After spotting neat divisions between subjects in the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, I stopped to develop what I discerned was a manifesto for living the Christian life. The basic teaching in the passage that I worked up contains the doctrinal incentive for minimalist living. Practical necessities make minimalist living somewhat idealistic in a climate as cold as Canada is. But a pilgrim on his way to heaven should at least appear to be a sojourner more than a settler because the kingdom that he is a member of, is, as the Lord says, ‘not of this world.’
Introduction
‘Kingdom’ is an enormous biblical theme. It is a multi-faceted subject that does not yield to a linear framework. The dominant kingdoms of the Old Testament are Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Israel, and Judah. The dominant, nearly exclusive, kingdom in the New Testament is called the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven. These two terms may have particular and associate definitions; but they are generally interchangeable. We can be certain of this: The New Testament kingdom is the sphere of God’s dominion over his creatures, his special dominion in the hearts of his children, and the future rule of God everywhere and everlastingly. The kingdom is internal; the kingdom is external; the kingdom has come; the kingdom is present; and the kingdom is yet to arrive. All of this is true; all of this is relevant. The disciple of Jesus Christ is under the dominion of God, not only as a creature, but as a child through saving grace, anticipating the establishment of his government around the world in the hearts of his elected ones, and then everywhere else, in one form or another, in the never-ending hereafter. The literal one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth that some Christians look forward to is likely not going to happen, as this belief seems insupportable. I used to believe in a literal reign on earth of that duration. Though I do not believe in it anymore, I am not dogmatically opposed to the possibility that I am wrong. It would be naïve to say otherwise, for even to the most serious Bible student, and maybe especially for him, the minutiae of eschatology is, if not more fluid than fixed, then fluid to a degree at least. And yes, even one thousand years is a minor matter compared to the full scope of history and the Lord’s everlasting reign. In any case, this article is not about eschatology, but about living for the kingdom right now, regardless of whether or not we are headed for a thousand years of peace on earth before the final separation between good and evil occurs at the judgment. Right now a disciple has the kingdom of God inside him, which is in continual conflict with sin, the world, and the devil; he strives to live for God’s kingdom in light of the fact that everything that is presently opposed to it will soon be entirely beaten down and forever put away.
“Neither shall they say, lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17.21.) This is the kingdom to be acquainted with. Lo! can it be found inside of us? Lo! are we conscious of God’s dominion in our soul, especially as we live in the midst of, and as we face, the godless kingdoms of this world? “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1.11.) Immediately preceding this verse is a warning to diligently make sure that we have, indeed, been called to faith in Christ. And preceding this are the fruits by which we may test the authenticity of our profession of faith. Have we been elected to glory by grace? Have we begun to live for God through faith in Jesus Christ? If virtue has been added to our profession, plus knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (verses 5-7)—and if we have been extricated from worldly corruption (verse 4)—then the kingdom of God does indeed reside inside of us, and we shall have ministered unto us an entrance into God’s glorious kingdom. It behooves us to make sure that we are on our way toward ultimately entering in. The kingdom of the beast is full of darkness spiritually. Because of this it will be full of darkness judicially (Revelation 16.10.) Unless the kingdom of God gets inside of us, our kingdom must be of this beastly character, and our destiny will be to endure darkness forever.
In the Old Testament, a kingdom on earth is promised by God to Israel; for many years, though intermittently and to various degrees, the children of Israel enjoyed it. In the New Testament, the Son of David offers the kingdom of God (salvation) to Israel with the words, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4.17.) The Jews, refusing to turn from their sins, rejected their King, and the Scriptures say that “through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy” (Romans 11.11.) Thus it was that the New Testament Church was born into God’s kingdom. This turn of events was neither accidental nor reactionary. Why is Abraham called the father of the faithful? (Romans 4.16.) Genealogically, Jesus of Nazareth, the object of faith, may be traced back to Father Abraham. It was prophesied that through Abraham ‘all families of the earth’ would be blessed (Genesis 12.3.) The blessing comes through Jesus Christ, who loved, initiated, and gave himself for, the Church (Ephesians 5.2, 25.)
