Address—B. Prost
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
We will look to take up the Kingdom of God a bit this week, and before we start out, I'd like to read one verse of a hymn which I have already quoted to a couple of people in the audience tonight, earlier on the last verse of #115 in our Little Flock hymn book.
Harry, hey, ho.
Whom, a few of us remember, used to love this hymn, and I can well remember his giving it out during addresses to believers.
And the third verse expresses very well the subject of the Kingdom of God in its fullest extent in the future. Verse three at length. The final Kingdom.
No bound, no end possessing, When heaven and earth, God All in all, shall fill with largest blessing. All the root of evil vanished. No breath of sin to wither.
On earth, on high, not else but joy, but bliss and blissful peace forever. That, I believe is referring to the Kingdom of God.
Let's have a word of prayer. Our loving God and our Father, we thank Thee for the light that Thou has given us in Thy precious word, and we thank Thee for that Kingdom which, according to Thy mind, will be an everlasting Kingdom.
A Kingdom where thy rule, our God will be felt and enjoyed in every aspect of heaven and earth. And we thank Thee for our part in it, for we will be association associated with that one who will have all authority, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And so we look to thee now for thy help this evening.
Counting on the independence as we open Thy word and praying for guidance and health.
Before we ask that in the eye alone, worthy and precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Well, first of all, I want to say that I think I caused and I mean it, I did cause a bit of confusion last week because there were two questions directed to me, both substantially the same during the week after that meeting because I had indicated that.
The Kingdom of God was a much larger sphere than the Kingdom of Heaven, and that the Kingdom of heaven was a subsection of the Kingdom of God. But then I proceeded to say that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, it was necessary to have new birth, whereas of course in the Kingdom of heaven clearly.
A scripture indicates that there can be a mixture of believers and unbelievers.
And so some wondered how that could be, and wondered whether they had gotten it backwards from what I had said.
And I pointed out that.
That is the danger of trying to define either the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven according only to one aspect of it, which was what I did last week, because we weren't talking about the Kingdom of God.
But what I said was correct and that the Kingdom of God has far reaching effects because it is spoken of literally from one end of the Bible to the other and reaches not only into the Millennium but also eventually into the eternal state.
That aspect of it isn't very often understood, but we will talk about that in a little while.
So what about the Kingdom of God? What does it mean?
Well, the Kingdom of God essentially is the rule of God over everything on earth and in heaven. And it is that Kingdom which was spoken of, as was the Kingdom of heaven occasionally, but the Kingdom of God far more frequently, not only in the Old Testament.
But also in the New Testament and also, of course, prophetically in the future.
00:05:05
And so for example, if we turn to.
Mark's Gospel chapter one.
And by the way, as we mentioned last week, and it bears repeating, the term, the Kingdom of heaven in the New Testament is found only in Matthew.
But the Kingdom of God is the term that is used.
In the other three gospels, Mark, Luke and John, and in some ways the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are similar.
Noticed Mark's Gospel chapter one and verse 14.
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.
We saw last week that both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus.
Preached and said the Kingdom of heaven is at hand here. The Lord Jesus says the Kingdom of God is at hand. So in many ways they were the same thing, but in some ways, as we saw last week, they differed.
Because, as we saw, the Kingdom of heaven is really the rule of the heavens over the earth, and because the rightful king was rejected, the Kingdom of heaven takes on now the character of a Kingdom in mystery where the rightful king is absent. But there are those who recognize the rightful king.
And perhaps only in an outward way, but they recognize it. And so we pointed out that today the Kingdom of heaven is really.
What we would call Christendom, or the sphere of Christian profession on earth as such, those of us that live in Canada and the United States still live in what might be termed territorially the Kingdom of Heaven, even though.
Much has happened even in my lifetime, which would make us say things have really changed. Same in Western Europe.
Many countries there, despite the apostasy that is coming in, are still in that sense part of the Kingdom of Heaven, whereas places like China, India.
Many countries in Southeast Asia, that could not be said of them.
So what about the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament?
Because when the Lord Jesus came preaching.
The Kingdom of God.
No one came to him and said, Kingdom of God, What's that all about? We don't know what you're talking about. We don't know what you're saying.
Nobody said that. Why? Because they were all very accustomed to the thought of a glorious Kingdom over which the Messiah would rule. And if you had asked a godly Jew in that day, or even a Jew, that perhaps wasn't as godly as he should have been.
What's the Kingdom of God? He would have said. Oh, that's the glorious Kingdom over which the coming Messiah is going to rule after he has set it up.
