Kingdom
Age New Creation
In Matthew chapter six, Jesus teaches His disciples the
essential substance of prayer. It
becomes quite evident in Jesus’ teaching regarding the substance of prayer that
something very important to King Jesus is that He wants believers to maintain a
Kingdom Age focus in their everyday
lives during the Church Age.
“9 After
this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is
in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the
power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:9-13).
Obviously, if we dare call ourselves the subjects of
King Jesus, we should be preoccupied in our service to Him with His Kingdom. His Kingdom is more about souls than it is
about real estate. The words “depts” and
“trespasses” refer to two different things in the text. “Debts” is from the Greek word opheilema (of-i'-lay-mah) and refers to something owed in either the
monetary or moral sense. “Trespasses” is
from the Greek word paraptoma (par-ap'-to-mah), which refers to an error
or transgression. Therefore,
Matthew 6:12-13 defines how people, destined for the Kingdom, should treat
one another if they want to maintain open communication with the Throne of
King Jesus. These truths are essential
to Kingdom thinking and Kingdom living.
How errantly
many view the Kingdom Age. Most view the
Kingdom Age from the perspective of change in blessing to them rather than in
moral obligations regarding the way we live interactively with one another. The local church is simply intended to
reflect a miniature Kingdom Age view of living together under the Lordship of
King Jesus forgiving one another and encouraging one another. No matter how difficult this concept might
appear to be, this kind of interaction and interdependence is the defining test
of the reality of the kind of Christianity Jesus describes in Matthew chapters
five through seven in His Sermon on the Mount. The defining factors of radical
transformation defined by the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12 are seldom experienced
by most Christians in their lifetimes, let alone on a consistent basis. Failure here is why local churches so often
and so easily self-destruct.
This expectation of Kingdom focus and Kingdom living is also
described very thoroughly in II Corinthians 5:14-17, especially in II
Corinthians 5:15. This accountability to
Jesus regarding the commandment of interactive living within the world
and within the church family is a radical concept often ignored.
“14 For the love of Christ constraineth
us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known
Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become {perfect tense = once forever} new” (II Corinthians 5:14-17).
II Corinthians 5:15 reflects a Kingdom
attitude, relevant to ministry, that should be expressed through the moment-by-moment living of every truly “born
again” child of God. Such living should
overflow with the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22). Galatians 5:13-14 introduces this idea with
the phrase, “13 For, brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
How radically different most local
churches would be if this simple principle would become a priority for every
believer. This defines the microcosm of
Kingdom living every local church is to be.
However,
what the believer is positionally “in Christ” is not necessarily what he is
practically in his life. This position
is to what Paul refers in the sentence, “Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new {kahee-nos'} creature {creation}:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become {perfect tense = once forever} new” (II Corinthians 5:17).
Practically becoming what we are already positionally involves spiritual warfare in a constant struggle
against our own fallen natures. Simply said, we are
sinners. We are our own worst enemies when
it comes to being what God wants us to be and living the Christ-life. Our effort in this struggle for holiness and
sanctity before God will determine any spiritual successes we have in this
life. Our effort in this struggle for holiness
and sanctity before God defined by the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapters
five through seven, will define our understanding of the microcosm of Kingdom
living every local church is intended to be.
Understanding the concept of BEING
a spiritually new creation positionally then requires that we seek to bring our
lives within the practicality of that changed position. The effort required to do this will
dynamically change the way we read our instruction book – the Bible. The effort required to do this will
dynamically change the way we listen to sermons or read books from various
Christian authors that might help us understand. Within our effort to be Kingdom living
Christians, we will soon discover we are being commanded to DO something and BE
something totally beyond our capabilities.
Every person actually attempting to produce the Christ-life will very
quickly learn that all of this will require that we “abide in the Vine” (John
15:4) or we will accomplish “nothing” for Christ (John 15:5). It is in the actual process that we learn
this. Most professing Christians never
learn to live in the New Creation because they never involve themselves in the
spiritual warfare necessary for holiness and sanctity before God. Trying to teach someone how to live the
Christ-life without them being “born again” will be like trying to teach
calculus to a slug.
By the time of the second coming of Christ at the end of
the seven-year Tribulation, the earth’s ecological system will have been almost
completely destroyed. Over two-thirds of
the world’s population that existed at the beginning of the Tribulation will
have been killed by the judgments of God released upon the earth. Thousands upon thousands of those who get
saved during the Tribulation will have been murdered by the Antichrist hordes,
while thousands more will starve to death because they cannot receive food or because
they refused the mark of the beast. Two-thirds of all life, and that which
sustains it, will have been destroyed.
Most of the
earth’s fresh water and salt water will have been polluted by God’s judgments. Most all animal life and plant life will be
completely destroyed by God’s judgments.
The world’s infrastructure of sewers, roads, bridges, buildings, and
cities will have been reduced to worthless rubble. This will be the description of the earth at
the beginning of the Kingdom Age. Some
radical changes will be necessary. Some
of those changes will take place as the Creator King Jesus’ feet touch the
Mount of Olives.
