Human Understanding of the Kingdom of God, like understanding of our unfathomable God, is not only light years distant from human capability but is a pursuit that is always steeped in pride. What is available to each of us from the most astute to the least is the knowledge of God which arises from within our communion of intimacy with Him. it is true knowledge of God, not understanding of Him, that is available to all of our faithful who present themselves to Him in a manner consistent with his unspeakable majesty and Lordship, doing so in a state of consummate and destitute, especially spiritually destitute personal vulnerability to Him. This must include an unqualified surrender of not only all aspects of one's physical life and "spiritual" life, but must include the unqualified and sustained surrender to God of those convictions of which we feel we are most certain. In genuine communion with God, all of these must be incessantly at risk to the "vision" of God He provides us within our mutual union. It is not the eagerness of our God for intimacy with each one of us that ever fails us in the initiation and establishment of communion with us. It is our truly pitiful expectations of His insatiable desire to embrace us in this manner that most consistently defeats us.. When we become determined in our sustained attendance to God alone, for His sake alone while allowing His incessant attendance to us in any manner He chooses, we become participants in our unique destiny of Sainthood while we are yet here on earth.
Yours is a great question and one I usually presume the answer to, so as not to offend any Catholic individual familiar with Catholic teaching, is known. Most of our Faithful would be eminently familiar with the answer as I am equally sure that you are from reading your various posts. It was the salvific acts of Jesus; His death, His Resurrection, and His acclamation of us each to our Father that restored to us the possibility of our communion with Him that was surrendered and lost by our first parents. This is accomplished through the recognition of our father that you and I are now fully restored participants in the very Sonship of Jesus with respect to Him which the Father. as a result of His nature, cannot resist claiming us as His own. This is actually from where our mutual union with all three Members of our Triune God arises I have found.
Notice that Jesus does not rebuke the disciples when they ask if He will restore again the kingdom to Israel in Acts 1:6. God has plans for Israel that are not other-worldly. See Romans 11.
Acts 1:7 He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.
It certainly isn’t an approval or endorsement. BUT what we can tell from this particular text is that it’s likely eschatological—so a worldly understanding I’d say isn’t likely.. In fact, Mt. 24:36 speaks about not knowing the hour too & then references “the Son of Man,” so, what else?
Paul writes about “the times and seasons” in 1 Thes 5 in an eschatological context.
1 Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.
Furthermore, as I’ve written in Missio Dei book The Eucharistic Revival, regarding Romans 11:26, there is no theological consensus on this passage eschatologically . You have 3 prevailing theories on “all Israel will be saved”:
My personal opinion is that there is a lot of prophecy in the Bible concerning the future of Israel that happens on this earth before the end of the world. I don’t believe that it is necessary to replace Israel with Christianity when interpreting prophecy, or always spiritualizing prophecy beyond what is stated. If Jesus comes back to rule and reign over this present earth for 1000 years, so be it.
Human Understanding of the Kingdom of God, like understanding of our unfathomable God, is not only light years distant from human capability but is a pursuit that is always steeped in pride. What is available to each of us from the most astute to the least is the knowledge of God which arises from within our communion of intimacy with Him. it is true knowledge of God, not understanding of Him, that is available to all of our faithful who present themselves to Him in a manner consistent with his unspeakable majesty and Lordship, doing so in a state of consummate and destitute, especially spiritually destitute personal vulnerability to Him. This must include an unqualified surrender of not only all aspects of one's physical life and "spiritual" life, but must include the unqualified and sustained surrender to God of those convictions of which we feel we are most certain. In genuine communion with God, all of these must be incessantly at risk to the "vision" of God He provides us within our mutual union. It is not the eagerness of our God for intimacy with each one of us that ever fails us in the initiation and establishment of communion with us. It is our truly pitiful expectations of His insatiable desire to embrace us in this manner that most consistently defeats us.. When we become determined in our sustained attendance to God alone, for His sake alone while allowing His incessant attendance to us in any manner He chooses, we become participants in our unique destiny of Sainthood while we are yet here on earth.
Where does Jesus, the 2nd person of the Trinity, factor into what you’ve stated here?
Yours is a great question and one I usually presume the answer to, so as not to offend any Catholic individual familiar with Catholic teaching, is known. Most of our Faithful would be eminently familiar with the answer as I am equally sure that you are from reading your various posts. It was the salvific acts of Jesus; His death, His Resurrection, and His acclamation of us each to our Father that restored to us the possibility of our communion with Him that was surrendered and lost by our first parents. This is accomplished through the recognition of our father that you and I are now fully restored participants in the very Sonship of Jesus with respect to Him which the Father. as a result of His nature, cannot resist claiming us as His own. This is actually from where our mutual union with all three Members of our Triune God arises I have found.
Notice that Jesus does not rebuke the disciples when they ask if He will restore again the kingdom to Israel in Acts 1:6. God has plans for Israel that are not other-worldly. See Romans 11.
Acts 1:7 He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.
It certainly isn’t an approval or endorsement. BUT what we can tell from this particular text is that it’s likely eschatological—so a worldly understanding I’d say isn’t likely.. In fact, Mt. 24:36 speaks about not knowing the hour too & then references “the Son of Man,” so, what else?
Paul writes about “the times and seasons” in 1 Thes 5 in an eschatological context.
1 Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.
Furthermore, as I’ve written in Missio Dei book The Eucharistic Revival, regarding Romans 11:26, there is no theological consensus on this passage eschatologically . You have 3 prevailing theories on “all Israel will be saved”:
1. The Church
2. The elect among ethnic Israel
3. A future mass conversion of ethnic Israel.
My personal opinion is that there is a lot of prophecy in the Bible concerning the future of Israel that happens on this earth before the end of the world. I don’t believe that it is necessary to replace Israel with Christianity when interpreting prophecy, or always spiritualizing prophecy beyond what is stated. If Jesus comes back to rule and reign over this present earth for 1000 years, so be it.