Chapter Nine

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The concept of the Kingdom of God is best understood only when we understand the unity of God and the creation. Creation cannot in any way exist apart from and outside of God.    As long as we distinguish the creator and creation as two distinct separate entities we miss the inner core of the Kingdom. In fact it is this false understanding that caused the fall of creation.   In actuality since there is nothing outside of God to start with, all the creation is within God and we form part of the God himself.  As I have used the Kabalistic model of the cosmos, here I would like to use the Indian model of the cosmos which is celebrated as Jagnath – the Lord of the Universe

 This figure of Jagnath, which is celebrated as the Lord of the Universe, is really an epitome of the theology, which is essentially the theology of Eastern Churches and that of the Hebrew Kabala.  This highly expressive form was developed in India soon after the advent of Thomas.  The description of the figure can be summarized as follows:

The Jagnath symbol is an excellent representation of the Eastern Theology

In the beginning, God alone existed.  We cannot attribute any quality to God, because qualities are relative.  Without the existence of another, we cannot define qualities.  This God – the beginning - is referred to as Nirguna Brahman (God without Qualities).  This is represented as the darkness.  God who resides in darkness symbolized the God who cannot be known.  “Jehovah hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness” (1 King 8:12)  “Jehovah spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice”  (Deu. 5:22)

Then the fact remains that we have a creation and movement.  Therefore, this Nirguna Brahman put on a variation within himself.  It is as though he differentiated himself to parts thus creating  God with Properties and Qualities.  The Nirguna Brahman became conscious of His own existence, This God is known as Saguna Brahman (God with Properties).  Properties do not exist except in relation.  This would imply plurality of Godhead, which in Christianity is defined in the Triune God.  God is a person not a force.  This is because creation needs a purposeful act.  The two open eyes represent this waking up process. This God has expressed himself and hence can be known through creation and in intimacy.

Out of the mouth of this Jagnath proceeds the AUM – the Word.  Thus we have the trinity which in Christian Theology is referred to as Father, Holy Spirit and the Word.

The Aum is a person as its vibrations takes the form of a man - a person and rises to create.  According to the Kaballistic description, God created a space within himself by contracting and then began to create the cosmos in Him.  It is this person Om that created the universe with all its variations – material and immaterial. 

Joh 1:1-5  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God;  all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.   

The whole creation is in a way Word becoming flesh.  The whole cosmos forms the body of God. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being”.  This concept explains the immanence and transcendence of God.  Church as the body of Christ is just an extension of this Jagnath concept.

It is evident that this sophisticated concept of God which did not exist prior to Christian era appeared in crystallized form in powerful concrete expression could not have occurred except through Thomas.   

The Kingdom therefore is a unity with diverse parts.  The parts contains sentient beings as well as organic and inorganic parts each dependent on the others.  The fall is when the individual sentient develops and ego and considers himself independent of others and exploits the others for personal ends.  The central core of Love that gives without expecting anything return (Agape) gave rise to self centeredness and the feeling, I am separate from the rest of the universe and  I take care of myself even at the cost of the others is the fall of the children of God.  This causes disintegration and eventually death.  This is what we call sin.  This is what causes decay and death.

Rom 5:12  Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned—

Thus the redemption is simply the reconciliation of God and the fallen Creation, which includes all Purusha (Persons) and Prakriti (Nature both organic and inorganic).  Bringing the realization that we are indeed part of each other and any selfish act simply destroy the proponent and also all the rest;  and even wounds the creator.  It brings decay and death.

2Co 5:17 -20  Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

This idea of unity is represented in Kaballah as the worlds within worlds.  Beyond and above all these four worlds, the unknowable Ein, Ein Sof and Ein Sof Aur remains – that which are self existent beyond time and space and even dimensions.  They transcends all bounds.

So Jesus explains this as follows in his High Priestly Prayer:
John 17:21-23 “May they all be one, Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me, and I am in you, so that the world may believe that it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory which you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so completely one that the world will realise that it was you who sent me, and that I have loved them as much as you loved me.”

This is represented in concept of Adam Kadamon, the Primeval Man Christ.     The Hebrew letters of Yod, He, Vau, He of Yhvh forms the figure of a Person.  Within the Premeaval Man Christ is created the worlds within the worlds.  The Christ fills all and in all.  When there is a wound within, it is the blood of Christ alone that can heal.  This is the process of healing. 

This was achieved in our world through the cross and in placing the power of rebirth through the placement of Holy Spirit and bringing into subjection the human ego unto the will of Christ.  This is not done overnight and is a process since at no time human free will is taken away.

