Who shall inherit and who shall not inherit the
Kingdom of God?
John 14: 6 says, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (NKJV)
John 3:36 says,
"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not
believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (NKJV)
Revelation 20: 15 “And anyone not found written in the Book of
Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (NKJV)
This question and its answer are the core subject
of this discussion.
When we discuss the topic, let us keep few things
in our mind about the kingdom of God.
Kingdom of God is not a democratic kingdom; it is
the rule of a King who is the only authority in the Kingdom.
He is the only one King and He has no misters to
discuss the rule of the Kingdom.
He is the creator and sustainer of the Kingdom.
His Will and His values are the laws of the
Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is not a political nation now.
It is not earthly. In John
18:36 Jesus said answering Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this
world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I
should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."
(NKJV)
Many manifestations of the Kingdom has occurred
during the human history at different times.
But in future, after the creation of the new
heaven and new earth, the Kingdom will be established in a renewed earth.
Though we are not sure of the nature of the new
earth, the Kingdom of God will have a kind of geographical area at that time.
But now it does not have a geographical area.
The Kingdom of God now is the “reign” of the
Kingdom.
That is why Jesus asked us to pray, “Your kingdom
come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”
(Matthew 6:10 - NKJV)
Wherever God reigns now, it is the Kingdom of
God.
As a response to another video, I have received a
comment saying that the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are one and
the same thing in two different names.
Here, please understand that opinions differ
among theologians about it.
Of course there are a group of theologians who
believe that the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are one. At the same
time there are another respectable group who believe that they are two
different concepts.
Theologians of our era prefer to see the Kingdom
of Heaven and the Kingdom of God as two distinguishable areas.
I support the later view. Why? Let me explain:
As we said before Jesus taught his disciples to
pray “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 -
NKJV)
Heaven is already there in the spiritual realm
and it is the dwelling place of God.
And here Jesus is teaching to pray for the
Kingdom of Heaven to come to the earth and God’s will to be done on earth.
That means the Kingdom of heaven and the earth
are two different area.
It is clearer in the following verse from Matthew 5: 34 & 35.
"But I say to you,
do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the
earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the
great King. (NKJV)
When Jesus started His
ministry He announced the arrival of the kingdom.
Since a spiritual kingdom in
heaven already existed, Jesus was offering another kingdom.
This is a Kingdom that will be
restored on the earth.
In Luke 17:21, Jesus affirms that the Kingdom of
God is within us.
The Kingdom
of Heaven as the dwelling place of God cannot be within us at the same time.
So there must
be some difference between the abode of God and the kingdom rule in us.
And in Revelation 21 we
see the new heaven and the new earth on which the New Jerusalem is placed.
And we read
in verse 3 that the New Jerusalem
will be the “tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them.”
We understand
that God comes down to the new earth and to the New Jerusalem established on
it.
Theologians explain that Matthew
used the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” 32 times in his gospel because he was addressing a Jewish
audience.
It was a common practice among the Jews not to
refer to God directly by using His name, so they used heaven.
But the fact the Matthew also
used Kingdom of God for 5 times, gives space to the concept that Kingdom
of Heaven and Kingdom of God are two different areas.
After examining all these
arguments, we feel that Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God are one and two
different areas at the same time.
Kingdom of Heaven is the
dwelling place of God and Kingdom of God is the dwelling place of humans where
God will live with them.
Kingdom of God will be
established eternally in the new heaven and new earth.
As we said before, the Kingdom
is the reign of God rather than a geographical area.
In this sense, where ever the
reign of God and the will of God are done, it is His Kingdom.
All these areas are one and
the same.
Let me tell you one more word
concerning this part of the discussion.
Our belief that the Kingdom of
Heaven and Kingdom of God are one and the same or as two different area, do not
affect our salvation and eternal life.
So let us not spend much time
for heated arguments on this.
But when we speak of
inheriting the Kingdom, we should make some difference between them.
I believe that no humans, even
after salvation can inherit Heaven, because it is the dwelling place of God.
Psalms
115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S; But
the earth He has given to the children of men.” (NKJV)
So let us conclude this topic
stating that there are some difference in the area of the Kingdom of Heaven and
the Kingdom of God, but in essence they are one and the same by the reign of
God.
Everlasting Kingdom
Kingdom of God, I believe will
be restored in the new heaven and earth referred to in Revelation 21.
There are some who argue that
the restoration of the Kingdom of God will happen during the millennial rule of
Christ on this present earth.
