490 - Salvation and the Kingdom of God

Your Salvation is Not All About You

One of the most sobering truths you can discover about your salvation is that it is not all about you. That’s right. Your salvation is actually about the Kingdom of God. We just happen to be the beneficiary of a great blessing from God in our salvation, but the overriding purpose of our salvation is not just about us, but about the Kingdom of God.

It seems, when we think of salvation today, it always begins with our justification and ends with us spending eternity in heaven. And it always seems to center on us.

Think about it.

Salvation begins when we ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins and ask Jesus to come into our lives as Lord and Savior. We usually follow this with the believer’s baptism. Then we try, to the best of our ability, to live according to the profession we made in Christ, but often fall short on a daily basis. And when we die, we go to heaven to be with the Lord and all those in Him who have died before us.

And what happens when we get to heaven?

We get a new, glorified body that doesn’t age or have any of the problems our old bodies had. We can fly like angels. There is something about a supper we are invited to. We get a really big house, a mansion, and we get to travel down streets that are paved with gold. All our needs and wants are taken care of. We are pretty much rich and live like kings.

Also, there is no sadness or sorrow or pain or suffering or tears or death or anything like that. So, I guess we’ll be happy all the time. And we’ll be surrounded by other believers who have also died and are happy all the time just like we are.

Does this view of heaven seem a bit narcissistic?

How Does Salvation Fit into the Kingdom of God?

Great question. But there are a few more questions we need to also ask ourselves about the purpose of our salvation and how it fits into the grand scheme of God regarding His kingdom.

Does anything happen between our death on earth and when Christ ushers in His kingdom? I mean, does everything rest on what happens to us? Does God’s plan of salvation and the establishment of His kingdom center around us? Are we the centerpiece of His eternal plan? Or does His eternal plan center around someone else? And if so, is that person, just maybe, His Son?

The best way to understand where our salvation fits into His Kingdom is to look at the prophetic timeline God has established for Himself. And when we do, it is easy to see that everything is not all about us. God has a master plan, and we play an extremely small part. Consider the following.

• Church (Matthew 16, Acts 2)

• Great Apostasy

• Rapture (Restrainer Removed)

The Events in Heaven

• The judgment of Believers (Bema Seat, Rewards)

• Marriage Supper of the Lamb

The Events on Earth

• The Emergence of the Antichrist

• The Tribulation (First 31/2 Years)

• The Abomination of Desolation

• Believing Jews in Jerusalem flee to Edom

• The Great Tribulation (Last 31/2 Years)

• The Return of Christ

• Armageddon

• The 75 days in Daniel

• Sheep and Goat Judgment

• The Millennial Kingdom (1,000-year reign of Christ)

The Events During the Millenial Kingdom

• Satan is Bound

• Jesus rules from Jerusalem

• Believers (not all) will have Positions of Authority in the Millennial Kingdom

• Satan is Released (later cast into the abyss)

• Great White Throne Judgment

New Heaven and New Earth

Do you see where you and I fit into this Divine plan? And can you see the plan is so much greater than us? It is about the Father and His Son and His Kingdom. But there is so much more for us to learn, so keep listening.

To download the slides to this message, click – HERE