A "Grain Of Wheat" Ministries publication

Written by David W. Dyer

INDEX

Chapter 1: THE MILLENNIUM LOST

Chapter 2: ARE WE IN THE MILLENNIUM TODAY?

Chapter 3: MORE SIGNS?

Chapter 4: SOME SPURIOUS ARGUMENTS?

Chapter 5: FOCUSED ON HEAVEN

Chapter 6: WHY IS THE KINGDOM IMPORTANT? (Current Chapter)

Chapter 7: "OUTER DARKNESS"

Chapter 8: OTHER SCRIPTURES

Chapter 9: SOME REALLY BAD THEOLOGY

Chapter 10: REAL TRANSFORMATION

Chapter 6: WHY IS THE KINGDOM IMPORTANT?

Now, many may wonder, “Why is it important whether or not we are in the kingdom of God now, or whether it is coming in the future?” “What real difference does this make?”

As we saw at the beginning of this book, there is certainly a spiritual reality to the kingdom of God on earth right now. This invisible kingdom is entered into by allowing Jesus to be the king of your life. You must permit Him to reign over you!

But this is only one aspect of the kingdom of God. The other aspect is that there is an earthly, physical manifestation of this kingdom coming. Now, these two aspects of the kingdom are intimately related. According to the Bible, to take part in the second aspect, you must participate in the first!

According to the scriptures, our participation in the coming millennial kingdom is a reward for God's faithful servants. Those who faithfully submitted themselves to the Lord (by entering the present kingdom during their lifetimes) will be rewarded in various ways during the coming kingdom. As we proceed, we will investigate this truth.

This aspect of the coming kingdom - the fact that it will be a reward for faithful believers - is important. Jesus promises us that if we overcome, we will reign together with Him. This is something to which we can look forward.

Also, we are taught that during the kingdom, there will be a wedding feast. We can take part in that too, if we succeed in entering into His kingdom. Denying the truth of a coming kingdom also takes away these important rewards for the faithful.

Also, there is a very serious flip side to this truth. Those who were stubborn and rebellious, not submitting themselves to Jesus' kingship during their lifetime, will be subjected to various punishments during the coming earthly kingdom. Those who don't enter the spiritual kingdom of God today will not enter into the coming kingdom later.

This may startle many readers. The possibility of future punishment existing for unfaithful servants of God may be new to them. This is exactly the reason why a true understanding of the millennium is essential! This is exactly why the devil has worked so hard over the years to obscure this precious truth about the kingdom!

By hiding the truth about the coming millennial kingdom, and even removing it from Christian teaching and understanding of the gospel, a very crucial truth has been taken away.

The lack of the kingdom teaching removes, to a large degree, the fear of God. It deprives us of the sobering reasons why faithfulness and submission are important right now.

Everything will not be overlooked and forgiven. Disobedience will generate serious consequences for children of God. This is an essential truth. Yet it is something that the devil doesn't want us to know about and that most of the church doesn't want to hear. So the devil is working very hard to obscure this truth.

ISN'T EVERYTHING ALREADY FORGIVEN?

Although there seems to be one verse in the Bible which teaches us that all of our sins are forgiven once we receive Jesus, this is not the case. This verse, in Colossians 2:13, is commonly used to justify this “everything's already forgiven” doctrine.

The New King James Version reads: “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”

But, in the Greek text, this word translated as “forgiven” does not have this exact meaning. Although forgiveness can be implied by this word, it is not its principal meaning. Instead, this Greek word primarily means “to grant as a favor” or “to be gracious.” It can also mean “to rescue.” So this verse could be translated as “… graciously rescuing us from the whole of our sins.”

Therefore, this is not a “proof text” in the scriptures which assures us that “once we say the prayer” or “come to Jesus” there can be no consequences for our behavior since everything is forgiven. Neither this verse nor any other, can be honestly used to assure unrepentant believers that everything is already forgiven.*

This concept is actually a lie from the enemy. Although Jesus can and does forgive us when we sincerely repent, it is not automatic. God has not become blind or stupid. The church has been fed a diet of fables, a kind of fairy tale in which everything is sort of magical and unbelievable and works out wonderfully in the end. Everyone will live “happily ever after.”

However, the scriptures actually teach us something very different. There are serious consequences for becoming a child of God and then living our life without submitting to His authority.

