…to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. 1:25-27

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Col. 2:13-15 NASB

What a great mystery we are partakers of in this age – that Christ is in us, and we are partakers of His glory! For He has chosen to make us His public display. First by forgiving us our transgressions, second by cancelling our debt, and then by revealing the power of His glory through us as we are transformed into the image of Christ.

His public display occured when He rose from the dead – and when He rose we were also raised to newness of life! Hallelujah – now we are His public display as the power of His resurrected life consumes the will and works of our old man and that life of sin. We have been made alive together with Him and stand complete in Him. And as we renew our minds by His word we begin to express His glory as we walk in His triumph over sin and self. The natural man cannot accomplish this, only the spiritual man who is pursuing the fulness of his inheritance in the resurrection. Notcie Paul’s heart in Phil. 3:10-14…

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Beloved, there is a goal in this life – namely, to walk in the reality of our resurrection in Christ so that the world will see His glorious power at work in the earth. Indeed, the whole earth longs for the children of God to manifest His kingdom in the earth as a living testimony in advance of His appearing. One day soon Jesus will return to reclaim what is rightfully His and He will recreate it according to His desire. But until then, we are called to be His public display – a glimpse into the reality of that glorious day.

It is time to move beyond the elementary principles of the faith and press on towards maturity. Long enough have we hashed over basic doctrine, church structure and stylistic preference. Long enough have we held to the mentality where one says “I am of Paul” and another “I am of Apollos.” Oh that we would be a faithful generation that takes God at His word and walks in the reality of the coming age in this age! Such is the inheritance of the saints – to be His public display of having overcome sin, the flesh and the world. For we have been raised with Him and seated in heavenly places with Him. All that remains is living that reality as a witness to His great glory & power.

The Jordan begs to be crossed!

We are not here by accident or by the chance – regardless of the circumstances surrounding our entry into the earth, as Paul said to the Athenians,

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,” Acts 17:26

Now here, Paul is speaking of nations, but the same applies to us individually. We have all been allotted a time (kairos) in which to live upon the earth and the Lord has established the boundaries of our habitation. Our appearance on the earth at this particular point in time is not by chance but by divine design. However, our purpose is part of a greater work that extends in both directions from our allotted time. It stretches back to the ages before us connecting us with all that has gone before, and reaches beyond our time to impact generations yet to be created. Our lives are part of a much larger context that, although beyond our ability to control, is certainly impacted by the decisions we make and the mentality with which we operate.

If we simply live our lives with no thought to our historical context, and no consideration of our future impact, we become like Narcissus: the handsome young man from Greek mythology  who was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. This is the phenomenon that tends people to believe their moment in history is the most important or to develop an overly-inflated sense of the value of their generation. Of course, each generation is important within the greater context of God’s unfolding purpose. However, to not realize how our generation fits within His unfolding purpose, as if the flow of time is somehow discontiguous, is foolishly Narcissistic.

Take for instance the matter of Christ’s return. Every generation since the apostles has believed they were the generation that would see the return of the Lord. That inaccurate assumption lead to inaccurate doctrine and the construction of elaborate, yet irrelevant, structures that ultimately hindered the advancement of God’s purpose. Rather than accurately discerning their place in time (chronos) so as to advance the time (kairos) of God’s purpose they fixated on their generation – as if the whole of human history revolved around them. They were like the children who inherited great wealth and spent it on themselves rather than establishing a heritage for their children’s children. Their failure to effectively build trans-generational bridges has, in my opinion, hindered the advancement of God’s purpose.

Now of course I understand that God is God – and His purpose is always in a continuous state of advance. However, I also understand that He has chosen, by His sovereign will, to incorporate redeemed humanity into His purpose. And to that end, our actions have direct impact of the advancement of His purpose. Truly, His word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. However, His word is like seed which can lay dormant for many generations, awaiting a people who will foster the conditions for that seed to germinate. Such a people will be those who lay aside self-absorbed attitudes and self-seeking works to embrace His purpose and advance His kingdom rather than their own.

