God, Heaven, and Har Magedon - Meredith G. Kline

God, Heaven, and Har Magedon (A Covenantal Tale of Cosmos and Telos) - Meredith G. Kline

[Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006; 293 pages; with an author's preface]

(My summary notes on each section in blue.)

PART ONE: GOD AND HEAVEN

I - NAMING THE METAWORLD

1. Heaven and Cosmos [Heaven is not outside the cosmos, nor inside and far away from Earth, but it fills the cosmos and interpenetrates what we can see and experience though is itself for us now invisible, or, as Kline puts it, in another dimension (but when we will be glorified it will be no longer invisible but visible like it is now to God and angels). Heaven is also a glory-temple and is where God is. Kline here is describing, biblically, the teaching that worlds interpenetrate rather than being separted as if like layers of a cake. In Grail Romance the everyday world of Parzival as a child, the court and fields and forests of the knights, and the mystery realm of the Grail Castle all occupy the same space yet exist as and at different levels, entered via different thresholds and means.]
2. Heaven: Glory-Temple [K. discuses how the Bible gives us a sense of what heaven is like in various ways, symbol, visions of prophets, then makes the point that heaven is where God is. The Glory-Presence. Architecturally heaven is a palace, and a royal court. And a temple. (These notes will get more refined as I go along, the book obviously has to be read, but I'm trying to give a sense of the subject matter in a thumbnail fashion. Kline is very biblical in what he is saying and depicting, for instance, and I can't relay that in short notes.) Though heaven is a royal place and temple with God's presence, also he states that God IS the temple and royal house (Rev. 21:22). This section overall attempts to give a sense of the place and architecture of heaven while describing God, the Glory-Presence as what it actually is. The walls and atmosphere. And though it is all trinitarian in nature the Spirit is dominent. He calls it a Spirit-dimension where you can only enter 'in the Spirit'. This may all not sound unique, but Kline really is coming at it from angles that are unique. I can't recreate that. K. says this atsmophere of the heaven-temple where heaven dwellers breathe in the Spirit (which is the Breath of Life) is the secret of immortality. Breathing. Influence... He also calls the invisible heaven Glory-dimension, but Spirit-dimension he thinks is apt.]

Conclusion [This little 'Conclusion' section is only six lines, and I've basically said what he says here above already.]

II - ALPHA RADIATION: THE CREATION OF HEAVEN

1. The Big Blaze [(A note on something above: I said Kline is biblical, which seems obvious considering he's an orthodox, Calvinist, theologian, but what I meant is his insights into Scripture are that much more striking because he is an orthodox biblical theologian and bases his insights on Scripture. He sees more in the sacred text than other theologians, without speculating from extra-biblical sources and so on.) The 'big blaze' of the title of this section is a play off the term 'big bang' used to describe the creation of visible matter. Kline is saying heaven, the invisible world, is part of creation (rather than being something that existed with God in eternity before the Gen. 1:1 creation), and just as there may have been a big bang creation of the visible world there was also a big blaze creation of the invisible heaven. (K. is not endorsing any particular scientific theory of creation, per se, I don't think, I suppose I should add, just playing off terms to make a point.) The upper register is the invisible heaven and the lower register is the visible world. He goes into how God, the Glory-Presence, is in the upper register during the six days creation and it is described from that vantage point. (K. is associated with a reading of the six day creation - the Framework Interpretation - that is unique to orthodox theology and part of this section touches on that.)]
2. The Endoxation of the Spirit [(Kline often strikes me as a person who has found understanding in extra-biblical sources and then translates it back into biblical-theological terms (often coining new words in the process, disguising the language he learned it from, for various obvious reasons). For instance in this section language such as that God the unmanifest becomes manifest in a gracious, or sacrificial, act of self-limitation (describing creation, and more particularly the creation of heaven) is language from non-biblical sources describing what Kline is saying in this section though Kline uses language such as epiphanic effulgence and endoxation of the Spirit and alpha radiation. I can spot some of Kline's extra-biblical influences, but I couldn't prove them in a court of law. That though is an aside...) The 'endoxation of the Spirit' is a term K. coins to parallel the incarnation of God the Son. In the former case it is the Holy Spirit manifesting as the Glory-Spirit, whether as heaven itself, or the pillar of cloud or fire, etc. But Kline is talking of heaven in this section, and heaven being an actual epiphany, or manfestation of God Himself (mostly considered in terms of the Holy Spirit). It is a creative act too (heaven being part of the overall creation event of heaven and earth), yet heaven is uniquely a manifestation of God Himself. This section then gets complicated if you don't know classical covenant theology, and is nigh impossible to summarize without explaining CCT. (OK, so Kline requires some background and study...) Mainly, though, in this section he is describing the creation of heaven as an actual manifestation - or epiphany - of God much like the incarnation of the Son is an epiphany of God, and that manifestation of heaven was to Adam, so to speak, eschatologically, what Jesus and his work of redemption is to us after the fall of Adam. God's intent at the first, and after the fall, is to manifest his glory to his creation and draw his creation near to him. It's just taking a different route after Adam's fall in breaking the Covenant of Works. (And in this section Kline mentions grace - or lack of grace - or, you know, if you know, vis-a-vis the Covenant of Works, so all the people who are looking for references to that subject and Kline's position, or any possible changes or nuances on Kline's position, can look here, not that the rest of the book doesn't touch on that as well.)]
3. The Spirit and Filiation [This section is a little fugue on the mystery of the Trinity focusing on the Son and the Spirit and their role reversals regarding each other, and then noting the role of the Father. It just has to be read. (The use of the term 'role' is not to suggest any heretical view of the Trinity, but just a word I'm using in this fast note on a byzantine subject...)]

