Abolition

The final ending and elimination of practices or states of affairs. Scripture looks forward to God's final abolition of the present order, through the inauguration of the new Jerusalem.

Things to be abolished in the kingdom of God

War and destruction

Hosea 2:18 See also Psalm 46:9–10; Isaiah 9:5; Zechariah 9:10

On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

Illness and suffering

Exodus 23:25–26 See also Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 7:15; Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:16–17 parallels Mark 1:32–34, Luke 4:40–41

So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you. No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.

Sin

Romans 6:6 See also Ezekiel 36:25–26 God speaks here of his abolition of sinful, human hard-heartedness; Romans 8:3–4; Hebrews 9:26

We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Death and mourning

1 Corinthians 15:24–26; Revelation 21:1–4 See also Isaiah 25:7–8, Isaiah 65:17–20; 1 Corinthians 15:54–55; 2 Timothy 1:10; Revelation 20:13–14

Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”

The abolition of idolatry in Israel

Israel was commanded to abolish Canaanite worship

Exodus 23:24 See also Exodus 34:13; Numbers 33:50–52; Deuteronomy 12:2–3

You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

The abolition of the temple

Sacrifice in the temple abolished

Daniel 11:31 Antiochus Epiphanes abolished the daily sacrifice in the temple in 168 B.C., thereby attacking the symbolic centre of Israel's life. See also Daniel 12:11

His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.

Jesus Christ was accused of seeking to abolish the temple

Matthew 26:61 parallel Mark 14:58 See also Matthew 21:12–13 parallels Mark 11:15–17, Luke 19:45–46 Jesus Christ's action may have been understood as a symbolic abolition of a defiled sacrificial system; Matthew 27:39–40 parallel Mark 15:29–30; Acts 6:14

and declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

The final abolition of the temple in the new Jerusalem

Revelation 21:22

But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

Abolition and the law

The law has not been abolished

Matthew 5:17–19 See also Romans 3:31

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The law has been abolished as an instrument of condemnation

Colossians 2:13–14 See also 2 Corinthians 3:6–17; Ephesians 2:14–16; Hebrews 10:1–10

When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

The law does not abolish God's promises

Galatians 3:17–18 God did not abolish his promise of righteousness to Abraham when he gave the law, because the promise was not conditional upon keeping the law but is received by faith. See also Romans 4:14

What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.

The offence of the cross is abolished by accepting circumcision

Galatians 5:11 Jews found offensive the Christians' claim that salvation did not come through keeping the law, but instead through faith in a crucified Messiah, whom the law had cursed. Paul regarded “the offence of the cross” as central to the gospel, and refused to make salvation conditional upon circumcision and obedience to the law. See also 1 Corinthians 1:22–24, 1 Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 3:13, Galatians 5:2, Galatians 6:14–15

Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.