John D. Morris
Morris thinks Christ doesn’t begin reigning until a future second coming. So what’s Jesus been doing for the last 1,900+ years?
John D. Morris is President of the Institute for Creation Research. Among other endeavors, his organization publishes a daily devotional in booklet form and online. On September 14, 2009, Morris quoted Psa. 47:7 and made the following comments.
This stirring psalm of praise which celebrates the reign of Christ over all the earth, finds its primary fulfillment in Christ’s second coming and full reign over His Kingdom.
…even though there is a sense in which He reigns today, the sad fact remains that another has usurped rule.
This usurper can be none other than Satan…
But all is not lost! Our text assures us that Christ will reclaim His Kingdom: “He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. . . . God reigneth over the heathen” (vv. 3, 8). Christ the Creator, the Redeemer, the Heir, has conquered the enemy and soon will assume His rightful throne—“the throne of his holiness” (v. 8), “greatly exalted” (v. 9). Then we shall join the redeemed of the ages, and “shout unto God with the voice of triumph” (v. 1).
Morris is expressing a commonly held view which we will summarize:
Jesus reigns now in some nebulous, insignificant way. In reality, Satan rules the world. However, at the second coming, Jesus will really begin to rule, finally defeating Satan and forcing the world into submission with a rod of iron. What begins with bashing heads eventually results in a 1,000-year kingdom of peace on earth.
Morris predicts a future “full reign” of Christ, i.e., a “primary fulfillment” implying an earlier limited reign. By this, he means that today, Christ reigns only in “a sense.” Morris uses the word “sad” to describe the current state of affairs.
We really have no idea what reigning in “a sense” means and doubt Morris or anyone else does either. When expositors claim that there are two fulfillments of something, it usually means they have simply not accepted the first and only intended fulfillment.
In Daniel 7, we read about Christ receiving authority over his everlasting kingdom:
13 “I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed. (vv. 13-14, NASB throughout.)
This appears to be a prophecy of Christ’s first-century ascension, although not one of the commentaries we consulted offered this interpretation. Regardless, it is clear Christ was already sitting on his throne at the right hand of God in the first century (Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; Acts 5:31). How much authority does one have who sits at the right hand of God and receives everlasting dominion over all nations? Jesus was very clear about this. Even before his ascension, he declared, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). There simply can’t be any more authority than this. Can such authority be “usurped” or severely limited by the devil? Webster’s defines usurp as follows: “to seize and hold (as office, place, or powers) in possession by force or without right.” So according to Morris and countless others, Satan has absolutely no right to reign over this world, but has managed to wrestle Christ’s “rightful throne” away from him even though, as Morris admits, Jesus has already “conquered the enemy.” Somehow, he will be able to reclaim his throne at the second coming.
Confronted with the above, perhaps Morris would want to retract the word usurp and concede that, yes, Jesus has all authority, but just hasn’t begun to exercise it; he is simply letting Satan get away with running amuck in the world. We don’t like to put words in his mouth, but we suspect this is what Morris really means. But even if it were true, we have difficulty picturing a return of Christ and will pose some questions which are rarely, if ever, asked.
If Jesus Christ were to return to rule the world, what exactly would he do? Where would he start? Would he begin by putting a stop to war? How would he do that? What if people wanted to keep fighting? Would he force them to stop? How would he do that? Even if he could, it would not change their warring spirits. There would surely be multiple millions who would tell Jesus to take a hike and completely ignore everything he tried to do to create peace. Are we to believe that Chinese leaders would gladly give up their iron-fist rule over 1.2 billion people and let Jesus take charge? In your mind’s eye, can you see how this would actually work out? We can’t. It seems to us he would basically have to kill just about everybody. Many people in the world today know about Jesus, but ignore him and do what they please. How would it be any different if Jesus were to appear and proclaim himself ruler of the world?
Modern prophecy teachers claim that Jesus is going to return to earth just as most of its inhabitants are killed in a Battle of Armageddon and worldwide nuclear war. Jesus wins by default. We might wonder who would be left to reign over. But assuming there would be some people left, how would Jesus make them do what they’re supposed to do? Perhaps we assume when everyone sees him in some kind of glorified form coming on a white horse in the clouds they will all be convinced and just automatically obey him. We’re not so sure. Didn’t we go through something like this already? We are referring to the exodus of Israelites from Egypt. The Israelites witnessed all kinds of mind-boggling, fantastic miracles during the process of being released from slavery in Egypt. God couldn’t have done much more to demonstrate his glory. Did it work? No, they were still rotten inside.
At this moment, there are African children being sold as slaves to people who are quite willing to buy them. The parents of these children expect to see them again soon, but they never will. Very sad. So how would Jesus put an end to this heartbreaking and sinful activity? The people involved in slave trading presumably find it quite lucrative. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be doing it. And they undoubtedly abuse the young girls anytime they please. To them, this is the way to live. What do these scum-of-the-earth types need to turn them into nice people? Do they need an impressive Jesus on a white horse riding on the clouds? Do they need a battle of Armageddon to get their attention? We can tell you what they need: a new heart; the Spirit of God; and it’s available right now.
The real issue with the Israelites was their “heart of stone,” but God said he would, one day, supply a new heart:
26“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezek. 36:26-27)
God began changing the hearts of his new chosen people by the power of his Spirit on the day of Pentecost following the death and resurrection of Jesus. He does not need to appear physically to these people. First, God draws them to himself by his Spirit (John 6:44). Then he gives them faith so they won’t require physical evidence (Heb. 11:1). God hides himself so those without faith won’t believe in him and are thus, weeded out of his kingdom. This is how the system works under the New Covenant. God never forces anyone to come to him. He doesn’t work that way; he never has, and it’s doubtful he ever will. God is not building robots. We need to choose to respond to his Spirit and “seek him” (Heb. 11:6) as our authority and giver of life. God is not interested in automaton children. He doesn’t chase after us and force us into anything. Instead, he draws us to himself by the power of his Spirit. We turn around 180 degrees, so to speak, and begin responding to the call of the Spirit. Jesus doesn’t “come” to us — the Spirit of God calls, and we move toward him:
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. (Rev. 22:17)
Those who do “come” will eventually die and go to be with God forever. This plan is logical, easy to understand and works very well without Jesus ever returning to set up an earthly government. By contrast, John Morris’ teaching is not logical at all. What was the point of giving Christ his kingdom and then withholding the right to exercise any authority for almost 2,000 years? Jesus inherited a kingdom which “will not be destroyed,” but according to the popular view, Satan is destroying it every day. 1 John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” This sounds like Jesus has all authority over the devil and is exercising that authority. To “destroy the works of the devil” was the very reason for his appearing! Are we to believe that the very reason for Christ’s appearing has not yet taken effect? No, Jesus has clearly taken full control of heaven and earth, and his reign is everlasting. Their are no big changes planned for the future.
Morris’ view, which places a neutralized Christ at the right hand of God doing virtually nothing while the devil runs roughshod over his realm, is simply unbelievable to us. Such an uninspiring understanding of the cosmos is just one more sad result of denying the inspiration of the Holy Spirit regarding the numerous biblical predictions of a first-century return of Christ.
To read the full text of Morris’ article, click here.
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