The Gospel of the Kingdom 2, "The Kingdom is Tomorrow"

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Chapter two of George Eldon Ladd's "The Gospel of the Kingdom" (1959) The Gospel of the Kingdom

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In our introductory chapter, we sketched several prevailing interpretations of the
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Kingdom of God, and then attempted a basic description. The Kingdom of God is basically the rule of God.
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It is God's reign, the divine sovereignty in action. God's reign, however, is manifested in several realms, and the
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Gospels speak of entering into the Kingdom of God both today and tomorrow. God's reign manifests itself both in the future and in the present, and thereby creates both a future realm and a present realm, in which people may experience the blessings of His reign.
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The Kingdom of God is then the realization of God's will, and the enjoyment of the accompanying blessings.
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However, it is a clear teaching in the New Testament that God's will is not to be perfectly realized in this age.
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Central in biblical theology is the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. The Bible conceives of the entire sweep of human history as resting in the hand of God, but it looks for the final realization of God's Kingdom in a realm beyond history, that is, in a new and different order of existence.
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Yet, while this is true, there is a very real and a very vital sense in which
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God has already manifested His reign, His will, His Kingdom, in the coming of Christ in the flesh, by virtue of which we may experience the life of the
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Kingdom here and now. As there are two advents of Christ, one in the flesh, which we call the Incarnation, and the other in glory, which we call the
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Parousia, or second advent, so there are two manifestations of God's Kingdom, one in power and glory when
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Christ returns, but one which is present now because God's Son has already appeared among men.
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In this chapter, we are concerned to ascertain what the New Testament tells us about the future aspect of His reign.
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In order to understand this theme and to appreciate how the Kingdom of God can be both future and present, we need to sketch this truth against the background of another biblical teaching which has been infrequently emphasized and may seem, to some, quite novel.
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In popular Christian idiom, we often contrast the life of the present with that of the future by use of the words,
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Earth and Heaven. We live our bodily life here on Earth, but the future salvation will be consummated in Heaven.
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A more philosophical approach contrasts time and eternity as though they represented two different modes of existence.
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Our present life is lived in time, while the future order will be beyond time, in eternity.
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This concept is reflected in our popular religious idiom in the song, When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
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When the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair. One of the most brilliant recent discussions of biblical theology is that of Oskar Kuhlman in which he successfully demonstrated that such concepts are foreign to the biblical view.
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His book, Christ and Time, has shown that the biblical worldview involves a linear concept and that eternity as it belongs to redemptive history is simply unending time.
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The fact is obscured in both the Authorized or King James Version and the Revised Version which mistranslate the word underlying this biblical worldview.
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There are two words in the Greek New Testament which are translated by the single English word WORLD, a fact in which is obscured in our older English versions.
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First there is the Greek word COSMOS. A Cosmos is something which is in proper order or harmony, something which enjoys proper arrangement.
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Our word COSMETICS is derived from this Greek word. Cosmetics are aids for the ladies in arranging their faces to put them in proper order to adorn them.
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Cosmos, in its most common Greek usage, is the world as the sum and total of everything constituting an orderly universe.
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However, there is another word which is often grievously mistranslated in our Authorized Version.
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This word is EON from which the English word EON is derived.
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Primarily EON has no connotation of an order or a structure but designates a period of time and ought to be translated by the
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English word AGE. When we trace this word in the New Testament, we gather that in the course of God's redemptive purpose there are two ages which are frequently called
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THIS AGE and THE AGE TO COME. In Matthew 12, verse 32, the
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King James Version reads, Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him.
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But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
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However, our Lord is not speaking of two worlds but of two ages. The entire sweep of man's existence is set forth in terms of THIS AGE and THE AGE WHICH IS TO COME.
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The Greek word used is not COSMOS but EON, AGE. It is unfortunate that our older English Bibles obscure this important fact but it is correctly rendered in the
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RSV. Blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven and the sweep of never is two periods of time,
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THIS AGE and THAT WHICH IS TO COME. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 21, Paul describes the exaltation of Christ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in THIS AGE but also in THAT WHICH IS TO COME.
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Here again, the KJV translation WORLD is inaccurate. Paul does not have in mind two worlds but two ages.
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His word is not COSMOS but EON. There is no thought of two orders of society but of two periods of time.
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A slight variant of this expression is found in Mark chapter 10, verses 29 and 30. Jesus said,
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And truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brethren or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecution and in the age to come eternal life.
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In the second half of the verse, we find again the word EON and the translation in the world to come does not accurately represent the idea.
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In the first half of the verse, the word TIME, Kairos, appears instead of EON or age.
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This makes it doubly clear that the reference of the verse is to two periods of time, not two worlds.
