Ask the Pastor; Is the Kingdom of God Land Based?

Hello Pastor,

I was wondering if you could shed a little light on something for me. In a letter I recently received from someone I am corresponding with my pen-pal said something about the Kingdom of God not being geographic. When I told you that you said that they were “basically saying goodbye to our Postmillennial faith.”

How does a geographic Kingdom of God tie in with our Postmillenialism?

Ned

Dear Ned,

Thank you for writing again.

When people say the Kingdom of God is “not geographic” they are denying that it is land based. The Kingdom of God then is not concrete in time and space. In the postmillenial vision it might be said that the Kingdom is not primarily about geography but as the Kingdom of God advances it does have geographic (land based) implications. We all agree that the Kingdom of God is first and foremost Spiritual and Spirit driven but to suggest that this spiritual Kingdom has no corporeal (land based) implications is not accurate.

One thing that Abraham was promised in the Old Testament was “a Land” (geography). In the NT Postmillennialism believes that the promised land to Abraham in the OT is now the whole earth. Because God’s Kingdom encompasses the whole Earth it shall encompass the whole earth.

17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Once a nation is discipled that geographic nation is part of the Kingdom of God. As postmillennialists we agree with scripture that the whole earth will be discipled before Christ’s return and so the whole planet will be part of God’s very geographic Kingdom.

In Matthew’s Gospel our Lord Christ speaks about his people “inheriting the earth.” They can not inherit a non geographic earth that is not a part of His Kingdom.

So, while it might be said that the Kingdom of God is ultimately spiritual that does not mean that it can not be geographic. Indeed, I would say that a Kingdom of God that is only spiritual is no Kingdom at all.

As God’s people advance the cause of Christ the nations of the world become the Nations of the Lord (again… geography) and the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

So … there is a geographic quality to the Kingdom. As the Kingdom advances, earth and place increasingly become what they already are, to wit, the Kingdom of God. (“Now … Not Yet” hermeneutic.)

To deny this makes the Kingdom increasingly abstract and perhaps even gnostic. For gnostic like thinking then God’s Kingdom, in terms of place, is reduced to heaven.

One concrete example before I leave you.

The home you own and the land it sit on is geographic and is part of God’s Kingdom because the land is owned by someone (you) that is redeemed and so owned by God. Because God owns you God owns that land and so that land is part of the Kingdom of God.

Thank you for writing Ned.

Seminary Course — Justification; The Article by which the Church Stands of Falls

Main Texts

1.) The Doctrine of Justification by Faith — John Owen
2.) The Doctrine of Justification — James Buchanan
3.) Justification — Francis Turretin (Author), Jr. James T. Dennison (Editor), George Musgrave Giger (Translator)

Assignment — Read the main texts. Write a 25 page paper explaining and defending the Biblical Doctrine of Justification by faith alone.

Supplemental Texts

1.) Romans: Atonement and Justification: An Exposition of Chapters 3:20 – 4:25 — Martyn Lloyd Jones
2.) Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification — R. C. Sproul
3.) Justification by Faith Alone — Jonathan Edwards
4.) http://www.the-highway.com/antidote_Calvin.html
5.) The Current Justification Controversy — O. Palmer Robertson
6.) By Faith Alone: Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Justification — Guy Waters (Editor)
7.) Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking A Pauline Theme — Stephen Westerholm

Assignments

1.) Go online and find a rabid Roman Catholic and get into a debate on Justification
2.) Go online and find a rabid Federal Vision proponent and get into a debate on Justification
3.) Write a 10 page paper on the Controversies surrounding Justification (Books 5-7)

Audio

1.) What Still Divides Us?
A Protestant & Roman Catholic Debate : Are the Scriptures Sufficient? Are We Justified By Faith Alone?

Assignment — Listen to the debate section on Justification

The Opposition

1.) The Federal Vision — Steve Wilkins (Editor) — pages 151-262
2.) Council of Trent — Look up Cannon’s 9, 12, 14, 23, 24, 30, 33

Assignments

1.) 4 page paper on each of the three Chapters in the Wilkins book refuting Federal Vision errant versions of Justification

2.) Refute the Council of Trent Canons

3.) 5 page paper locating the harmonies you see between Trent and Federal Vision

12 Books Recommended for the Newer Reformed Christian or High School Curriculum

Purpose — To root and ground the reader in the fundamentals of Biblical Christianity.  It is hoped that by absorbing the material of this course the result will be a Christian who is set upon Christianity as the life of the mind.

Goal — upon completion of the course the student will begin to understand that Christianity and the Christian faith is one wherein one finds their complete identity.

1.) By What Standard? — R. J. Rushdoony (Epistemology)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries.
b.) Upon completion a 4 page page paper on the importance of Epistemology.

2.) Understanding and Applying the Bible — J. Robertson McQuilkin (Hermeneutics)

a.) 1 typed page (200 words) chapter summaries
b.) Upon completion a 4 page page paper explaining basic hermeneutics and the importance of hermeneutics for reading the Scriptures aright.

3.) Knowing God — J. I. Packer (Theology Proper)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 page paper on the Attributes of God

4.) O. Palmer Robertson — The Christ of the Covenants (Covenant Theology)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 page paper giving an overview of covenant theology

5.) Putting Amazing back into Grace — Michael Horton (Basic Reformed Theology)

The author of this book ^ is R2K. I most certainly do not recommend anything he writes touching his theological dualism. Still, having said that I still think this book a good primer on Reformed theology.

a.)  1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 page paper on the graciousness of Grace. Make sure to include a section explaining how in Reformed Theology when it comes to salvation “God does all the doing.”

