A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF (THE APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST) BOOK OF REVELATION, Part III
The following is copied from Bullinger, E.W. (2011-08-21). The Apocalypse or “The Day of The Lord”: Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 402-404, 414-421). Trumpet Press. Kindle Edition.
THE CHURCH NOT THE SUBJECT OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
“Closely connected with this foregoing point, that the book (revelation) is Hebrew in character, and intended specially for Hebrews, is another undoubted fact, that the Church of God is not the subject of the Old Testament , either in history, type, or prophecy. Passages, etc., may be found there and used to illustrate what is subsequently revealed. But this can be done only by way of application, and not by way of teaching or of interpretation. Because, of the “Mystery” or the secret concerning the Church of God, we are told that it “was kept secret since the world began” (Rom. xvi. 25). That “in other ages it was not made known unto the sons of men” (Eph. iii. 5). That is, “from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God” (Eph. iii. 9). That it “hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints” (Col. i. 26). These statements are “the true sayings of God,” and not our own. We have no choice but to believe what He says. If any hold that, in spite of all this, the Church was not “hid in God,” but was the subject of Old Testament prophecy, then we have nothing more to say to them; for, if they will not believe God, it is not likely they will believe us.
But, believing God, we ask whether the Church is likely to be the subject of prophecy in the Apocalypse, especially when its future is clearly foretold in the Epistles which contain the revelation of the Secret. There we learn what is to be the future and end of the Body of Christ. The members of that Body are merely waiting to be “received up in glory” (1 Tim. iii. 16). They are waiting for their “calling on high” (Phil. iii. 14). They are looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change their vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto His own glorious body (Phil. iii. 20, 21). But all this, we submit, takes place before the Apocalypse opens. There we have, not the coming of the Lord to take away His Church, but, the revelation of the events which shall take place after the Church has been “received up in glory.” These events will take place during “the day of the LORD,” when He shall come not in grace, but in judgement; not in mercy, but in wrath. But this brings us to our fourth point. What is the meaning of “the Lord’s Day,” in chap. i. 9?”–end quote
How could this be, you might ask? It’s really quite simple.When we choose to believe Romans 16:25, Ephesians 3:5, 9 and Colossians 1:26–-that this day and age in which we currently live was kept secret by God from everyone, from every preceding prophet—how could there be any prophecies concerning this time? There cannot be and there is not.one single Old Testament prophecy, which includes the 4 Gospels, that concerns the Church of God which no one prior knew anything about. As Mr. Bullinger says in the last sentence of the 1st paragraph, if you won’t believe what God said in the Epistles about the Secret, you more than likely will not believe me!
God bless!
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF (THE APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST) BOOK OF REVELATION, Part II
Now we will examine the Greek word Ecclesia in greater detail:
THE SEVEN ASSEMBLIES AS A WHOLE (i. 11).
(Taken from Bullinger, E.W. (2011-08-21). The Apocalypse or “The Day of The Lord”: Commentary on Revelation , Trumpet Press. Kindle Edition).
We must here, at the outset, remove the greatest source of all the misunderstandings which have arisen with regard to these seven “churches.” The fact of their being called “churches” has naturally led commentators and students of this book to infer that it is the Church of God, or at any rate the historic Christian Church, which is meant. As a first step toward removing this great evil, let us note at once that the word (…) (ecclesia), rendered “church,” is by no means limited to the restricted sense which is thus forced upon it.
Ecclesia means simply an Assembly: any assembly of people who are called out (for that is the etymological meaning of the word) from other people. Hence, it is used of the whole nation of Israel as distinct from other nations. The Greek word Ecclesia occurs seventy-five times in the Septuagint Translation of the Old Testament, and is used as the rendering of five different Hebrew words. As it is used to represent one of these, seventy times, we need not concern ourselves with the other four words. This Hebrew word is (…) (Cahal), from which we have our English word call. It means to call together, to assemble, or gather together, and is used of any assembly gathered together for any purpose. This Hebrew word Cahal occurs 123 times, and is rendered: “congregation ,” 86 times; “assembly,” 17; “company,” 17; and “multitude,” 3 times: but is never rendered “church.”
