Address—B. Prost
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He shall come down like showers upon the new moon grass, and a joy and hope like flowers spring up where he hath passed before him. On the mountains shall peace the herald go, and righteousness in fountain, from hill to valley flow.
King shall fall down before him, and gold and incense bring. All nations shall adore him, His praise all people sing outstretched His wide dominion o'er river, sea, and shore, Far as the eagle's opinion or doves light wing can soar.
Let's pray together. Our loving God and our Father, we thank Thee.
So that was given us in Thy word, light not only for our pathway down here, but light as to the future. And we thank Thee, our God, for that glorious Kingdom, a Kingdom that will never end.
Which is coming for this poor world. But our God, we thank thee that while we are here, we are in a Kingdom in mystery, a Kingdom where the rightful king is absent, and thou hast given us full instruction as to how we should behave.
During that time, so we commend our time together to the praying for Thy help, and praying that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou will guide and direct undertake for us, that it might be intelligible to each one.
And above all, we pray that thou, Lord Jesus, might be honored and glorified.
So we commend our time together to thee, and we ask all this, Lord Jesus, in thy precious and worthy name, Amen.
Amen.
Well, as I suggested to Randy Tyser when he first proposed this talk, I said maybe it would be good to have two meetings, one perhaps on the Kingdom of heaven and one on the Kingdom of God.
So today the Lord willing will talk a little about the Kingdom of heaven, but before we do so.
We will just.
Quickly define what we mean by the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God, and also what we mean by.
Or what scripture means by the term the Kingdom of the Son of Man, and also what it means by the Kingdom of the Father.
And the first thing we will talk about, perhaps, is the Kingdom of God.
And to talk about that Kingdom, let's turn to John's Gospel, chapter 3. There are many verses to which we could turn.
But we'll go into this more fully, the Lord willing, next Lord's Day. But notice what the Lord Jesus says in verse 3, John three and three. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is far reaching. It encompasses everything to do with God because there is only one God and ultimately only one Kingdom. And so the Kingdom of God encompasses, in that sense, every Kingdom about which we can talk.
And in that way we have to understand that the Kingdom of heaven is really, if we could use the term, a subsection of the Kingdom of God. But the Kingdom of God really exists from a long way back in the Old Testament, but it will be manifested in its fullness.
When the Lord Jesus Christ delivers up the Kingdom to God, even the Father.
That's in First Corinthians 15, where it says that God may be All in all.
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And that Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.
But what about the Kingdom of God? What characterizes that Kingdom?
It tells us here that a man cannot see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. Now the Old Testament believers were born again, and in that sense they did see the Kingdom of God, although they didn't see it in its fullest display of blessing. But if we turn over to the Gospel of Luke for a moment.
Gospel of Luke, chapter 17.
We see a verse here that explains a little bit about the Kingdom of God.
And the Lord Jesus says.
There in verse, well we'll read from verse 20, 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.
Neither shall they say lo here or lo there, for behold the Kingdom of God. And I'm going to read this as it is in the Darby translation.
It should not read within you. The Kingdom of God is among you.
What does that mean? It means that the Lord Jesus Christ was the embodiment of everything about which the Kingdom of God spoke, because essentially, the Kingdom of God is a moral state suited to the character of God.
That is what the Lord looks for in the believer today, and that is why, and again we'll see this next week, why the apostle Paul emphasizes so strongly in his ministry, as he says in Acts 20, the things concerning the Kingdom of God, a moral state suited to the rightful king who at the moment is absent.
But as the Lord, Jesus displayed that character perfectly.
So he calls on that display to be reflected in you and in me.
What about the Kingdom of Heaven?
The Kingdom of heaven, as we said a moment ago, is part of the Kingdom of God. But if we could use the term, it's a temporary thing, the Kingdom of heaven. The term is used only in Matthew's Gospel.
And the other three Gospels the Kingdom of God is used, and in many ways, in the use in which they are made in the Gospels, they are much the same. Let me use an illustration.
We're speaking to an American audience. I could talk about the United States of America and I could mean.
The territory, the territory which belongs to the United States, I'm going to the United States, I might say. And people would interpret that to mean that I was going to cross the border and enter what is territorially the United States.
But I could also talk about the United States in terms of the American people. And so I could say.
I like the American people or I like America, and everyone would understand perfectly that. I was not particularly talking about the geography of America, although it could include that, but I was talking about the American people, their character.
The way the country is run and so on.
So the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven can often be used interchangeably. But.
They are emphatically not the same.
That verse we read in John 3 proves it. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
I cannot enter the Kingdom of God without having new life.
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What about the Kingdom of Heaven?
Oh, today that is vastly different and as we read in the Word of God, the Kingdom of heaven today.
Is not necessarily composed only of true believers. In fact, Scripture makes it very clear that that is very definitely not the case today.
So what is the Kingdom of Heaven?