Excuse me?
That Kingdom was referred to, maybe not exactly by name, but in an oblique way, right from the beginning, right from the time, for example, when God said to the serpent.
The seed of the woman shall bruise, or more accurately, crush thy head.
But let's look at just.
Just a few verses in the Old Testament.
That refer to that Kingdom.
Psalm 10, for example.
00:10:00
And these are just picked out at random so that there are many others that perhaps we could refer to.
But Psalm 10.
Will do for our purposes.
Psalm 10.
Verse 16.
The Lord.
Is king forever and ever.
The heathen.
Are.
Pardon me.
The heathen are perished out of the land for his land.
That, of course, will take place in the coming day.
Psalm 45.
A particularly specific song.
Psalm 45.
Verse one my heart is indicting a good matter.
I speak of the things which I have made touching the King.
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. And so on.
Verse 3. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, almost mighty with thy glory and thy majesty.
And in thy majesty right prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness.
And then, verse 6, quoted in Hebrews One, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy Kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness in eightest wicked. Therefore God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And so on.
Another one perhaps in Daniel chapter 4.
Daniel Chapter 4. And we may have read this last week, but it bears repeating. Daniel 4.
And verse 3.
How great are his, that is God's signs, and how mighty are His wonders. Now here it is. His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and His dominion from generation to generation.
There are other references and other profits such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, some of the minor prophets, and so no Jew really would have questioned what the Kingdom of God was to him. It was that glorious Kingdom which the Messiah would set up and rule over in a future day when He restored Israel to their place in their land.
However, there are two aspects about which we want to speak of the Kingdom of God, and that is one of them which is very important. It is a glorious Kingdom which was prophesied in the Old Testament, preached by the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, eventually realized first of all.
In the Lord Jesus Himself, and we'll see that in a few minutes.
But then preached among those, and this is the second one, preached among those who came to have new life in Christ, and who thus were exhibiting the moral character of God's Kingdom while the rightful king.
Is absent.
And so there are those two aspects about which we want to speak tonight. First of all, the glorious Kingdom which will be in manifestation and power in a coming day when the Lord Jesus comes to rule. And it will encompass the Kingdom of heaven, which is of course, as we saw last week, the Kingdom of the Father on the heavenly side.
00:15:07
The Kingdom of the Son of Man on the earthly side.
All of that is the Kingdom of heaven in a coming day, but it's all part of that universal aspect of the Kingdom of God, which, as I said a few minutes ago, stretches on into the eternal state.
Let's leave that for the moment now. We'll talk about that in a little while.
But for you and for me, the important thing I believe that we want to see tonight, and I don't mean to stress one aspect of the Kingdom above the other, but the practical aspect for you and me is that the term Kingdom of God always brings before us.
The moral side of things.
The Kingdom of God.
While it does speak of rule, and very definitely so, always brings before us not so much the territorial side of things and the outward recognition of the Kingdom on earth, that's the Kingdom of heaven.
I say the Kingdom on earth, the rule of the heavens over the earth. In the absence of the right king, the term Kingdom of God always brings before us the moral character of what constitutes God's Kingdom.
How was that brought out?
When the Lord Jesus preached the Kingdom of God.
Notice one little thing.
It's not a play on words.
It never says that either John the Baptist or the Lord Jesus preached the Kingdom of heaven.
They rather said the Kingdom of heaven.
Is at hand. And they talked later on about the Kingdom of heaven and the character of it while the rightful king was absent. And we referred to those similitudes of the Kingdom last week beginning in Matthew 13.
But when it was the Kingdom of God, they preached the Kingdom of God. Why?
Because the character, the moral character of the Kingdom of God was.
There embodied in the rightful king who was present with them.
The term the Kingdom of Heaven really didn't have a meaning.
In that sense, until the rightful king was rejected, rose from the dead after his crucifixion, ascended to glory, then the character of the Kingdom of heaven today began to take place, and those similitudes of the Kingdom beginning in Matthew 13.
Describe the character of things that we see around us in the world today.
But what about the Kingdom of God?
Turn to Luke chapter 17.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 17.
And here were the Pharisees, expecting a visible Kingdom.
Notice verse 30, Luke 17, and verse 30.
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation, in other words, not.
Manifested in immediate power.
Neither shall they say, lo here or lo there, for behold the Kingdom of God.
And our King James says within you. More accurately, it should read among you.
What the Lord Jesus was saying was they were looking in His person at the embodiment of what constituted the Kingdom of God, because every moral aspect of God's Kingdom was there being displayed before their eyes in the person in the walk.