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In this time, in this age, we are to expect hostility to the gospel. In the age to come, those who have followed
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Christ will be freed from all opposition and sufferings and will enjoy eternal life. When we trace this concept further, we discover that these two ages are separated by the second coming of Christ and the resurrection from the dead.
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In Matthew 24, verse 3, the disciples came to Jesus with the question, Tell us, when will this be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?
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The rendering in both the King James Version and the Revised Version suggests that the disciples were asking about the time and destruction of this world, its end.
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On the contrary, their question had to do with the consummation, the completion, of this age which will be followed by another age.
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According to this verse, this age is expected to come to its close with the parousia or second coming of Christ and it will be followed by the age to come.
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Another event dividing this age from the age to come is the resurrection from the dead. In Luke 20, verses 34 -36, we read,
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Jesus said to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
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Here again our Lord refers to two ages, not two worlds. In this age, marriage is a necessary institution.
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The sons of this age, all who live in this time, must marry and raise children to propagate the race, but a different state of affairs will prevail in the age to come.
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For those who enter that age will do so by way of resurrection. Therefore they will be like the angels in this one respect.
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They no longer will be subject to death, but will, like the angels, be immortal, for they have become sons of the resurrection.
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Therefore not only the second coming of Christ, but also the resurrection from the dead will terminate this age and inaugurate the age to come.
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We may illustrate this basic structure by a simple diagram, which we shall designate the conflict of the ages.
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C stands for creation, P for the parousia of Christ, and R for the resurrection of the dead.
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This age had its beginning with the creation, but the age to come will go on endlessly forever. We may therefore speak of the age to come as eternity, by which we mean unending time.
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This simple timeline is shared by the writers of the New Testament with contemporary Judaism, for both are rooted in the
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Old Testament worldview. When we ask what Scripture teaches about the character of these two ages, we find a sharp contrast.
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This age is dominated by evil, wickedness, and rebellion against the will of God, while the age to come is the age of the kingdom of God.
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In Galatians 1, verse 4, we read that Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us the present evil age.
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This age is an evil age. It is characterized by sin and unrighteousness.
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It is an age from which men need deliverance, a deliverance which can be accomplished only by the death of Christ.
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The second chapter of Ephesians gives us an extended discussion of the character of this age. Paul says,
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And you he made alive when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the age of this world,
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Ephesians 2, verses 1 -2. In this verse, both words age and world are employed, indicating that while this age and world are not synonymous, they are closely related.
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There is a certain order of human society which characterizes this age. Paul describes it with the words,
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In which you once walked, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience.
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The character of the age of this world bears the stamp of the prince of the power of the air, that is,
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Satan. He is permitted to exercise a terrible influence throughout this age, inducing men and women to walk in a way displeasing to God.
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Among these, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of the body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
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These passions of the flesh are not alone bodily, fleshly sins, they are not only sins of gluttony and drunkenness and immorality, pride is a sin of the flesh.
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So our egotism, selfishness, stubbornness, determination to have one's own way, in Galatians 5, verses 19 -21, all of these belong to the flesh.
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When we were walking according to this age, we lived according to the lust of our flesh, and were by nature children of wrath.
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This is a terrible verse, children of wrath. God's wrath, the holy judgment of a righteous
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God, rests upon this age, upon its sinfulness and its rebellion. God's wrath must also fall inescapably upon those who are conformed to its evil, rebellious character.
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In the parable of the soils, we read of seed which falls upon thorny ground. The seed sprouts, but the thorns grow up and choke the word.
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In Matthew chapter 13, verse 7, our Lord interprets this with the words, as for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the age and the delight and riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
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The care of the age is not a lone worry and trouble and anxiety of making a living, it is the entire spirit which characterizes this age.
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Worry and anxiety about one's physical life, to be sure, but also the pressure, the drive of ambition for wealth, success, prosperity, and power.
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All of this is involved in the care, the burden of this age. The point is this, it is the character of this age to choke the working of the word of God.
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The spirit of the age is hostile to the gospel. When the gospel is preached, it often seems to lodge in the hearts of men and women.
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They hear it, they seem to receive it, they make a response to it, and yet it is often only a superficial response.
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There's no fruit. As the care, the concern of the age presses in upon them, they are not willing to pay the price of following Christ.
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The word of God is choked and is unfruitful. This age is hostile to the gospel, and men often yield in conformity to this age, rather than surrender to the claims of the gospel.
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There is a conflict between the age and the gospel of the kingdom.
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One of the most important verses describing this age is 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 -4.
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Because it explains what lies behind these other sayings. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.
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In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
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Two things stand out in this verse. Satan is the god of this age. In God's sovereign purpose,
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Satan has been permitted to exercise a great measure of authority and power throughout the duration of this age.
