Kingdom Time and Space
Introduction
This teaching follows Glory Through Blood, which highlighted the complexities of Gen 3:21, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths…And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” It has been provoked by two recent events. First, to those with eyes to see, the Lord is doing something truly remarkable in our time. In a Local Government Area of Perth (https://geonetworks.com.au/) Christian Conservatives/Evangelical Fundamentalists, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Catholics and non-descripts, like me, gathered to fellowship and pray. This witnesses to the emergence of a “new normal”. Secondly and more complexly, I was struck by these prophetic words from a French Eastern Orthodox scholar. “all the ambiguity [uncertainty], henceforth transfigured, of “the garments of skin” will find a place in the (end-time) Kingdom” (Olivier Clement). When the kingdom for which Jesus taught his Church to pray (Matt 6:10) arrives, there will be no questioning or doubting. What Zechariah prophetically foresaw (14:20-21), when even the saucepans will be holy, “Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty”, for every vestige of sin has been expelled from the heavenly New Jerusalem (Rev 3:12; 21:2). Two major obstacles stand in the way of this emerging vision, what we believe and how we live.
Transfigured Universe
Whilst we confess that the Lord was “taken up in glory” (1 Tim 3:16 cf. Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-11), few seem to comprehend that this glorification of the humanity of the Son of God applies to the destiny of the Church. Paul adamantly testified, “Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:27-28), This image of the future of our universe is one where the Body/Bride of Christ, in union with him, will rule all things (Acts 10:36; 1 Cor 3:20-22; Eph 1:9-11; 4:10; Phil 3:21 etc.). This grand vision of Jesus as Head of all, via indwelling his Body (Eph 4:10-16), was imparted to the Early Church by her theological and spiritual Fathers over the first centuries. We however have lost insight into the great transforming events of the Transfiguration and glorification of Jesus’ humanity which alter all future human experience. The glorification of Jesus (Matt 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36) 2 Peter 1:16–18; 2 Cor 3:17-18) incorporates the transformation of space and time in the Lord. As exalted, the Lord no longer needed to conform to the limits of space-time we experience. “On the evening of that first day … when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said” (John 20 :19 cf. Luke 24:36). Here, space-time bend to obey the will of the body for which they were created (Col 1:16 cf. John 1:3; Heb 1:1-3). (This is a far more profound revelation than the notion of Jesus “walking through walls”.) Today, Christ’s Spirit is working to elevate our hearts to inherit his glorious destiny.
External Pressures
In his brilliant exposé of woke ideology, Biblical Critical Theory, social commentator Christopher Watkins incisively remarks, “we are returning to the position occupied by Christians in the late Roman Empire: a marginal minority viewed with suspicion and considered a danger to social cohesion. We are all in the Roman Empire now.” This reality was recently broadcast globally by the fiasco concerning the opening of the Paris Olympics with its drag queen rendition of The Last Supper. (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13678321/christians-slam-paris-olympics-opening-woke-supper.html). Perverse and ugly as this was, it nevertheless provoked a much needed impulse amongst Western Christians to lament and pray for our lost culture (https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=owners_manual.) This is the gracious hand of God! Whilst divine acts of sovereignty like this that trigger revival are beyond our control, matters of faith and unity lie within our responsiveness.
Internal Reconstruction
Jesus always trusted his Father for the fullness of the revelation that would accompany his elevation into glory (John 17:5). This trust incorporates the “measure of the faith” he imparts to his Church today (cf. Rom 12:3; Eph 4:7). In other words, the faith of Jesus (Heb 12:2) in which we share, includes not only resurrection from the dead but his faith for the perfection of all created things (2 Cor 5:17; Rev 21:5). In this we share as “priests and kings to God” (Rev 1:; 5:10). Such an understanding has massive practical implications. Here are a few examples. What enabled Jesus to sleep whilst the disciples felt they were perishing in a storm at sea (Matt 8:25), and what graced Peter after the resurrection to enjoy sound rest whilst awaiting soon beheading (Acts 12:1-7)? The answer has to be, a share in “the faith of the Son of God” (Gal 2:20 cf. https://www.scholarscorner.com/justified-by-the-faith-of-jesus-christ-not-by-ours/). This powerful dynamic may be presently debatable by those who deny ongoing miracles, but will be unquestionable in “the world to come” (Heb 2:5).
Is Time The Enemy of the Gospel?
If Christians trusted these precious words of Jesus, “ 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22-23 cf. Ps 133), they would believe that having “abolished death” (2 Tim 1:10 cf. 1 Cor 15:56-57; Heb 2:14-15) Jesus Christ has rendered its outworking in the control of human time a thing of the past. As a “new creation in Christ” we need no longer be enslaved by “elemental spirits” (Col 2:8, 17-20) who falsely testify to our consciences that we must prioritise our time in ways that oppose the gathering together of the saints for united prayer. Jesus is Lord of all, and all things, including space-time, which created to serve him, and so us in him! The unfailing teaching of Scripture about the unity of the Church must be obeyed by faith, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another… For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (Rom 12:4-5)
Conclusion
I am believing, and prophesying, that the Spirit is raising up a new generation of believers so intimate with Jesus that they will connect across the Body in ways far more fruitful than their fathers/mothers in faith. This will witness a miraculous kingdom laden time like that of the first centuries. The ancient denominational constructs of “I am a Pentecostal/Charismatic/Evangelical etc.” (cf. 1 Cor 1:12ff) will dissolve. The sole defining attribute of these new believers will be, “I follow Jesus”. This high vision is both terribly exciting, and terribly costly. Why do I say this? To “turn the world upside down” (Acts 17:6) will precipitate a fierce demonic backlash (Rev 12:12) so that some of this emerging generation will suffer to the point of martyrdom (2 Tim 3:12). This MUST be so, elsewise the prayer of Jesus in John 17 for our mutual glorification with him cannot be true! Let us count the cost and pray for the kingdom to come with such power.