The Kingdom: Bad News & Good News
November 23rd, 2007 by Sean
Jesus was an itinerant prophet who traveled from town to town proclaiming that the kingdom of God was near. Furthermore, he commanded that people within reach of his voice repent because of this nearness. In the past it has been hard for me to make sense of this because I understand the kingdom to be paradise. Just imagine someone coming up to you saying, “repent because the earth is about to be regenerated to paradise.” This would more likely inspire expectation on par with a child who just finds out that her parents are going to take her to Disney Land in a few days. If the kingdom means joy and eternal life then it will likely not inspire repentance but expectation and curiosity. Yet, it has become increasingly clear as I have mulled over Jesus’ gospel proclamation that his message was more like a double edged sword than a wispy promise of eternal happiness.
The Bible is very concerned about the earth. This is the lesson of the first two chapters of Genesis and the last two chapters of Revelation. God made it, he declared it “good” seven times over, things got messed up, BUT God is so powerful that he can fix it, restore it back to the way it was intended to be (or even better?).
Isaiah 45:18
For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am the LORD, and there is none else.
God’s intention is to have this earth inhabited, but not with those who reject, ignore, marginalize, or despise him. He wants to fill the earth with those who throughout the eons have made the opposite decision of Adam and Eve who chose to be like gods rather than to be with God. Those who have ventured to swim against the current of a world locked in depravity will be populating the world that makes sense in the end.
2 Peter 3:13
But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Back to Jesus’ message about the coming kingdom; he proclaimed that all should repent because God’s new world was on the horizon. However, this is a double edged statement because in God’s new world there are no wicked people. Therefore, if one was not already right with God he had better repent. Thus the first sense in which one understood Jesus usage of the phrase “kingdom of God/heaven” was as judgment. Once repentance occurred (which was more than just moral reform but also getting on board with the kingdom agenda Jesus espoused) then the kingdom became not only a promise to enjoy God’s bright restorative tomorrow but also to have a role in bringing it to pass as a member of the royal family.
It appears that some will enter that messianic rule as a subject under King Jesus’ authority, mortal none the less, but still living during the time of restoration.
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
This section seems to be a discusion among those who shall be “ruled over” during that time. It seems repentance is an ongoing theme even during the thousand year reign of messiah.
However the time of purification coming at the end of the thousand rule, that will be absolute.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Will the Father allow another round of repentance during the millenium? Does this verse in the latter part of revelation convey that possibility? Or is all hope cut off at the return of Jesus messiah at the begining of the millenium?
Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Great question, Jim, not sure if I have the answer. God is certainly just and merciful. We will have to wait and see. Certainly if someone were to fall for the final deception of Satan following the millenium and surround the camp of the saints, they would exclude themselves from the paradise after the millenium.