We have been robbed! The thief “comes to steal …” (Jn 10:10). And he, the devil, has done a good job. He has blinded the eyes of the church to the fact that there are consequences for rebellion. There are consequences for unrepentant sin. There are consequences for unfaithfulness.

Jesus clearly teaches us about each and every one of these consequences. But, without the correct understanding of the coming millennial kingdom, they disappear. Without an understanding of both - the present invisible and the coming physical - aspects of Jesus' kingdom, we are spiritually blinded.

*There is no room here to thoroughly address the subject of what is wrong with the “gospel of forgiveness” but I would like to recommend that the reader download or order the book, free of charge, titled The Hidden Gospel from the website www.agrainofwheat.com for a complete discussion of this all-important subject.

Can you now see why the devil wants to subvert and hide this truth? He doesn't want anyone to be convicted of sin or repent. He doesn't want Christians to have the fear of the Lord. It fits his scheme perfectly when God's people feel no need to seek Him intensely or realize that they have to obey Him. He loves it when everyone feels good about themselves and just coasts along primarily looking after their own interests.

The church has been fed a diet of universal forgiveness of sin with no punishment whatsoever and they have been robbed of the truth. Along with this unhealthy diet of no consequences, the great majority have also almost completely missed Jesus' teaching about the coming kingdom.

THE “KINGDOM OF HEAVEN” IS NOT HEAVEN

There are quite a few parables about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God in the gospels. Due to the “heaven-centered” message of today's church, most people mistakenly try to apply these truths to “heaven.” What happens when we try to make these kingdom teachings into eternity teachings is that we end up with some really illogical and strange theology.

For example, most of those who believe you can “lose your salvation” base many of their arguments on Jesus' parables. Since these parables clearly demonstrate negative consequences for some of God's people, those who cannot accept this possibility have to come up with alternative explanations for these teachings.

These “alternative explanations” then lead to erroneous and convoluted theology.

However, if we apply the kingdom parables to the coming kingdom, everything fits together very nicely. There is then no need to try and find a rather tortured solution to the truths presented in these parables. Let's look at some of the parables together.

Perhaps the parable of ten virgins would be a good place to start (Mt 25:1-13). In this section, we find half of the virgins are left out of the wedding feast. Oh no! How can we understand that? Did they get unsaved? Did they “lose their salvation?” Were they not really saved in the first place? How can it be that Jesus will say: “I never knew you”?

We can begin here by stating that the wedding feast of Jesus will go on for one-thousand years. There is no such thing as being raptured, gulping down a feast, and then returning with Christ for the kingdom as many seem to believe.

The feasting is part of the coming kingdom experience. As we have already read: “And I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will recline at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom which comes from the heavens…” (Mt 8:11). So here we learn that there is a feast during the millennium.

So during the kingdom age, which will last for one thousand years, there will be a feast. I am telling you that this is Jesus' wedding feast. The marriage of the Lamb takes place at the end of the millennium. That is when we are shown the prepared bride descending OUT of heaven.

It is impossible that Jesus would have a wedding feast, as some believe, just after the rapture and then wait one thousand years for His wedding. NO. Feasting with Jesus at His wedding feast is one important aspect of the coming millennial kingdom.

Now back to the ten virgins. What do we do with this parable? All these individuals are “virgins” representing a certain purity (2 Cor 11:2). This is something which the unsaved do not have. These virgins all have at least some oil in their lamps, otherwise they could not later have been “going out.” The oil is representative of the Holy Spirit. So they all had at least some of God's Spirit.

Also, all of them are waiting for the Bridegroom, something that the unregenerate are certainly not doing. So, the only honest, logical conclusion we can reach is that they represent believers.

Since the understanding of the kingdom is lacking or entirely lost in the church, some really ridiculous explanations are offered. They try to fit this parable into the “saved or unsaved,” are we going to “heaven or hell” scenario. Some say that these five virgins lost their salvation. Others insist that they weren't really “saved” in the first place.

This kind of teaching is a result of trying to make the kingdom parables apply to eternity. So many have wrestled with these kingdom parables without any clarity simply because they imagine that Jesus was talking about “heaven,” but He wasn't.

What we are really being taught is that there are consequences for foolishness in God's kingdom. Jesus makes it clear that this parable is relating to the kingdom from the heavens. So, it is easy to understand that some believers who are foolish in their walk with the Lord will be left out of the coming millennial kingdom. The door will be shut in their faces.

