the new world

The kingdom of heaven

Israel’s demand for a king (1 Samuel 8:5) was a sign of their rejection of God and their desire to be like other nations. “God knew that the Israelites would someday desire a king. He had previously given guidelines that were to be followed by the people and by the kings that would reign over them (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)…The people were no longer satisfied with the system of judges that had been established. They improperly attributed the failures during that time to the system itself, not to their sin. They rejected God because they wanted to be like the other nations, not a peculiar people, set apart as the chosen ones of God. They wanted a visible deliverer in whom they could place their trust (cf. Judges 8:22). They wanted to walk by sight, not by faith” (note on 1 Samuel 8:5-7). Initially, God gave the Israelites the kind of king they were looking for. “From a human perspective, Saul fully satisfied the desires of the people. He was a man of great stature from the most military-minded tribe in all Israel and was considered capable of leading the people in battle against their enemies. Saul was also a man whose own spiritual life mirrored that of the majority of the Israelites; it was not long until he disobeyed the Lord (1 Samuel 13:8, 14)” (note on 1 Samuel 10:20-24). After Saul offered an unlawful sacrifice to the LORD, Samuel told Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you” (1 Samuel 13:13-14).

Samuel anointed David king approximately twenty years before he began his thirty-three year reign over all Israel and Judah (2 Samuel 5:4-5). During Jesus’ ministry, “The Jews recognized that the Messiah would come from David’s descendants (cf. John 7:42). One of the titles applied to Jesus during his earthly ministry was ‘Son of David’ (Matthew 9:27; 12:23; 15:22), emphasizing his heirship of all David’s royal prerogatives as well as his fulfillment of the messianic promises to David (2 Samuel 7:8-16, cf. Matthew 22:41-45; Luke 1:32, 33, 69)” (note on 1 Samuel 16:13). The LORD’s covenant with David is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:8-16. Speaking through the prophet Nathan, God said:

“I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (2 Samuel 7:12-16)

The statement God made about David’s son building a house for his name referred initially to Solomon but was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the ‘Son of David’ (Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:25-35). Jesus told his disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms: if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

Jesus’ departure from the earth is recorded in the gospels of both Mark and Luke. Mark tells us, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul elaborated on Mark’s statement and indicated that Jesus received God’s authority when he sat down at his right hand (Ephesians 1:20-23), but we know that his reign hasn’t yet started because he told his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). Jesus referred to the future kingdom that he would reign over as the kingdom of heaven and used numerous parables to describe it to his followers. Based on Jesus’ parables, the kingdom of heaven appears to be a place that is hidden from our view (Luke 17:21), but is a part of our current earthly existence (Matthew 6:33) and will be inhabited by both Old and New Testament believers at some point in the future (Matthew 8:11). Jesus indicated in his conversation with a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and then, explained, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).

Jesus’ mother, Mary, was visited by the angel Gabriel and was informed about her son’s future kingdom. Gabriel said:

“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:28-33)

The unique thing about the throne of David was that God promised him it would be “established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). David’s royal dynasty was intended to be built up or made sure by the eternal life that only Jesus could provide through his substitutionary death on the cross. The Hebrew word that is translated made sure in 2 Samuel 7:16 is ʾaman (aw-manˊ), which means “have belief” (H539). ʾAman is used in Genesis 15:6 where it says that Abraham “believed the LORD and he counted it to him as righteousness.” “This is one of the key verses of the entire Old Testament. It is an important witness to the doctrine of justification by faith and to the doctrine of the unity of believers in both Old and New Testaments. Abraham’s faith was credited to him for righteousness before he was circumcised and more than 400 years before the law was given to his descendants. Therefore neither circumcision nor the law had a part in Abraham’s righteousness. Abraham’s faith was not merely a general confidence in God nor simple obedience to God’s command; Paul stressed that it was indeed faith in the promise of redemption through Christ (Romans 3:21, 22; 4:18-25; Galatians 3:14-18)” (note on Genesis 15:6).

