How many times
we have heard the Kingdom of God mentioned, and yet how little we know about
what the Kingdom of God really is. We have heard it said that the Kingdom of
God cometh not with observation, the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, the
Kingdom is like seed cast into the ground, and on and on. But, just exactly
what does the Kingdom of God consist of? Oh, I know, you have some abstract
idea or picture of a mythical something or other, way up yonder somewhere or
other, in the far off distant future sometime or other. But in this message I
am going to attempt to bring you a clear and distinct picture of just exactly
what the Kingdom of God is.
In I Chronicles
17 God is speaking to King David just before he dies, and in verse 11 we read:
"And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to
be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be
of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house, and
I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my
son; and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was
before thee; But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever; and
his throne shall be established forevermore." Now this word was never
fulfilled in King Solomon. In fact, Acts 2:30 tells us that David knew that
this meant Christ not Solomon, and that this kingdom that was to be established
forever was the Kingdom of God and that Christ was the King that was to sit on
the throne forever. This kingdom that God promised is an eternal kingdom, with
Christ as King.
Now let us look
to see when this kingdom is to be set up on the earth. Some one may say that it
was set up when Jesus came, but that is not what the scripture says. In Daniel,
chapter two, Daniel interprets the king's dream, and in it is contained a short
summary of the history of the world kingdoms from Nebuchadnezzar (the head of
gold) on down to our present day of the feet and toes of clay and iron,
democracies and dictatorships, the two camps which divide the world today. Now
in verse 44 we read of God's Kingdom and when it shall be set up and what it
shall do . . "And in the days of these kings (the feet and toes of clay
and iron) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed;
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces
and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou
sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it
brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the
great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and
the dream is certain, and the interpretation is sure." Glory to God! All
the kingdoms of this world, and the glory and the power of them shall fall
before the mighty onslaught of the Kingdom of God!
Before we go any
further, let us stop right here and think about what a kingdom is. The
definition of a kingdom is a people or domain over which a king rules and has
absolute authority. The kingdom of France would be that people over which the
king of France has authority and rulership. The kingdom of Spain would be that
kingdom over which the king of Spain had dominion. And so the Kingdom of God is
that people over which God has dominion and rulership, and which are under His
authority and obey His laws. But you say, "There is no such people who are
perfectly led by the Spirit of God, who all their lifetime are subject to God
and obey His laws, and are under His authority and dominion. " True, but
notice that the Bible says that in the last days, the days of the feet and toes
of clay and iron, the days in which we are now living, that God will set up
this kingdom, that this kingdom shall never; be destroyed, and that it will
destroy and consume all these world kingdom¦Hallelujah!
But what about
what Jesus said when He was here about the Kingdom of God was at hand then?
True. And it was. For Jesus was the Kingdom of God on earth while He walked
here in His mortal flesh body. The Pharisees asked Him one time about when He
would set up the kingdom, and He answered that "the kingdom of God cometh
not with observation, for the kingdom of God is within you." Now Jesus did
not say, nor did He mean to say, that the Kingdom of God was within those
hypocritical sinful old Pharisees, for it was not. But the word He used was
"entos", meaning "in the midst. "
And so it was.
Right there in the midst of them stood the kingdom of God, the first man on
earth to qualify for the kingdom. The first man that ever lived who never was
in rebellion against God, and who daily lived to fulfill the will of God. Go
back to Bible history, take the greatest men of the Bible, look closely at
their It yes, and you will see that they missed the mark. The Prophet cried out
in Isaiah 1:2, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath
spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled
against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden
with inquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters; they have
forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they
are gone away backward. "
And in chapter
53, verse 6, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one
to his own way. " Look at Adam. He walked with God in the Kingdom realm
and had dominion and authority and everlasting life until he fell in sin and
rebelled against God, and God put him out of the Kingdom. Look at the great
Patriarch Noah ... Was he in subjection to God when he got drunk and brought a
curse on his son and his seed? Of course not. Was Abraham in subjection to God
when he lied about his wife, and when he took a concubine and brought forth
Ishmael? Was Moses walking in the Spirit when he murdered a man, and when he
smote the rock instead of speaking to it? Was David not in rebellion to the
laws of God when he committed adultery and murder? Yes, every one of God's
greatest men fell short of the mark, and could not qualify for the Kingdom. God
said, "I sought for a man to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, and
found none. " Romans 3:23 says that "All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. " Come short of what? Of the Kingdom walk.
