One big step in my search on eschatology was the result of my interest in eschatological terms. I was looking for the way terms might be defined. This landed me in Matthew 13 (parables of the mysteries of the kingdom) with its many terms – or at least key terms. One element quickly detected is that the parables often speak of first-century details, such as the carrying of seed that proceeds the parable of Jesus sowing good seed. These together speak of first-century. This timing also means that the seed of the kingdom also was planted in the first-century, not as some future event. So a different concept of the kingdom of God became more and more clearer.
The kingdom then is viewed in the original context of Christ's reign over the physical nations of the earth. The kingdom of God may consist of God regaining the nations under his dominion via the promised King/Messiah of prophecy to the Israel people.
The idea of a spiritual reign over the saints appears to be a concept improperly interpreting the verses about entering the kingdom. Instead of viewing those verses as a spiritual change (even if a spiritual change happens to these people who heard this), the concept can be seen as followers of Christ essentially surviving to the start of Christ's reign on earth circa AD70.
Saints would be raised to participate in Christ's reign from heaven over the physical nations as fulfillment of prophecy in Daniel 7-8 (approx).
The assignment of the kingdom of God to this reign instead of a spiritual reign over Christians does not take away from Christian benefits. It actually highlights a second aspect of benefits to Christians, though, perhaps, limited to the first-century Christians {but I have not decided if it is only those first century persecuted Christians who were called to that reign}.
Anyhow, the parables of the mysteries became clearer through an analysis of the meaning of each parable along with the mystery revealed. The revealing of each mystery (and only one mystery per parable) seemed to fill in missing details of how Christ would judge the world and how the earthly reign would function.
An interesting point is that Matthew appears to have had the insight to assemble the parables together so that the mysteries could be uncovered again. Also, the parables are assembled in the sequence that allows a metaphor to be shared in one parable that is needed to figure out the next parable.
Anyhow, the sense I got from figuring out the kingdom parables and then the Romans letter seventeen years ago is that God would be leading the world into a new phase of understanding and then (what we might designate as) eschatological fulfillment. Now this expectation has spread more broadly, as people view events around them. They are mostly viewing these through a misconception of Revelation but still that expectation exists.
The kingdom then is viewed in the original context of Christ's reign over the physical nations of the earth. The kingdom of God may consist of God regaining the nations under his dominion via the promised King/Messiah of prophecy to the Israel people.
The idea of a spiritual reign over the saints appears to be a concept improperly interpreting the verses about entering the kingdom. Instead of viewing those verses as a spiritual change (even if a spiritual change happens to these people who heard this), the concept can be seen as followers of Christ essentially surviving to the start of Christ's reign on earth circa AD70.
Saints would be raised to participate in Christ's reign from heaven over the physical nations as fulfillment of prophecy in Daniel 7-8 (approx).
The assignment of the kingdom of God to this reign instead of a spiritual reign over Christians does not take away from Christian benefits. It actually highlights a second aspect of benefits to Christians, though, perhaps, limited to the first-century Christians {but I have not decided if it is only those first century persecuted Christians who were called to that reign}.
Anyhow, the parables of the mysteries became clearer through an analysis of the meaning of each parable along with the mystery revealed. The revealing of each mystery (and only one mystery per parable) seemed to fill in missing details of how Christ would judge the world and how the earthly reign would function.
An interesting point is that Matthew appears to have had the insight to assemble the parables together so that the mysteries could be uncovered again. Also, the parables are assembled in the sequence that allows a metaphor to be shared in one parable that is needed to figure out the next parable.
Anyhow, the sense I got from figuring out the kingdom parables and then the Romans letter seventeen years ago is that God would be leading the world into a new phase of understanding and then (what we might designate as) eschatological fulfillment. Now this expectation has spread more broadly, as people view events around them. They are mostly viewing these through a misconception of Revelation but still that expectation exists.
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