Study Companion
Ask
Browse
Listen
＋
Install
←
Back
Podcast
Kingdom Of God On Earth
Open original on relationalconcepts.org ↗
Your browser does not support audio.
↺ Start from beginning
0% listened
Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to talk about the kingdom of God on earth.
0:09
This probably just sounds like something theologians talk about, and it is something theologians
0:14
talk about.
0:15
But it's also something we should all think about because it governs how we define ministry.
0:24
For example, if you're involved in a church or missionary organization, when they think
0:29
of ministry, do they think about sharing the plan of salvation and leading people to receive
0:34
Christ and teaching them the Bible, or do they think about helping the poor, bringing
0:39
them medical supplies, building them houses?
0:43
Almost all answer this by saying, we do both.
0:46
But if they go to, say, the third world developing country, do they spend most of their time
0:52
talking to people about the Bible, the gospel, or salvation, or do they spend most of their
0:58
time building houses, bringing in medical or emergency supplies?
1:03
Most will tell you charity and social work opens the door for the gospel, maybe.
1:10
But the reality is that's not what usually happens.
1:15
I've talked to many people who've been on trips where they do social work as an opening
1:20
door for the gospel, and usually they do the social work but don't share the gospel.
1:27
Of course, it's always good to do all you can for whoever you can as much as you can.
1:34
But is that supposed to define the ministry of the church?
1:38
I'd like to discuss this a few minutes from a theological foundation of two approaches
1:44
to ministry.
1:45
I'll call them the cultural approach and the gospel approach.
1:51
So we're going to break that down into some subcategories, but just keep in mind that's
1:57
the main thing.
1:58
Is it a gospel approach or a cultural approach?
2:01
In Acts 1, 6-8, Luke records this conversation between Jesus and the disciples shortly before
2:08
his ascension into heaven.
2:10
This is a quote from Acts 1.
2:13
So when they came together, they were asking, saying, Lord, is it this time they will gather
2:17
the kingdom to Israel?
2:19
He said to them, it's not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has
2:23
fixed by his own authority, but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you
2:29
and you'll be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the
2:33
remotest part of the earth.
2:36
The question is, when Jesus said you shall be my witnesses, did he mean social work or
2:43
gospel work?
2:44
Did he send them to help the poor or spread the gospel?
2:48
Is the earthly kingdom of God something we do gradually or something Jesus does suddenly
2:55
in his second coming?
2:58
Here's a definition I think both groups would agree with.
3:02
The earthly kingdom of God is God ruling over this physical earth through his Messiah.
3:09
This is often referred to as the millennium by both of those who do and do not believe
3:14
that it's a thousand years and by those who do and do not believe that we're building
3:19
the kingdom now.
3:21
So I shall here refer to God's kingdom on earth as a millennium to distinguish it from
3:27
the heavenly kingdom of God.
3:31
Both groups would agree with that.
3:32
I think that we're talking about God's kingdom on earth and both of them would call it the
3:36
millennium.
3:37
There are two basic camps describing the millennium.
3:41
I'll call them the cultural camp and the gospel camp.
3:44
Within the cultural camp, there are three possibilities, the millennium now position,
3:51
the progressive millennial position, the eternal millennial position.
3:55
Within the gospel camp, there are two positions, the postponed millennial position and the
3:59
future millennial position.
4:01
So there are five distinguishable positions about this millennium.
4:06
I'll here briefly describe these five positions and defend the fifth one, which is when I
4:14
would favor the future millennial position of the gospel.
4:16
Now, I realize this sounds confusing just listening to it on a podcast, it sounds confusing
4:22
to me.
4:23
But the main thing to keep in mind is there are two main camps, the culture camp and the
4:28
gospel camp.
4:30
And if you work with the Christian church or missionary group, their leadership is going
4:34
to be from one of these two camps.
4:37
First, the cultural camp.
4:41
The cultural camp is focused on fixing the world via what's commonly called a cultural
4:47
mandate based on Genesis 128, which says, quote, God blessed them and God said to them,
4:55
be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea
5:00
and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
5:05
They claim this is a mandate for believers to redeem the physical and cultural structures
5:09
of the world.
5:11
The problem is Genesis 128 is not a cultural mandate.
5:16
It has nothing to do with the culture at all.
5:20
Genesis 128 is a command to subdue and rule over the physical creation of plants and animals.
5:26
For example, we should manage the wolf and deer population, not kill all the whales,
5:32
cut down all the trees without replacing them.
5:35
But plants and animals don't have culture.
5:38
There is no culture mandate.
5:40
Noah was never told to improve the culture of the Antediluvian people.
5:46
Abraham was never told to improve the culture of the Canaanites.
