The Kingdom of God Movement: From the Elite to the Outcast and Foreigner

In Palestine during Jesus' day, the temple had become corrupted by the ruling elite (scribes, priests, pharisees) and they were oppressing the rest of the Jews (peasants, outcasts) and collaborating with Rome for their own wealth. Jesus, having grown up as a stone mason (not carpenter - wrong definition of Greek word within the historical context) with his father Joseph building Herod's city, approaches the temple in Mark 11 to condemn the ruling elite and the temple system they had created.

Jesus starts to overturn the money tables which are being used to the gain of the priests on Passover, and then he quotes his famous line. The first part says "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations". This is found in Isaiah 56 when God is calling the outcasts of Israel and the foreigner into his house. This is emphasized in 56:6-7 when God says that foreigners will be included if they serve him and 56:8 when it says that He gathers the outcasts of Israel. The ruling elite were keeping this from happening with their greed and legalism. Jesus then accuses them of making it into a den of bandits. The background to this is found in Jeremiah 7:1-15 when the priests murder, steal, and harm the Israelites and then take refuge in the temple for security. Jeremiah then condemns them. This is what the elite were doing, and Jesus is prophesying their condemnation.

In Mark 11:12-14, Jesus curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit in season to never bear fruit again. This is before the temple incident, so it is like he is prophesying of the temple system's condemnation. After the temple incident, the fig tree is withered to the roots. Jesus then says that if you have enough faith, you can say to this mountain, "Be taken up and thrown into the sea", and it will be done. When he said "this mountain", he was probably referring to the mount that the temple stood upon. This was all prophetic of the destruction of the temple system and condemnation of the ruling elite.

After this Jesus tells the parable of the tenants. The workers of a vineyard do not do their job, and when the owner sends his son, they kill him. The vineyard is of course taken away from the people who work it. The vineyard is the kingdom of God, the workers are the ruling elite (priests, scribes, pharisees), the owner is Jesus' Father, and the son is of course Jesus. This is prophetic of the kingdom of God being taken away from the elite, because they are not keeping it and bearing fruit, which means loving and serving their neighbors equally - which is what Jesus' teachings are many times about.
He teaches these things to the outcasts of Israel (tax collectors, prostitutes, etc) because the kingdom will be given to them. The idea of the vineyard is taken from Isaiah 5, where Israel is described as a vineyard, and because it doesn't bear fruit, God plans to destroy it. These passages provide the context and basis of John 15. This I will discuss in an upcoming blog. It also helps explain Romans 11.

Matthew 11 says that until now the kingdom suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 12 says that Jesus will bring justice to the Gentiles, which means inclusion in the kingdom as prophesied in Isaiah. Matthew 22 tells the parable of the wedding feast, where the elite are not allowed into the feast because they do not wear the proper garments, which refers to putting on Jesus' righteousness, so instead the outcasts are invited.
Luke 13:28-30 and Matthew 8:11-12 says that many will come from the east and west and north and south and recline at the table in the kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It says that the sons of the kingdom will be casted out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The people from the east and west are the foreigners and outcasts, and the sons of the kingdom are the elite.

As Matthew 5:3 says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

It has been argued by Western scholars and theologians that each individual Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The problem with this thinking is not that it isn’t true to an extent (for we see that in John 2 Jesus referred to His own flesh as a temple), but the problem is that we don’t understand the full context and meaning of the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because Western Christian theology has become very individualized, we don’t see the corporate dimension of a lot of things. I want to demonstrate how the temple of the Holy Spirit is both corporate and individual.