Jesus’ conversation with Pilate, the governor who gave the order for him to be crucified, ended with Jesus being asked the question, “What is truth?” John tells us:


So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:33-38)

Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. The world that Jesus was talking about was not the physical planet that we live on, but the kosmos (kosˊ-mos), “the present order of things, as opposed to the kingdom of Christ; and hence, always with the  idea of transience, worthlessness, and evil both physical and moral, the seat of cares, temptations, irregular desires” (G2889). Jesus distinguished his kingdom from Pilate’s by pointing out to him that another world existed. The new world Jesus mentioned in Matthew 19:28 refers specifically to “Messianic restoration…In the sense of renovation, restoration, restitution to a former state; spoken of the complete eternal manifestation of the Messiah’s kingdom when all things are to be delivered from their present corruption and restored to spiritual purity and splendor” (G3824).

The reason why Jesus wanted Pilate to know that another world existed may have been so that he wouldn’t feel threatened by him being identified as the King of the Jews. When Pilate was told that Jesus had made himself “the Son of God” (John 19:7), “He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’” (John 19:9). It’s possible that at that point Pilate understood what Jesus was talking about when he said his kingdom was not of this world, but more than likely, Pilate assumed that Jesus was out of his mind. It says in John 19:10-11, “So Pilate said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.’” The phrase from above is “spoken of whatever is heavenly or from heaven, and since God dwells in heaven, it signifies from God, in a divine manner” (G509). Jesus clearly wanted Pilate to know who he was dealing with and didn’t hide the fact that God was allowing him to crucify his own Son. Perhaps, in an attempt to bring the people to their senses, Pilate said to the Jews, “’Behold your King!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified” (John 19:14-16).

Jesus’ final conversation was with a man who was hanging on a cross next to his. Luke tells us, “When they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left” (Luke 23:33). Luke went on to say, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (John 23:39-43). The second criminal realized the Jesus’ reign over the kingdom of heaven was not going to be prevented by his death or more specifically, by his crucifixion. The expression kingdom of heaven “often embraces both the internal and external kingdom and refers both to its commencement in this world and its completion in the world to come…In this latter view it denotes especially the bliss of heaven which it to be enjoyed in the Redeemer’s kingdom, i.e. eternal life” (G932).

A new age

When one of Jesus’ disciples expressed concern about having left everything in order to follow him, he responded, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:28-29). The new world that Jesus referred to was more than just a physical regeneration of our planet. The Greek word paliggenesia (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee’-ah) refers specifically to Messianic restoration of both people and things and points to the spiritual regeneration that is necessary for eternal life. “The paliggenesia is that free act of God’s mercy and power by which He removes the sinner from kingdom of darkness and places him in the kingdom of light” (G3824).

The Apostle Paul eluded to a new age that would follow the one we currently live in when he said, “God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7). The Greek word that is translates ages, aion (ahee-ohn’) is properly translated as “an age, by extension perpetuity (also past); by implication the world…The primary stress of this word is time in its unbroken duration. Aion, as a noun, means ‘an age, era’ and signifies a period of indefinite duration” (G165). From that standpoint, Christ’s kingdom exists in the past, present, and future because it is an eternal kingdom. When it began or when it will end is not something that can be determined, but the ages that are associated with Christ’s kingdom do have beginning and ending points in time.

Jesus indicated that the kingdom of heaven has both a present and future state, but the difference between the two is sometimes confusing. In order to clarify the transition from one to the other, Jesus’ disciples asked this question about the future state of his kingdom, “When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). The second coming of Christ was understood and expected even while Jesus was still alive on earth. The Greek word parousia (par-oo-see’-ah) is used of the return of Christ, at the rapture of the church and signifies, “not merely His momentary coming for His saints in the rapture, but His presence with them from that moment until His revelation and manifestation to the world in His second coming” (G3952). Jesus warned his disciples that his second coming would be camouflaged by a satanic effort to disrupt the physical establishment of his kingdom. He said, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:4-6).