To use a somewhat oversimplified analogy. The history of humanity is like stage upon which the Lord is unfolding His glorious purpose. There is a continung narrative that we find ourselves a part of, and unless we recognize our place within theat narrative we will speak our lines off cue, effectively disrupting the flow. Every individual within their respective generation has their part to play. Some embrace their role, striving for accuracy in both delivery and representation, realizing that the whole is greater than their part. Some approach their role haphazardly being more concerned with accolades and recognition. Still others never arrive on stage being content to hang out in the spiritual green room. Yet, there is an audience – a great cloud of witnesses – who long for the play to finish!

Beloved, we must choose to be a people who diligently pursue the purpose of God in our generation – first individually, then corporately. As individuals we must allow the Word to pierce us, rightly dividing our soul and spirit, rightly discern our thoughts and intents, and rightly defining our place in time according to the ever-expanding kingdom of God. We must allow that kingdom within to be outwardly expressed in every are of our lives and be built together with others who are doing the same. Then, as a corporate man, we must seek to advance the purpose of God by establishing the reign of His kingdom within the boundaries of our habitation.

How many impotent generations must pass before one arises that will declare and possess that which is rightfully the Lord’s? May we not be counted among them that fall by the wayside, having put their hand to the plow and looked back. Instead, may we be those in whom the Lord can show Himself strong and through whom a greater measure of the glory of Christ can be revealed.

I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. Eph 1:16-21 NLT

There is certainly more in this passage than could be addressed in a lifetime, let alone a blog post. But I want to draw attention to a theme that is central to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians – that of the heavenly places. Beloved, we desperately need to believe the Word concerning our position in Christ – that of being raised with Him and seated with Him. We need to see beyond the borders of our natural horizon, and believe beyond the borders of our horizon of faith. We need elevated sight that only comes from living in the reality of our heavenly position. Consider Paul’s continuing exhortation in Eph. 2:6-7 NLT

For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms–all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.

We see that just as Christ is raised from the dead and seated in the heavenly realms, so also are we with Him! Beloved, this is glorious! For just as He is far above any ruler, authority or power – so are we. We are His ambassadors to the earth, that we might show forth His excellent greatness, His dominion over sin and His authority over the power of Satan. Remember His promise, that we would be endued with power after the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and that power – the power that raised jesus from the dead – now dwells in us. All that separates us from manifesting the truth of our position in Christ is faith. Do we believe what the Word says? Do we truly believe we are now raised from the dead and seated with Him?

Now, I am not speaking of an exercise of faith in keeping with certain preachers and teachers who think godliness is a means of financial gain, but rather a faith that exercises the power and purpose of God with respect to the advance of His kingdom in the earth. The faith that is exercised for His benefit, not man’s. A faith that is consumed with the Spirit, not the flesh. For without this type of faith being applied our sight will be earthbound rather than heavenly. Our walk will be more futile than overcoming. Consider the following.

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in [fn] God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Eph. 3:8-10

Beloved, there is a testimony that needs to be manifested through the body of Christ to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, and we need the elevated sight that comes from walking in the reality of having been seated with Christ to affect this testimony. We are a heavenly people, not an earthly people – whether we realize it or not. Unfortunately, most of the effort in serving the Lord is taken up from an earthly position. Rather than believing who we already are, many are still trying to become. Rather than walking in the new man who cannot sin, many are still trying to rehabilitate the old man. Rather than boldly coming before the throne of grace, convinced of the finished work of Christ, most believers still wrestle with guilt and unworthiness for they lack resurrection sight.