00:20:23
In the speech, in everything about the Lord Jesus walking on this earth as a man.
He embodied the Kingdom of God.
So what is the character of the Kingdom of God?
Well, we said that Matthew spoke only about the Kingdom of heaven. The other gospel spoke of the Kingdom of God. But it's very interesting that in the book of Matthew there are several references to the Kingdom of God, showing how accurate scripture is.
Turn, for example, to Matthew 6.
Matthew, Chapter 6.
Now, I'm I don't have anything written down. As I said last week, these are all just being randomly picked from memory so that we may miss a good verse that might illustrate the point. And you'll have to bear with that. There is just so much and we can't go through it all in an hour. But Matthew 6 and verse 33.
But seek ye first what the Kingdom of heaven know the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto EU.
And so the so-called Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-6 and seven is really a description of the Kingdom of God. It is the Lord Jesus telling those who listen to him what the Kingdom of God consisted of, the moral character of it.
And anyone who listened to that sermon, if he or she had been honest, would have had to say, that is way more than I can ever hope to live up to. Because the Sermon on the Mount went not merely.
To the point of saying what the law told them. What they said and what they did was wrong. It went right to the root of the problem and talked about their thoughts. Well, men couldn't even keep the law outwardly, let alone control his sinful thoughts, so that anyone who listened to that sermon would have had to say if he were honest.
I need a new life in order to be part of that Kingdom.
Look at Matthew 12.
Another reference to the Kingdom of God.
You'll remember that they accused the Lord Jesus of casting out demons by the Prince of the demons. But what does the Lord Jesus say in verse 28? But if I cast out devils or demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God.
Just come under you.
The Lord Jesus.
Back a couple of verses in verse 26 it said and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself, how shall his Kingdom stand? And there are really only two kingdoms in this world, the Kingdom of the devil and the Kingdom of God, and everyone on the face of this earth morally belongs.
Either to one or to the other.
And so the Lord references here not the Kingdom of heaven, but the Kingdom of God, because it's the Kingdom of God that is in contrast to Satan's Kingdom.
There are a couple more in Matthew. I think there's a reference to the Kingdom of God in the 19th chapter and one perhaps in the 21St chapter. We won't take time to refer to them. We've said enough to make the point. So the Kingdom of God is a moral state that characterizes.
00:25:06
God's Kingdom.
But what is happening today?
The rightful king has been rejected.
And as a result, the Kingdom of God.
Takes on.
And I don't want to cause confusion, but it does take on, in some ways outwardly the same character as the Kingdom of Heaven.
Because there are those who belong to the Kingdom of God in reality.
Which is what the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. And to be part of the Kingdom of God. In reality there's only one way, and that is to come to Christ to accept him as Savior.
And to have new life.
In him.
But is there an aspect of the Kingdom of God where there are mere professors in it who claim to be part of that moral Kingdom and yet are not? There are. To see that, turn to Luke chapter 13.
Luke 13.
And verse 18.
Then said he that is the Lord Jesus, unto what is the Kingdom of God like, and wherewith or where unto shall I resemble it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and cast into his garden and it grew and waxed.
A great tree and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Where under shall I liken the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the hole was leavened.
You will recognize those.
As the substance of two parables in Matthew 13.
Showing what Satan is doing.
And has done to the Kingdom of heaven, and yet the Lord.
Referring to the Kingdom of God speaks of those same 2 parables. And so in that sense the Kingdom of God outwardly has been corrupted, not in reality, but it has been corrupted and men have brought him to the sphere of the Kingdom of God, that which is not according to the word of God.
So we have to recognize that outward character of the Kingdom of God in our day.
So what does the Kingdom of God mean for you and for me today?
Let's take a few minutes and talk about it briefly, because it's most, most important.
If you and I have come to Christ.
If we have new life in Him, if we have been born again, and especially in this dispensation of grace have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we are part of the Kingdom of God.
The rightful king is absent.
But you and I are called upon to display in our walk and ways the moral character which is suitable to God's Kingdom.
To see that, let's turn to the 20th of Acts.
And here we find Paul.
Toward the end of his.
Preaching.
Speaking to the elders of the assembly at Ephesus and rehearsing with them his ministry.
And he says there in verse 24.
00:30:02
Now we won't read the whole thing, but just to make a couple of things clear.
Matt. There are other Acts 20 and verse 24, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus.
And here's the phrase to testify the gospel of the grace of God. That was the first thing Paul preached.
