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NASB | Matthew 11:11 "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 11:11 "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater [in privilege] than he. |
Subject: "Least in the kingdom of God"? |
Bible Note: Hello VictorA, Yes, WOW... It is a really deep topic! And I do not mean to offend you in any way, but I think I have to respectfully disagree with you about many of the points you make... "Some humans have the special priviledge of ruling in heaven over the earth, but the vast majority will fulfill God’s purpose for the earth by populating it forever in perfection." Do you have any Biblical reference for this? 1Cor 6:2: says, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" "Saint" is most often used for 'godly people', both in the OT and the NT... "Again, God’s reward of living on earth will fulfill man’s every desire, since man was made to live on the earth God’s original purpose for creating man. God created angels to live in heaven." Agreed about the creation part. But immortality and freedom from suffering and complete liberation from sin and temptation are also part of all men's desires (at least part of mine, lol) - only heaven promises those to people. I call the 'perfect world' which is to come 'heaven'. Also, please note that Jesus said that people who get to heaven will be like angels (Matt 22:30, Mark 12:25, Luke 20:36). So I doubt that they will reproduce etc... "King David, had not ascended to heaven and so was not in any kingdom of the heavens or kingdom of God in Acts 2:34, “Actually David did not ascend to the heavens,”" NO! I believe 'ascended to heaven' here means the physical ascension of Jesus, which David obviously did not do. (The Greek "anabaino" means: 'ascend, to go up to, rise, mount, be borne up, spring up') Reading the whole verse and the exact wording of Acts 2:34 in the NASB, "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND," - to me this means that Jesus was more than David, not that David was not going to get to heaven at all! "...in Matthew 8:11 Jesus referred to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob figuratively..." Well, Isaac didn't actually die... Jesus did. But anyway, even if I do accept your argument about this, I still have doubts about Luke 13:28, where He does clearly mention 'all the prophets' - however we look at it! Also see Rev 18:20, about 'saints' and 'prophets' getting to heaven. Please read my replies to Angel (JCrichton) and Emmaus to see what I believe this passage really means. Your viewpoint is a completely new one for me, actually; I have seen many different interpretations of this passage and of the Kingdom in general, but among all those there is none like yours! I think I'll read Revelations again tonight, or at least parts of it, and pray about this... I encourage you also to do so. Will get back to you tomorrow. Sincerely yours in Christ, Zsuzsi |