“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect another?” (Mt 11:2-11)

Posted on December 23, 2025 by Pastor Foley

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:

‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:2-11)

By Pieter Brueghel the Elder – Google Arts & Culture: Home – pic Maximum resolution., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122059315

Through Jesus’ life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, he brought the direct reign of God–the Kingdom of God—with him wherever he was. And when, with his Father he poured out the Holy Spirit from his throne in heaven, Christ’s reign was extended over the whole world.

Many people’s understanding of the Kingdom of God robs Christ of the complete and total victory which the scriptures announce that he has clearly already won. They either believe that the Kingdom is only in heaven, or in our hearts, or in the future, or only partly present, or only in the church.

Revelation 1:5 tells us that Jesus is presently the ruler of the kings of the earth. But, if that is so, why do we not see him ruling over everything?

Hebrews 2:8 says this “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.” (KJV)

Psalm 110:2 also says, “The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!””

Christ already defeated his enemies on the cross, as Colossians 2:15 tells us. But instead of destroying them, he invites his enemies to end their rebellion and receive his mercy. The gospel is the offer of mercy to Christ’s enemies before he returns to judge the world.

This doesn’t mean that his enemies can do whatever they want to do at the present time. Christ already rules over them directly and personally. Nothing they do can stop him or even slow him down. Everything that they do only accomplishes his purpose of bringing them to his feet. There, at his feet, they must choose either his mercy or their destruction.

The Kingdom of God is at hand. Christ is presently ruling and reigning over the earth. In scripture, the Kingdom of God is never separated from the salvation is God. If the salvation of God is present, then the Kingdom of God is present.

“Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said,… “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” (Hosea 13:11, 14)

Scripture is clear that the Kingdom of God and the salvation of God save us not only from our sins, but from all the things that seek to rebel against God in the world.

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” (Colossians 1:13)

Christ rescues us from all things now because his Kingdom is present now. Previously, we were under those appointed by God such as rulers, presidents, parents, etc. But now we are under Christ’s direct rule, and nothing in this age can interfere with that.

In scripture, the Kingdom of God is not an optional kingdom. You don’t get to decide whether you become part of it or not. On the cross, the Kingdom of God defeated all the other kingdoms and put all people under the direct rule and care of Christ. His rule can either be welcomed with joy or rejected and rebelled against. And those who rebel will face eternal destruction on the day of Christ’s return.

Christ is already Lord of all. But in the present age the Kingdom can only be seen by faith. Many Christians hear “seen by faith” and tend to think that this means that the Kingdom is only present in our hearts. But “seen by faith” doesn’t mean that the Kingdom is not here. It means that it is not detectable using the senses that are used to see things in the present age.

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3)

We might say, “I am born again, but I still can’t see the Kingdom of God. Why?” This is actually the question which John the Baptist asked Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”. The scripture does not say that John asked this because he was languishing in prison and sad that he might have selected the wrong candidate for the Messiah.

John the Baptist’s question does not reveal a lack of faith. It reveals a lack of sight. John knew that he was faithfully proclaiming the message of the Kingdom of God that God had given him through the scripture to preach.

“See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.” (Isaiah 30:27)

We can understand what motivated John’s question to Jesus based on how Jesus responded to John’s question: “Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew 11:4-5)

John preached about the Kingdom from the prophet Isaiah. So Jesus responds to John’s question by also quoting from Isaiah:

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” (Isaiah 35:3-6)

Jesus is not only the only king of the Kingdom of God, but the only teacher. Jesus is not encouraging John but teaching John. Jesus is the only one who can open people’s minds to understand the scriptures.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.” (Matthew 23:8-10)

It is almost as if Jesus answers John’s question by saying, “John, you are correct. But keep reading after Isaiah 30. Before the Messiah comes in judgment, he must come in mercy to strengthen the feeble hands and knees. He must first give sight to the blind, and preach the good news to give life to the dead.”

And, later, as he taught his disciples, he first had to be crucified, buried, and rise again on the third day to fulfill the scriptures.