III - OMEGA APOCALYPSE: THE CONSUMMATION OF HEAVEN

1. Consummation and Glorification [A new heaven and a new earth suggest heaven, just as the visible creation, awaits a consummation where it will be glorified, speaking eschatologically. This requires a divine act, it doesn't just happen by mechanical evolution. The same regarding human beings. They can't just evolve into glorification, but require a divine act to make them glorified. Before the fall this would have occured if Adam had not failed in the Covenant of Works. Now it happens as the result of the work and sacrifice of Jesus. Either way it was God's plan from the beginning to consummate heaven and populate it with his glorified creatures and creation. Kline then writes of man's experience of heaven (and the new creation, i.e. the upper register and the lower register all being 'heavenized') in a glorified body. He suggests that like Jesus glorified man will have a dominion over creation where the, for instance, physical laws in place now won't have effect, i.e. Jesus passing through walls, rising up into the sky, etc., etc. The field of conflict that Satan makes this world, God's creation, would no longer exist. Heaven instantly would be peopled by glorified human beings (just as it was instantly 'peopled' by innumerable angels at the creation). Time would be experienced differently. Etc. The main point is heaven too is to reach a new state of glorification, even though that seems strange (how could heaven be more glorified that it currently is) yet there will be change in things like the population of heaven and there no longer being a difference in visibility regarding the upper register and lower register and so on.]
2. Consummation and Cosmology [This section and the lettered sections following, looks into whether the visible creation will actually be any different in a physical sense or will it just seem different due to man's new state of glorification and also due to heaven and earth both being visible and the whole cosmos of creation being 'heavenized'.]

