A Few Suggestions About the Kingdom
YOU MAY THINK YOU HAVE HEARD ENOUGH ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. YOU REALLY OUGHT TO READ THIS ANYWAY. IT DEALS WITH A VERY SIGNIFICANT ISSUE, I.E. HOW TO DEAL WITH THE APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS IN WHAT CHRIST TAUGHT WHEN HE PREACHED DURING HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY. A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF THIS ISSUE HAS CAUSED MANY DIVISIONS IN CHRISTIANITY AND CAUSED MANY TO WORRY AND BE CONFUSED. I THINK I HAVE BEEN SHOWN A SIGNIFICANT SIDE TO THE TRUTH. I AM OPEN TO CORRECTION.
In the beginning, there was no talk of the "kingdom" of God. God presented himself as though he intended to be mankind’s only resource for delegated authority, for sustenance, for judgment on matters, etc. If you want to get technical about it, today we would call God the king. But back in the beginning, the word “king” did not yet exist.
When Israel insisted on having Saul as king, they did it because they saw that the other nations had kings. It seemed like a good idea. God warned them that it was not convenient, but Israel insisted, so they got one too. One wonders which of the nations invented the idea of king. It was not of God, no matter how it happened, obviously.
Since Israel now had a king, God wanted to be that king’s personal king. But that only worked most of the time, not all the time, and only with David. And less with Solomon and finally, Israel had godless kings who led them astray.
In the midst of those godless times, God gave the Prophets messages to preach about a coming day when the throne of Israel would be taken over by the Messiah. They were looking for this in A.D. 1 or A.D. 0 or B.C. 0 or whatever the right designation is for the year Christ was born. But the masses of the Jewish people didn’t recognize him. There were some who were up on things and were looking in the right direction and had their ears open to God, and they did not miss him. The old people, Simeon and Anna, the shepherds, and, of course, the family of John the Baptist, who were in on it from the time that the angels spoke of it to Mary and Elizabeth.
When Jesus stepped out and began his ministry, he preached this kingdom. He said it was “at hand”. He was a little oblique about declaring his kingship, it seems from reading his words. He only really came out and stated that, later, to Pilate. He avoided being made king by the crowd, but later entered Jerusalem on the donkey colt and was hailed as king by another crowd. A complete reading of what he preached, though, makes it crystal clear that he was announcing the start of his active kingship in one form or another, depending on events to follow. He sort of presented, he didn’t push. The push will come… in time.
A complete reading will also show that he presented a seeming contradictory means for qualifying to enter that kingdom. It looks like a choice of grace or works. As in so many cases, he said things that were designed, spiritually, to confound the wise and edify the simple.
He told the Pharisees and anyone in the crowd who followed them, that they could only enter by being a lot better at law-keeping than they were. He also said it to godly Jews, and his own disciples. He said these things so that they could be clear that they needed to be saved.
At this point in Jewish history, the nation was under the Law and the Pharisees, originally set up to reform and restore the Law to Israel after many years of idolatry, were dictating a Law that was full of theology. I say theology because this is what the Pharisees had used. They had scholars who had written their opinions on what could be done and what could not be done under the law. They had “precedent” just like we do in constitutional law in America. They interpreted Law in ways that would allow them to do what they wanted to do. They finally arrived at a theology that allowed them to kill God.
Christ ratcheted the law down on these guys, who are the bad shepherds prophesied in Jeremiah. He basically said, “Okay, you say this, but I say THIS.” He showed them that they were NOT keeping the Law and if they hoped to be saved by doing that they would have to do a lot better. They were not being good stewards and servants so he told them parables about what happens to bad servants when the Lord returns from his wedding. And he did tell them he was here for now but was going away and they had better prepare for his return.
The correct response from them would have been “Lord, we can’t do this.” If they had been godly, they would have seen that the Law was impossible and that here was the saviour. Christ said that with man salvation by works is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible. If we take this simply, it just means that when people are all twisted up trying to be good enough in their own strength, Christ can just forgive them and heal them and stand them on their feet and they are justified. All it takes is to repent and kneel before him.
While applying the Law super-stringently to those who wanted to use it to get eternal life, he also gave the gospel of grace to those who said “Lord we can’t do it”. John the Baptist said “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This was very early. But at his conception the angel said “call him Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” So, those who had ears to hear knew he was there for them. They could repent and throw themselves on his mercy and no more works were necessary.
So, the Law that Jesus preached in the gospels was not for the “true Jew” who is described as one who is circumcised inwardly. It also was not for the Christian when the gospel was extended to the Gentiles. It was not for these to obey and be saved by works. And it is not for the Christian now to look into and see his shortcomings and think he has lost his eternal life.
