하나님의 왕국, 하늘의 왕국, 천년 왕국(1)

[빛있으라]

The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven and the Millennium(1)

(All the Biblical quotes are from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise mentioned.)

As we might know, the New Testament Bible has the four gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. One may wonder why there are four gospels instead of one. The answer is that Christ Jesus is not that simple to describe. He is the most wonderful Being in the entire universe, who needs the four gospels that describe Jesus from different angles of view with Matthew viewing Him as a King bringing His kingdom on the earth, Mark as a Slave serving God and man, Luke as a Genuine man expressing the divine attributes of God through His aromatic human virtues, And John as the very God Incarnate meeting everyone’s need whatsoever.

Therefore our try to see what the kingdom of heaven is necessitates lots of quotes from Matthew’s Gospel. So let’s begin with the book.

Matthew3:2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Matthew4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

The aforementioned are the first outcries of the New Testament ministry, the former being John the Baptist’s(Jesus’ forerunner), and the latter Jesus’ when they began their ministry. Jesus the Son of God as the very Creator God expressed in the flesh(We’d like to expound Christology in some other time.) didn’t feel ashamed or hesitate to proclaim repeatedly what John the Baptist said, for the matter of the kingdom of the heaven is so crucial to both God and man. Please note that the kingdom of heaven was not there when the two began their ministry because it was ‘at hand’.

Matthew 11:11 "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen [anyone] greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

John the Baptist was proclaimed by Jesus to be the greatest among all the figures in the Old Testament period, but to be smaller than the least in the kingdom of heaven. How great a person is is determined by how near to Jesus one is. All the ‘big shots’ in the Old Testament including Moses, Elijah, Samuel, David, Solomon, ect. only anticipated Christ the Messiah to come, but John the Baptist eye witnessed Him having come and baptized Him. So he is greater than any OT figure in that regard.

Then, how come he is smaller than the least in the kingdom of the heaven? He was the greatest among all the figures in OT due to his introduction of Jesus but he didn’t have within himself Jesus Christ as the eternal divine life of God which even the least in the kingdom of heaven has. Therefore he is smaller than any genuine believer of Jesus in the New Testament period.

Now you may wonder even more what the kingdom of heaven is. What is it that we should repent for it?

Matthew21:43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.

Jesus said the kingdom of God would be taken away from the nation of Israel and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it. Logically, a thing should be there before it is taken away. Hence the kingdom of God had been there with the nation of Israel at the juncture of time when Jesus said this.

The kingdom of God is a domain where God’s dominion is exercised. God is the Ruler of the entire universe. So the universe, specifically the earth is God’s kingdom over which God exercises His dominion.

God whose another name is Jehovah(meaning ‘I AM’) operated firstly in the created human race in general from Adam till the rebellion at Babel where the created human race, having been instigated by Satan God’s enemy, according the sinful nature that had got into man thru eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil(Genesis 2:9,17, 3:6), collectively rebelled against the Creator in their try to inscribe their name for them selves up on sky, a proclamation to live for themselves, not for God the Creator

(Genesis 11:4 And they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top [will reach] into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.").

It forced God to forsake the created race for a while and to choose Abraham with his descendents, who eventually formed the nation of Israel when Moses led them out of Egypt. It was that kingdom of God which was with the nation of Israel when Jesus mentioned about its being taken away from Israel. God’s kingdom has never ceased, nor will it expire for ever. God’s kingdom expands from eternity to eternity.

Let’s remember. Even though the kingdom of God was there, the kingdom of heaven was merely at hand, at the days of John the Baptist and Jesus,

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’

Then, what is the difference between the kingdom of God and that of heaven? They are the same in the sense of God exercising His authority over the earth, the created man, and His elect, but they are different in the sense how He exercises His dominion over man. God ruled over His elect of Old from outside of them, not from within them.

But the kingdom of heaven is God ruling over men from within them. Therefore the Kingdom of heaven is part of the kingdom of God, but is very particular in the sense that God rules over us from within us, having entered into us. The New Testament, therefore, mentions the kingdom of heaven as the kingdom of God, for it is part of it, yet in the very specific sense.

Luke17:21 nor will they say, 'Look, here [it is!]' or, 'There [it is!]' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.

King James Version errs by rendering ‘in your midst’ as ‘within’. Of course the Greek for this word has several meanings, therefore it’s more than linguistics to render the Bible properly. The kingdom of God couldn’t be within Jesus’ followers when Jesus said the above verse, for Jesus was not crucified and resurrected(Not until He died on the cross as a ransom for our sins could man be regenerated or saved. Therefore God’s kingdom couldn’t be within them).

What Jesus meant above was it was He Himself that ‘was’ the kingdom of God in their midst, ‘cause He at that time was the Only Person on the earth in Whom(not only upon Whom) God the Creator dwelled. Hence Christ Jesus as the Kingdom of God in its particular sense was in the midst of the people. You may rightly say the kingdom of heaven was there ‘at hand’ among the people but it could not be realized ‘In’ their hearts yet. It was ‘with’ them but not yet ‘within’ them.

