A Kingdom Of Lost Souls
Some look
for a kingdom that is:
Corruptible,
Defiled,
Fading away,
Reserved on
earth,
For
unregenerate men,
Ruled with a
rod of iron,
To be
revealed 1000 years
before (he
last time.
Some look
for a kingdom that is:
Incorruptible,
Undefiled,
Fading not
away,
Reserved in
heaven,
For those
saved by faith,
To be
revealed in the last time.
(1 Peter
1:14)
Some look
for both.
One cannot
help but wonder just how much thought the Dispensational Futurists give to the
implications of their varied theories? For instance, had the purpose of Jesus Christ been to establish an earthly kingdom at His
first coming, all the types and prophecies
relating to His redemptive purposes through the crucifixion and resurrection would have been completely meaningless. David's
Messianic Psalms, Isaiah's fifty-third chapter of his Gospel-saturated
book, and many other references in other books of the prophets to Christ's sufferingss and redemptive purposes would also
be devoid of any significance.
The kingdom theory of the Futurist
School would eliminate the scarlet thread of God's redeeming purpose through thee atoning blood that actually starts
in Genesis and continues right
through the Bible to the last chapter of Revelation. And this destructive theory would thus undermine one's confidence
in all the other types, prophecies and
promises relating to the believer's victory over sin and Satan through the
atoning blood of the Lamb of God. It is truly a theory of sand that drives one
away from that Rock Foundation, the
crucified and risen Saviour.
When Jesus came the first time He came unto a people
steeped in sin. He had to say unto the
religious leaders, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men;
for ye neither go in yourselves, neither
permit them that are entering to go in" (Matt. 23:13). In that same
chapter He calls them "blind
guides^' and a "generation of vipers!' John records Jesus as telling these same religious fakers" ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do" (John 8:44).
How ridiculous to claim that Jesus
offered an earthly kingdom to such degenerates as these and their followers! What a
lovely kingdom it would have been had such been the case! A kingdom of lost souls,
indeed! But the kind of kingdom that Jesus offered them was that
spiritual kingdom that required repentance and the new birth to enter.
Jesus' forerunner was not deceived with
the Judaistic and Futuristic notion of an earthly kingdom of Jewish supremacy.
No, indeed! His keynote message was clearly and simply "Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand!' The common people heeded this message and confessed their
sins and were baptized. But to the proud, conceited religious leaders he fearleessly said, "O, generation of
vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" (Matt.
3:2,6,7,etc.). And the spiritual principles that Christ expounded in the
Sermon on the Mount could only be realized through real heart repentance and completee humility and dependence upon God.
But the sinful
generation of Jesus' day wanted none of that kind of kingdom. They did not want a
kingdom of "righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom.
14:17).
However, there were a few here and there that did heed the message of repentance, and who,
through the new birth, did enter into God's kingdom. To the rejecter’s of this spiritual
kingdom Jesus said, "the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you —
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given
to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it" (Matt. 21:31,43). And all believers, Jew
and Gentile, now compose that holy and spiritual nation, as Peter clearly informs us
(1 Peter 2:9).
What an unholy nation it would have
been had Christ's kingdom
been composed of the "Zionistic" Jews of His day. Had Jesus
offered them the kind of carnal kingdom they expected, they would have &quoot;gobbled it up!' But the fact is
simply this: His kingdom was not and is not of this world. (Jn. 18:36). So they could not stomach it.
It is true, of course, that until
Pentecost, even Christ's disciples did not fully comprehend the nature of
His Kingdom. The two disciples on the Emmaus road were so carried away with the
wrong idea of the Kingdom of God that even when they were
informed that the tomb was empty <this fact did not seem to enter
into their hearts, past
the "iron curtain" of their misconceptions. So Jesus had to say to
them, "O foolish ones, and slow
of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
His glory?" And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them, in all the scriptures, the
things concerning Himself (Luke
24:25-27; note also verses 44-48).
After Jesus returned
to heaven the Christians had no misconceptions about the present reality of
the Kingdom of God. Listen to Peter preaching his Pentecostal sermon: "Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he
is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on His throne: He, seeing
this before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in
hell, neither His flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up etc!' (Acts 2:29-36). Peter concluded this sermon
by saying, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both
Lord and Christ!' What could be clearer than that?
Instead of being carried away with
the false theories of the Dispensational Futurists, let us rejoice in
the fact that through our born-again experience we have entered into God's righteous
kingdom (John 3:3,5); and have been delivered "from the power of darkness, and have
been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. 1:13) and are now members of that royal priesthood
that both Peter and John write about (1 Peter
2:5,9; Rev. 1:5,6; 5:9,10).
The Scripture-taught believer wants no part of that
imaginary, carnal, earthly kingdom that was
supposed to have been postponed from Christ's first coming until His second return. We rejoice in our heavenly
Zion right now (Heb. 12:22); and look forward
to that eternal inheritance that is "incorruptible, and undefiled, and
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:4,5); when the last trump
sounds (1 Cor. 15:52); and when we
are raised in resurrection glory on that last day (John 6:39,40,44,54; 11:24).
Since there will be
no unsaved Jew or Gentile in that heavenly inheritance, one would be wise to
remember Paul's warning that "behold, now is the time; behold now
is
the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2; note also Heb. 2:3; 3:7,8,13,15). Also,
remember that
there is no Bible verse that even hints that there will be an offer of
salvation once Jesus conies the second time (Heb. 9:27,28; Peter 3:4-18).
George H. Clement