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We have already read in Ephesians, in the age of this world, we once lived according to the prince of the power of the air.
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As an instrument of his judicial righteousness, God has permitted Satan to exercise such influence in this age that Paul can speak of him as though he were the god of this age.
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Whence comes the evil, the hatred, the deception, the strife, the conflict, the sin, the misery and the pain, suffering and dying, which characterize this age.
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It comes from Satan. This does not mean that man can throw off responsibility for his own evil conduct.
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It does mean that evil is more than human. It has its source in an evil superhuman personality.
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This fact is not to be interpreted as a fundamental dualism, as though God and Satan, good and evil, were two eternal principles.
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Back of all things, including Satan and evil, stands the eternal God. But God has permitted
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Satan to wield such power that the result is a limited ethical dualism.
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We can discover in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the manifestation of satanic influence. It is not found in the fact that the god of this age has dragged good men down into the gutter of sin, or that the strong young men and the beautiful young women have been thrown down into a sink of immorality and corruption.
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In their case, the god of this age hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ.
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Here is the root of evil, blindness, darkness, unbelief.
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The biblical philosophy of sin makes ethical and moral evil secondary to religious evil.
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Paul elsewhere refers to the ungodliness and wickedness of men in Romans 1, verse 18.
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All forms of wickedness ultimately grow out of the root of ungodliness. Sin is primarily religious and secondarily ethical.
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Man is God's creature, and his primary responsibility is toward God. The root of sin is found in his refusal to acknowledge in grateful dependence the gifts and goodness of God, in Romans 1, verse 21.
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And those are now imparted in Christ. The primary manifestation of satanic influence and of the evil of this age is religious.
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It is blindness, with reference to the gospel of Jesus Christ. How often we fail to understand the satanic devices.
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A man may be cultured, ethical, and even religious, and yet be in demonic darkness.
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Satan's basic desire is to keep men from Christ. His primary concern is not to corrupt morals, nor to make atheists, nor to produce enemies of religion.
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Indeed, religion, which rests upon the assumption of human adequacy and sufficiency, is an enemy of the light.
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This is the character of the age of this world, darkness. It is obvious from these verses that the kingdom of God does not belong to this age, for Satan is called the
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God of this age. This is not to suggest that God has been dethroned, or his hand removed from the control of the universe.
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It remains eternally true that the Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all, in Psalm 103, verse 19.
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Even when evil is strongest on the earth, when God's people are most violently attacked by Satan, God is still the
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King of the Ages, in Revelation chapter 15, verse 3. It is the providence of God's sovereign rule that this state of affairs has come to pass.
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It is, however, basic to our understanding of the kingdom of God to recognize the biblical teaching that this age is in rebellion against God's rule.
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The New Testament sets the age to come in direct opposition to this age. The present age is evil, but the kingdom of God belongs to the age to come.
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The kingdom of God, both as the perfect manifestation of God's reign and the realm of completed redemptive blessing, belongs to the age to come.
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This is clearly illustrated in our Lord's conversation with the rich young ruler, who came with a request, teacher, what good deed must
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I do to have eternal life, in Matthew chapter 19, verse 16. This young man was not acquainted with the teaching that a man can have eternal life here and now, he was interested in life in the age to come.
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Our Lord told him he should free himself of every restraint that hindered him from becoming a disciple.
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When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions, in verse 22.
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Then Jesus said then to his disciples, truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
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The young man's request was, how may I have eternal life? But our Lord's answer was, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, in verse 23.
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And again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, in verse 24.
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In passing, let us notice that these two phrases, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven, are obviously interchangeable.
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Furthermore, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are both interchangeable with eternal life. Mark, Luke, and John always speak of the kingdom of God.
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Matthew alone has the kingdom of heaven. And in chapter 12, verse 28, chapter 19, verse 24, chapter 21, verses 31 and 43,
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Matthew has the kingdom of God. The difference between the two phrases is to be explained on linguistic grounds.
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The kingdom of heaven is the Semitic or Jewish form, and the kingdom of God is the Greek form of the same phrase.
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Our Lord taught in Aramaic, a language very similar to Hebrew, whereas our New Testament is written in Greek.
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Jesus teaching Jews probably spoke of the kingdom of heaven, which would be the natural
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Jewish form of expression. We have extensive evidence from Jewish rabbinic literature that this phrase was in common usage.
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To the Greek ear, these words would be meaningless. And when the phrase was translated in our
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Greek Gospels for Greek readers, it was uniformly rendered the kingdom of God. In the
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Gospel of Matthew, which was probably written to Jewish believers, the original phrase, the kingdom of the heavens, was usually retained.