Its first occurrence is in Gen. xxviii. 3 – “that thou mayest be a multitude (margin, assembly) of people,” i.e ., a called-out people. That is what Israel was, a people called out and assembled from all other peoples. In Gen. xlix. 6 we read – “O my soul, come not thou into their secret ( Council or Senate); Unto their assembly (cahal), mine honour, be not thou united.” Here the word cahal is used, not of all Israel as called out from the nations, but of the assembly of those called out of form the Tribal Assembly (or Council) of the tribes of Simeon and Levi. Then, it is used of the worshippers, or those called out from Israel, and assembled before the Tabernacle and Temple, and in this sense is usually rendered “congregation.” This is the meaning of the word in Ps. xxii. 22: “In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee;” and verse 25: “My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation.”
We ought to use the word Ecclesia in the sense in which it is here used; and not, surely, in the newer and special sense which it acquired, and in which it is used, in the Epistles. In the Pauline Epistles we read nothing about an “angel” as having to do with the churches of God which Paul planted. When the word Ecclesia, in the Apocalypse is rendered “Church,” and the word “Synagogue” in Rev. ii. 9 and iii. 9, is interpreted of the church, it is playing fast and loose with the “words which the Holy Ghost speaketh,” and which He (God) has employed, not only for His revelation, but for our instructions. We hold that the Apocalypse contains a record (by vision and prophecy) of the events which shall happen “hereafter” in the Day of the Lord; that the whole book is concerned with the Jew, the Gentile, and the Earth, but not with the Church of God, or with Christendom; or with the latter only so far as the present corruption of Christianity ……after the Church, the Body of Christ, shall have been removed.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF (THE APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST) BOOK OF REVELATION, Part I
It is interesting to me to notice that the KJV, NRSV and NASB entitle this “book” as “The Revelation to John,” while the NIV entitles it merely “Revelation.” I would have have entitled it “The Revelation of Jesus Christ to Israel and the Gentile Nations.” “Why'” you say? Well, let us look at how it is written and “to whom” it is written:
Rev 1:1-2
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
NASB
If you have been reading any of my posts you know that God has a reason for what He says, why He says it and to whom He says it. He does not use words loosely or carelessly. What we see here is that God gave this revelation, apokalupsis, (noun, a disclosure of truth, instruction, concerning divine things before unknown) to Jesus Christ who sent and relayed it by His angel to His bond-servant John.
Rev 1:3 3
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
KJV
The words of this prophecy are just that, prophetic, things that will come to pass in the future. Preterists believe that this prophecy came to pass in 70 A.D. Futurists like myself and Fred Price Jr. believe it is still future. Time is the word kairos and means a fixed and definite time: the time occupied by what is written, i.e., the Coming of the Day of the Lord; the days of the wrath of our God. At the culmination of which, we, the born again believers of this Age, will return with Christ for the Battle of Armagedon.
Rev 1:4a
John to the seven assemblies that [are] in Asia:
YLT
Young’s Literal Translation properly translates ekklesias as assemblies, not churches. These 7 assemblies have nothing to do with the Church of God to which all born again believers belong, the Body of Christ.
Rev 1:4b
Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come;
KJV
Here we have an undoubted reference to, and paraphrase of, the name of Jehovah, as revealed in Ex. iii. 14. It is not from the Father to His children, as in the Church Epistles ; but it is from Jehovah as He was revealed and made known to Israel. This is in perfect keeping with what we hold to be the scope of the book. Three times we have this periphrasis of Jehovah, and yet it is varied according to the emphasis we are to place upon it. Bullinger, E.W. (2011-08-21). The Apocalypse or “The Day of The Lord”: Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 2486-2490). Trumpet Press. Kindle Edition.
Rev 1:4
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne;
KJV
We see from Rev 8:2 that these seven spirits are angels and more than likely the angels of the 7 assemblies as well: “And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.” KJV Rev 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. KJV
Rev 1:5-6
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
KJV
Grace and peace are given from the Old Testament reference to YHWH, the 7 angels who stand before Him and from Jesus Christ. As we go further in this spoken and written prophecy, we will see beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Church to which you and I belong will be long gone before the unfolding of the Great and Terrible Day of the LORD!
