Dispensationalism Honors All Israel, Including that of the "Shadow"

[texian]

Dispensationalism Honors All Israel, Including that of the "Shadow"

The postulate that the Bible must be consistently interpreted in a literal
way is very important in dispensationalism The classical dispensationalists
say their claim that "Israel" in scripture must always be physical Israel
derives from their consistent literal "hermeneutic," from the pagan god
Hermes.

Their literal hermeneutic goes along with their insistence that "all Israel"
must be honored, which includes everybody who has or claims to have the
DNA of Abraham, and all Israelites who rejected Christ and continue to do so
are part of their "all Israel."

They took over most of the evangelical denominations
in a few years after the Niagra Bible Conference (1876 to 1897) and the
first edition of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. They almost
made evangelical
Christianity into another faith, and did make it into another Gospel
within the general
structure of institutionalized Christianity. This "other Gospel"
(Galatians 1: 6-9) within
the organized Christian "church" serves to honor "all Israel."

There is no New Testament scripture saying "all Israel" remains the
chosen people. There
is no more entry into Israel by birth, no more racism, and arguments
about those who claim
to be Jews but don't have the DNA of Abraham are arguments within the
flesh, not within the Spirit.

The literalist hermeneutic of dispensationalism goes along with its
honoring of the Israel of the
Old Covenant. There were clearly individuals within the Old Covenant
who were led by
the Spirit, these were a Remnant. But the majority of Israelites
which dispensationalism honors were
operating in the physical, in the carnal nature of man, not in the
spirit. We can begin to ask to what
extent classical dispensationalism, in honoring physical Israel, and
some early dispensationalists
placed Israelites above Gentile Christians in the thousand year
Kingdom, were fixated on the physical level.

Dispensationalism's literalist bent plays into the physical. Take
a scripture like Romans 8: 1, 9: "There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit..But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Dispensationalists
may give lip service to this text, but is it really true of where they
have positioned themselves, in honoring "all Israel" so much and
focusing upon the literal-physical? "Are ye so foolish? having begun
in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"

Israel is represented as the good olive tree of Romans 11, where the Israelites who did not believe on Christ were cut off the tree, and Gentile believers were grafted in. The fig tree in Luke 6-9 represents Israel, all Israel. In verse
7 the owner of the tree, God the Father, said to cut the tree down, because
it was bearing no fruit. But the dresser of the vinyard, Christ, asked the Father
to allow him to work with the fig tree, and if after that it bears no fruit, then we will cut it down.


Then in John 15: 5-6 Christ says he is the vine. In verses 6-7
Christ says if a person does not abide in him, he is cast forth as a branch and becomes withered. The branches that do not abide, or remain, in Christ are then burned.


In all three of the New Testament parables the
trees and the vine represent Israel, and in all three Israel is pruned back
because of unbelief

There is an interesting parable of these two trees and the vine in the Old Testament, in Judges 9: 8-15. "The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
9. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
10. And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
11. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?"
But in Judges 9: 14-15 there are these interesting verses; "Then
said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.
15. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me
king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not,
let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon."

They wanted the bramble to be their king rather than God. In other
words, they wanted to follow the ways of man rather than of God. Following the ways of man rather than the ways of God also meant, for the ancient Israelites, that they followed some doctrines and practices of man rather than those of God
But a little leaven leavens the whole loaf.

And "shadow" is used in the New Testament as a kind of metaphor - in
Colossians 2: 16-17, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in
drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the
sabbath days: 17. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ"
And in Hebrews 10: 1, "For the law having a shadow of good things to
come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect."

A "shadow" is of darkness, and not the light. The Old Covenant is a
shadow of the substance that is the New Covenant. The Old Covenant
was physical - entry was by the physical, literal DNA of Abraham,
males were circumcised in their literal flesh, and the temple was a
literal, physical building.

The substance, which is the New Covenant transformed Israel into the
spiritual. This is what the parables of the fig tree and the vine
are about, getting rid of the unfruitful part of Israel.

There is that thread running through the Old Testament predicting that transformation of Israel confined to the literal-physical and to the "shadows" into Israel reborn in Christ Jesus to become the spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5.
The thread begins in II Kings 21: 13, "And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down."
God promises to wipe Jerusalem clean and turn it upside down. Guess who "Jerusalem" is here? Its "all Israel."

