There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28)

Sometimes it is taught that the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are two different kingdoms. From the two passages above it seems as though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are going to have to choose whether to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God.

Of course, there is only the one kingdom. The Kingdom of God comes from Heaven and therefore may be termed the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is much anti-Semitic prejudice in numerous Gentile believers. There is a deep conviction that "the Jews murdered Jesus" and since that time have willfully rejected His atonement and resurrected Presence. Gentiles may not be ready to fully receive Paul's statement that the murder and rejection have occurred according to God's foreknowledge (although produced by human sinfulness—God never acts in an evil manner) and that God has made His plans accordingly.

Unsaved Gentiles may be willing to believe the misconception that the Jews in their wickedness rejected Christ while Gentiles in their righteousness received Him. But Gentile believers ought to know the Scriptures better than this!

On the basis of this deplorable misunderstanding, Gentile theologians have created a kingdom of righteous (by imputation) Gentiles in the spiritual paradise of God and a lesser kingdom of fleshly Jews on a cursed earth. Such a totally unscriptural conjecture raises difficult questions:

To which body, which kingdom, does the Apostle Paul belong?

Is this doctrine speaking of Gentiles who have no Jewish blood in them (in the supposed Gentile Church), or is some Jewish blood acceptable? How about a believer who is one-fourth Jewish? Where does one draw the line of acceptability? How far back in the ancestral line must we go when determining who is a Jew and who is a Gentile? And what do we do with the Scripture passage that declares in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek?

What about the Apostle Peter? Is he of the same Church, the same kingdom, as believing Gentiles? Has Peter become a Gentile? Or will Peter rule on the earth over a fleshly kingdom?

What about the Jew who is born again? Is he part of the spiritual Kingdom in Heaven or part of a natural kingdom on the earth?

To what kingdom was the Lord Jesus referring when He advised the Jew, Nicodemus, "You must be born again if you would see or enter the Kingdom of God"?

How can unregenerate Jews rule a kingdom on earth that is acceptable to God when they do not have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ?

If we postulate that all Jews who are new-covenant believers have become part of the "Gentile Church," and the Jews who will be left on the cursed earth have never been born again, how do we apply the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures to the Jews who have become part of the Church?

We know the Lord Jesus will rule on the throne of David in the city of Jerusalem. Will He be ruling in the midst of Jews who never have been born again, who are still flesh and blood creatures, not having the Seed of God in them?

To be continued.