Kingdom of GOD
NOTICE: It is of caution to recognize there are many heretics (not necessarily false teachers) that are ministering incorrect teachings about the Kingdom of God and giving maligned views of Revelation or Eschatological language. Some of these heretics do not mean to mislead you; however, be wary of anyone teaching a doctrine that is unbiblical or errs from the typical doctrine of the Bible (2 Timothy 4:3-4; Romans 16:17-18; Colossians 2:8).
We must stay true to God’s Word, that is The Holy Bible, for all manner of truth and do not trust man’s philosophies. That is why, with this website’s ministry, we stay true to the Word of God!
What is true about Kingdom of God teachings: Within us is the spiritual house of God, where we raise spiritual sacrifices. No building made by hands needed. (1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:19-22).
The manifestation of the Kingdom of God in our life is the following: Not food and drink or even idolatrous things, but the things that bring about peace and up-building such as spiritual qualities and good character. The Holy Ghost is the one that causes these characteristics and qualities to come about! We read about this in Romans 14:17.
God erects an individual tabernacle (not a literal Kingdom) in the hearts of men so that the Holy Ghost may dwell within and work with the believer on pursuing godliness so that he is ready for the Coming Kingdom of God – the one that is eternal and expansive to contain all Christians. Absent from the mortal body, but present with the Lord God!
The Basis of Salvation into the Kingdom of God
John 3:16-21: We have this beautiful revelation of Jesus Christ when we are saved. We have the assurance that we receive eternal life, and not perish. This means that we don’t die, even when our physical bodies die. Our conscious and spirit overall (what many equate overall to our soul) will be with God forever and ever spending time with Him. We must explore this further.
The way we live our lives: We commonly live our lives hoping for an afterlife, and we will see it according to the verse we read above. We, however, must keep in mind that we are to believe in Him…therefore, others that don’t believe will not be saved. They will not be able to spend eternity with Him. But God wants us to believe upon Him so that we can spend eternity with Him! We proclaim Him as our Father and we hope that we can spend eternity with Him, therefore, we have the assurance in the Bible that we have eternal life, so at the end of our physical bodies – that is, when our Earthly bodies cannot function further, our soul is placed into a Heavenly Body so it is fit for eternity. We can eat of the Tree of Life and have Eternity, but only through Christ. Let’s explore!
Path to Eternal Life and Heaven - Romans 3:23 & 6:23: All have sinned and fall short of God’s Glory. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 5:8: Christ came and died for us while we were still sinners, for God sent Him because He loves us! 1 John 5:11-13: God has given us eternal life, which that life comes through His Son. We have eternal life! It is a gift unto us. Many have said that we already have it now; however, I say unto you that we may already possess it, but we are in this human body still and must complete the race of time before we are placed into the permanent dwelling place for eternity to spend with God. Our Spirit is bound for eternity with God, but we need to complete our human body experience first and help others obtain this gift. When we are saved, we have “locked in this gift” and it cannot be stolen away from us. We can reap the blessings of this gift when our physical bodies lay to rest, and our new resurrected body comes alive by Christ: John 5:24-29: Our human bodies may be put to rest, but our soul will pass out of death and into eternal life as we see here in this verse. Christ has prepared for this event to occur and He will bring it to completion, as we see in Philippians 1:6. John 6:51: Notice here that we will be raised up at the Last Day. When is the last day? We can safely assume the last day means the last day that we dwell on Earth; we will be immediately raised up. This means that our gift will be in reaping mode once we are raised. God has sown into our lives a gift, but the reaping of it shall be after this human body experience has passed.
Now, we have life in our human body experience, because humans were granted mortality, as we see in the story of Adam and Eve, the first humans. Originally, humans had access to the Tree of Life, however, since Man sinned, he chose the wrong path and partook of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which granted mortality to Man for as long as Earth stood, and the Tree of Life was guarded because it was only for the righteous. However, we learn through the Life of Jesus that He is the Tree of Life and we have access due to His Sacrifice for us! He obtained access to the Tree of Life for us, and through Him we can partake of this and have immortality, which means our old bodies will be put away and a new Heavenly body will be given for us to dwell in (just like Jesus’ body was after He resurrected). Romans 5:12-21: We see by one man sin entered the world (Adam), and therefore so did mortality. All humans are considered as sinners then. Even before the Law, mortality existed, and after the Law of Moses was established, death continued. Therefore, death is existent apart from the Law, so even if we as Christians are not under the Law, we are subject to death of the human body (and Spiritual death if we don’t become saved through Jesus Christ). One man, Jesus Christ, wherein we are then justified, gives us the gift of grace. We receive grace and righteousness through Jesus Christ. The disobedience of Adam that caused us to be made sinners is invalid because of the obedience of Jesus that brought to us righteousness. This righteousness brings us eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, to which, we are no longer subject to death by sin.