But then notice verse 25. And now behold, I know that ye all among.
Among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God.
Shall see my face no more.
Kingdom of God, wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men, For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Council of God.
Three things in Paul's ministry, the gospel of the grace of God, the Kingdom of God, and all the counsel of God.
An order there which we all need to recognize before we can be part of the Kingdom of God. We need to have accepted the gospel of the grace of God, but the things of the Kingdom of God.
While Most Precious will never give us a full understanding of the truth of God, they will never bring us into heavenly things.
Into the heavenly calling of the church and into the realization of the full truth into which Paul's ministry brings us. For that we need all the council of God.
But Paul especially. And not only Paul.
So did Peter.
Laid a very strong emphasis on the Kingdom of God.
Let's look at a few verses.
Romans 14.
Verse 17.
For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
1St Corinthians 6.
Verse 9.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Be not deceived in either fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you.
But year washed, but year sanctified. But ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Galatians 5.
Galatians 5.
Verse 19.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred.
Variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying murders.
Drunkenness, revelings and such like of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
And finally, in Ephesians 5, Ephesians chapter 5.
00:35:01
Verse three. But fornication and all uncleanness.
Or covetousness let it be, let it not be once named among you as becometh Saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking or jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving a thanks for that she know that no *********** nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the Kingdom.
Of God.
And of the Kingdom of Christ rather, and of God.
We might ask why did Paul?
Lay such an emphasis on the Kingdom of God for those who already possessed a nature which was necessary and which would in effect live out the very characteristics of that Kingdom.
Because Paul knew very well, as each one of us here tonight knows, that not only do we have a new life that cannot do anything else but display the moral character of God, we still have an old sinful nature that cannot do anything but display the character of the Kingdom of Satan.
And so these verses.
To which we have made reference in no way indicate that a believer loses his salvation if he sadly falls into sin, because some of these sins are rather serious in their nature, some perhaps, if we could use the term, but not quite as serious.
But God lumps them all together as that which.
Practiced will not allow us to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Does that mean that we have lost our salvation? By no means, but rather that we are not going to live and walk in a communion with the Lord as long as we allow the old sinful self to be active. Why? Because we are not acting in character with the Kingdom of God.
We are acting in character with the Kingdom of the devil.
Let me use an illustration.
You will pardon an American reference, but most of those to whom I am speaking are in the United States of America. I will remember some years ago, perhaps between 15 and 20 years ago.
There were prisoners that had been taken in the war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq and.
Sad to say, there seemed to be some evidence and this is not pointing the finger by any means. It's easy to point the finger at, and I will say this publicly, some people have complained and this is not a Christian comment. It's merely.
An observation in God's ways, there have been those who complained bitterly about the United States.
Because sometimes, as the world's policeman, it is alleged that they did not always act in a right way.
Someone made the perfect comeback to that and said would you rather have no policeman at all?
Good remark.
And so.
Don't take any of my comments politically. The only reason I use it is that it illustrates the point that there was some evidence that some of the guards of those prisoners that I referred to had not always acted in a becoming way and the remark was made. It was a very UN American way for them to act.
Did that mean that they lost their American citizenship? By no means. Were they, in some cases, called to account for what they had done. Yes, they were.
Well, the way they were acting was not a credit.
00:40:01
To the image that the American government wanted to project of the United States of America. And that's what those references mean in Paul's ministry.
And so Paul's preaching of the Kingdom of God was an extremely integral part of his ministry. Because it is most important that you and I have not merely new life in Christ, but understand that we are also delivered.
From the power of sin through the death and resurrection of Christ.
That is a most precious truth typified by baptism, that we are dead and risen with Christ, and which we don't have time to go into tonight.
But the things concerning the Kingdom of God, you and I today, are called upon to exhibit a moral state.
Which is in keeping.
With the character of the rightful King, and with God himself, who is now absent.
Have some corrupted that? Sadly, they have. There are those who claim to exhibit, for example, the moral character of God's Kingdom, and yet who are saying, for example, there's nothing wrong with same sex marriage. The Lord understands that.
User saying there's no problem in ordaining women to preach publicly. That's quite all right. We don't have to subscribe to what Paul said in terms of a woman's proper position in the assembly. We're past that now, just to name two things that have come in and that have.
Corrupted the Kingdom of God and are being taught as if it were part of the moral character of God's Kingdom.
But you and I are called to display the moral character of that Kingdom.