Lastly, consider Paul’s words near the end of his letter.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Eph. 6:12 NLT

Beloved, as long as the enemy has us earthbound he keeps us spiritually impotent – unable to effectively download the Father’s purpose into the earth. Oh how we need elevated sight and radical faith – not for our fleshly desires but for His eternal purpose! Oh how we need to pray from a place of heavenly authority rather than earthly need. Not that we forsake upward prayer, but we add to it downward decree. If God is going to affect change in the earth He does so through the agency of mankind – even to the point of becoming a man, tasting our humanity and showing forth what it means to walk with God as a man. And if that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us then He will give life to our mortal bodies. That life flows from the Father, through the Son by the Spirit and seeks to manifest the glory of God in the earth. How blessed is mankind that God would choose to reveal Himself through us!

As the Psalmist said,

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet… Psalm 8:4-6

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. Give us elevated sight and radical faith that we might walk in the fulness of Your resurrection power in this life. That we might show forth Your glory, which You have so graciously bestowed upon men, so that the world will see an authentic expression of Christ, through Your people.

This chapter is so rich it is difficult to extract the salient points. Nevertheless, here are some of my favorite passages followed by reflection.

“People who are submitted to the king, and whose lives are therefore being transformed into a domain in which God reigns, are called the “first fruits” of God, because they manifest in their lives what humanity and the world will look like when God’s kingdom is fully manifested.”

Before we would see the kingdom manifest corporately it must first take the ground of our hearts and minds. We, as individual believers, must endeavor to become a domain of the king – and then as we are built together the kingdom is enlarged through our corporate expression. As Paul said in Eph. 2:2, “…you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

“The way we advance the kingdom is by being the kingdom of God in contrast to the kingdom of the world. This is why Scripture repeatedly stresses that we are called to be a “holy” people, a concept that indicates something consecrated and set apart. Like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, we are to come out from the world and be “set apart” for God. We utterly trivialize this profound biblical teaching if we associate our peculiar holiness with a pet list of religious taboos. No, the holiness the New Testament is concerned with is centered on being Christlike, living in outrageous, self-sacrificial love.”

So often well-meaning brothers and sisters attempt to tweak the model or form of church in an effort to advance the kingdom. I submit that it is not fundamentally about form but about love. Of course we have form, for God is ordered and measured. He is keen on the correctness of structure. However, it is not having the right blueprint that establishes the domain of the king. It is our love for one another, which allows our hearts to be enlarged so as to embrace the uniqueness that each one brings. Men cannot build the kingdom. We can only facilitate the structures that allow the Spirit His greatest effectiveness in establishing the rule of God both individually and corporately.

“Whatever anyone thinks about the New Testament’s eschatology, it certainly does not encourage this sort of irresponsible escapism. The hope offered to believers is not that we will be a peculiar, elite group of people who will escape out of the world, leaving others behind to experience the wrath of God. The hope is rather that by our sacrificial participation in the ever-expanding kingdom, the whole creation will be redeemed.”

Christians must get their eyes off heaven and get them on the purpose of God in the earth. The days of waiting for Jesus to come take us away while we hang on to what little victory we have are over saints! Satan has blinded the eyes of believers for far too long, knowing that if we ever truly grasp both our position and purpose in the earth, his time will be through. Unfortunately, Satan knows the outcome better than we know the outworking. Jesus has finished His work and is waiting for us to co-labor with the Father until His work is complete.

“While we, of course, have no business judging people’s hearts and deciding who is and is not “saved,” kingdom-of-God citizens must have a vested interest in discerning and declaring what is and is not the kingdom of God.” “Far from defending the church, kingdom people should lead the charge in critiquing it, for when it exercised power over others in Jesus’ name, not only was it not the kingdom of God – it constituted a demonic distortion of the kingdom of God.”

As Jude said, we must contend for the faith – for if don’t, who will? Ironically, the church system has gone from attempting to exercise power over the world to lording over God’s people. As with escapism, the days of singular headship are coming to an end. That form has been rendered invalid by the unfolding revelation we are receiving from the word by the Spirit that is both enabling us to see further than before, and challenging traditional paradigms that are so desperate to be abandoned.

I leave you with a passage from near the end of the chapter. It needs no continuing thoughts from me.

