Matthew 4:23
“What is the Gospel of the Kingdom?”
When Jesus Messiah (which is Christ) started preaching and teaching, after His temptations, He proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is the first mention of the “Gospel”.
The majority of the New Testament is about the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus prepared Christians to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 5, 6 & 7. Then later in His ministry He began using parables exclusively. Then, at last, He told them of His death and resurrection.
Now, what is the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom? It is the fact that He is going to be working alongside His bride for 1,000 years to bring this earth back to the condition that it was in the Garden of Eden. Not only will His bride be helping Him, but many joint heirs, who have been found as overcomers and faithful at the Judgment Seat of Christ, will be working with them. At the end of the 1,000 years, He will present this earth back to His Heavenly Father, Who is “all in all”. There will be a purifying fire to bring about the new heaven and new earth. All sin will be destroyed. There will be no more sorrow or sin or sickness. It will be the new Garden of Eden! Christians, at this time, are the only ones left on the earth, because the lost will have already been cast into the lake of fire with Satan.
Those Christians, after they are brought out of that place of protection during the purification and put back on the new earth, will then, be as Adam and Eve. Remember, God formed the earth to be “inhabited” in Isaiah 45:18. Satan would be victorious if the end of reproduction, man and animals, was at the end of the 1,000 years. This is a new beginning, on the new earth, after the redemption of man and redemption of earth had been accomplished. Remember, Satan became disqualified to have dominion over the earth, but Jesus was qualified and will continue to have dominion according to the reason God created it, “not in vain”. Things will go on, like they were supposed to go in the Garden of Eden.
Angels, according to Hebrews 2, it would seem, are going to be dispatched to some other province, like earth in God’s kingdom. Christians, all Christians faithful and unfaithful alike, have now been punished and/or purified during the 1,000 years. These Christians will have a part in the administering of God’s plan for the earth from heaven after the 1,000 years. Daniel 4:26 says, “The heavens do rule”.
The flood of Noah purified the earth and then the government of the earth came under the authority of man. Man has made such a mess of it that God will purify it again, not by water, remember the rainbow promise, but by fire.
The Kingdom of Heaven refers to the heaven over the earth. We don’t know, but let’s assume that this heaven is the same size as the earth.
Those Christians who have been faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2-3) on earth now and those who have overcome (Revelation 2 & 3) will be those “chosen” to rule and reign with Him during the 1,000 years (and, I suppose, in some way for eternity). We are preparing during this life to fill our positions successfully in the 1,000 year age to follow. Are we going to be qualified? The Judgment Seat of Christ will give the answer! If we are not faithfully doing God’s will (the job He has given us) during this age (life), how can we expect Him to put us in charge of that whole department over earth in the age to come, the 1,000 year kingdom. A janitor who is not following the rules or instructions for his assignment, cannot be put in a position of instructing others or to be put over the whole maintenance department.
Faithfulness is the key!
The Kingdom of God is all of the provinces of the heavens. Satan is in charge of the earth, but he wanted to be in charge of all of the provinces. There are other angels in charge of those provinces. See Job 1:6 and 2:1.
The Heaven Eternal is the heaven before Adam and Eve and after the 22nd chapter of Revelation.
Our goal in this life (age) should be the same as Paul’s! when he was ready to die, he said he had finished the job assigned to him. The Judgment Seat of Christ will reveal how successful he was in doing this job. It will also be revealed what job Paul will have for the next 1,000 years! All Christians have been given a job in this life (age), so we can prepare for the job which the Lord has assigned for us in His 1,000 year kingdom. We are going to be judged on whether we have been faithful or unfaithful in that job. I Corinthians 4:2. Also, all of the parables are revealing things concerning the Kingdom of Heaven.
There are Christians who have applied the blood by faith to their heart’s door and then, as some of those who came out of Egypt, will murmur and complain all along the way. They were out of Egypt, saved by applying the blood, but didn’t live a victorious life or get to enter the promised land.
The applying of the blood, by faith, is the only thing required for salvation and entrance into Heaven Eternal.
Faithfulness in our assigned job here and now, in this age (life), will determine what position we will have in the Kingdom of Heaven. There will be some Christians who have been unfaithful in their assigned job and do not have on a wedding garment. The wedding garment represents the righteous works of Christians according to Revelation 19:8. Then in Matthew 22:12, a person came to the wedding feast without a wedding garment. That person was “cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth”. Many Christians are “called (saved by the Blood), but few are chosen” (to serve with Him in His Kingdom).
There are no unsaved in the Kingdom of Heaven! The unsaved are in Hades or they are living on earth. At the end of the 1,000 year kingdom, there will be the Great White Throne Judgment for all unsaved of all time. Satan and the unsaved will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity at that judgment – this judgment is only for the lost.
Christians who have been faithful in this age, will be the ones “chosen” to help the Lord and His kingdom.
The goal of that 1,000 years is to clean up the mess that man has made these last 6,000 years. Those faithful Christians will rule from the heavenly throne room over the earth. They will take the place of the angels, who have been dispatched to another province in the Kingdom of God.
See the box with the question mark in it for the “Kingdom of God.”
Those Christians who have been unfaithful, will be put out or rather, not be allowed in the throne room. The door will be closed as in the parable of the “10 virgins” Matthew 25:1-13. They will be sorry, for 1,000 years, that they chose the “pleasures of this life” for 50 or 60 years rather than to occupy the position that God had for them here on earth. Be faithful in occupying your position or be regretting for 1,000 years!
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