There are some others who
argue that the Kingdom of Heaven is the millennial rule for 1000 years.
I strongly disagree with them
by referring to the prophecy of Daniel proclaimed while he was interpreting the
dream of King Nebuchadnezzar.
In Daniel
2: 44 we read, "And in the
days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never
be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (NKJV).
Daniel was not talking of the
already existing Kingdom of heaven which is the dwelling place of God.
Daniel prophesied and said
that in the last days of the history of this world, God will set up a new
Kingdom.
This Kingdom will not be
destroyed and it shall remain forever.
Psalms
145: 13 also says: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And
Your dominion endures throughout all generations.” (NKJV)
The millennial rule of Christ
on this earth is for a limited period of 1000 years.
Though 1000 years is a long
period, it is not ever lasting.
But the Kingdom of God is an
everlasting Kingdom.
The meaning of Inheriting
Let us conclude our
introductory remarks here and go into our main topic for discussion: Who will
and who will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
In 1 Corinthians 6: 9 & 10 Apostle
Paul says that “the unrighteous will not inherit
the kingdom of God. The Greek word for “inherit” is kleronomeo. The
word means in English to inherit or to be an heir.
Inheriting is obtaining something from someone
after their death.
The word also means to receive by genetic
transmission.
The word inherit contains the idea of ownership
by obtaining a property or quality from an ancestor.
In Romans 8: 16 & 17, Paul says that: “we are children of God”
and hence we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”.
Since we are joint heirs with Christ, we cannot
inherit anything without Him. And only children of God inherit the kingdom.
So inheriting means, we are going to share the
ownership of the Kingdom of God as children of God and joint heirs of Christ.
As inheritors, we shall share the authority of God as His
kings and priests in the Kingdom.
Salvation
and inheritance
Now we shall discuss another question.
Is there any relation between salvation and the Kingdom
of God?
This question and answer to it is very important for our
present discussion.
Let me start this section of the discussion by telling
you plainly that salvation is not inheriting the Kingdom of God.
Salvation is not the Kingdom of God.
But they are closely related to each other that one
cannot happen without the other.
And if one happens, the other also has happens.
Without salvation we cannot inherit the kingdom of God
and salvation cannot aloof from the Kingdom of God.
Salvation is the new birth by which we enter into the
kingdom of God.
As we said already, Kingdom of God is the reign of God in
our life and salvation occurs only if we willingly submit our life to Jesus.
When we proclaim that Jesus is the Lord of our life, we
are surrendering our rule over our life to God’s rule.
When, “you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved.” (Romans 10: 9 - NKJV)
We are to completely relinquish our own rule,
sovereignty, and kingdom, over to Jesus Christ.
He becomes our Lord.
There is no salvation without the complete surrender to
Jesus.
By definition, salvation is the relinquishment of
self-ownership.
The Bible says, "You are not your own. You are
bought with a price." (1 Corinthians 6: 19,
20)
Through the new birth we leave our old life at the Cross
of Jesus, and are born again into the kingdom of God.
We are now citizens under His sovereignty, realm, and
rule.
The new birth is the one time, once for all event of our
salvation.
By this extra ordinary experience we are born into the kingdom of God.
We are born into a new realm, new kingdom and into a new
status. And the life there after is a learning and transforming process to live
according to the values of the Kingdom.
Salvation is a package never sold loose.
In Isaiah 53 the prophet is giving a list of blessings that
are attached to salvation.
Salvation is a bouquet of blessings that are never
offered separate.
It contains salvation from sin and its bondage; salvation
from the kingdom of satan and salvation from sickness, evil bondages and
poverty.
The package of salvation includes peace that transcendent
all human understanding, a Christ like transformation, eternal life, an
inheritance to the Kingdom of God and rewards according to our treasure in the
Kingdom.
This is not a complete list of the blessings that
salvation contains. There are many more blessings in it.
So we cannot be saved without the blessings attached to
it.
Since a born again person has no authority over himself,
Christ takes the full authority over his life.
Christ removes that is unfit in him for the Kingdom and
adds that is fit for the Kingdom.
After we are born again, everything is Christ and we are
nothing.
Thus salvation is entering into the Lordship of Christ
and the Kingdom of God.
Salvation and Kingdom of God are not one and the same
thing, but they are inseparable in experience.
No Israelite can live in Egypt after declaring freedom
from slavery by partaking the paschal lamb.