6.) A Summary of Christian Doctrine — Louis Berkhof (Systematic Theology)

a.) 1 typed pages chapter summaries
b.) 4 page paper delineating why these doctrines are necessary for the Christian life

7.) When the Time Had Fully Come: Studies in New Testament Theology — Herman Ridderbos (Biblical Theology)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 page paper explaining the Reformed “Now, Not yet.”

8.) The Cross of Christ — John Stott (Soteriology)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 paged paper setting forth a basic understanding of the centrality of the Cross Work of Jesus Christ

9.) Holy Spirit — John Owen /abridged version (Pneumatology)

a.)1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 page paper on the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer

10.) Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God — J. I. Packer (Evangelism)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 page paper explaining why Reformed folks are evangelistically minded

11.) The Pursuit of Holiness — Jerry Bridges (Sanctification)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 typed page paper explaining the different nuances of Holiness and why it is necessary for the Christian life.

12.) The Basic Ideas of Calvinism — H. Henry Meeter (Holistic Calvinism)

a.) 1 typed page chapter summaries
b.) 4 typed pages that demonstrate that you understand that Christianity is a religion that is totalistic in its claims over every area of life.

— Warning on this book; Ignore Meeter’s “insights” on Economics

This list could be used in a High School curriculum for covenant children in Christian families.

Assignments … Knights of the Rectangular Table

Knights,

Go to this web site.

http://www.wordmp3.com/details.aspx?id=538#.VGvIyXMWL9g.facebook

Click where it says “stream.” Listen to Dr. Grant’s Lecture onAlfred the/the Great

Go here

Start at the 4:45 section mark and listen through the rest of this lecture.

Then go here

and you can stop once you have arrived at the 7:45 mark of this Video.

Pay close attention to what is said about Art, Music and Architecture.

Deconstructing Vanderklay on Rob Bell

Over at this link

http://paulvanderklay.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/rob-bell-as-gateway-drug-but-in-which-direction/

we find a mild rebuke of anyone who would be so arrogant as to question the orthodoxy of Rob Bell. Of course the author of the piece has no problem questioning the integrity of those who question Rob Bell.

What follows is my response to Paul’s thoughts,

1.) The fact that false teachers have always existed, do exist now, and will always exist does not mean that we should support said false teachers in any way. Rob Bell is clearly,

a.) A universalist

Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, 83:

“This reality, this forgiveness, this reconciliation, is true for everybody. Paul insisted that when Jesus died on the cross he was reconciling ‘all things, in heaven and on earth, to God. This reality then isn’t something we make true about ourselves by doing something. It is already true.”

b.) A denier of the unique authority of Scripture

Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, 67–68:

“It wasn’t until the 300s that what we know as the sixty-six books of the Bible were actually agreed upon as the ‘Bible’. This is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that “Scripture alone” is our guide. It sounds nice, but it is not true.

c.) Dubious on the central Christian doctrine of the Atonement

The God’s Aren’t Angry. DVD. Authored by Rob Bell

“The blood was never for God, that was just to help humans live with, absorb, and trust, the love of a God who keeps on insisting, trust me.”

Anyone of these would place Bell outside the circle of orthodoxy. All of them taken together distinguishes him very little, in terms of orthodoxy as a whole, from Joseph Smith, The Medieval Cathari, or my ex Brother-in-law who insists he himself is Jesus.

3.) God has even used talking donkeys in the past but that does not mean we should support talking Donkeys as evangelists.

4.) Bell most certainly does not present the Gospel in any positive way. If he is not presenting the Gospel at all (and he is not) then it is not possible to present it in a positive way.

5.) All because there is not a lot more harm that can be done doesn’t mean we should support those who keep doing harm.

6.) Paul Vander Klay said,

“Again, for those of us who are deep into church and the theological landscape if we were to research something we’d have an entire theological filter we’d use to automatically select or de-select churches, books, leaders in order to do our exploration. Normal people don’t work this way. ”

Actually, this is not even close to being true. All people come equipped with a theological filter. Now they may not be epistemologically self conscious about it but they have it all the same and they use that filter just as much as anyone who is “deep into church and the theological landscape.” Paul is just in error here.

7.) Paul V.K. wrote,

“Rob Bell in all of the ways that irritate me is going to put Jesus on the map for millions of people in an attractive way.”

This is another errant statement by Paul.

a.) When Bell speaks about “Jesus” what makes you think he is talking about the Jesus that walks through the Scriptures? Bell’s Jesus is an alien Jesus having precious little, if anything in common with the Jesus in the Bible.

b.) By this reasoning of Paul’s (and yours?) we should rejoice in Mary Baker Eddy, or Sun Myung Moon or Jan Matthys since thy presented Jesus in an attractive manner and gained lots of listeners.

c.) Bell’s “Jesus” is grotesquely ugly. There is nothing attractive at all about Bell’s Jesus.

8.) I do not envy Bell. In point of fact, I pity Bell.

9.) Paul ends by warning us about the “log and speck” danger and yet here is Paul looking to take the speck out of those who critique Bell while missing potential logs in his own eye. This warning about “log and speck” when absolutized would mean that we could not point out error in any one or anything since, as fallen men, we all have our logs with which to contend.