Jesus said there would be a definite end to the current age we live in which is sometimes referred to as the Church Age or the Age of Grace. This age is thought to have begun after Jesus’ resurrection, perhaps on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit’s ministry was launched. Therefore, Jesus’ life on earth and subsequent death marked the end of another age associated with the Mosaic Law which was established after the Israelites were delivered from bondage in Egypt. Moses, who was God’s designated representative during the exodus from Egypt, had a similar birth to Jesus’ in that he was born at a time when the people of Israel were suffering under the rulership of a demonic king. Exodus 1:22 states, “Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.” Moses was kept alive through divine intervention and was raised by Pharaoh’s own daughter, but “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2:11:-12).

Moses crime was discovered and he was forced to flee into the desert where he spent 40 years shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro (Exodus 3:1, Acts 7:39-30). Exodus 3:1-6 indicates that Moses had an encounter with the preincarnate Jesus Christ (note on Exodus 3:14 and 23:20-23). It states:

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The unusual and unique manner in which God appeared to Moses at Horeb, a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush, could be a type of preincarnate advent of Christ. “Things are said of the angel of the LORD that seem to go beyond the category of angels and are applicable of Christ. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Hagar, she called him ‘a God of seeing’ (Genesis 16:7, 13). The designation ‘angel of the LORD’ is used interchangeably with ‘the LORD’ and ‘God’ in the account of Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-6). Exodus 23:21 states that the angel of the LORD has the power to forgive sins, a characteristic belonging to God alone (cf. Mark 2:7, Luke 7:49) and that he has the name of God in him. No man can see the full glory of God and live (Exodus 33:20), but Jesus Christ, in whom all the fullness of deity was manifested in bodily form, has made God the Father known (John1:18; Colossians 2:9)” (note on Exodus 23:20-23).

When Moses saw the flame of fire out of the midst of the bush, the thing that he noticed about it was that “the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed” (Exodus 3:3). This might seem to signify God’s mercy, but he later told Moses, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him” (Exodus 23:20-21). The Hebrew word that is translated pardon, nacah (naw-saw’) “is used of the undertaking of the responsibilities for the sins of others by substitution or representation” (H5375). The statement that the angel would not pardon their transgressions may have meant that he was not able to pardon them because the penalty for sins wasn’t paid until Jesus died on the cross. The thing that uniquely identified the Age of Law was that Jesus was present, but not in bodily form. When Moses asked God what name he should use to identify him to the people of Israel, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM'” (Exodus 3:13). “Jesus alluded to this name of God in John 8:58 when he declared, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (note on Exodus 3:14).

The instruction Moses received to go to Egypt and demand that Pharaoh let God’s people go into the wilderness so that they could make sacrifices to him (Exodus 3:18) seemed ludicrous at first, but God explained to Moses that he intended to demonstrate his ability to accomplish this impossible task in order to convince Pharaoh that he was in charge of the situation. God said, “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go” (Exodus 3;19-20). God’s use of force was necessary because Pharaoh’s heart had become hardened to the point that it was impenetrable (H2389). The reference to striking Egypt implied that physical force would be used and that God would be directly involved in the process. The Hebrew word that is translated wonders, pala’ (paw-law’) “is used primarily with God as its subject, expressing actions that are beyond the bounds of human powers or expectations” (H6381), so it’s clear God intended to use his supernatural abilities the get Pharaoh’s attention and he seemed willing to go to any lengths to deliver his people from Pharaoh’s control.

Jesus’ description of the end of the Church Age indicated that it would be a time of great distress. He said, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:7-8). Jesus’ use of the metaphor of birth pains to portray the transition from God’s grace being available to whoever believed in Jesus to the judgment of all mankind made it seem as though there would be a gradual change from the influence of the Holy Spirit in the world to the inevitable reign of Antichrist that would intensify over time. Jesus told his disciples, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:9-14).

Jesus linked the end of the Church Age to a single event that would take place in a single day or hour and associated it with another event that marked the beginning of the Kingdom Age. Jesus warned his disciples to take flight immediately when they saw this sign. He said:

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Jesus noted that a great tribulation would occur during the transition from the Church Age to the Kingdom Age (Matthew 24:21). This period of time is often referred to in the Bible as “the day of the LORD” (Ezekiel 30:3) which is thought to continue through the millennial reign of Christ. I believe Jesus’ second coming marks the official start of the Kingdom Age and according to Revelation 19:11 this event takes place immediately following the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven (Revelation 19:6-9).

