The second misunderstanding that many people have is that we
are waiting for Jesus’ second coming for Him to establish His kingdom. If you
read Jesus’ words carefully, you will discover that He spoke of His kingdom as
if it already existed. “The
kingdom is within you,” He said, using the present tense. He could say that
because even while He walked the earth, people were putting their faith in Him
as their king; they were subjecting themselves to His rulership. True, His main
purpose was to announce the coming of the kingdom, but those who chose to
follow Him then were “charter members” of the coming kingdom.
The formal commencement of the Kingdom of God took place through
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When Jesus spoke the
words, “It is finished” on the cross of Calvary, they were loaded with
centuries of meaning. The beginning of what He “finished” was in the Garden of
Eden when Adam chose to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. Adam’s
disobedience brought death to the entire human race. Paul
put it like this: “Just as sin entered into the world through one man, and
death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.” Everyone
born of Adam (that’s all of us) is born under the curse of death. This is why
Paul often refers to people as dead before they come to Christ. Death
reigned from Adam until Christ.
God did not abandon His children after Adam brought death
into the world. He immediately announced a plan to redeem them from the curse
through the “Seed of woman.” In the fullness of time, Paul tells us, God sent
His Son, born of a virgin (to escape Adam’s curse) to redeem those who were
under the curse. The result of that curse was a death sentence, and Jesus
nailed it to His cross, removing it from our record. He disarmed those who had
ruled us, namely death and the devil, and triumphed over them. He led captivity
captive, Paul
told the Ephesians, and gave gifts to men. Foremost among those gifts is
the grace-gift of salvation: the removal of the curse.
Ever since that day, there have been two kingdoms coexisting
on earth: the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of the light. They coexist,
but they are not coequal in power. The king of darkness, Satan, has no power
over those who are subjects of King Jesus. Greater
is He who is in us… resist
the devil and he must flee… the
strongman is bound in order to wrest the power to rule on earth from Him.
Believers in Christ walk the earth as ambassadors from another realm – a
spiritual realm – another kingdom. Unbelievers still walk the earth too, bound
to their king, Satan, the
god of this age. They are still under the curse of death.
This is why Paul
calls us ambassadors from another kingdom. We must tell those still bound
by death that God has provided deliverance from death and reconciled them to
Himself through Christ. All they have to do is renounce their allegiance to the
kingdom of death and step into the kingdom of life. Those of us in the Kingdom
of God have no fear of death because when we pass from this earth, we move
immediately into the presence of God. “Absent
from the body is present with the Lord.” “Today
you will be with me in Paradise.” These promises and more tell me that
death is not an end; it is a blessed new beginning.
There is still the issue of those alive at the second coming
who have not trusted Christ and remain under the curse of death. Jesus may have
been referring to them when He
said, “At the end of the age, the Son of Man will send out his angels, and
they will gather out of his kingdom all the causes of sin and those who do
lawless deeds and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” This may coincide with the judgment scene in
Revelation 20. Like most of the events pictured in Revelation, the timing is
open for debate, but I see this as a real possibility.
There is another curious feature of the Kingdom of God. Jesus
said that the
Father gave Him the people the Father chose. He said that no one
could come to Him unless
the Father drew them. Paul says that when Christ has abolished the enemy’s
power and conquered the last enemy, death, He [Jesus] will hand
the kingdom over to the Father. He will give back to the Father the people
the Father gave to Him.
This adds a dimension to the Father/Son relationship that I
had not seen before. Jesus became the first fruits of a new race of people:
kingdom people. He is the eldest of many brothers (and sisters.) I believe that
ever since Jesus’ resurrection from the grave, He has remained in His exalted,
divine/human state, dwelling in His spiritual body while seated at God’s right
hand. At the end of this age, the church age, He will give the fruit of His
labor (and sacrifice) to His Father, just like the High Priest He is. Amazing!
John says that upon our resurrection, we will be like Jesus
because we
will see Him as He is. I think this means we will be walking the New Earth
with the same Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Palestine centuries ago
although we will all have new spiritual bodies. A perfect world filled with
perfected people ruled by a perfect Brother/King in the Kingdom without end.
May the Kingdom come indeed!
P.S.
My belief – shared by some, not by all – is that when we
“die,” we pass out of time. Time is an integral part of God’s creation of this
universe. When we leave this reality, we step into a different reality where
time has a completely different meaning. I believe that when I die, I will step
into eternity with everyone who has died before me and all those who may die
after me all at once. We will all enter God’s presence at the same “time.” At
that “moment,” Jesus will turn with all believers who died toward those who
remain on the earth, and with a shout and the sound of a trumpet, those who
remain on earth will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and the redeemed
who are alive at His coming will meet
Jesus “in the air.” And thus, we shall ever be with the Lord.
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