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WHAT IS YOUR PARADIGM?
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The liberal skeptic have long said that they could not accept Jesus and His claims to be the Son of God because He did not do what He said He would do - return in the life time of his disciples. Men like Bertrand Russell, Albert Schweitzer and even the notable C.S. Lewis all discredit the
ministry of Jesus based on this same belief. There are also a host of Muslim, and Jewish scolars who say virtually the same thing. Obviously they missed the fulfillment of the
Second Coming for the same reason that the Jews of Jesus’ day did; they expected a physical earthly Kingdom.
The purpose of this article is not to answer the claims of the skeptics, but one troubling thought does come to mind. If they could see that the second coming of Jesus in the life time of the disciples was the message of Jesus then, why is it so hard for people to see that today? I think the answer lies in the meaning of the term paradigm.
Here is a definition of that term from The Merrian-Webster Online Dictionary, “A paradigm (pronounced PEHR-uh-daim, from Greek paradeiknyai to show side by side) is a pattern or an example of something. The word also connotes the idea of a mental picture and pattern of thought...” Ladies in dressing making, and men in wood working use a “paradigm” all the time. It is called a pattern, or a template. It is the original from which the copies are comparied, side by side. In our application it is simply a pattern of thought by which we judge ideas and opinions to be true or false. It is a “mind set”, a preconceived idea, a presumption by which we judge what we are taught about a particular subject.
Why did the Jews reject Jesus as their King? It was their “paradigm”. They expected and believed that the Messiah would establish an earthly, physical, visible Kingdom on earth. That was their “paradigm” of thinking.Jesus
constantly tried to get them to think outside their “paradigm” or idea about the Kingdom. He fought their
attempts to comform Him to their “paradigm” of the Kingdom, (John 6:15.) Eventually they would be so upset at His unwillingness to conform that they would go from laying
palm leaves in front of Him to yelling, crucify Him.
Paradigms can be both good and bad. They can keep us from being, “no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;” (Eph. 4:14.) They can give us confidence in our faith, and help us to stand firm. There is also a bad side to paradigms. The Jews of Jesus’ day is a classic example of a nation holding on to an incorrect paradigm. So, what is the solution? I once heard it expressed this way. Always keep an open mind toward scripture, but not so open that your brains fall out. It is precisely this attitude toward an open mind that led me out of a legalistic attitude toward scripture to understanding the wonderful grace and love the Lord has for me. It also led me to my present understanding of the second coming of Christ, as to its nature and timing.
The Jews of Jesus day understood that He was preaching a “soon” coming Kingdom. They in fact were ready to make Him King ahead of schedule. They got the point of the timing, they just missed the nature of the Kingdom. The skeptics got the message of Jesus about the timing of the Kingdom, but like the Jewish nation, they missed the nature of the Kingdom as well. Even those who today are expecting a soon
coming earthly Kingdom, got the message of Jesus in the first century, they just believed that because of the rejection of the Jewish nation, God changed His plans, and will try again some day. They clearly have not read the scripture with audience relevance. What did these early Christians understand? The Bible was written for us, but not to us.
I was raised with another understanding, that the Kingdom did come in judgement in AD 70, but that this had nothing to do with the second coming of Jesus. That would come at some undetermined time in the future, and when it did happen the world would end, and it would all be over. I was taught a paradigm or pattern of thinking that would pick and choose certain verses that pertained to the Judgement coming in AD 70, and others that could only be referring to the Second Coming of Christ. The judgements were made mainly based on what my paradigm considered to be figurative language and what was literal. I always had a problem with Matt. 24. Verse 34 told me that all that Jesus had said to that point referred to their generation, but then there there were verses 29-31. I simply could not work them into the first century Here is a quote from someone with the same paradigm I once had. “Now let us look at some of the signs which are to precede the coming of Jesus and the end of the world. 1. The sun shall be darkened and the moon will cease to give light. This did not happen at the destrucgtion of Jerusalem. If such had happened surely some historian would have made mention of it.” Firm Foundation, May 31, 1977, “A study of Matthew 24 (2)," by Roy H. Lanier, Sr. It was an easy system, I just picked what was figurative and what was literial to fit within my paradigm of thinking. The problem was it did not change what was said in Verse 34. “ALL” still meant “ALL.” In fact verse 34 should have shaped my paradigm.
Having said that, let me suggest you read the Gospel of Matthew. As you read note the consistancy in what is said about Kingdom. Focus on at least two major points. One, the timing statments concerning the coming of the Kingdom, and second, the two fold judgement that would accompany the coming of the Kingdom. A judgement of not just the evil Jewish nation, but the judgment of the good as well. In conjunction with these two major points,look at how the same language is used for those passage I used to seperate in my own mind (Matthew Chapter 24), and see that they do not refer to two comings of Jesus, but one second coming in AD 70.
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