In Ezekiel, the prophet prophesies of a new temple in Ezekiel 41 that has never been built to this day. Surrounded by imagery of a new creation and ordinances that go against the ordinances in the Mosaic Law, we can see that there is a mystery element in all of it. Because of the new creation themes, I believe that the prophecy is referring to the New Covenant and that the new temple is a spiritual one. In Ezekiel 45, a priest offers Passover sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. These two things don’t go together or happen together in Jewish Law and practice, but they go together in the New Covenant. Here’s how: Jesus’ sacrifice is described explicitly as our Passover by Paul in 1Co 5:7 and of course his sacrifice directly follows Passover and the events preceding: Jesus introduces communion while Passover is being celebrated and replaces the lamb with bread (Jesus being the lamb), then is sacrificed for humanity’s sin to provide an exodus from sin just as Passover provided Israel an exodus from Egypt, then in 50 days the Holy Spirit comes to His people at the feast of first fruits (50 days after the exodus God comes to the Jews at Sinai to establish the Old Covenant). Passover, of course, wasn’t an atonement for sin. So the fact that Passover is mixed together with the Day of Atonement in Ezekiel would prove that Jesus’ Passover sacrifice was atoning. So in Ezekiel we have a prophesied new temple and New Covenant in Christ. Now in Mark 14:58 Jesus is quoted as having said that he will “destroy this temple and within three days I will build another without hands”. Having the only sinless human body, it makes sense that Jesus would be the temple, or dwelling place of God. His body was physical, and therefore "made with hands". The temple without hands would be the spiritual temple, which we are collectively. Jesus destroyed himself (the temple made with hands), to raise up a new temple in 3 days (which is us, the new dwelling place of God).


Now in Ephesians 2:19-22, Paul argues that we, being of the household of God, are built on a foundation of prophets and apostles with Jesus as the cornerstone. From this he argues that we are being built together to form a "holy temple in the Lord" and a "dwelling of God through the Spirit". This is a clear argument that we, as a corporate body of God, are His temple and dwelling place.

Of course, 1 Corinthians has some references that refer to the believer as a temple in and of himself. This of course isn't a paradox because a temple is where God's presence is, and just as God dwells in the corporate body of Christ, he dwells in each and every one of us personally as well. However, it is important to understand the corporate dimension as well.

I often hear people say when they are going to church that they are "entering the house of the Lord". Now I don't deny their sincerity of heart and willingness to love and worship God in spirit and in truth. However, the physical building of the church is not a temple or the place where God dwells. We are the house of the Lord, and every where we turn He is present with us simply because He is in us. It is so relieving to know that we don't have to enter a building to "meet God", because he is with us at all times within us because he has broken the barrier by His blood. Coming together in a building is the practice of community and corporate worship.

God isn't there waiting, because we bring Him with us.

The Diamond of the Gospel

Several scholars today are starting to see the gospel like a multi-faceted diamond.
They say we've been focusing too much on atonement models which only make up one facet of the gospel. They say salvation is more holistic, integrating multiple facets. I agree there is more than one facet and I'm going to explore some.

The first facet is simple: The Atonement. The model I'll choose on this one will be the New Exodus model because I believe this is what Paul used to interpret Christ's atoning work (1 Co 5:7).
Just as Israel was enslaved in Egypt, even so mankind was enslaved in Sin. Just as a passover sacrifice of a lamb for protection from death combining shed blood and meat consumption was the means of freedom from Egypt, even so Christ's shed blood and our symbolic consumption (John 6:54-55) is a means of freedom from Sin and Death. Just as Israel passed through the sea and the waters closed in on Pharaoh's army, even so we passed through hell and destruction from death into life and the way was closed behind us so that we cannot go back. Just as God met Israel at Sinai in 50 days to establish a covenant with them and make them his chosen people, He (in the form of the Holy Spirit) met us at Pentecost (50 days after the Resurrection) to establish a new covenant and make us His chosen people and bride. It is by faith that we opt into the atonement, not by works since Jesus did that for us.