a. Prophecies of a Cataclysmic Finis [In this next series of sections the question of whether the creation will remain basically the same through the apocalypse or will be changed and in what ways is explored. In this a. section K. deals with biblical prophecies that suggest great cataclysmic change which makes it difficult to suggest the creation will be the same basically, yet he then shows how those prophecies can be taken as referring solely to culture and the 'elements' of this present world system and so forth and not actually to mountains and suns and galaxies being overthrown. Like the change that occurs in a physical human body at glorification he suggests the change in the creation will be similar; continuity yet different. Just as a seed is different once it is planted, dies, and grows into something totally new. It's still the same seed, just different.]
b. Hypothesis of Basic Cosmic Continuity [In this section K. speculates on continuity in the context of some typical current scientific theories on the expansion of the universe and, in the other direction, the 'big crunch' theory, and so on (why he cares about current scientific theories who know, he dismisses them at the end anyway).]
c. Hypothesis of Radical Cosmic Restructuring [In this section he presents the "more likely option." (For the record I realize these general topics Kline is discoursing on are not unique subject matter or questions in systematic theology; I've just got this new book and am summarizing the sections as I read it; Kline's unique insights tend to be scattered in his works, but overall he is a classical covenant theologian; his general language though can be evocative and inspiring which is another reason to read him.) "A more likely option then is the hypothesis that a radical cosmic convulsion will occur at the end of this world-age, followed at once by a restructuring (2 Pet 3:13) that yields a cosmos which is a stabilized, optimal spatial environment for glorified humanity." K. then goes on to speculate what that might entail (you have to read the book) including changes in what defines 'earth' itself. He also discusses biblical passages relevant pro and con to what he proposes.]
d. Conclusion [Though these matters are not clear to us the fact of heaven coming down to earth and the upper register and the lower register being 'heavenized' is clear. In other words whatever happens, however it happens, the result is good for God is present and the overcomers are glorified. K. then bridges all this matter he's been talking about with the subject of Har Magedon by noting the New Jerusalem descends upon a mountain and how that recalls the mountain of Eden. "Therein lies a tale - the tale of Har Magedon," he says.

PART TWO: HEAVEN AND HAR MAGEDON

IV - EARTHLY REPLICAS OF HEAVEN

1. Glory Replication [In this section K. introduces Har Magedon as something - a mountain - that accompanies the different earthly types of heaven and the glory-presence. (This is really an "as above, so below" section, for the record.) "Earth, the visible cosmos, was made to mirror the invisible world of heaven." He references the section above on the Trinity, putting its reasons for being up there into perspective. It seemed out of place, but he's talking about the replicating of the Glory Spirit and the epiphanation of the Spirit and the radiating of the divine Glory which involves the Trinity too. The eternal procession of the Spirit and filiation of the Son (read this book for more). He states that this replication principle is the dominant aspect of the exhibiting of the Glory of God, which in turn is teleologically the ultimate tenet of theology. Reason for everything. Angels glorify God (the good ones), God's elect glorify God, the creation glorifies God, etc. K. is going to focus on earth in these next sections regarding the types of heaven and the connection of the Har Magedon mountain. Eden, the ark, Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple, etc.]
2. Replication in the Genesis Prologue [This is a longish section going over material basically covered in Kline's Images of the Spirit. An interesting part (most of the section deals with the Genesis six-day creation passages and the replication of the Glory-Spirit in the earthly things), but an interesting part is where Kline discusses the Image of God in man along these terms. I can't summarize this long section, but I'll just give the three things that K. gives as the defining characteristic of the Image of God in man: 1. royal-judicial dominion; 2. ethical purity and integrity; and 3. visual luminosity. The third coming with glorification. Bascially the gist of this long section is how the upper register (heaven) is replicated in the earthly creation all throughout the Genesis creation account, and he gives examples.]

V - MOUNTAIN OF GOD

1. Eden as Replica of Heaven [Here K. goes into how Eden is a replica of heaven, or the Glory-Realm, and is a 'sabbath land' like Canaan, that is a physical representation- or spatial aspect - of the sabbath. But he's showing how Eden (as Canaan) is a place where God has his throne and so on, and is going to introduce in the next sections how the mountain of Har Magedon is in Eden as well. (Kline is difficult to summarize completely in each of these sections, meaning there is alot more, meaning he packs alot into each sentence and paragraph and section; but if you keep in mind the overall structure of the book - this section is on the Mountain of God - you can follow perhaps better.)]
2. The Mountain of God in Eden [In this short section K. introduces the fact that the mountain of the Lord existed in Eden. "This motif of God's mountain is a pervasive element in biblical symbolism from creation, through redemption, to consummation. It is most familiar in the form of Mount Zion..."]

a. Mount Zaphon and Mount Zion [This is a short section where Isaiah 14 is talked about in reference to the mount of assembly and the connection of Mount Zaphon with Mount Zion (basically he is leading to a discussion of seeing this typical mountain of the gods in Eden)...]
b. The Original Zion in Eden [This section makes the argument from various biblical texts and parallel clues from the land of Canaan and the New Jerusalem, etc., that in Eden there was a holy mountain.]
c. Sacramental Icon of Heaven [This is a wonderful section basically discoursing on the symbolic nature of a holy mountain (and couterfeit holy mountains). It's hard to summarize it. One detail: just as the holy mountain is described as having rivers flowing down to the surrounding areas, a mountain can also give judgment in having fire flowing down (volcano). He touches, though, on basically every symbolic aspect of a holy mountain - from the Bible and from mythology - in this section, in quick succession (hence the difficulty to summarize such writing, but if these notes inspire anyone to acquire the book then...)]

