The Spiritual Kingdom

[didymus]

I have always believed, even before coming to the knowledge of fulfilled prophecy, that the kingdom of Christ, after his return, would be totally spiritual.

According to John 3.3, if one is not born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Being born from above is a spiritual birth. So, unless you are born spiritually you cannot see the kingdom, because only those spiritually born can see a spiritual kingdom.

According to John 3.5, unless one is born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom.

In John 18.36, Jesus said that His kingdom is not of this world.

Romans 14.17 states, "For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

I Corinthians 15.50 states, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption."

II Peter 2.11 tells us that the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is an everlasting kingdom.

These Scriptures tell us that the kingdom of God and Christ is an everlasting spiritual kingdom. Since the coming of Christ, who came in His kingdom, it is the only kingdom of God. The physical kingdom has been destroyed. So, the only kingdom God has is the everlasting spiritual kingdom.

As I consider the ramifications of the fact that the kingdom we are in, if we are born of the Spirit, is the everlasting spiritual kingdom of Christ, I am awed by the concept.

Totally, 100%, spiritual kingdom, that flesh and blood cannot inherit, tells me there are no physical doors that flesh and blood can enter there in. There are no physical rituals of water baptism, feet washing, love feast where people eat rice soup, etc., that have any place in this totally, 100%, spiritual kingdom. It doesn't matter how much we do these physical rituals. None of them qualify us to inherit the spiritual kingdom of God. We must be born of the Spirit of God.

Those of us who believe in fulfilled prophecy need to take seriously the ramifications of our belief. There are those that hang on to the wilderness journey instead of fully appreciating the promised land. We are in the promised land, we do not need to continually go through the Red Sea.

[Morris]

May 5, 2010 7:28:17 GMT -5 @didymus said:

These Scriptures tell us that the kingdom of God and Christ is an everlasting spiritual kingdom. Since the coming of Christ, who came in His kingdom, it is the only kingdom of God. The physical kingdom has been destroyed. So, the only kingdom God has is the everlasting spiritual kingdom.

I don't think a person needs to be a preterist to understand these truths either.

What we see in the new testament was the original plan of God for the people that He calls His.
He desired to be the King of His people in the OT (1 Samuel 8:6,7) and now He is the King of His people (1 Timothy 1:15-17).
He called His people a kingdom of priests and a holy nation in the OT (Exodus 19:5,6) and now we are a royal preisthood and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).

A physical nation of land with earthly power was the desire of people; a spiritual nation of people with heavenly power was the desire of God. (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 2:5, and many, many more...)

[didymus]

May 5, 2010 9:16:08 GMT -5 Morris said:

May 5, 2010 7:28:17 GMT -5 @didymus said:

These Scriptures tell us that the kingdom of God and Christ is an everlasting spiritual kingdom. Since the coming of Christ, who came in His kingdom, it is the only kingdom of God. The physical kingdom has been destroyed. So, the only kingdom God has is the everlasting spiritual kingdom.

I don't think a person needs to be a preterist to understand these truths either.

What we see in the new testament was the original plan of God for the people that He calls His.
He desired to be the King of His people in the OT (1 Samuel 8:6,7) and now He is the King of His people (1 Timothy 1:15-17).
He called His people a kingdom of priests and a holy nation in the OT (Exodus 19:5,6) and now we are a royal priesthood and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).

A physical nation of land with earthly power was the desire of people; a spiritual nation of people with heavenly power was the desire of God. (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 2:5, and many, many more...)

I'm not sure I follow you Morris. God's plans can't be thwarted, can they be? It seems to me God's plan was to send Christ into the world at just the right time, to die for the sins of the world, and to set up His spiritual kingdom on earth. If He wanted to be the king of Israel, I don't think anything would have stopped Him from being so.

Israel was just a part of His plan to bring Christ into the world. Beyond that, there is nothing them I find special. They were chosen for special purpose, not that they were special.

By the way, I agree, you don't have to be a preterist to understand about the spiritual kingdom. My point is that a preterist should understand this.

[Morris]

(Perhaps my first sentence set the remaining post up as being in some kind of disagreement, but it wasn't meant to be.)

I didn't realize I suggested that God's plans could be thwarted. I thought I was saying that God's plan has always been the same, regardless of which testament you look in.

The example of God being King shows that God was their King in the OT already. In the NT we see Christ as being crowned King.

Things are only 'thwarted' if looked at in an earthly sense. Dispensationalists (in general) believe God's plan to set up an earthly kingdom was thwarted when Jesus was crucified, but we know that this was the plan from the beginning, and was the necessary events to crown Jesus as King.

[didymus]

As far as I see it, God only ever had one plan. That plan was to send Christ. That was his plan from the foundation of the world. Israel became God's chosen people to send Christ into the world. Once that purpose was fulfilled, Israel's purpose was fulfilled.

The Old Testament simply tells us the story of God preparing the world for the arrival of His Son.

$ $

[kangaroojack]

didymus:

Israel became God's chosen people to send Christ into the world. Once that purpose was fulfilled, Israel's purpose was fulfilled.

Weren't they also God's ordained priests to the gentile nations but God took the kingdom away from them because Christ found that they were unfaithful stewards?

kangaroojack

[didymus]

Aug 19, 2010 16:16:28 GMT -5 @kangaroojack said:

didymus:

Israel became God's chosen people to send Christ into the world. Once that purpose was fulfilled, Israel's purpose was fulfilled.

Weren't they also God's ordained priests to the gentile nations but God took the kingdom away from them because Christ found that they were unfaithful stewards?

kangaroojack

I don't know.

I guess this confession is far overdue. I am not an Old Testament scholar. Far from it. Most of my studies have been in the New Testament. And, even in the NT, there are things I don't quite understand, and probably because I haven't studied the OT. For example, when the NT talks about the sacrificial laws, I am lost.

My interest has been centered on the philosophy of Christ, and how that philosophy can be applied to today. How should Christians be living today? That has been my main emphasis in my studies. For example, I have written articles like, "Husbands Love Your Wives." If husbands would love their wives as Christ loved the church/ekklesia, what would that do to the divorce rate? And, "The Burning Bed." If that husband would have loved that wife as Christ loved the church, that "Burning Bed," story might not have ever been told. To me, and forgive me, that is more important than the blood of bulls and goats.

I John 3.17, in the Amplified Bible states:

But if anyone has this world's goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him?

Matthew 23.23 in the Holman Christian Standard Bible states:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.

Justice, mercy and faith. Jesus calls them the more important matters of the law. We find the same principle in I Corinthians 13.1-3. The love of God, and how we express that love to our brothers and sisters in Christ is the most important part of the law. And these have been the areas of most of my studies. Not that I have perfect love on my own, but I am striving for that. So, forgive me, I don't know if they were also God's ordained priests to the gentile nations.