I would call the first facet "the work of the cross for us", so I'll call the second "the work of the cross in us". God wants to save us not only from the condemnation of sin (permanent effect), but from it's temporary effects on our lives (Gal 5:1). Jesus wants us to not be conformed to His image, but transformed into His image. It's not about looking pretty on the outside for everyone to see, but the inner spiritual formation of the new creation. We are being weened from our old nature and turned into our new man (or new creation) through the new nature given to us by the Holy Spirit. Paul calls this the phronesis, meaning a pattern of living. We are to take up the Christ Phronesis and be transformed. The most basic image of this is the central law of all laws - to love God and love others (Mark 12:30-31, Mat 5:43-44, Lev 19:17-18, James 2:8, etc). The fruit of the spirit is also crucial.

There are other facets also, such as "the example of the cross", which exemplifies forgiveness ("father forgive them", etc), martyrdom, heroism, love (John 15:13, 1 John 3:16), etc.
The important thing to remember is that EVERY facet is important and needs to be examined and analyzed.

TULIP Examined

Although I disagree with Calvin's acronym TULIP on certain points, I'd like to use it as an opportunity to discuss what I believe about the biblical concepts and ideas it explores.

T - Total Depravity - For Calvin, this also meant total inability and original sin. I don't believe in original sin since this idea appears nowhere in the Bible; however, I believe that the curse of death is passed down from Adam to all who opt into it by sinning (Rom 5:12). Calvin believed man is completely unable to choose right, let alone know right from wrong. This is no where in the Bible; in fact, Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and everyone has an idea of what's right from wrong - it's threaded in our nature. The Bible says that there is no sin where there is no knowledge of the law and that a man's conscience is a law unto itself (Rom 2:14-15, Rom 5:13, Rom 3:20) which God uses to judge Gentiles (non-Jews). As far as man being totally sinful before the law, the answers are simple: no man is righteous (Rom 3:10), no man is good (Luke 18:18-19), and anything not done from faith (in God, for Him) is sin (Rom 14:23).

U - Unconditional Election - Calvin believes that God chooses some for heaven and some for hell based upon nothing at all. In fact, he denies any freewill period. God just makes us choose Him.
I believe in conditional election. God predestines those who trust Him to be sanctified and glorified. He predestines those He calls to be justified. If all who are called are justified, how does God choose who to enlighten or call? I believe this is based upon the condition of the heart. I'm not talking about merit. I'm talking about pride and humility. God gave the Pharisees parables so they wouldn't understand the gospel and get saved because of the hardness of their hearts (Mat 13:10-17). All throughout Proverbs it talks about God lifting up the humble and resisting the proud. Here are some illustrations:
-Peter fell down on his knees and said to Jesus, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
Later on, Jesus tells Peter that the Father has granted Him enlightenment (Mat 16:17). Peter writes later on in a letter this great truth from Pro 3:34 - 1 Pet 5:5 - God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
-Luke 18:10-14 - Jesus tells a story about a tax collector and Pharisee. The tax collector beats his breast and cries out for mercy to God, but the Pharisee is proud and thanks God that he's not like the tax collector. Jesus proceeds to say that the tax collector walks away justified, but the Pharisee walks out condemned. He then sums it up with a brilliant statement: every man that exalts himself will be humbled, and he that humbles himself will be exalted.
-Luke 23:39-43 - One of the criminals on the cross beside Jesus confesses to Jesus that he deserves his punishment, says that Jesus has done nothing wrong, and asks Jesus (calling him Lord) to take him into his kingdom (demonstrating enlightenment) and Jesus of course promises him he will be with him in paradise. The criminal was justified for his humility which the Father granted enlightenment for which produced faith.

L - Limited Atonement - Calvin said that Jesus only died for the elect. This, of course, is false according to John 3:16 and especially 1 John 2:2. However, whereas the atonement is total in its potential and intention, it is limited in its effect.

I - Irresistible Grace - Calvin believes that God's grace is irresistible to the person who completely understands it. I would have to agree.

P - Perseverance of the Saints - Calvin believes that anyone who is a true Christian will persevere to the end. Although I don't consider this very dangerous necessarily, I don't believe it personally. I do believe in preservation of the saints however (once saved, always saved).
Also, I believe that there will be some first fruits of salvation in a person's life (love, joy, peace, etc.), but that doesn't mean they will continue to bear fruit.