THE PROPHETIC AND PROLEPTIC NATURE OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
This following will be taken from a book written by friends of mine called One God, One Lord. I am using it to help us understand how John wrote his gospel. The 4 Gospels depict Christ as a man, a servant, a king and in John as the son of God.
“The Gospel of John in many respects paints a portrait of Jesus has already glorified even before his resurrection. In John the glory to Jesus as Messiah is pictured as a present reality not a future one as in the other three Gospels. The projecting of his post-resurrection glory back onto the past is accomplished through the figures speech prolepsis, which is an anticipating; especially describing of an event is taking place before it could have done so, the treating of a future of event as if it had already happened.
It is not surprising that this bold proleptic picture of Christ could be misunderstood and taken literally, thus breaking down the literal, historical and crucial importance of the resurrection. The resurrection becomes devalued by the assertion of Jesus’ apparent innate glory as a pre-existent divine being.
Figures of speech are legitimate literary devices employed to give vigor and emphasis to verbal communication. In addition to prolepsis John employs a related figure of speech called heterosis, which is the exchange of one verb tense for another, in this case, the present for the future tense.
The Gospel of John, therefore, is a profoundly profoundly literary portrait of the Messiah that is emphasizing his post-resurrection glorification at the right hand of God. It goes beyond being prophetic (i.e., foretelling of his future glory) and becomes proleptic by portraying him already glorious. The use of these figures of speech heterosis and prolepsis is not incidental and occasional–is the very warp and woof of the tapestry of John’s Gospel.
Misunderstanding figurative language accounts for many misconceptions because Our Western minds assume that we understand what seems to be the plain meaning of language. The perspective from which the Gospel of John is written is actually “Back From The Future.” There has been a major disturbance of biblical “time-space continuum,” and it is caused by proleptic nature of the Gospel of John.
More evidence that John’s view is proleptic is the fact that John has no record of Jesus’ temptation by the Devil or his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The risen Lord is beyond such temptation and to struggle in the flesh with an assignment from God is unthinkable. The essence of what Jesus is doing in the Gospel of John is looking down upon his earthly life and reinterpreting it in light of his exalted position at the right hand of God.
This prophetic and proleptic nature of the Gospel of John is made even clearer from the many other verses that attribute to Christ functions and qualities that properly belong to God, which will actually be delegated to him after his resurrection. The Jesus in John is already at the right hand of God, invested with all authority.”
A LEGACY OF ERROR, Part I
What is it you want to be remembered for? What do you want your legacy to be? Do you want to be remembered like Hymenaeus and Philetus? (2Ti 2:17) Or Ananias and Sapphira? (Acts 5:1) Of course not, right? Better yet, do you want to get to the Judgment Seat of Christ only to find out that what you believed your entire Christian life and taught others as well, was wrong? No, you don’t want that either. But, this is in fact the legacy a great many Christians will leave, including some of the most notable names there are.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Mt 6:10 ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.’
This prayer has gone unanswered to this day. The Kingdom has not come and God’s will is not being done on earth as it is in heaven, yet most Christians behave, act and teach as if it it is here already. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most obvious is the division of Bibles into the Old and New Testament, or Old and New Covenants. Since to Old Covenant is still in place, there can’t be a new one, yet.
Heb 8:8-12
8 For finding fault with them, He says,
“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,
When I WILL effect a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day when I took them by the hand
To lead them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care for them, says the Lord.
10 “For this is the covenant that I WILL make with the house of Israel
After those days (THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE), says the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And I will write them upon their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
11 “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,
And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For all shall know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And I will remember their sins no more.”
NASB
All these “I WILL’s” are future and they are with Israel and Judah, not the Church of the Body of Christ. Now let’s look at Hebrews 8:13: When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. NASB Becoming, growing and ready are active, ongoing; they are not something of the past.
Just like capitalization and punctuation are not “written in stone,” neither is how the Word of God is divided. The Book of Acts should serve as the Fulcrum between the Hebrew Prophets and the Christian Prophets. Jesus verily preached the the Kingdom was at hand, because he didn’t know about the Secret God kept hidden from the Hebrew Prophets (Ro. 16:25, Eph. 3:3).
placement of the gospels of Mt, Mk, Lk and Jn in the New Testament, when they should have been placed in the Old.