VI - HAR MAGEDON: THE MOUNT OF ASSEMBLY

1. The Meaning of Har Magedon ["One biblical name for the celestial mountain of God is Har Magedon. According to the more traditional view of this term it does not refer to the holy mount but signifies Mount Megiddo. However, the biblical evidence against the Megiddo view and in favor of understanding har magedon as a designation of the mountain of the Lord is quite conclusive." Then K. references an article he wrote on this subject which is included in the appendix of this book.]

a. The Hebraisti Clue in Rev 16:16 [This section establishes, with much going through the Hebrew and so on, the meaning of Har Magedon as Mount of Gathering/Assembly, the mountain of God.]
b. Har Mo'ed, Mount of Assembly [More analysis of the Hebrew to determine the meaning Har Magedon. He ends the section by stating his intention to establish the Zion/Jerusalem identity of Har Magedon.]

2. Har Mo'ed - Mount Zaphon/Zion - Har Magedon [More linguistic establishing of different biblical names for Har Magedon.]
3. The Gathering Against Zion [In this section K. continues establishing the meaning of Har Magedon this time focusing on the theme of the great gathering, the gathering of antichrist hordes against the Lord and his people at Har Magedon. It's a longish section touching on several biblical passages.]

Conclusion ["The biblical evidence is conclusive for the identification of har magedon with har mo'ed, the Lord's Mount of Assembly, Mount Zion with its city of Jerusalem, the city of our God."]

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FIRST INTERLUDE: There is a passage from the preface by Meredith Kline to this book that is helpful for understanding what lies ahead (Part 3). Here it is:

"Though the covenants remain the theological foundation and heart of the matter, by its adoption as our narrative framework Har Magedon becomes the dominant surface theme. As we track this theme through the Scriptures we discover a recurring pattern, an eschatological megastructure that appears in each of the typological world ages [before the flood ~ between the flood and the Incarnation of Christ ~ this current age] culminating respectively at mounts Ararat and Sinai/Zion and then once again, climaticallly, in the antitypical New Covenant age [the flood and the genocidal war the Israelites unleashed in the land of Canaan are types of the final judgment, the real thing being the final judgement to occur at the end of this current age]. This Har Magedon paradigm, which shapes our telling of the covenantal tale, consists in the following complex of elements:

1. establishment of a kingdom covenant by the Lord of Har Magedon [Ark Covenant with Noah; Abrahamic Covenant; Covenant of Redemption with Jesus]
2. a meritorious accomplishment by the covenant grantee, triumphant in the Har Magedon conflict [Noah; Abraham (and the Israelites); Jesus]
3. a common grace interim before the coming of the covenanted kingdom [the 120 years between God telling Noah of the flood to come and the actual flood; the 430 years in Egypt when the Canaanites' iniquity was coming to fulfillment; the interim church era]
4. an antichrist crisis [the wickedness before the flood; Pharaonic antichrist in Egypt and the apostasy in the desert; the current global surge of antichrist violence and satanic deceiving of the nations prior to the Second Coming]
5. consummation of the Glory-kingdom through a last judgment victory of the covenant Lord in a final battle of Har Magedon [the flood; the God-ordered genocide of the people populating the land of Canaan; the coming final judgement]

If only in condensed, digest fashion the present work is thus a comprehensive biblico-theological survey of the kingdom of God from Eden to the New Jersusalem..."

Basically, the eschatological structure, or Har Magedon paradigm, plays out typologically in two of the three eras of history: 1. before the flood and culminating in the flood itself; 2. the period after the flood ending in the Incarnation of Christ. The third account is the real thing of which the two prior were types, and occurs obviously now in this era, inaugurated by the Incarnation of Christ and ending in the Second Coming. Kline outlines the Har Magedon events in succession, in the three eras, in the forthcoming PART THREE. The pattern is outlined above in the five points.

