1. “Went in with him to the wedding feast”; “I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of My Father” (Matt. 25:10; 26:29).
The entire coming kingdom will be a feast; this feast will be what the Father has spread for His Son (22:2-14; Rev. 19:9), and it will be given to all His overcoming seekers throughout all the ages for their enjoyment with His Son (Matt. 8:11). In the kingdom of the heavens the overcomers will enjoy the feast that God has prepared for them from eternity with the Lord.
1. “To him I will give of the hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17).
The manna in Exodus 16 is a type of Christ coming down from the heavens to be food for the enjoyment of God’s people. This enjoyment is available for all God’s people, but before God, there is a hidden aspect of Christ, which is the hidden manna (v. 33). The hidden manna is not open for everyone; rather, it is hidden for the overcomers, who have rejected the world. In the coming kingdom this hidden Christ will be fully given to these overcomers for their enjoyment. He will be with them, and they will walk with Him (Rev. 3:4-5). To them, He will have a new name to express His intimate relationship with them (v. 12). To Him, they will have a new name that tells of their secret experience of Him (2:17). They and He, He and they, will enjoy a fellowship that is incomprehensible to others. This enjoyment of Christ will be one of the surpassing blessings of the coming kingdom. Not every saved one will obtain this blessing; it is only for the particular, special enjoyment of the overcomers.
The preceding points outline some of the main items of the blessings of the kingdom of the heavens. The Lord has prepared these blessings for those who love Him, who have set their mind on His heart’s desire, who live for Him, and who fight for Him. Human language cannot adequately describe these blessings. May these blessings cause us to overcome the temptation of the earth! May the glory and blessings of the kingdom of the heavens capture our hearts!
The Bible clearly reveals that only the overcoming believers will enter the kingdom of the heavens. These overcoming believers, however, do not include all the believers. In contrast to the blessings that await the overcomers in the kingdom of the heavens, there is another end for the believers who do not overcome and who cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens. Although the New Testament clearly speaks of this matter with great seriousness, Bible scholars throughout the ages have either misinterpreted many of the portions that refer to this matter or have ignored them. Therefore, we must spend time to examine these portions in the Bible one by one in order to be clear about this matter.
1. “By the Lord, we are disciplined that we may not be condemned with the world”; “The Father of spirits...disciplined...for what is profitable that we might partake of His holiness” (1 Cor. 11:32; Heb. 12:9-10).
First Corinthians 11:32 says that the Lord disciplines us so that we would not be condemned with the world. Hebrews 12:9-10 says that God disciplines us for what is profitable that we might partake of His holiness. The word discipline in both portions is the same Greek word; it implies teaching and punishment. To keep us from being condemned with the world and to cause us to partake of His holiness, God comes in to discipline, teach, and punish us. All Bible readers and Bible scholars agree that the discipline referred to in 1 Corinthians 11:32 and Hebrews 12:9-10 occurs in this age. All believers confess that God disciplines saved believers in this age after they become His children, but in the understanding of most, God disciplines believers only in this age. Consequently, we must consider whether this understanding is according to God’s Word.
2. “My master is delaying his coming...That slave who knew his master’s will and did not prepare or do according to his will, will receive many lashes” (Luke 12:45, 47, see also vv. 46, 48).
In these verses the Lord clearly said that when He comes, some of the slaves who serve Him will receive many lashes from Him. These ones must be saved because they are slaves. This shows that when the Lord comes, He will discipline His believers. There is no place in the Bible that says that the Lord disciplines His believers only in this age. This is the human concept. Man has placed this limitation on the Lord, but the Lord has never limited Himself in this way by saying that He will discipline His children only in this age. On the contrary, He clearly said that some believers will not be disciplined until He comes (Matt. 25:5-13, 19). The Bible speaks of the Lord disciplining believers in this age, but it does not say that He disciplines them only in this age. Instead, it clearly states that when the Lord returns, He will discipline His believers.
Many think that when the Lord returns, the millennial kingdom will solve every problem of the believers. When the Lord returns, however, the believers will have to face His judgment (1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:10). It is not wrong to say that the Lord judges the believers today (1 Cor. 11:31-32), but when He returns, He will judge them even more. Today His judgments are fragmentary, partial, and incomplete; when He returns, His judgment will be comprehensive, full, and complete. Since the Lord will comprehensively, fully, and completely judge His believers when He returns, how can we say that there will be no punishment then? Will every one of the Lord’s believers be perfect before Him at that time? It is not credible to think this. Since many believers will have unconfessed faults, how can the Lord not punish them? If the Lord does not punish them, His failure to judge would be unrighteous. Therefore, when the Lord returns, it is certain that some believers will be punished. Realistically speaking, we should realize that many believers will receive punishment when He returns.