Let's turn to Matthew chapter 3.
And again, allow me to say.
That there is no way in a one hour talk we can say everything that needs to be said about the Kingdom of heaven.
Nor do I know everything about the Kingdom of Heaven.
And if I can say it, I trust with all truth.
I wish our late brother Clarence Lundin were sitting here instead of myself, but he's with the Lord, so we'll do our best. Matthew, chapter 3.
Verse One. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Go over to Chapter 4.
Verse 17.
From that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
What did they mean?
I suggest that the term.
While it is mentioned in the sense that we're talking about only in the Gospel of Matthew, really originates in the Old Testament. Although the actual phrase Kingdom of heaven I don't think exists in the Old Testament, but the substance of it is there.
To see that, turn back to Daniel chapter 2. And I know we're jumping around a lot, but there's no way around it. Daniel chapter 2.
And notice what it says here.
In verse 44, now we're not going to read the context of all this, we don't have the time, but this is Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, where he saw the image you'll remember with a head of gold, a breast of silver, a belly of iron, or rather of brass.
Legs of iron and feet of iron and clay.
But notice what it says here in verse 44. And in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed?
Notice the term the God of heaven, and if we turn over to the 4th chapter again, we get a reference there.
4th chapter of Daniel.
And here's Nebuchadnezzar speaking.
And notice what he says.
Verse 34.
Here's Nebuchadnezzar rehearsing what happened to him. And at the end of the days I never could, never lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting Kingdom.
And his Kingdom is from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and so on.
One more verse in the 7th chapter.
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Just give me a moment here because I'm turning to these verses just off the top of my head.
I don't have any notes here.
Yes.
Verse 27. Verse 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.
So what is the term the Kingdom of heaven mean?
I believe it means, literally the rule of the heavens over the earth.
Nebuchadnezzar had to recognize as the first head of the Kingdom that began what we know from Scripture are the times of the Gentiles. He had to recognize that the heavens rule.
And he did recognize that and that God was over all.
But now Fast forward, going back now to Matthew's Gospel, to John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus, and they one after the other announce that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It never says in Matthew that the Kingdom of heaven is come because.
The Lord knew that he would be rejected. He offered himself to Israel as the rightful king, and had he been accepted, He would have initiated the rule of the heavens over the earth. But we all know what happened. Israel rejected him. This world cast out the one who was the rightful king.
And thus the Kingdom of the heavens, the Kingdom of heaven, takes on a different character.
But before we go down that road.
We need to talk a little bit about the future.
Before we focus on what the Kingdom of heaven means for us today, John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus both said the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, but it never in that sense came during their time because the Lord was rejected.
Turn to Matthew chapter 8 for a verse.
Matthew, Chapter 8.
And verse 41.
Sorry, verse 11. Beg your pardon verse 11.
Original verse 41.
Matthew 8 and verse 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.
But the children of the Kingdom shall he cast into outer darkness. Cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
That shows us that there is a future for the Kingdom of heaven, when those like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will be part of it.
What does that future Kingdom of heaven become?
I suggest that the Kingdom of Heaven in a coming day.
Will be divided into an earthly Kingdom and a heavenly Kingdom.
And we're going over this quickly, but we need to have our definitions before we can proceed. To see how that pans out, turn to Matthew 13 for a moment.
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Matthew 13.
And notice what happens here.
In verse 41.
It's talking about.
The parable of the wheat and the tares. And notice what happens here.
The Lord is explaining that parable, and he says in act or in Matthew 13 and 41, the Son of Man shall send forth his angels.
And they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
There's the earthly Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Son of Man.
In Ephesians chapter one and verse 10 we read.
But in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him.
The earthly Kingdom though, is very specially the Kingdom of the Son of Man. It's his Kingdom. He will rule during the millennial day.
But then in verse 43 there's another Kingdom. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their father.
Who hath ears to hear? Let him hear.
And the Lord Jesus was instituting the remembrance in Matthew. He says, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom. That's the heavenly side of the Kingdom. That's the heavenly Kingdom to which you and I are headed. And so in that sense, the Kingdom of the Father.
And the Kingdom of the Son of Man.
Are part of the Kingdom of Heaven in a future day. That is what the Kingdom of Heaven will become in a future day. With the rule of the heavens over the earth, the heavens will rule.
You and I as part of the Father's Kingdom, The Lord Jesus ruling over the Kingdom of the Son of Man, which is the title he takes when he appears in judgment to set up His Kingdom down here.
But now the most important part of what we want to talk about tonight, What about the Kingdom of heaven today?
What went on in the past, The announcement of the Kingdom of heaven we've read about. What will take place in the future, we've looked at. But for you and for me and for the Scriptures.
That, by and large describe the Kingdom of heaven.
They refer much more to the day in which you and I are living.
Where the Kingdom takes on a character that is brought about starting in Matthew 13.