(Though I should add that it appears the parts VII and VIII immediately following are still introductory prior to K. getting into what is described above that starts with 'The Ark Covenant' section...)

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PART THREE: HAR MAGEDON WARFARE: AN ESCHATOLOGICAL MEGASTRUCTURE

VII - ERUPTION OF THE HAR MAGEDON CONFLICT

1. Sabbath, Eschatology, and Covenant [Here K. just states the 6-day week and 7th-day sabbath is eschatological and covenantal in that the 7th day is the goal and lasts forever and it was instituted by God to include man and made part of the lives of his people. "To be sabbatically structured meant that human existence was from the beginning covenantal as well as eschatological."]
2. Covenantal Proposal of Sabbath Grant ["The archetypal sabbatical pattern is then one of works-judgment-rest." In this section Kline is talking about the Covenant of Works and showing that God's plan itself involves works (some of this material is directed at people who refuse to see a covenant of works in the Garden). This section ends with Kline rather forcefully rebuking those who are attempting to revise classical covenant theology by denying there is a covenant of works. I should state the subject matter in this section deals with law. vs. gospel and certain aspects of basic covenant theology which is really a necessary study to get everything one can from this book (obviously), yet on the other hand one doesn't have to be a Ph.D - or Th.D I suppose - to get covenant theology down; just put in a little effort to get the basics...]
3. Covenant and Har Magedon Conflict [This is a big section that gives background narrative - striking background narrative - to the subject matter overall. He discusses Satan's rebellion, basically, and Satan's successful tempting of Adam, on the earthly projection of the heavenly mount of assembly in the garden (Har Magedon), celestial site of God's royal court. (Jesus would be similarly tested by Satan on the same mountain and of course would prevail over Satan.) If Adam had prevailed then he would have entered the sabbath rest and glorification, but he failed. Of course all this was part of God's plan (Kline actually doesn't take it all a step back and speculate on the Plan from eternity, or the reason for it, but suffice to say Adam fell so as to set up the only way created beings can develop into real conscious beings with real conscience, real will, and real understanding: by falling and then connecting back with God in that internal faith and repentance reorientation that calls for the death of vanity, worldly pride, and self-will, and then rising back up through passive and active sanctification; God's justice and mercy and sovereignty and glory being demonstrated in the process.) I can't summarize this entire section. K. relates the basic narrative of Satan's pride and fall and attempt to sabotage God's plan by defiling the bloodline that would lead to the Messiah, etc., etc. He speaks in terms of spiritual warfare, by default, and puts it at the center of biblical doctrine in a way mainstream systematic theologians don't. The war that started on the mountain of assembly in the garden and that coninues on now and culminates on Har Magedon at the final judgment.]

VIII - MESSIAH: THE COMING VICTOR OF HAR MAGEDON

1. Decretive Inauguration of Redemptive Holy War [In these sections of chapter 'VIII' we get much of the primer in covenant theology Kline mentioned in his preface; I mean the most gathered in one place. What may be new to those who already are familiar with covenant theology is K. refers to the Covenant of Redemption as 'the covenant of works between the Father and the Son' to keep it simple. In this section he talks of the beginning of the redemptive holy war which is the announcement just after Adam and Eve get kicked out of the garden of Jesus eventually crushing Satan's head, in time, i.e. Satan's ultimate doom. This means what Adam couldn't do Jesus would accomplish as the second Adam, and by grace all who have faith in Jesus would benefit as if they did the triumphant work themselves. There is only one way to get into the Kingdom of God: by works. Either by your own works (good luck) or by Jesus accomplishing the works for you and all you having to do is recognize his authority as sovereign of the Kingdom of God. Of course you need to get zapped by the Holy Spirit too...]