This thread picks up again in Isaiah 29: 16, "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"

Isaiah 29: 16 points to Jeremiah 18: 1-6, the parable of the potter. God is represented as the potter. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2. Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6. O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
God made a pot on the potter's wheel from a lump of clay, representing physical Israel. But the pot, or vessel, was marred, so the potter, as God, made the same lump of clay into another vessel which seemed good to God the potter.

Physical-literal Israel was not replaced by the Catholic Church as a body of Christ different from Israel. Calvinism and orthodox Lutheranism did not totally follow the Catholic claim to have replaced Israel with its "Church," the capital C Church. Calvinism and Lutheranism sort of mixed the "church,"with Israel reborn in Christ. They talked about the "church" as though it is a different body of Christ, but at the same time they often said that their "church" and the Israel of God (Galatians 6: 16) are one and the same.

Dispensationalism came along in the 19th century and said no, the Catholic Church did not replace All Israel, but that now God has two peoples. All Israel and the "Church," reclaiming the Catholic capital C "Church" as its own. In dispensationalism the "Church" did not repace All Israel, the church as a sort of lesser group of God's people now exists along side of All Israel. And All Israel is to be honored, says dispensationalism, as God's chosen, because God postponed the bringing of All Israel into the kingdom until the tribulation or millennium or sometime.

But in the substantive New Covenant the spiritual is light and not
shadow, or darkness. After the transformation of physical Israel, Christ was
first the light, then all those who have something of the mind of Christ are light (John8: 12, Matthew 5: 14).


Since the dispensationalists want to honor "All Israel," they are also honoring the majority of Old Covenant Israel of the shadows, and in doing so end up back in the physical with their literalist-physical method of interpretation. Dispensationalism
honors the "shadows," and not the substance in claiming or
implying that All Israel remain God's chosen people

What is a "bramble?" Bramble - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia says
"Brambles are thorny plants of the genus Rubus, in the rose family
(Rosaceae),,,many have recurved thorns that dig into clothing and
flesh when the victim tries to pull away from them. Some types also
have hair-like thorns."

The Israelites in the parable of Judges 9 want to make a a man
represented by a thorny plant their king? This was long before they
wanted God to give them a king and he allowed them to have Saul as
their king, who did not please God and God got rid of him and put
David on the throne. Saul represents the Old Covenant and David the
New Covenant.

 

[Prentis]

Good post!

Dispensationalism lacks in spiritual understanding, and takes the new covenant and tries to explain it with carnal means, thus the confusion.

The New Covenant is according to life, the life of Christ in his people. Those who walk according to the Spirit are the sons of God, Israel.

 

[texian]

I didn't want to include quotes from the dispenationalist theologians above because it would make it too long.

But - in their zeal to defend their man-made theology, followers of dispensationalism will say just about anything, some of what they say is partly true and some false. They often say they are not dispensationalists but defend the doctrines of dispensationalism. They sometimes deny that dispensationalism teaches a consistent literalist method of interpretation of scripture and/or it that does not honor all Israel.

Charles C. Ryrie (born 1925) says of classical dispensationalism
that the: "basic primise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God
expressed in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction
throughout eternity." Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, 1966,
pp.44-45.

J. Dwight Pentecost is another dispensationalist theologian who in his
book Things To Come ( 1965) says "The church and Israel are two
distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan...These considerations
all arise from a literal method of interpretation." (page 193, J.
Dwight Pentecost,
Things To Come, Zondervan, 1965)....

In postponement theology, or dispensationalism, the pre-tribulation rapture of the
dispensationalist church is "eschatology,"
or end time prophecy. The interpretation of Romans 11: 26, and
several Old Testament prophecies on the restoration of physical Israel
that God will save "all Israel" sometime in the future, perhaps in the
tribulation, is also end time prophecy.

There are three basic postulates in postponement
theology, as shown in the brief quotes above from Charles C. Ryrie
and J. Dwight Pentecost.

The first postulate of this theology is consistent literalism in
interpretation of scripture.

