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God's Tears

God's Tears

And God Cried
Introduction

Ch. 1 - And God Cried
Ch. 2 - Many Feel God Is Unjust
Ch. 3 - Why Does God Permit Evil?
Ch. 4 - Another Look At Sin
Ch. 5 - A Suffering Savior and Suffering Christians
Ch. 6 - God Is Not Trying to Convert the World Now
Ch. 7 - God's Kingdom
Ch. 8 - Supposed Objections

And God Cried

Chapter 7

God's Kingdom

In the Kingdom, Jesus and his church will embark upon the greatest educational program in history. Isaiah 11:9 states, "…for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Also Jeremiah 31:34 says, "…for they shall ALL know me from the least of them unto the greatest." Verses 29 and 30 show that for the majority, the Kingdom will provide the first full, fair opportunity for salvation. "In those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge."

When ALL who are not of the church come forth from the grave in God's Kingdom (Acts 15:14-17; John 5:28,29), they will be informed that they have been purchased with the precious blood of Christ. And they will be made aware of the fact that they are now under the reign of Jesus Christ and his church (1 Cor. 6:2). What confidence they will have that the church will know just how to enter into their problems! Why? Because the members of the church also were once sinners. Further, humanity will realize that the church representatively experienced all the problems, hardships, and emotional and mental tragedies endured by them. Because "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son" for them (John 3:16), the church will cherish each individual of the human race. The personal experiences of true Christians in overcoming sin and struggling with their own emotional and psychological problems (2 Cor.10:4,5; Heb.12:3,4) will give them an "understanding heart" so that they will know when to show compassion on ignorance and when to administer discipline where willfulness is involved (Heb.5:2; Luke 12:48). This plan of rehabilitation will work. The majority of humanity will gladly receive the instruction, the discipline and the nurture necessary to pass their trial for eternal life.

Isaiah 35 portrays some of the wondrous Kingdom blessings. "…the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose" (verse 1). The blind shall see, the deaf shall hear, the lame shall walk, the dumb sing (verses 5 and 6). Verses 8 and 9, speaking of the Highway of Holiness, state that it will be for the "unclean," but the unclean shall not pass over it.

This interesting phrase can be compared to an automatic car wash. It is for dirty cars, but dirty cars don't pass over it, because they are clean by the time they reach the end of the car wash. Similarly, the Highway of Holiness is for the morally unclean. Through the instruction and nurture of Christ and his church, they will step by step be made morally clean. Verse 9 shows no lion shall be there. Peter identified Satan as symbolized by the "lion" (1 Peter 5:8) and Revelation 20:1-3 reveals Satan will be bound (unable to tempt or hinder mankind) during the 1,000-year Kingdom. "But the redeemed shall walk there." Verse 10 concludes, "And the ransomed [Jesus died a ransom for 'ALL' 1 Tim. 2:6] of the Lord shall return and come to Zion [the Kingdom] with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." The climax of the Kingdom work is described in Revelation 21:4, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."