1 Peter 1:3-9: Jesus Christ obtained for us a lively hope, to which, we will receive an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, which will not fade away. This is reserved in Heaven for us (which means we don’t have access right this time, but will have as we pass from death to life). We greatly rejoice because of the temptations that are upon us, because we have glory in the future that will far outweigh this (Romans 8:18). The salvation of our souls is the great inheritance we look forward to!
Revelation 2:7, 22:14: Those that overcome will eat of the Tree of Life, so hold on for we will have our inheritance as we pass from death to life. We have right to the Tree of Life and have right to enter into the gates of the city once we make it in the afterlife, which shall be in the New Jerusalem!
Our new Heavenly Body is described in Philippians 3:20-21... Christ shall change us from our vile human body to be a more glorious body (See also 1 Corinthians 15:51; Colossians 3:4; and 1 John 3:2.). Describing the Lord’s appearing and the resurrection of the saints who have died, Paul writes, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). When Jesus was transfigured (or changed) before the eyes of some of His disciples and they glimpsed His heavenly glory, we’re told that Moses and Elijah appeared with Him — proof that we retain our individuality in heaven (see Luke 9:28-36). The Bible declares that when we arrive in heaven, we will “be like him [Jesus]; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Just as our earthly bodies were of the first man Adam, so will our resurrection bodies be just like Christ’s (1 Corinthians 15:47). “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:49, 53). Many people recognized Jesus after His resurrection (John 20:16, 20; 21:12; 1 Corinthians 15:4-7). If Jesus was recognizable in His glorified body, we also will be recognizable in our glorified bodies.
Heaven was never brought to Earth and it is not coming here. Jesus was sent from Heaven, which means He came from a place. He came to conduct a mission that God sent Him on, which was Kingdom business. If Heaven were truly on Earth and in things around us, we wouldn’t be facing evil, struggles, imperfections, etc. Anyone believing we have Heaven already on Earth is following delusions from false teachings, for we have yet to experience the glory of His Majesty. John 18:36 (we also see some of this in John 3:16-21 that we read earlier)
After all His Majesty is too much for people to bear – as we see in the case of Moses who had to wear a veil over his face because people saw the glory of God on him (as we see in Exodus 34:29-35). People couldn’t partake the glory of the Lord either in the Temple, for a veil had to be in the Temple of Old (As we see in Exodus 30). The Lord would purposely separate Himself from people because of sin. However, when Jesus was crucified and said it is finished, the veil tore in two from top to bottom so that we may no longer be separated from God, which would be through the atonement of Jesus Christ. We have eternal life because of Jesus Christ, which allows us to behold His glory when we pass from death to life! We see this in Matthew 27:51 that the veil was rent from top to bottom. Also, look at Hebrews 6:19-20 and 10:19-22.
Jesus promises that He will come and rescue us and bring us unto Himself: John 14:1-6
Jesus promises to send us the Comforter to be within us so that He may dwell with us forever. He will also guide us into all truth, therefore helping us stay in relationship with God, being righteous, and helping others. John 14:16-20, 25-26.
We now belong to God because we are not of this world, for when we receive the Holy Spirit, we are considered bound for Heaven. John 15:19.
We receive the Comforter so it bears witness of Christ and reminds us of Him, so that we can share Him with others. We see more in John 15:26-27.
We see the promise fulfilled in Acts 2:33.
Heaven is a place all look forward to seeing, and we should love the plan that God has for us. The first promise that many liken about Heaven is the fact that there will no longer be any suffering, tears, and pain. This is great news, for suffering is the cause of so much anxiety and depression, and therefore, it will be eradicated, because God is preparing to transfer us into His Kingdom once we pass from death to life. We see this all in Revelation 21:4. This is great news.