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SECOND INTERLUDE: This entire book can be summed up as Holy War for the Mountain of God. What comes across, between the lines, is the element of spiritual warfare Kline is describing and talking about; a topic in biblical doctrine that is missing in action in the works of even the most on-the-mark and genuinely faithful to the Word of God theologians (Christian in Complete Armour not being a systematic theology)... Of course, spiritual warfare is in the realm of practice (and, gasp, effort) and is not even possible until one is regenerated by God and marked as one of God's own and hence taken notice of by the world and the devil and all his followers... I.e. when one is on the Way, rather than being tucked snugly and smugly within the confines of the Village of Morality, or stuck in the morass of the Slough of Despond, or still sitting back in the City of Destruction itself (language courtesy of John Bunyan and his Pilgrim's Progress).

Of course the motif of the Mountain of God is rather striking as well. This is something that can effect a complete change in how one envisions all of Scripture. The metaphor of mountains is so powerful away from Scripture, that we use it so naturally, and to see it in Scripture so front and center is striking and inspiring...

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2. Eternal Covenant of the Father and the Son [This section discusses the Covenant of Redemption. The covenant made between the members of the Godhead (principally the Father and the Son), made before the world began. This is basic covenant theology and K. goes into it some.]
3. The Lord's Covenant of Grace with His People [This section discusses the Covenant of Grace, the covenant made between God and the elect who have faith in the Saviour Jesus Christ. The Covenant of Grace plays out in time - in history - through different administrations, or, dispensations, culminating in the New Covenant, which is not a new one in terms of different one, but is the culmination of the covenant of grace. The section covers basic covenant theology, and K. hits on differents elements here.]
4. The Har Magedon Pattern in Premessianic Typology [The title of this section is somewhat misleading. Mainly he talks about this: "Once the decree was issued proclaiming the messianic Son the guardian of God's mountain and indeed the destined sharer of God's throne, Satan's anti-Har Magedon campaign assumed an antichrist character, with antichrist figures carrying out his machinations. They are bestial likenesses of the dragon and they culminate in the man of lawlessness in the final satanic assault on Har Magedon. That final antichrist crisis marks the closing hour of the Har Magedon confrontation of Christ and Satan. It merges into the last judgment and the eternal establishment of God's victorious Messiah and his people on the consummated Har Magedon, the heavenly Mount of Assembly of the new creation." All this holy war for the mountain of God, the throne of God, occurs from the Garden through history until the final judgment. Christ's followers become soldiers in this warfare, and it has to be fought though our Captain has already achieved the victory. We fight because we can, i.e. because we have been regenerated and have the Spirit in us. Faith hath a piercing eye to see into the spiritual realms and we have the ability to see the Kingdom of Satan, and it can see us... You fight the spiritual battle because you are a prophet, priest, and king in the Kingdom of God.]