And then, praise
God, Jesus came! And with the coming of this man, God had a body on the earth
through which He could show His glory, and the power of His Kingdom, for here
was one that was in complete subjection to the will of God. He kept the law of
God perfectly, though He was not concerned with the traditions of men. And in
Mark 1:14 we read: "Now after that John. was put in prison, Jesus came
into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying The time is
fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the gospel.
" Glory to God the time is come when man, in the person of Jesus Christ,
once again walks in the Kingdom realm, walking in absolute obedience to God.
Jesus said, "I do nothing of myself, those things I see the Father do,
that I do. " And He said in John 6:38: "For I came down from Heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. " And in 3:29:
"The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that
please Him."
Yes, the time
was fulfilled and now it could be truly said that the Kingdom of God was at
hand, for once again God had a domain over which He had absolute rule and
authority. Yes, it could be said that the Kingdom of God was in the midst of
those Pharisees, and they did not know it, they were blinded by their hatred
and sin. And now we begin to see how the Kingdom of God could have been here at
that time, and yet was to be set up in the last days. For when Jesus died He
planted a seed that was to bring forth a great harvest in His likeness, and
that when this harvest got fully ripe God would have a people on the earth who
would walk 100 per cent in the Spirit, whether you believe it or not. Romans
8:2 9 tells us that in the purposes of God He has fore‑ ordained a people who
would be conformed to the image of His Son, and would come forth in His
likeness, fully qualified for the Kingdom. For we could not lift ourselves out
of sin and rebellion and live in that kingdom realm by our own power, and so
therefore Jesus came to die for us, that by coming clown to us He might lift us
up to where He is He took our place on the cross of Judgment, suffered our
penalty; and gave us His life and His holiness that we might by His grace come
into the Kingdom, into the Glory of God, into the place of complete subjection
to the will of God.
This seed has
been growing and the life of this thing has continued down through History
since Calvary even through the dark ages, up until this present time. Then what
are we waiting for? Why hasn't God harvested this crop ? Because the harvest
has not yet come to full maturity, and does not yet look like the seed that was
planted. James 5:7 tells us: "Be patient therefore brethren, unto the
coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of
the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the
latter rain. " So you see, the thin" that ripens the grain and brings
it to full maturity is the latter rain. Latter is a word meaning last. But you
say, "I thought we had received the latter rain 50 years ago, " and
some folks say, "No. . . we got it 10 years ago. " Well, we got some
rain all right, there's no doubt about that, but it was not the last rain, for
there is another revival coming, another mighty move of the Spirit, and this
move will bring the harvest to maturity and bring God's people in absolute
obedience to the will of God.
Even now God is
perfecting and getting ready to harvest the firstfruits of this great harvest,
and these are called the first ripe fruits. They shall enter the Kingdom realm
and make a place for the Bride in the time of the greatest outpouring of God's
power and glory and judgment and wrath upon the world. This outpouring shall
end by bringing God's true church into complete subjection to Him, out from the
leadership of man's ideas, and He shall set up His Kingdom and it shall consume
all the kingdoms of the world. This all is very near at hand, closer than you
think. Those who try to feed you the old false traditional teaching that God
shall slip down and steal all His people out of the world in a secret rapture
would only have you to miss the Kingdom. No revelation of what God is purposing
to do in the end of the age can be based upon that false teaching. For God would
have you submit yourself to Him, that you might rule and reign in the time of
the Latter rain.
You might say,
"How can we get into this Kingdom?" The Scripture is full of teaching
concerning the Kingdom of God. But in John 3:3 we see that Jesus says you
cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of God unless you have been born again. So you
must die out to yourself and put on Christ, for that is your only hope.
Colossians 1:13 says we have been delivered from the power of darkness and
translated into the Kingdom. Yet in Acts 14:22 Paul tells us that we must
through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom. Jesus said the violent take it
by force, and press their way into it. I Corinthians 4:20 tells us that the
Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. And Romansl4:17 says that the
Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost. Now when you understand that the Kingdom is a people over which
God rules supreme, these scriptures begin to make sense. By our new birth we
have been delivered from sin, and translated into a new realm where Jesus is
King. But be honest now . . even though you have been saved and perhaps filled
with His Spirit, you still rebel against the will of God at times, and there
are still fleshly attitudes and spirits that are not like Christ.