More great news can be found in Revelation 4:8-11. Now, that is awesome. They worship God and proclaim His Name without ceasing! He is highly exalted and has such greatness and power. This is beautiful and something that we should look forward to being able to do, is to worship Him forever and ever; being in His midst; seeing His beauty; and spending all of eternity with Him. We see that the River of Life flows from His throne in Revelation 14:2. The glory of God is the beauty of life, involving things so beyond life!
We see that we will one day be part of the New Jerusalem, which shall descend out of Heaven after Christ’s return. We see this fully described in Revelation 21. It states that we will have a New Heaven and New Earth – the old has passed away. The very tabernacle of God will be with humans – which is saying that God will actually dwell with humans HIMSELF! This is not talking about the tabernacle within us – which explains the fact that we have a “holding place” for the Holy Ghost to live within us. This is talking about the Tabernacle of God being with His People.
Throughout the 21st chapter of Revelation, we see that John is taken on this journey and noting all of what he saw, which includes what was in the city, the gates of the city, the fine details and gems that decorate the city – he couldn’t put down all of what he saw most likely, because it was such splendor so difficult to put into words. It would be so awesome if we had gotten this same revelation and be able to have our mind blown by this. It blows my mind just trying to make sense of what John wrote, but also The Holy Spirit telling me that there is so much more than what you see here in these verses. It makes me want to shout with joy!
We are given the hope of eternal life and here is the proof from the Bible: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11). We have further evidence of life after death based upon the words of Jesus Himself in John 5:24-29: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. In the Synoptic Gospels and the Pauline Letters, eternal life is generally regarded as a future experience, but the Gospel of John differs from them in its emphasis on eternal life as a “present possession”.
In John, those who accept Christ can possess life “here and now” as well as in eternity, for they have “passed from death to life”, as in John 5:24: “He who hears my word, and believes him that sent me, has eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
When we pray, “our Father who art in heaven,” we are implying that heaven, at least in one of its most common uses, is where God the Father is. For example, 1 Corinthians 2:7 reads, “We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages.” Where God dwells may not be a geographic place, but definitely somewhere we cannot fathom or understand. This means that Jesus, even though he has a body, is with God in heaven, which is outside the material universe. His People, the Christians who are truly saved will be part of that same with God once our mortal lives are complete and our body is transferred to our new immortal body just as Jesus’ was.
Further Reading for Apologetic Reasons
There are many that would attempt to bewitch you; however, the explanations above should undo the bewitching. Nonetheless, if you as a fellow believer (I hope) would like to dive deeper in research, which verifies everything said above, see the entire book of Hebrews.
To shortcut a bit, there is information you should be aware of that will help clear your mind immediately, which is believed to be a great blessing to you. See below:
The Temple is now Eternal in the Heavens (the entirety of the Temple with all pieces is with Christ in the Heavens, because He is now the High Priest (see Hebrews). Reference 2 Corinthians 5:1. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are taught that the true holy of holies is the heaven into which Jesus has now entered to appear in virtue of His own sacrifice in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:11). Restriction is now removed, and the way into the holiest is made open for all His people that are saved (Hebrews 10:19-20).
The presence of Aaron’s staff in the Ark is fitting, since Jesus serves as our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15).
Jesus Sacrificed His Life for our sins. When Jesus did this, the curtain in the Temple which separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). Sin no longer separated men from God, because once for all time, Jesus appeared and removed our sin by giving His own life as a holy sacrifice” (Hebrews 9:26).
Jesus also said He did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill their purpose (Matthew 5:17). Isaiah said the Messiah would exalt and honor the law (Isaiah 42:21)
Paul described how Jesus rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law because, when he was crucified, he took the curse for our wrongdoing upon Himself (Galatians 3:13)
The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:32-33)
The Ark foreshadowed the coming of Jesus and the events surrounding his resurrection. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. As our High Priest, Jesus entered the Most Holy Place and secured our redemption forever with His own blood rather than the blood of animals (Hebrews 9:12).
The overall Kingdom of God is located within Heaven, and His People have their names written there, so that they will transfer to Him in eternity (Hebrews 12:23).