That's a brief summary of what I believe concerning TULIP. I hope this helps someone understand God a little better.

Beautiful Anger

What types of things make you angry?
What ticks you off?
When someone blocks your will?
What is this will?
Is this will for your own well being or for someone else's?

When was Jesus angry?
At the soldiers who beat and killed him?
What about the Pharisees who placed burdens on the Jewish peasants?
What about the people who wanted to stone a whore?
What about the Pharisees who didn't want Jesus to heal people on the Sabbath?
What about the high priests who wanted to make a profit in the temple at Passover by selling animals out of it?
We know which one's Jesus got angry about.

Sometimes we have to wait for our food at a restaurant for a longer time than we consider to be acceptable. We feel impatient and angry over it. We don't flinch about the billions of people in Africa, India, and other countries who go hungry everyday.
That's ugly.

Sometimes we get angry if someone slightly hurts our pride or ego. We don't flinch at children who get made fun of by everyone at school everyday, children who don't want to live another day. And yet we get angry at them when they hurt someone else (i.e. school shooting, showing sorrow for that pretty cheerleader who had everything).
That's ugly.

What if we got angry about the injustice of others.
What if we channeled this anger by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing shelter for the homeless, taking care of the widow and orphan as the Bible says to do.
God says that whatever we do unto the least of these we do unto him.
What if we stood up for the underdog, even when it made us look small.
That would be beautiful.

Romans 9: The Point

Romans 9 is sadly often abused to be used to support Calvin's doctrine of predestination which claims that God biases man's will to choose or not choose Him, therefore choosing who gets hell and who gets heaven as if history is a drama or puppet show God is putting on for Himself and the angels. Something like that.
Unfortunately, not only does the Bible not support this doctrine, but this doctrine is very destructive and antithetical to the spirit of Christ which is embodied throughout the Scripture. It is possibly even an "antichrist spirit" if I am permitted to say that.

So on to Romans 9.

Romans 9 is about not arguing with the God who wills who gets his grace/favor/blessing and who doesn't. So what does this mean? What does it have to do with?

First of all, it says that children of the flesh (Jews through Abraham's biological seed/genealogy) are not the children of God. This is Paul confronting the issue of Jew vs. Gentile. The Jews were angry the Gentiles were receiving God's grace by faith because they had worked hard to keep the law and believed they deserved grace and not the Gentiles. Paul then mentions God's choosing of Jacob over Isaac for certain plans to say that it's up to God how things work, not us. He chose to demonstrate favor on Jacob, not Isaac. It was His choosing, no one else's. It then says that he hardened Pharaoh's heart and used Him to demonstrate His glory; proceeding this statement, it says God hardens whom He will. Now it's important here to understand that Pharoah's free will was still involved. The answer to this lies in the Old Testament. In Exodus 7-10, Pharaoh first hardens his own heart, and then God finished the job. This demonstrates that God gives people a certain number of chances, and then stops and hardens their heart if they resist out of pride.

Paul goes on to talk about God's choosing and issues concerning Jews and Gentiles. This extensive passage summed up is Paul rebuking the Jews for not wanting God to give salvation to the Gentiles by faith when they've worked hard to keep the law. He's saying to them, "Who are you to question God and what he wills? So what if he wants to give them grace so easily. Who are you to be self-righteous about your works and contend with God?"

Two Views of God: Trinitarian and Egotistical

The common conservative view of God is quite distasteful to anyone who thinks about all of the implications for too long because what happens is they will eventually (if not every soon) start running into the prospect that He is selfish, egotistical, tyrannical, arrogant, and self-seeking.
Some reasons for this are God being jealous (Exodus 34:14), God demanding glory and honor to Himself only, God using Israel to slay other nations, and God passing judgment on other nations.

