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The Kingdom of God extends throughout both heaven and earth. Heaven is not "up there" nor is earth "down here." These are terms describing dimensions, rather than locations. These dimensions have more to do with quality of existence than location as we normally think of location. Location implies distance, which is a function of this earthly dimension, but is not applicable to heaven. Likewise, time implies a linear calendar, which again is applicable to this earthly dimension, but not to heaven.
I am always amused when Christian leaders make a big deal of a new comet or other object coming toward us in the solar system. They seem to think that it might be Jesus coming from afar. If it really took that long to travel from heaven to earth, how is it that He was able to appear and disappear so readily after His resurrection--and did not even need a space ship (or comet). Such carnal thinking only serves to reinforce the carnal view that God is really only a glorified space ship commander who is returning after a long journey to view His earth experiment.
The fact is, Jesus was able to travel between heaven and earth at the speed of thought. Ezekiel 44 expresses it in terms of changing clothes. I wrote about this in my recent series on The Kingdom of God.
Here is my evolutionary theory: God created and owns all things, but likes to remain anonymous to those who do not seek to find Him. Hence, the Kingdom appears to be evolving naturally by its own power, when in fact it is emerging under His direction.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth to be His Kingdom. Then the Kingdom was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but in hope of being set free in the end. In the interim, the Kingdom is emerging through three phases of development--first a Passover Kingdom from Moses to Christ; then a Pentecostal Kingdom between the two appearances of Christ; and lastly, a Tabernacles Kingdom that brings forth the Sons of God, who will reign with Him a thousand years until the time of the Great White Throne Judgment.
This ends the first "week" of 7,000 years. Then in the "weeks" that follow, all creation will be subjected to the loving rule of the Kingdom of God until the great Creation Jubilee sets all creation free into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. I believe that great Jubilee will occur at the 49,000 year mark. During the years following the Judgment, the unbelievers will be purged by the "lake of fire." They will learn righteousness, as Isaiah 26:9 says, because the "fire" in God's hand are His "saints," as Moses says in Deut. 33:2, 3. The saints are the Sons who are the administrators of His "fiery law," the executive branch of government under King Jesus.
Now whether I am correct or not will be seen in time. I am simply making a summarized "statement of belief" here. My other writings, particularly Creation's Jubilee, shows my biblical reasoning.
Though I was raised in a Christian home, the Christian philosophy was more akin to Persian Dualism than to the Kingdom of God. By this I mean I was taught that the end of all things was a separation of light and darkness, of good and evil, of heaven and hell. Both would exist eternally.
The only difference (in this regard) between Persian Dualism and Christianity is that Persian Dualism was more consistent. They taught that good and evil, light and darkness, God and Satan, were both eternal and of equal power--and this was WHY they must merely separate instead of one eradicating the other. My Christian background taught me that God was more powerful than Satan, but that Satan was NEARLY as powerful as God. God could confine Satan, but not eradicate either Satan or sin. The inconsistency of such teaching is that God would be all-powerful but yet would be unable to eradicate evil from His created universe. Evil would be perpetuated eternally in a torture pit called "hell," essentially conceding the concept of Eternal Dualism.
As I have shown in my most recent series on Spiritual and Mental Logic, the carnal mind requires a dualistic point of view in order to comprehend truth. The "soulish man" within each of us cannot understand the things of the spirit, Paul says. The purpose of the soul is to provide structure and expression to the things of the spirit, but its mental capacity is finite. It was thus created to be a servant of the spirit, not its master.
The Kingdom of God will not settle for a dualistic end to history. God must become "all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28), and this can only take place with the complete eradication of all other gods that men have entertained in his mind.
Further, the goal is absolute Unity. All things visible and invisible are composed of irreducible particles of spirit, unity with God--God all in all--is the inevitable goal of all history. The sin of Adam (and the evil that has filled the earth since that time) is merely a long detour, for God is not the loser in the end. Sin did not take Him by surprise, as some have taught. He is sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful. Those who teach otherwise are still children of a lesser god.
As I showed in my book, Old and New Covenant Marriage, an Old Covenant marriage is built upon the order that God ordained AFTER Adam and Even sinned. It is dualistic and presumes dysfunction, conflict, and disunity between husband and wife. In such a situation, someone has to be the servant, for if you have two conflicting masters, you would have chaos in the family. This is the situation in "the real world."
A New Covenant marriage, on the other hand, presumes unity and harmony, rather than dualism. It is hard to express how two can become one, because this is largely incomprehensible to the human mind. But God ordained marriage to show us the relationship between soul and spirit. As long as the soul is carnal (or "fallen," and imperfect), it must be a servant to the spirit, because it is in an Old Covenant relationship with the spirit. Conflict is to be expected in such a marriage.
But once the soul comes fully into its place of submission to the spirit, once the conflict ends, once the soul functions in the perfect role for which it was created, then it becomes the perfect expression of the spirit. It is unified with the spirit and becomes "one flesh" with it. All that the spirit desires is what the soul desires as well. There is no further need for the spirit to tell the soul what to do. The soul will do it automatically with great joy and satisfaction.
As my wife and I have grown from Old to New Covenant marriage, we have been able to understand the original, God-ordained relationship between spirit and soul. We both learned to submit to Christ in each other. We have often said that we wish we could export our relationship to others so that everyone could experience what we have. There is so much hurt, so much dysfunction out there in the world. I thank God every day for giving us such a marriage gift. I know that it is rare.
Our marriage has given us some idea of the Kingdom of God that is emerging in the earth. The progression from Old to New Covenant marriage has taught us that God-given authority is good, but is not the ultimate goal, because it is yet dualistic, putting one person over another. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:24 that the end comes only when He has "abrogated all government and all authority and power" (Emphatic Diaglott translation). Authority ends when all are unified. He is training His Sons to rule by love until authority is swallowed up by unity.