THE KINGDOM COMING….
This Gospel (good news) message was given to man from the beginning. Enoch, the 7th from Adam, and Noah were among the first to minister the Everlasting Kingdom message. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” [Jude 14-15; also see Hebrews 11:7 and 2 Peter 2:5] That Gospel Message was that He alone is to be worshipped and feared as the Creator, Holy and Loving, Who alone will judge man. This message of “fear God” will again be ministered to the end time generation. “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters”. [Revelation 14:6,7]
The Gospel of Jesus Christ, first brought forward in the “Four Gospels” has to do with two subjects; the proclamation of the King and the proclamation of His Kingdom to the Jews. “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven(s) is at hand.” [Matthew 4:17]. And later of their rejection of the King and loss of the Kingdom. “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”….“The Kingdom of heaven(s) is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants (the Old Covenant faithful servants) to all them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again he sent forth other servants (the Apostles immediately after the Jews had crucified Jesus Christ), saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it…” [Matthew 21:33-22:14] “And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he (the Holy Spirit in Paul) shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” [Acts 18:6] (Isaiah had prophesied about this hardening of their hearts and blinding of their eyes.)
So unlike the Eternal Kingdom of God; the Kingdom of heavens is not eternal; it has a beginning and an ending. (Note: The Eternal Kingdom of God is contrasted with the Kingdom of God/Kingdom of heavens relating to His Son which is temporal, lasting only 1,000 years.) This Kingdom of Jesus Christ hint came first in that prophetic Word of Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed: it (the seed Jesus) shalt bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This prophecy, having been partially fulfilled in that satan has bruised his heel, as related in the last chapter’s lesson, we yet look to the future for that greater prophetic fulfillment of the Seed of the woman, than at His First Coming. In that at His Second Coming, there shall be an even further and more open bruising of satan’s head, with the removing of that great serpent from his authority and in the establishing of that Seed’s Millennial Kingdom (Kingdom of heavens/Kingdom of Jesus Christ).
The first very clear reference to this good news of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ came through the promises of Abraham to his seed/Seed, that God would make of him a nation in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” [Genesis 12:1-3] This good news, as we followers of Jesus Christ know, was gradually expanded in the development of the Salvation plan of God over time.
So then in Genesis 15:4,18 is the declaration of the Messiah being that Seed of promise. “And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels — shall be thine heir. …In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed (singular) have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.…” With…Galatians 3:16. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
That earthly kingdom inheritance was expanded in that unconditional promise in Genesis 22:15-18. “And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done — this thing, and hast not withheld — thy son, — thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply — thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess — the gate of his enemies; (the reference to the heavens inheritance as well as the earth, is because it is there that the gate of his enemies is) And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
And in 2 Samuel 7, the promises to Abraham expanded in the securing of the King’s Throne for his future Seed through David’s line of ancestry in another unconditional promise. And in due time, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” [Acts 2:30] The Seed, the promised Seed of woman, is then that of the line of Abraham, and of David; and so the King of the Jews was born. But a King must necessarily mean a Kingdom, and it is here that the religious Jews, and even His own Disciples stumbled in their expectation of it. It is here, in their confusion concerning His Coming, and believing that He should by necessity establish His Kingdom militarily, that they could not see the possibility of Him acquiring such a Kingdom (as was prophesied) as a “suffering servant”. That is where the Kingdom promise to which they were looking forward to gets mysterious. (For they were expecting the Messiah to set up the Kingdom in their day.) “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?– He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heavens, (The Kingdom of Jesus Christ that was intent on having more than just the earthly portion of the promised inheritance) but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, (…whosoever hath been given the gift, with opportunity of inheritance in the fullness of His Kingdom of heavens, which the religious Jews had, and then in right heart pursues that prize) to him shall be given, (more grace to attain it) and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, (the right heart in pursuance of God) from him shall be taken away even that he hath (the rightful opportunity for inheritance in the Kingdom of heavens as the progeny of Abraham and of David). [Matthew 13:10-12]
Jesus Christ’s proclamation of the Kingdom of heavens having secrets or mystery relates to the presumptuous religious mind. He therefore obscures its hidden meanings in parables. (Specifically Matthew 13:16,36,51,52, and Luke 24:26,27,44-46.) The hidden meanings relate to:
1) The secrets of their rejection of Him. (Isaiah 53)
2) His rejection of them.
