The Resurrection, The Kingdom and 1 Corinthians 15– William Bell- #2

Be sure to read #1” href=”http://donkpreston.com/the-resurrection-the-kingdom-and-1-corinthians-15-william-bell-part-1/” target=”_blank”>part one of this series to understand the prior thoughts. This is a very, very powerful presentation by William Bell, and should be considered carefully.

Inherit Multiple Kingdoms or One?

Does the Bible teach that we inherit multiple individual kingdoms? Is Christ the head of one body or King of one kingdom or of many bodies and kingdoms? Yes, we understand that Jesus is “Lord of lords and King of kings”, but those kingdoms are not his heavenly eschatological kingdom. They are earthly kingdoms and therefore are excluded from this discussion on those grounds.

The individual body (IBD) view cannot be correct, not only because it contradicts the above, but also,  because it teaches a fulfillment of the resurrection body through individual bodily resurrections at death that extend beyond A.D. 70. In other words, the eschaton is not complete and cannot ever be complete as long as there is another individual “kingdom body” to rise upon physical death!

Inherit The Kingdom Prepared From the Foundation of the World

In Matthew 25:34, Jesus calls upon the righteous (many) to inherit “the righteousness” (singular), i.e. the one Kingdom of God. Now why do we call it “the righteousness”? It’s because the Bible calls the kingdom “the righteousness.”

The kingdom is certainly the righteousness of God. “For the kingdom is not meat and drink, but righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit, (Romans 14:17).

• Thus to enter the “joy” of the Lord, equals to enter the kingdom.
• To enter the kingdom means to enter the righteousness.
• To enter righteousness means to enter into life

Now life is placed over against death and the Law of Moses, a covenantal state. “For if there could have been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness would have been by the Law. (Gal. 3:21) See also 2 Corinthians 3:6. (emp. mine). It is also important to note that Paul desired, not to have his own righteousness, i.e. an individual righteousness. For the Law said, the man who does them shall live in them. God offers us not our own righteousness in the kingdom but the righteousness of Christ, Rom. 10:4.

Further, the resurrection body, i.e. the kingdom of God is not an after-thought but was a part of God’s Edenic decree.

The promise of Christ, whom we have already acknowledged as the resurrection body of 1 Corinthians (15:22, compare with John 11:25-26) begins in Genesis 3:15. The seed of the woman is the “Seed” of the kingdom. The Seed was prepared or purposed before the foundation of the world, i.e. Christ; the kingdom of God was purposed before the foundation of the world.

That means God never intended for Adam to live forever on earth, but in the kingdom which is in but not of this world, but transcends it, and is designed for the living and the dead ones. It must likewise be obvious that Adam never ate of the tree of life. Consequently, Adam never obtained incorruption and immortality which is only found in Christ, 1 Tim. 1:17, 6:16. More to come! Be sure to read Don K. Preston’s We Shall Meet Him In The Air, the Wedding of the King of kings, for an in-depth discussion of the nature of the death of Adam. It is a powerful study!