Originally, this salvation was preached to the Jews. Gentiles were considered to be “dogs”. A Gentile woman was told by Christ that he shouldn’t give the children’s bread to the dogs. The woman asked if the dogs could have the crumbs. When Jesus ascended he told his Apostles to take the same message, including the parts that pressed the Law on the law-keepers, the stiff necks, to the world. The whole habitable world.
The message of Jesus was that there is and would be a kingdom. He majored on this. He only spoke a little about the church. The church is a hiatus in the history of God’s people. In the history of mankind it is a blurb. A parenthesis. What God in Christ was announcing was a kingdom and we should not forget it. At the end of things, it will be said “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever.”
As believers in Christ the church is in this kingdom. Paul said that we are “translated into the kingdom of the son of his love”. Christ said that the kingdom of God is within you. It cannot be observed (right now). And this is true. We are all citizens of US, UK, Cz, or wherever and yet, we are not. Paul says we are not citizens of this world but citizens of heaven. We obey the laws of our land because he said to do it. He said he sends law enforcement to maintain order so the church can operate. But, even so, this is the domain of Satan. To him it has been given, (for a time). We live in it. But we are not of it.
In the future, the kingdom will be a glorious, visible kingdom with Christ on the throne, imposed upon the world. All Israel will be saved, though the details of this are not told. Those of the church who qualify will reign with him, though details of this are sketchy. Apparently, there will be Gentiles still, Buddhists, Atheists, Hindus, who will be subject to this rule but again the details are not there. There will have been a separation of real from unreal professors. There will have been judgments and rewards handed out. There will have been deaths and the restraining of the devil, for a time. After 1000 years of this, apparently there will be more trouble, though the details and the naming of the players is obscure. At the culmination of this final conflict, Satan will be cast into permanent punishment.
T he time after this is characterized as new. New heavens and new earth. Christ will hand over his authority to the Father and God will be all in all. It is believed that Christ will sit on the throne of Israel and the church, his bride will be there with him. This will be forever.
______________________________________________________________
*There are places where the details are sketchy. This is where the theologians have stepped in and said “Here. Let us help you with that.” Then they got to arguing about what should be believed and finally had a scrappy, hair-pulling, eye-gouging brawl while simple believers sat by, waiting.
These details concern:
1) The timing of the Rapture in relation to the other events
2) The nature of the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of heaven
3) The roles of the church, Israel, the sheep (Gentiles who gave a cup of water…), etc.
4) Whether you can lose your salvation (because of different interpretations of what the Bible
says about the parables Christ taught.)
5) Anything that seems incomplete as to how, when, why, who………
In the beginning, there was no talk of the "kingdom" of God. God presented himself as though he intended to be mankind’s only resource for delegated authority, for sustenance, for judgment on matters, etc. If you want to get technical about it, today we would call God the king. But back in the beginning, the word “king” did not yet exist.
When Israel insisted on having Saul as king, they did it because they saw that the other nations had kings. It seemed like a good idea. God warned them that it was not convenient, but Israel insisted, so they got one too. One wonders which of the nations invented the idea of king. It was not of God, no matter how it happened, obviously.
Since Israel now had a king, God wanted to be that king’s personal king. But that only worked most of the time, not all the time, and only with David. And less with Solomon and finally, Israel had godless kings who led them astray.
In the midst of those godless times, God gave the Prophets messages to preach about a coming day when the throne of Israel would be taken over by the Messiah. They were looking for this in A.D. 1 or A.D. 0 or B.C. 0 or whatever the right designation is for the year Christ was born. But the masses of the Jewish people didn’t recognize him. There were some who were up on things and were looking in the right direction and had their ears open to God, and they did not miss him. The old people, Simeon and Anna, the shepherds, and, of course, the family of John the Baptist, who were in on it from the time that the angels spoke of it to Mary and Elizabeth.
When Jesus stepped out and began his ministry, he preached this kingdom. He said it was “at hand”. He was a little oblique about declaring his kingship, it seems from reading his words. He only really came out and stated that, later, to Pilate. He avoided being made king by the crowd, but later entered Jerusalem on the donkey colt and was hailed as king by another crowd. A complete reading of what he preached, though, makes it crystal clear that he was announcing the start of his active kingship in one form or another, depending on events to follow. He sort of presented, he didn’t push. The push will come… in time.
A complete reading will also show that he presented a seeming contradictory means for qualifying to enter that kingdom. It looks like a choice of grace or works. As in so many cases, he said things that were designed, spiritually, to confound the wise and edify the simple.
He told the Pharisees and anyone in the crowd who followed them, that they could only enter by being a lot better at law-keeping than they were. He also said it to godly Jews, and his own disciples. He said these things so that they could be clear that they needed to be saved.
At this point in Jewish history, the nation was under the Law and the Pharisees, originally set up to reform and restore the Law to Israel after many years of idolatry, were dictating a Law that was full of theology. I say theology because this is what the Pharisees had used. They had scholars who had written their opinions on what could be done and what could not be done under the law. They had “precedent” just like we do in constitutional law in America. They interpreted Law in ways that would allow them to do what they wanted to do. They finally arrived at a theology that allowed them to kill God.
Christ ratcheted the law down on these guys, who are the bad shepherds prophesied in Jeremiah. He basically said, “Okay, you say this, but I say THIS.” He showed them that they were NOT keeping the Law and if they hoped to be saved by doing that they would have to do a lot better. They were not being good stewards and servants so he told them parables about what happens to bad servants when the Lord returns from his wedding. And he did tell them he was here for now but was going away and they had better prepare for his return.
The correct response from them would have been “Lord, we can’t do this.” If they had been godly, they would have seen that the Law was impossible and that here was the saviour. Christ said that with man salvation by works is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible. If we take this simply, it just means that when people are all twisted up trying to be good enough in their own strength, Christ can just forgive them and heal them and stand them on their feet and they are justified. All it takes is to repent and kneel before him.
While applying the Law super-stringently to those who wanted to use it to get eternal life, he also gave the gospel of grace to those who said “Lord we can’t do it”. John the Baptist said “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This was very early. But at his conception the angel said “call him Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” So, those who had ears to hear knew he was there for them. They could repent and throw themselves on his mercy and no more works were necessary.
So, the Law that Jesus preached in the gospels was not for the “true Jew” who is described as one who is circumcised inwardly. It also was not for the Christian when the gospel was extended to the Gentiles. It was not for these to obey and be saved by works. And it is not for the Christian now to look into and see his shortcomings and think he has lost his eternal life.
Originally, this salvation was preached to the Jews. Gentiles were considered to be “dogs”. A Gentile woman was told by Christ that he shouldn’t give the children’s bread to the dogs. The woman asked if the dogs could have the crumbs. When Jesus ascended he told his Apostles to take the same message, including the parts that pressed the Law on the law-keepers, the stiff necks, to the world. The whole habitable world.
The message of Jesus was that there is and would be a kingdom. He majored on this. He only spoke a little about the church. The church is a hiatus in the history of God’s people. In the history of mankind it is a blurb. A parenthesis. What God in Christ was announcing was a kingdom and we should not forget it. At the end of things, it will be said “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever.”
As believers in Christ the church is in this kingdom. Paul said that we are “translated into the kingdom of the son of his love”. Christ said that the kingdom of God is within you. It cannot be observed (right now). And this is true. We are all citizens of US, UK, Cz, or wherever and yet, we are not. Paul says we are not citizens of this world but citizens of heaven. We obey the laws of our land because he said to do it. He said he sends law enforcement to maintain order so the church can operate. But, even so, this is the domain of Satan. To him it has been given, (for a time). We live in it. But we are not of it.
In the future, the kingdom will be a glorious, visible kingdom with Christ on the throne, imposed upon the world. All Israel will be saved, though the details of this are not told. Those of the church who qualify will reign with him, though details of this are sketchy. Apparently, there will be Gentiles still, Buddhists, Atheists, Hindus, who will be subject to this rule but again the details are not there. There will have been a separation of real from unreal professors. There will have been judgments and rewards handed out. There will have been deaths and the restraining of the devil, for a time. After 1000 years of this, apparently there will be more trouble, though the details and the naming of the players is obscure. At the culmination of this final conflict, Satan will be cast into permanent punishment.
T he time after this is characterized as new. New heavens and new earth. Christ will hand over his authority to the Father and God will be all in all. It is believed that Christ will sit on the throne of Israel and the church, his bride will be there with him. This will be forever.
______________________________________________________________
*There are places where the details are sketchy. This is where the theologians have stepped in and said “Here. Let us help you with that.” Then they got to arguing about what should be believed and finally had a scrappy, hair-pulling, eye-gouging brawl while simple believers sat by, waiting.
These details concern:
1) The timing of the Rapture in relation to the other events
2) The nature of the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of heaven
3) The roles of the church, Israel, the sheep (Gentiles who gave a cup of water…), etc.
4) Whether you can lose your salvation (because of different interpretations of what the Bible
says about the parables Christ taught.)
5) Anything that seems incomplete as to how, when, why, who………
posted by Biblical Christianity at 10:44 AM
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