“He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:44-45)

Jesus told the crowd, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Jesus’ purpose is not to praise John the Baptist, but to use what just happened as a teaching illustration about the kingdom of GOd. He is teaching that, even though the Kingdom of God is fully present, it is impossible for us to discern God’s activity based on what we see. Even John, who proclaimed the Kingdom of God, could not see it. Yet, even the least in the Kingdom of God can see what John cannot.

When we are baptized, we die to the present age. But, even though we are born again, we cannot use the senses of this age to see the Kingdom. We must use Kingdom-senses to see the Kingdom. We receive this Kingdom-sense at our baptism. “Kingdom-sense” is not some spooky spiritual ability that allows us to hear voices in our ears and see visions. Jesus shows us clearly the only sense by which we can detect the Kingdom of God. It is his word. Jesus responded to all inquirers by revealing himself to him through his word.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14)

The word of God, taught by Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit, is the only way we are able to see the Kingdom of God. Even though Christ is ruling over all creation directly, the only way to detect that activity is through him teaching us through His word. Without the Holy Spirit opening our eyes and the Spirit manifesting him to us, we are as blind to Christ’s reign as an unbeliever—and as blind as Jesus’ disciples, Nicodemus, and John the Baptist.

We can’t overcome this blindness just by sitting down and reading the Bible. Scripture only becomes the living word of God when Christ himself teaches it and the Holy Spirit opens our minds to receive it. That means we have to come to scripture with humility and patience, asking Christ to teach us. We must wait on him to teach what he wants to teach us, when he wants to teach us. He is gracious and merciful, and he will respond to us just like he did to John the Baptist and to his own disciples.

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“Today you will be with me in paradise”

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Pastor Foley

“When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

This final Sunday of the church year is called “Christ the King Sunday”. The purpose of this Sunday is to give us a picture of what it means that Christ is the king. But in Luke 23, Jesus is being crucified. How does this depict Christ as King? Wouldn’t it have been better to choose a scripture like Revelation 19:11?

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war.”

Many Christians these days think this way. They believe that Jesus’s weakness was displayed on the cross, but that Jesus’ power will be revealed when he comes again. But this is a worldly understanding of power.

In the world, power is what you use to save and protect things. So, many Christians think that God is calling us to use power to save and protect strong families and marriages and to ban abortion. We think of Christ’s death on the cross like a soldier who died standing up for his country. And we think that Christ is calling us to sacrifice for him and for Christian values.

If we are to understand what it means that Christ is King, one of the most important things to understand about the King is that he does not change.

“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” (Malachi 3:6)

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

It is true that Jesus was born, died, resurrected, ascended, and will come again. But that does not mean that his character changes. Before Jesus comes, when he is on the cross, when he was resurrected, when he ascended, and when he comes again, he is the same!

“so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28).

When Jesus was on the cross, it wasn’t that Jesus’ character and power were hidden. Instead, they were on full display. Jesus revealed his identity and God’s identity fully.

“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” (John 17:1)

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” (Colossians 2:9)

The problem is not that Christ’s power was hidden on the cross. It is that we have a warped and sinful understanding of power.

“With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”” (Matthew 26:51-54)

Jesus did not restrain his power by refraining from calling on angels. If he wanted to, he could call down from heaven more ‘power’ than the disciples could even imagine. But Jesus knew that that is not true power. Compared to God’s word, everything else is weak. Jesus knew that when God’s word said that something must happen in a certain way, no amount of worldly power could stop it.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

The word of God is stronger than any power in the world. Jesus knows this, and this is why he only uses the power of the word.

“Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” (Revelation 19:15)

The sword of the word is the sword that protects Jesus when he is on the cross. Nothing can happen to him (or to any of us) that is against the promises of the word of God. When Jesus was on the cross, the religious leaders tried to get him to act against the word. They told him if he was the King of the Jews, to come down from the cross. But Jesus kept the word of God: not saving his own life but instead using it to love his enemies.