Excuse me?
In Matthew 12 and up until that chapter, the Lord Jesus presented himself to Israel.
As the rightful king and as we said a few minutes ago, they rejected him. In the 12Th chapter of Matthew the Lord Jesus formally rejects Israel and then figuratively in the 13th chapter in verse one it says the same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside.
The house speaks of Israel, the seaside speaks of the nation.
The Lord leaves Israel. They are by and large set aside for the moment, although they can be part of the blessing if they wish. But now the Lord is turning his face toward the nations, the Gentiles.
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Typified by the sea and what do we have first?
The parable that sets the tone.
For the Kingdom of Heaven during this time, the parable of the sower.
Excuse me?
The Parable of the Sower.
Sets the tone by pointing out how that the Lord is going out and sowing aside various kinds of soil, some unproductive, but thankfully some on which the good seed falls and it grows.
It's not a similitude of the Kingdom of heaven in that sense, but it sets the basis.
For all of the other similitudes of the Kingdom, of which we have 10 in Matthew's Gospel.
Six in the 13th chapter, following the parable of the sower, and then one in the 18th chapter, one in the 20th, one in the 22nd.
And one in the 25th. And together they give us the character of the Kingdom of heaven.
In the time during which you and I are living.
And notice what the Lord Jesus says here.
Verse 10 of Matthew 13.
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. Now notice this, to know the mysteries or the secrets.
Of the Kingdom of heaven. But to them it is not given. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.
But whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they see see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand, and so on.
So then we get the parable of the sower as we have mentioned.
But notice that the Lord is going to speak now in parables, the mysteries, the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven, because now we have a Kingdom that is not visible. The rightful king is absent. He has been rejected.
But he has his own. In this world. He has a Kingdom, but it's a Kingdom in mystery.
And we see from the following parables what characterizes the Kingdom of Heaven.
We're going to lay some emphasis on the 1St 3 parables because they present the Kingdom that is the first three similitudes, beginning with the verse 24.
Because they show us the Kingdom of heaven in the hands of man and what man has done with it. Then when we consider the last three in Matthew 13, we see what God is doing in spite of man.
Notice what happens in verse 24.
Another parable putting forth unto them, saying, the Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man.
Sowed good seed in this field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat, and went his way.
I might mention that this particular thing called tears the proper word in is Darnell, and it was a very common trick in the Roman Empire. In fact, it was such a serious trick that there was a law passed forbidding it with a very severe penalties attached to it if the.
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Culprit could be caught.
Verse 46 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came, and said unto him, Sir, it's not thou so good seed in thy field. From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy have done this.
The servant said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
But he said nay, lest while ye gather up the tears, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Now notice this that both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, gather you together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them and gather the wheat into my barn.
Here we see clearly that as soon as God began to work, Satan began to work as well. And as we see later on in this chapter, we find out that the enemy that sowed tears is the devil, and the tares are the children of the wicked, so that it's very clear that the Kingdom of heaven exists with both.
Reality. Those that are truly the Lords and those that merely are outward professors.
These tears apparently look very much like the wheat, and you can't really tell them apart until the heads begin to form on the wheat and the tears. And then you can tell them apart. But by that time they are so firmly rooted with the wheat that to try and uproot the tears would endanger the wheat as well. And so the Lord says.
Let them grow together till the harvest and that's what we see today.
Verse 31 is another negative parable, another parable putting forth unto them, saying, the Kingdom of heaven is linked to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and become a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
Again, it shows that Christianity was meant to be that which was small and insignificant in this world. What have men done with it?
Growing it into a great tree where these birds, typical of that which is unclean and evil, have room to roost in there. Speaking of evil workers and those who are mere professors in Christianity. Although I would not rule out even a true believer who could be an unclean bird and spread that which is bad doctrine.
And finally, that which is done in secret in verse 33, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto 11, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. Leaven always speaks of evil in Scripture, and hear that which is evil has been introduced into the profession of Christianity, and sad to say, it tends to spread.
Even though it was done in secret.
But then just going over it quickly. Then at the end of the chapter beginning in verse 44, notice what we have.
The Kingdom of heaven is like under treasure hid in a field, which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he had, and buyeth that field so beautiful.
The Lord Jesus saw you and me in that field.
He sells all that he has and he buys the whole field.
But he sees the Treasurer.
Verse 45 Again The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one Pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought.
We have no problem understanding what that means.
That beautiful Pearl, the church Lord Jesus said it's worth selling everything, giving up everything. I have to have that.
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Verse 47 Again, The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew it ashore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels.
And cast the bad away.
The gospel net going out today, gathering good and bad fish. That doesn't mean intrinsically good and bad. The thought is those that are real and those that are not.
That's what God is doing today.
So what does the Kingdom of Heaven mean in the light of what we have been reading?
I suggest that the Kingdom of heaven.
