The concept, “Jesus will be King someday,” does not fit the kingdom of God. It is a reality here and now, so the kingdom leader cannot operate outside total submission to the King and His kingdom here and now.
Most evangelical believers will reject this statement immediately in favor of an exaggeration of the “I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” that ignores their responsibilities to kingdom.
Most modern church leaders define and design “church” in a way that precludes this concept entirely, usually marking it “false doctrine” in favor of some form of “community” definition, based upon relational dynamics foreign to kingdom citizenship.
The concept of “born anew” or “born from above” to enter the kingdom has been altered to mean, “I am now in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, so I deal with Him directly and answer only Him.” This sounds so good to the modern mind when it sounds like treason to the very One to which this statement refers.
Ask yourself a question and answer it with intellectual honesty: “Is Jesus King now?”
Can we, by any Bible verse or Scriptural hint, change the teaching of Jesus from “You must be born anew to enter the kingdom of God?” Is there some system that says, “Church is now kingdom, and kingdom is now future?”
The answer immediately applies to you personally as a believer and the Ecclesia as a called together into assembly kingdom building, body, and bride.
We serve an eternal King now no matter how much or little His rule is recognized on earth. (He isn’t going to be King of kings someday. He is King of kings here and now!) If you are the only born again person on earth, you are in His kingdom! So, you live serving a King. You are not, of course, the only born anew person on earth, so you entered into a kingdom to serve a King along with every other born anew person in that kingdom, living within a culture designed and defined by the King.
Try quoting Jesus like this: “Seek first the kingdom of God (and His righteousness) that will appear someday (forgot about it here and now), and all these things you need to eat, drink, and be sheltered will be supplied (someday far into distant time when He becomes King).
That would mean we should say, “Since it is going to take so long, do not seek to eat or drink, and walk around naked, when you enter the kingdom because He isn’t really King here and now.”
Can you see how the words of Jesus suddenly mean nothing, and do you realize that the systematic that says the kingdom is completely future ignores the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus except to adopt them into their systematic, to misquote Him and make His words mean whatever they wish?
I say this, not to argue, but to point out that you might wish to decide the source of our information on Biblical christianity.
The Kingdom Ecclesia
The “ekklesia” Jesus builds, within and through His kingdom, responds to the King. Within that kingdom, the Ecclesia has legislative authority, heaven to earth. That Ecclesia displaces the strategically positioned authorities of Hades. In it, kingdom authority functions through kingdom leaders.
Try quoting Jesus like this: “I give you the keys of the kingdom so that someday, generations after you apostles who are doing this are all dead and gone, and can’t do it, you can release or limit what has already been released or limited in heaven into the earth.” Where is the sense in what Jesus says if there is no kingdom here and now?
Before you say, “Well, the church replaced the kingdom,” reread the Scripture in which Jesus includes all these statements because they are all part of one discussion in Matthew 16.
You cannot just step into His words and cut out “I will build My church” with scissors and ignore the displacement of spiritual authorities or keys of kingdom authority or attempt some run around that says Jesus builds His church instead of His kingdom. (That is such a bizarre idea given what Jesus actually says.) Get intellectually honest about what Jesus says before you tell Him to stand in a corner while you tell everyone what He means by what He says.
Jesus never discusses Ecclesia outside the context of kingdom. So, if we have “church” without kingdom here and now, we do not have the “ekklesia” Jesus talks about. We have a substitute designed to answer to the systematic of man, an institution without the power or authority to displace the strategically positioned authorities of Hades.