Thus the Kingdom of God now is the redemptive presence of God. 

Kingdom is made anew and whole, through the union of free human beings, and God,  It is the fullest manifestation of the transcendent holiness and incarnate wholeness of Being. In the orthodox theology this process is called “theosis”: (theiosis, theopoiesis, theōsis; Θεωσις, meaning divinization, or deification, or making divine) meaning transforming into the likeness of Jesus who is the ultimate image of humanity. The Kingdom is already here, yet is still to come, and it will come by God’s grace with the free cooperation of the human race.  The process of transforming the fallen being into the likeness of the Son is called theosis

“Let us applaud and give thanks that we have become not only Christians but Christ himself. Do you understand, my brothers, the grace that God our head has given us? Be filled with wonder and joy—we have become veritable Christs!” —St. Augustine of Hippo

Theosis, becoming fully functioning body of God

The perfecting of the cosmos in its full function as part of God himself or the perfecting of God’s body, will require the return of the fallen mankind and in fact all fallen creation to its pristine form in line with God’s purposes. 

I Cor.12.27 Now you together are Christ's body; but each of you is a different part of it.  

The Allegory of the Body and the Cells

The concept that the Church is the Body of Christ and that the whole Cosmos is the Body of God has deep implication which goes on to define clearly what the Kingdom of God is like.

In this portrayal of the function of cells within the body we have the picture of the Kingdom of God with its altruistic pattern  in contrast to the picture of the fallen cosmos.

Except for germs like viruses and bacteria, just about every other living thing on Earth is made of cells. This is why cells are called the building blocks of life. Most forms of life are made of many cells. It is estimated that the average human adult body contains about 10 trillion cells .  Individual cell is invisible unless viewed through a microscope. Not all cells are alike. They differ in size, shape and function   Bone cells differ rom blood cells and nerve cells differ from muscle cells. Each one is designed to do a different job. Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. Nerve cells carry electrical signals to and from our brains to muscles all over our bodies. Bone cells, which are very rigid, form the skeleton that gives our bodies shape. Muscle cells contract to move these bones to help us get around. Stomach cells secrete an acid to digest our food. Special cells in our intestines absorb nutrients from the food we eat. And no matter what they do, many of these cells change food into energy to keep our bodies working.

Cells are packed tightly together. They combine to form tissues, like skin and muscle. Tissues combine to form organs. Muscle cells combine to form muscle tissues. Muscle tissues combine to form organs like your heart. Organs cooperate (work together) to keep us alive. All human body cells are covered by a membrane. This layer holds the contents of the cell in just like the sides of a container. The membrane lets good things, like nutrients, into the cell. It also keeps bad things, like germs and bacteria, out.

You can see how these reflects the function of individual within a socieity and then societies function within the life of the Earth and so on.

The nucleus is a highly specialized organelle that serves as the information and administrative center of the cell. This organelle has two major functions. It stores the cell's hereditary material, or DNA, and it coordinates the cell's activities, which include intermediary metabolism, growth, protein synthesis, and reproduction (cell division).

Only the cells of advanced organisms, known as eukaryotes, have a nucleus. Generally there is only one nucleus per cell, but there are exceptions such as slime molds and the Siphonales group of algae. Simpler one-celled organisms (prokaryotes), like the bacteria and cyanobacteria, don't have a nucleus. In these organisms, all the cell's information and administrative functions are dispersed throughout the cytoplasm

In his book From Chaos to Harmony The Solution to the Global Crisis According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,  Rav Michael Laitman, explains the concept beautifully and I quote it extensively since it cannot be put any better way.

“HARMONY AMONG CELLS IN A LIVING ORGANISM

“Within each multi-cellular organism is an intriguing phenomenon. If we examine each cell as a separate unit, we will see that it functions egoistically, thinking only of itself. However, when we examine it as a part of a system, the cell seems to take only the minimum required for its own sustenance, aiming the bulk of its activity toward the body. It behaves like an altruist, “thinks” only of the body’s wellbeing, and acts accordingly.

“There must be complete harmony among all the cells in a body. The nucleus of each cell contains the genetic code that encompasses all the body’s information. Theoretically, this is all the information needed to recreate the whole body. Each cell in the body must be aware of the whole body. It must know what the body needs and what it can do for it. Were this not so, the body would not persist. A cell in a body exists in a state of “consideration” for the

body as a whole. All the cell’s actions, the beginning and  the end of its division, specification of cells, and movement toward a certain location in the body, unfold in congruence with the body’s needs.