But, some will no doubt ask, what about Him saying, “I don't know you?” How could these be believers if Jesus doesn't know them?

Well, if you think about it, Jesus knows everyone, believer and unbeliever alike. He knows the fallen angels. He knows Satan. If every hair of our heads is counted, how could it be that He somehow doesn't know who someone is? Have some human beings escaped His notice? No, of course He knows all of them!

But in this case, He is not acknowledging that He knows them. This is the fulfillment of one of His promises. He says, “But whoever denies me before men, I will also disown before my Father who is in the heavens” (Mt 10:33). So, because of their foolish behavior, He is denying knowledge of them and therefore, they are left out of the rewards and pleasures of the millennial kingdom.

This parable teaches us very clearly that when Jesus returns and sets up His earthly kingdom, not all believers will be allowed in. The foolish ones will be excluded. They will have lost the right to enter into it.

Now this is something which many Christians do not want to hear. They, with their wishful thinking, want to believe that once you receive Jesus, there can be no more negative consequences. From then on, everything will be great.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons that so many like to imagine that there is no such earthly kingdom coming. With such theology, they get to escape from any punishment for disobedience.

Let's move on now to a parable about servants and talents. This is found in Matthew chapter 25:19-28. Most of the readers will probably be familiar with this parable. Here we are told the results.

“Now after a long time the lord of those servants returned and made an accounting with them. So he who received the five talents came and brought another five talents saying, 'Lord, you delivered five talents to me. Look, I have made another five talents.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You have been faithful with small things, I will set you over important things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

“And he also who received the two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered two talents to me. Look, I have made another two talents.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You have been faithful with small things, I will set you over important things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

“Then he who had received the one talent also came and said, 'Lord, I perceive you as a hard man, reaping where you didn't sow and gathering where you didn't scatter, and I was afraid. So I went away and hid your talent in the earth. Look here, I am giving you back what is yours.'

“But his lord answered and said to him, 'You problematic and lazy servant. You say you saw me as one who reaps where they didn't sow and gathers where they did not scatter. Therefore, you should have at least invested my money with the bankers so that at my coming I would have received my money back with interest.'

“'Therefore, take the talent away from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who holds onto what he has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But with respect to him who does not hold onto what he has, even that which he has will be taken away. And throw out that useless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”

In verse one of this chapter, Jesus makes it clear that He is teaching about “the kingdom which comes from the heavens.” We can be completely confident that it is not a teaching about eternity or eternal life.

This is because, as everyone should be able to agree, eternal life cannot be earned. It is not based on our works. It is most assuredly through faith. Therefore, this parable cannot possibly be teaching us about eternal life or “going to heaven.”

It is very clear here that these servants are rewarded according to “works” which they did or neglected to do. While salvation is a free gift of God, entering into His coming kingdom is based on what we did with this free gift. It is - oh no, don't say it out loud - based on our works.

This is obviously what Jesus is teaching. To enter the kingdom, faithfulness is required. Although some have done some fantastical theological wiggling to try to get around this fact, there it is.

Now this should be obvious. Jesus is coming to reign to put down rebellion and sin. He is going to use some of His people to help Him with this task. They will rule with Him. But how could He use unfaithful, sinful, rebellious believers to accomplish this? This would be like putting a thief in charge of a bank. It simply would not work.

This is why entering into the coming kingdom is a question of faithfulness. It is why we must submit to His reign over us today through the Spirit. It is the reason that He must be our LORD right now. If not, then we will be disqualified in the future and lose out on the coming kingdom.

End of Chapter 6

Read other chapters online:

Chapter 1: THE MILLENNIUM LOST

Chapter 2: ARE WE IN THE MILLENNIUM TODAY?

Chapter 3: MORE SIGNS?

Chapter 4: SOME SPURIOUS ARGUMENTS?

Chapter 5: FOCUSED ON HEAVEN

Chapter 6: WHY IS THE KINGDOM IMPORTANT? (Current Chapter)

Chapter 7: "OUTER DARKNESS"

Chapter 8: OTHER SCRIPTURES

Chapter 9: SOME REALLY BAD THEOLOGY

Chapter 10: REAL TRANSFORMATION