The Israelites were on the verge of understanding their covenant as being bonded to God in spirit. One main blockage, however, was that many still believed their covenant was bound up with their nation. Conquering their enemies and restoring the nation of Israel became a major tenant of the Jewish faith, and the idea of the new covenant got tangled up with the restoration of Israel. The new covenant was no longer about being one with God’s spirit, but they believed the fulfillment of the covenant would be the new age when they would once again be a great nation. It was also believed that their restored nation would herald in a time of peace for everyone, because all would come to recognized their God as the most high and come to Jerusalem to worship alongside the Jews.
In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2: 2-3 NLT)
This hope was what helped the people stay focused even though they had been trampled on. When it did not come to fruition, many factions arose to try and handle the ongoing domination of the Jews by their enemies. The Essenes decided to leave the social community, believing it was due to the sinfulness of the Jews that the restoration had not happened. They chose to abandon traditional society and hide in caves. They did this with faith that when God chose to act they would be the ones rewarded for their true faithfulness to God. Where the Essenes solution was to cower and hide, the Zealots were just the opposite they wanted to gather an army and take on the Romans by force. For them God was not acting quickly enough and needed some help. In between these two extreme groups were the Pharisees, they believed that God would act, only when his Law was followed perfectly. Therefore, they were stringent followers of the religious Law.
It is into this melting pot of ideas about the restoration that Jesus began to preach. He was clearly lined up with the Prophets of the Old Testament, and did not agree with any of the groups that had formed. The Jews of Jesus day misinterpreted Jesus message about the Kingdom of God, they had turned it into the Kingdom of Israel. According to Jesus, though, the restoration was not a national redemption, but a spiritual one to happen in people’s hearts. Jesus’ main message was a Jewish one, he preached that the Kingdom of God was at hand, it is exactly what all the Jews wanted to hear. Yet they believed it meant that the Romans would be conquered and Israel would be glorified. Jesus, however, proclaimed that the Kingdom of God could be entered into in the here and the know, even though they were still living under Roman occupation. What he did was separate out the new age of peace, from the national interests of the Jews.
Everything Jesus did from his teachings and prayers to his miracles all revolved around the message of the kingdom of God. The philosophy of Kingdom of God being the fulfillment of the covenant has gotten lost under a pile of theological ideas. And so, therefore, the new covenant has never come to fruition in the hearts of Christians. Jesus’ main purpose was to lead humanity to the new covenant, to a time when everyone shall know God in spirit. In the Gospel of John Jesus said, “the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23 NLT)
Jesus’ kingdom was intimately linked to the new covenant that Jeremiah spoke of. According to Jesus and Jeremiah religion was no longer to be about dutifully following the Law, because the spirit will naturally take people were the moral part of the law was originally pointing us. This is also what St. Paul explained as well. He converted the old symbols of the covenant to give them new meaning when he said, “true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not people” (Rom. 2:29) This clearly explains Jesus’ message. Once we are bumped up from the ego-centric, mind level to the higher spiritual level of the spirit we gain a better understanding of God. This includes seeing God as Jesus did, as intimately connected to people. The spirit closes the gap between humans and God. She reaches into our very heart and spiritually binds us to God. This link can never be broken. Once a person has reached this level they never return to a more primitive understanding of the divine. God is trying to explain this to us, even in the Old Testament Isaiah proclaimed for God “Look! I am creating new heavens and new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.” Yet this is exactly what people are doing today. They are trying to fit an old way of looking at things into a new earth. It doesn’t work! It can’t because God has created a new earth. In others words, God is trying to bring everyone up to the spiritual level. This is the message of the bible. A message of the fulfillment of the covenant, with the Kingdom of God on earth. A message of hope, peace and a loving God always working to bring people closer to him until they understand that there is no real separation between themselves and God.
Unfortunately, some Christian denominations actually have ideas and philosophies that run counter to God’s peace, his kingdom, his fulfillment of the covenant. They pick and chose a few select verses and build a religion of fear and ignorance around them. The religious leaders of these sects have realized that it is not peace, and entry into God’s Kingdom, but fear that motivates people. By placing fear of God into people’s hearts, these Christian leaders can control people and keep them on the right path, theirs. The main reason people try to stay on this path is to stay clear of hell. In other words these leaders feed on our fearfulness of God’s wrath. This is a sad tragedy because the main enemy of the kingdom of God is not Satan as many believe, but fear. Our human fears are killing us and the kingdom of God. Fear has the power to weaken both our body and soul, and causes us to make irrational decisions based on selfishness. It is exactly this that is causing most of the problems in the world today. Destroy fear, and God’s kingdom will grow.