Speaking of the rule of the heavens over the earth.
Is essentially.
Christendom today it is that part of the world which has, at least in an outward way, accepted the gospel, even though there are many unbelievers there, accepted the name of Christ, and in many cases perhaps having been baptized and in general it refers to.
That part of the world.
At which, as I said a moment ago, we would refer to as Christian. If the Kingdom of God is the moral character of God's Kingdom, the Kingdom of heaven is more territorial. It is the sphere of Christian profession on earth.
We have to admit that in the last 20 years.
Some of that has gotten a little bit blurred in lands like Canada and the US, which formerly would have easily been termed Christian countries.
It perhaps has also gotten even more blurred.
In parts of Europe.
Even in countries which were once considered bastions of Christianity.
Very sad to see that coming on, but the Lord has told us that would have happened.
But in the time remaining, if I may, I would like to get down to something very practical.
To show us what the term the Kingdom of Heaven really means in terms of the world in which you and I are living.
A little bit of background.
I hesitate in a public forum to single out specific countries, but maybe we'll do so tonight recognizing that it intended no slurs intended on anyone who happens to be a citizen of those countries.
I have visited the United Kingdom, otherwise often thought of as England, although the United Kingdom includes Northern Ireland and Scotland and Wales.
I have visited there many times and I have to say that it is often very difficult to hand out gospel tracts. The only time there was a big difference was when I was there once, less than two weeks after September the 11Th.
2001 I didn't plan it that way, but that's the way it happened.
What a huge difference. Tony Blair was budding up to George Bush. Everybody in England was scared stiff. They said London's going to be next.
And every gospel tract turned into a 15 minute conversation. But it didn't last.
But.
Not too long after that.
A man from India, a true Christian, who I have, whom I have never met, was traveling on a plane, and beside him was another man from India whom he had never met before. Not a Christian, he was a Sikh. This was an overnight flight, starting at 3:00 in the morning, when most people getting on a plane would.
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Get their dinner and then do their best to bed down and get some sleep.
This man reported that he couldn't get away from this seek who wanted to talk.
And he kept urging him you need to go to England and start doing business in England.
And finally.
The Christian man gave the idea of going to sleep, as we would say. He gave it up as a bad job and decided he'd better at least have his conversation. So he said, well tell me, what is it about England that's such a good place to do business?
All the Sikh said everybody trusts you there.
Why did he say that?
In spite of the apostasy that is overrunning England today, in spite of the fact that Christian churches are being emptied out and in some cases sold to Muslims who turn them into mosques.
It's still part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Its constitution, its baseline, its thinking, its moral standards are based on the word of God and there is a moral force there which does not exist in India. And that man who was a Sikh and no Christian.
He maybe didn't know why, but he recognized it.
Tell you another story.
That same Christian man.
Later on found himself in the Netherlands.
That was one country that very clearly was an absolute stronghold of the Reformation.
But what has happened today?
100 years ago, 97% of the people in the Netherlands went to church on Lord's Day.
Today, 97% don't go anywhere.
Shocking.
With this Christian man from India was in the Netherlands staying with another believer whom he knew, and he lived out in the country. And the Christian in the Netherlands said we need some milk, let's go get some. So instead of proceeding to the nearest store, picked up a jug with a lid on it and they took a short walk down the road to a dairy farm.
Where there was a big cooler there with all the milk in it.
To be taken to a central dairy, but it wasn't gone yet.
The man put his jug under the tap, filled it up with milk, figured out how much he'd taken, reached up overhead to a shelf, found a dish full of loose change.
Put his EUR into the dish, made his change and walked out with his jug of milk in his hand.
The Indian man couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He just about, if you could use the term, fell through the floor, he said. You mean that people don't cheat and steal the money?
Oh no, the man said. Oh no, he said. Nobody, nobody would cheat like that.
Why, in spite of the turning away from the Lord, the Netherlands is in the Kingdom of Heaven?
People could be trusted. Does that mean man's heart's any different? Absolutely not. What's the difference? The restraining power of the Spirit of God and of government. Government under God. Turn over to 2nd Thessalonians for a verse.
We all know this verse.
Verse six and now you know, it says chapter 2, Second Thessalonians verse six and now you know notice the language of what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. The what that withholds is stable government.
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For the mystery of iniquity hath already work. And now notice this, only he who now letteth or hindereth will hinder until he be taken out of the way. That's the Spirit of God. Two things restrain evil in this world, good government and the Spirit of God.
God has allowed that both are generally present.
In Christendom, where the Kingdom of heaven is.
I don't say there's no stable governments in that one sense in other places, but it's not the same.
That Indian man a few months later told that story about the Netherlands at a seminar that he was at in the Middle East.
And he couldn't help but notice that a man from Egypt laughed the loudest, just splitting his sides, laughing and roaring with laughter so loud that eventually everyone turned to look at him.
