THE TIME OF THE END QUESTIONS, Part VIII
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Question: Can the kingdom of heaven be manifested here on earth? If so, what implications follow concerning the requirements for resurrection also needed to enter the kingdom of heaven?
Answer: In Jesus’ day, people looked for a manifestation of the kingdom of God or heaven here on earth. Jesus began his ministry with the words: “The time is fulfilled [Daniel 9:24-27], and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). The Master even said in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mathew 6:9-13).
Since “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 15:50), does that mean that Christians become phantoms in order to enter the kingdom of heaven on earth? Rather, perhaps it means that what Christians need to do is live the highest level of humanhood, live the Old Testament concept of Christ—purity and righteousness—live St. Paul’s new man as they pray to leave behind the old man. Perhaps this means that the kingdom of heaven is not a place but a divine state of thought. Luke 17:20-21 reads: “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
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Question: What effect does time have in influencing or shaping prophecy? What is the difference between the eternal “all is now” and predestination?
Answer: Time has no influence on prophecies from the eternal God, and predestination is a time-oriented concept. The eternal Elohim does not know time, only eternity. Time enters the prophecies not as an element of God’s thinking in the “all is now” (see Ecclesiastes 3:15 [to;]; also, I John 3:2) but enters through the prophets’ translations of the eternal into terms that humans can understand.