In 1936, Lewis S. Chafer, a classical dispensationalist, defined
Scofield's literalism as "The outstanding characteristic of the
dispensationalist is ... that he believes every statement of the Bible
and gives to it the plain, natural meaning its words imply." From:
L. S. Chafer, ‘Dispensationalism,' Bibliotheca Sacra, 93, October
(1936), pp410, 417.
Charles C. Ryrie says "The word literal is perhaps not as good as
either the word normal or plain, but in any case it is interpretation
that does not spiritualize or allegorize as nondispensational
interpretation often does. The spiritualizing may be practiced to a
lesser or greater degree, but its presence in a system of
interpretation is indicative of a nondispensational approach." From:
Dispensationalism. Charles C. Ryrie. Moody Press, Chicago. 1995.
The postulate of consistent literalism in interpreting scripture is
not supported by scripture itself.

Christ in Matthew 13: 35 says "That it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I
will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of
the world."

Hosea 12: 10 says "I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have
multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the
prophets." Similitudes are a form of figurative language. Figurative
language, which is not literal, is used in very many scriptures,
especially in the Book of Revelation. Its the use of broad, sweeping
allegorization of a text which takes away its specific prophetic
meaning which is the culprit. An example of this broad, sweeping
allegorization is the amillennialist view of the 144,000 of Revelation
7: 1-8 and Revelation 14: 1-5, which says they are the saints of all
ages. This denies the prophetic statement that these people of God
are to be sealed before the destructrive events of the very end times
begin.

The second postulate of this theology is that All Israel remain God's people. And he third postulate is
that the "church" is a body of Christ different from Israel reborn in Christ, and the Israel of God in Galatians 6: 16

Because dispensationalism does not follow Paul in teaching that there are two Israels, therefore we can
say that the theology claims there is one Israel which remains now a people of God, and the implication is that all Israel remains the chosen people. So, dispensationalism honors all Israel, all those who are or claim to be literal-physical descendants of Abraham. Paul's teachings on the two Israels are in Romans 2: 28-29, Romans 9: 6-8 and Galatians 4: 24-26. He also talks about a remnant of physical Israel in Romans 11: 5 which was saved and notes that the unbelieving part of physical Israel was broken off (Romans 11: 17, 20).

 

[Prentis]

Yes, ultimately just about every different view has something right... But as I once heard someone say, 'even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then'.

I enjoyed your explanations of how the Old Covenant was a shadow of things to come, the New. It reminded me of a brother who was dear to me, Cornelius, also known as C.

 

[biggandyy]

Not all us dispensationalists are New Covenant wack-jobs.

 

[prism]

Simply straw men arguments.
All OT prophecy in the past had been fulfilled literally and no reason why it wont be in the future.
Take for example in Acts 1 post resurrection=

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
(Act 1:6-7)

Jesus never 'corrected' their so called literal hope. Don't you think that after 3 years with Jesus at least one of the eleven would know better than hope for a physical restoration of their Kingdom. I guess we know better than they.

Paul thinks differently...
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
(Rom 11:25-27)

You should at least grant the courtesy that both groups have their 'hermeneutics' whether literal or figurative notwithstanding 'Hermes'. Hopefully heaven wont be figurative. <_<

 

[Prentis]

Heaven isn't figurative, but it is spiritual!

It is not that these things will not truly come to pass, but many things are said with a spiritual meaning, such as parables!

The kingdom will be restored to Israel, but as we know, Israel is not just the Jews, but all who are in Christ Jesus. That is, the Israel of God. The flesh will not inherit the promises, but by faith man becomes a partaker of the promises.

The Bible speaks of spiritual things, thus if we look with our natural eyes, we do not understand the meaning.

 

[veteran]

Heaven isn't figurative, but it is spiritual!

It is not that these things will not truly come to pass, but many things are said with a spiritual meaning, such as parables!

The kingdom will be restored to Israel, but as we know, Israel is not just the Jews, but all who are in Christ Jesus. That is, the Israel of God. The flesh will not inherit the promises, but by faith man becomes a partaker of the promises.

The Bible speaks of spiritual things, thus if we look with our natural eyes, we do not understand the meaning.

Now there's an interesting topic to discuss. Just how... is Heaven spiritual? In what sense do you mean that?

 

[Prentis]

I mean it's in the realm of the Spirit.