Dispensationalists are wrong to assert that Jesus was extending a political kingdom to Israel when he declared that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The kingdom that Jesus offered was ‘not of this world’ (John 18.36.) This is why when certain men attempted to ‘make him a king,’ he ‘departed’ (John 6.15.) It had been prophesied that he would be a sacrificial victim, not a revolutionary. The Jews did not see this in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. The Messiah they had in mind was not one who would be compassed by dogs, pierced in his hands and feet, despised and rejected, and forsaken by God. The Messiah they looked for was not one who would be wounded for the transgressions of others and led as a lamb to the slaughter. They were not hoping for that kind of Messiah. The Jews were wrong in the Messiah they hoped for; the Dispensationalists are wrong in what they say the Messiah offered and the Jews rejected. Jesus did not offer a political kingdom; and the Jews did not reject the setting up of one. The kingdom at hand through the ministry of Jesus was the kingdom of God within, which could only be obtained through the miracle of regeneration.
Entrance into the kingdom is by the new birth. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John. 3:3.) The reign of God within is a new beginning for penitent sinners born into God’s kingdom. The sinner who is born again today, whether he is a Jew or a Gentile, becomes a member of the Church, under God’s dominion, and will enjoy the kingdom of God everlastingly, subsequent to the great judgment. This kingdom is spoken of from the Gospels to Revelation. Persons who have received the Spirit and who are led by the Spirit are called ‘heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ’ (Romans 8:17.) Heirs participate in a reign: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him [Christ Jesus],” wrote Paul to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:12.) The apostle Peter called the elect of God ‘a royal priesthood’ (1 Peter 1.2; 2:9.) So these heirs are both royal and holy. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father” (Revelation 1:5, 6.)
Near the close of Revelation, the apostle John discloses some final thoughts about this reign; unfortunately, his words have often been taken inflexibly and superficially, because out of context. “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.) These ‘thousand years’ may seem, on the surface, like a specific reference to a distinct theocratic-political reign on earth for a particular amount of time. And this ‘first resurrection’ seems literal as well. However, since the book of Revelation has been falsely interpreted, even by cautious exegetes, for two thousand years, we should have become wise enough by now, when treating this last book of God’s word, to focus on principles more than seasons and times. We should be especially wise after so many predictions have been proven false since the rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948 and since the Six-Day War of 1967. Both of these dates have been used by prophecy pundits as watersheds from which to predict when all the ‘last things’ of Revelation will occur. By the reckoning of so many ‘end-time’ aficionados, we should by now be enjoying the reign of peace on earth with Jesus ruling from the sacred city. If we were to go back near the brink of 2000 A. D., take these prognosticators seriously, and then come back, we should right now be on the other side of a Y2K disaster, the rapture, and the great tribulation, enjoying worldwide peace through a blessed rule of iron from Jerusalem. Listen to old recordings of Jack Van Impe, for example, and see. During the mid to late nineties, I listened to him regularly. I remember well what this man taught. Has anyone been raptured? Has a millennium of perfect peace begun? No, but what is happening? Through political malfeasance, Europe is being invaded by Muslim migrants; half the population of America is resisting a Constitutional president (Donald Trump); Canada, through its Liberal prime minister (Justin Trudeau), is determined to be as socialist as Cuba and as post-national as Germany; the globalists are behind it all, overruling national sovereignty everywhere they can; and the peoples of Europe and North America are at risk of being economically crushed by the rising cost of sustaining border jumpers and by being made to pay additional taxes through hoaxes like global warming. Why are Western countries being flooded with uncivilized migrants? On the surface it’s about politicians collecting a voting bloc and foolishly supposing that uneducated, opportunistic third-world people will peacefully assimilate and one day contribute more money in taxes than they cost the taxpayer. Below the surface it’s about financial corruption and blackmail. On another level it’s about God using the invasion as a method to judge Westerners for their sins of blasphemy, idolatry, abortion, adultery, fornication, perversity, and acts of wickedness generally. Western nations have become, practically speaking, atheistic. If God demonstrated his intolerance of idolatry and polytheism in Old Testament times, why should we believe that he will tolerate practical atheism today? If we live as if God doesn’t exist, why should God permit us to prosper, endure, or even survive? We are not basking in a matter-of-fact millennium of peace; the millennium of worldwide peace is not at the door, near the door, or approaching the door. It seems more rational now, to read the Bible as if an imminent rapture and a subsequent thousand year reign on earth are imaginary. The kingdom of God is not a millennium of absolute peace on earth, and probably not a literal millennium. We should consider other options of how to interpret such events as great tribulation, the first resurrection, and a thousand years. Whatever one might believe concerning the ‘great tribulation’ that recent prophecy experts have no doubt