And.
The Indian man had already said the Christian, he said, you know, if we tried to sell milk like that in India, the first person that came along would likely steal not only the milk but also the dish of change.
The Egyptian man, after he composed himself, he said, well, he said we'd be even smarter in Egypt. He said we'd be smarter than the Indians.
He said we not only steal the milk and the change, we take the cows too.
The final comment by the man from India was that the man was from Egypt was being too charitable to the Indians. That was his comment, not mine.
Meaning that the Indians would probably steal the cows too. Does that mean that people in India and Egypt are any worse than they are in Christendom? No, it means we live in the Kingdom of Heaven.
And so God has given much to those who live in the Kingdom of heaven.
But how solemn to think that the whole time that God is working, Satan is working too, and that the tares are growing among the feet.
How solemn to think that what God started as something relatively small in this world and true Christianity Today will still never be popular. But what has a man done with.
Beginning very early on in the church's history, under a man by the name of Constantine, he made Christianity. As we all know, the religion of the Roman Empire compelled his troops to be baptized, even though they weren't necessarily true believers.
That expanded into Christians being placed into positions of power and authority and eventually morphed itself into Roman Catholicism, where the Church literally ruled the world for pretty close to 1000 years.
And every kind of bad doctrine was introduced in one way or another, and much of the precious truth that had been given at the beginning was very quickly lost sight of. Well, the Lord was very gracious, as we know. And in the Reformation which began in the 15th century with men like Wickliffe and Jan Hussin, Bohemia.
The so-called Heralds of the Reformation.
Was finally brought to fruition by men like Luther and Farrell and Zwingli and Beusser and many others in in England people like in Scotland by John Knox and various others. And the truth of the gospel was restored and then God graciously, as we know little under 200 years ago, raised up those.
Who restored to us the truth of the Assembly?
But is that popular today? No, it is not.
And so we find Christendom riddled with all sorts of bad doctrine and bad practice.
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However.
We want to make one thing clear.
The Kingdom of Heaven while the churches within the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of heaven is not the church and the mistake that has been made by many is to make the church into the Kingdom of heaven. The Church of Rome started it, but Protestantism, sad to say, while having more light.
Has not been much better.
Because Protestantism was not of God, the Reformation was. But Protestantism very quickly began to duplicate many of the errors that their forefathers went to the stake for.
And those things that were fought for and paid for in the blood of the martyrs have often been reintroduced into the various sects and denominations of Protestantism, so that nowadays we see just about every error duplicated under the name of Christendom.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not the Church.
But people have made them equal to one another.
No, the church is introduced later in Matthew, and so we get, beginning in the 16th chapter, the Lord's starting to reveal what He was going to do with His church. But the church today is within that sphere of the Kingdom of heaven, which as we said, I believe is essentially Christendom, and there are many advantages to living within that sphere.
Now let's say, for example, a man in China accepts Christ as his savior, or a man in India does, or a man in North Korea does, or a man in Indonesia does, or in Saudi Arabia, or any one of those countries where false religions predominate. Are they in the Kingdom of Heaven?
In one sense, yes, Morally and spiritually they are.
And in that sense?
They can enjoy the privileges, they can have insight into the kingdoms mysteries. They can understand what you and I understand. We're not going. We don't have time to go into the last four similitudes of the Kingdom in the latter part of Matthew, those last four chapters that I mentioned, but they bring out more of the character of the Kingdom of heaven today.
And the things that characterize it, while the king is absent, they make it very, very clear that in no way does the church equate to the Kingdom of heaven. But we're not going to have time to do that. We're getting close to the hour. But the whole point is that a man or a woman could be in one of those countries which is largely characterized by false religions and.
Part of the Kingdom of heaven, morally and spiritually. But for those to whom we are speaking tonight, we are part of that Kingdom of heaven. You might say territorially because we live in an area where the Bible has generally been taken by society.
Society. Society to be the standard of moral conduct, and it once was.
It has been the basis of laws. It was the basis of laws in Great Britain. It is, I believe, the basis of law in the United States of America. It has been the basis of law, perhaps in a more distant way, in many European countries, so that the principles of the Word of God were often consulted when a constitution was being drafted for that you and I.
Very, very thankful. But as we read in Luke's Gospel chapter 12.
And I'm not quoting this accurately, but to whom much is given.
Of them shall much be required, and So what a solemn thing it is to live under the privileges which you and I enjoy. And yet perhaps.
To be going on like the tears about which we have been speaking or taking part in some of these evil things. The mustard tree, for example. I read a while ago about a man.
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I hesitate, but it's quite true. He was part of the so-called Anglican Church or Church of England, called the Episcopal Church in the United States, and he was an open and avowed atheist, and he made no secret of it. Yet because he had graduated from an Anglican seminary and had been ordained by them, he was ordained to preach in.