Well, that is really what the Kingdom of God means for you and for me, and essentially what it meant when the Lord Jesus was here on earth, because he displayed that moral character perfectly in his life down here.
But what about the all-encompassing character of it?
About which we spoke earlier. What about what it says in the Old Testament about that glorious Kingdom that is going to come about in a coming day? Is that still going to happen? Does the truth of the assembly take away from that?
Absolutely not.
Let's look at a few verses.
Ephesians one and verse 10.
Ephesians one and verse 10.
But we might read verse 9.
And the antecedent of that verse is back in verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery or secret of his will, according to the good pleasure, or his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, and here's the verse.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times.
He might gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. Notice how Paul had used the term inherit the Kingdom of God.
Here we have it again. We have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who work with all things after the council of his own will.
Now let's go to First Timothy, chapter one.
And again, I'm just picking these verses at random as they come to mind. First Timothy chapter one.
00:45:07
And verse 17.
We sometimes sing this. You'll recognize it in a hymn we sing.
First Timothy 117 now under the King.
Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory. Notice this forever and ever. Amen.
That's the Kingdom of God.
Now turn to Second Peter chapter one. Second Peter chapter one.
After detailing a number of things which we were to keep adding to ourselves.
Add to your faith virtue verse five, and a virtue, knowledge into knowledge, temperance, and so on. If we go down to verse eight, it says, For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall.
Neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if he do these things.
Ye shall never fall.
And here's the verse.
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, once again, the Kingdom of God.
Revelation 11.
Revelation 11.
Verse 15.
And the 7th Angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign.
Forever and ever. And the four and 20 elders which are before God on their seat, which sat before God on their seats.
Fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and was and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
The Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God.
And This is why it includes all the other kingdoms, because the lesser always includes or is included in the greater. That's what I meant to say. The lesser is always included in the greater. And so the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of the Father, the Kingdom of the Son of Man, all of them in that sense.
Are included in that huge umbrella, the Kingdom of God?
The Kingdom of God, as we said, is moral.
And for now, it is not a Kingdom in manifestation. It's a Kingdom which exists visibly only in the lives of believers in this world who are walking according to the precious truth of God's Word and allowing that new life to act. And in that sense.
You and I are called upon in this world.
To display the moral character of God's Kingdom. But there is coming a day.
00:50:04
When all that will change during the Millennium?
Righteousness will reign. We get that in Second Peter chapter 3.
But during the eternal state, righteousness will dwell.
Rather than use my own words, I'm going to read a couple of.
Quotations to you which say it better than I can, and those who have already received these by e-mail will bear with me if I repeat them again, but they're very, very good, and the language, as I say, is better than I can command.
These are my words during the eternal state, the quotation day of God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ will indeed have his rightful place.
Not so much in a visible Kingdom on Earth.
That will be true in the Millennium, but rather in that eternal Kingdom that will indeed last not merely for 1000 years, but forever.
Also, sin will never be seen again, for the full result of the work of Christ will be displayed as the Lamb of God. He will have taken away the sin of the world.
John One and 29.
Let us quote others who have described that day. Now this next quotation is from our late brother, Clarence Lundeen. He had a way of putting things.
The Kingdom of God is a vast moral Kingdom with the Son of Man at its head, God having committed it to him forever. Second Peter 1:00 and 11:00, which we read John's Gospel chapter 5 and verse 22.
Notice this. This eternal Kingdom will be distinct.
From the Millennial Kingdom.
In the Kingdom of God in that day, all will have a new nature, joyfully subject to Christ and the Father and grace will rule our hearts in liberty and peace. All mankind and angels will be the inhabitants of this Kingdom. All authority will be in the hands of Christ as a man forever with the Church.
Revelation 21 and 10. Christ will be the head of the government.
Over the creation as a man, the heavenly Jerusalem will be the seat of the government. And then he quotes the verse in First Timothy we already read. Now unto the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, the honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen.
This next quotation is from Jay and Darby.
The Kingdom of the world and of our Lord and of his Christ is come, and He shall reign to the ages of ages. That's Revelation 11 and 15 JND translation.
Voices in heaven announce the fact of the reign of Jehovah and of his Christ according to Psalm 2, and that he that is Christ.
For John, as always, unites both in one thought should reign forever and ever. And so it will be. That is, John unites the millennial Kingdom and the future Kingdom in the eternal state in one thought, that is he.
For John, as always, unites both in one thought should reign forever and ever, and so it will be. But both the earthly and eternal Kingdom are celebrated only in the eternal Kingdom. The distinction of the worldly Kingdom and of Christ's subordination is omitted in the Thanksgiving of the elders.
