I find there are three
themes running consistently throughout the documents of the new covenant – what
we call the New Testament. These are
like three different ‘background’ elements. He is
establishing His Kingdom; He is building a household; He is making a future.
Establishing His Kingdom
In relation to
establishing His kingdom, I noted a
number of important things. God is
establishing His kingdom because He is King!
Indeed, He is King over all kings.
And while His kingdom is ‘not of this world’, as Jesus noted, it is an
eternal kingdom of an “other-worldly” type.
These are some of the characteristics of God and His kingdom:
-
God’s
essential nature is Father (attested to throughout our bible)
-
He inhabits
eternity (Isaiah 57:15)
-
He invented
time, space, matter, motion, the world, the natural order – and people (the
book of Job is as good as any to get this message)
-
The human race
is the crowning glory of His creation (see Genesis story)
-
His heart-beat
is to bring into existence a new race of people – with His DNA (1 John 1:13)
-
He is capable
of doing this because He calls into existence that which does not exist (Romans
4:17)
- He is calling into existence “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [they] may declare the praises of him who called [them] out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
Building a Household
In relation to
building a household, I noted a
number of important things:
In the household, God is Father
Jesus is,
first in relation to the Father, the first-born and the once-born Son whose inheritance is the “double
portion”. And, second, in relation to
us, he is the elder brother, with whom we share the Father’s inheritance. Jesus made it quite clear that he is not
ashamed to call those who put their trust entirely in him his ‘brothers’.
[Old versions
of the bible use the term “only-begotten son” in reference to Jesus. Begotten simply means born. And since God, according to other parts of
the bible, has many sons by new birth, Jesus cannot be the only-born son. The word translated ‘only’ can also be
translated ‘once’ and I suggest that is what it should be in our English
bibles. That way, Jesus is the once-born son of the Father; the
rest of us are twice-born sons, as Jesus made quite plain when he spoke to
Nicodemus. And historically in the story
of God in relation to man noted in the Old Testament, the first-born son always
received a “double inheritance” – that is, he is entitled to two shares of the
Father’s estate.]
The Holy Spirit is the life-source and the
DNA of the household. I believe the Holy
Spirit is to the Godhead what the human spirit is to the human, only on a much
grander scale, in every conceivable way and more besides.
The angels are
the household servants. But, while they
too are created beings, they are of a completely different order from humans –
and they never become sons. I contend
that this may even be what lies behind the rebellion of that angel Satan and
his followers. The whole idea of grubby
humans becoming not just sons, but rulers in God’s household may have appeared
quite scandalous to some of the angels.
We know from scripture that angels do look into matters relating to us
humans and do have their unique responses to what they see. While not human, they are not what we humans
call robots.
And then of
course, there are the many sons whom God is bringing to glory by means of the
finished work of Jesus. And be careful
to note here: sons don’t become angels.
Angels will never be sons and sons will never be angels. Sons
receive His life and act out of their understanding of the Father and their
position in Him through Jesus; angels do what they are told.
Note also that
I don’t say ‘sons and daughters’. Under
the terms and conditions of the Old Covenant, sons inherited but daughters
usually didn’t. A special case could be
made for daughters to inherit when a father had no sons.
Under the
terms and conditions of the New Covenant however, “there is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) In the New Testament, the Greek word used for
son (huios) loses its emphasis on
maleness and becomes a term that indicates relationship, inheritance and name. The huios
is the one in whom “the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we
are children of God” and the one who has “received the spirit of adoption as
sons by which we cry out ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15&16)
The very next
verse of Romans 8 says, “And if children, then heirs also, heirs of God and
fellow-heirs with Christ – if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may
also be glorified with him.” All who
have this witness within them are ‘sons’ (whether male or female) and all
likewise co-inherit with each other and with Jesus the elder brother (whether
male or female). This is the true
meaning of being a ‘son’ of God in His household: relationship and inheritance
and name.
-------------------------
Now if these
two things (establishing His kingdom and building a household) are like subtle backgrounds to the artefacts on display, the third
point is more like a series of little unobvious windows or hatches, almost
invisible in among the collections on display.
He is making what for us is a future:
Take a look at
these scripture verses from apostle Paul and apostle John.
2 timothy
2:11-13
It is a
trustworthy statement: for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if
we endure, we shall also reign with Him;
if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful;
for He cannot deny Himself.
1 Corinthians 6:1-3
Does any one
of you, when he has a case against his neighbour, dare to go to law before the
unrighteous and not before the saints?
Or do you not know that the saints
will judge the world? And if the
world is judged by you, are you not competent in the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How
much more, matters of this life?
Revelation
5:10
And they sang
a new song … You have made them a kingdom of priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.
[Bear in mind
that the Revelation also says there is to be a new heaven and new earth.]
Revelation
20:6 and 22:5
Blessed and
hold is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second
death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him.
And there
shall no longer be night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp
nor the light of the sun, because the Lord shall illumine them; and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Pull out the
italicised phrases and have a good look.
This is what is in store for those who have died with Christ, who endure
to the end, who do not deny him and who prove faithful. And if we stand in Christ and live according
to the Spirit (Romans 8 again), all these things are worked in us by the Spirit
who is given to us as the guarantee of our inheritance with Christ.
- We will reign with Christ
-
We will judge
the world
-
We will judge
angels
-
We will reign
on earth [the ‘new earth’ maybe]
-
We will be
priests of Christ and reign with Him
-
We will reign
for ever and ever
Cheers,
Kevin.
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