A Description of the Kingdom of God 9

A Description of the Kingdom of God, 9

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)

The victorious saints will reign with Christ throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age and will not be affected by the judgment that will take place when the Kingdom Age has been concluded.

The great judgment that will take place at the end of the Kingdom Age, when the present heaven and earth have vanished in a fiery explosion, will be for the purpose of determining who will be saved: that is, who will be permitted to enjoy the glorious reign of the Kingdom of God; who will be given eternal life and become part of the nations of the saved.

In the new heaven and earth reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, every person who is saved, every thing and every circumstance of worth, will have been renewed and will continue to be renewed by the revelation of God in Christ in the saints. God will be All in all. Christ will be the Center and Circumference of the universe.

The thousand-year Kingdom Age is for the purpose of moving all saved persons toward this perfect reign of God through His Christ.

The Church and the Kingdom of God. There has been confusion over the relationship between the Church and the Kingdom of God.

It is not true that the Kingdom of God is for the earth while the Church is for Heaven. Rather it is true that the Kingdom of God rules in Heaven now and soon will govern the earth also. The Church is the Body of Christ and is destined to govern all things, including the heavens and the earth.

It is not true that the Church is for the Gentiles and the Kingdom of God is for the Jews. The most superficial knowledge of the Scriptures will confirm that both Jews and Gentiles enter the Church and also into the Kingdom of God.

The term church means "called out from." A synonym is "elect." God's elect, although drawn from the Jews and Gentiles, are no longer Jew or Gentile. They are the one Church, the one Kingdom of God that shall rule on the earth from the city of Jerusalem.

It is customary today to refer to a Gentile Christian as a "Christian," while a Jewish Christian is termed a "Jewish Christian." This is unfortunate. The truth is, a Gentile Christian is a Christian and a Jewish Christian is a Christian. There is no difference. Both are of God's elect, of the one Body of Christ. Until this obvious truth is thoroughly accepted, all kinds of false distinctions will continue.

The difference is not between Jew and Christian, it is between Jew and Gentile. The terms Jew and Gentile refer to race. The term Christian refers to faith in Christ. Let us be done forever with the terms Gentile Church, Jewish Christian, Messianic believer. Were Peter and Paul Messianic believers or Christians?

To be continued. A Description of the Kingdom of God 10