IX - ARARAT: OLD WORLD TYPE OF HAR MAGEDON

1. The Ark Covenant [Since the rest of the book follows the 5 points outlined in the first 'Interlude' of my summary notes above I'll just note things in each section now that stand out aside from that main 'eschatological megastructure'... In this section there is a necessary distinction between the ark covenant God made with Noah (Gen. 6:13ff., esp. v. 18) and the covenant of common grace that God made with all mankind (Gen. 8:21-9:17). The Ark Covenant with Noah arranged for the deliverance of his family from the Deluge. All these covenants now in history are part of the Covenant of Grace and are given to man via free, undeserved grace, but again that is basic covenant theology and to read this book you should have a basic understanding of CT beforehand, ideally.]
2. Righteous Noah, Covenant Grantee [Kline doesn't say it but the Bible says Noah was perfect in his generations, which means he was part of the unmixed bloodline from Adam (unmixed with either, depending on how you read 'sons of God' in Gen 6:4, the line of Cain or the fallen angels and their offspring), and he was righteous in God's eyes in a time of extreme unrighteousness. Noah was also a type of Christ.]
3. Covenant Community in the Interval [This describes the common grace period of this era. A note on altars (like a pile of rocks) being symbolic of the mountain of God is interesting. And, during these periods God's people are always a - usually a small - remnant surrounded by Satan's followers, and alays hence living in tension.]
4. Antichrist Crisis [Kline here discourses on the Gen 6:4 episode and starts out with the safe reading and ends by including a demon element. He kind of includes both the human and fallen angels interpretations of the 'sons of God.' He has a striking part where evil monarchs fashioning themselves sons of God are in antichrist rebellion to God. I.e. the practice of 'divine kingship' is traceable to this antideluvian time. They formed idolatrous theocracies (which exist today). A man assuming the position of deity. These totalitarian antichrist regimes seek to destroy all rival claiments to ultimate possession of the world (think communism, Islam, etc.). The hatred of Satan's brood for God's children intensifies in these antichrist crisis periods, and here, before the flood, God's remnant was reduced to eight - Noah's family - and even it had been infiltrated by Satan (Ham, the cursed). God responded (Ps. 94), judgment came and then the consummation of the holy assembly on the mountain of God (Har Magedon, this time Ararat).]
5. Parousia-Judgment and Gathering [Synonymous with the day of judgment is the parousia of the Lord. Ps. 29 suggests the storm clouds that brought on the flood were a theophanic manifestation of the Lord as the One who mounts the cloud-chariot and rides to battle. The Lord was present anyway because he - as Gen 17:16 says - shut Noah in the ark. (There is SO MUCH wealth of material in these sections - and I'm not referring to God shutting Noah in, I mean things I can't summarize - I'm getting lost trying to summarize it. Get the book.) He talks of judgment as 'divine ordeal,' this time water, in our time the element will be fire. Whoever comes through is righteous (which is by faith). The rest are overcome by the deadly ordeal medium. Included in the meaning of Har Magedon is 'assembly' or gathering, and this is a main feature of final judgment occurances; a gathering of God's people, or harvesting, on God's Mountain of Assembly. The Ark, the Temple, the New Jerusalem, being similar as a sanctuary built by the divine architect where God's people are gathered on His mountain.]
6. Kingdom Consummation on Ararat [Long section. The temple - the Ark - rests on God's Mountain of Assembly (Har Magedon) of the old world, Ararat. It goes into Noah as Christ figure and the nature of the Ark-temple, etc., etc.]

X - ZION: NEW WORLD TYPE OF HAR MAGEDON

1. The Abrahmic Covenant [For the rest of this PART THREE it is going to get ridiculous if I summarize each section like I have the above. The fact is the FIRST INTERLUDE above gives the overall subject matter of each of the sections following, and anything more would require too many words (which would always be too little - for blog entry summaries - to do the material justice). Much of what follows is standard explanation of basic covenant theology too, which has to be acquired on one's own from various sources. In this section he introduces the 'two-stage' structure of fulfillment in the history of the promised kingdom. The typological to the real thing.]

a. Introduction [See above; the contents page outline and the actual subheaders of the book kind of mismatch here.]
b. From Ararat to Abraham [This is basic covenant theology explication.]
c. Covenant of Promise [Talking of the the Covenant of Grace, with some particulars on the Mosaic Covenant and how that needs to be seen vis-a-vis the overall Covenent of Grace mixed in.]
d. Two-stage Fulfillment [Just as law-gospel marks a contrast between the Old and New Covenants (in a way, but not, of course, to mean that there is no law in the New Covenant, etc.) there is also a contrast regarding the two-stage fulfillment. This is shown via the subjects of king, people, and land.]

The King [Abraham was promised royal descendents. First stage: King David. Higher stage: King Jesus.]
The People [Abraham's descendents. First stage: Israelites. Second stage: all who by faith, whether Jew, Gentile, Greek, or barbarian, become the spiritual Israel.]
The Land [First stage: Land of Canaan. Second stage: the global/cosmic domain of the Messiah centered on heavenly Jersulem/Zion.]

2. Obedient Abraham, Covenant Grantee [This section has an interesting insight on the Melchizedec event in Genesis. Read the book. (OK, M. as a representative of the Lord as the Lord rewards Abraham after he repels invaders to the land. The Lord rewards Abraham for this. Etc. Read the book for the meaning of that.]
3. Covenant Community in the Interim [No text.]

a. The 430 Years [The years in Egypt.]
b. Pilgrims and Good Neighbors [Intensely interesting section. Pilgrim politics. It explains the necessary yet annoying and at times infuriating kow-towing Christian statesmen have to practice with the 'noble people of the earth' (if you understand you understand).]
c. Continuing Remnant [Talks of the rather central fact of the existence of God's remnant in all eras of the history of redemption.]
d. Covenant Family Polity [Discusess the role of the father in the patriarchal era regarding covenant polity, and how the father was even a prophet and recepient of special revelation, etc. Later it would be king, then ultimate King, Jesus. An interesting aside is included on other families in the covenant of grace in the patriarchal period, mentioning Job and Melchizedec.]
e. Altars and Divine Presence [Altars were anticipatory pointers to Jerusalem/Zion for the patriarchs.]