misinformed us on, there is a kind of tribulation that each and every Christian must prepare himself to face. We like to gather up and stack promises from the Bible, don’t we? Why not claim the following one? “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16.33.) Tribulation should mark the Christian, and authenticate his profession of faith. There is such a thing as to have companions in tribulation (Revelation 1.9.) The kingdom of God is through tribulation’s door (Acts 14.22.) Until we figure out what the ‘great tribulation’ of Revelation 7.14 refers to, and even after we think it to be figured out, we had better be focusing on this other tribulation that we know for sure that Christians are promised to have to suffer through. Otherwise we will be undone when calamity strikes or when we are attacked for being Christian; in fact, without preparing for, and experiencing, tribulation, we shall be discomfited if the ‘great tribulation’ happens during our lifetime. As for the ‘first resurrection’ of Revelation 20.6, is it true that it refers to the dead in Christ rising first, and immediately after that every living Christian? (1 Thessalonians 4.16, 17.) We should grant that resurrection often means regeneration in Scripture, and that therefore it might be possible that this resurrection is called ‘first’ in Revelation 20.6 in order to distinguish a spiritual resurrection (regeneration) from the actual resurrection of the body that must happen later. There are many verses to choose from to show that to be risen is not always to have one’s body given life from the dead. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Colossians 3.1.) To seek those things which are above, we must be still below; indeed, the Colossians were not risen from the dead bodily when they received this letter of exhortation. They had been regenerated, born again from being spiritually dead. Each regenerate sinner should be seeking those things which are above, as the church at Colossae was encouraged to do. In consideration of the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20.6, we should know that the book of Revelation is of the apocalyptic-allegorical genre, as is much of the book of Daniel, and as are sections from the book of Isaiah. The book of Revelation is by nature figurative. Therefore, just as the lion eating straw like the bullock (Isaiah 65.25) might be meant figuratively, as denoting, not a change of palate, but a transition from instability to peace (examine the context and see), is it not possible that the thousand years of Revelation 20 could mean something else than a number of years that make up one thousand? In Scripture, a lion does not always mean a lion. Jesus is called ‘the Lion of the tribe of Juda’ (Revelation 5.5.) Is it not possible that the lion of Isaiah 65 is not a real lion? A lion eating straw is about as improbable as the promise that we shall literally ‘tread upon the lion’ and the ‘dragon’ (Psalm 91.13.) Who supposes that he will tread on actual lions and dragons? Obviously, we do not need to advert to apocalyptic texts in order to prove the use of figurative speech in Scripture. But why stop at the Psalms? Job 9.3: “If he will contend with him [God], he cannot answer him one of a thousand.” If by this thousand is meant an actual thousand times, we can answer back to God the time after that, and we can prosper by doing so. The number thousand here is plainly meant to inform us that we can never successfully contend with God. If God owns ‘the cattle upon a thousand hills’ (Psalm 50.10), does this mean that the cattle on the rest of the hills are not at his disposal? The number thousand in this verse signifies ‘everything.’ In the same vein, ‘a day in thy courts is better than a thousand’ (Psalm 84.10) is a way of pointing to an infinite number. The same is true of the ‘thousand generations’ mentioned in Psalm 105.8. Could the one thousand years in Revelation 20 not be figurative, then? Maybe it isn’t. But couldn’t it? A glance at the number thousand in the concordance should convince anyone that the figurative use of that number could be shown to occur ‘a thousand times’ in the Bible. Is it necessary to tell the reader to take this last sentence figuratively? A child reading his Bible might think that Saul slew his actual thousands, but that David slew his actual ten thousands (1 Samuel 18.7.) But the adult knows that this is part of a song that certain women sang because they favored David over Saul. The Holy Ghost never intended anyone to believe those numbers were actual. If the number thousand is used figuratively even in a historical book, will we not grant that the number could be used figuratively in the most figurative book in the Bible? We are gone aside, in any case, if all we can see of the kingdom of God is a thousand year reign of peace on earth. Prophecy programs have led us for years to believe things that have not, and will not, come to pass. Maybe one of those things is the kingdom of God on earth in the sense of this literal millennium of peace. When we see the modern prophecy seers failing in their predictions, why do we not question their mode of interpreting Scripture? Jack Van Impe (nicknamed ‘The Walking Bible’), in his own indirect but emphatic way, predicted that Juan Carlos, former King of Spain, was the Antichrist in waiting. That prophecy never materialized, and it never will. Could the great Jack Van Impe, along with his companions in trade, have errantly interpreted Scripture? Isn’t it wise to distrust a man’s use of Revelation if that man has falsely predicted that the King of Spain would be the Antichrist and that his performing this role was so imminent as to be at hand, even at the door? This king abdicated in 2014. It seems certain that he will die before fulfilling the role of Antichrist. Jack Van Impe and other Millenarians were wrong about the Antichrist, the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, Babylon, Armageddon, and so on, but especially the Millennium.
