatastasis op grond van meerdere Paulinische teksten:
1 Korintiërs 15:22 — alle mensen levend gemaakt:
“For as in Adam all die, so also in [the] Christ all shall be made alive. […] Verse 22: It is evident that all mankind died in Adam—with no exceptions. In the same manner also shall all be made alive in Christ—with no exceptions.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Romeinen 5:18 — rechtvaardiging van alle mensen:
“So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.” (Jones citeert Rm 5:18, in Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
“If Adam’s sin affected all men, and Jesus’ righteous act affected only a tiny fraction of men, then Jesus could hardly be compared to Adam. Surely Adam’s power is not greater than Jesus’ power!” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Kolossenzen 1:16-20 — verzoening van het Al:
“it was THE FATHER’S GOOD PLEASURE to reconcile all these things [ta panta] to Himself by the blood of Jesus. Can anything be clearer? This is not a hidden doctrine.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Johannes 12:32 — helkuo (trekken/slepen):
“Jesus said in John 12:32 that if He would die upon the cross, He would ‘draw’ all men to Himself. The word ‘draw’ is the Greek word, helkuo, which means ‘to drag.’ […] John 6:44 says no man can come to the Father except the Father DRAG him. John 12:32 says that Jesus will DRAG all men to Himself.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Clemens van Alexandrië geciteerd:
“‘And not only for our sins, that is, for those of the faithful, is the Lord the Propitiator does he say, but also for the whole world. He, indeed, saves all; but some He saves converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily He saves with dignity of honour; so that every knee should bow to Him.‘” (Jones citeert Clemens van Alexandrië, Commentary on 1 John 2:2, in Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
“Clement of Alexandria summarized it all 1800 years ago (Stromata VII, 2:5-12) by saying: ‘All things are arranged with a view to the salvation of the universe by the Lord of the universe […] But necessary corrections, through the Goodness of the great overseeing Judge […] compel egregious sinners to repent.‘” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Jones omschrijft de kern van het boek:
“The purpose of this book is to reveal the secret of His will. This secret is that God will reconcile ‘The All’ of creation […] It is to be the Savior of ‘all men,’ as Paul told Timothy. It is to justify ‘all men,’ as Paul told the Romans. It is to make ‘all men’ alive […] It is that ‘every knee’ will bow and ‘every tongue’ will confess.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5, verwijzing naar Hand. 3:21)
Hel en vuurpoel als loutering
Jones interpreteert de vuurpoel als corrigerend oordeel, geen eindeloze straf:
“After the 7th thousand-year period (Sabbath millennium), God will kindle the lake of fire to purify the wicked. The believers will simply receive ‘few stripes’ or ‘many stripes,’ up to 40, according to Bible law (Deut. 25:1-3).” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 4)
“He will drag all them to Himself by means of judgment, that is, the lake of fire. He has both the power and the will to do this.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Over de naties buiten het Nieuwe Jeruzalem:
“There are many ‘nations’ living outside the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24-27) who will begin to walk in the light […] These ‘nations’ are the unsaved peoples of the earth from all past ages. […] when they turn to Christ in repentance for their sins, they will be much like Christians today.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
“This second death is the final enemy that must be abolished at the Creation’s Jubilee of the earth at the end of the final age. Paul says clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:26 that ‘the last enemy that will be abolished is death.‘” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
Herstel van alle naties
Jones ziet het herstel van alle naties als profetisch programma voor het Millenniumrijk:
“The day is coming when the Kingdom of God will replace the kingdoms of men. The earth will be ruled in righteousness by the laws of God.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 10)
Over het Loofhuttenfeest en de zeventig naties:
“The Feast of Tabernacles was prophetic of the work God would do with regard to all nations of the earth. […] Alfred Edersheim says on page 277 of his book, The Temple, ‘There were seventy bullocks, to correspond to the number of the seventy nations of the world.‘” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 10)
“All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and they shall glorify Thy name.” (Ps. 86:9) (Jones citeert Ps. 86:9, in Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 10)
Nieuwe Schepping en Schepping’s Jubeljaar
Jones verbindt het Jubeljaar aan het eschatologisch eindpunt:
“When all men have accepted Christ as Savior and King […] then He will present a perfected and completed Kingdom to His Father. […] This is truly a glorious destiny for the earth. This is the Creation’s Jubilee.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
“Jesus will NOT reign forever as the Son. He will reign only as long as it takes to subject the whole earth under His feet. It will take BOTH of the coming ages to do this.” (Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)
“And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Kor. 15:28) (Jones citeert 1 Kor. 15:28 als conclusie van de apokatastasis, in Creation’s Jubilee, hoofdstuk 5)