Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 150:600 (Oct 1993)
Article: The Son of David and the Saints’ Task: The Hermeneutics of Initial Fulfillment
Author: Darrell L. Bock

BSac 150:600 (Oct 93) p. 440

The Son of David and the Saints’ Task:
The Hermeneutics of Initial Fulfillment

Darrell L. Bock

[Darell L. Bock is Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas. The author wishes to thank Seminario Teologico Centro Americano in Guatemala City, Guatemala and Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida for hosting lectures where the author read drafts of this essay in February and April, 1992, respectively. Their kindness as hosts is appreciated.]

The plan of God, the work of Christ, and the work of the church are complex themes. How does one summarize the church’s vast task? How does one unify the Bible’s diverse strands of teaching, strands that reflect future hope for Israel and yet describe what God’s people in the church are to do today? How does one encourage the saints in the midst of a world that looks so chaotic? How does one minister in a world that is so cruel and twisted? In the end when one attempts to bring large portions of the New Testament together, a return to Christology is advised. Jesus Christ is the center of God’s plan. Around Him believers rally and gain their identity.

Therefore it is important to consider the career of Jesus, especially in His role as David’s Son. This function is significant because it relates to the issue of the promised kingdom over which the Son of David presides.

Dispensationalists have largely agreed on how this kingdom functions in the future era, but they have had differing views on how it functions in the present age.1 Scofieldian

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dispensationalists saw the Davidic kingdom as the kingdom of heaven manifesting itself in both the present (mystery form) and the future (the millennium). For them, however, the kingdom of heaven is not the same as the kingdom of God, and the present, mystery form of the kingdom of heaven describes only professed Christendom.2

“Essentialist” dispensationalism, represented by Pentecost, Ryrie, and Walvoord, accepts the concept of the kingdom’s present mystery form, though they insist this is in no way a fulfillment of the Davidic kingdom.3 In addition, they deny or at least minimize a distinction between the kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God, a distinction earlier dispensationalists had strenuously maintained. They also differ in the way they view

BSac 150:600 (Oct 93) p. 442

the church’s relationship to the present form of the kingdom. But they agree that whatever the relationship, Davidic elements ...