It is a valid question for anyone to ask, whether Christian or Atheist. When exactly is a person accepted into the Kingdom of God? Is it at baptism? Is it after one says some lines to heaven? Is is after we confess our sins to a priest? Or, instead, has it all been predetermined millenniums before anyone even asked such a question? When asking such theological questions, it only makes sense to turn to the book of God's word – the Bible.
A. Old Testament Theology
It seems that the old testament is rather blunt when answering who is and who isn't in the Kingdom of God. Throughout the testament, God holds up to a covenant he made with Abraham. (Genesis 15:8) The Israelites became God's chosen people, and the old testament follows their story.
God's Chosen
First of all, we can look at Deuteronomy 7:6-11. God is telling the Israelites that they are his “holy people,” and that out off all nations on earth they are “his treasured possession.” (verse 6) This appears to mean that God values the Israelite nation above all others. They have a special connection to Him. The passage further goes on to explain that God did not choose them because they were a great or mighty nation, but because they were the “fewest of all people.” (verse 7) Therefore, God does not select people based on how great their country or nation is. Such earthly signs of power and greatness mean nothing to God.
God continues to say in verse 8 that they were chosen because God loved them and made and oath with their forefathers. He also says in verse 9 that the “covenant of love” was to last for “a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” This opens up all kinds of questions. First, does Gods love for the Israelites only last for 1,000 generations? Are these chosen people the only ones that will inherit the Kingdom? Or, is God's love more open to anyone willing to “love him and keep his commands?” This does not necessarily seem like an option if God is telling the Israelites to destroy the nations that oppose him earlier in chapter 7. God wants the people to follow his commands because he loves them, and has established laws that need to be followed in order to accept this love. (verse 11)
An Exception?
We often see God angry at the Israelites, causing them to die. Yet, in the old testament we see God saving1 people for simply helping the Israelites. One such example is Rahab the prostitute. Her story begins in Joshua 2. In particular verse 112 shows Rahab recognizing God as the Lord of heaven. She asks to be spared, and is told that she will be. This is an interesting concept. Rahab, who was not an Israelite, was going to be the only one in Jericho to be saved, yet she was a prostitute, and had just lied to protect two Israelites. She simply protects the Lord's chosen, and is spared when the walls fall. In Joshua 2:15 the Bible says that Rahab's house was connected to the city walls. However, in Joshua 6:20, God causes the walls to fall, but in verse 23 the two Israelites go in and bring her and her family out unharmed. This seems to imply that God must have kept her part of the wall intact, otherwise she would have been crushed. Thus the Lord saved her, and in verse 25 she is brought to live with the Israelites.
But did this allow Rahab into the Kingdom of God? Was recognizing him an entry point to the Kingdom even though she was not Israeli? According to a study done by David Guzik on Joshua 2, a number of factors play into the salvation of Rahab. First, he claims that though she was a prostitute, she had faith. She recognized God as who he is and accepted Him. Guzik goes so far as to say that Rahab wanted to leave her life of sin and join God's people based on Joshua 2:12. (2001) He even claims that God went so far as to send the spies to save her, and that this was God's only reason for sending them. In fact, the fact that the spies went to Jericho did not affect God's strategy at all or help it in any way. (Guzik 2001) A final thing Guzik notes is the importance of the scarlet cord. He claims that theologians as far back as the first century recognized the cord as a symbol of Jesus' blood. (Guzik 2001) In James 2:253 Rahab is even recognized as “righteous.” It would appear that God accepted her, and even placed her into the Israelite nation. Did God accept her because she accepted him? Or, did God accept her because she was willing to become Israeli and accept their ways because God had chosen them?
Still God's Choosing
Rahab, even according to Guzik, was chosen by God. It seemed that it was part of God's plan to find Rahab. She was already willing to accept the ways of the Lord, but she had no way to do it. Thus, God sent the spies to retrieve her. He chose to accept and save her. By herself, it appears Rahab had no hope of salvation, she was to be destroyed with the rest of the city. God extended his love to her so that she could receive it. She was chosen amongst the entire city to be spared. Not even the children were allowed to live. Therefore, it would seem, that Old Testament theology supports the idea of God choosing those that he wishes to save. This does not mean that a person had to be Israeli because it was possible for someone to join the Israelites and live amongst them.
A. New Testament Developments
It would seem that the New Testament views acceptance into the Kingdom differently. With things like “preaching to the ends of the earth,” and “first the Jew then the Gentile,” and John 3:16, it is hard to see God as only accepting his chosen Israelites into the Kingdom. So what caused this apparent change? Did the 1000 generations meet its end? Or was it something else?
Jesus Wins
First, it should be declared that the rejection of Jesus (as God's Son) is a rejection of God (Himself) as clearly stated in Luke 10:164. Deuteronomy 7:105 mentions that those who reject (hate) God will be met with destruction. Therefore, the rejection of Christ seems to guarantee that a person will not be accepted into the Kingdom. John 8:31-47 relates to the passage in Deuteronomy in a unique way. In John, the Jews are telling Jesus that they are Abraham's children. They are using this as a means of salvation. Jesus tells them they are not truly sons of Abraham because they are rejecting him and trying to kill him; something Abraham would never do. In fact, in verse 37, Jesus recognizes them as Abraham's descendants. Thus, it would seem that simply being part of Abraham's tribe, or Israeli was no longer enough to be accepted by God. Abraham's descendants were missing their promised savior.