“The kingdom of God is not a Christian version of the kingdom of the world. It is, rather, a holy alternative to all the versions of the kingdom of the world, and everything hangs on kingdom people appreciating this uniqueness and preserving this holiness. We must always remember that we are “resident aliens” in this oppressed world, soldiers of the kingdom of God stationed behind enemy lines with a unique, all consuming, holy calling on our life.”

“If we would show the love of Jesus, brothers and sisters, we should be visiting the sick, clothing the poor and giving a cup of cold water to those who are thirsty. For surely we do not want to lose our reward.”

The imagery here is that evoked by the famous passage from Matthew chapter twenty-five where in Jesus separates the sheep and the goats, and subsequently doles out reward or punishment. I would venture to say most believers want to see themselves as sheep in this passage – but let me offer another view.

First, let’s read the passage.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 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. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

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. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

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. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’” Matt. 25:31-40

Now let me draw out some points for your reconsideration.

1. Consider who is being gathered: not believers and unbelievers, but the nations (ethnos). This term is only once used to refer to believers when prefaced by the modifier “holy.” Indeed, we are a holy nation, but these are simply the nations of the earth.
2. Consider that there are three distinct groups mentioned: sheep, goats and brethren. Two groups, the sheep and the goats, are being dealt with according to their treatment of the third group – His brethren. According to the New Testament, believers in Christ are His brethren.
3. Consider how reward and punishment is being administered. The sheep and goats are being dealt with according to works, not faith. And indeed, it is their works that either grant or deny their entrance into the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world. Notice, Jesus does not refer to this as the kingdom of God.
4. Consider that neither the sheep or the goats recognize that serving (or ignoring) the brethren is doing so unto the Lord. 

So then we are left with two ways to look at this passage. Either our entrance into eternal life and the kingdom, as believers, is based on our works – or we need to rethink the grace of God towards those who do not make a confession of faith in Christ, but act in righteousness towards His brethren. I feel a theological tilt coming on!

While pondering this matter, also take into consideration the following.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:1-2

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day–and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Rev. 21:22-27

If the nations of the earth are to walk by the light of the New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb descended from heaven, maybe we need some serious adjustment to our understanding of just how all this shakes out. Which is a perfect segue to my next post in this series, “Heaven?” Stay tuned.

Pete describes communitas as…

The type of community where you realize its life or death, and you really need one another.  And the fact that the guy next to you doesn’t pray like you, or crosses himself too much, or lifts his hands in worship, or speaks in tongues, or loves the saints and Mary, or is “into” social justice, or is a conservative, or a liberal, or is a Protestant, or is Orthodox – these differences are drastically lessened.  Because they are put into perspective. We are at war.

Now, I’m not too keen about the “love Mary” part, but I appreciate his heart here concerning a realization of what’s at stake. We need to move beyond our approach to God as satisfying our need, and enter into His labors to accomplish His purpose. We need to move beyond prayer and petition to action. I have had many brothers call me idealistic, and that unity will only be achieved when God sovereignly moves. I disagree. Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father waiting for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet – and the Father has chosen to use men to accomplish His purpose. We must cooperate with Him by striving together for the unity of the faith in the bond of peace. We must allow ourselves to be challenged, and at times offended in order to process through our differences. We must allow for the friction that sharpens iron against iron and choose to walk as one. Truly, God has a need that only man can fulfill. 

Al describes communitas as…

Represent(ing) a kind of community that develops in the context of a shared ordeal or challenge that calls people out of a normal understanding of themselves. They are centered around the kind of experiences that turns friends into comrades. Often our sense of connection and reliance on each other is minimal, and what a communitas will do is restructure the relationships between people and help them experience and interact with each other in a fundamentally new way.

