Christians are those who know they have the free gift eternal life based on their personal faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). Since it is eternal life, it can never be lost for any reason – never (John 10:28). What becomes our motivation to live for Christ in this life now? The motivation cannot be to earn eternal life if we already possess it and know this without any doubt (1 John 5:11-13). We cannot get any more saved than we already are. We can’t get any more life than we already have. The apostle John said that those who have eternal life will live this life in a new heaven and upon a new earth forever and ever – no end (Revelation 22:1-5). God does not want us to miss this fact.
However, before we enter this eternal new heaven and earth (before we go to heaven), we have a kingdom to go through, and this kingdom is for a limited time. John wrote, “And I saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. . . And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4). God does not want us to miss this either so He says again, “They shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years (Revelation 20:6).
The Old Testament explains this kingdom in much detail – the lay of the land (Genesis 15:7-8), little goat and the wolf, the lion and the bear, the little child and the snake (Isaiah 11:6-7), and the laying down of swords and beating them into plowshares (Isaiah 2:3-4). But nowhere do we find in the Old Testament the length of the kingdom. When we get to Revelation, however, God says one thousand years six times in this one passage (Revelation 20:1-7). He could not have made it clearer.
The Jews received the promise of this kingdom by God’s covenant given directly to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). The Gentiles received the promise of the kingdom (the benefits of the Abrahamic covenant) by becoming children of Abraham – by grace alone through our faith in Christ alone (Galatians 3:29). We became wild branches (Gentiles) grafted into the fatness of the olive tree (Jews) (Romans 11:17). At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit baptized both Jew and Gentile into one body – the church (Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
Having been rejected as Israel’s King and knowing clearly that the kingdom mentioned in the Old Testament was not going to come, Jesus began his series of seven parables in which He described the mystery form of the kingdom (Matthew 13:11). These parables explain the spiritual part of the kingdom of God that we are living in now. The only way into this spiritual part of the kingdom and the coming kingdom reign of Christ is not a secret, but it is mysterious. Jesus told Nicodemus that the only way to enter it is to be born into it (John 3:3). Nick probably thought that keeping the Mosaic law was the way. Not so! Everyone – Jew and Gentile – must be born into it! Jesus said that this birth is invisible (spiritual) like the wind. One can hear its sound but cannot tell where it comes from or where it’s going. It is a mysterious way to enter into the mystery form of God’s kingdom. Wow!
It gets even better. There can be no birth – no regeneration without seed. We know this to be true, do we not? Peter clearly taught us how! “Having been born again (regenerated) not by corruptible seed (the seed of Adam) but incorruptible – by means of the Word of God which lives and abides forever. It is by this word is the gospel preached to you” (1 Peter 1:23-25) The gospel is God’s amazing seed that is guided (like a laser beam) into our minds. There this seed is germinated by the Holy Spirit and a new birth occurs – an invisible birth, a mysterious birth. We are born into the mystery form of God’s kingdom now by God’s seed – the gospel.
The parable that I am about to look into explains another phase of this kingdom. The people following Jesus on His way to Jerusalem thought He was going to be crowned as their King. The King, on the other hand, knew that He was headed for Jerusalem and the travail of the crucifixion, the illegality of the trials, the mockery of the crown of thorns, the trauma of the crucifixion. But also, there will be the triumph of the resurrection and the ascension. It is with this in His mind that He brought up this amazing, life-changing parable. Stay safe and stay tuned.