5:50
Moses was never told to improve the culture of the Egyptians.
5:53
David was never told to improve the culture of the Philistines.
5:57
Paul was never told to improve the culture of the Greeks or Romans.
6:01
For sure, the spread of the gospel and conversions to Christianity improved the culture surrounding
6:08
those conversions.
6:10
Christians were the first ones to build hospitals, orphanages, shelters for the homeless, but
6:15
no one in the Bible was ever told to focus on improving the world's culture.
6:24
Now the culture camp Millennium Now view.
6:28
The Millennium Now position is fundamentally and historically the view of the theological
6:34
camp known as Amillennialism, although this position refers to references to Augustine
6:41
back in the 8400s.
6:44
This primarily follows the teaching of John Calvin in the 1500s.
6:48
Historically, this is a position of the Reformed Presbyterian and Lutheran churches.
6:54
The Roman Catholic Catechism also teaches a Millennium Now view.
7:01
The following description is of the Kingdom Now view, which is from the website of Anthony
7:07
Hokema.
7:09
Hokema says this, quote, Contrary to what the name Amillennialists imply, Amills do
7:17
believe in a millennium.
7:19
The millennium, however, is now this present age of the church between the first and second
7:25
coming of Christ.
7:26
In its entirety, that is the millennium.
7:29
However, this messianic reign is not necessarily for a literal thousand years.
7:37
Albert Wohlers, professor of religion at Redeemer University in Agostino, Ontario,
7:44
argues that mankind, as God's representative on earth, carry on where God left off, leading
7:52
to a new heaven and a new earth.
7:55
To summarize the Millennium Now position is the covenant Amillennial Reformed idea that
8:03
the present age of the church between the first and second coming of Christ, in its
8:08
entirety, is the millennium.
8:10
Therefore, the church's mission includes a mandate to build the earth into a house of
8:16
God, like the ancient civilizations would build a house for their gods, and when the
8:22
house is built, Jesus will come to live in it.
8:26
Well, the problems with the Millennium Now position, one basic problem is that this position
8:32
depends on a non-literal, spiritualized method of interpreting scripture.
8:38
Israel is not Israel.
8:39
The land is not the land.
8:40
Blessings for the Jews are not blessings for the Jews.
8:44
That ignores the basic problem that the Millennium is about Israel, not the church.
8:50
All the statements of the Old Testament prophets forecasting a future earthly kingdom for Israel
8:56
must either be ignored, which is what they usually do, or spiritualized into a cultural
9:01
mandate for the church to impose Christian values on the world.
9:06
This kind of non-literal interpretation is usually applied selectively.
9:12
For example, they might allegorize the Millennium, a six-day creation, and the role of women
9:17
in homosexuality while taking the plan of salvation literally.
9:23
The second basic problem with the Kingdom Now view is that it assumes the kingdom of
9:28
God as something that requires the assistance of man.
9:33
They understand the phrase, in the Lord's prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done
9:39
on earth as it is in heaven, as a directive for the church to bring in the kingdom of
9:44
God on earth.
9:47
As Albert Waller said, we're to carry on where God left off.
9:53
But nothing in the Bible suggests that.
9:56
God never asked humans to build his kingdom for him or with him.
10:03
For example, the phrase, your kingdom come in the Lord's prayer, is something we ask
10:08
God to do, not something he is asking us to do.
10:12
The third basic problem is that the kingdom of God begins after the second coming of Christ,
10:19
which follows a great tribulation period, where the earth is nearly destroyed.
10:24
The kingdom of God does not come as a result of the church bringing Christian values to
10:31
the world.
10:34
Now the cultural camp progressive millennial position.
10:40
The progressive millennial position is very similar to the millennial now position.
10:44
The only difference is that the progressive view believes Christ will return to complete
10:49
the building of his kingdom rather than after the kingdom is built.
10:54
Common description is used as already, not yet.
10:58
This view is common among the charismatic and progressive dispensationalists.
11:04
To summarize this view, the point of the progressive millennial position is that we are already
11:10
in the kingdom of God on earth, but it's not yet complete, as it will be completed
11:15
by Christ at his second coming.
11:19
For problems with the progressive millennial view, progressive millennialism position has
11:24
the same problem as the millennium now position.
11:27
They abandon the author's intended meaning, literal interpretation, to support their view.
11:33
And secondly, they assume man, with God's help of course, brings about the kingdom of
11:38
God.
11:39
But in the Bible, the millennium is something God does, not something that requires the
11:44
help of Christians.
11:47
Now the gospel camp.
11:49
The gospel camp believes that we are not to see ourselves as citizens of this earth.