Jesus said his return to earth would be immediately after the great tribulation and “all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31). This seems to suggest that all believers both those that have died and ones that are still alive will be gathered together at Jesus’ second coming. Because the marriage supper of the Lamb has already taken place at this point, it could be that the Greek word that is translated his elect in this verse, eklektos (ek-lek-tos’) refers only to Jewish believers (G1588). The Apostle Paul used eklektos’ root word eklegomai (ek-leg’-o-om-ahee) when he said God chose us in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) and “predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5). We know that Paul was referring to non-Jewish believers when he said this because adoption does not apply to the children of Israel.

Some of what Jesus said in his Olivet Discourse may have only applied to the Jewish remnant that would be dealt with under different circumstances than his church. When Jesus talked about the day and hour of God’s judgment, he referred back to the days of Noah which were before the Age of Law. He said, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:36-42). Jesus indicated that people will be unaware of what’s coming when suddenly half of the population apparently disappears.

Jesus said, “one will be taken and one left” (Matthew 24:40). The Greek words Jesus used that are translated taken and left have somewhat opposite meanings from what you might usually think. The Greek word aphiemi (af-ee’-ay-mee), which is translated left, means to send away as when a husband divorces his wife (G863). The word aphiemi appears in Matthew 22:22 where it says, “When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.” Therefore, the ones that were left were the ones that were no longer present in the field and grinding at the mill when the Son of Man came (Matthew 24:29-31). The Greek word that is translated taken, paralambano (par-al-am-ban’-o) means “to receive near, i.e. associate with oneself (in any familiar or intimate act or relation); by analogy to assume an office” (G3880). Jesus made it clear that although everyone was swept away after the flood came in the days of Noah, when the Son of Man comes, half of the population will be taken or integrated into his kingdom. Jesus went on to say, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42-44).

The Kingdom Age will be ushered in by what appears to be a sudden and cataclysmic event similar to the flood that wiped out every living thing on earth. Jesus’ analogy of two men working in the field and two women grinding at the mill seems to be associated with Christian ministry because in his parable of the weeds, Jesus said while the owner of the field’s men were sleeping, “his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away (Matthew 13:25). Jesus later explained this parable to his disciples and said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil” (Matthew 13:37-39). Jesus’ admonition to stay awake (Matthew 24:42) likely meant that during the great tribulation, Christians who are not filled with the Holy Spirit will be tempted to abandon their faith and seek refuge in the devil’s camp, therefore they need to make sure they are spiritually healthy at all times.

Chosen by God

Jesus used the parable of the wedding feast to teach his disciples the difference between being saved and being sanctified. He said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come” (Matthew 22:2-3). The invitation to the wedding feast represented God’s divine call to partake of the blessings of redemption. Even though the invitation could be refused as was stated in their response “they would not come,” attendance at the wedding feast was not optional with regards to participation in the kingdom of heaven. After a second invitation was sent out, Jesus said, “But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city” (Matthew 22:5-7). The similarity between what happened in Jesus’ parable and what happened to the nation of Israel when they rejected God and were sent into captivity seems to suggest that the invitation to the wedding feast was an open one that could be accepted at anytime because God brought the Israelites back to the Promised Land and gave them a second chance.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians stated that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved…For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9). Paul explained that the reason why some people reject God’s invitation to be saved is because of their dulled spiritual perception. He said, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:17-18). The Greek word that is translated alienated, apallotrioo (ap-al-lot-ree-o’) means “to be non-participant” (G526). In other words, the reason why people are not saved is because they choose to not participate. As was stated in Jesus’ parable, “they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business” (Matthew 22:5).

