Hmmm... God’s kin-dom is like yeast that a woman mixes in with the dough. It’s like a woman who lost a coin. It’s like a shepherd searching for a lost sheep. It’s like a vineyard. It’s like a pearl in a field. It’s like a rich man who had three servants. It’s like a prodigal son. It’s like a wedding feast... all sounds pretty here-and-now to me.
The Kingdom is "like " a lot of things.....but the Kingdom itself is none of them.
The apostle Paul wrote...
"He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory."
Because the word begs altering.
Who says? You don't alter Jesus words because YOU think they need altering.
Very few people have any idea anymore just what a kingdom is, or how it operates, and how subjects live. The metaphor no longer serves us.
So that gives you the right to teach something that Jesus never said?
Kingdoms maintain status quo through subjugation. But we are created to be co-creators with God.
Don't look now, but in the beginning humans were given a choice.....obey God and live...or disobey him and die. What does that sound like? Its a dictatorship, pure and simple.....except that the dictator in this case is benevolent, not tyrannical. Still, it was a "shape up or ship out" scenario. When Christ comes again, it will be the same....the "sheep" get to keep their lives...the "goats" lose theirs. Its the same story...obey and live...disobey and die.
What are we co-creating exactly?
He taught that we are no longer subjects, but siblings. Sounds like “kin” to me...
Christ's "brothers" are his "joint heirs"....these are selected by God to form a government to rule over the earth. (Revelation 20:6) That is what God's Kingdom is for.....to bring all things back to God's original purpose as stated in Eden. It will accomplish a reconciliation with God and bring us back to what Adam lost in the beginning....everlasting life in paradise on earth. What God starts, he finishes. (Isaiah 55:11)
I believe (as the Bible says) that it has already come near.
It is nearer than many think....
Really? You are going to rubbish Daniel because he disagrees with you? God seemed to think Daniel was a very desirable man in his eyes. Make sure that God agrees with your evaluation of this man.
Daniel 12:4;9-10....
"But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase......He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.” (ESV)
We are in "the time of the end" right now.....all has been revealed to God's servants, whom he has 'refined and purified' in this period, but the wicked have no understanding and will carry on as they always have....oblivious to the sign of the times.
I don’t see most Christians of evangelical ilk working to fulfill Jesus’ directive in Matthew.
Neither do I....and that's the point...only those who have God's spirit backing this work are out there doing what others only talk about.
It was part of the sign that the good news of the Kingdom was to be preached in all the world before the 'end' was to come. God has given the world a thorough witness but they have rejected the message and the messengers. Its their choice, but Jesus said it would be "just like the days of Noah"...and here we are.
You’re not making an “us” out of “them.” You’re only creating deeper division with this silly talk of who’s in and who’s not. See your second entry below for a great example of this.
It is Jesus who makes the division not us. He is the one separating the "sheep" from the "goats" ....you act as if he never said he was going to send people to "gehenna".
How many survived the flood? Why did they not survive the flood? Why did God bring it in the first place? Why did Jesus use it as an example of how things will be at his return? What are you not getting?
Wait... what? The Bible tells us that the father waits until the son returns. The shepherd searches until the lost sheep is found. That’s what happens in the kin-dom. There is no “too late.”
How selective you are in your use of scripture....you ignore all the parts that disagree with your rosy picture. There was a "too late" in Noah's day...there was a "too late" for Sodom and Gomorrah...there was a "too late" for Jerusalem.....where do all those things feature in your scenario? There is no "kin-dom".....you have made that up...and if you teach others what is not taught by Christ, you will be held doubly accountable.
There is a "too late" for the "goats"....many of whom think that they are "sheep". Jesus sets them straight before he dispatches them. (Matthew 7:21-23)
Jesus called us all siblings. Paul said that we are all heirs.
Who is "us" and "we"? Jesus called his "chosen ones" his "brothers" and these alone will inherit the Kingdom by becoming part of it.
But the heavenly kingdom has earthly subjects. (Revelation 21:2-4) The "New Jerusalem" is the kingdom that will bring mankind back to God and eliminate all the things that cause us grief.....all the things that sin brought into the world.
Maybe in your church that happens.
We have a unity that exists in every nation. We step over no one.
In my faith we all celebrate the unconditional love of God for every person. We seek and serve Christ in everyone we meet. We try to live out mercy, hospitality, compassion, welcome, and equity.
That is pure "pie in the sky"
....you are not teaching the Bible's reality. God does not have unconditional love for every person...if he did, then God would not have wiped out all of humanity in the flood....the people of Sodom and Gomorrah would never have been obliterated from the face of the earth, and Jerusalem's inhabitants would not have suffered a siege by the Romans that saw them so desperate that they resorted to eating their own children.
The message that God has had declared in all the world during these last days is a "witness"....it is the only "witness" that people of all the nations will get before God brings an "end" to the rot and establishes his Kingdom to bring in Christ's 1,000 year reign of peace. (Matthew 24:14)
Matthew 6:9-10....
"Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven."
The Kingdom will bring God's will to the earth, where it will never be devalued or ignored again.
The warning is there in Matthew 25:31-34; 41...
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . .41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
You have to ignore a lot of scripture to cling to your beliefs....but that is your choice.