Ask, and you are in
Later on in Luke we find another interesting story of Jesus accepting someone into the kingdom. This is found in Luke 23:32-43. Jesus is about to be crucified on the cross. However, he is not alone, but with two other men, criminals. One of them decides to mock Jesus, but the other recognizes his dire situation. He also she Jesus as innocent, and apparently believes that he is the King that he says he is. In particular, an exchange in made in verses 42-43, “then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'” What did this man do to deserve such an honor? He was a criminal until his dying breath. He doesn't ask for forgiveness, there is nothing indicating that he is Abraham's descendant, and there is no sign of God accepting him first. Instead, the man cries out to Jesus with his dying breath. His simple request is to be remembered, and Jesus promises him that he will be in paradise that day. All this man had to do was ask Jesus before he died to be accepted into the Kingdom, and he was.
Baptism, and the Holy Spirit
In the book of Acts, Jesus has already gone from the earth. He has left his disciples in charge of carrying on the message of life. In Acts chapter 2 Peter is speaking to a crowd of people. After a while of listening to his message, they wanted to know how they could be accepted into the Kingdom. Peter tells them in verse 38 that they need to repent of their sins and be baptized. This will allow them to “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (verse 38) However, it is interesting that Peter does not stop there. He makes a peculiar statement in verse 39 when he says “as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (NASB) This returns to the idea in Deuteronomy that God is calling out and choosing people. In Acts this is not limited to Jews or Israelites, but to everyone. God was opening up the Kingdom to all who would receive His calling. Jesus told the disciples to go to everyone in the world and share what he had done.6 It would seem that Jesus was making his call to everyone, so when Peter mentions the statement in verse 39, he is likely referring to all people who will accept God's call.
Here we find two new requirements to entering the Kingdom. The first is repentance. In the Old Testament this meant that someone had to make an animal sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. However, Jesus was the eternal sacrifice, so repentance meant believing that Jesus shed his blood for forgiveness of sins. The second step was getting baptized. This is something that Jesus himself did while he was on earth. This is how Jesus received the Holy Spirit in a special way, and he was setting an example for future believers who wished to follow him.
Being an Israelite does NOT save a person
Paul takes things to a new level. In his letter to the Romans (in particular chapter 10), he explicitly states that the Israelites are not saved. Though the Israelites claim that they are seeking the righteousness of God, they are actually missing it because they have rejected the message of Christ. Pail then goes on to say in verse 9 that a person simply has to state that “Jesus is Lord,” and believe that “God raised him from the dead,” in order to be saved. He does not mention baptism. He explains himself a bit more in verse 10. Here he says that you believe to become justified, but you confess with your mouth to profess your faith. Thus, it seems that Paul is saying that professing faith is required in order to be saved.
Explaining how to become saved is not the end of Paul's message. He goes on to explain that “there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.” This would mean that God is not choosing a favored nation to save. Paul ends by saying in verse 13 that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” There is no mention here of the Lord calling to people first or people answering God's call. People are the ones calling out to God to become saved.
C. The Trajectory of the Kingdom
It seems that there is not only significant difference in to the means of grace between the Old and New Testament, but also differences between books in the New Testament. So what is the final verdict? How exactly does a person truly become into the Kingdom of God? At what point is a person actually going to heaven? The Bible does not seem to have a completely clear answer, however, some conclusions can still be drawn.
For example, the concept of being a Christian requires the believe in Jesus as God's son. This could not have been the case for the people living in the Old Testament because Jesus had not yet come to the earth. However, today it seems to be clear throughout the New Testament that acceptance of Jesus as God's son, and his death and resurrection are indisputable facts required to be in the Kingdom. However, after this there seems to be some discrepancy as to the formal requirements for salvation. Perhaps this is all part of God's plan. There is no set way of attaining salvation. There is only the acceptance of the Christ story.
A man on his dying breath was saved by asking, a crowd of Jews were saved by baptism and the Holy Spirit, other Jews were pleaded with to accept the message of salvation, but what do these things have in common? All these people accepted or were told about the salvation through Jesus Christ. There is no earthly way to know if another person is actually saved. Only God knows a person's true heart. God may have left the perfect definition of salvation blurry on purpose. This allows him to judge as he will. So how does one answer the question, “When is a person truly 'in' the kingdom of God?” Perhaps the answer is simply, whenever God says so, and accepts a person's heart as genuine. It has been said7, there is only one way to salvation, but there are thousands of ways to Jesus. A number of ways are described throughout the scriptures, and each of these people were promised salvation, but it is likely that new ways to Jesus are discovered every day.
Resources
Guzik, D. (n.d.). Joshua 2 - The Salvation of Rahab. Enduring Word Media. 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/0602.htm
1The term saving here is directly relating the idea of saving one's earthly life, not necessarily their eternal soul.
2“11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (NIV)
3“In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” (NIV)
4“'Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.'” (NIV)
5“But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.” (NIV)
6Acts 1:8
7This is a common quote used in sermons and conversation, thus there is no real way to target a source.
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