Jesus lives out the word of God faithfully on the cross. This is why, on the cross, Jesus is not only dying for our sins, but he is ruling as our King. This is why Paul said that, on the cross, Jesus defeats his enemies.

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:15)

Ruling is not controlling others by your power. That would be a worldly understanding of power, not a heavenly one. Christ is ruling by carrying out the will of His Father in heaven, as we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer.

From the beginning to the end of his life, Jesus lives a life of trust in what His Father has said to him regardless of what he sees or hears. That is the definition of real power.

This is important for us to understand because the Bible says that Christians will reign with Christ. Does this ‘reigning’ mean that we are going to sacrifice ourselves in a spiritual battle for our country, strong families, and Christian values?

No. We will reign the same reason Christ does. Because we live lives of simple, unshakeable trust in the word of God no matter what we see or what others say to us. In this way, the word of God is done on earth as it is in heaven.

We wrongly think of martyrdom as being about big, bold, noble actions on the part of the martyr. We think of the martyr as enduring persecution and torture, defending the faith, standing up for Christ. We imagine the martyr entering heaven triumphantly and Christ giving them a big hug and proclaiming, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

But Christ does not praise martyrs for bold sacrifice on his behalf. Instead, he praises us for living lives of simple trust in his word. This is what it means to be Christ’s good and faithful servants. Christ praises us for trusting that he will act according to his promises, just as Christ trusted that God would act according to God’s promises. Martyrs are those who wait with patient endurance for God to deliver them and the world from evil, just as he promised. What he calls us to do isn’t to use our power to enforce his will but to use our will to trust the power of his word.

This is the difference between the two criminals with whom Christ was crucified. The first criminal cries out, like many in the world today, “God, fix this problem for me and then I will believe in you” or “God, give me the power to fix this thing”. But that is not faith. It is merely a demand that God act according to our worldly understanding of power to protect what we believe is precious, namely ourselves.

But the second criminal does three things:

  • He acknowledges his own guilt and unworthiness.
  • He proclaims Christ’s innocence and worthiness.
  • He places his simple trust in Christ’s words.

“Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”” (Luke 23:42-43)

What does Jesus mean by “paradise”? We don’t know, and Jesus doesn’t tell us. But we are not called to fill in the blanks, we are called to trust that Jesus will tell us what we don’t know when we need to know it. But what we do know about “paradise” from the word of God in Genesis 2 is that the “paradise” of Eden is the place where God walked with humans without mediation. Because Christ is the God who walked with humans in the Garden of Eden, he is promising that unmediated relationship to the thief on the cross.

The way of the cross, how Christ lived and calls us to live, is to walk with unwavering trust that God will act according to his word. This is the way Christ has always lived, how he reigns, and how he conquered his enemies. There are no enemies whom Christ calls us to cut of their ears. Christ doesn’t call us to defend him or establish his kingdom. He calls us to trust and testify to his promises, just as he did with his Father’s promises all the way to the cross.

And Christ calls us to witness to his defeated enemies that he has made a promise of mercy to them called the gospel. Christ calls us to reign with him over all the powers and authorities in this world as we proclaim that gospel and join him in living according to the way of the cross.

The way of the cross is still rejected by the world as foolish. Often the way of the cross is rejected even by the church. We wrongly see the way of the cross as weak and insufficient to protect the things that are precious to us and precious to God. Like the disciple in the Garden of Gethsemane, we still pull out our little swords and try to cut off the ears of our enemies, thinking that by our power we are defending the kingdom.

But Christ tells us to put away our swords. Christ saves us not only from our sins but from our horribly wrong understandings of power. Christ is not calling us to use power for the “right things”. He is calling us to repent of our worldly understanding and use of power and instead live a life of simple, unshakeable trust in his promises as we walk according to God’s true wisdom and power, the way of the cross.

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“Children of the Resurrection” (Luke 20:27-38)

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Pastor Foley

Scripture speaks about two ages. These are sometimes called “this age” (or “the present evil age”) and “the age to come”, or “this world” and “the world to come” or “the kingdoms of this world” and “the kingdom of God”. The difference between these two ages is how God reigns.

