15
The Kingdom of God
When is this Kingdom to be established? At
the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
(Amos 9:11; Isaiah 9:11; 2:2-4). At first, after
Christ’s return, the human arrangements of
things political will be broken up.
There will be the resurrection of the respon-
sible at his coming (1 Corinthians 15:20-26;
Revelation 20:4).
Those found worthy will be given immortality
to help Christ govern the world for 1000
years. Having received God’s nature, they
will be unable to die. They shall be kings and
priests and shall reign on the earth
(Revelation 5:10).
During the millennium, the 1000 years
period, mortal people will hear the gospel
and be responsible to God. During this period,
their life span will be much longer than now
(Isaiah 65:20).
The land will have increased fertility.
The 1000 year period will be transitional. At
the end, those who died during that time will
be raised to appear before the judgment seat
of Christ (Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:26-29;
7:22). The wicked will be destroyed and the
righteous rewarded with eternal life.
Afterwards, Christ delivers the kingdom to
God the Father, marking the end of these
things. What follows after God is all in all, we
are NOT told. All we know is that we shall
have attained eternal life, God’s nature and
we live to please and glorify God.
Brothers and sisters wherever you are, what-
ever you are doing, the times are significant.
The issues are so vital that we owe it to
ourselves, our families and our ecclesias to
earnestly seek and pray for God’s kingdom.
May God bless all the readers.
Children of the Truth
| Bro David Yelulani (Banket, Zimbabwe)
T
oday we are so conscious of different
people having different perceptions
about things that we seldom talk of the
truth as if it were a definite open and
closed matter. We want to know where
people are coming from on any issue. We
usually finish up agreeing to differ.
For the people of the New Testament, it
was simpler: Jesus was the truth. To follow
Jesus and live faithfully in him and his
ways, was to walk in the truth. The truth
was not something that had to be struggled
with. It had to be lived.
The truth was whatever was right in the
light of Jesus’ life and teaching. To be a
child of the truth, therefore, is to live as
Jesus wants you to live. Of course, the
surrounding culture was very alien, and
frequently hostile. Clear boundaries
existed. It was fairly straight forward then
to know what the truth was although it was
frequently costly to do it. What seems
strange to us was that the more they lived
the truth, the more they understood what
it was. Doing the truth came first: truly
knowing it followed as a consequence.
It is still a fact that when you follow Jesus
faithfully and sincerely you get a better
handle on truth. You see the world as it
really is. You understand problems with
greater clarity. Solutions which are loving,
honest, sincere and good come more easily.
Jesus still comes to us first in the demand
for obedience. Intellectual understanding
follows.