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The Daily Word of Righteousness
A Description of the Kingdom of God, #5
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (II Corinthians 5:4)
The Apostle Paul did not wish to be "unclothed," that is, to lose his flesh and depart into the spirit realm. Rather, Paul was seeking to be "clothed" with his house, his glorified form, from Heaven.
When we are in Heaven with the Lord we are in the spiritual environment of the Kingdom of God. But when Christ has been formed in us, the Kingdom of God is in us.
The Gospel of the Kingdom is not the good news that we will go to Heaven to live forever in an external Paradise. As extraordinarily marvelous as that would be, God has something far better for us.
The incident of the thief on the cross (who demonstrated remarkable faith), or Paul's desire to be "present with the Lord," thus making his physical death a gain to him, are part of the grand design. But they are not central to the Gospel of the Kingdom or to the eternal purposes of God.
"Going to Heaven" is not what John the Baptist, or Christ, or the Apostle Paul, or any of the other first-century apostles and evangelists meant when they cried out in the streets concerning salvation and the soon-coming Kingdom.
The good news of the Christian redemption is not that of "going to Heaven." The good news of the Kingdom of God is that of salvation in the Day of the Lord, of being spared the wrath of God, of entering eternal life when Christ returns to set up His Kingdom on the earth. This is what was preached by the Apostles of the Lamb.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: (Acts 3:19,20)
The invitation given to the thief to be with Jesus in Paradise, and Paul's anticipated and longed for homegoing in the event of his physical death, reveal to us that those who are approved of God will pass into the Presence of Christ when their soul leaves their body. The emphasis is on being "with the Lord." But this is not our entrance into the Kingdom of God or the coming of the Kingdom to the earth.
The tradition concerning going to Heaven is so strong that it affects our ability to perceive what is written in the Scriptures.
For example:
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (I Corinthians 5:5)
Our traditions would say of the preceding verse that Paul was trying to get the sinner of Corinth into Heaven. But that is not what the passage is about. That is not what is stated.
The expression go to Heaven does not appear in the entire Scriptures.
Paul was attempting to save the man's spirit in the Day of the Lord, not so he would go to Heaven but so eventually he would be permitted to live on the earth under the reign of Christ. Paul's success or lack of it, concerning this member of the church in Corinth, will be revealed in the Day of Judgment that will occur at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Second Corinthians 2:6,7 gives us some ground for confidence that Paul's efforts in this case proved to be fruitful.
To be continued.