God always has all power and authority, even in this present evil age where scripture calls Satan the God or king or ruler of this world. Even when Satan is called the ruler of this world, it is still God who holds all the power. Nothing that Satan or the other enemies of God do can stop God or even slow God down from accomplishing his purpose. Their actions opposing God are used by God to accomplish God’s purpose. We see that most clearly, of course, in the crucifixion of Jesus.

In this present evil age, God reigns indirectly. God reigns through mediators. God rules over his people through the kings and governments. God provides for his people through their families and their jobs and through the government.

But in the kingdom of God, God rules over his people directly. He provides for them directly, without any intermediaries. He himself is the shepherd. He himself provides the daily bread, directly. This is what we see Jesus doing in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

When Jesus says that the poor are blessed because the kingdom of God is theirs, it is because in the kingdoms of this world, in this present evil age, God’s provision for the poor goes through intermediaries, and they all take a portion, so the poor are left with nothing.

Does this mean that evil intermediaries are stopping God from accomplishing his purpose? No, even from the Old Testament, God promised that he would judge the intermediaries:

“As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet? “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.” (Ezekiel 34:17-24)

Jesus is the real David. And the coming of the Kingdom of God is how God rights all wrongs. Jesus doesn’t come to reform this world and raise up better rulers in this present, evil age. He ends this age on the cross.

“None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:8)

When the rulers of this world crucified Christ, they ended their own evil age. It looks to us like nothing has changed since Christ’s death and resurrection. But looks can be deceiving. Christ defeated his enemies on the cross. But he chose not to destroy them. Instead, he ordained a short time to offer his enemies his mercy before his return. This offer of mercy is called “the gospel of the kingdom”. And we are living in this time.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14).

In this period, all of God’s enemies are already defeated. They have the ability to deceive and make us think that they are still powerful enough to oppose God. But they are not.

In Matthew 24:14, note that Jesus calls the gospel the “gospel of the kingdom”, not the “gospel of the forgiveness of sins”. Forgiveness of sins is one aspect of our salvation, but the Kingdom of God is more than that. The Kingdom of God means that God is providing for and ruling over his people directly today. This includes, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, our daily bread.

In the present evil age, God taught people indirectly through mediators and teachers. But now, in the Kingdom of God, Jesus teaches us directly. This is the new covenant–the New Testament.

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:29-30)

The Kingdom of God is not something you enter when you stop breathing. It is what you enter when you are baptized into Christ’s death. From the moment of your baptism, God is providing for you directly. That it his responsibility as our Father. And our responsibility is to trust Him to be that sole provider. That is what “faith” means.

“Faith” does not mean that God will open the gates of heaven for you after you die. That kind of faith costs you nothing. “Faith” means that we trust God alone for what we need, not the intermediators of the world. This changes who you are relying on today.

That brings us to today’s scripture, which is about marriage, the resurrection, and the Kingdom of God.

“Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” (Luke 20:27-38)

The Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection from the dead. They think it is a crazy idea. So they use the normal, everyday concept of marriage to try to show how much resurrection does not make sense.

But Jesus turns their argument upside down. For Jesus, the normal idea is resurrection, not marriage. Jesus uses the concept of resurrection to show that marriage makes no sense in the Kingdom of God, and that marriage is an institution that belongs only to this present, evil age.

Marriage was a mediator that God worked through in the present, evil age. But God rules over people directly in the Kingdom of God. So marriage is not found in the Kingdom of God.

The Sadducees draw an example from the law, which is another mediator which God worked through in the present, evil age. In the law, if a man’s brother dies childless, he had the responsibility to take his late brother’s wife and continue his brother’s family line. The Sadducees are saying, “The resurrection doesn’t make sense because a resurrected woman could end up with seven resurrected husbands”. But their mistake is that they try to derive the Kingdom of God from the present, evil age.

