Rewards and the Kingdom

1 Corinthians 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have--Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials--gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

 --Any good father wants his kids to have the best that he can give them. Like the parable of the talents Jesus wants us to do well so that he can reward us with an abundant or rich entrance into his Kingdom.

 2 Peter 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. KJV

Revelation 2:26 To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, To them I will give authority over all the nations. 27 They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. 28 They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give them the morning star! 29 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

 Luke 19:17 “‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’ 

 --Jesus tells the Church if we have ears we need to hear these future blessings. In our eternal state we will rule with Christ with a rod of iron over the nations and be given cities as rewards. Why would our brothers in Christ in their eternal state need to be ruled over with a rod of iron? When will this happen? It happens in the promised Kingdom.

The angel tells Mary, Luke 1:31 “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Matthew 24:3 Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the age?” --They were asking Jesus when are you going to set up your Kingdom.

Luke 19:11 The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away.

 Acts 1:3 During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time and proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. On these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. 6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”  7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.

 --This is important; Jesus doesn't say that there will not be a Jewish Kingdom. He did not say that at the Jewish festival of Pentecost which happens in 10 days, when the Spirit falls on the believers in Acts 2 and the Church Age begins, that that is the promised Jewish Kingdom.

 --We the Church we will be in our eternal state but mortals will enter into the Kingdom after the Matthew 25 “sheep and goat judgements.” Those who become believers and live through the Great Tribulation are told, "inherit the Kingdom prepared for you," Matthew 25:31-34. They will have children, there will be death, and men will live as long as trees. This group are saved but still have their sin nature. Just like we as Christians do now.

 Isaiah 65:17 “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. 20 No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young!  21 In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards. 22 …For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.

 Isaiah 11:6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. 8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.

 --This is the promised Kingdom for Israel. I've heard it said that that the future Kingdom for the Jews is mentioned or alluded to 1,800 times in the Old Testament and 300 in the New.

Zechariah 8:23 “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

 --The children of those who entered the Kingdom will rebel at the end of its stated 1,000 year length.

Revelation 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon--that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan--and bound him in chains for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. He will gather them together for battle--a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. 9 And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them.

 

-- So here is the question; are we in the Kingdom now? There are a couple of verses in the New Testament that sound that way. A person would have to distort the Word of God by allegorizing it to make all of the above verses fit that view. That's not the hill I want to die on, as they say. Are the lion and the lamb hanging out together? Are we living as long as trees? Are people letting their kids play with vipers? Satan is supposed to be chained up during the 1,000 year Kingdom Age, Rev. 20:2. It's been said, "If he is and we are in the Kingdom now, then his chain is too long!"

 It's all about Israel. Please read Romans 11, Psalm 105, Jeremiah 31:33-37, 33:23-36. God has promises to fulfill to the Jews and He always keeps His promises. Israel will repent and accept Jesus as their Messiah.

Zechariah 12:10 They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.

Romans 11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people, the Jews? Of course not!... 2 No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. 28 Many of the Jews are now enemies of the Good News. But this has been to your benefit, for God has given his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still his chosen people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29 For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.

 --Here is how the early Church saw it, by Dr. Ken Johnson.

The disciples of the Apostles taught Premillennialism, which means that Jesus will return to earth in the future, and set up a Kingdom that will last for a literal 1000 years (Millennium) as prophesied in the Scripture. Jesus will reign from the city of Jerusalem. Prior to this, there will be a seven-year period during which the Antichrist will rule the Earth. During the last days, the Jews will return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. In the years, A.D. 200–300, a movement arose teaching that these doctrines were symbolic of historical events.

Polycarp traveled with the Apostle John for 20 years. Polycarp had a disciple named Irenaeus. Irenaeus wrote a five volume set of books covering much of Church doctrine titled Against Heresies. In it he said that those Premillennial events above must be fulfilled. Against Heresies 5.35 “these are literal things, and Christians who allegorize them are immature.”