“CONNECTEDNESS CREATES LIFE IN A NEW DEGREE

“Even though all the cells in our bodies contain identical genetic information, each cell puts a different part of that information into action, depending on its place and functionality in the body. When the embryo is just beginning to evolve, all its cells are identical. But as the embryo evolves, the cells differentiate, and each cell acquires qualities of a specific kind.

“Thus, each cell has its own “mind” or “awareness,” but the altruistic connectedness among cells enables them to create a new being, a complete body whose mind and awareness belong to a higher degree and are not present within this or that cell, but rather in the bonding between them.

“AN EGOISTIC CELL IS A CANCEROUS CELL

“Healthy cells are restricted by a wide variety of rules and limitations. However, cancerous cells have no regard at all for restrictions. Cancer is a state where the body is consumed by its own cells, which have embarked on uninhibited proliferation. While multiplying, a cancer cell divides relentlessly, regardless of the needs of its environment and irresponsive to the body’s commands. 

“Cancer cells destroy their environment, thus creating open spaces for them to grow. They impel the neighboring blood vessels to grow into the resulting tumor to nourish it, and thus subjugate the whole body to themselves. In simple terms, cancer cells induce the death of the body through acts of egoism. They operate in this manner even though it does not bring them any benefit. Actually, the truth is to the contrary, as the death of the body means the death of its assassins, too. The manner in which cancerous cells take over the host body leads them to their own demise. Thus, when egoism nurtures itself, it leads everything to death, including itself. Egoistic

behavior and general inattentiveness to the needs of the whole body lead them straight to doom.

“THE INDIVIDUAL VS. THE COLLECTIVE

In a healthy body, cells “relinquish” their own lives in favor of that of the body, when necessary. When genetic errors occur in cells, which may turn them into cancerous cells, the cell activates a mechanism that ends its life. The fear that it mit become cancerous and jeopardize the entire body makes the cell give up its own life for the life of the body. We can find a similar altruistic action, though under different circumstances, in the way the cellular slime mold (Dictyostelium mucoroides) lives. Under ideal conditions, the mold lives in the form of separate cells that provide for their own food and multiply independently. But when there is shortage of food, the cells unite and create a multi-cellular body. While building this body, some of the cells give up their own lives to promote the survival of the other cells.”

Harmony Within Chaos - Ben McLeod

The egoistic Kingdom of this World has created a cosmos which is covered with Cancer and it will eventually kill not only the host but also the self.  The only way out is provided through the cross, the altruistic life in every form of life.  We need to revert back to love and think of the whole creation in order to save it.  In fact Paul says that

Rom 8:5-24

(5)  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.

So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

God is incomprehensible in His essence. But God, who is love, allows us to know Him through His divine energies, those actions whereby He reveals Himself to us in creation, providence, and redemption. It is through the divine energies, therefore, that we achieve union with God.

 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God;  for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

Jesus gave two  figures to describe this relationship. 

The first is the example of the Vine and the Branches.

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches.  

This idea of deification differs considerably from the Gnostic, Hindu and New Age concept of Man realizing as God.  The cosmos being the creation of God and hence an extension of God, Man does not partake of the unity in essence with the Triune God.  There is a clear difference between God who is transcendant  and beyond creation and God who is immanent in creation.  God is  immanent in his creation to which he has given freedom of will as his children.  We are the branches and is distinct from the root.  But as branches we can produce the fruit expected of the branches – which is possible only if the life giving spirit flows into the branches and transform it. 

For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the Spirit like God. —I Peter 4:6

The glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. — Col. 1:27

The second figure is the marriage of man and wife where they are united together into one body.

Eph. 5:31-32. . . the two will become one body. . . This mystery applies to Christ and the Church.

The representation of the being one in marriage goes far into the creation when Adam was a unity including Man and Woman from which a seperation was so as to create.  This in fact is an image of the creation of Cosmos itself by God the unity.  As in the union of Man and Wife they become one organism, so will be the union of Created beings with the Creator Word.  When Mankind (and all sentient free will beings) join together into God we have the ultimate consumation.

Athanasius commented regarding the incarnation as follows: “For the Son of God became man, that we might become God.”  

John 10:34-35  Jesus answered: Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods? So the Law uses the word gods of those to whom the word of God was addressed, and scripture cannot be rejected.

So C.S. Lewis in “A Grief Observed” argues in  thus: “ (God) said that we were "gods" and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him-for we can prevent Him if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for.”

“God said to this hairless monkey, "get on with it, become a god."”

Notice the g not G.