3) The suspension of the Kingdom for two thousand years.
4) Another more worthy nation now being appointed and taking preeminence in the heavenly part, not the promised earthly part, of His Kingdom.
“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God (Kingdom of heavens) shall be taken from you, and given to a nation (the nation of the new man…See Ephesians 2:1-3:13 and note the reference to the heavens) bringing forth the fruits thereof.” [Matthew 21:43] That nation being that nation of the New Man, to which the Jews would naturally and mercifully be immediately called back into, that which their blinded religious leadership so wickedly rejected. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter gives the great testimony to the Jews gathered from many other nations of how God fulfilled His promise to King David in Acts 2:22-36. “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
(Peter speaks again) Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his (own) throne; He (King David) seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his (Christ’s) soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord (God) said unto my Lord (Jesus), Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made — that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ (Master and King).
In Acts 3:17-26, Peter continues: “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the (3rd) heaven must — receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. (Cut off from their inheritance, not from redemption. See Exodus 12:15.) Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
The religious-minded Jews rejected Jesus because the idea of Him coming as a suffering servant didn’t fit into the box of their expectations of how the Messiah would come. Likewise, many Christians, being lukewarm, and being miss-guided by the religious-minded leadership of today, reject the idea of following in the path of the suffering Servant, but are presumptuously awaiting their Victorious Savior to welcome them into His Kingdom. For they only want to follow in the pattern of the ruling King in this life; but the idea of ruling now Paul condemns. (Read 1 Corinthians 4:8). And like the Jews of Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day, who wrongly appropriated the promises of David’s kingdom never ending unto themselves, in presumptuous ruling and prophesying in that day, so do ill–guided Christians today, who shall, unless they repent, suffer the same consequences. “They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.” [Jeremiah 5:12] They thought no judgement would come to them because of the promises given to them as Abraham’s seed, yet so too do the presumptuous Christians of today claim that no judgement or loss will come to them as they are the spiritual “seed” of Christ. Through inheriting many years of false teaching, they erroneously believe that they’ve “received it all” and that everything is imputed to them. They believe that Jesus accomplished and secured all for them on the cross, and reject His call to carry their own crosses and follow Him in the pattern He set of suffering before reigning. (“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him…” 2nd Timothy 2:12) They will lose their opportunity for inheritance of the Kingdom of heavens just as the Jews did.
The idea of this Kingdom has its basis in the prophecies of the Old Testament where the coming of the Messiah and His triumphs are foretold and His reign is described as a golden age when true righteousness will be established. [Psalm 2; 110; Isaiah 2:1-4; Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 23:5-40; 31:31-40; 32:37-44; 33:14-26; Ezekiel 34:23-31; 37:21-28; Micah 4:1, but especially Daniel 2:44; 7:13,14,18,22,27] (Daniel 9:24 and the suspension or postponement of the Kingdom will be spoken of more specifically in another chapter.) “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom (a Kingdom related to this World), which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people (Gentile rulers), but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms (Gentile kingdoms), and it shall stand forever.” [Daniel 2:44] In the Old Testament, they only saw the Kingdom as being on the earth only, whereas in the New Testament, Christ reveals it to be both earthly and in the heavens above the earth.
For there to be this Kingdom, there must first be a King.
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven (a reference to this realm, not in The Heaven), and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” [Daniel 7:13,24]
Although there are different usages and applications in the New Testament for the word Kingdom, the overall theme throughout is this prophesied King and Kingdom of heavens yet to come. Christ instructed His Disciples, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father Which art in heaven(s)…. (Had heavens been in the singular here, it would have implied our Father was in Heaven but had no “presence” of any kind in this earth’s) ….Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (heaven here is singular, in that His desired Will is not being done in the ‘first’ heavens associated with the earth.)