And God, as we know, is Spirit.

 

[Vengle]

I mean it's in the realm of the Spirit.

And God, as we know, is Spirit.

Yes, I see how you can say that.

I kind of see it a bit of both as used in the Bible. Heaven is spoken of in a few different ways in the Bible.

For example, the governments of man are shown to rule by the power of the heavens of this earth. They either obey God and receive his blessing or he allows Satan to be their power in earth's heavens. (Ephesians 2:2) To see that we need go to places like Leviticus 26:19.

There God says, "And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:"

What that means is that God would make their blessings from him become cursing, as we see as that continues:

20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

Then we have places like as Deuteronomy 28:23.

There God tells them, "And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron."

To see what he means, again we look at the context:

Deuteronomy 28:24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
27 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.

So again we see that it is all God's blessing or cursing us hinged upon whether or not we love him and obey him.

This following verse shows just how bad it can get for us if we continue to mock God by disobeying him:

Leviticus 26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

What we must understand is that the basic thought concerning the heavens of this earth (the one that is going to be rolled up and replaced with a new) is that it means this old heavens in which Satan has been permitted to operate as the spirit in the air which operates in the sons of disobedience will be replaced with one where the spirit of the air will become the spirit of Christ which operates in the sons of righteousness. (Ephesians 2:2)

When God curses us he only need to leave us helpless to our enemies and the elements. And old Satan quickly capitalizes on that, even as he does our governments that ignore God..

I will pause there and let this be bite-size.

 

[veteran]

I mean it's in the realm of the Spirit.

And God, as we know, is Spirit.

So does that mean Heaven is a real place?

 

[Prentis]

Yes, but it is not seen by the natural eye. By faith we enter, and THEN we see. Because then we walk in the Spirit, and see the things of the Spirit. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom!

 

[prism]

New Heavens and a new Earth. I believe our redeemed Bodies (as well as our spirit) may have a spiritually physical abode. 'Spiritual' being the adjective. to 'physical abode'.

~it was a bodily resurrection, right?

 

[veteran]

Yes, but it is not seen by the natural eye. By faith we enter, and THEN we see. Because then we walk in the Spirit, and see the things of the Spirit. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom!

So, Heaven is just a 'state of mind' of living on this earth like we are now with a spiritual connection to Christ only? That's what it sounds like you're saying. But there's a deeper understanding available that our Lord has given in His Word.

Before I got into in-depth study of God's Word, I used to understand that the Heavenly was some mysterious place disconnected from this earth. Now I know better.

This earth where Jerusalem is, is where God has chosen to dwell forever, and He will, but not during this present world. He's going to end this present world and bring the next, which will be His Heaven manifested upon... this earth. His Abode, The New Jerusalem, is going to come down... to this earth, and exist upon this earth, where it once did before the first rebellion against Him.

That is when 'we' will see Him as He is, and His Holy City, when He reveals Heaven to all upon the earth. That's going to involve literal changes upon this earth also, not just a change of us to the resurrection body, and that's the truly amazing part of understanding Scripture about that time of His Salvation, the joining of the Heavenly dimension with the earthly dimension. That's when He will remove the 'vail' that is spread over all nations per Isaiah 25, and death will be swallowed up in victory.


Isa 25:6-9
6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
9 And it shall be said in that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
(KJV)

But it's not yet time for that to manifest on this earth, for it will come in stages, us having to go through Christ's future "thousand years" reign over all peoples and nations first, all His enemies being made His footstool. That's the joy we are to really look forward to, and not just the spiritual manifestation of His Kingdom for this present time.

 

[Prentis]

So, Heaven is just a 'state of mind' of living on this earth like we are now with a spiritual connection to Christ only? That's what it sounds like you're saying. But there's a deeper understanding available that our Lord has given in His Word.

Before I got into in-depth study of God's Word, I used to understand that the Heavenly was some mysterious place disconnected from this earth. Now I know better.

This earth where Jerusalem is, is where God has chosen to dwell forever, and He will, but not during this present world. He's going to end this present world and bring the next, which will be His Heaven manifested upon... this earth. His Abode, The New Jerusalem, is going to come down... to this earth, and exist upon this earth, where it once did before the first rebellion against Him.

