This World, or the Next?

It's worth making it a primary consideration in one's Christianity, whether the emphasis is going to be on this world (age), or the next world (age).  Is the Kingdom coming in this age in such a manner that our focus can be on its progress in this age, that is, do we believe that the Kingdom of God will be manifest in this age so strongly that the Final End is more or less the "icing on the cake," rather than a catastrophic revolution bringing in the resurrection state?

If the Kingdom comes gradually and fully, then our hope, though sourced in heaven, certainly lies in the progress of this age.  If the Kingdom comes catastrophically, then our hope is both sourced in heaven, and lies in heaven.  In other words, does heaven come to earth gradually, so that we focus on its coming in this age?  Or, does heaven come to earth catastrophically, so that we focus on the age to come?

It easy to see that I've phrased this question in terms that speak straight from the New Testament about catastrophe.  It's vital that we view the New Testament revelation as the reigning Kingdom Hermeneutic, or we will not have the proper focus on the nature of the Church and our relationship to the World.

If the Kingdom fully comes gradually in this age, then our focus IS on the world.  The ultimate correspondence of the Church and the World is expected.  However, if the Kingdom comes catastrophically, then our focus is on the Age to Come.  Then, a spiritual "separation" is maintained between the Body of Christ and the current Age (world).

The path of union with the world, even the neo-Kuyperian concept of the Organism of the Church permeating the world, while the Institution of the Church is limited to its own sphere, is contrary to the eschatology (as well as the ecclesiology) of the New Testament.  Common grace displaces special grace.  We will be "orthodox" liberals, will lose our "separation" from the world, will lose our spiritual fellowship with one another, will lose our morals, and will finally lose our doctrine. 

But, the Scriptures are plain.  All men are either sons of the devil or sons of God (1 John).  Light and darkness do not comport with one another.  God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  There is a harvest, in which the wheat come to fruition is kept as the King's Harvest, but the chaff and tares are thrown into the unquenchable fire!  Therefore, the spiritual antithesis between the Body of Christ and the "world" cannot end until the Day of Judgment.

To lose our "separation" from the world by a wrong eschatology will be (and has been, in history) the ruin of the church.  The wrong kind of postmillennialism can be heresy!  We must not go there!