The Kingdom of God!
Chapter 137
In the March 5, 2023 Eagle's View, I wrote to you about what some of the prophecies in the Old Testament had to say about The Kingdom of God. I will repeat the prophecies in this issue of the Eagle's View and add some more prophecies.
I started with the prophet that spoke most about the end times that we are living in and what he said about it. Dan. 2:44-45, (NIV)
"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a
kingdom (Jesus) that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another
people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it
will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the
rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands,a rock that broke the iron,
the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to
pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true, and its
interpretation is trustworthy."
Jesus came and set up the Kingdom of God and Daniel said that this Kingdom will crush all those kingdoms and will endure forever. Notice that he did not say anything about a time when the Lord would take His Kingdom out for a period of time!
Again, Daniel wrote in Dan. 7:25-26, (NIV)
"Then King Darius wrote to all the nations
and peoples of every language in all the earth: "May you prosper greatly! I issue a decree that in every part of my
kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. "For he is the living God and he endures forever; his Kingdom will not be
destroyed, his dominion will never end."
And in Rev. 5:9-10, (NIV)
"And they sang a new song, saying: "You are
worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and
with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and
people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our
God, and they will reign on the earth. And they will reign on this earth"
Nowhere in these prophecies do they mention a
time when the Kingdom will be taken out from the earth! Take note of where it
says they will reign! Jesus came to setup this Kingdom and He went about
preaching and teaching The Kingdom of God. Matt. 4:23 says,
"Jesus went about
all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom,
and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people!"
The Kingdom of God that Jesus set
up will never end. He said in Matt. 13:33,
"He told them still
another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a
woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all
through the dough."
Habakkuk 2:14 says,
"For the earth will
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the
sea."
There are two meanings contained
in this prophecy. The earth as we know it in the
natural, and the earth that is contained within us. This meaning is the same as
when Jesus prophesied in John 3:16,
"For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life."
Rev. 5:9-10 says,
"And they sang a new song, saying: "You are
worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and
with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and
people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our
God, and they will reign on the earth."
Paul said in Rom. 8:18-24, (NIV)
"For I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us. For the earnest
expectation of the creation waits
for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the
creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who
has subjected the same in hope, Because the creation
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until
now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our
body."
"And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of
restitution (restoration) of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of
all his holy prophets since the world began."
David said in Psalm 37:7-11,
(NIV)
"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently
for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out
their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret,it
leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will
inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.".
Many of these prophecy's talk about the meek
inheriting the land. Question,
'If we are taken out of here and spend eternity
in heaven, what value is it to inherit the land and if the earth as we know it,
is to be burned up and destroyed, what value is it to have inherited land that
is to be destroyed. According to 2 Peter 3:7-13, (NIV)
"By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for
fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a
thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in
keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead
he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance."
But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief. The heavens will
disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth
and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this
way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly
lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the
destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But
in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new
earth, where righteousness dwells."
If we understand this prophecy
literally, most of the above quoted scriptures speak against what Peter is
saying here. In the past Bible scholars have taken this scripture literally and
added it to their Rapture theory. What, then, is the spiritual understanding of
what Peter prophesied?
Would you like to explain this?
If you are seeking the truth this will make you stop and do some searching.>/span>Let me give you some insight into
what this prophecy is talking about. It will open many doors to your
understanding if you accept and meditate on what the Lord said in Deut. 4:14,
"For the LORD thy God is
a consuming fire, even a jealous God."
Also in Psalm 104:4,
"Who makes his angels spirits; his
ministers a flaming fire!"
Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:11-15,
"For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any
man builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble; Every man's work shall be made
manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire;
and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man�s
work abides which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's
work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet
so as by fire."
One more scripture. John the
Baptist said in Matt. 3:11, (NIV)
"I baptize you
with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I,
whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
If you understand these scriptures, literally, you have no answer to the question I asked. However, if you can understand these scriptures spiritually, they paint a different picture and understanding.
I once had an elder in the church I was attending say this to me about the baptism that John was talking about in Matt. 3:11. He said to me, "David, you don't want to be baptized with this fire!"and what Deut. 4:14 and Psalm 104:4 means, you will understand what it means to be baptized with fire!
In Rev. 2:17 (NIV) Jesus said,
"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna."
How many times has Jesus said, "Whoever has ears, let them
hear what the Spirit is saying." We have been so blessed by the promise that
Jesus gave us in John 14:15-17, (NIV)
"If you love me, keep my commands. And I will
ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with
you forever,the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in
you."
The word of God will not only wash you, but
it will purge or burn out of you the mistaken understanding of what the Bible
is really saying. Jesus said in John 15:3, (NIV)
"You are
already clean because of the word I have spoken to you."
I know that what I have shared with you this week is very deep
and will take a lot of meditation on the scriptures I quoted. Let me encourage
you that you have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. I pray, along
with the Great Apostle Paul, this prayer for you today. Eph. 3:14, (NIV)
"For this reason, I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out
of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in
your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's
holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of
Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge,that you may be filled
to the measure of all the fullness of God."
I encourage you today to be like the Bereans
in Acts 17:11, (NIV)
"Now the Berean Jews were of more
noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with
great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said
was true."