Freedom is to move forward and pass the threshold of
slavery.
Freedom is to inherit the Promised Land.
Salvation is a threshold through which you leave the old
sinful life and enter into the Kingdom of God.
And it is God’s will that we inherit the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said: "Do not fear, little flock, for it is
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
(Luke 12:32 - NKJV)
Those who are hesitating to enter into the Kingdom is
refusing to cross the threshold of salvation.
The final separation
When we say that the saved will inherit the kingdom of
God, we are saying that all human beings on earth are not going to inherit the
kingdom.
That means, there are two different sects of people
before God – those who inherit the Kingdom and those who will not inherit the
kingdom.
But there are few Christians who believe that even the
unsaved will be accommodated in the eternity.
So let us discuss this topic briefly.
Now what is eternity?
We human beings cannot understand anything that is beyond
space and time or matter and time.
Our very existence is related to matter and time. We live
on matter and live in time.
We cannot fully comprehend eternity however we try to
explain.
Though eternity is not a time, we can understand it only
in relation to time.
So let me explain eternity connecting it with time.
Eternity is not a space or area, it is time. To say more,
eternity is the timeless time.
Eternity is a period of time which has no beginning or
end and no past or future.
In eternity we are not spending days, weeks, months or
years; we are always living in ‘today’.
In eternity there is only “now”; only present.
And we spend the eternity in the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is an everlasting Kingdom. There we
will enjoy continuous progressive revelations about God which He Himself will
reveal to us. It is the joy of eternity.
Can every humans enter into the eternity, is the
question?
Let us look into the scripture for an answer.
John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus. He
prophesied of Jesus as followed:
Luke
3:17 "His
winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing
floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with
unquenchable fire." (NKJV)
As an answer to the thoughts of the people gathered
around him, whether John is Christ or not, John the Baptist spoke of Jesus
Christ who comes after him.
John testified that Jesus will baptize them with Holy
Spirit and fire.
Jesus has the winnowing fan in his hand.
The purpose of the winnowing fan is to separate wheat and
chaff.
Jesus will gather wheat into His barn and will burn chaff
with unquenchable fire.
John is clearly speaking about the final separation of
the saints and the wicked.
Jesus at many occasions spoke about the final separation.
In Matthew 25 while
Jesus spoke about the final judgment, He said in verse 34, "Then the King
will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”.
And in verse 41,
Jesus continued: "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart
from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels”. (NKJV)
This is unmistakably about the final separation
of those who inherit the Kingdom of God and those who are punished in the
everlasting fire.
In Matthew 7
Jesus speaks about the tragic fate of self-assuming preachers and prophets.
They claimed, “'Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in
Your name?”
But the answer from Jesus to them is really
tragic: "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness!' (23
- NKJV)
The parables known as the parable of the wedding
feast, the parable of ten virgins and many others speak about the separation of
two sects of people.
Separation is a truth that we are going to face
during the day of the final judgment.
No humans can escape from it. All humans are not
going to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Who shall
inherit the Kingdom?
So far we have been discussing some topics in
connection with our main message.
We have discussed about the Kingdom of God, salvation
and inheritance, what is meant by inheritance and the final separation.
Kingdom of God is a real kingdom that is already
inaugurated by Jesus and is waiting to be fulfilled in future.
Salvation is the threshold to the Kingdom of God.
Though they are two different experiences, they cannot stand separate.
Inheritance is ownership as joint heirs with
Christ.
Final separation is a truth that we are going to
face in the day of final judgment.
Some Christians mistakenly believe that there are
different categories of citizens in the Kingdom of God.
They think that there will be few people who will
inherit the kingdom and there will be another majority who will live in the
kingdom as ordinary citizens without any inheritance.
But the truth is that there are no different
categories of citizens in the Kingdom of God.
As it is said in 1
Peter 2:9, all citizens of the kingdom are “chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people” (NKJV)
Psalm 82: 1 says “God stands in the congregation
of the mighty; He judges among the gods.”
Again Psalm 82: 6 says, “You are gods, And all of you are children
of the Most High.”
We have to understand these verses together. All
who are in the kingdom of God are royal priests and gods.
It is a kingdom of kings. So there are no second
grade citizens in the Kingdom.
Now let me give a list of people who will inherit
the kingdom of God.
I agree that God is the final authority of
deciding whether a person will inherit the kingdom or not.
At the same time, God has graciously revealed to
us the values that will be used as a canon by Him for the final separation.
