In the teachings of John the Baptizer and Jesus, where the proclamation of the kingdom of God is central, the emphasis is on an era of justice, righteousness, and peace among all nations when the “will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven.”13 Sometimes this view of the kingdom has been labeled as “earthly” or “physical,” as opposed to a “heavenly” or “spiritual” kingdom, but this is a misunderstanding of the Hebrew notion of the messianic age. Although it is “on earth,” it is surely seen as an era of spiritual advancement, and Jesus regularly spoke about receiving “eternal life” in the age to come:
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29–30)
According to Jesus, in the “age to come” the Messiah will sit on his throne of glory and judge all the nations (Matthew 25:31). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the righteous of all ages will be raised from the dead and “sit at table in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:29). It is spoken of as a “new world,” but there is no idea of leaving the earth and going to heaven: “Truly, I say to you, in the new world [literally, “re-created”] when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28).
Paul, in contrast, is radically oriented toward a heavenly kingdom; one that flesh and blood cannot inherit. Rather than a reordered earth, however transformed, he envisions a reordered cosmos. He tells his followers at Corinth: “Do you not know that the chosen ones will judge the cosmos? And if the cosmos is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more matters pertaining to this life!” (1 Corinthians 6:2–3). He rebukes the Corinthians for taking their disputes to the Roman legal authorities when in fact their heavenly destiny is to rule with Christ over the entire universe—angels included. Earlier in the same letter he sarcastically chides them for putting their expectations of future glory ahead of the suffering that must come first: “Already you are filled! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did already reign, so that we might share the rule with you!” (1 Corinthians 4:8).
Paul is so convinced the end of the age has drawn near that he tells people not to marry and he encourages them to minimize all their dealings within society. Everything is about to be turned upside down. Here are his words:
I mean this brothers, the appointed time has grown very short; and from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none . . . and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the outward form of this cosmos is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:29–31)
For Paul the rule of Christ is a cosmic one and involves the subjugation of “things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth” (Philippians 2:10). In the heavenly realms this involves, first and foremost, the defeat of the “principalities” and “powers,” including Satan himself and all his angels, who are in rebellion against God—“the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly,” he tells the Romans (Romans 16:20; 8:38). On earth all human rule, authority, and power will be deposed and replaced by the rule of God through Christ and the glorified God-family. “Things under the earth” refers to the world of the dead, Sheol or Hades, where the departed spirits await resurrection and judgment.
Paul’s most comprehensive statement on the future heavenly kingdom of God is as cryptic as it is tantalizing. It has been the subject of endless debate among Paul’s interpreters. In just a dozen or so lines he pulls back the veil a tiny bit and allows us to peek into the future. Here is the full quotation:
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For [scripture says] “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:21–28)
Paul believes that God has a universal plan for all the descendants of Adam: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22), but he believes this process unfolds only in stages. As he says, “God was in Christ reconciling the cosmos to himself,” but in the present age, before the return of Christ, there is only a select number called to be part of the chosen ones (2 Corinthians 5:19). Accordingly, it is only the “dead in Christ” who are lifted up and glorified when Christ appears, not all the dead of all ages (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Though Paul believes in the general resurrection of all the dead, as did Jesus and the Pharisees, he never mentions it directly and only hints at it here—all shall be made alive. His entire concentration is upon the tiny initial group that he calls “the elect,” who he believes is being collected together just before the end of the age.
When Paul says “by a man came the resurrection of the dead” he refers, of course, to Christ, as the second or last Adam, who inaugurated the process of glorification for all of Adam’s descendants who are “of the dust” and thus subject to death. Based on the notion of the universality of the death that came through Adam, Paul says that the remedy of death, which is heavenly glorification, will be as universal as the fate of death. In other words all human beings will eventually be born into the God-family. Paul never mentions any idea of hell or eternal punishment in any of his letters, but he did believe that those who are chosen first can escape the wrath of God that will come with God’s judgment at the end of the age.
Paul goes on to say there is an ordered process involved that unfolds in two distinct stages. Stage one takes place at the coming of Christ, when only those “in Christ,” whether living or dead, experience their glorification, putting off the mortal and being reclothed in immortality. Elsewhere he refers to this event as the “revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). This group, the select ones God has chosen and called, whom Paul is gathering through his preaching, are compared to the “first fruits” of a harvest. This analogy is well-known in the Hebrew Bible. It involves a select portion of produce to be dedicated first to God, before the full harvest is carried out.14 This select group does appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive commendation and rewards, and if necessary punishments, to enable it to carry out its exalted destiny: