Many scholars have pointed out that our western Bible scholars do not adequately take into account our translations that the Jews thought and also wrote in some ways different than we do. This should also be explored more, but I will point out one fact that has appeared several times and initially caused me some confusion.
NT may use upcoming events to indicate that the event has already taken place. It emphasizes the certainty of the declaration; it is definitely going to happen. A few examples of such expressions:
Jhn 17:22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, just as we are one.
In his prayer to the Father, Jesus says in verse 22 that he has given his believers the glory he has received from His Father. So: “I have given”, although this is still far in the future, but it is in such a way so certain that it can already be considered to have been given.
Jhn 3:13 KJV And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. – Here Jesus speaks to Pharisee Nicodemus. Jesus uses the word “the Son of Man who is in heaven,” but Jesus was not even crucified yet.
2 Cor 5:1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
When Paul writes that they have an abode of God, he means that they have a promise of such a thing. The fact that in the word of the Bible there is a question of a promise to be later fulfilled, is clearly apparent from Jhn 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come in judgment, but has passed out of death into life”.
– Another important promise is that such a believer does not have to be judged. If a person does not have to be judged, it means that he has received an eternal life on which the second death does not have power. It, on the other hand, means that a human being becomes part of the first resurrection and becomes subject to Jesus to govern the earth together with other saints. How is it possible that this group will not be condemned by the final judgment as the Bible says – together with the world? That’s what I write about in Chapter 7, The Last Judgment. We can only guess how many such people there have been in the past two thousand years. The question is of the so-called “little flock”, but it does not have to be limited to 144,000 (in my interpretation).
Col 1:13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves.
When writing to Colossians, the apostle Paul was still firmly on earth and had not moved to the kingdom of God under the kingdom of Christ. This has been interpreted as definite promise, which, however, is conditional. When a Christian becomes a child of God and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, he will become chosen at the same time. Being chosen is, however, conditional; it requires that the chosen one remains in faith until the end. We know in the Bible at the end of time … Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect (Mat 24:14)