The persons who are said in Revelation 20 to ‘live and reign with Christ a thousand years’ are persons who were ‘beheaded’ for the witness of Jesus (verse 4.) They are disembodied. The emphasis here, then, is living and reigning with Christ in heaven, not on earth. So the thousand years is likely a figurative period of time to indicate a reign in heaven while matters come to their conclusion on earth. ‘The first resurrection’ of verse 6 right here refers to regeneration: “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.” This kind of resurrection (regeneration), then, suits these disembodied souls of verse 4: “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded.” These disembodied souls have no resurrected bodies yet. The souls of these persons have been regenerated; but their bodies have not been resurrected. They will get their bodies back after the thousand years (in heaven) have ended, at which time the Lord will come back to judge the quick and the dead. So what is the ‘first resurrection’ that ‘the second death’ has no power over? (verse 6.) It is regeneration. What is the second resurrection? It is the resurrection of the body. “He, therefore, who would not be damned in the second resurrection, let him rise in the first” (Augustine, The City of God, 20.6.) Resurrection sometimes means regeneration in Scripture. And at least once regeneration means something else than being born again (Matthew 19.28.) Recognition of distinctions like these helps to clear up our foggy understanding of Scripture, not the least of which includes our hazy view of eschatology. “The evangelist John has spoken of these two resurrections in the book which is called the Apocalypse, but in such a way that some Christians do not understand the first of the two, and so construe the passage into ridiculous fancies” (Augustine, The City of God, 20.7.) Why does it speak of beheading in Revelation 20? It may be a general term to indicate the disembodiment of souls upon death. And it certainly denotes a mode of death that many Christians were suffering in the first century when John’s apocalyptic letter was written. John the Baptist was beheaded. James the brother of John was beheaded. The apostle Paul was beheaded. And so we see how encouraging this Revelation must have been to the Church in that day. These disembodied souls were now safe in heaven with Jesus Christ for a thousand years; that is, until the consummation of things on earth. And of course this good news implied to Christians then living that they had an everlasting consolation to look forward to, no matter how they died or no matter how they were martyred. Upon death these Christians, for a thousand blessed years, would join in voice with the martyred throngs in heaven: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6.10.)
I once believed that heaven itself would be interrupted to usher in the millennium of worldwide peace on earth. In fact, this very article was of that opinion before this revision of it years later. I had used the following quote from Oswald J. Smith, an author/hymn writer, to lend support to my belief: “I used to think I would some time die and go to Heaven, there to be with God throughout Eternity. Now I know that I am to spend a thousand years upon this earth....” (The Voice of Prophecy, p. 65.) I used to think as Oswald Smith thought, but now am convinced that we both were wrong. As Christians going about to live for God, we ought to be charitable toward our fellow believers, for there is nothing more likely than that we, at some point in our pilgrimage, will err concerning the nature and timing of God’s kingdom. The Church is a ‘royal priesthood’ (1 Peter 2.9.) Even members of this royal nobility will disagree amongst themselves about when they will actually take possession of ‘all things’ (1 Corinthians 3.21) and what these ‘all things’ are.
