Hoekema, Anthony A. The Bible and the Future

Hoekema, Anthony A. The Bible and the Future. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979. 343 pp. $26.00.

Introduction

The Bible and the Future is authored by Anthony A. Hoekema. Hoekema, a native Dutchman, was born in 1913 and passed away in 1988. Around the age of ten he moved to the United States and eventually took up study at Calvin College. Upon completion at Calvin College he pursued graduate work at the University of Michigan and Calvin Theological Seminary, finishing with his doctorate in theology at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1953. He pastored several reformed Christian Churches until he took the associate professorship of Bible at Calvin College in 1956. In 1958 Hoekema was named Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, which he held until retirement in 1979. Though Hoekema was used by God as pastor and professor, his greatest value has been found in his writings. He was the author of Holy Spirit Baptism in 1972, The Bible and the Future in 1979, Created in God's Image in 1986 and Saved by Grace was released after his death in 1989, which demonstrated his great grasp of Scripture and keen systematic understanding of important doctrines of the church.

Summary

The Bible and the Future is a book clearly understood by its title. Hoekema’s aim is to give a biblical and systematic understanding of what the Bible has to say about last things. To do so the book is broken down into two main sections with the first dealing with inaugurated eschatology and the second dealing with future eschatology. The bulk of this book is found in the

second section dealing with future eschatology, but Hoekema first explains the current state of the creation in the section discussing inaugurated eschatology.

Hoekema argues that the whole of redemptive history has the aim of achieving the end. The biblical authors, of both the New and Old Covenants, are always concerned with the end and it would be improper to assume that thinking about the end should be limited to selected Old Testament authors like Daniel and New Testament authors like John. Rather, all biblical authors have in their sight a day what would come when creation would be restored and the people of God would be blessed (10).

This great hope of the end is introduced or inaugurated with the arrival of one who would come to restore all things, Jesus Christ. With the first advent of Christ, creation moves into something different than before. With the coming of the person and work of Christ, new creation beckons and the process of renewal is begun, but the full aspect of the new creation is not yet here. This is where the term “already-not yet” comes into play. The new creation is already taking place, but it is not yet fully brought about. The rest of the first section deals with how this new phase, the last days, is working itself out in redemptive history.

The second section deals with the eschatological events still to come. Because of the nature of eschatology, differences always arise between competing opinions. Hoekema’s view of the future eschatological events find themselves organized in the traditional amillennial fashion. Though Hoekema had a strong desire to push his particular view of the end, the majority of the second section is undisputed by most evangelical Christians. In chapters seventeen through twenty he discusses the great events that will come at the end of the age: the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, eternal punishment, and the new earth; which act as encouragements to the believer, both for the joy that awaits them and the sorrow that awaits the unregenerate. Such truths should press the believer to greater faithfulness in devotion and witness.

Critical Evaluation

Page after page of Hoekema’s fine work is a gift from a mind devoted to the Word of God, but few parts of this book have the amount of refreshment that the chapter on the resurrection of the body have. A doctrine neglected by many, resulting in a Christian culture whose awareness of it is almost none. Most of the church has no hope for the resurrection of the body, merely looking to the future of state of heaven, only intended to be intermediate at best by God.

Now one could argue that this chapter on the resurrection, chapter seventeen, is meant more to show where premillennialism is wrong, rather than to demonstrate what the resurrection will be like, and he could be right. However, flowing out of his argument is some important features of hope.

Hoekema points out something that is absolutely necessary for the Christian to understand. We are not meant to be spiritual beings separated from our bodies (239). As stated earlier, most of the Christian community only looks forward to heaven. They do not understand the importance or necessity of having a body. They fail to have the hope that some day they will be like Jesus.

Hoekema argues that many have the idea that the body is evil, which stems out of Greek philosophy. It could also be argued that Paul’s comparison between the Spirit and the flesh has lead many to falsely understand his point and lead to a form of dualism. However, Hoekema points out the easy objection to this way of thought. First, we know that Jesus Christ came in his first advent as a man with a physical body. If the body were evil, it would have been impossible for the perfect Son of God to dwell in flesh.

Some think of death as salvation from the body. Now, it could be argued, and Hoekema does, that death is salvation from sin because sin is absent in the intermediate stage, but it is not salvation from the body. Because when Christ died He was not saved from the body, because when He rose His body remained. The biblical authors went through great lengths to show that He was not a spirit, but remained a man (239). Hoekema says, “Though those who have died in Christ now enjoy a provisional happiness during the intermediate state, their happiness will not be complete until their bodies have been raised from the dead” (239).

In addition to that, the very “resurrection of Christ is the pledge and guarantee of the future resurrection of believers” (246). When one looks to the resurrection of Christ, is should press that person to long for his own resurrection. That is why the biblical authors use the imagery of first fruits and first born when they speak about Christ’s resurrection (246). Their aim is to stress that what Christ was in His resurrection, so God will bring about in like manner when He raises believers in the resurrection. “At the time of the resurrection, therefore, we who are in Christ shall be completely like him, not only as regards our spirits, but even as regards our bodies…the resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of the resurrection of believers” (246-47).

Another aspect of the resurrection worth mentioning is that it is necessary for Christ to accomplish His redemptive work. “This resurrection of believers is, in fact, a necessary aspect of Christ’s mediatorial work, for ‘the last enemy to be destroyed is death’” (248). If the believer were to remain in the intermediate stage, absent of body, then Christ could not destroy death. Death would be victorious. However, by the resurrection of believers into incorruptible bodies[1] that will never die, so Christ accomplishes the full measure of His mediatorial work in killing death once and for all in the resurrection.

The last aspect to be discussed is the hope of eternal perfection. The question could be asked, “Will man again fall into sin?” The resounding answer to that question is, no. It will be impossible for man to enter into sin again. Why? Because we are promised spiritual bodies. Some have misunderstood this spiritual body to be something different from what we have now. Though the resurrected body will be different, it will still be physical and material. So the term spiritual does not mean that the body will no longer have a material value to it. Rather, it means that the future body of the resurrection will be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Hoekema says that “the spiritual body of the resurrection is one which will be totally, not just partially, dominated and directed by the Holy Spirit” (250). This is different from our current state in that we are now Spirit lead, but we still have the ability to reject the Spirit’s lead. However, in the resurrection, we will be Spirit ruled and we will remain always and forever submissive to the perfect will of God so that we will never again fall into sin. “Therefore the goal of God’s redemption is the resurrection of the physical body, and the creation of a new earth on which his redeemed people can live and serve God forever with glorified bodies” (250).

Conclusion

The church has a long way to go in restoring a correct view of eschatology and the hope it brings. Hoekema’s fine work is a gift to church in that journey. This book would be a good read for any pastor or layman who has an interest in the end times, but fails to see how creation is working towards renewal. Though this book is heavily amillennial and not very friendly towards dispensational views, it would be a good source for all in the evangelical church when it comes to understanding the hope that we have before us.

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[1] “Our present bodies, so says Paul, are bodies of corruption (phthora); the seeds of disease and death are in them, so that it is only a question of time until these bodies die. But our bodies shall be raised in incorruption (aphtharsia). All liability to disease shall then be gone. No longer shall we then be on our way to certain death, as we are now, but we shall then enjoy an incorruptible kind of existence” (249).