Desert Snake
Veteran Member
Jesus is a King and a High Priest.....since his rulership is over the earth, it is his co-rulers whom he calls his "brothers".....It was to these, and about these, that the NT was written. Not all Christians go to heaven. Only 144,000 are chosen for life in heaven as kings and priests. (Revelation 7:4; Revelation 14:1-5; Revelation 20:6)
According to Matthew 25:31-40...
“When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right: ‘Come, you who have been blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. 35 For I became hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you received me hospitably. . . .the King will say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
There is Christ....his "brothers" and those who do good deeds for them. There are two ways to "inherit the Kingdom"....as 'chosen ones' who will rule with Christ in heaven.....and there are those who will become citizens of the Kingdom here on earth. (Revelation 21:2-4)
The 'chosen ones' are parties to the "new covenant" instituted by Jesus on the night before his death, and there are the beneficiaries of that covenant who will reap blessings from their rulership, bringing redeemed mankind back in to a reconciliation with God during the 1,000 years of their rulership.
Not all in the first century had the gifts of the spirit. They were used to persuade people that God had shifted his favor to a new arrangement....but Paul indicated that they would be done away with once they had accomplished their purpose.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians....
"But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. . . . .When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, to think as a child, to reason as a child; but now that I have become a man, I have done away with the traits of a child. . . . Now, however, these three remain: faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love."
Once the apostles died, the spiritual gifts were no longer necessary....as the Christian Congregation grew to maturity, the more important qualities of "faith, hope and love" became the identifying marks of Christ's followers.
What successors? After the death of the apostles, a great apostasy was to occur, which means that any "successors" would in time become apostate. The church itself by its despicable conduct proved that Jesus' words were true. (Acts 20:28-30)
It is humans that are imperfect, but God has always used imperfect men to carry out his will.....he had no choice.
As long as they obeyed him, he blessed their efforts, but when they disobeyed, they felt his hot displeasure.
Tell me when "the church" after the first century obeyed Christ's teachings. The more time went on, the more corrupt they became. Is it any wonder that Christ says to those hypocrites..."I NEVER knew you"....."never" means "not ever". I don't
Literalism...nice.