In the beginning, God gave man a divine nature. This was the Kingdom of God. Then He gave man dominion over all the earth. Likewise, in the present age, by the work of the Spirit, man is recreated in the divine image, and when Christ comes back a second time; He will restore man's dominion over earth.
We are told that if we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him. The suffering is for the present hour and the reigning is for the future. This is why the Scripture says in Revelation:
Rev 20:4...And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Notice the word thrones, is plural. The saints are going to judge the world and reign with Christ in His Kingdom. Paul told Timothy in:
2 Tim 4:1...I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
There is a Kingdom coming and that Kingdom is the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not the Kingdom of God coming; it is the Kingdom of Heaven coming. The Kingdom of God is already here!
Take notice: The Kingdom of God is not the work of man; it is the work of Jesus Christ. Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven is not the work of man; it is the work of Jesus Christ. Those who argue that the Kingdom of Heaven is already here are, in effect, saying that you can control the weather, the land and the beasts of the earth! They are implying that you never have to believe God for deliverance from your problems because you would have none! If the Church did have authority to control all these things, humanity would not have any problems and the saints would not have to call for the elders of the church when they are sick as in;
James 5:14...Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church;
All the hospital beds would be empty, tornadoes would not occur, millions of people would not starve to death in famine, and nothing would harm man on earth. All would know God, so there would not be any preaching, either. At the sight of the King ruling on the throne of David, all faith will cease-and be replaced by knowledge.
1 Cor 13:12...For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
If the Kingdom of Heaven is already come on earth, then the statement Christ made concerning the end times would not be true.
Matt 24:7-8...For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Speaking of end times, Christ openly stated that Israel will be hated of all nations for His name's sake, not respected as in the Millennial Kingdom.
Until Christ returns, the world is going to continue to have battles to fight and, adverse circumstances to deal with.
Eph 6:12...For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
This would not be true if the Kingdom of Heaven was already on earth, because Christ would be ruling everything and there would be no conflict! The Bible says;
1 Peter 5:8-9...Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith,
James 4:7...Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
*In the present Church age, we have to resist Satan by faith in Christ.
**In the future Kingdom of Heaven age, Satan will be bound and we will not have to resist him.
The devil will not even be here to flee from us when Christ returns to reign earth for a thousand years as written;
Rev 20:2-3...years,And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,
*In the future Kingdom of Heaven age when Christ reigns on planet earth there will be nothing to try our faith!
James 1:3..Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
1 Peter 1:7...That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ
*In the present Church age the Bible teaches our faith in Christ is tested by the world we live in.
God does not create the problems of life which we live under. They all stem from the original sin of Adam. The problems of life come because Adam sinned and lost control of all tangible, earthly things. The earth was cursed and even the animal kingdom was cursed by the fall. Worst of all, man was cursed to have a depraved heart and unholy nature.
The same God who promised to redeem us from our wickedness and give us a new heart and a new life is the same God who also promised to deliver the earth from all its curse and the effects of the fall. In the book of Joel, we are told how God is going to do away with the entire curse, including the locusts, the cankerworm, the palmerworm and the caterpillar. These are insects that devour your crops if you are disobedient to the Law of Moses. If you break the Law, those insects will destroy your crops. The insects that curse agricultural life will not be on earth anymore during the reign of Christ, and the Spirit will be poured out after the curses have been removed.
Be glad that the Kingdom of Heaven is coming. Christ is coming to establish a Kingdom in this world that will fulfill what is written in Revelation:
Rev 11:15...The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
The Bible tells us in Daniel 2 that the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's vision, representing ten kings, were smitten by a stone cut without hands which is Christ coming back in Divine Judgment to set up the Kingdom of Heaven.
*This stone cut without hands is Christ coming to destroy ten kings who give their power to the beast's world Government before Christ sets up His Kingdom on earth.
Dan 2:34… Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces
In Daniel 7, the forth beast's kingdom had ten horns. The ten horns are said to be ten kings in those days.
Dan 7:23-26...Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end
In the days of these kings, the God of Heaven shall set up His Kingdom which is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Dan 2:44...And in the days of these kings 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 for ever.
Dan 7: 27...And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
No comments:
Post a Comment