The entrance into the Kingdom of God which Jesus speaks is a future entrance

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" Central to the synoptic gospels is Jesus' proclamation of the

Kingdom of God. Jesus' primary mission to his people was to offer

them the possibility of eschatological salvation, which, for the most

part, he expressed by the term " Kingdom of God. " (A synonym for the

Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Heaven, found in the Gospel of

Matthew.)...

 

Kingdom of God in the midst of You (Luke 17:20-21)

 

20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming,

he answered them, " The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be

observed; 21 nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or 'There!' for

behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you. "

 

Luke contains a saying in which Jesus describes the nature of the

appearance of the Kingdom of God; in it he connects the Kingdom with

himself. The Pharisees ask Jesus when the Kingdom of God will come in

17:20a. Jesus' response in 17:20b-21 is constructed in antithetical

parallelism. The negative member of Jesus' response consists of two

coordinating clauses joined by " nor, " which describe how the Kingdom

of God does not come: " The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to

be observed, nor will they say, `Look, here it is!' or, `There it

is!' " The first way in which the Kingdom does not come is " with signs

to be observed " (meta paratêrêseôs). In the context, the meaning

of " signs to be observed " probably describes empirically observable

phenomena associated with the inception of eschatological

fulfillment. Jesus' questioners hold the view that the coming of the

Kingdom of God will be universally recognizable by its accompanying

manifestations, and they want to know when Jesus believes these

premonitory manifestations will begin to occur, thereby heralding the

Kingdom. (On this interpretation " come " has a future meaning since it

is referring to the future Kingdom of God.) The second way in which

the Kingdom of God does not come is in such a way that someone could

say " Look, here it is!' or, `There it is! " The meaning seems to be

the same as " with signs to be observed. " In other words, Jesus is

saying that, contrary to their expectation, the Kingdom of God will

not come in such a way as to be universally recognized as such. He

rejects the presupposition behind the question, namely that the

Kingdom of God will all at once come as a publicly observable event.

In other words, the Kingdom will not come all at once, as full-blown,

so that no one could deny that it has come. Rather, Jesus' conception

of the Kingdom of God is that it begins inconspicuously, so that it

is possible to deny that it has come at the earliest stages of its

historical development.

 

The positive member of Jesus' response is the remarkable statement

that the Kingdom of God has already come: " For behold, the kingdom of

God is in your midst (entos humôn). " Jesus' point is that the Kingdom

of God is in the midst of his questioners insofar as he is in their

midst, so inseparable is he from the Kingdom. Of course, the Kingdom

is in its intial phases and so is still only partially and even

ambiguously present. For this reason, the possibility exists to deny

that it is present at all, in which case Jesus would be seen as

having no salvation-historical significance at all. When it comes to

completion, the Kingdom of God will be undeniable, but until then a

person will be able to accept or reject Jesus' claim that the Kingdom

of God is already present insofar as he is present...

 

Entering the Kingdom Maimed (Mark 9:43-48 = Matt 18:8-9)

 

Mark 9:43-48

43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for

you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the

unquenchable fire. 44 [omitted] 45 And if your foot causes you to

sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with

two feet to be thrown into hell. 46 [omitted] 47 And if your eye

causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the

Kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into

hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

 

Matt 18:8-9

8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and

throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than

with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And

if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is

better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be

thrown into the hell of fire.

 

Jesus teaches that a person must remove all impediments in order to

to enter the Kingdom of God (eiselthein eis tên basileian tou theou)

(Mark 9:47), which is synonymous with to enter into life (eiselthein

eis tên zoên) (Mark 9:43, 45), since it is better to do without any

so-called advantage than to miss entering the Kingdom of God or into

life. (The term " Kingdom of God " is synonymous with " life. " ) This is

expressed metaphorically as being willing to cut off one's hands and

one's feet and being willing to remove one's eye, if necessary. The

analogy between sin and a part of one's body is that, like the

latter, the former may be a cherished part of one's livelihood and

identity, which one may be understandably reluctant to thrust aside

since the loss of it would be keenly felt. One's bodily parts

represent what is closest and most valuable to a person, which must

be given up if it impedes entrance into the Kingdom of God or life.