The lives of Jacob and his twelve sons were also somewhat of a parable in that they illustrated the various ways that people become alienated from God. Jacob described his son Joseph as being “set apart from his brothers.” That meant that Joseph was consecrated, “separated from his brethren to become the savior of his father, his brethren, and their families” (H5139). Initially, Joseph’s brothers rejected his role in God’s plan of salvation, but when there was a famine in the land and they had no food to eat, “Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground” (Genesis 42:6) just as it had been revealed to them in a dream (Genesis 37:9). Joseph’s brothers accepted his invitation to come and live with him in Egypt so that their families wouldn’t starve to death and although Jacob was at first stunned by the news that his son Joseph was still alive, he too accepted Joseph’s invitation and went to live in the land of Goshen, a fertile valley where his family was able to thrive and multiply in numbers over hundreds of years so that God could make them into a great nation (Genesis 46:3).

Jacob’s twelve sons all participated in God’s provision for their physical needs, but their destinies with respect to the eternal kingdom that God planned to establish on earth were not the same. Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph resulted in him receiving the blessing that was bestowed on Abraham and Isaac, the blessing that Jacob had stolen from his brother Esau (Genesis 27:18-23). Rather than passing the blessing to Joseph, Jacob gave his blessing to Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim. He said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth” (Genesis 48:15-16). Jacob’s mention of the angel who redeemed him from all evil was a reference to the man he wrestled with until the breaking of the day (Genesis 32:24), the preincarnate Jesus Christ (Genesis 32:30). Jacob had struggled all his life to prevail, first with his brother Esau and then, with his uncle Laban; but as he was about to reenter the land of Canaan, “he was shown that it was with God that he must ‘wrestle'” (note on Genesis 32:24, KJSB). It was at that time that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28), which means “he struggles with God” (note on Genesis 32:28, KJSB).

The Greek word paliggenesia (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee’-ah) which means “(spiritual) rebirth” (G3824) is translated as the new world in Matthew 19:28-30 where it states:

“Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Paliggenesia is translated in the King James Version of the Bible as regeneration and refers to “that free act of God’s mercy and power by which He removes the sinner from the kingdom of darkness and places him in the kingdom of light; it is that act by which God brings him from death to life. In the act itself (rather than the preparation for it), the recipient is passive, just as a child has nothing to do with his own birth” (G3824).

The Greek word paliggenesia is related to the word pale (pal’-ay) which means to wrestle and “is used figuratively in Ephesians 6:12, of the spiritual conflict engaged in by believers (G3823). Paul said that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” It seems that the struggle that every believer engages in is first to overcome his or her own resistance to being saved by God and then, to overcome the attempts of the devil to undermine that decision. “The new birth and regeneration do not represent successive stages in spiritual experience, they refer to the same event but view it in different aspects” (G3824). Anakainosis (an-ak-ah’-ee-no-sis) means “‘a renewal’ and is used in Romans 12:2 ‘the renewing (of your mind).’ i.e. the adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life; and stresses the willing response on the part of the believer” (G342).

In his parable of the wedding feast, Jesus pointed out that there was more to the process of salvation that just accepting God’s invitation to enter his kingdom. The king who prepared the banquet for his son told his servants, “‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as your find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:8-14). The wedding garment that was required to be worn by every guest was likely symbolic of the regeneration that is expected to place when a person is born again. Regeneration is an outward manifestation of being chosen by God. Paul said that God chose us in Christ “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4) and that the purpose of salvation is to “unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).

The Greek word that is translated unite in Ephesians 1:10, can also be translated as “gather together as one” (KJV), but the primary focus of this word is to identify the main point or objective God had in mind when he decided to save the world. According to Jesus’ parable, the servants of the king “went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good” (Matthew 22:10). When the king came in to look at the guests, he didn’t evaluate them based on their character, but focused his attention on a man who wasn’t wearing a wedding garment (Matthew 22:11). The wedding garments that were worn by the guests unified the bad and the good and made them appear to belong together, but the man who wasn’t wearing a wedding garment didn’t fit in, he was actually an imposter like the weeds that were sown among the wheat by the landowner’s enemy while he was sleeping in Jesus’ parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:25). When the king discovered the man without a wedding garment, he asked him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12). The Greek word that is translated friend, hetairos (het-ah’-ee-ros) refers to a comrade or fellow clansman (G2083). Jesus used this word when he greeted Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane after he had been betrayed by him (Matthew 26:50). Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples and yet, he was never regenerated, he never adjusted his moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God (G342).

