Book 1 of Musings Form and Substance
The Kingdom of God always will have much the same form as we see today. The difference is, behind the form will be Divine Life instead of blood and the adamic nature.
It seems at one time there was only the spirit realm. Then God created the physical world. For hundreds of years scientists have been studying the physical world, from the smallest parts of atoms to the farthest observable galaxies.
The physical world truly is an amazing realm.
I think in the beginning the physical world was much more imbued with God's life than is true today. There was light for the first three days from no known source. The serpent spoke to Eve. There were unusual trees growing from the ground. How much of this is allegorical it is hard to tell. But it appears we are safe in saying there was more spiritual animation in the world of nature than is true today.
We know from the Scripture that at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age the earth and the heavens will flee from the face of Christ. The people who are to be judged are standing in the spirit realm, apparently, for there is no ground to stand on. They are clothed with flesh and bones, for their bodies have been raised from the dead.
One may wonder how anyone could be in the spirit realm in flesh and bones. Well, Enoch was caught up in his body. So was Elijah. So was Jesus. So there seems to be no trouble with being moved from the physical realm to the spirit world while still in our flesh and bones.
What animates the flesh and bones of mankind? Two things. Blood, which is the life of the flesh; and the sinful, adamic nature. After the resurrected people have been judged, and either brought forward to eternal life or else thrown into the Lake of Fire, Christ will create a new sky and a new earth.
It is my point of view that the new sky and the new earth will be much the same as that with which we are familiar, except that there will be no more curse. I believe this for three reasons:
First, it is a new earth. If it were to be something different from an earth under a sky, such as we know, I think the Lord would have said so.
Second, God did not say He would make all new things but all things new. It still will be a physical world, such as that to which we are accustomed.
I think the expression "there is no more sea" is referring to multitudes of people who can be swayed to wickedness. Each person will be an important individual and will be known to God; not a member of a faceless crowd.
Third, because this is what we want, and God has promised to give us the desires of our heart.
We may think we want some bizarre kind of fantasy land with strange looking people and animals. What really is in our heart is the Garden of Eden. We want to be restored to a paradise, like the most wonderful scenes of earth minus all forms of the curse. We may not realize it, but we do not want all new things, we want all things new so we can enjoy the environment God has made for man.
The form of things that are is the form of things that shall be, according to my present understanding. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is in us. This is true. The Kingdom of God consists of God in Christ in the saints governing the world.
The present world is unsatisfactory, not because of its form but because of its inner substance. Our body lives by the interaction of oxygen, flesh, and blood. This is not at all satisfactory.
It is temporary, always diminishing with age.
But this is not the worst part. The soul and brain that direct the body have inherited a spiritual nature that always rebels against God.
The form of the world is satisfactory. The body and inward nature of people cause endless grief.
God has given us the Holy Spirit so our inward nature might be crucified and then resurrected in Christ. If we are faithful, a part of our wicked, corrupt nature dies and is replaced with the Life of Jesus Christ.
Our body, however, remains unchanged.
If we are faithful, and have submitted to the moral transformation that occurs through death and resurrection, the day will come when God will clothe our resurrected flesh and bones with a body fashioned from Divine Life.
New wine in a new bottle.
Our form will remain essentially the same, just as the Lord Jesus still is in the form of a man. It is what is behind the form that is the Kingdom of God. Since this is true, the greatest mistake we can make during our life is to refuse to submit to the transforming death and resurrection through which the Spirit of God continually is leading us. If our inward nature remains unchanged, then, in the Day of Resurrection, there will be nothing on which to place a body of Divine Life. We will remain in the form of man but the inward nature will be sinful and rebellious.
The Kingdom of God is a seed that is planted in our personality. If we tend to it properly, it will transform our inward nature in preparation for the renewing of our body, our outward form, in the Spirit of God.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)
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