The Heaven, wherein the Desired Will of The Sovereign is, Paul refers to as the third heaven in 2nd Corinthians 12:2. “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago.… such a one caught up to the third heaven….” unto the Kingdom and city of the Living God, to an innumerable company of superb spirit beings and its Eternal Majestic Sovereign King; Almighty God and to Jesus the mediator of the new Covenant. This geographic Kingdom of Heaven exists and its city is specific territory, and is in another realm, composed of another material, an eternal, spiritual material. It is the everlasting Kingdom of God over all His Creation.
This Kingdom of God, in the 3rd Heaven realm is in perfect order, as Christ alludes to in His instructive prayer, having as its resident the LORD the Creator, and is contrasted with this realm of His Creation that is not in perfect order. In that its prideful residents began to do wickedly, establishing as far as they can their own will in their independent kingdom. God has determined the restoration of all things unto order through Jesus Christ. “Whom the (3rd) heaven must — receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the (kingdom of this fallen) world began.” [Acts 3:21] Restitution and Restoration in this earthly realm has to do with fallen man led and controlled by that most defiant spirit and his kingdom, revealed in Scripture as ruling over earth’s kingdoms of man from one or both the other 2 heavens. (For if there is a 3rd Heaven, there is a 2nd and 1st.. This is not to say that Paul was not just contrasting Heaven with the two material physical material realms; the first heaven just above the earth and then the stars and planets of outer space as the 2nd heaven, and not 3 spirit material heavens. Regardless, it does not change the narrative of Scripture at all.)
So it is in HEAVEN, this everlasting Kingdom of God over all, that Jesus Christ has been raised up into to be at the Right Hand of the Father. “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” (Those other heavens related to this World.)[Hebrews 7:26] This is not to mean just higher geographically, but He, having been previously at His First Coming, personally victorious over satan, in this his realm/his kingdom, as that promised Seed of Man, being unjustifiably crucified by satan, thereby denying Him as that Son of Man, His rightful Throne and Temple on Earth, is now then justifiably raised up higher than any other Tabernacle or Temple. Made higher than any other anointed and appointed natural High Priest in mediation than could have been, since being man, and being lawfully restrained to this realm, having given himself and his authority up unto satan.
Victorious Christ, then as Seed/Son of man, being then Bodily and Gloriously brought into the Father’s very presence in Heaven, to intercede for mankind, God’s fallen Creation. Now this High Priest is higher in the sense of any influential power than any other previous or future Priest would have been ever able to wield. This answers to the manifold Wisdom of God, that in Christ’s willingness to enter into this, His present Holy High Priest calling, that the promised Kingdom, of which we have been discussing, to which Christ is legally entitled to by right of Victory in this realm, is now in suspense, in that Jesus Christ is now raised up into Heaven in the High Priest Calling; and calling out sons for the Father. He was righteously raised from among the dead, thereby being a superior Being; holy, harmless, and undefiled, He therefore has been raised up into Heaven that He might mediate for believing members of His “Body” in this World, in their efforts to overcome the present hostile occupants in the first heaven associated with this earth “… in the Blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.“ [Revelation 12:11]
That there is, according to Scripture, this other unseen spiritual kingdom and god/king, then simply by definition it cannot be in the 3rd Heaven. Scripture locates him and his powerful unseen minions in the other heavens. The Word is clear enough: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?” Satan’s kingdom being placed by the Holy Spirit in this World, “…as the god of this world.” [2 Corinthians 4:4] With “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Their unseen kingdom is then in this earth and the heavens associated with it. That is, until the end times, when there is War in heaven. Not in the Kingdom of God in the Heaven, but this war is in accordance with Jesus Christ’s 2nd Coming, having in it two Scriptural parts, when He comes back from The Heaven, first purposely into this realm’s unseen heavens, wherein He shall receive His long awaited investiture as King of this, His rightful Kingdom, from God. And when He takes possession, by forceful conquest, over satan the great Serpent, who now rules as god and prince in usurped authority wrested from Adam, over the kingdoms of men. By necessity, this war must begin in the first heavens; in the unseen heavenly spiritual realm, related to this Earth. Scripture records the dramatic even beginning in Revelation 12:7, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more (for satan) in (the 1st) heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God (as it relates to His Son), and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens (all of them), and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (The short time relates to the further short but great Harvest Work of His Body, and the restoration of the Jews, yet to be accomplished by Jesus, then to be accomplished in the opening of the Seals from the occupied first heaven on the earth, before His Return to Earth itself, the 2nd part of His Coming.) “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven (the first heaven) with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God….” [1st Thessalonians 4:16] At which time Scripture records then the end of that short time and the Serpent’s further demise with Jesus Christ taking the earth itself from satan’s grip. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven (the first heaven), having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent; which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years.”