There is something much greater than our model of church or our method of ministry – there is the Kingdom. And even though the essence of community is key in that it focuses on building by relationship rather than by advertising, branding, program or event – we can still miss the point. Remember Jesus statement in John 4:34 - ”My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.” I believe sometimes brothers and sisters are so intent to stay free from “works” that they miss the calls to action from Jesus and the apostles. As well, there seems to be a lot of shadow-boxing as Paul warned against in 1 Cor. 9:26. We must be mindful of the finish and be diligent to serve the purpose of God in our generation to that end.

Al also reminds us that discipleship is key. We need to move beyond being merely teachers but becoming fathers in the faith, bringing the younger ones up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph.6:4)

The problem is that we are being discipled every day by our culture, and it’s done very profoundly and very well-and I say this with a background in marketing and advertising. There are billions of dollars going into advertising, which is not just selling us products. There’s much more of a religious dynamic going on. So if we as a church or a small group don’t disciple in the way of Jesus, then the culture gets to have the primary say. And I have to say that, despite our best efforts, the culture is winning at this stage.

It is foolish for church leaders to go toe-to-toe with the world by using clever marketing and branding to entice sinners to “come to church.” Rather, the world needs to see a living example of Christ in the covenant relationships of people built together by His Spirit into a habitation of God. They need to see the Kingdom of Light exerting influence over the kingdom of darkness. Not by force, but by love.

Lastly, Al speaks to the Eph. 4 principle that we so desperately need to recover.

It’s ironic. When you “do church” well, you create dependency, because then people can’t reproduce it themselves. We had to break that. We had to communicate that all disciples carry within themselves the potential for world transformation. We wanted to communicate that you have the power to do this, so don’t outsource it to other people. That’s the Faustian bargain at the heart of many churches-that people outsource their primary gifting, calling, and function to the institution, to the professionals in ministry.

In this, the fault goes both ways. Leaders need to quit ruling, and the saints need to quit seeking a king. Leaders need to return to facilitating, identifying and releasing the grace within each one and quit accepting recognition for their grace. As well, the saints must accept the responsibility of the royal priesthood to which they have been called.

We are a chosen generation, a holy nation, a royal priesthood and peculiar people. May we endeavor to rise to our true nature, culture and calling.

Further meditation on this brought some interesting thoughts to my mind concerning His living of humanity verses ours. Here are a few of those thoughts.
 

1. Jesus did nothing on His own initiative but strictly adhered to the Father’s will. He fully realized the necessity of strict obedience to the Father, because the purpose of God was greater than His individual needs or desires. How often do I simply act with little or no regard for God’s will?
2. Jesus came to serve – not to be served. Even though He deserved all service and worship He shunned the spotlight and the attempts of others to serve Him. How often do I place my own needs and desires over those of my brothers and sisters?
3. Jesus revealed humility to the point of death on a cross. He did not take up the sword or allow others to do so in defense at His crucifixion – nor did He call down legions of angels though He easily could. He understood that there is no greater expression of love than when we lay down our lives for one another.  How often do we return evil for evil and fight against flesh & blood to insure our posterity?

Jesus was the first-fruits of a new humanity – we are the harvest. As a dear friend of man likes to say, “He is designing a new human.” But someone might say, “Brother, He was Jesus – and I am just a sinner, saved by grace.” True enough, but what did Peter tell us? 

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 2 Pet. 1:3-9

Brothers and sisters, we cannot be like those who failed to enter into the promised land because of unbelief. Indeed, they wandered around in the wilderness of sin because they dared not face the giants across the river. We must be a people willing to confront the giants of our own hearts and minds. Our Father has called us to His own glory and excellence, and given to us divine power in all things that pertain to life and godliness! But what is the problem – forgetting that we are cleansed.

Did not Paul encourage us that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation? The old has passed away – the new has come. Remember Paul’s heart-cry in Philippians:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

And what is that prize? That we might attain to the resurrection of the dead! Not after Christ’s return, for then we will all be resurrected, but rather in this life – so that the glory of salvation and the reality of a new humanity can be seen in the midst of a fallen world. A testimony to the overcoming power of our God and to the resurrection of Christ. Just as we saw it in Christ when He walked the earth, a living expression of the power of light over darkness.