“He has called men gods that are deified of His Grace, not born of His Substance.”  St. Augustine

  "the Word became flesh and the Son of God became the Son of Man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God" —St. Irenaeus, Adv Haer III 19,1

 “Souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to others. Hence comes . . . abiding in God, the being made like to God, and, highest of all, the being made god.” —St. Basil the Great, On the Spirit.

 “let us become the image of the one whole God, bearing nothing earthly in ourselves, so that we may consort with God and become gods, receiving from God our existence as gods”     —St. Maximus the Confessor

II Peter 1:3-4 He has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself... through them you will be able to share the divine nature.

The Only-begotten Son of God, wanting us to be partakers of his divinity, assumed our human nature so that, having become man, he might make men gods. —St. Thomas Aquinas

Ephesians 4:13 In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.  

 This concept of deification or the process of becoming part of God’s body is staggering as C.S.Lewis writes in his book “The Weight of Glory”:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. . .”  

 Human-beings can become Sons of God! The process involved is “You must be born again.”. Unless we're born again –through resurrection  we can't even see the Kingdom of God!

1Co 15:42-50  So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.  It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.  It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.  Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual.  The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.  As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.   Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.  I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Php 3:20-21  But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,  who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.

The statement will make meaning only in the context of the world within worlds.  When all the fallen creatures aligns themselves to the direction of the divine purposes, the whole cosmos will be redeemed and brought back into its newness of life.

1Co 15:54-57  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."    "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?"   The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Theosis is not that man becomes in all essence God, but that every part of the creation which form part of the body of God functions as they are expected to in the process of maintaining the Kingdom.  Just as each part of the body is to function properly for good health, the whole four world Kingdom will ultimately work in unison as God wanted his body to function with oneness of purpose – the perfect will of God. 

Eph 4:11-13  And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit. — 2 Cor. 3:17-18

I John 3:2 My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.  

But to all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to all who believe in the name of him who was born not out of human stock or urge of the flesh or will of man but of God himself. — John, 1:12-13 

Thus Kingdom of God is the realization of the whole sentient creation as children of God.  This in terrestial terms includes Man.  But this concept is not a New Age idea.  Here are some verses that defines the process of theosis or the process of being in the image of Jesus by growing in Christ.  This is accomplished through the every day trials and overcoming of temptations.

Rom. 8:15-17 “. . . the Spirit and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory." 

They (those who love him) are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. —  Rom. 8:29

Gal. 4:7...if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.

Copy of the Kingdom under Test

During the period of the ministry of Christ he must have emphasized this organic unity of all creation and the need for mankind living as one organism that soon after the Great Commission and the ascension we see the formation of such a nuclear society of believers.  They tried to create the Kingdom of God in accordance with the principles taught by Jesus.         

Act 4:32 -35  “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.  And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold   and laid it at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.”

 The Principle of

“From each according to his ability

 To each according to his need”

Was first established by the Jerusalem Christian Commune.

But the experiment failed miserably because of one family who entered the community and acted against the principle - Anani'as with his wife Sapphi'ra.  This brought in immediate death for the couple along with the community.  The story still continues. The story of the failure of communism in Russia proclaims the same fact.  Today there are several experimental communes all over the world.  In every case the problems include selfishness.  Kingdom of God cannot come unless sin is eradicated and that is a long process involving new creation through resurrection power.

James the brother of Jesus reacted to this failure.

Jas 5:1-9  Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.  Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.  You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.  You have condemned, you have killed the righteous man; he does not resist you.

Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Do not grumble, brethren, against one another, that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the doors.

“The deification or theosis of the creature will be realized in its fullness only in the age to come, after the resurrection of the dead. This deifying union has, nevertheless, to be fulfilled ever more and more even in this present life, through the transformation of our corruptible and depraved nature and by its adaptation to eternal life.” (Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church  p. 196, Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1976 )

After the failure of the First Christian Commune, realizing the presence of Selfishness and on going exploitation one by the other, the Church as a living organism with independent families as a viable solution came in.  The Kingdom is being formed in the Church where the presence of sin is acknowledged.

John 14:20-24 "...you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. .. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words."

John 15:4-6 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered...."

John 3:3-6"...I say to you, 'unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.... Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

This remaking of the Cosmos with all its freedom of will into one organic unity functioning in perfection is the ultimate Kingdom of God.  It has already started in the hearts and minds of the people who has accepted Christ as their Lord and Master and He will transform and ultimately bring us all into that Kingdom.  It needs your free participation.  That is the call of the Gospel.  There will be pruning, there will be pain.  All these are  part of the theosis process.