[An article written by Dan Gruber for the
Messianic Times]
People approach the Bible from different
perspectives and take different messages from it. There is
one message, however, that runs throughout the Scriptures
from beginning to end and provides the context into which
everything else fits. It is the coming Kingdom of God, a simple
expression for the actual government of God over the earth
He created.
Man, in the image and likeness of God, was
created to rule over all the earth in service to God (Gen.
1:26). Man's almost immediate rebellion against God did not
change God's identity, plans, or purpose. God is King, and
He will rule.
Men are currently living in violation of
God's law and will face judgment when His rule over all the
earth is established. They are commanded to repent now since
the coming of God's Kingdom will destroy all unrighteousness
and injustice of the kingdoms of men, as well as the rule
of darkness over the earth.
God's answer to the rebellion of Man is to
establish His own King--in the image and likeness of Adam,
in the image and likeness of God--as ruler in Jerusalem over
all the earth (Ps. 2:2-6). The "good news" is an
announcement of that coming Kingdom. The rule of Heaven will
be physically established upon the earth. There may be theological
disagreement on this, but the historical record is quite clear.
This is what the apostles taught. It is what
their disciples and their disciples' disciples taught through
the first three centuries. When they used the word "kingdom,"
they meant the Messianic Kingdom upon the earth, centered
in Jerusalem. In rabbinic writings, also, the "Kingdom
of Heaven" and the "Kingdom of God" indicate
God's reign on the earth.
Kefa (Peter) encouraged Believers to make
every effort to "enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Yeshua the Messiah (2 Kefa [Peter] 1:5-11, "The
Messianic Writings").
The Message of Rav Shaul (Paul) is summed
up in the last verse of Acts: "Boldly and without hindrance
he proclaimed God's kingdom and taught about the Lord Yeshua
the Messiah (Acts 28:31).
One who rejected the physical Messianic Kingdom
was considered an unBeliever or heretic. As Justin Martyr,
a second century Christian apologist who was killed for his
faith, pointed out, "I, and all other entirely orthodox
Christians, know that there will be a resurrection of the
flesh, and also a thousand years in Jerusalem built up and
adorned and enlarged, as prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah, and
all the rest, acknowledge..[Those] so-called Christians who
yet do not acknowledge this.in reality are godless and impious
heretics [who] dare to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
These disciples did not see the Kingdom as
an individual "spiritual" relationship. It was Origen,
a twice-excommunicated Gnostic heretic, who reduced the Kingdom
of God to an inner personal relationship. Yeshua never announced
a cancellation of God's plans to rule over the earth. Had
He done so, He would have demonstrated that He was not the
Messiah of the prophets.
That is Biblically inescapable. There is
no such thing in the Bible as a Messiah who does not rule
and reign in Jerusalem over David's kingdom and over all the
earth [cf. Zechariah 14:9]. Yeshua proclaimed the good news
of God's Kingdom (e.g. Mt. 4:23). He sent His disciples to
do the same (e.g. Mt. 10:7). He told them God's top priority:
"Seek first His kingdom and His justice." So they
should pray, "Your Kingdom come--Your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven." With the coming of God's Kingdom,
His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The issue is not the establishment of the
reign of God in heaven, for God already reigns in heaven.
The issue is the establishment of the reign of God upon the
earth. Yeshua became the Son of Adam to redeem the children
of Adam and the adamah, i.e. the earth from which Adam was
taken and over which he was put in charge. He became the Son
of David to rule in Jerusalem. The proclamation of the coming
Kingdom is what prepares the way of the Lord, heralding the
end of all other rule upon the earth (e.g. Mt. 24:14)."
[Dan Gruber, leader of Lion of Judah in Hanover,
N.H., is the international coordinator for the Resource Center.
He has written several books, including "The Church and
the Jews: The Biblical Relationship."]
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There is something we need to understand,
that even if the amillennialist views on prophecy are in error,
Origen realized that there is a spiritual aspect of the kingdom
of God dwelling in our hearts, as shown in a few clear NT
Scriptures [Col. 1:11-13, for one], which show the spiritual
aspect of the kingdom which does dwell in our minds, attitudes
and hearts. It was Origen's error to use this spiritual truth
as an excuse to allegorize away almost the entire 2nd
coming prophecies away from their intended literal meaning.
Yet we see all the prophecies for Our Lord's 1st
coming have been literally fulfilled, and many of the 1st
coming prophecies are embedded right within 2nd
coming prophecies in the OT. So we can see by Scripture itself,
that it is wrong to try to allegorize the 2nd coming
prophecies away, when the 1st coming ones were
quite literally fulfilled by Jesus. But there is a powerful
spiritual aspect to the kingdom dwelling in our hearts, as
shown by some clear NT Scriptures. It is clear by the above
article, that some or many in the Messianic Jewish movement
haven't yet learned some of these finer NT principles of the
gospel of Christ--that we are fore-runners of the coming Kingdom,
and as such, are--in a spiritual sense--actually dwelling
in that kingdom by the Spirit that dwells in us, the Holy
Spirit. We also are Ambassador's of the Messiah's coming kingdom--and
as such we are under and within it's governmental structure
and authority, which can't be physically seen by men, but
is spiritually discerned. It is our amillennial brothers in
Christ, the Messiah, who have brought this understanding into
the greater body of Christ, and we should appreciate this.
Editor, UNITYINCHRIST.COM