That God will increase his kingdom and establish it broadly is certain. How can the future be otherwise with an omnipotent loving God? But life on earth might never include a literal millennium of peace on earth. Tares and wheat, or infidels and converts, grow together in mixed multitudes until the end. “Let both grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13.30.) The former tries to choke out the latter as the latter strives to receive light and heat from above. The devil interrupted the dominion that God gave to Adam and Eve; under the permission of God, Satan subsequently assumed a qualified, controlled authority over the kingdoms of the world; and the kingdom of God grows gradually in the world nevertheless, on the strength of what Jesus Christ accomplished in his life and on the cross. Indeed it has grown particularly and significantly since Jesus’ ministry on earth, as we know from Church history, among the Gentile nations. This historical fact informs the clause about the devil in Revelation 20.3: ‘that he should deceive the nations no more.’ And so the promise to Abraham has been in the process of fulfillment: “In thee shall all nations be blessed” (Galatians 3.8.) This is the growing kingdom of God, even among heathen nations all over the world. This kingdom will become as filled as God has ordained from eternity, until near the end of the world when the devil is permitted to deceive the nations one last time for ‘a little season’ (Revelation 20.3, 8); in other words, to cause widespread apostasy among Gentile nations where the gospel has been, by thousands and even millions, received in former times. This Adversary opposes the dominion of God, and has only one battlefield where he can, with God’s permission and to a degree, be victorious. Even his victories, however, happen through the will of God to accomplish what God has ordained to happen from eternity past. Whatever the devil thinks to have won will become ‘the chaff which the wind driveth away’ (Psalm 1.4), while for the saints it will be finally seen, not merely believed, that ‘all things work together for good’ (Romans 8.28.) The devil’s warfare is directed at the kingdom of God in the daily life of each disciple. The saint’s faith in Christ is more or less perfected depending on the degree of his resistance to Satan, and his perseverance to live up to his holy titles of priest and king under God. That all things work together for good does not mean that each disciple does as good as he could. “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3.14, 15.) It is much more important that we live for the kingdom—and that we live for it as obediently as we can—than to be bothered and busied about its future location and duration. To live in light of the kingdom is to live for our King.
The lifestyle practiced by the Christian demonstrates the dominion that God has over him. If the Christian does not live as the word of God orders him to live, God’s dominion is not only less surrendered to than it should be, it is less visible in the eyes of the sinners that the Christian hopes to draw into God’s kingdom. A testimony may be a verbal statement; but it is, more importantly, a daily exhibition.
“And his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9.10; Psalm 72.8.) Whether this verse points to a worldwide administration of peace for a thousand years, or to the introduction of the gospel into the world, in either case the children of God are presently under the rule of God in a world of evil. As I said, I will not dogmatize against the possibility of a future worldwide rule by God in the person of Jesus Christ for a thousand literal years on this present earth; however, right beside Zechariah 9.10 is a prophecy whose fulfillment is now long past, of a certain King riding ‘upon a colt the foal of an ass’ (verse 9.) As foretold by the prophet Zechariah, “Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written” (John 12.14.) If our chief concern should be the demonstration of God’s dominion over us, then his dominion from one end of our heart to the other should be the kingdom that we are most concerned to establish. Any kingdom that is yet future will not refuse to come while we are occupied with extending the one inside of us.
The kingdom of God is within each follower of Christ. When speculating on the kingdom of God ‘to come,’ are we not standing in need of hearing what Jesus told the Pharisees? “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,” he said. “Neither shall they say, lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17.20, 21.) This does not mean that there is no kingdom other than this internal one. Jesus’ use of absolute language, though, means that this inner kingdom so concerns us that it is as if no other kingdom exists that we should be paying attention to. Only through our possession of this kingdom will we possess any other. Present ownership is the beginning and evidence of the eternity of peace that will follow. As Christians, we have an inheritance within us. Shall we appear to the world as heirs waiting for a kingdom to be ushered in? Or shall we also look as though our kingdom has come? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addressed the subject of present lifestyle with respect to future glory. The Sermon is not the gospel for the lost, and not a rule of life for a kingdom to come, but an ethical code—a code of conduct—for disciples presently. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as in heaven” (Matthew 6.10.) There is a kingdom to come as well as a kingdom within. But how may we help God’s will to be done until the future kingdom comes? We get the will of God done by doing his will—by obeying the rules that are explicitly imparted to the heirs of God. By the parable of the pounds, Jesus taught his disciples to occupy in light of his return. Jesus, like ‘the nobleman’ in the parable, was about to go ‘into a far country’; that is, up to heaven, maybe for a long time, maybe for a ‘thousand’ years. “And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, occupy till I come” (Luke 19.13.) The kingdom to come is a couple of thousand years closer than it was in the days of the first disciples. But like they did, we must occupy as conscientiously as we can while we patiently wait for the consummation of this probationary period. No generation of Christians, perhaps, than the one that is now passing away, has been more convinced that it would witness Jesus return bodily from heaven to set everything right and to start off a literal thousand years of peace on earth. No generation has produced more books on prophecy that have been so wrong. If this generation of Christians had really been living for the kingdom, such books would never have been read, much less believed.
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