Quote:
Originally Posted by Raptor
Many will be disqualified from ruling and reigning with Christ in the Kingdom: they will be disciplined to learn the lessons they did not learn during their life. Death will not solve their problems.
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The revelation of the millennial kingdom is not found anywhere until the Book of Revelation which is commonly dated to 95AD. When the "kingdom of God" is referenced in the New Testament, the writers outside of John likely had no concept of the millennial reign of Christ and often refer to the kingdom of God in an eternal context which Jesus describes as "nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is in your midst." (Luke 17:21)
People who hold this view that anyone who professes belief is saved yet needs to work to earn the millennial kingdom or face dispensational “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, also liken the millennial reign as some holy grail that is the ultimate goal of every Christian yet it seems that the millennial kingdom is a type or shadow of the new heavens and new earth. During the millennial kingdom, people still die (Isaiah 65:20) so there's likely some amount of sin though limited, and there's even a great rebellion at the end (Rev 20:7-8). It is also temporal, so if you just view reigning in the millennial kingdom as a reward, while it's likely very nice to have, is not even eternal. The millennial kingdom will eventually pass away along with the old heavens and earth, 1 John 2:17 even says "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." Also think about what happens to those who does not do the will of God, it seems like they will not abide forever.
Contrast this to how Peter describes the kingdom in 2 Peter 1:10-11: "Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome
into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
Notice Peter does not refer to it as a "millennial kingdom" but the eternal kingdom of God. If all it took was the sinner's prayer to enter the eternal kingdom of our Lord, why would Peter say we still had to "make every effort to confirm your calling and election"? Such a command would seem non-sensical. So Paul is likely referring to the same eternal kingdom in warnings like Galatians 5:19-21: "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Also how would the parables of the tares and wheat make any sense? In that parable the tares are clearly unsaved since they are the seed of Satan yet Jesus implies that sometimes it's so hard to tell them apart that it's better to let God sort it out (Matthew 13:24–30 ). If anyone that says the sinners prayer is a wheat, then who are the tares? A view that supports the idea that there are true and false Christians and its sometimes hard to tell them apart would be more consistent with this parable.
Jesus also says broad is the way that leads to destruction and narrow is the way that leads to life and few find it. If professing belief in Jesus at one time in life is all it took, then the road would seem broad. Theoretically you could have someone make a profession of faith once in their life and become a Satan worshipper and go on a murderous rampage and that person would still be saved, yet your friendly neighborhood atheist who has never committed any serious crimes except for spending all his waking hours playing fortnite would suffer a far worse fate for eternity.
Jesus also told the thief on the cross who turned from his sin and towards Jesus in faith at the last hour "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise". If the thief still had the chance to go through a 1,000 year dispensational "weeping and gnashing of teeth" wouldn't that make Jesus' promise of assurance sound sick and twisted? Also how does it speak to the character of God if he uses this kind of punishment akin to locking kids up in a dark bathroom for 1000 years to train his followers. Wouldn't it be more likely to cause trauma and bitterness rather than the fruits of the Holy Spirit such as love, joy and peace?
In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus calls those who call him "Lord, Lord" to depart from him saying "I never knew you". It sounds like a complete disowning like he didn't even want to be associated with them, calling them "workers of lawlessness". It sounds pretty final and this is confirmed by Jesus when he said "eternal life is knowing God and Christ Jesus" (John 17:3). So, if Jesus says "I never knew you", it doesn't seem like one has attained eternal life nor does it seem like the person was ever born again. This theme is also repeated elsewhere in the NT in verses like:
1 John 3:6
"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him."
1 John 3:9
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
So someone who said the sinners prayer but continues in willful sin (lawlessness) cannot be saved and may not ever have been born again. And one of the greatest sins is violating the first and second commandment to "have no other gods before me" and not to worship idols. Yet a common reason people leave Christianity after making a profession of faith is to worship idols of money or lust which are sins. This is confirmed when John implies that someone who loves the world is likely not born again in 1 John 2:15 and when James says friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4).
If this view was correct, entire portions of the NT would seem non-sensical such as the warning passages here
https://www.verserain.com/html/warning_verses.html and it would be very difficult to read the bible and take it literally without commentary.
None of the church fathers like Iraenaus, Polycarp or Justin Martyr have written about a view similar to this one and neither is it found in the Didache, an apostolic instruction manual of the early church which some date to 50 AD. This view along with the other esoteric teachings in Nee and Lee's ministry is relatively new in church history and so it should be regarded with suspicion per 2 Timothy 3:4
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
So what do I think is the more biblical view on salvation? Salvation from the penalty of our sin, including any idea of dispensational punishment is by grace through faith alone (Eph 2:8-9). All that is needed is to "repent and believe" (Mark 1:15). Repent means to turn one's heart away from sin and towards faith in Christ just like the thief on the cross. When the heart is turned to the Lord the veil is taken away (2 Cor 3:16). "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalms 51:17). In this process, when we humble ourselves and make our heart "broken and contrite", it becomes the good earth and we make room for the Holy Spirit to live in us with strong roots and we become truly born again. From here this promise can be fulfilled:
"for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4)