Today many Christians disregard the need for maturity. However, since the believers are selected, called, redeemed, and regenerated by God, He will not let them go. If they do not have the real experience and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ and His unsearchable riches in the church age, they will not be transformed and perfected. Thus, the Lord will have to use the millennial age to perfect them.
In Matthew 7:21 the Lord said, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.” In this verse entering into the kingdom of the heavens refers to entering into the manifestation of the coming kingdom—the millennium. For the believers to have a part in the millennium, they need to do the will of the heavenly Father. If the believers do not do the will of the heavenly Father, they will be considered as workers of lawlessness. The Lord will declare to them: “I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (v. 23). Never knew means “never approved.” The Lord never approved those who prophesied, cast out demons, and did many works of power in His name (v. 22) but did those things not according to the will of the heavenly Father (v. 21). The Lord did not deny that they did those things, but He considered those things lawlessness because they were not done according to the will of the heavenly Father; they were not done in line with the divine will. Luke 13:27 says that the Lord called these people “workers of unrighteousness.” They will not enter into the kingdom of the heavens but will depart from the Lord and will not participate in the glory of the kingdom. This means that they will be excluded from the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age and will not receive the kingdom reward.
In the same principle, in the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25 the Lord did not approve the foolish virgins (v. 12). The foolish virgins had lighted lamps, went forth to meet the Lord, died, and were resurrected and raptured, but were late in paying the price for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Because of this the Lord would not recognize them, approve them, for participation in His wedding feast. They do not lose their eternal salvation, but they miss this dispensational reward.
In the coming kingdom age the gift that the defeated believers received from the Lord in the church age will be taken away. In the parable of the faithful slaves in Matthew 25, the Lord not only rebukes the evil and slothful slave but also takes away the talent from him and gives it to him who has the ten talents. This is because “to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he shall abound; but from him who does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away from him” (v. 29.) To everyone who gains profit in the church age, more gifts will be given in the coming kingdom age; but concerning the one who has not gained a profit by using his gift in the church age, even the gift that he has will be taken away from him in the coming kingdom age (13:12; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18).
In the age of the millennium the Lord will give dispensational and governmental discipline to the believers who are not mature; this includes cutting them off from the glory of the kingdom (Matt. 24:51; Luke 12:46). The evil slave in Matthew 24 does not expect the Lord’s coming. He does not like to live the kind of life that prepares for the Lord’s coming: he mistreats his fellow believers, and he keeps company with worldly people, who are drunk with worldly things. Therefore, at the Lord’s coming back he will be cut asunder and appointed a portion with the hypocrites (vv. 48-51; Luke 12:45-46).
To be cut asunder refers to being cut off from the glorious Christ, from the glory of His kingdom, and from His glorious presence in His kingdom, unable to participate in Christ and the glory of His kingdom in the manifestation of the kingdom. The overcomers will be called to enter into glory to enjoy the Lord, but the defeated ones will be cast outside of this glory. To be in glory will be a reward, but to be cast outside of glory is a kind of punishment. This is the discipline that immature believers will receive in the coming age. The believers being cut asunder is to be cut off from their enjoyment of the organic union with the Lord.
After a person believes in the Lord, he is put into an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). For a believer to be baptized into the name of the Triune God is to be brought into an organic union with the Triune God so that he can have a portion in God, partake of God, and enjoy God. By enjoying the Triune God in the organic union, the believer will be transformed and perfected, ready to be received into the enjoyment in the millennium at the Lord’s coming back. However, the defeated believers will be cut off from the enjoyment of the organic union in the kingdom age. This means that they will be cut off from the enjoyment of the Lord. This corresponds to the branches being cut off from the vine in John 15. Even though the defeated believers will be cut off from the Lord, from His presence, from His fellowship, and from His realm of glory, they will not perish eternally but will be chastened dispensationally during the coming age of the kingdom. The goal of this chastening and punishment is that the believers would be perfected.