But the New Testament knows nothing of a kingdom offered and a kingdom withdrawn according to the whims of unbelieving Israel. In fact, as the New Testament era opened, we were told that the kingdom was “at hand” because Jesus Christ had come. Indeed, the apostle Paul could not be any clearer when he said that it was God’s sovereign purpose in Christ from before the foundation of the world to save those whom the Father had chosen. It is difficult to develop the idea that the church age is a redemptive-historical postponement from Paul’s language in Ephesians 1:3–14 (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9).
