Brother ...We do believe the same thing but in order for the world to be saved , repentance to life is required . One can not refuse life and live any more than one can breathe carbon monoxide and live. Do we have more anointing than those who pleaded to those who had their hope in their religion to save yourself from the wrath that is to come ? Jesus said that men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil . Shall we call evil good and good evil ? Humanism whether cloaked in christian jargon is nothing different than atheistic humanism ...just more difficult to detect . I absolutely believe that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that through him the world might be saved ....through Him . Through Him . Not through any human contrivances .
There is a well established falsehood regarding America -Israel ( the good guys ) verses Russia , China -Islam ) The bad guys . Except the scriptures declare that there is none good , no not one . Also the Kingdom of God does not recognize nationalist borders for they are temporary and most were wrought through bloodshed , stealing , pride , covetousness , treaty breaking , ...nothing christ-like rather than the shed blood which only brings us into the Kingdom . ( And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb , the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death . )
Brother , when an enemy of God is forgiven , they personally beat their swords into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks .
I do not believe we are saved to go to heaven . We are saved in order to work in the vineyard of our own heart and to rescue others who perish ...i.e the parable of the market place so that others may know the redemption which is in Christ . ( I think heaven is a continuation of the let eternal life that exist now in us through Christ but as our apostle Paul said ...I do not count myself to have obtained . It appears that God's work in us is progressive ( at least for me . ) There are things which I did not understand many years ago ...And now I understand them differently. Again , how do we differ ? I have the same hope as Hitler apart from Jesus Christ . How do we differ ...Let your iron sharpen my iron .
When Jesus said , if any man follow me , let him first count the cost . What did he mean ?
You are aware that Paul's letters and the gospels were written to people who were suffering or about to suffer for their faith . They were not establishing a theological position but rather being prepared for the reality of the gospel in the face of the enemy of the truth ( who can tolerate everything but Truth ) . Why does Jesus tell believers to repent in Revelation ? Love . So we can have a broken and tender heart as will all of the little children which make up the Kingdom . Broken ..innocent ...pure ..lowly , meek . How do we differ ?
No, never in a million years would I agree with anything you say or think along these lines. Your entirely personalizing the Kingdom of God and the extent of its influnce in the world. As if it cannot and has not influenced sinners, cultures and nations to turn away from some of their more odious practices. You think God never intended to do that. Nor did he ever tell us he would do that through the influence of the saints, the Bible, his providence and miraculous intervention. Exactly like it says here. Not will come to pass but coming to pass before our eyes.
Isaiah 61: 1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
Jesus spoke this of himself bringing the good news to whoever would receive it. But was it just the good news about going to heaven? The later part of the verse answers that.
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
In Jesus day half the worlds population were the property of others. Here he announces a day when legal slavery would end.
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Prisons, dungeons, labor and death camps for political prisoners of the wicked who ruled in perpetuity was the way of life on earth. So his good news message reached out way beyond (time wise) the hope of heaven for believers.
Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the year of the Lords favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
This prophecy of the Messiahs invisible kingdom starts in ancient Israel with the time of his favor to those who morn over the wickedness all around them and the day of his vengeance upon the wicked in the nation. That even though the nation will be destroyed because of wickedness. He will bring those who mourn salvation, the Holy Spirit, the joy of the Lord, righteousness' in their hearts and will sow them in the earth for his glory.
Isaiah 61:4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolation's, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolation's of many generations. ( Prophesying how believers, their influence, will build civilizations. As opposed to those who destroy them.)
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. (Prophesying how people of all nations, as opposed to just Israelite's will be shepherds, pastors, evangelists, prophets in the Lord's vineyard in the earth.)
6 Furthermore, you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: (The ministry of the believer.)
you shall eat the riches of the nations, (that ministry, eventually accepted and supported in the nations.)
and in their glory shall you boast yourselves. (Meaning the glory, or the state of existence of civilizations based in Biblical principle as a result of the Messiahs invisible Kingdom is what the believers will boast about.)
Isaiah 61:7 For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion and reproach, they shall rejoice in their portion: Therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be to them. What this is prophesying is that for the persecution, oppression and murder the saints face in lands where ever the Gospel is first preached. Due to the influence of the Messiah's invisible kingdom eventually creating the free world. The saints, at that time will be blessed, prosperous, and flourishing; in a way the world had never known.
8 For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. This is speaking of the hatred of God towards the pseudo religious substitution of rites and rituals as opposed to true conversion from the heart. That the true work of the messiah was to bring justice in the earth as the fruit of real conversion. That this is Gods covenant with the believer. That he would bring about this age of promise where justice and righteousness would be a prevalent force in the earth.
Isaiah 61:9 And their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity which the LORD has blessed. Speaking of those who are the posterity of the prophets and apostles. Those influenced by their words which started happening in earnest about 500 years ago when the Bible began to get into the hands of the general public.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Teaching that the Lord will cause this transformation to act as almost a force of nature in the world. That we should participate and rejoice in it as a product of our salvation and as the bride of Christ.