“1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil
shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all
nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the
houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into
captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3
Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he
fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day
upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the
midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a
very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and
half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the
valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal:
yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of
Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints
with thee. 6 And it shall
come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor
dark: 7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD,
not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it
shall be light. 8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem;
half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in
summer and in winter shall it be. 9 And the LORD shall be king
over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. 10
All the land shall be turned as a plain
from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and
inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate,
unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s
winepresses” (Zechariah 14:1-10).
In a map of this area described in Zechariah chapter
fourteen, we can see that the area of real estate that will be geographically
exalted from Geba to Rimmon covers about fifty miles in length from North to
South. The newly created valley from the Mediterranean
Sea to the Dead Sea running through the divided Mt. Moriah will be about one-hundred
miles long. This valley and this radical
topographical change in the area around Jerusalem will be created by the simple
touch of the Creator’s feet to Mt. Moriah.
Zechariah certainly refers to some
radical topographical and geological changes in the Jordan valley at the second
coming of Jesus. There will also be some
change in the day/night aspect of existence.
Many believe the words “that the light shall not be clear, nor dark” in Zechariah 14:6 refers
to a return to the water canopy over the earth where the source of light is the glory of Jesus Christ
within that water canopy. The whole Earth
will be filled and lit by the glory of the presence of the Lord Jesus. The geographical exaltation of this fifty-mile-long
piece of real estate is extensive according to Isaiah 2:1-5. The Millennial Temple constructed (or
created) by Jesus Christ will be exalted to “in the top of the mountains”
(Isaiah 2:2). We should understand this
to be the highest place on planet Earth.
This will require the extensive topographical exaltation of Jerusalem or
a combination of exalting the city of Jerusalem and lowering (de-exalting) the
balance of higher mountains on Earth. Anything
is possible when the Creator is present.
“1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the
last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in
the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations
shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and
he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
more. 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD” (Isaiah 2:1-5; compare Revelation 1:16).
Although Zechariah 14:1-10 might be understood to mean these geographical
changes will take place only in Israel, this seems illogical since these
judgments are intent upon judging the nations that have persecuted Jews. Isaiah 40:3-5 also reveals some worldwide and
radical topographical changes to the Earth.
This prophecy was reaffirmed in Luke’s account of John the Baptist in
Luke 3:3-6. The elements of this
prophecy were not all fulfilled at the first advent of Jesus. Therefore, they most assuredly will be
fulfilled at His second coming. There is
no reason why this prophecy should be allegorized into some mystical meaning.
“3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places
plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD {the glorified coming Redeemer} shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 40:3-5).
“3 And he
came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins; 4 As it is written in the book of the words
of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every
valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made
smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation {the glorified coming Redeemer} of God”
(Luke 3:3-6).
If we take these two Bible texts literally, and there is no
reason we should not, we can imagine an Earth similar to that which existed
prior to the continental shift that was most probably caused when God opened
the waters of the deep (Genesis 7:11)
to cause the universal flood of Noah.
This may be a reversal of the continental shift. This is conjecture, but it is a highly probable
conjecture. Undoubtedly there was
extensive geographical, topographical, and ecological changes after the Great Flood. This is why the present studies of Geology is
so faulty because its suppositions do not take into account the catastrophic
changes that can happen very quickly, in a matter of a few years, in a worldwide
flood.
God could cause
this geographical and topological change by merely speaking it into
existence. We do not know exactly how
God will accomplish this tremendous reorganization of the Earth’s crust, but we
know He is able. The same God who spoke
the universe into existence and sustains it in an ordered manner certainly is
capable of a small rearrangement or reorganization of this small material
world.
God certainly is
capable of changing the manner in which His created beings think or act. There will also be a radical change in returning
to a pre-flood existence between various kinds of animal life. Certain predatory animals will no longer be
predatory. At the beginning of the
Kingdom Age, all animal life will immediately become domesticated. In other words, animals that once survived by
killing and eating other animals will no longer have the desire to do. Their instincts will have been recreated to
want another source of food. Lions will
eat grass like the oxen. Snakes will no
longer be venomous and pose dangers to other animal life. Animals once instinctively considered enemies
will live together without fear of one another during the Kingdom Age. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this domestication
of previously carnivorous animals in two texts.
“1 And there shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2
And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with
righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of
the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the
breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness
shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; and the calf and the young lion
and the fatling together; and a
little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down
together: and the lion shall eat
straw like the ox. 8 And the
sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp {probably the deadly Cobra}, and the weaned child shall put his hand
on the cockatrice’ den {probably the
deadly Adder}. 9 They {previously
deadly, predatory animals} shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountain: for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:1-9).
