OK, so what is your understanding or concept of the Kingdom of Heaven? (church, disciple)
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There is really no need to speculate. The Kingdom of G-d we are told is righteousness, peace and joy. Those are the attributes of a PERSON, the person of Christ. Christ IN you, IS the Kingdom come in you. You IN Christ is you in the Kingdom.
The "glass" we look through darkly now, or darkened glass, is the soul by which we perceive Him through now, which has varying shades of darkness but none are all light. And "now" will remain until He returns and fills us completely, so that THEN, we will know (as a man KNEW his wife and they are ONE) even as we are also known of Him.
In other words, He knows us and always has, but we will not know Him in the fullness until He returns. Which is why the baptism in the HG is the earnest (down payment) of our INHERITANCE (the priest's portion was G-D Himself). So many have rejected the down payment, yet expect to receive the full inheritance when He returns. Not going to happen, this time around. Peace
There is really no need to speculate. The Kingdom of G-d we are told is righteousness, peace and joy. Those are the attributes of a PERSON, the person of Christ. Christ IN you, IS the Kingdom come in you. You IN Christ is you in the Kingdom.
The "glass" we look through darkly now, or darkened glass, is the soul by which we perceive Him through now, which has varying shades of darkness but none are all light. And "now" will remain until He returns and fills us completely, so that THEN, we will know (as a man KNEW his wife and they are ONE) even as we are also known of Him.
In other words, He knows us and always has, but we will not know Him in the fullness until He returns. Which is why the baptism in the HG is the earnest (down payment) of our INHERITANCE (the priest's portion was G-D Himself). So many have rejected the down payment, yet expect to receive the full inheritance when He returns. Not going to happen, this time around. Peace
If you are waiting for a literal, physical return, then you understand less than you profess.
We see this when Jesus was telling the Pharisees that the Kingdom was already present.
Heaven is where Jesus is, Hell is where He isn't. As for any first hand knowledge on heaven nobody has any with a couple exceptions a long time ago. Jesus currently resides in the third heaven, no GPS coordinates given. We know He returns with all who are believers today to set up the Millenial Kingdom in the not too distant future with the remnant of Israel and the beat up believers who survived the Trib in physical bodies. So the earth will be "heavenly" and refurbished but heaven is still way up there somewhere which is actually the true home of all in the body of Christ. The Jews have earthly promises and the saved by grace in the body of Christ have a heavenly home and heavenly promises.......it's going to be glorious!
The Kingdom of Heaven is eternal and we are currently in an illusion of sorts where there is a veil over our eyes, and we are walking through this world of the knowledge of good AND evil, not realizing that we ARE in an illusion. We are currently experiencing this contrast of good and evil because we are not matured in the ways of love. Evil is just another word for "non-love". Non-love takes many forms, and causes much suffering. The veil is lifted when we love unconditionally and in that moment can see that we are surrounded by the Kingdom of Heaven even now.... though we are "on this side", even though we are in the "now". The Kingdom of Heaven is within us and all around us at the same time (in my view.) The answers lie in the verse below:
1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
There is a "now" and a "then" (future)...
The Kingdom of Heaven doesn't change, it's not one place traded for another... but rather when the veil is lifted from our eyes and we are matured in love, love ruling supreme in us.
Mankind is steeped in ignorance of who we truly are (beautiful creations, beloved by the Creator), and ignorant of the truth and light, LOVE. But this life, we're all in this together, journeying together and learning by trial and error. I think when we pass over, it's just the veils being lifted... and our understanding deepens and continues to deepen... love rules supreme. Where love rules supreme is the Kingdom of Heaven. We can experience it now, if all us dumb humans would suddenly start to actually "love our neighbor as ourselves".
Peace,
sparrow
This does not look like Jesus' teaching but rather your interpretation of His teaching. Quite a difference.
This does not look like Jesus' teaching but rather your interpretation of His teaching. Quite a difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pleroo
What do you believe the main points of Jesus' teachings were? How does one, practically speaking, follow those teachings on a day to day basis? In other words, maybe some examples of what you or others do that you believe is following Jesus' teachings.
Please, do explain what you see as the difference between Sparrow's interpretation and yours.
If you are waiting for a literal, physical return, then you understand less than you profess. We see this when Jesus was telling the Pharisees that the Kingdom was already present.
And they couldn’t recognize it, either.
Tell me: has the last enemy death been overcome yet? People can prance about claiming kingdom has fully come all they want to but until they don't DIE, it don't mean squat, because there is no death in His kingdom. Peace
If you are waiting for a literal, physical return, then you understand less than you profess.
We see this when Jesus was telling the Pharisees that the Kingdom was already present.
And they couldn’t recognize it, either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rbbi1
Tell me: has the last enemy death been overcome yet? People can prance about claiming kingdom has fully come all they want to but until they don't DIE, it don't mean squat, because there is no death in His kingdom. Peace
Are you afraid of death, if not, then you have overcome it.
Are you afraid of death, if not, then you have overcome it.
The whole point of Christ's death was NOT to fear death because it is actually a birth - a rebirth of our consciousness as a Spirit in a spiritual body.
Tell me: has the last enemy death been overcome yet? People can prance about claiming kingdom has fully come all they want to but until they don't DIE, it don't mean squat, because there is no death in His kingdom. Peace
Sin is death. Death of the spirit. There are many dead spirits around town.
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