John 14:16-20 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; [that is] the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, [but] you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. ...in that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me and I in you.”"

If you have carefully read the above verse, you’d have found that the Spirit already ‘abided with’ His disciples, but ‘would be in them’ on that day, the day that was not there, yet to come, when they would know ‘He(Christ Jesus; God the Son)’ in God the Father is in His believers. Jesus meant by this word that Christ; God the Son incarnated to be a man Jesus as the embodiment of God the Father would be realized as the Spirit on the day of His resurrection and would enter in His believers to ‘be in’ them so that they also, like Jesus, might have God not only without them, but also ‘within them’ that they might be brought into the kingdom of heaven.

People should repent, that is, change their mind from so many concepts about being religious to receiving into their inner being, ‘Jesus Christ; God the Son as the embodiment and expression‎ of God the Father, who became a man thru His incarnation and died on the cross and resurrected on that day of His resurrection to be realized as the Spirit’.

‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’

John 3:4 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In the spiritual realm to see is to enter. God’s intention is to bring God Himself in Christ into man’s inner parts that man may also have God within his inner being, that he may enter into the kingdom of God in its particular sense. Entrance into such a kingdom of heaven; the inner ruling of God over man that man may enjoy all heavenly blessings, necessitates invariably, indispensably, and uncompromisingly our new birth by the divine life of God. (It never occurs by polishing our outward deeds, ‘cause no matter how shining our conduct may be, does not, and cannot bring God into our being).

Please note that

the kingdom of heaven is not a sphere to which you go in your physical death,

but into which you are born again now on this life.

Just as man is born into the human kingdom, so should man be born into the kingdom of God in its particular sense by receiving the divine life of God into their heart. The only entrance into the kingdom of heaven is to be born again. We already have the human life but God wants us to be reborn by receiving Him in Christ as life.

1Tymothy 6:16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

God is invisible and dwells in unapproachable light. Yes. In Him is immortality, but no one can see or approach Him to be saved, to receive Him as the eternal life. it is not ok to believe whatever we think God is. So many have confessedly believed God without thru Jesus Christ as the unique way, and without receiving Him as the eternal life into their being.  

John14:6 Jesus said to him, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

1John5:12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

Jesus Christ is 'the way to God', and 'the life of God'. Christians don't believe a vague God but we openly confess Christ Jesus as the Son of God, as the very God Incarnate who died on the cross and got resurrected on the 3rd day to be the Spirit omnipresent, ready to pour into His receivers(2Corinthians 3:16, 1Cor15:45b).

Romans 10:9:13 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved....for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;for the Same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him;for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved"

Pray like this

"Lord Jesus. I confess You are the very God Incarnate who died for my sins and got resurrected to be the Spirit. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart right now as the Spirit and be my Savior and my life eternal." 

If you have genuinely received not mentally but orally with your mouth the crucified and resurrected Christ Jesus through a definite receiving prayer like the one above, you have repented for and entered into the kingdom of heaven. Now we can continue to see what the kingdom of heaven in this age and in the coming age. 

[빛있으라]

제 딸 죠이가 다니는 고등학교 학생들 중 세네 사람이 지난 번에 전해준 사람이 죽으면 어데로 가는가를 읽고, 그 중 한 학생은 전화로 제 딸과 함께 그것을 읽고 교제하는 단계로 왔답니다. 그 학생 이름은 로렌이구요,,,또 다른 학생은 읽고서, 천년왕국에 대한 부분이 이해가 안된다고 그것을 설명해 달라고 요청해서 위의 교제를 만들었습니다. 그 학생의 이름은 모니카이구요,,,카이라는 남학생은 이 제 딸을 포함한 여학생들의 대화에 흥미를 보이는 중이랍니다.

[빛있으라]

천년왕국은 그것만 설명하는 것이 좋지 않을 것 같아서, 천국과 왕국에 대해서 이번 교제에서 말하고, 다음번 교제에서 천국생활을 사는 법과 천년왕국에 대한 대비를 말해 볼까합니다. 그 학생이 계속 관심을 가졌으면 좋겠는데 ^*^

[morningstar]

로렌과 모니카 카이...의 마음에 빛을 비추이고 ...말씀하소서..

[Br. Kwan]

제게도 명쾌한 정리가 된 것 같읍니다. 제 홈피는 거의 사람들의 왕래가 없는 편이지만, 혹시 들르는 사람에게 도움이 될까해서 형제님 글을 퍼갔는데, 괜찮으신지요 ? 혹시 제가 잘못 생각했다면 말씀해 주십시오.. 바로 삭제 하겠읍니다.

[빛있으라]

진리는 나만의 것이 아닌 모든 하나님의 백성의 것이요, 내가 독창적으로 본 것은 거의 없고 다 믿음의 선진들을 통해서 하나님이 보여주신 것을 배워서 본 것일 뿐임으로 내것이라 할 수도 없답니다. 누구든지 유익을 얻었으면 하구요...퍼가는 것이야 당근 허락이지요~~~

[빛있으라]

볼 때 마다 모자라 보여서 수정 보완을 다시 했습니다. 관형제님 참조하세요~~~~