Gary is interviewed by Pastor Joel Webbon about biblical eschatology.
A future kingdom means a future king. A future kingdom and an absent king means a future set of kingdom laws that have no present-day, this-world application. If this is what Christians mean by stating that God’s kingdom is yet to come, then we are in a terrible dilemma. If God’s kingdom can be expected solely future, then God has little or nothing to say about the way men and women should conduct their affairs in the here and now. This would mean, that while Jesus might be King of heaven where He rules over the angels and the invisible world, present earthly rulers are the sole and absolute kings of the earth. And for this Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and took His seat on the throne?
To espouse the belief that God’s kingdom will be manifested solely in the future means that we are living in a purely secular kingdom with purely secular laws cut off from the governance of heaven. This is the worldview of deism! If this is the view of any part of the church, then the secularists are right in condemning the mixing of any of God’s laws with the State. How can God as a future King have any say in the affairs of a present kingdom under the rule of another king? This would be like a future presidential candidate telling the current president how to run his affairs. A future president has no legal standing to make such a demand.
If the kingdom is defined in political and millennial terms, where Jesus personally and physically rules from Jerusalem in the midst of a rebuilt temple, a renewed sacrificial system, and the reestablishment of the Old Testament theocratic government, then God’s kingdom has not yet come. On the other hand, if the kingdom is defined as a spiritual manifestation of the work of Christ in this world that comes through the transforming and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners with Jesus enthroned at His Father’s right hand, where presently He rules as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:15), then it can be said that the kingdom has come. We should be reminded that the message of Jesus was quite clear on this issue: “The time is fulfilled,” not postponed, “and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Christianity's failure to show itself practical in the past 150 years has guaranteed the success of secularism and militant Islam, both of which are doing incalculable harm at home and abroad. The rejection of any type of ‘this-worldly’ application of the Bible has resulted in the proliferation of man-centered worldviews that have steadily drained the life out of our world and left behind a spiritual vacuum.
Buy NowGary is interviewed by Pastor Joel Webbon about biblical eschatology. The church has historically not dealt with the topic in a systematic way, and many interpretations of Revelation 20 have resulted. We need to work from inside the Bible and allow Scripture to form our definitions and expectations.