We who are in Christ are members of this new race of humans. Oh that we would press on to lay hold of His divine nature so that we to can say to those we meet, “Surely, the kingdom of God has come near you.”

“When the kingdom is manifested, it’s rather obvious. It doesn’t look like a church building. It doesn’t necessarily look like a group of religious people professing certain things – including the profession that they are Christian. It doesn’t look like a gathering of people advocating the right political or ethical causes. It doesn’t look like a group who are – or at least believe themselves to be – morally superior to others, telling then how they should live. It doesn’t look like a group using swords, however righteous they believe their sword-weilding to be. It rather looks like people individually and collectively mimicking God. It looks like Calvary.”

He then points out that no matter how moral or ethical a given kingdom of the world attempts to be it can never become nor should Christians attempt to transform it into the Kingdom of God. Even if a country is founded on scriptural principals and works to exude a Godly social-ethic, it is still a kingdom of the world – for it is beholden to its citizenry to seek their overall good at the expense of others – which includes taking their enemies lives if necessary. As is typified by the following, quite foolish, quote from the “reverend” Jerry Falwell…

“You’ve got the kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I’m for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes ten years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord.”

As Dr. Boyd states, “The kingdom of God is not an ideal version of the kingdom of the world; it’s not something that any version of the kingdom of the world can aspire toward or be measured against. The kingdom of God is a completely distinct, alternative way of doing life.”

Next, Dr. Boyd discusses Jesus’ revealed disposition with regards to earthly systems by considering both His general silence in confronting the Roman Empire and his response to those who tried to politicize Him.  Indeed, his discussion of the image of the emperor on the coin from Matt. 22:20-22 is excellent. As he aptly states, “Jesus didn’t come to give us the Christian answer to the world’s many sociopolitical quandaries, and He didn’t come to usher in a new and improved version of the kingdom of the world. His agenda was far more radical, for He came to redeem the world and ultimately overthrow the kingdom of the world by ushering in an alternative kingdom. He came not to give solutions, tweak external regulations, and enforce better behavior.”

Finally in this chapter, he introduces the challenge of seeking to truly live in kingdom community. For it is much easier to busy ourselves with the futile work of transforming the kingdom of the world into the Kingdom of God rather than struggle with one another in the process of being built together into a habitation of God – a true representation of His Kingdom. Jumping on the bandwagon of political and social causes with the intent to enrich the kingdom of the world by injecting Godly principals and ethics provides a convenient rallying point. But such efforts altogether avoid and ultimately frustrate the manifestation of the Kingdom of God by focusing on external conformance rather than inward transformation. As Dr. Boyd says, “Our central job is not to solve the world’s problems. Our job is to draw our entire life from Christ and manifest that life to others. Nothing could be simpler – and nothing could be more challenging.”

“Government is the power and ability to cause a divine impact on human and Satanic systems in the earth to cause the eternal purposes of God to proceed toward the finish according to God’s predetermined plan.”

As I read and meditate on the end of this age, which Dr. Woodroffe refers to as “the finish”, I become less agreeable with the theory of Christ’s “imminent return” and more convinced that it is indeed the body of Christ that precipitates the end. Consider these verses…

“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.” Dan 2:44

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” Rev. 19:7-8

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Psalm 110:1-3

Brethren, there is simply too much scriptural evidence suggesting the body has a significant role to fulfill in creating the conditions for Christ’s return. Unfortunately there have been ridiculous extrapolations of this position, especially in the “kingdom now” camp, causing us to be skiddish about this conversation. But if we would hold true to our claim of being seekers of the truth, regardless of the cost, then we must confront those doctrines that, although mainstays, need genuine reconsideration.

In another post I will share my full thoughts on this matter, but let me leave you with something to chew on. When time permits, reread the following passage from Eph. 5 with the return of Christ in mind. (emphasis mine)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. 

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Eph. 5:25-32