There is another way of seeing these things.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are about three main words for God which are el, eloh, and elohim. In Exodus 34:14, El is used, which means "power", "supreme being", or "diety". Jehovah is also used which is the Jewish national name for God meaning "self-existent" or "eternal". This was how they identified Him from other gods. Other gods were not self-existent or eternal necessarily. They were much more finite or human. Also, the Hebraic usage of a name was not merely identity, but also descriptive.
What the passage is more accurately saying is, "For you will not worship any other power, for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous power/diety." No wonder He was jealous. People were worshiping idols representing very finite beings. It made no sense. Plus, the Scriptures say that fallen angels (demons) would mess with people through these idols to destroy them. But still...

Now comes to the trinitarian view.

In the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures, Genesis, it says Elohim created the heavens and the earth. That denotes that the Hebrew God, Jehovah or Yahweh, was plural. It then says in Genesis that the Spirit of God covered the face of the waters. The rest of the bible paints a picture of three separate beings called God, known as Jesus, His Father, and the Spirit. We call this the trinity.

Now some people say that they are one person. That's strange, because why would Jesus pray to Himself in Gethsemenene? Why does Jesus say that he cannot send the Comforter unless He leaves earth? The Comforter is obviously the Spirit, who makes His advent in the book of Acts (on the day of Pentecost). So why is God one? Moses says, "Our God is one" because pagan dieties just argued and fought all the time. They even killed and raped each other. Jesus said that He did nothing apart from His Father's will, desires, and plans. That is why "our God is one". The three are one because they share the same desires, dreams, and ambitions; they also love one another. No wonder John says that God is love and that those who don't love don't know Him (1 Jn 4:8). The god of the Scriptures is a community of three supreme beings who endlessly love one another. In fact, that is why they made man. It was to create finite beings that they could pour their love out on in a relationship. That is why Jesus died. It was to restore these relationships between men and God. So then, the Son brings glory to the Father (gospels) and the Father brings glory to the Son (Mat 3:17, Heb 1:5) and the Son brings glory to the Spirit (John 15:26) and the Spirit brings glory to the Son and Father (by testifying to men of them) and so on and so forth... Also, Jesus said that when you've seen Him, you've seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus was very loving and compassionate (Mat 9:36, Mat 14:14, Mat 20:34, Mark 1:41).

As for judgment of pagan nations in the Old Testament, that's a long story, but if you were to study diligently, you would see that God was extremely patient with the nations. He brought Egypt down from being a world power because they enslaved and oppressed the Jews. He brought Babylon down because they did the same and were being rich at the expense of the poor. He did the same to Rome because they were seflish and wealthy and persecuted Christians and slayed anyone who wouldn't listen to them. Check out Nero for an example of a Roman leader who did some terrible things. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of murder, rape, and every other kind of sexual perversion (not just homosexuality as many mistakenly think). They were sadistic and would brutally torture and kill guests just for fun. They were worse than the terrorists today who people are very angry at. And yet, even in spite of this, God said that He wouldn't destroy them if Abraham could find just one righteous person there who didn't participate in their wickedness. Of course, Abraham couldn't. That's merciful! Many of the other nations God judged (after warnings) and well as ones he didn't (after repentance) participated in human sacrifices and other terrible things. No wonder God was angry. He put up with a lot more than people know.

Those are the two main views of the Judeo-Christian God: Trinitarian and Egotistical. I hope this helps someone.

