There are a number of reasons why I think that the Kingdom of God is in no way currently present or at hand or within me or within you or within us or in our midst. The primary reason has to do with what I think the KOG is, according to the scriptures.
However today I will not be investigating what the KOG is exactly. Rather I will share the first in a series of short inconsistencies in the views that hold that KOG is or can be somehow currently present.
Today's has to do with what's going on with Satan. When the Kingdom comes, Satan will be "bound... for a thousand years".
Yet today "the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour".
So my argument, slightly more formally put, goes something like this:
1. When the KOG has been established, it will be true that "Satan has been bound".
2. It is currently not true that "Satan has been bound".
3, Therefore, it is currently not true that the KOG has been established.
However today I will not be investigating what the KOG is exactly. Rather I will share the first in a series of short inconsistencies in the views that hold that KOG is or can be somehow currently present.
Today's has to do with what's going on with Satan. When the Kingdom comes, Satan will be "bound... for a thousand years".
Yet today "the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour".
So my argument, slightly more formally put, goes something like this:
1. When the KOG has been established, it will be true that "Satan has been bound".
2. It is currently not true that "Satan has been bound".
3, Therefore, it is currently not true that the KOG has been established.
But couldn't it be that 'Satan is bound' is true within the next 24 hours or so? If this is right, then Mutatis mutandis the KOG could be at hand in 24 hours.
ReplyDeletethe single verse you linked to didn't adequately defend premise 1. Why is it that Satan will only be bound when the KoG comes?
ReplyDeleteDerek,
ReplyDeleteNo one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man will return. So perhaps he will return within the next 24 hours and bind Satan at that point.
David,
You're right that "Satan will only be bound at the time of the establishment of the Kingdom someday" isn't conclusively logically entailed by the two verses I cited.
But you're wrong in assuming that has anything to do with premise one. Premise one is only that, once the Kingdom has been established, it will be the case that "Satan has been bound".
It's funny the way you responded to me "You're right". I wasn't making a statement to be right about. I was asking a question. I still don't think you've defended your first premise. The word Kingdom is not in the Revelation verse you've linked to.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "established" (the word you've used in premise 1) and "come" may be two different things. Are you using them synonymously?
David,
ReplyDeleteI believe the Revelation 20:2 verse records events that will occur at the establishment of the Kingdom, because of the broader context in Revelation and throughout scriptures. While chapter 20 doesn't use the word "Kingdom" it does use the word "reign" (v. 4), which is something that occurs in a Kingdom.
As for the word "establish" in premise one: for the intents and purposes of this argument, "come" or "establish" may be used in premise one. In either case (1) claims that once the Kingdom is here (whether it has come or has been established or whatever) it will be said that "Satan has been bound".