Filling up completely the ancient Words of Isaiah 24:21 the time that has the Last Days in view in Christ’s 2–part Return: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high (in the heavens associated with this earth) and the kings of the earth upon the earth.”
THE MANIFEST KINGDOM OF HEAVENS
So we should see that the Kingdom of the Father begins in the manifest Son’s Kingdom of heavens, at the time of Christ’s Second Coming. The Son’s Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Father are the same mysterious Kingdom of heavens. THAT manifestation (as opposed to the dynamic spiritual forming ever being shaped presently) of the mysterious kingdom of heavens first spoken of in Matthew 13:11 is described as being in connection with the last days. This is seen in Matthew 13:43. “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his (the Son’s) kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
This Kingdom of God or the Father is a further reference to that Kingdom coming of the “Lord’s instructional prayer” with the Disciples being told to now see God as their FATHER, into whose Kingdom they hope to attain. That is the same mysterious Kingdom of heavens described by Jesus Christ some 23 other times written in the Book of Matthew, also used synonymously and interchangeably with the Kingdom of God as in Matthew 21:31. “Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God/Kingdom of heavens before you.” (Christ the Son’s Millennial Kingdom) And Matthew 21:43 says, “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” And in the rest of the 3 books: Mark, Luke and John where it is written in the those respective passages, as the Kingdom of God, it is identical with the term Kingdom of Jesus Christ used in the Book of Matthew as Kingdom of heavens. And so there is the usage of Kingdom of God / Kingdom of heavens. So it should be seen vastly different from the eternal universal Everlasting Kingdom of God in that.…
- It has Jesus Christ for its King.
- It is dispensational in its duration.
- It is from the Heaven as opposed to in Heaven; and is in the heavens of this Earth as well as under the heavens upon the earth.
- It is limited in its territory and scope, and is political in its nature.
- It answers in fulfillment to God’s promises to Abram’s Seed as it relates to the earth and its heavens. As it relates to the earthly, see Genesis 13:15-17. “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever…..” And Genesis 15:5 hints and types the heavenly realm; God having brought Abram to look up into heavens at the stars. “So shall thy seed be.” These promises having Jesus Christ’s Millennial Kingdom in view, as the recipient Seed of Abraham. This reality specifically was written in Galatians 3:16 where Paul speaks to those promises made to Abraham’s seed being singular. “And to thy seed, which is Christ.” This Seed’s Millennial Kingdom of heavens being the most mysterious in the Old Covenant, but the most prominent part of New Covenant understanding in prophecy.
So Scripture reveals a terminus or transition of this Kingdom of heavens, which these New Covenant Words fill with meaning: “Then cometh the end, when he (the Son) shall have delivered up the kingdom (of heavens) to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all (usurped) rule and all (usurped) authority and power. For he (the Messiah King) must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death (then this end can not be till after the Great White Throne Judgment; see Revelation 20:11-15) For he (the Father) hath put all things under his (Son’s) feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted (the Father), which did put all things under him (the Son). And when all things shall be subdued unto him (through the Son), then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. [1st Corinthians 15:25-27] So the Kingdom of the Son morphs/transforms into the Everlasting Kingdom of God, wherein there’s a new heavens and a new earth and a New Jerusalem. (New earth and the heavens to be associated with the new earth.) [Revelation 21:1-2]
In this terminus or end, we find the restoration of all things. [Acts 3:21] Jesus Christ satisfied the Will of God in both His Holiness with Justice and His Love with Mercy. First, through His willing intermediacy in the suspension of His Kingdom 2000 years ago, and then in this, His Kingdom of heavens manifest in His Second Coming, wherein that Age of Justice and Righteousness ends in the subduing of all things contrary and the purging out of all that was defiling. He then, as Scripture revealed, submits all as now Holy and acceptable unto the Father, then restored, God again being all in all. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.…” then the Kingdom of God of Heaven being brought forth into the new heavens and earth. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:1, Isaiah 65:17, John 14:2) That celestial residence of the “…saints of the most high places…” being that which the Holy of holies had in view.