Jehovah Elohim Shaddai, Lord God Almighty.
00:55:00
Is also celebrated as the great king who takes to him his great power and reigns for it is God's Kingdom. JN Darby commenting on Revelation Chapter 11, verses 15 to 17.
In the presence of sin and without Christ, World Peace will always be an impossible goal for mankind, but God will bring it in in His time, and it will last for all eternity. The believer can rest in this prospect, knowing that nothing can frustrate the purposes of God in Christ. That last bit was my own.
And then we'll just read that final verse of that hymn again at length. The final Kingdom.
No bound, no end possessing, when heaven and earth God All in all shall fill with largest blessing all root of evil banished. No breath of sin to wither on earth on high, not else but joy and blissful peace forever.
I know all that, if I could say it calmly, was a mouthful.
Quite a little bit to digest.
I will say this, if anyone wants those quotations from Clarence Lundeen and or Jay and Darby, simply send me an e-mail and I will be glad to send them to you.
And.
You're you're welcome to them.
But we'll leave that for now. Let's just close in prayer. And is it OK, Alan, if we open it up for a question or two? Is that fine if we go ahead with that again as we did last week?
Yes, that would be fine. We have time to do that. I'd also say that if anybody would like links to the recordings of last week's meeting on the Kingdom of Heaven.
Or this week's meeting as well. Just e-mail me and I can send you a link to those record.
I might mention too that maybe he won't mind my saying this, that Alan already has those quotations on his computer, so you can either e-mail me or you can ask him for them. Is that OK, Alan? Yes, that would be fine.
Let's pray. Our loving God and our Father, we look up to Thee this evening. We thank Thee that Thou hast given us so much in that precious Word.
So much not only for our consciences but also for our hearts, in order that we might know all that we have in the Lord Jesus, all that is ours in that future day as part of that glorious Kingdom of God which will never end.
But we do pray that all of this may touch our consciences, that we might realize the importance of displaying.
The character of thy Kingdom, our God in our lives down here. We thank Thee that we have a new life enabling us to do that. We pray that we might walk in the good of it as those who have been redeemed, who have been indwelt by the Spirit of God, and who have the energy and power to live according to thy mind, Lord Jesus.
Until we are called home. So we commit Thy word to thee and ask for Thy blessing upon it. And do so, Lord Jesus and I alone, worthy and precious name, Amen.
Well, I realize that we may have gone over some things rather rapidly. It's hard to compress everything to do with subjects as large as these into a couple of addresses of an hour each. And also I freely confess that my knowledge in these things is very limited as well. There are other brethren who?
Have far greater knowledge than I do.
And I'm happy to refer to them and to read their written ministry in the case of those who have gone before. And so there's much that has been written which we didn't have time to refer to tonight. But if anyone has a specific question or something that may be a bit confusing, then maybe we can try and clear it up.
01:00:15
Bill, I have one question. It was in Ephesians 55. It states the Kingdom of Christ and God. Are they the same?
I just read that because I was.
Yes, I believe they are, but with this slight difference.
In general, and each phrase has to be taken in its own context, but in general in the New Testament, when something is referred to God.
Like the Kingdom of God, the grace of God, the power of God, the Spirit of God, and so on.
When it is referred to God, it is Speaking of nature and power.
When it is referred to Christ, it is speaking more of the practical side of it. If we could use the expression where the rubber hits the road. And so you have.
The grace of God, but you have the grace of Christ. You have the power of God, but you have the power of Christ.
The gospel is the power of God, but it's the power of Christ under salvation and so on. And and so there's a slight difference, but essentially they are the same thing, just emphasizing, I believe different aspects of it. So the Kingdom of God is the moral character of God's Kingdom. The Kingdom of Christ is perhaps more the thought of how fully.
Do I live up to it in this world? And how much do I display his character in this world?
Thank you.
Bill, often you hear the Kingdom of heaven is dispensational. What do you mean by that? And then the second question, when, when it says that he offers up the Kingdom that God might be All in all, then how is it that Christ reigns over it?
OK, first of all, the Kingdom of Heaven, I believe, is dispensational in the sense that it really will not have any.
Any meaning?
Once the Lord Jesus has come and taken us home, because although the Millennium, strictly speaking, is the Kingdom of heaven, it is divided, I believe, into the Kingdom of the Father, which is the heavenly side, and the Kingdom of the Son of Man on the earthly side.