4. Antichrist Crisis

a. Pseudo-Har Magedon at Babel [The attempt at ecumenicity of humanity at Babel in defiance of Deity was a sign of the latent evil in man showing itself right after the flood. Because the mystery of iniquity had to come to fruition God dispersed the human works of the tower of Babel.]
b. Pharaonic Antichrist [The antichrist traits of the pharaohs increased to a tipping point. (These notes are now pathetically short and not representative of all that Kline is including in these short yet packed sections. I just feel that I need to finish my aim to makes notes on the entire book. Again, read the FIRST INTERLUDE above to see the overall themes of this third part of the book.)]

I'm not continuing with these notes due to, as I've been stating, all this THIRD PART is basically outlined in the FIRST INTERLUDE above, and the section titles are so descriptive themselves from this point my short notes are not accomplishing much beyond the titles. This has been enough to give a general take on the contents of the book. Buy the book. It's a capstone (not an overstatement) of sorts of classical covenant theology. What it presents is deceptively obvious. There is rare, revelatory material in this book. A rather uncommon thing for any book on biblical doctrine...

5. Divine Judgment

a. Parousia
b. Redemptive Judgment
c. Gathering of the Kingdom People to Mount Zion

6. Kingdom Consummation: Inauguration of the Typal Kingdom at Sinai

a. Introduction
b. Covenantal Constituting
c. Enthronement of the Covenant Lord
d. Re-creation

7. Kingdom Consummation: Culmination of the Typal Kingdom on Zion

a. Introduction: Sinai Covenant and Abrahamic Promise
b. Occupation of the Kingdom Land

Prophetic Victory Hymn
Moses-Joshua: Conquest Phase
Judges: Consolidation Phase

c. The Theocratic Monarchy

The Promised King
Conquest and Victor's Palace
Davidic Covenant
Temple Construction, a Re-creation
Enthronement of the King of Glory on Zion

XI - HAR MAGEDON IN THE MESSIANIC FINALE

1. Danielic Preview

a. Introduction
b. Daniel 2
c. Daniel 9

2. Christ, Covenant Grantee and Guarantor

a. Introduction: Covenant Theology
b. Har Magedon Setting
c. Defence of Har Magedon
d. Conquest of the Dragon

Revelation 12
Revelation 20

e. Lord of the New Covenant

3. New Covenant Interim

a. Introduction
b. The 3 1/2 Years Symbol

Daniel 9
Daniel 7
Daniel 12
Daniel 2
Revelation 11
Revelation 12
Revelation 13

c. The Interim and Millennialism
d. The Millennium Symbol (Rev 20:1-6)

Millennial Nomenclature
Church Age Millennium
Pre-Kingdom Millennium

e. Conclusion

4. The Battle of Har Magedon

a. Introduction
b. The Antichrist Crisis

Global Challenge
Satan and Antichrist
Gog of Magog and the Apocalypse
Millennial Implications

c. The Parousia Day

Origins
Day of Covenant Judgment
Sabbatical Symbol
Day of Christ
Revelation 1:10 and the Sabbath
Octave Day Assemblies

d. Har Magedon Gatherings

Pre-Parousia Gatherings
Dual Parousia Gathering
Gathering of the Elect
Gathering of the Reprobate

5. Consummation of the Har Magedon Kingdom

a. Catharsis

Ethnic Cleansing
Deconstruction of Human Culture
Decontamination of the World of Nature

b. Pleroma

Glorification-Metamorphoses
Ekklesia Pleroma
Parousia Pleroma
Christ: Mediator of Pleroma Union
Final Epiphany: The Theanthropic Principle

6. The Gospel of Har Magedon

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Space and Time in the Genesis Cosmogony

Appendix B: Har Magedon: The End of the Millennium

Appendix C: Death, Leviathan, and the Martyrs: Isaiah 24:1-27:1