Transcript

ANNOUNCER: In the beginning part of Matthew 18, the word “converted” appears, by the way, believe it or not, a very rare word in the Bible, and it’s mentioned in connection with entering the kingdom. How many ways does Scripture talk about entering the kingdom? Well, this is Grace in Focus, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Grace in Focus is the radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We are located in North Texas. We have a website, faithalone.org, lots to learn about us there. We have hundreds of articles about the Free Grace position for you to read and research. You can find out about our conference ministry. And here’s a good one, our 48-page full-color magazine also called Grace in Focus is free. All you have to do there on our website is sign up for it, and we will send it to you. Absolutely free. One exception, if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States, you only have to pay the postage. You will love it. It’s a great magazine. Great articles. Sign up for it today at faithalone.org. 

Now with today’s discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Kathryn Wright. 

BOB: All right, Kathryn, you and I were just talking, and you brought up the issue of entering the kingdom. Maybe you could say what you’ve been thinking about lately. 

KATHRYN: One of my questions recently has come out of Matthew 18. So if our listeners want to turn there, I’m reading from the beginning of the chapter here, verses three and four. So the Lord says, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” 

And so my question about this is the idea of entering, as you mentioned. One of the arguments that we make as Free Gracers, rightfully so—I teach this myself—there is a difference between entering the kingdom and inheriting the kingdom. We would say that entering the kingdom is by faith. It’s a free gift, whoever believes in Jesus for the gift of eternal life receives it, and they will never lose it, and that is a permanent positional concept, but that those who are faithful, those who endure till the end, will also reign or inherit the kingdom. So they will actually possess the kingdom. They’ll own, have an ownership to it. 

So there’s a difference between entering and inheriting. There’s many articles and resources on our website that show that distinction in Scripture. But in this passage, we see entering the kingdom is the concept, but it is conditional upon converting, which means to turn. 

Our friend John Niemela a few years ago spoke on this passage and the idea of the word “converted”—it’s actually pretty rare word in the scriptures. It only occurs twice, here and in an Acts 2. In both cases, it’s addressing the nation of Israel, the call for them to turn. So when we’re talking about entering the kingdom from this context, how would we define it, which is different from entering the kingdom in the idea of “by faith”? Because this is not by faith. 

BOB: Okay. So basically, I would suggest there are three different types of entering the kingdom in the New Testament. One kind is individual bare entrance. In other words, I’m an individual. I’m going to be in the kingdom. I’m going to enter the kingdom. 

The second one is individual and it’s an abundant entrance. It’s a rich entrance into the kingdom. 2 Peter 1:11, starting in verse five, Peter says, “Add to your faith” and he uses the verb epichoregeo in the active voice. “Add to your faith” and he mentions a bunch of character qualities, including perseverance. And then he says, “if you do so” in verse 11, he says, “so a rich entrance will be added to you.” It’s the same verb epichoregeo, but this time it’s in the passive voice because God’s going to supply it to you. And it’s not just an entrance to the kingdom. It’s a rich entrance to the kingdom. It’s an abundant entrance to the kingdom. And so there’s an individual abundant entrance. In fact, in the Matthew 18 passage, you may see both of them here. You’ve got the people who get in, but then you’ve got those who are greatest in the kingdom, which is different than just getting in. 

KATHRYN: So that would go into the idea of inheriting the kingdom as well. 

BOB: It would go into the idea of inheriting, but there’s a third kind of entering the kingdom that’s not individual. You’ve got individual bare entrance, individual abundant entrance. And then you’ve got corporate entrance. Well, the corporate entrance refers mainly to Israel. If Israel, in the first century, had been both believing and in fellowship with God, the nation would have come in the first century. You’ll remember in several of the Gospels, the Lord says, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks, but you were not willing.” 

And this word, the word for converted is strepho. And there are other words like that. There’s epistrepho and there’s apastrepho. These are repentance words. In the Old Testament, the word for turning was shuv, that’s translated in the Greek Old Testament as various strepho compounds. 

And so if this is corporate, and by the way, this is plural here, “you will not enter”. I think what this is saying is two things. Number one, the nation in that generation is not going to enter unless they corporately are both believing and turning to the Lord. 

KATHRYN: Well, as a nation, so that’s not to say that individuals will not enter, right? We want to clarify that. 

BOB: That’s the second half of it. If an individual Jew believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they’re in fellowship with Him or not, eventually they’ll enter, but not at that time.

KATHRYN: This is an in-time offer of the literal kingdom coming for that generation.

BOB: That’s a good point. 

ANNOUNCER: We will rejoin in just a moment. But years ago, Zane Hodges wrote The Gospel Under Siege. Sadly, this is still true. And GES president Bob Wilkin has recently written its sequel. Bob’s new book The Gospel is Still Under Siege is a book about theological clarity on the biblical teaching about eternal salvation. It is available now. Secure yours today at the Grace Evangelical Society’s bookstore. Find it at faithalone.org/store. That’s faithalone.org/store. Now back to today’s content. 