The consequence of not being willing to sacrifice anything to enter

the Kingdom of God or life is punishment in Gehenna (or eternal

fire). The entrance of which Jesus speaks is a future entrance,

coincidental with final judgment; in fact, one must pass through

final judgment in order to enter the Kingdom of God as future or

life. "

 

www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/NTIntro/KingdGod2.htm

 

 

" According to the New Testament, the central message of Jesus was the

kingdom of God. He called for repentance in preparation for the

kingdom that was " at hand. " The kingdom of God referred to the reign

or rule of God, and in Jesus' ministry that reign of God was

announced as present. The presence of the kingdom, however, was not

full and complete, and, therefore, was often referred to as a future

event. Students of the New Testament have argued over whether Jesus

and his followers expected the kingdom of God to be fully present in

their generation. The unresolved state of that debate is registered

in the two expressions often used to characterize the New Testament

teaching about the kingdom: " already " and " not yet.”

 

MSN Encarta Encyclopedia

 

 

" Now the Time has come to start talking, announcing, telling about it

to everyone. Otherwise the world would say that we never knew about

it.... You must have that vision before you that I have put many a

times before you people that you have to emancipate the humanity....

 

You may tell people but the new announcement has to come to say that

running after falsehood is not going to take you to God. We believe

in the power of Love, and not in the power of hatred. We believe that

everyone is capable of finding the truth and getting to the heaven of

that paradise which is promised to us, the kingdom of God. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

May 6, 1990, Rome, Italy

 

 

" In the history of spirituality, it is one of the greatest days when

we find Christ rose from the dead. It is very significant and

symbolic that in Sahaja Yoga, also what we have done, is to rise from

the dead – into life. It is to be understood that resurrection is the

message for all of us, for the whole world. We have to resurrect

ourselves. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Istanbul, Turkey. April 15, 2001

 

 

" The Kingdom of God that we were promised is at hand. This is not a

phrase out of a sermon or a lecture, but it is the actualization of

the experience of the highest Truth which is Absolute, now

manifesting itself in ordinary people at this present moment. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

 

 

" The work is tremendous. It's not for medium, mediocre people to do

this job. Frightened, fearful, arrogant, cheeky - they cannot, they

have no mettle.... Tell all the nations and tell all the people all

over the Great Message that the Time of Resurrection is here. Now! At

this time, and that you are capable of doing it. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Cowley Manor Seminar, UK - July 31, 1982

 

 

" Today, Sahaja Yoga has reached the state of Mahayoga, which is en-

masse evolution manifested through it. It is this day's Yuga Dharma.

It is the way the Last Judgment is taking place. Announce it to all

the seekers of truth, to all the nations of the world, so that nobody

misses the blessings of the Divine to achieve their meaning, their

absolute, their spirit. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

 

 

" The main thing that one has to understand is that the time has come

for you to get all that is promised in the scriptures, not only in

the Bible but all the scriptures of the world. The time has come

today that you have to become a Christian, a Brahmin, a Pir, through

your Kundalini awakening only. There is no other way. And that your

Last Judgment is also now. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

 

 

" Of course there are some absurd things which grew with

misinterpretation and interference from unholy people, which are

common in these religions. For example, Jews, Christian and Muslims

believe that when they die their bodies will come out of their graves

and they will all be resurrected at the Time of Resurrection, at the

Time of Last Judgment, at the Time of Qiyamah. It is illogical to

think what will remain inside those graves after five hundred years.

Nobody wants to think and understand that it is not the body but the

soul that will come out of these bodies, be born again as human

beings and be saved through Qiyamah and Resurrection. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

 

 

" The Indian sage, who may be called the pioneer in this field, was

the first great astrologer Bhrigumuni. In his book Nadi Granth, he

made clear predictions about these Modern Times. He also specifically

predicted how the Kundalini would be awakened spontaneously through

Sahaja Yoga, that is, spontaneous union with the Divine, and become

the means of both individual and collective transformation on a large

scale, through teaching incarnation of a great Yogi. This Yogi would

be an unparalleled master of the Kundalini and would teach all the

people the ancients secrets of self-transformation. These are the

times described in the Holy Bible as the Last Judgment and in the

Koran as Qiyamah — the Resurrection Time. Astrologically it also

called the Age of Aquarius, the Time of Rebirth and of great

spiritual development on the Earth. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