The millennial kingdom will be a time of restoration only (Acts 3:21); it will still be related to the old heaven and the old earth. In this world of the old creation, death and the curse will continue to exist (Isa. 65:20). These former things will not pass away until the time of the new heaven and new earth, when God makes all things new (Rev. 21:1-5). Only when there is a new heaven and new earth will God’s judgment be complete. Even though the age of the old creation, including the old heaven and old earth, is the time and place for God’s work of judgment, He will not be completely satisfied when there are still things that need to be judged. God will have His full enjoyment only in the new creation—in the new heaven and new earth—after His judgment is completed. Since the millennial kingdom is associated with the world of the old creation in the old heaven and old earth, it is a time and place for God to do His work of judgment. Since God’s work will not be finished in the church age, the age of grace, He will continue to work until everything is done in the coming age of the millennial kingdom. In the age of grace, God will not complete His work of judging, disciplining, and dealing with the believers to the extent that the believers no longer have any problems. Consequently, He will continue His work of judging, disciplining, and dealing with the believers in the millennial kingdom. This is natural and necessary. In His Word God clearly and solemnly tells us that He will discipline the believers in the coming age of the kingdom and discipline them thoroughly.
Therefore, although many think that the Lord disciplines and deals with the believers only in the age of grace, God’s Word tells us that the Lord will discipline and deal with believers in the coming kingdom age as well. The Lord deals with believers in the church age, and He will deal with believers in the coming kingdom age. Furthermore, His dealing in the coming age will be thorough and complete. Those who are thoroughly dealt with today will not need to be dealt with further in the coming age, but those who are not thoroughly dealt with today will need to be dealt with in the coming age. This is very logical.
The children of God place too much emphasis on God’s dealings in this age; they think that God disciplines His children in this age only and that if they make mistakes, He will deal with them only today. However, we all know that there are believers who sin and do evil, who love the world instead of the Lord, or who are cold and backslidden but who are not disciplined and dealt with by the Lord even up to the time of their death. Does this mean that there will be no consequences for their actions? Does this mean that the Lord will never judge or discipline them? If this were the case, it would be altogether unjust. The Lord would never do something as unjust as this.
The Lord never said that He would discipline and deal with believers only in this age; instead, He said that He would discipline and deal with them also at His coming at the time of the millennial kingdom. Some believers are disciplined and dealt with by the Lord today; some will not be disciplined and dealt with until He comes in the future. Some are dealt with today, and some will be dealt with in the future; the Lord can do as He pleases. This is similar to parents who discipline their children; some children who are naughty are disciplined immediately, but others who are naughty are not disciplined for a few days. Parents discipline the children as it pleases them and in the manner that best benefits each child. But regardless of when the discipline occurs, the children are disciplined. Regardless of whether He disciplines in this age or in the future, the Lord will discipline His children. If He does not discipline them today, He will discipline them in the future. He will never simply overlook the need for discipline.
Believers who lust after sinful things, who love the world, or who are cold and backsliding will be disciplined and dealt with by the Lord; this is reasonable, realistic, and necessary. However, if they do not repent and the Lord does not discipline them in this age, does this mean that they will not be disciplined after they die or when the Lord returns? Does it mean that they will have no problems? Will their death free them from their responsibilities concerning sinning, loving the world, and not loving the Lord? Will their death free them from the Lord’s righteous punishment? Will the Lord be required to forgive them when He returns? Will the Lord forget about asking for an account of their mistakes in this age? This is impossible and unreasonable. Dear brothers and sisters, the necessity for discipline in the coming age is certain. Whether we look at it from the angle of reasonableness or from an angle of necessity, there will be discipline in the future. According to the Lord’s Word, this kind of discipline is a certainty.
Some may wonder how a believer, who is either raptured or resurrected with a body that is like the Lord’s glorious body, can be disciplined when the Lord returns. This is a human thought. Is it realistic to think that only a believer in a corrupted body from the old creation can be disciplined but that a believer in a resurrected and transfigured body cannot be disciplined? This would make a resurrected, transfigured body into some kind of protection for believers who sin and love the world today. In any case, the Lord’s Word clearly tells us that in the future some believers will be disciplined by the Lord.