Page 287 - Through New Eyes

288 THROUGH NEW EYES
being dominated by Italians. So, God gave the Reformation.
The Reformation functioned differently in various countries,
but it did bring a new and better “covenant.” The Reformation
brought freedom of the press, literacy, university education, and
technology. But the Reforrrmtion Establishments were imperfect
also. They were too closely tied to the various nations, and in the
United States to separate denominations. The sense of true
catholicity in Christendom was lost.

The Growth of the Kingdom in the Future
So, what is next? From our study of the Bible, we can say
that when God is pleased to give us a New Establishment, it will
take up the best of all the previous ones; but it will transform
them into something new. The future cannot be envisioned. For
me, the period of Samuel is a close analogy to our present situa-
tion. In Samuel’s day, the Ark was located at Kiriath-jearim, the
Tabernacle at Nob, and the High Priest out in the field with
7
David. An evil, demonized king was on the throne. I imagine
that the priests at Kiriath-jearim insisted that the Ark was the
most important thing. I imagine that the priests at Nob em-
phasized the Tabernacle and its importance. I imagine David’s
troops felt that the dynamic presence of the High Priest and his
ephod was the most important thing. Theologians of the day
doubtless speculated on how to get all this back together, but
they had no idea of what was really going to happen. The New
Establishment was something they could never have imagined.
Compare our situation today, We have the discipleship wing
of the charismatic movement, which is composed of devout,
God-fearing people who pray and work for reform. Many of
them think that the best thing would be if we all joined up with
them. We also have the revival in Eastern Orthodoxy, signaled
by the writings of Alexander Schmemann. Of course, Orthodox
theologians believe that we all need to pack up and join Or-
thodoxy! Then there is the strong revival in Reformational
churches, centered on the profound thought of Cornelius Van
Til. Many of these people go by the name “Christian Recon-
struction ,“ and wish that everyone else would join the Recon-
structionist movement. As we continue our survey, we find the
neo-Puritan movement in Presbyterian and Baptist churches.