 

 

" Though you can understand that Mother's Love makes it very easy for

you to get to your Realization and that the whole story of Last

Judgment, which looks such a horrifying experience, has been made

very beautiful, and very tender, and delicate, and does not disturb

you. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

 

 

>

> " This mission of the Paraclete, like that of Jesus Himself, is two-

> sided; for to the world which has rejected Christ it brings

> judgement... This cannot take place until Jesus has been exalted

> (17:7). " Dictionary of the Bible

>

 

" Paraclete, Comforter (L. Consolator; Greek parakletos), an

appellation of the Holy Ghost. The Greek word which, as a designation

of the Holy Ghost at least, occurs only in St. John (14:16, 26;

15:26; 16:7), has been variously translated " advocate " , " intercessor " ,

" teacher, " helper " , " comforter " . This last rendering, though at

variance with the passive form of the Greek, is justified by the

Hellenistic usage, a number of ancient versions, patristic and

liturgical authority, and the evident needs of the Johannine context.

According to St. John the mission of the Paraclete is to abide with

the disciples after Jesus has withdrawn His visible presence from

them; to inwardly bring home to them the teaching externally given by

Christ and thus to stand as a witness to the doctrine and work of the

Saviour. There is no reason for limiting to the Apostles themselves

the comforting influence of the Paraclete as promised in the Gospel

(Matthew 10:19; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11, 21:14) and described in Acts

2... Says St. Bernard (Parvi Sermones): " De Spiritu Sancto testatur

Scriptura quia procedit, spirat, inhabitat, replet, glorificat.

Procedendo praedestinat; spirando vocat quos praedestinavit;

inhabitando justificat quos vocavit; replendo accumulat meritis quos

justificavit; glorificando ditat proemiis quos accumulavit meritis " .

Every salutary condition, power, and action, in fact the whole range

of our salvation, comes within the Comforter's mission. Its

extraordinary effects are styled gifts, fruits, beatitudes. Its

ordinary working is sanctification with all it entails, habitual

grace, infused virtues, adoption, and the right to the celestial

inheritance. " The charity of God " , says St. Paul (Romans 5:5), " is

poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is give to us. " In

that passage the Paraclete is both the giver and the gift: the giver

of grace (donum creatum) and the gift of the Father and the Son

(donum increatum). St. Paul teaches repeatedly that the Holy Ghost

dwells in us (Romans 8:9, 11; 1 Corinthians 3:16). " [1]

 

" Paraclete comes from the Koine Greek word (Parakletos) meaning " one

who consoles - a comforter " or " one who intercedes on our behalf - an

advocate " . It may reflect Hebrew: mnahhem " comforter " ....

 

'Paraclete' appears in the New Testament in the Gospel of John

(14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, 20:22) where it may be translated in

English as " Counselor " , " Helper " , or " Comforter " . The Early Church

identified the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5,1:8,2:4,2:38)

and Christians continue to use Paraclete as a title for God's Spirit.

 

In 1 John 2:1 " paraclete " is used to describe the intercessory role

of Jesus Christ. And in John 14:16 Jesus says " another paraclete "

will come to help his disciples, implying Jesus is the first

paraclete.

 

In Matt 3:10-12 and Luke 3:9-17 John the Baptist says a powerful one

coming after him: " will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with

fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his

threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the

chaff with unquenchable fire. " (NIV)

 

Verses like these are often used by Christians in Trinitarian

theology to describe how God is revealed to the world and God's role

in salvation. According to trinitarian doctrine, the Paraclete or

Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity who among other things

provides guidance, consolation and support to people. Other titles

for the Holy Spirit include 'Spirit of Truth', Lightfull Spirit of

God Almighty, Holy Breath, Almighty Breath, Giver of Life, Lord of

Grace, Helper, 'Comforter', 'Counsellor' and 'Supporter'. " [2]

 

[1] The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI. Published 1911. New York:

Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, February 1, 1911.

[2] " Paraclete. " Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 26 Dec 2007