Book Review (Part 1)-- Crystal Ball Theology

Kevin Beck begins Chapter One of his book with a bang:

I'm tired of people reading the Bible like a crystal ball.

Boy, me too! It's amazing how many people approach theology with a Bible in one hand and today's newspaper in the other, as if the headlines confirm for us that what the Bible says is true. The assumptions behind this approach are ones that the average person can easily fall prey to, the main one being that the Bible, especially in its apocalyptic sections, is addressing modern day events. Pick the latest horrific headline and you can be sure it's in the Bible somewhere.

I remember my freshman year in Lutheran High School taking a New Testament survey class. One day we were reviewing Matthew 24. Now, mind you, this took place almost 32 years ago and it's still vivid in my memory. The study that day left a lasting imprint on my thinking, and not a very pleasant one at that. The instructor informed us that we were for sure living in the last days because Jesus said that before the end of the world came upon us:

...the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light... (Matthew 24:29)

And we've all seen solar and lunar eclipses, right? Therefore the Lord is returning very soon! How exciting!!

It wasn't for me. It was downright frightening. The rest of the chapter spoke of doom and destruction. This was something to look forward to??!! Being swept away in a dissolving and melting universe while weeping and gnashing my teeth??!! But, but, BUT.... the class was told something along the lines of..."isn't it great that we Christians have nothing to worry about because we will be spared and ushered into heaven? Hip hooray!!" End of class. Somehow that valiant attempt at comfort, while well-intentioned, rang hollow in my ears. What if I don't "make it"? What if I'm caught in some kind of mortal sin when Jesus returns and he sends me away into the outer darkness? What if I end up being like one of the foolish bridesmaids who forgot to buy oil for their lamps (Matthew 25:1-13) and get shut out of God's Kingdom forever? How could I possibly love a God like that? Would I be eternally doomed for even entertaining these notions?

The purveyors of crystal ball theology perpetuate this fear by taking the ancient predictions of Jesus and applying them to our day. This approach results in people looking to appease an angry deity who will unleash His wrath and fury upon the earth on some unspecified day.

Beck claims that there's a better way of reading the Biblical text-- one that respects the ancient milieu in which it was written, coupled with good scholarship and worshipping communities that "get it", keeping a careful and discerning eye on what is being said and written.

In Chapter One, Beck introduces us to a term that is worth consideration-- Transmillennial:

Transmillennial is a fresh way of reading the Biblical story and its significance for us today. With decades of theological research and practical application behind it, the Transmillennial view reveals a vision of God, Scripture, and creation unlike anything else.

Transmillennial is not a set of dogmatic statements chiseled in stone—I think we’ve had quite enough of those. It is a growing and evolving understanding of God, the Bible, and humanity’s place in the world. It is a transforming conversation interacting with the latest scholarship. It is also a transformative approach to help people experience and practice God’s kingdom right here in our midst.(Beck, p.18)

I welcome this kind of reading. This is one of the reasons I became a theologian/pastor in the first place. I've been in an undying search to find an approach to Scripture that doesn't make God sound like a murderous thug. I believe my search is finally coming to an end because I've learned to approach the Bible as a complete and completed narrative as opposed to a collection of propositional truths. Leaving loose threads of Scriptural prophecy dangling and still waiting to be woven into the picture by their completion on some undefined date in the future leaves many hearts fearful. Just the thought that there's "more to come" is enough to accomplish that. That's not very good news to me.

Approaching the Bible as narrative seems to me to be the best approach in interpreting and understanding what God accomplished through Jesus Christ. Also recognizing that the idea of covenant as one of the main Scriptural threads goes a long way in understanding the sweep of the narrative. It's been interesting for me to see what this does to eschatology (study of end time things). Approaching eschatology covenantally gives a whole different picture than we we've been accustomed. To make a long story short, it means that the eschatological and apocalytic sections of the New Testament apply to the change in covenantal worlds. The old covenant and its economy is now gone (its last vestige being the Jerusalem Temple which was destroyed in AD 70), and the new covenant age ushered in by Jesus is fully in place. This has nothing to do with annihilation of the space-time universe or with our physicality or with our ultimate destiny. What a relief that is!!

I'll let Kevin take it from here:

“Transmillennialism sees Christ’s millennial reign in its first-century context, from the Old to the New Covenant, bringing about the transformation of the ages.” As a result, humanity now lives in the light of God’s fulfilled promise to Abraham: All families of the earth are blessed, and we get to walk in the empowerment of this blessing!

The Transmillennial view suggests that humanity and the world it inhabits have been fundamentally transformed—not in terms of our biology or physical matter, but in terms of our potential for relationships. As a result of the work of God in Christ, we’ve moved through the age characterized by sin and its death. We now inhabit a New Heaven and Earth—a new epoch of grace, a divine ecosystem—indwelt by God’s righteousness. The Tree of Life blossoms year ‘round, and its perennial leaves are for the healing of all. So let’s bind up some wounds and eat from that tree for a change. (Beck, p. 21, quotation from Max King, The Spirit of Prophecy, p.424)

Amen to that!

By the way-- Beck has made his book available for free download at http://thisbookwillchangeyourworld.com/. Thanks for your generosity, Kevin!!