Isaiah 65:17-25 gives similar words,
but begins with a statement regarding creating a new heaven and a new earth. Normally, the references to the “new heavens and a new earth” are
after the Kingdom Age. This portion of
Scripture appears to clearly be referring to the Kingdom Age. Therefore, this should be understood to refer
to a radical change in the atmosphere and topography of the Earth at the
beginning of the Kingdom Age.
“17 For, behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18
But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold,
I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will
rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be
no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no
more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days:
for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an
hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 And they shall build houses,
and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of
them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant,
and another eat: for as the days of a
tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work
of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring
forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and
their offspring with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, that before
they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like
the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt
nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 65:17-25).
The Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary explains
the statement in Isaiah 65:20 – “20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath
not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the
sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.”
“20. The longevity of men in the first age of
the world shall be enjoyed again. thence--from that time forward.
infant of days--that
is, an infant who shall only complete a few days; short-lived.
filled . . . days--None shall die without attaining a full old age.
child . . . die . . . hundred years--that is, “he that dieth an hundred years
old shall die a mere child” [LOWTH].
sinner . . . hundred . . . be accursed—“The sinner that dieth at an hundred
years shall be deemed accursed,” that is, his death at so early an age, which
in those days the hundredth year will be regarded, just as if it were mere
childhood, shall be deemed the effect of God’s special visitation in wrath
[ROSENMULLER]. This passage proves that
the better age to come on earth, though much superior to the present will not
be a perfect state; sin and death shall have place in it (compare Re
20:7-8), but much less
frequently than now.”[1]
This commentary expresses the meaning of Isaiah 65:22 – “as the days of a tree are the days of my
people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” The intent is that the common life span of
people during the Kingdom Age will be a thousand years. In other words, they will live for the whole
Kingdom Age period without really aging.
Other than executions for crimes or accidental deaths, there will be no
deaths due to sickness. The curse will
still be in place and all children born of the saved families that begin the
Kingdom age will still need to be saved “by grace through faith,” but life will
be radically different. There will be no
need for Obama-care. God will have instituted a new miraculous health care system that was part of the
original creation in the human body’s capabilities to constantly
regenerate.
The
one-world government of Antichristism of the seven-year Tribulation will
utterly fail. That false one-world government
will seek to enslave humanity in the bondage of unbelief and
unrighteousness. The one-world
government of Antichristism of the seven-year Tribulation will be consumed with
war. The one-world government ruled by
King Jesus and His new priesthood will be a government consumed with
peace.
“1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the
last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in
the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations
shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and
he will teach us of his ways, and we
will walk in his paths: for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4
And he shall judge among the nations,
and shall rebuke many people: and they
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
more. 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light
of the LORD” (Isaiah 2:1-5).
“6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved {dominions
were radically changed}: he uttered his voice, the earth melted {at the second coming and presence of King
Jesus}. 7 The LORD of
hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 8
Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth
{the Tribulation judgments}. 9
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and
cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. 10 Be still {cease}, and know {observe and
learn} that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I
will be exalted in the earth. 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our
refuge. Selah” (Psalm 46:6-11).
“6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of
the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with
justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
No false teaching or false religions will
be allowed throughout the Kingdom Age.
Every living soul on planet Earth will be taught the Word of God in
extreme depth and detail. Again, the
Kingdom Age will be a macrocosm of what is a microcosm in the local church
during the Church Age. However,
according to Jeremiah 31:31-34 the knowledge of the Lord and His Word during
the Kingdom Age will somehow be miraculously transmitted from one generation to
the next. We are not told how this will
take place. We are merely told that it
will take place and that it will NOT happen because everyman taught his
neighbor (Jeremiah 31:34). Teaching the will
of God to the next generation has been the universal failure of every
generation of believers since the beginning of time.
“31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto
them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel; After those days {after the judgment of the
nations and the beginning of the Kingdom Age}, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my
people. 34 And they shall
teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the LORD: for they shall all know
me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah
31:31-34).
In summary,
the average Jew would have known that all these various changes were the
substance of their expectations of faith when Jesus taught them to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). They would have understood that the coming
Kingdom for which they were praying included specific details for which they
were praying. In other words, they would
have understood they were not just praying for some nondescript and undefined
thing called the Kingdom. They were asking God to fulfill specific prophecies
regarding the complete transformation of the Earth, to establish a perfect human
government, the transformation of animal life, the length of their own
lifespans, and how they would live and learn during this span of time. These are the changes anticipated when any believer
prays, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it
is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). The microcosm in the way every local church
is supposed to function will become a
worldwide macrocosm. However, this macrocosm of love and grace will be supernaturally created by the
presence of the Creator King Jesus. Hopefully,
understanding the macrocosm of what the
Kingdom Age will be like will help us understand what Jesus wants His microcosm in His local churches to be
like.
“31
Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified,
and God is glorified in him. 32 If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. 33
Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I
said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34
A new commandment I give unto you, That
ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another” (John 13:31-35).
[1]
Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David
Brown. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, 1871, Sword Searcher
Software 6.2.
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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