God has revealed to us even a list of people who
will inherit the kingdom.
And since it is God’s words, we have no freedom
to doubt or redefine it.
Redefining words is the job of a lawyer that he
does in a legal court.
Redefining God’s words is not within the
authority of humans. So let us believe what scripture says.
One day Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin,
came to Jesus to have a discussion on the kingdom.
Jesus told him that unless a person is ‘born
again’ he cannot see the kingdom of God.
This conversation is the background for the
famous scripture, John 3:16:
“"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (NKJV)
Here we get the first answer to the question
about inheriting the kingdom.
Whoever believes and submit their life to the
Lordship of Jesus will be ‘born again’ and they shall inherit the kingdom of
God.
John 3:
18 further reveals this truth:
"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God.” (NKJV)
The verse says that there are someone who is
“condemned already”.
It simply means that all humans, because of sin
are condemned to eternal death.
But God loved us so that He gave His only
begotten son as a sacrificial lamb for the atonement of our sins.
Those who believes in this truth will be saved.
The condemnation of some human beings is not a
new thing that will occur in the last judgment day, but it is already
sentenced.
Ezekiel 18:4 says "The soul who sins shall
die.” (NKJV)
All human beings born from Adam is sentenced for
death.
Adam did not have any children before he
committed sin; and so there are no humans who are above the punishment for
sins.
The good news is that, by His Grace towards us,
God has decided to save all those who believe in Jesus.
And the Bible is clear that all humans who live
on this earth will not believe in Jesus; all will not be saved. That means all
will not inherit the kingdom of God.
John 14: 6 says, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (NKJV)
John 3:36 says,
"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not
believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (NKJV)
God is not behaving cruel to
sentence a good number of people to hell, rather God is full of justice, grace
and love that He gave his only begotten son as the way, truth and life for
humans.
So, only those who are born again, by grace and
through faith in Jesus Christ will inherit the Kingdom.
I know that presenting a complete list of people
who will inherit the kingdom of God is impossible.
So let me quote only some scripture regarding
this.
In Luke 22: 28 & 29 Jesus
offers the Kingdom to his disciples on the basis that they stayed with Him in
His trials.
Jesus said: "But you are those who have
continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My
Father bestowed one upon Me” (NKJV)
Matthew 5
is a part of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the manifesto of the kingdom.
Here Jesus presents a list of people who will
inherit the Kingdom of God.
Verse 3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Verse 5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
The earth in this verse is not the earth that we
live now, it is the new heaven and the new earth created in the last days,
after the Great White throne Judgment.
Verse 10
says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.” (NKJV)
This list may go long; so let me make a shift to
those who will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In Matthew 5: 20
we read, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
(NKJV)
Pharisee were religious people of the time who
stood for strict observance of the law to every letter of it. They have their
own interpretations and explanations as to how to obey the laws in the
practical life.
But Jesus is demanding a better righteousness
from the people for inheriting the Kingdom.
The whole Sermon on the Mount is an exhortation
to shift our attention from the law giver to the heart of the law giver.
Jesus is exhorting us to have His mindset. In Philippians 2: 5 we
read, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 6:9 & 10 says, “Do
you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not
be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (NKJV)
Paul’s first letter to the
church at Corinth is the first epistle which spoke about those who will not
inherit the kingdom.
Since this epistle is written
to a church, the meaning intended is very important.
Paul is not telling that
anybody who has committed sins listed in this verse will be excluded from the
Kingdom.
In verse 11 Paul says, “And such were some of you. But
you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (NKJV)
So Paul’s letter is a warning
to the church not to continue in the sins that they were doing before their
salvation.
Sins are sure to disinherit us
from the kingdom.
In Galatians 5: 19
- 21 says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are:
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell
you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice
such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (NKJV)
Ephesians 5: 5
says, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man,
who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (NKJV)
None of the above verses need further
explanation. And I have no intention to redefine God’s Words to suit my
personal perspective.
And we cannot read all Bible verses regarding
this topic within a limited time.
So let me conclude this study by quoting two or
three more scripture passages.
Revelation 21: 7 & 8 “He who
overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My
son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which
burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (NKJV)
Revelation 20: 15 “And anyone not found written in the Book of
Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (NKJV)
Watch the video of this message in English
and Malayalam @ naphtalitribetv.com
Listen to the audio messages in English and
Malayalam @ naphtalitriberadio.com
Read study notes in Malayalam @ vathil.in
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