in how each conceives of the kingdom of God and the Israel-church relationships. These areas are briefly treated next.
The Kingdom and Inaugurated
The eschatological kingdom is present in the person of king Jesus who displays, through his appearing and in his messianic and salvific work, the characteristics of the kingdom, but the kingdom is also a present reality through the church, the first institutional
appearance of kingdom citizens.
58The not yet aspects of the kingdom, the fullness of the kingdom, await Christ’s return when all of national Israel’s promises will come to fruition and God’s enemies will be judged (occurring in the millennial and consummative phases of the kingdom). The progressive dispensational understanding of the kingdom, therefore, is an inaugurated eschatology that is similar to George Eldon Ladd’s version, although it differs from Ladd’s in placing many aspects of the OT promises to Israel into the future manifestation of the kingdom.
59The use of inaugurated eschatology is especially
Church,” BibSac 145 (1988): 30-46; Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, 81-110. In these latter works Saucy dialogues with important scholars who contributed significantly on the subject of the kingdom, including Ladd, Herman Ridderbos, and C. H. Dodd. Saucy does differ with other progressives on the nature of the presence of the kingdom. In The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, 101, he writes,
“In the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom and the supernatural power displayed in miraculous signs, the kingdom actually invaded human history. The salvation blessings prophesied of the kingdom age were now present. But the idea of a present ‘reign’ of Christ over his kingdom on earth, whether seen in the church or in the total world, is never taught.” On the other hand, Bock, “The Reign of the Lord Christ,” 44, 46, 65-66, argues that Christ is presently reigning through the church and the fact that his exaltation gives him claim and sovereignty over all. The only difference now between his current reign and his future reign is the visibility of his rule.
58See Blaising and Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism, 232-83. Cf. Bock, “The Reign of the Lord Christ,” 65; Bock, “The Son of David,” 440-57. For other progressive dispensational discussion of the kingdom, see Gregg R. Allison, “The Kingdom and the Church,” in The Kingdom of God, ed. Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 179-205; David L. Turner, “Matthew among the Dispensationalists,” JETS 53 (2010): 697-716; and Mark Saucy, The Kingdom of God in the Teaching of Jesus in 20th Century Theology (Dallas: Word, 1997).
59For an overview of the progressive dispensational appropriation of inaugurated eschatology for their theology of kingdom eschatology and ecclesiology, see Russell D. Moore, The Kingdom of Christ:
The New Evangelical Perspective (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 39-44, 140-43; Russell D. Moore, “What Hath Dallas to Do with Westminster? The Kingdom Concept in Contemporary Evangelical Theology,”
CTR 2 (2004): 35-49, esp. 40-43. See also the discussion of the already-not yet framework in Blaising and Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism, 97-98; Bock, “Current Messianic Activity,” 69-70; and Bock, “God’s Plan for History,” 157-59. For the application of inaugurated eschatology specifically to the Davidic kingdom and messianic hope, see Bock, “The Reign of the Lord Christ,” 37-67. Inaugurated eschatology is also applied to the new covenant, consult Bruce A. Ware, “The New Covenant and the People(s) of God,” in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, 68-97, and Saucy, “Israel as a Necessary Theme,” 176-80.
Differences with Ladd’s form of inaugurated eschatology are pinpointed in Bock, “The Reign of the Lord
exemplified in their view that Christ is presently reigning as the Davidic king and currently seated on David’s throne.
60This point receives more attention with the discussion of the Davidic covenant.
Most traditional or revised dispensationalists made modifications to their conception of the kingdom by rejecting the classical distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven held by their predecessors.
61Nevertheless, unlike progressives, the kingdom is not a singular unified theme, and if the kingdom is present in the current dispensation, aside from God’s sovereign rule, it is only manifested in a spiritual or mystery form.
62Traditional dispensationalists also reject inaugurated eschatology and specifically the already-not yet framework that appears in progressive
Christ,” 54, although in “Current Messianic Activity,” 70n29, he does note the two formulations are “fairly close to one another.”
60See Blaising and Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism, 175-87, 257; Darrell L. Bock, Evidence from Acts,” in A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus, ed. Donald K. Campbell and Jeffrey L. Townsend (Chicago: Moody, 1992), 181-98; Bock, “The Reign of the Lord Christ,” 47-55; Bock,
“The Son of David,” 443-55; and though having differences with Blaising and Bock in terms of Christ’s current, active Davidic reign, Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, 59-80, esp. 70-76, also affirms inaugural fulfillment of the Davidic messianic promise. For discussion of the differences on the kingdom between Saucy and Bock, see Bock, “Current Messianic Activity,” 62-64.
61Bailey, “Dispensational Definitions of the Kingdom,” 213, finds that “Ryrie’s works reflect the developing decline of the importance of what was once considered a basic distinction within
dispensationalism, namely, the clearly defined bifurcation of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.”
62Ryrie, Dispensationalism, 180-83; John F. Walvoord, “Biblical Kingdoms Compared and Contrasted,” in Issues in Dispensationalism, 75-91, esp. 76-82; J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Findlay, OH: Dunham, 1958), 446-75; Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come, 278- 81, 292-98; and Benware, Understanding End Times Prophecy, 185-95. For an overview of the kingdom programs by more traditional or revised dispensationalists, see Fruchtenbaum, Israelology, 381-414;
Blaising and Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism, 39-46; cf. Bailey, “Dispensational Definitions of the Kingdom,” 209-16. Some more traditional dispensationalists do not find any presence of the kingdom during era of the church. For example, Toussaint, “Israel and the Church,” 231, submits that the “term kingdom always refers to the promised yet future fulfillment of Israel’s Old Testament covenants, promises, and prophecies. The kingdom was not present when Christ Jesus was here and it is not here even in
‘mystery form’ in this church age. It is totally future, awaiting fulfillment in the Millennium and eternity.”
Alva McClain’s view of an interregnum seems similar to the position of Toussaint.