Purchased even though he was openly an atheist.
That's the mustard tree. He was one of the birds roosting in that tree. That's what Christendom has become today. And so, oh, very, very solemn.
Well.
On the other hand, to end on a positive note, how precious to realize that within all of that there is a treasure hid in a field, there is the Pearl of great price. There is the gospel net still being thrown out.
And the good fish are still being collected.
Let's pray.
Our loving God and our Father become to Thee this evening, and we realize that much has been left unsaid that possibly could have been said, but we pray for Thy blessing on Thy word. We pray that Thou would give us to understand the mysteries, the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven. Do you understand, Lord Jesus, that there is a day coming?
When thou wilt have thy rightful place as the Kingdom of the Son of Man.
And we, our God, will be there in the Kingdom of the Father on the heavenly side of things. We bless thee for that prospect.
We commit ourselves to the now, thanking Thee for this time together, and doing so, Lord Jesus, and thy alone, worthy and precious name. Amen.
Be there.
Men.
I will only say one thing and that is that.
I don't know whether I missed any key points or whether anyone might have a question or two. But Alan, if you are prepared to take the time, I want you to know that I have the time, but I'm only asking and just putting that out as a feeler.
What do you think?
Thank you, Bill. That was very helpful.
Yeah, I think we have time. If someone has a question or two, that would be great. We have plenty of time. Well, it's very easy just to gloss over something that maybe should have been explained a bit more fully or perhaps to have failed to mention something that.
Just made a difficulty for someone, so again I say I can't promise to answer the question, but we'll do our best if someone has one.
I have a question, Brother Bill, regarding Matthew 13 and the gathering of the Tares.
It looks like the gathering of the terrors is done previous to the gathering of the wheat.
I wonder if you just comment on that as far as what that is verse 30 of Matthew 13 maybe just.
Explain what that means.
Well, let's read the verse together. Matthew 13 and 30 let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat.
01:00:01
Into my barn.
And then going on further, if we could read a little further down.
Verse 39. The second clause of the verse.
The Harvest is the end of the world or the end of the age, and the Reapers are the angels.
I I would take it that.
This.
Harvest, so-called here, does not really occur in the sense in which the Lord gives it here until after you and I are called home. The Rapture is not in view here as we know it.
We are called home before the Lord begins to take account of things in this world.
And so the harvest here is not till the end of the age, and the end of the age, properly speaking, is not until the Lord comes in power and glory to set up his Kingdom. And then I believe the angels will be sent forth to.
To find these tears and bundles, and I believe that is where what we read.
Further along in this in Matthew, well, we can turn to it if you like and Matthew chapter 24, Matthew 24 and verse.
40.
I believe this is what is happening. When the angels come, then shall two be in the field, but one shall be taken in the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left, and so on. And so in that sense, I believe the wicked are severed from the among the just by the angels, and then I believe those that are left.
Are left to go into, you might say, as the nucleus of the millennial Kingdom.
Would you, would you agree with that? Does that commend itself?
Yes, that would be so the the subject there in the in the wheat is not exactly that. That's the thing that I've struggled with is the is the wheat are Christian reality and the tares Christian profession.
Because that's that's the issue.
Of course, is the coming of the Lord Jesus in the rapture precedes the the judgment. I just wonder if the binding into bundles. I know we don't really see prophecy being fulfilled today, but you know we just we're up here in Idaho and we're surrounded by Mormons and you know they have a on billions the Church of Jesus Christ.
Of the Latter Day Saints.
But it's a bundle of tears. I just, I don't know if that's significance there or not, but.
Thought has occurred to me.
Well, you're in good company, Phil, our older brother and used to say that going back at least 75 years, they said, I believe we're starting to see the bundles being formed already. So I firmly believe that we see the beginnings of that and sad to say.
We're seeing it even in.
A Roman Catholicism, for example, beginning to embrace.
Much of what is going on in the Protestant denominations and even what is going on in false religions, and I was a little shocked when I saw that recently where the present Pope stood up in the United Nations and referred to.
Hindus and Muslims and one thing and another. And when somebody asked him about it afterward, he was well, he said, I'm using the current language which goes on in the day in which we're living. And I thought, boy, oh boy, that's, that's quite something. But I believe the bundles are starting to be formed. Absolutely. But the full blown display of that I, I think will be in the coming day.
I.
01:05:06
Was the Indian man Ravi Zacharias?
No, no. In fact, if anyone is interested, I can't. His name is As long as Your Arm and I can't remember it. But if anyone is interested, I consider the book that he wrote very, very interesting reading. I could not agree with everything he says because.
He has a bit of what you and I would call Covenant theology or reconstructionism in his background, but the book is extremely good reading. It's and if you want to write the title down and you Google it, it'll come up. It's called The Book That Made Your World.
The book that made your world. And it's the appeal of this man from India who is a bright Christian.