Here are some examples of what Jesus did not know about the coming kingdom::
Matt 16:28
“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Matt 26:64
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mark 14:61-62
But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Even though Jesus, the monogenetic Son of God, said these things, all the people to whom he said it, died, without them seeing what he said they would see. How can this be? How can you not have questions about it?
Preterists believe and teach that it did come to pass, just as Jesus said it would, but that Jesus’ return in the clouds was spiritual, not physical (hence no one really saw it). They also believe that all the prophecies in the Book of Revelation came to pass around 70 A.D. with the destruction of the temple; that that book is merely historical. I’ve only met one person who believed that and they are currently teaching it in England. Preterists also believe that the 1,000 year reign of Christ is not literal, but means a very long time. If that were the case, which it is not, then we very well could be living in the kingdom of God.
Everyone who says and believes that they are “kingdom” builders or that what it is they do, is for the “kingdom,” is in error. Jesus is not currently the king in the kingdom of God, because the kingdom does not yet exist. Jesus is currently our Lord, kurios, the owner of a thing, Master. We are also Jesus’s brothers and sisters.
Rom 8:16-17
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
KJV
Don’t think or believe for a minute that we are living in the kingdom of God and that our Lord Jesus, the coming and future king, has anything to do with the mess the world is in today. Laying the condition of this age at the feet of Jesus, is not something I would want to be a part of; nor should you.
(In Part II we will be looking at “If you believe_____________then you must also believe__________.)
Making Merchandise
Some interesting facts.
ISIS Today and Nineveh 2800 Years Ago
Great teaching from my sister.
When I studied and wrote about Jonah the other day, the Lord jolted me with two instructions. The first was to look up the location of Jonah’s Nineveh and see if it is the same as where ISIS is murdering people today. It is. And the demons are just as viscous now as they were over 2800 years ago in Jonah’s time.
I read this in Holman’s Bible Dictionary about Nineveh in Jonah’s time: “They fought with the Israelites continually, their brutality renowned. They impaled their enemies on stakes in front of their towns, hung their heads from trees and covered city walls with the skins of their victims. And when they took prisoners they tortured them—men, women and children—by hacking off body parts, gouging out their eyes or tearing off their lips or hands.” Horrendous inhumane deeds, then and now: same evil brought about by the same demons.
Now…
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Part III of the Kingdoms (What on Earth will we be doing?)
As I have said before Christ will set up his Kingdom soon after the battle of Armageddon. “He will rule his Kingdom with the help of those who were faithful to God in their first life. Ruling with Christ is part of the believer’s reward and should (now) “anchor” each believer to righteousness in his day-to-day living. Believers who have been faithful to God and Christ will receive a greater reward, including greater authority to help Christ rule:*”
Isa 1:26
“Then I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the city of righteousness,
A faithful city.”
NASU
Isa 32:1
Behold, a king will (not currently) reign righteously
And princes will rule justly.
NASU
Christ will appoint Judges, Counselors and Princes to help him out. Judges will act as Governors, to judge and make decisions when controversy arises. Counselors will be like Advisors and Consultants. A prince is a ruler, a chieftain, an official or a captain.
Jer 3:15-19
“Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding; who will feed you, not livestock
16 “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 “At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
“Not every believer will have the same standing in the future Kingdom. Those who endure now and remain faithful and obedient in the Christian walk will reign over the nations with the Messiah!
2 Tim 2:12-14
If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
Do you remember in Part II that I showed how we can either be the least or the greatest in the Kingdom? If we are not faithful, we will still be allowed into the Kingdom, because Christ is faithful, but we will end up in the least category rather than the greatest. Most of us will probably not see 100 years in perfect health let alone 1,000! Is it not in our best interest to be faithful to God and Christ and the rightly divided Word of God?
When most of us were children, a question we were commonly asked was, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Well, now that we are “grown up” we need to ask ourselves what we want to be in the Kingdom of God and Heaven.
*excerpt taken from The Christians Hope, The Anchor Of The Soul, John W. Schoenheit
Part II of the Kingdom of God and Heaven (What will you be doing in the Millennial Kingdom?)
What we do for 1,000 years in the Millennial Kingdom depends entirely upon us; it depends on what we believe now and what we teach others. Remember Matthew 5:19? He who breaks the least commandment and teaches other to do so will be the least in the kingdom. He who does the commandments and teaches others to do so will be the greatest. What do you want to be, the least or the greatest?