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The terminology in Matthew chapter 19, verses 23 to 24, makes it quite clear that the two phrases are interchangeable, and that no difference of meaning is to be sought between them.
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What did the Lord mean in saying that it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God?
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What is the kingdom of God? In verse 23, it is the kingdom of heaven. In verse 16, it is eternal life.
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Then the disciples ask, who then can be saved? In verse 25, clearly all of these expressions refer to the same blessing to be obtained in the future when
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Christ comes again. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of the heaven, eternal life, salvation, they are interchangeable terms.
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Jesus says that with men it is impossible to be saved. Entrance into eternal life in the kingdom of God is no more possible for men to attain by all human resources than it is possible for a camel to go through a needle's eye.
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This would be a miracle indeed, and so it is a miracle for a rich man, or a poor man either for that matter, to have his affections turn from his possessions that he may become a disciple of Jesus and thus be prepared to enter the future kingdom of heaven.
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But for those who have experienced this miracle in their lives, Jesus gave the promise, Truly I say to you, in the new world, when the
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Son of Man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
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In verse 28. And in verse 29, Jesus adds, Everyone who has left houses, our brothers, our sisters, our father, our mother, our children, our lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.
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When we turn to the same passage in the Gospel of Mark, we find the Lord's terminology more fully recorded.
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Those who have followed Jesus will in this time experience great blessings, which will however be accompanied by persecutions.
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But in the age to come, they will receive eternal life. In Mark chapter 10, verse 30. By comparing these passages, we discover that eternal life, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, salvation, the age to come, all belong together.
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They are the promise of the future for those who in this age have become disciples of Christ.
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Eternal life belongs to the age to come. The age of God belongs to the age to come.
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If this verse were the only biblical teaching about eternal life, I would have to conclude that the kingdom of God will come only when the
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Lord Jesus returns. And that I shall not inherit eternal life until the day when Christ comes again.
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Then I shall enter the kingdom of God. Then I shall receive eternal life. When we pursue this study further, we find that the kingdom of God, like the age to come, will follow the resurrection.
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In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 50, Paul says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
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Paul is here speaking about the resurrection. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Our bodies must undergo a transformation so that they no longer consist of flesh and blood, but are incorruptible, glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies, verses 42 -44.
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Only in these transformed resurrected bodies will we enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God will come after the resurrection.
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In the parable of the tares, or weeds, we find that the kingdom of God will be introduced by the day of judgment.
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Throughout this age, good and evil people, the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the evil one, are to live side by side, even as wheat and tares grow together.
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At the harvest, at the end of the age, in Matthew chapter 13, verse 39, there will be a separation of judgment. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father.
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In verse 43, judgment will terminate this age and bring the sons of the kingdom into their full enjoyment of the kingdom blessings.
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In the parable of the net, we find the same structure with the added fact that judgment will take place at the end of this age.
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So it will be at the close of the age, the angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire.
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Thus we find that the kingdom of God belongs to the age to come and is set in sharp contrast to this age.
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In this age there is death in the kingdom of God, eternal life, in this age the righteous and the wicked are mixed together.
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In the age to come, all wickedness and sin will be destroyed. For the present, Satan is viewed as the
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God of this age. But in the age to come, God's kingdom, God's rule, will have destroyed
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Satan and righteousness will displace all evil. We must therefore modify our diagram of the ages.
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This age and the age to come are not on the same level. This age is evil. The age to come will witness the fullness of God's kingdom, the perfection of his reign.
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Therefore we must place the age to come on a higher level than this age.
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Several important conclusions emerge from this study. It is the biblical teaching that we shall never experience the full blessings of God's kingdom in this age.
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There are those who have identified the Christian hope with a warless world or with a world completely subdued to God's will through the preaching of the gospel.
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People who fix their hope upon a kingdom which is to be fulfilled in this age are certain to be disillusioned.
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The perfected kingdom of God belongs to the age to come. We shall never know the fullness of its blessings so long as this evil age lasts.
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There will be no worldwide conversion this side of the coming of Christ. Therefore we ought not to be disillusioned by wars and rumors of wars, by evils and by hostility to the gospel.
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And when God's people are called upon to pass through severe sufferings and tribulation, they should remember that God has not abandoned them, but that their sufferings are due to the fact that they no longer belong to this age and therefore are the object of its hostility.
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Furthermore, the kingdom of God will never be fully realized apart from the personal glorious victorious coming of Christ.
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Men cannot build the kingdom of God. Christ will bring it. The powers of Satan and of evil can be finally overcome by the mighty act of the return of Christ.
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But that day is coming. The word of God urges us to watch, to be awake, to be ready and waiting for that day.
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What assurance, what comfort, what stability it gives to our hearts and minds to know that our prayer will certainly be answered.
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Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.