11:56
We're only to take care of the earth as we might change the oil in our car.
12:01
We take care of it because it has utilitarian value, not because it has innate or eternal
12:08
value.
12:10
This world will wear out, and we'll leave it behind.
12:15
Our focus as Christians is heavenly, not earthly.
12:19
We should go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations because our citizenship is
12:23
in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Philippians
12:31
3.
12:32
20.
12:33
As with the list of believers in Hebrews 11, we desire a better country that is a heavenly
12:39
one.
12:40
We believe that with the apostle Paul, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and
12:46
will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom, that from 2 Timothy 4.
12:53
18.
12:54
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making a deal through us.
13:00
We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God, that's 2 Corinthians 5.
13:06
20.
13:08
The gospel can't postpone millennium position.
13:14
Paul Miles gives this definition of the postponed millennial position.
13:21
Postponement theology contends Jesus offered Israel the literal earthly messianic kingdom,
13:28
which is described in the Old Testament.
13:30
But since Israel rejected this kingdom offer, Jesus postponed the literal kingdom to a future
13:37
day.
13:38
Or to summarize, the postmillennial position teaches that the earthly kingdom of God is
13:45
future because it was rejected when Jesus offered it to the Jews.
13:51
It's very common among evangelicals, but I'd like to point out some problems with the postmillennial
13:57
position.
13:58
Although the Bible clearly teaches a future kingdom of God on earth, there are three basic
14:04
problems with the idea that Jesus offered to Israel the literal earthly messianic kingdom.
14:11
First, there's a fundamental problem that if Jesus was offering the kingdom to the Jews
14:16
of his day, and they accepted his offer, we would have a kingdom without the cross.
14:22
In that case, we would all be lost because there would not be any payment for sin.
14:28
The answer to that is Jesus knew their answer to it is that Jesus knew they wouldn't accept
14:33
it.
14:34
But that makes the offer insincere.
14:37
An insincere offer is not actually an offer at all.
14:41
Second, when Jesus walked the land in the first century AD, the Jews of the land were
14:47
primarily from the tribe of Judah, with some Benjamites and Levites, the descendants of
14:53
those who returned from the land from Babylon.
14:57
There were a few Jews from other tribes scattered among them, but the ten northern tribes were
15:02
captured by Assyria in 722, then apparently migrated north to places like Russia and Eastern
15:09
Europe, where they lived in Jewish ghettos, like the one depicted in the 1971 musical
15:15
Fiddler on the Roof.
15:18
But these ten tribes did not return with those who came back from Babylon in the 400s BC.
15:26
Jesus could not offer the millennial kingdom to Israel because most of the tribes were
15:31
not there to accept or reject it.
15:34
The kingdom of God comes about on earth when all twelve of the tribes of Israel are gathered
15:40
into the land, according to Ezekiel 37, 15 to 28.
15:46
Third, the coming of the kingdom of God does not depend on people accepting it.
15:53
God brings his kingdom to earth after great tribulation and with the second coming of
15:58
Christ.
15:59
It's not something anybody has an option to accept or reject.
16:04
Well, fifth is the gospel position, future millennial position.
16:10
And you'll recall I said this is the position that I favor.
16:14
I'm going to read you Revelation 11, 15, and then 12, 10, quote, Then the seventh angel
16:21
sounded and there was a loud voice in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become
16:26
the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ.
16:30
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom
16:35
of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.
16:39
Close quote.
16:41
The future millennial position contends that the millennium is a completely future time
16:47
when Jesus Christ comes back to reign over the whole earth, physically and personally,
16:53
for a thousand years, according to Revelation 20.
16:58
The millennium comes as part of God's predetermined timing, not a millennium that we grow now
17:06
is already here.
17:08
It was not offered to Israel by Jesus during his incarnation on earth and postponed because
17:15
Jewish rejection.
17:16
The future millennial position contends that the millennium described in both the Old and
17:21
New Testament is a specific period, which follows a seven year time of extreme tribulation
17:28
on earth and begins with Christ's return to the Mount of Olives.
17:35
As a conclusion, we might ask, does it seem like we're in a millennium world now?
17:41
Does it seem like the world is ruled by love and truth and peace and justice and the word
17:45
of God?
17:46
Does it seem like the millennium has already begun?
17:50
It's not yet finished.
17:52
Does it seem like the earth is our eternal home?
17:57
Or does it seem like the world is moving toward the satanic antichrist global society described
18:04
as a seven year tribulation, which occurs before the second coming of Christ, which
18:09
ushers in the millenniums?
18:13
Well thanks for listening.
18:14
If you're interested in a longer paper on the subject, check out our website relationalconcepts.org.
