The point and purpose of Christianity have been buried under a mass of theological tradition. There is general agreement only about the ethical demands of the present Christian life: a Christian must love and serve his neighbor. But almost nothing at all is known of the ultimate purpose and goal that Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, intended for those who follow him. Contemporary religion, which claims the name of the Messiah Jesus, has abandoned the purpose of the faith which is clearly spelled out by Jesus in his Gospel message; the Gospel about the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43, etc.).
In the purpose of the faith proclaimed by Jesus lies the very
reason for our existence as individuals. The key to our personal future and
that of humanity at large is found in Jesus' Gospel Message about the
Kingdom of God. This is simply the Message of the Good News that God, in
the person of His Son and Agent, Jesus, the promised Messiah, intends to
establish a just government and universal peace on earth and
to grant immortality to those who love Him. The future of the earth, and of the
whole universe, is related to the future of the individual believer in this
way: The Kingdom which will be established on earth when Jesus returns
to the earth will be administered by those to whom God grants
immortality.
The message of the Good News of the Kingdom is put forth
so that the mind of a child can understand it. Jesus said: "Unless you
reorient your life and become like little children, you will certainly not
enter the Kingdom of God."
To understand the message of the kingdom of God that, was Jesus'
constant message, then his words must be taken as any child would take them, in
their natural and normal sense. The Kingdom of God, about which Jesus spoke
constantly, is thus a real Kingdom, a divine government on earth, to be
administered by the Messiah and the saints, with a renewed Jerusalem as its
capital.
Luke 19:11 should be taken as a key to the whole New
Testament: "Because Jesus was near to Jerusalem, they thought that
the Kingdom of God was going to appear immediately." This verse
gives us a clue to the meaning of the principal theme of all that Jesus
taught. He was expecting to establish the Kingdom as a worldwide rule on earth.
Much of what goes by the name of theology is no more than an
exercise in the evasion of the plain meaning of the words of Jesus' message about
the kingdom of God, an excuse for unbelief. The churches have abandoned hope in
the Kingdom which Jesus promised would be inaugurated at his return. It is
obvious that the Kingdom has not yet been established. It will be manifested on
earth at the Second Coming of the Messiah Jesus in glory. Looking for this to
take place disciples of Jesus pray: "Your Kingdom come!"
In answer to the very reasonable question as to what his followers
might expect to receive in the Coming Age of the Kingdom, Jesus promised the
disciples positions of rulership with him in the coming Kingdom (Matthew 19:28;
Luke 22:28). This promise was extended to the whole church (1 Corinthians 6:2;
2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10; 3:21; 2:26; 20:1-4). It was the natural
confirmation and clarification of the promise made to Abraham, the father of
the faithful, that he would one day possess the world (Romans 4:13).
The Kingdom will have Jerusalem as its capital, as foreseen by all
the Old Testament prophets, and it will be established by a spectacular divine
intervention (Psalm 2), when the process of universal disarmament (Isaiah 2)
leading to total world peace will begin. The vision of the world at peace under
the government of the Messiah is read annually at Christmas, but few believe
it. They have been persuaded that the promises of universal divine government
do not mean what they say. (See, for example, Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-9; Zechariah
14:9; Micah 4:7.)
The reason for this is twofold. First, people have been
taught from childhood that the reward of Christianity offered in the Bible is
to depart to a realm "beyond the skies" as a disembodied soul/spirit,
“Go to heaven when you die”. Such a notion is completely without foundation in
the Scriptures and must be banished from the thinking process before any
progress in understanding the New Testament can be made. The dead according to
the Bible are at present all dead, not alive in another place! If they were in
another place, i.e., heaven there would be no need for them to be resurrected, but
in fact, they are waiting to be resurrected from the dead! They will
then inherit the earth, i.e., the Kingdom of God on earth (Matthew 5:5; Rev.
5:10).
Secondly, it has not been realized that the "everlasting life"
promised by the New Testament properly means "the Life of the Coming
Age." This is a well-known expression used by Jesus and his
contemporaries; the restoration of this definition of the goal of Christianity
allows us to understand that the object of the Christian life is not to go to
heaven when they die. It is to participate through a future resurrection from
the dead in the Future Age, the Age of the establishment on earth
of the Kingdom of God. It is everywhere taught in Scripture that the faithful
dead are now "sleeping," unconscious in the grave, awaiting the
resurrection to occur at the Coming of Jesus (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28, 29). All
the faithful will then share with the Messiah Jesus in the promised Kingdom.
In the light of this simple plan of God, the New Testament can be
read with complete understanding, for the facts noted here represent the positions
held by the New Testament writers. The challenge to the reader is one of
belief. Jesus' first recorded utterance in Mark's Gospel is a command to repent
(i.e., reorient one's mind and life) and believe the Good News
about the Kingdom! (Mark 1:15) It was when potential converts believed the
Good News (Gospel) Message about the Kingdom of God and the name of
Jesus the Messiah [and all that name represents] that they were baptized (Acts
8:12). This is the process by which we are to be initiated into the faith.
The Gospel of the Kingdom thus confronts each of us as individuals
at the moment he receives the proclamation of it by Jesus or the New Testament
Evangelists, or representative of Jesus. Thereafter, his/her response to the message
of the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached is all-important for salvation:
A warning about the danger of ignoring the invitation to the
Kingdom of God was given by the lord Messiah Jesus: "When anyone
hears the message about the Kingdom (Matthew 13:19) and does not understand it,
the devil comes and snatches away the message which was sown in his heart so
that he may not believe and be saved" (Luke 8:12).
Written by Anthony Buzzard and edited by Bruce Lyon
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