There are commandments in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians. Two of these commandments are in
1 Corinthians 14;37-39:
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord (Jesus).
38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
KJV
Has anyone taught you to do either one of these? Has anyone taught you “not” to do either one of these?
2 Thess 3:6-7
Brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ we command you to stay away from any believer who refuses to work and does not follow the teaching we gave you.
NCV
Bet you didn’t know this was a commandment.
1 Tim 1:1-5
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, who is our hope;
2 Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
5 Now the end of the commandment is the love of God out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
KJV
No other doctrine than what? Than the doctrine Paul received from the Lord Jesus, My, Paul’s, doctrine 2 Tim 3:10; Sound doctrine, 1 Tim 1:10; 2 Tim 4:10; Tit 1:9, 2:1; Good doctrine 1 Tim 4:6, 13, 16;
1 Tim 4:11-13
Command and teach these things. 12 Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young. Instead, be an example to the believers with your words, your actions, your love, your faith, and your pure life.
NCV
1 Tim 6:14
That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
KJV
The apostle Paul wrote everything applicable to the Church of God, the born again believer. Jesus called him a wise “masterbuilder” and commissioned him to lay a foundation for the us, the Church of the Body of Christ, of which Christ is the chief corner stone. Everything we build (our works) is to be built upon this foundation. This foundation did not exist in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.
1 Cor 3:10
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
KJV
Eph 2:19-20
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and (Christian) prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
KJV
Jesus, during his earthly ministry, lived under the Law of Moses, which he fulfilled. The 4 Gospels are in no way representatives of the New Testament because the Testator of the new Testament was still alive. We are not under the Law of Moses, but under the grace of God in Christ Jesus, our ascended Lord and Messiah.
Heb 9:16-17
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
KJV
Believers who build their life’s work upon something in the Gospels or the rest of the Old Testament, that is not in alignment with the Pauline Epistles, could very well find themselves suffering loss at the judgment Seat of Christ, while others are being rewarded for what they did build upon the foundation that Paul laid. They could also find themselves in position’s of least importance in the Kingdom of God.
1 Cor 3:14-15
If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
KJV
I have been told by a few believers that they would rather stake what they do in the Millennial Kingdom on 2,000 years of church traditions than on a couple of hundred years of a new perspective of understanding the Bible.
As you can see, the true New Testament begins with Romans. What foundation are you building upon? Are you willing to have your work burnt to ashes because you trust more in Church Traditions than in the Gospel of God and Christ as revealed to the apostle Paul?
IS THIS A RISK THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO TAKE?
Part I of the Kingdom of God and of Heaven
@ChristineCane posted a very interesting and challenging Tweet yesterday the 16th of September. (Her reputation precedes her in the Church as one of the most dynamic women dedicated to helping and empowering women to be all they can be for Christ). Here is the Tweet:
‘There’s no question: God is building His Kingdom on earth. The question you need to ask is, “How has He called me to help Him?”‘
The Kingdom of God, also known as the Kingdom of Heaven, is the Millennial Kingdom, when we (the born again believers since the Day of Pentecost). will reign with Christ Jesus, the King of kings, for 1,000 years. This is when the King from Heaven, the Lord Jesus, establishes his kingdom upon the earth in Jerusalem. This will not be accomplished until after the Battle of Armageddon. This is the theme Jesus preached about during his earthly ministry, but as yet has not come to fruition. 2 of Jesus’ disciples once posed a similar request:
Mark 10:35-37
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.
KJV
Then, when they didn’t get the answer they wanted, they brought their mother to propose it for them!
Matt 20:20-21
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
KJV
Then we have several Scriptures concerning who will be the greatest and who will be the least in the Kingdom:
Matt 5:19
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 18:1-4
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
KJV
KJV
Matt 8:11
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
KJV
Jesus believed this kingdom was imminent in Mark 1:15, saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Where are Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob? Are they with us? Are we sitting down with them?
Is there still no question that “God is building His Kingdom on earth, now?”
For more on this subject see: http://thelivingtruthfellowship.org/jtltf/bible-teachings/articles-by-topc/administrations/41-in-the-kingdom-now
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