This is from where God now will directly rule over the new earth’s inhabitants from above. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. (This people refers to His children; those resurrected dead who had passed through the great assize of the Great White Throne, not just Israel but all others, who had received the Gospel of Eternal life but rejected the Gospel of Eternal Glory. Being then merely born again, they take their relegated place in the “Earthly Portion” of the Promise to Abraham’s Seed as His People. This is that which the Outer Court and the Holy place had in view.
This Kingdom of God now embraces both the Natural and Spiritual. What Revelation 21:3-5 and Daniel 7:27 have in view speaks to the former; the “NATURAL”. They are “…the people of the saints of the most High Places…” in that God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Now there is a pause or a redirecting of John’s thoughts between Revelation 21:5 and verses 6-8 which can be detected from that short but revealing state that will be found in that future Eternal Kingdom of God in “…the things which shall be hereafter.…” (Revelation 1:19, 4:1b). The pause is there in order to hold out again the promises to an Overcomer in Jesus Christ, as those things that were stipulated in the first three chapters as current to the “Church” Age, that is to say “….in the things that are…” in verses 6-8. “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be may son.”
“He that overcometh (he that conquers the flesh, the world, and satan) shall inherit all things…. (In addition to and beyond the things related to the Kingdom of heavens; an eternal life inheritance)…. and I will be his God…. (in this now new dynamic way, that which shall be in the transformation of the Son’s Kingdom of heavens. See Hebrews 3:1) wherein He gave the worthy faithful and fruitful overcomers to share thrones and dominion over the nations of the earth. (Revelation 20:4-6 with 2:27) Before whom, in Revelation 21, are set the great promises in that Kingdom of God following Christ’s yielding all up to the Father.
Revelation 21:7 continues,“….and he shall be my son.…” Not just His People in the Kingdom of God, but blessed sons, with a place within the walls of New Jerusalem from where they experience the intimacy with God as sons, and shall enjoy the eternal rewards accompanying that heavenly/spiritual part of the promise to the Seed/seed of Abraham. Daniel 7:18,22,27 says “…and judgment was given to the saints of the most High [places]…” These are then the first–born sons caught up and resurrected from among the dead; those who had previously had a part in the Kingdom of heavens. The overcoming sons with a relationship and everlasting glorious inheritance which is differentiated here from just His People.
And so it is that the Kingdom of the Father has to do with a certain relationship; that being of Father and Son/sons. Which does not first manifest itself until His only Begotten Son, and the First Begotten from the dead (Revelation 1:5), is followed by those worthies, at the Son’s Second Coming, those who heard and answered the Call to that certain heavenly spiritual realm out of this World as sons.
This is the peak of New Testament revelation.
So in that very real one sense, the Kingdom of heavens, is made up of Sons, as it relates to the Father, and in another sense, they are the Bride as it relates to the Son. All who receive the Father’s Son are His children, all are an eternal part of the Body of Jesus Christ, but not all of His Body are His Bride.
The call to this heavenly Kingdom is a call to the regenerated only. The call is still sounding, and this Kingdom is still future and forming. We, as regenerated, have forever been translated out of the kingdom of satan, into the Kingdom of His dear Son. We have the assurance of eternal life, having had our name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, a setting apart present experience, while alive in the World, that affords us the opportunity to attain through worthiness a place in the heavenly Millennial Kingdom and the earnest of a place in the New Jerusalem.
The loss of which relates to eternal life being limited as His people in the earthly portion of His Kingdom. It is in this hope of the heavenly calling of the Millennial Kingdom, as first–born sons, that we who are alive, now strive for.
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