And so you don't see the millennial Kingdom, strictly speaking, referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven.
The The vast majority of verses that refer to the Kingdom of heaven refer to its present aspect as the Kingdom in mystery. Yes, strictly speaking, the millennial Kingdom is the rule of the heavens over the earth, but I believe that the Kingdom of.
Heaven is in that sense spoken of as the Kingdom of the Father, and the Lord refers to that who to those who will enjoy the Kingdom on its heavenly side, and the Kingdom of the Son of man to those who will enjoy it on its earthly side. So I I believe in that sense, the general idea of the Kingdom of heaven.
Is really Christendom today and.
The vast majority of the scriptures that refer to it refer to that aspect of it, like the similitudes of the Kingdom in Matthew's Gospel and and so on.
To answer your other question.
Let's turn to 1St Corinthians 15.
And you're quite right there, Brother Vern, it says in verse 28.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him.
01:05:03
Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him.
That God may be All in all.
Now I freely confess I find this hard to explain, so don't be too hard on me if it doesn't come out right. But all our older brethren, and I believe they were right, teach that when it says that God may be All in all, it's the Godhead there, not God as Father, but God as Father, Son.
And Holy Spirit, right? And so in that sense.
If we go to.
Revelation 11 again for a moment.
And let's just to get an accurate, more accurate, let's read it in the JND translation Revelation 11 and verse 15. And the 7th Angel sounded his trumpet.
And there were great voices in the heavens saying, The Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ has come.
And he shall reign to the ages of ages.
And the 24 elders who sit on their Thrones before God fell before their faces and worship God, saying, We give thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, he who is and who was and and who he who is and who was, that thou hast taken thy great power and hast reigned, and so on.
To me.
I guess.
The only thing I can say is that.
God has before him the honor and glory of his beloved Son, and those verses that say he shall reign to the ages of ages.
Whether you say that is Christ himself or whether it's the Godhead.
To me it seems like a moot point because John.
10s As J&D says in that quotation I read from him, he says John, as always, unites both in one thought. But he says in the eternal Kingdom the distinction of the worldly Kingdom and of Christ's subordination is omitted.
And so it is God's Kingdom. But I do believe for my own soul that.
Is Clarence Lundin puts it.
When God gives him a Kingdom, it may cease to be a visible Kingdom in that sense, the way it'll be in the Millennium. But Christ never in that sense loses, I believe, his authority in that Kingdom. Now, I will hasten to say everyone doesn't see it that way.
I'm I am not the expert in this that some people are, but having chewed on it a bit, I am persuaded that Clarence and Dean and J&D are right. But some of our writers don't go beyond the Millennium as to the visible Kingdom and.
I leave it there. I don't know Brother Vern, you're a well taught brother. What's your thought on it? And because I'm I'm listening, so go ahead.
I'm asking the questions, yeah, I've always heard that the Lord would reign, you know, the Millennium for 1000 years and then everything would go back to the Godhead. But I can see that what you're saying, and that's that's good. But.
It's something that I, I'm sorry, someone else talked, said something.
I I as I say I have chewed on it a little bit and enjoyed that thought, but the scriptures that refer to it I must say.
01:10:03
Are not specific enough that I could I could see how someone might say well.
Maybe it's that way, maybe it's not so.
But when it when Peter talks about the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and.
Revelation 11 talks about the Kingdom to the ages of ages of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It seems to indicate that Christ's rule over that Kingdom doesn't entirely end with the Millennium.
Someone else has put it very beautifully that the Millennium is necessary.
That is, the visible earthly Kingdom is necessary for the public vindication in this world of God's holy character. In the place where the Lord Jesus was rejected and crucified, God is going to display His Son for a perfect 1000 year reign where His authority will be manifest over all things.
The Millennium is necessary for the public vindication of God's holy character, but the eternal state will be for the everlasting satisfaction of God's heart, and in that sense.
Current Slundin uses the term rule.
But will there be rule in the eternal state in the sense of the Millennium? No, there won't, because if everyone has a new life and sin is no more, righteousness dwells. There won't be any need for.
Judgment having to be executed every morning, as it will in the Millennium. And I think that's what you're getting at, Brother Verne. Is that right?
Well, it's just a new thought to me, so.
It was Bill, what, what in, in your definition of dispensation, how does that fit now in the the Kingdom of mystery? Because that's still Speaking of the Kingdom of heaven. Is that something to do with administration or something like that?
