The Kingdom of God, Mentor Guide, MG02

3 4 2 /

T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

pinpoint the specific times on a line (as it were) regarding the disposition of the end. The best advice, therefore, in dealing with issues of the end times, is to remember the good wisdom of Deuteronomy 29.29: the secret things (of specific time, place, occurrence of the end times) belong to the Lord, but the things revealed (those larger, great issues, e.g. the certainty of Jesus’ return) belong to us. These prophecies are not to satisfy our curiosities, but that we might live informed by the truths they represent. The consummation of the Kingdom, in many ways, is the overcoming of this, the final enemy, which is death (1 Cor. 15.54-56). In the Old Testament death is often perceived as merely a natural part of human existence. Death entered into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and yet, human life through Adam was not seen as immortal, but as a kind of contingent immortality, based on humankind’s ability to follow the rule of God. Often, the goal spoken of in the Old Testament vision of life is to live a long, full life with one’s loved ones, and to die in honor and peace, not due to shame and corruption. To die early is usually viewed as a great evil (2 Kings 20.1-11), and its reality was taken to indicate some kind of judgment fromGod due to immorality or sin (Gen. 2-3; Deut. 30.15; Jer. 21.8; Ezek. 18.21-32). Death does, however, carry a sense of being horrific, since to die is to be separated from one’s loved ones, from worship, from the people of God, and from God himself (Pss. 73.23-28; 139.8). Because of these and other negative connotations associated with death, suicide was rare among the people of God (1 Sam. 31; 2 Sam. 17.23), and capital punishment (i.e. the death penalty) was determined to be grave and severe. In the New Testament, with its explicit focus on the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ, the notion of death is perceived as a theological problem. Life comes from God, who alone possesses in his own self-existent life, the springs of immortality (1 Tim. 6.16). Human beings are subject to death, not merely due to their natural state as fallible, created beings, but on the basis of their own sinfulness as well as being under the curse they share with all others because of their connection to Adam (cf. Rom. 6.23; 5.12ff.). Because of this association with judgment, human beings live in fear of death as associated with the curse (Matt. 4.16; Heb. 2.15).

6 Page 102 Outline Point II