And it's his appeal essentially to the Western world and saying what JN Darby said many years ago. JN Darby summarized it in one sentence, he said.
Man in Christendom argues from the effects of light in order to deny its necessity. This man essentially is saying you people in Western Europe and North America.
Realize what you're doing to yourselves because you are throwing out what has made your world what it is today, and we here in India struggle to try and get what you've got while you throw out the very source of it. Makes good reading.
If you want his name I'll Google it for you, but maybe somebody else can do it there. But if you.
If you go into Amazon or or and and go under books and Google the book that made your world, it'll it'll come right up.
Barsho Mangalwadi. That's it, That's it.
And you won't read it in an evening, though be prepared to spend some time because he goes into it from all angles.
Well, I have a question.
It's very fascinating. Really appreciate the blessings you've given us here tonight. When we talk about the Kingdom of Heaven, then in one sense we're thinking that, say, the US, Canada and Great Britain are in a sense part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
With having had.
Doctrinal teaching and greatness from the past. Is it possible? If I'm right there, is it possible for?
A country like the US to lose that position.
I can't answer that. I don't know.
If I can say it myself.
You would think that Western Europe would have already lost it because.
I've been to Europe and.
It's it's a godless place and that anyone who's a Christian there would not have the slightest hesitation.
Now, I admit there has been a bit of a revival in northern France in the last 25 years and there have been bright spots in a few little areas, but in a general way, Europe is dark. And yet. And yet, you can't help but feel the influence of Christianity. You can't help but feel.
That, in spite of the turning away, there is at least the grudging respect.
For the moral principles that govern things. And just as that Sikh who was trying to speak to this man, Mangle Wadi, he was saying everybody trusts you in England.
01:10:02
Why should they nobody trust you if I could say it in India? I asked.
Man in India who's gathered to the Lords name, he said. You know brother, I have to put up a boundary wall around my property.
I said, well, why do you need a concrete boundary wall? I said, why can't you put up a fence the way we do in North America? I said put some, dig some holes, put some poles in and stretch some fence wire around it and there's some staples. I said that'll that'll keep the cattle and the goats and the various and sundry other animals, the water Buffalo and that off your property and out of your garden.
Oh, he laughed. He said, Brother, you don't know India, he said.
The first night that fence was up, he said. The next morning I'd go out and all the staples would be gone, the fence wired begone, and there'd be a few posts left in the ground, maybe not even posts.
Doesn't happen here in North America. It doesn't happen in England. I don't have to lock my house where I live if I want to go out and go on errands to town. Doesn't don't have to worry about it. Nobody comes into the house and steals. And like that man from from India who was in the Netherlands when I lived in Hamilton, there was a farm about two miles from us. They sold their produce the same way.
They put it all out in a big stand up front and put a cash box out there.
With prices on the produce, people made their own change. As far as I know they never lost money, or at least if they did it was so insignificant, wasn't worth worrying about. So the Lord has been very good. So I can't answer that. I suppose it could happen, but.
Thank you.
Bill, I'd just like to ask if this is an oversimplification. I know you didn't get into the Kingdom of God very much yet, but is the Kingdom of Heaven more dispensational and the Kingdom of God more especially the Kingdom of God today in a mystery, is it more a state of soul?
Is that a? Is that an oversimplification?
I don't think so, no. I think that's very, very good. The Kingdom of Heaven is dispensational and in that sense, the term the Kingdom of heaven really, although it was.
Mentioned by John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus, the term really did not have any significance much because it never appeared until the Lord Jesus.
Spoke about it beginning in Matthew 13. Nor will the Kingdom of heaven as a term have much meaning after.
The Church is called home because again, the Kingdom of heaven will be divided, as we have seen, into the Kingdom of the Father and the Kingdom of the Son of Man. And so in that sense we might, we might say that the term the Kingdom of heaven.
Is generally not used after the church is called home because then once God begins working with this world and the Lord Jesus takes his rightful place, it's no longer a Kingdom in mystery. It's a Kingdom in manifestation. And then God uses different terms. And so we'll talk more about the Kingdom of God next week, but no.
I I don't consider that an oversimplification.
Sometimes a simplification is good, makes things clear for us. But let me make one little point if you turn over to Colossians one for a moment.
Colossians, Chapter One.
It says there in verse 13.
Who the Father is the antecedent in verse 12, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, or the Son of His love?
Just to be clear, that Kingdom is not the same as the Kingdom of the Son of Man.
This in Colossians one is the Kingdom of the Son of God.
01:15:00
And we wait for him, according to First Thanos Thessalonians 1, not as the Son of man, but as the Son of God tells us there that.
The Thessalonians came to serve the living and true God.
And to wait for his Son from heaven. So in that sense, we are now through grace in the Kingdom of the Son of God.