God’s vengeful side is clearly a part of the bible. Many Christians falsely believe that the God of the Old Testament is a wrathful God, and that Jesus came from heaven to show a loving Father. It is, however, in the new Testament, that Jesus himself solidifies the concept of hell. There seems to be two conflicting messages in the gospels. The first one is to “love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you… Then your reward from heaven will be very great and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”(Luke 6:27-36 NLT)) Here we are given the ultimate loving picture of God, and are called to imitate this loving God. In the Gospel of Matthew, however, Jesus, appears as a hypocrite, for he yelled at the Pharisees, “Snakes! Sons of Vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell.” (Matt. 24:33 NLT) This is clearly not a loving attitude, calling people names and putting the fear of hell in them. What are we to think of Jesus, preaching one thing and doing another. It’s like the old adage one might have heard growing up “do what I say, not what I do,” which we all know in reality does not work. This paradoxical message shows its face again and again throughout all four gospels. As children we are taught that Jesus preached about a compassionate Father in heaven. We are told that we are to follow Jesus example. Yet, Jesus own actions are not always loving, nor are all of his teachings. Time and time again, he teaches that if you do not accept the kingdom, then the only other option is hell. This philosophy actually ruins the kingdom message. Ones inner heart can only hate what it fears. So our spiritual natures cannot move closer to a scary God of fire and flames. A person’s true spiritual self is not truly aligned with the kingdom if that person is only in it to stay out of hell. True membership in God’s kingdom only comes about by being connected with God’s spirit and this can only happen through love, not fear.
If Jesus preached a message of hell, then he killed his own kingdom. This seems highly unlikely. More likely the message of judgment and the words of hate on Jesus lips are from the gospel writers who wrote 70 to 100 years after Jesus death. They had good intentions of trying to convince people that it was imperative to choose the kingdom of God. But, this message does not line up with Jesus’ original message of a loving God, who calls for people to be loving as well. One last thing to consider in this discussion, if God includes wrathfulness then does that not give us permission to be vengeful as God is. If God can punish to the extreme and throw people to the eternal agony of hell, then the torture that people do to each other seems almost insignificant in comparison. How we view God, also determines how we perceive humanity. If we can imagine a hateful God, then hatefulness will always be part of us as well. Joining in God’s kingdom is making a conscious effort to try alleviate hate from our lives.
God is all-powerful, that fact can make God very frightening to fragile humans. God understands this and in some cases in the Bible one gets the impression that God is trying to alleviate our fears. When God sent angels to Mary, John’s father Zechariah, the shepherds, and to the woman at the tomb each time the angel greeted them with “fear not.” When Simon first met Jesus, he fell on his knees professing his sinfulness. Jesus replied “Fear not! From henceforth thou shalt catch men.”(Luke 5:10 KJV) And Jesus also preached in general, “Fear not, little flock: for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32 KJV) In these cases Jesus does not teach us about a fearful, wrathful God, but rather to love and trust God. We are expected to put our entire lives in the hands of God. Jesus himself led a life that was above fear. Even in the face of death he did not detour from God’s plan. His philosophy can be summed up by St. Paul’s question, “If God be for us, who can ever be against us?” (Rom 8:31 NLT) This denies the existence of some “other” to be afraid of. Jesus didn’t even see the Roman soldiers as his enemy, but rather people who were in need of mercy. He showed love even for these soldiers when he said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34 NLT)
Fear is based on the unknown. We don’t truly know God, so we fear God. In the society around us the same is also true. People who seem different or odd are feared as well. This is the cause of much prejudice and hatred. It comes from the old group mentality that everyone in my group is friend, anyone else who I don’t know is foe. There is a dangerous current paradigm about God within Christianity that is linked to that old, archaic idea. This is the idea of polar opposites, setting up one thing in opposition to another. According to these Christians, one is either good or bad, in heaven or hell. A person must value soul over body, the masculine over the feminine, heaven over earth and their religion over all others. This is as far away from the kingdom of God and peace as one can get. In setting up one thing as better than another the lines are drawn for battle. Now the soul must fight the body, a Christian must fight against an ungodly world, men against woman, and Christians against all other religions. Peace is only going to be found by erasing these boundary lines and incorporating all things into God’s plan.
The ultimate fulfillment of the covenant, the peace that God is driving us towards is found in spirit. We are bound to God’s spirit, and his spirit is everywhere. From the book of Psalm we learn that:
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from you presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
If I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of morning,
If I dwell by the farthest oceans,
Even there you hand will guide me,
And your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
And the light around me to become night—
But even in darkness I cannot hid from you
To you the night shines as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)
Within God there is no “other,” which means there is nothing to fear. In fact, God can be found in the integration of seemingly opposites things. The body and soul are one, masculine and feminine qualities can appear in both sexes, heaven can come down to earth, people can contain both good and evil qualities, and all religions hold some truths and some falsities. Peace means finding harmony in opposite things. For if people could see a part of themselves in the “other” then their anger will subside and be replaced with compassion. In that case, compromise and agreements could be made, rather than war and threats.
I believe this teaching of polar opposites is incorrect and needs to be abandoned if there is to be growth toward God’s kingdom and ultimate peace for the world. I foresee a wonderful future for the world, as I believe Jesus did with his vision of the Kingdom of God, one where all nations live in harmony, and people make it top priority to make sure that everyone has their basic needs met. I see a future where there is respect for males and females alike. It will be a world where different races and religions are treated with equal respect. This may just be a fantasy, but I believe it is the world God is moving us toward slowly each day. For as St. Paul said “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. (gal 3:28 NLT) This is exactly what the kingdom of God will look like. Today we need a spiritual boost to propel us forward and closer to God’s kingdom. I believe that first step is to eliminate the philosophy of opposites. There are six important opposite pairs within the Christian understanding of God that must be harmonized if our world is to become a more peaceful one. These include:
1. masculine vs. feminine
2. God vs. devil
3. Christianity vs. other religions
4. soul vs. body
5. Nature vs. transcendence
The following chapters will consider each one of these dichotomies in detail and how they can be corrected.
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