After he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, “Then Jacob called his sons and said, ‘Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come” (Genesis 49:1). Jacob spent the last moments of his life revealing how each of his twelve sons fit into God’s plan of salvation. The Hebrew word that is translated called, qara’ (kaw-raw’) refers to God’s election of Jacob’s twelve sons to become his chosen people. Jesus correlated the twelve tribes of Israel with his twelve disciples when he said, “Truly I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). Jesus may or may not have intended Judas to be included in that promise, but it seems that Judas’ initial calling entitled him to special privileges that he may have forfeited by not conforming to God’s will. Jacob’s instruction to “gather yourselves together” meant that his sons were being addressed collectively and could be considered to be a single unit as when Jesus’ followers are referred to as “one body” (Ephesians 4:4). In that sense, Jacob was addressing not only his family, but also the nation of Israel and the course it would follow for the rest of its existence.

One of the most notable aspects of Jacob’s discourse was the messianic prophecy that was associated with his son Judah. He stated:

“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be obedience of the peoples. Binding a foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.” (Genesis 49:8-11).

The King James Version of Genesis 49:10 states, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Shiloh is an epithet of the Messiah and indicated that when Jesus was born, a gathering of God’s people became possible. Therefore, the uniting of God’s people was contingent upon Jesus coming to save the world.

Paul talked about believers being one in Christ and said, “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Ephesians 2:11-16). The Greek term that is translated reconcile, apokatallasso (ap-ok-at-al-las’-so) is derived from the words apo (apo’) which signifies a reversal, “away (from something near)” (G575) and katallasso (kat-al-las’-so) which means “to change mutually” (G2644). Katallasso means “to change, exchange; hence of persons, to change from enmity to friendship, to reconcile. With regard to the relationship between God and man, reconciliation is what God accomplishes, exercising His grace toward sinful man on the ground of the death of Christ in propitiatory sacrifice under the judgment due to sin (2 Cor. 5:18-20). By reason of this men in their sinful condition and alienation from God are invited to be reconciled to Him; that is to say, to change their attitude, and accept the provision God has made, whereby their sins can be remitted and they themselves be justified in His sight in Christ.”

Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast illustrated God’s genuine desire to be reconciled to all of mankind by the king instructing his servants to “Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find” (Matthew 22:9). The servants “gathered all whom they found, both bad and good” (Matthew 22:10). The designation of both bad and good being gathered together indicated that the guests were not all in the same state of regeneration when they came to the feast. Jesus pointed out that “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14), suggesting that regeneration only occurs if a lost person is both called and chosen. After many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him, Jesus asked his twelve apostles, “Do you want to go away also?” (John 6:66-67). Peter answered that they had no where else to go for salvation and then, Jesus responded, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil” (John 6:70). Like the man who refused to put on a wedding garment before he entered the feast, Judas Iscariot wasn’t interested in accepting Jesus’ righteousness in place of his own. After Judas left the upper room to betray him, Jesus told the eleven apostles that remained, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (John 1516).

Jesus’ statement to his disciples suggests that being chosen by God is not enough to participate in his kingdom’s activities. The Greek word that is translated appointed, tithemi (tith’-ay-mee) is used by Paul in reference to his service in the ministry of the gospel (G5087). Paul said, “I thank him who has given me strength in Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:12-13). Paul stated in his second letter to the Thessalonians, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Paul indicated that we are saved through sanctification and belief in the truth. The Greek word Paul used that is translated sanctification, hagiasmos (hag-ee-as-mos’) is properly translated as “purification, i.e. (the state) purity” (G38). “Hagiasmos signifies separation to God and the resultant state…Sanctification is thus the state predetermined by God for believers, into which in Grace He calls them, and in which they begin their Christian course and so pursue it.” The only way this can happen is for a person to believe in the truth of the gospel “that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).