Christians make the same mistake when we forget about what the Bible says about the Kingdom of God and talk about going to heaven when we die. And we think of heaven as being like our present life with all of the bad parts removed. We think of heaven as where we see our departed family and friends. We think it would be sad and awkward to see our spouse and not be married to them, so we hope for some kind of special relationship with our spouse in heaven.

But what Jesus does, and what we Christians need to do, is to start with the resurrection as a given and think about the present, evil age in light of it. For Christians, the resurrection should be the starting and ending point for all of our thinking.

In the present evil age, people’s life source comes from their parents. But in the resurrection, God supplies His own eternal life to people directly through the Holy Spirit. Marriage, having children, and having families what God’s indirect way of providing for people once sin entered the world. Once sin and death entered the world, people would be protected by, provided for, and ruled by their parents. And spouses would find sexual fulfilment in each other instead of being overcome by lust. This doesn’t mean that marriage is evil. It is the good way that God provides for people in a sinful world.

Jesus said:

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:4-5)

Doesn’t this mean that marriage was God’s original plan? Just because it was God’s plan for this world doesn’t mean it was God’s intended eternal state for humans. God’s intention was always that this world would be planted as a seed.

“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…” (Hebrews 9:27)

But God’s Kingdom will never end. That is why Jesus says that, in the Kingdom, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In the Kingdom, God will directly provide all of the things that He used to indirectly provide people through marriage. This is what it means that we are God’s children. God provides for us directly because He is our Father.

“And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9).

When you enter the Kingdom of God through baptism, you have one Father who directly provides for all your needs and rules over you directly for all things. And you have one family: the family of your Father in which Christ is your elder brother. This family is created by the blood of Christ alone, by the mercy of God alone.

These things do not happen after our physical death. It is at our baptism that we become children of the resurrection. It’s not that Jesus was resurrected, and then sometime later, in a second, separate resurrection, we will be resurrected. Scripture is clear that there is only one resurrection. Since Jesus has been resurrected, we know that that the general resurrection from the dead is now underway. Martin Luther said it like this: Christ is the head and we are the body. When a baby is born, once the head comes out, the rest of the body comes out easily!

This is why Jesus and Paul told believers (who are “children of the resurrection”) that it is better not to marry (though marriage is not a sin). Paul also makes clear that married people should not leave their marriage when they become Christian because the spousal relationship is a picture of Christ and the church. The New Testament is clear that the relationship between spouses and parents and children is a way that God indirectly cares for us in the present, evil age. But, for those who have become children of the resurrection through baptism, these relationships are replaced by God’s direct care.

Catholics (wrongly) consider marriage a sacrament. That means they believe that through marriage God directly imparts his grace. But we Protestants do not consider marriage a sacrament. That means that we (rightly) understand that our marriages are not part of the kingdom of God. That doesn’t mean we treat our marriages like trash. It does mean that we do not look for our spouses to provide for us what God alone intends to provide for us directly. And it means that the primary relationship of a Christian husband and wife—and the primary relationship of Christian parents to their children—is brother and sister in the Lord.

The reason why this is important is that these days Christians are out protesting, saying that what Jesus wants is strong marriages and strong families and that God is going to use these things to care for the next generation. But God’s care for his people is always only the kingdom of God. God’s care for people in the kingdom is direct. He provides for them directly. He rules over them directly. God’s care for this generation, and the next generation, and every generation is to offer them entrance to the kingdom of God based only on his mercy in Christ.

And in the kingdom of God, his care for us does not come through strong marriages and strong families. It comes directly from him to us without any mediation. Those who enter the kingdom who are married do not receive special care from God that single people don’t receive. There is no advantage to marriage in the kingdom of God. In fact, as Paul notes, often their marriages can interfere with Christians receiving and acting on what God has for them, because our focus is divided between the kingdom and the things of this present evil age, specifically, marriage. So as Christians, we don’t seek marriage. And we know that God did not send Jesus to reform the present age through strong families and strong marriages. As Christians, we are to seek only the kingdom of God, and the direct rule of God, and the direct provision of God.

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