Well, I just, when I when I say it's dispensational, I think it simply means that the character of the Kingdom of Heaven in most of the scriptures that speak of it is pretty much related to the dispensation in which you and I are living, because the term Kingdom of Heaven did not really have much meaning.
Until the Lord Jesus ascended the glory and it will not really have much meaning after he comes and raptures the Church.
But yet, as you well know, it's a mistake to equate the Church to the Kingdom of heaven. That causes all kinds of confusion. If we do that, there are two different things, even though some characters of each can be interchanged. But the Church is not the Kingdom of heaven. Neither is the Kingdom of heaven equated to the Church.
Brother Bill I I was wondering when the Lord Jesus was here you only get in Matthew that.
You have the Kingdom of heaven which you brought out, but my question is, is that the Lord Jesus was presenting himself to Israel.
And that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand. Had they received him, the he would have gone on high and the Kingdom of heaven would have entered. That's what the idea of the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. So if it was being presented to Israel at that time.
And is in mystery form to the church today. Wouldn't the Kingdom of heaven be in the Millennium?
If he was presenting himself as the rightful king and the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, am I making sense of my question? Very definitely. And as I said a few minutes ago, I believe that the Kingdom of Heaven, yes, is displayed in the Millennium. No question about it. It will be the rule of heaven over the earth.
And that is, I believe, the eventual.
Fulfillment of what both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus preached. They said the Kingdom of heaven was at hand. It became a Kingdom in mystery. It will in that day essentially be that, but because the Lord, as the rightful king was rejected and thus the Kingdom of heaven was not displayed at that time.
01:15:16
I believe the Lord Jesus brought out different aspects of it.
Which, of course, as we well know, known unto God, are all His works from the foundation of the world.
The Kingdom of the Father is brought out because.
Once the Lord was rejected, then the precious truth of a heavenly Kingdom was brought out, and the Lord Jesus brought out the most beautiful fact that.
If you have been denied a visible Kingdom on earth, I have reserved for you something far better. I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and my God, and your God. And so the Kingdom of the Father is brought out as the heavenly side of the Kingdom, and then, of course, the earthly side is brought out as the Kingdom of the Son of Man.
Which will in fact be the Lord Jesus taking his rightful place.
Hereafter, so you see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, and so on. And they said, what further need have we have witnesses yet? You heard his blasphemy and so on. The Lord Jesus told them He would come as the Son of Man. And so I just would say that.
Yes, what you see, brother, is quite right, but I believe the Kingdom of the.
Kingdom of Heaven is spoken of once the rightful king is rejected as the Kingdom of the Father and the Kingdom of the Son of Man. But yes, in essence it is the Kingdom of Heaven. It's the fulfillment of what the Lord said was at hand. Very definitely.
It's helped me in understanding who is real.
When somebody said you must take close notice to enter into, when it's enter into, it's real. But you can be of the Kingdom by profession and many are, they're just baptized and professed. But where it says entered into, that's real, like except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom. And I think it's Jews maybe 12 Times in the Scripture.
And so it's helpful to know who is real and who's not real. And you can be out of the Kingdom but not be in it. That's good. Yes, excellent.
Bill, I was noticing in Mr. Darby's translation that he always makes a heaven plural Kingdom of heavens. What would be the reason for that?
Yeah.
I guess.
The only thought I have on that is that really the Kingdom of God is in the heavenlies, that is, it's in that sphere above the earth and I myself.
Well, appreciating that, have not put too much emphasis on trying to define it accurately. We know that scripture speaks of three heavens.
The atmosphere around the earth, which we might say is the 1St heaven, then the 2nd heaven by implication would be the entire universe, all created things, and then the 3rd heaven would be the dwelling place of God. And to me I have just equated the term in the heavens as being in the heavenlies which is above the earth and in the sphere of that which is.
Over and above man.
So that's the only thing I have taken from it. I have not tried to define it as being any specific place, but merely the fact that the heavens do rule, meaning that it's where God has his sway. Presumably man has his sway on the earth. He can do what he wants on the earth. Now, I know he's going into space right now and he's thinking he's going to do great things in space, and they've got.
Ideas about going to Mars and so on and all the rest of it. But the bottom line is that man's domain is the earth, and if he wants to leave the earth, he has to take his cocoon with him in order to be able to live. He can't live out in space without taking things from this earth that are peculiar to his life made to live on this earth.
01:20:20
The heavens in that sense are God's domain, and to me that's all it means.
The rule of the heavens means that it's where God dwells and where he has ruled, and it's he that eventually, as we get in Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar had to learn that the heavens do rule without necessarily defining what the heavens were.