But that's his Kingdom. And the Lord Jesus could say, I appoint unto you a Kingdom. That is, the Lord Jesus is now seated on the Father's throne. We will eventually be seated with Him on His throne, but we are in His Kingdom now. But it's the Kingdom of the Son of his love or the Son of God.
In a coming day, the Kingdom of the Son of Man is an earthly Kingdom.
So I just mentioned that, just so we were clear on that, that isn't exactly the same.
Brother Bill, would it be at all akin to the followers of of David, the 400 men that follow David and Abigail in the first Samuel 25 that recognized the anointed king, though they lived in the Kingdom of Saul, but.
Their loyalty was to God's anointed the man after God's own heart. Is that the character in which we see the Kingdom of the Son of his love? Well, that's that's beautiful, Phil. I think that's that's lovely.
Yes, perfect.
I'll just make one other comment and it's for you all to consider. I don't say it dogmatically.
But I firmly believe it in my own heart and it relates back to that question. It's just one little comment about could a country, for example, like Canada or the United States?
Lose its character as being part of Christendom or part of the Kingdom of heaven. We couldn't say that anything was impossible.
But.
The two biggest economies in the world today are the United States and China.
But.
China, while it figures in prophecy, does not figure in a really major way. They're mentioned and I believe they will be part of the kings of the East.
That are made way for before the battle of Armageddon. But if you want to take another one, probably the biggest economy in the world other than the United States.
Is the European Union.
And of course it consists of what, 27 countries? Something like that now.
It's GNP is huge and I'm not up on it but.
It would at least rival the United States, if not being bigger. I can't, I can't remember, maybe someone knows. But anyway, the point is that.
That the European Union, for the most part, is composed of countries that are part of Christendom. So are Canada and the United States.
Many years ago.
Our late brother Norman Berry Of Montreal.
Said there is no room in prophecy for the economies of the Western world to go down and to fail before the rapture.
How could he say that he based it on two scriptures, one in?
2nd Thessalonians or First Thessalonians 5 where it says, when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.
And and they shall not escape.
The other scripture he based it on was I think and I'll just turn to it quickly to make sure I have the reference right, but I think it's the 19th of Luke, but we'll just verify that.
01:20:11
19th of Luke.
Yes.
No. 17th Beg your pardon. 17th And verse 26 it says, And as it was in the days of Noi, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and so on.
Verse 22, or rather 28. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they build it. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and so on.
Norman Berry said to us the US economy is so big that if it went down it would take the rest of the world with it, and it already did back in 1929.
If the European Union went down, it is big enough that it would carry the rest of the world with it now, he said. That's not A cause for patting ourselves on the back and saying, like Hezekiah, thank God there will be peace in my time.
No.
It is cause for recognizing that God is gracious.
But.
I firmly believe it. I put it out for what it's worth, that I don't believe those economies can fail in a way, and if there were to be such a huge turn around that Western Europe and North America were so overrun.
For example.
That England would, instead of having laws based on the word of God, were to find themselves operating under Muslim Sharia law or something like that.
Everything would go when that happened and I personally very much question if that is going to happen. But I just put that out as, as I say something that Norman Berry told us at least 3035 years ago. I've meditated a lot on it and I believe he is correct.
It won't be until after the Rapture they'll still be able to say peace and safety.
They'll still be able to buy and sell and eat and drink and carry on.
For at least a short while until the Lord begins to take things apart during the first 3 1/2 years of the 7th or the last prophetic week. And then of course eventually in the great tribulation, man will see the total breakdown of everything. But I personally don't think we'll likely see.
That happened in our time.
Did we Bill? Could we?
Look at the rider on the White Horse. He has no.
Weapons. No, no arrows he just has a bow. I was just wondering if that might be.
Could relate to that.
I believe so, yes. He goes forth conquering and to conquer, but he doesn't have to resort to warfare to do it, does he? And it's not until the next horse appears that peace is taken from the earth.
Well, I had my supper, but some of you are probably getting hungry.
So you you say, is there any other question or shall we?
Call it an evening.
Thank you very much, Bill. We've appreciated it.
Thank you all for coming, it's nice to see your faces again. Wish I were out there but.
Can't be at this time.
Can we go ahead and close in prayer then? Alan, is that all right?
01:25:00
Yes, please.
Blessed God our Father, we thank Thee now for Thy precious word, and we thank Thee that Thou has given us to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven. And we thank Thee that by Thy Holy Spirit we can understand these parables and know how they fit into the scene which we see all around us.
So we commend the meeting to thee, and what was said that what is of thyself may remain. We thank thee that thou hast given us, many of us, the privilege of living in the sphere of Christian profession on earth.
We thank thee for the privileges we enjoy.
But we pray that we might recognize and that with privilege those responsibility, and we pray that we might take that responsibility seriously. So we commend ourselves to the now, giving thanks and asking all the Lord Jesus, in thy precious and worthy name, Amen.