So, to conform
us to the image of Christ and bring us into complete subjection to the Spirit
of God, He puts us through the fires of tribulations and trials that we might
enter into that perfect Kingdom realm. Some are not willing, but God has
purposed that He would have a people, so I can tell you for sure that someone
is going to make it, and I'm trusting and praying that by the grace of God, I
may be one of them. Oh, I know that when a Christian dies, though he never
reached perfection in this life, he will enter the Kingdom realm in Heaven
where there is no rebellion to God. But Jesus prayed, "Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven. " Now, didn't He? What did
it mean? Simply that God's Kingdom that exists in Heaven, in the lives of just
men made perfect, shall be perfected and put on display on this earth, in this
present world, to put to shame the claims of Satan that no one can live and
serve God in perfection. Jesus did it and put principalities and powers to an
open shame, bless His sweet name!
But He has
purposed that His church, which is His body, shall attain to that same realm,
subdue all nations and rule them with ~ rod of iron, and put every power and
every principality under His feet. This is His purpose in His church and that
is what He is doing at this hour. Oh, it is not a great sweeping harvest of
salvation of lost souls, though that will most surely come in the greatest
harvest the world has ever seen, but in the hearts of men and women everywhere,
hidden away from the eyes of the world and most church people ... God is
gaining control of every thought, every spirit, every attitude. Now is the day
to seek the Lord for the rain to fall in your life, and to ask God to put the
refining fires to work in your life, that you might die out to everything that
is natural and carnal, and walk with Him in the Kingdom realm, and be made into
His image. II Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with open face, beholding as
in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. " Hallelujah! Makes me want to
shout! "From glory to glory."
At the beginning
we could not stand to see all His glory, so He showed us dimly through a glass,
until we had attained to that realm. Then He showed us more and greater glory,
and so on until we are completely in His image. Martin Luther didn't see it all.
He wouldn't have been able to accept all of it, but God saved more of His glory
and truth for John Wesley's day. Those who were faithful and hungry for more
moved on into the Pentecostal Revival up until this present day, and God makes
me to know that we are now living in the generation upon whom the end of the
age has come. We are the ones whom God would perfect. Oh, I know some are
trying to confuse and muddle this great message up by saying that we already
have everything we're ever going to have, already dead, perfected, resurrected,
glorified, and they go on to say that Jesus is not coming back, that He is
already come, that we will never see Him for He is consumed and His body is
done away with. But I don't have time to waste on those foolish heresies,
except to quote Phillipians 3:20‑21: "For our conversation (or
citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord
Jesus Christ; Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto
His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue
ail things unto Himself." Now if He is already come, then what were they
looking for? And if He has no body of Glory, then what will He change this vile
body of ours into? What will it be fashioned like unto? Oh, friends, be not
carried about with such noisy winds of doctrine, whereby men lie in wait to
deceive, but grow up into Christ which is the head of this body. I'm going to
have a glorified body, fashioned after His, for all of eternity. I'm going to
see Him when he comes, and by the grace of God I'm going to be in the Kingdom
of God here on this earth.
"Yea, for
thus saith the lord, my Kingdom shall subdue, and my Kingdom shall rule, and ye
shall be kings and priests my children. And in my Kingdom there shall be
dominion and authority, for I have given all power unto Him who brought my
Kingdom to the earth, and ye that enter into my Kingdom shall inherit all
things, and shall be co‑heirs of all things with Christ. For all power shall be
shine, even as it was my Son's. But my little ones, know thou this, that I
cannot give my power unto mine enemy, and ye must put away the carnal mind, yea
even the love for the things of this life, and come unto Me if ye would enter
into My glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. Prepare your hearts, be thou ready, for
thou knowest not of the days that lie ahead of thee. Boast not thyself, not of
thy position, neither of thy power with God, for he that exalteth himself shall
be abased. But humble thyself before me, and even in shine own mind, that I
might exalt thee and lift thee up. Be thou ready, be thou humble, for I would
show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not, and I would use thee
as vessels of honor, though thou be clay, yet would my glory shine from within
thee! Even now, praise the name of the Lord thy God for that which He hath done
for thee, and for the place to which He hath brought thee, but know thou this,
that there are greater things before thee, so prepare thy vessel, and empty
thyself that thy Lord may inhabit thee, and dwell within thee in the fulness of
His majesty and of His power."
God bless you
and make you rich in His Wisdom.
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