That is when 'we' will see Him as He is, and His Holy City, when He reveals Heaven to all upon the earth. That's going to involve literal changes upon this earth also, not just a change of us to the resurrection body, and that's the truly amazing part of understanding Scripture about that time of His Salvation, the joining of the Heavenly dimension with the earthly dimension. That's when He will remove the 'vail' that is spread over all nations per Isaiah 25, and death will be swallowed up in victory.


Isa 25:6-9
6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
9 And it shall be said in that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
(KJV)

But it's not yet time for that to manifest on this earth, for it will come in stages, us having to go through Christ's future "thousand years" reign over all peoples and nations first, all His enemies being made His footstool. That's the joy we are to really look forward to, and not just the spiritual manifestation of His Kingdom for this present time.

I say Spiritual place and you say 'so it's just a state of mind'. :huh:

I agree with much of what you say though.

Here's a thought. When Paul says to some brothers who are walking in the Spirit 'you are seated in heavenly places', were they not walking on the earth anymore? They were, but they were also seated in the heavens. This in no way means it's an imaginary place or a state of mind. Rather being in the Spirit is about spiritual location, which, I do not know exactly how, is different from physical location. Just to clarify what I meant...

 

[veteran]

I say Spiritual place and you say 'so it's just a state of mind'. :huh:

I agree with much of what you say though.

Here's a thought. When Paul says to some brothers who are walking in the Spirit 'you are seated in heavenly places', were they not walking on the earth anymore? They were, but they were also seated in the heavens. This in no way means it's an imaginary place or a state of mind. Rather being in the Spirit is about spiritual location, which, I do not know exactly how, is different from physical location. Just to clarify what I meant...

If you'd read my post, you'd understand that I never disagreed with Christ's Kingdom manifesting through The Spirit today.

The difference is with what you're missing from God's Word of how that Kingdom will manifest on earth JOINED with the physical starting with our Lord Jesus' return. You're missing how God is going to 'join' the two dimensions of the Heavenly and the earthly at Christ's coming, and then especially with the new heavens and a new earth after Christ's future "thousand years" literal reign.

The Heavenly realm is not in the exact same 'physical' sense as this earthly realm. But still, the Heavenly has real substance, just not what we'd call earthly matter. It's a different dimension of existence, which is one of the true ways to distinguish it from this earthly dimension we live in today. It now exists behind a 'vail'. At Christ's coming, that 'vail' is going to be removed for all still alive upon this earth, which is what Paul was teaching 1 Cor.15 pulling from Isaiah 25 about death being swallowed up in victory.

For example, our five physical senses are limited to the bounds of the flesh which God set forth for this earthly dimension we now live in. In the resurrection body we are released from the limitations of the flesh senses, and that's how we all... will see our Lord Jesus appear as He really is, like Apostle John said. Apostle Paul called that future existence after the change at a twinkling of an eye the "spiritual body". As of right now, our spiritual body existence is not manifested while we are in the flesh upon this earth.

The spiritual body existence, which is of the Heavenly dimension, can and will be able to physically live upon this earth, and by that the two dimensions are joined. God even promised that we will build houses and plant vineyards upon this earth (Isa.65). And that's about the future new heavens and a new earth time (Isa.65:17). Like God proclaimed in Isa.45:18, He created this earth to be inhabited, lived upon, and that's how it's going to be. That's why our Lord Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth, but wicked will cut off from it.

 

[Prentis]

Oh brother, I agree with that. I hadn't said anything about how it will be, I was talking about how we are part of the kingdom now...

I guess we were both talking about the same thing, but at a different time, thus the misunderstanding.

 

[veteran]

Oh brother, I agree with that. I hadn't said anything about how it will be, I was talking about how we are part of the kingdom now...

I guess we were both talking about the same thing, but at a different time, thus the misunderstanding.

If you study God's Word about His coming physical Kingdom upon this earth, you will be amazed at what you'll discover about it, as there is a whole lot... written about it.

In 2 Peter 3, when Peter spoke of some things hard to understand within Paul's Epistles, that is one of the matters Peter was talking about, for that 2 Pet.3 chapter is especially about the manifesting of the new heavens and a new earth as the final fulfillment of Christ's Salvation.