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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Redemption, #3
He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. (Psalms 72:2-5)
Perhaps because of our desire to escape the pain of life on earth we have lost sight of the purpose of the coming of the Lord. The purpose of the Lord's coming is not to carry the saints to Heaven. The purpose of the return of Christ is to bring righteousness, peace, and joy to the meek of the earth. No passage of Scripture teaches that the purpose of the Lord's return is to bring His Church to Heaven.
And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. (Psalms 72:19)
It is no mere happenstance that the prayers of King David end with David's desire that the earth be filled with God's glory.
Can you see that the hope of the Kingdom of God expressed in the preceding passages has to do with the Lord's return to the earth, that is, with the redemption of the material creation?
The preaching of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus, and the Apostles of the Lamb concerned the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. The Lord's prayer speaks of the coming of God's Kingdom to the earth. The parables of the Lord Jesus are directed toward the establishing of the Kingdom of God in people. No parable of the Lord has to do with eternal residence in Heaven.
We Christians know we shall be with the Lord forever.
The Lord will be on the earth throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age (Millennium) and so this is where we shall be. To be with the Lord is to be "home."
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (II Corinthians 5:8)
The Lord Jesus will be on the new earth throughout eternity and so this is where we shall be. Our only stay in the spirit Paradise (made necessary by the loss of our physical body in death) will be the period prior to the resurrection of the dead. The purpose of the resurrection from the dead is that we may be able once again to live on the earth. As the Lord told Daniel, "you will rest until the end of the days."
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:13)
Daniel's stay in the spirit realm is here viewed as temporary, that is, until redemption comes. Heaven is just that—a place of rest for the righteous until the Lord returns to govern the world.
The kingdoms of this world are destined to become the Kingdom of God and His Christ.
To be continued.