Psalm 73: A Commonly Misunderstood and Misappropriated Shift in Attitude

Psalm 73 is a shift in attitude.
Asaph, David's chief musician, speaks of the situations he finds himself in and where he finds remedy as a contour of an attitude shift which takes place within his heart.
These situations trace from Asaph perceiving the success, health, wealth, prosperity, and happiness of the wicked which he says causes him to envy them.
Asaph then enters the sanctuary and finds remedy in the presence of God which reveals to him that God will do justice in the end which is judgment to the wicked and comfort to the righteous.
This is where people misunderstand and misappropriate.
I had a friend who gave a devotion on not envying the wicked. Upon reaching the climax of his message, he blatantly showed us that he took comfort in the fact that "they are going to get theirs". Was this Asaph's attitude? Did he go from envying the wicked to taking joy in their doom? I do not think that is the case.
Although God's wrath burns against those who are not in Christ, He still loves them and takes no joy in judgment. I don't think Asaph was taking selfish consolation in the downfall of the wicked as a satisfaction of his selfish envy.
The answer of course lies in verse 21 when he says he is grieved and vexed. He realizes the folly of envying someone who is doomed when he has the Sovereign God on his side. He realizes he was wrong to envy them.
When we know people will go to hell, we shouldn't rejoice and take consolation in that as if to say, "They'll get theirs!" We should grieve over them and seek to share God's offer of love and forgiveness with them.
When a person misappropriates this passage to take consolation in the unsaved person's final destination, I have to wonder, do they really know God?

1 John 1:9 - A Fresh Perspective

Have you ever wondered why if Jesus paid for all of our sins on the cross, and we only have to accept that one time, we have to continue to ask for forgiveness?

If you have, then you're normal. It just doesn't make sense, does it? I mean, Jesus dies on the cross, takes care of our sin and God's wrath, accomplishes forgiveness once and for all, makes peace with us and God, and all we have to do is have faith and it's ours. So why do we have to continue to ask for more forgiveness? It's like asking Jesus to die again (Heb 6:4-6). If we have to ask for it again, this means that forgiveness depends on our asking. This means that if you don't ask, God doesn't forgive. If God doesn't forgive, He's angry. If He's angry, Jesus' death (being the satisfaction of God's anger) means nothing anymore.

So then, if Jesus only had to die once for all sin, and we only have to partake of it once, we do not need to ask for forgiveness, because forgiveness continues according to the cross, not continual confession. So then, what does 1 John 1:9 mean?

A lot of teachers 1 John as being about fellowship with God and other believers. This is because they probably don't know much about the history behind it. They see it as a divine fiat, a pie out of the sky book. 1 John is a letter written to Christians way back a long time ago. The group of Christians John wrote to were known as the Johannine Community. Within their midst, their were Gnostics, specifically a branch known as Docetists. Now I could go into Gnosticism right now, but I'd never finish. So, to make things short, the Docetists didn't believe they had any sin. They essentially believed that all flesh was sinful (hence, they believed Jesus was pure spirit and not in flesh), and they believed that all spirit was good. Therefore, they were in a sinful flesh, but they were good. For this reason, they didn't believe that Jesus died for our sins. So, John is addressing everyone in the church. The letter could only be hand-written (no typewriters), so it would be read before the whole church at once by an elder. So, again, John is addressing everyone. So, he states a few conditional clauses to show people who knows Christ and who doesn't. 1 John 1:9 is one of these. 1 John 1:8 and 1:10 are crucial to understanding 1:9. This isn't a list of separate things, it's a flowing stream of thought. According to 1:8 and 1:10, if we say we don't have any sin, we are lying and calling God a liar since he charges us with sin. Also, we don't have God. So, he's saying, God has charged the whole human race with sin, and anyone who says different is calling him a liar and doesn't know Him. In 1:9, he uses the term homologeo, which we tranlate confess. It can also be translated acknowledge, agree, affirm. So, John is saying that if we (anyone, any man) affirms or acknowledges his sin, he count on God to take care of all of it. This is a conditional clause to say that if you've done this, you're good to go, and if you haven't, you're in trouble. Make since now?

The Point of this Blog

Seekers and Secrets is for seekers to find secrets in the great mysteries of Jesus, the Christ, the Bread of Life, the Living Water, who is resurrected and alive today.

The point is not that Jesus hides secrets. Men hide secrets. Men forget things and things get lost.
Not all can be understood of the infinite by the finite either. In the things we cannot understand, we should be in awe, not doubt. In the things we have lost, in the words of the Scriptures we cannot grasp or handle, we should ask. Ask for wisdom. Ask for help. Look for answers. Sometimes they get lost in historical sources, but the sources are there. Just read them.