BOB: Because remember, John says my “little children, it’s the last hour.” And James says “the Judge is…at the door” in James 5:9. The apostles all believed that the kingdom might come in the first century. And it could have. 

KATHRYN: It could have. 

BOB: But because they were re-offering the kingdom in the opening chapters of Acts, but Israel kept rejecting. And as a result, it’s now going to be a future generation. And there we think of Romans 9:10-11. You know, at the end of the Tribulation, there will be a believing remnant, which will be more than a remnant at that point. It’s going to be all of the adult Jews who survived the Tribulation are going to be believing. And they’re all going to be calling on the name of the Lord, you know, Joel 2:32, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” That’s saved from the Tribulation judgments. There’s going to be armies around Jerusalem. And they’re going to be part of the worshiping community. And they’ll be delivered. I don’t think that verse is saying, if they cry out the words, “Lord, save me”, or “Jesus, Lord”, they’re going to be saved. It’s because they have been regularly a part of the community that’s regularly calling upon the name of the Lord. Because they’re part of that, then Paul says in Romans 11:26, “all of Israel will be saved”. 

KATHRYN: We just had our national conference on dispensationalism and rewards. And I do think this is another example of why dispensationalism is so important because if you don’t see the distinction between Israel and the Church, this could be very confusing very quickly. I do want to reiterate this came out of a presentation that John Niemela gave. And he referenced Acts 3, verse 19 as well, in that presentation where again, it’s to the nation of Israel. And it’s a call for them to repent and be converted that their sins may be blotted out. This is Acts 3, verse 19. And then it goes on to say, “so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” 

Recently, in fact, just this week, I saw an attack on dispensationalism. And the attack was that, kind of what you were just saying, which is that the apostles thought that the kingdom was going to come at that time. And it’s still not here. But when we understand the distinction of, well, that was the offer to the nation, and that we don’t know now when the kingdom’s going to be, we, you know, we’re waiting for it now because that offer closed, if you will, to that time. And so showing that distinction also answers maybe the retort that we get from replacement theologians that dispensationalism is incorrect. That when you see that no, this was an offer to that generation at that time. And there was a re-offer in Acts 3. But then once they martyred Stephen, it seems as though that offer came to an end. 

BOB: So there’s a couple of things here. First of all, I think you’re making the point and John Niemela made the point that “converted” doesn’t mean born again. 

KATHRYN: Yes, correct. 

BOB: So a convert is not someone who is born again. A convert is a believer who has repented and is now walking in fellowship with God. So that’s number one. But number two, I agree. Acts 3:19 is one of the beautiful re-offers of the kingdom. “The time of refreshing” refers to the kingdom. And they’re re-offering the kingdom. But notice what’s required. “Repent and be converted.” And the word converted—be converted is epistrepho. It’s another one of those strepho compound words. I would say it’s “repent—even be converted”. In other words, this isn’t two different things. This is one thing said in two different ways. Metanoeo is to turn from your sinful ways and “to be converted” is to be brought back into fellowship with God, if you’re someone who’s been out of fellowship with God. 

KATHRYN: To point out too, that, what would be the result? The result is not that they receive eternal life. It’s that they will have “times of refreshing”. Or in the Matthew 18 parallel, that they would enter into the kingdom again, going back to the literal offer of the Messianic era that they were waiting for—that the disciples were waiting for.

BOB: Right. And the corporate is a corporate time of refreshing. You see the same thing in Mark 1:14-15, and I know Ken Yates has written a good commentary on this. Jesus came to Galilee preaching the good news or the gospel of the kingdom, and He said “the time is fulfilled”, and “the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel”. “Believe in the gospel” means believe in the good news that “I’m the King and I’m offering you the kingdom”. And the repent means “get in fellowship with Me”. 

There were two conditions, not just believing in Christ for eternal life, which is implicit in believe the gospel about the kingdom being offered, because this is the King. And he said, “He who believes in me has everlasting life”, but it also requires repentance. And so the Matthew 18, and I think the Acts 3:19 and the Mark 1 and even Romans 9:10-11, they all say that the kingdom will come corporately for Israel at the end of the Tribulation when Jesus sets foot on the Mount of Olives and delivers the believing nation. 

But it will not only be a believing nation, it’ll be a nation in fellowship. 

KATHRYN: Yeah. What a day that will be. To see that, that’s, what an exciting future to think about. 

BOB: Right. We have a song for that. How does that go? 

KATHRYN: [singing] What a day of rejoicing that will be!

BOB: All right, everybody. Well, thank you, Kathryn, and remember everybody—Let’s keep grace in focus. Amen. 

ANNOUNCER: Would you be interested in some free ebooks on topics you hear on this program? Well, if you are, you need to come visit us at faithalone.org. That’s faithalone.org. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you’ve got a question, comment, or some feedback. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us a message. Here’s our email address. It’s radio@faithalone.org. That’s radio@faithalone.org. And when you do, very important, please let us know your radio station call letters and the city of your location. 

On our next episode, we begin a new series about angels, Satan, and demons. I know you’ll want to join us for that. And until then, let’s keep grace in focus.