THE COMING KINGDOM
Israel and the Hebrew people were the vehicle of the kingdom of God on the earth. With the advent of the body of Yeshua 2000 years ago another vehicle came into existence. I was erroneously taught in bible college that Adonai abandoned Israel. We call that today "replacement theology" and it is still prevalent in most churches around the world. So who does bring the kingdom? From my perspective there are three candidates and it is a combination of all three. 1. Israel and the Jewish people. 2. The church. 3. God Himself along with the hosts of heaven.
Luke 17:20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said,"The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21"nor will they say, See here! or See there! a For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
More and more we are hearing teaching on the kingdom of God. In the Gospel of Matthew, 33 times he uses the term "kingdom of heaven". That term is never used again by any other writer. "Kingdom of God" is used 70 times in the NT. The concept of the kingdom is a primary theme of the OT as well. We know that Yeshua is coming and setting up His millennial kingdom but how much can be put in place now? I am calling this the "transitional millennial government". This is a ponderous subject that has to theologically, exegetically and practically be put into place. Or does it?
A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS
Exodus 19:6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
Revelation 1:5-6
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed a us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kingdom of priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 5:9-10
9 And they sang a new song, saying:"You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us a kingdom of priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth."
Yeshua is a Priest who is a King and a King who is a Priest. That is still a mystery to many believers and Jews alike.
There is a wide spectrum of teaching on the kingdom that is coming forth in these days and how the body of Yeshua is to be (or not to be) involved in bringing it in our role of preaching the "gospel of the kingdom to every ethnos" (ethnic group).
Whatever our view concerning the role of human agency in the bringing in of the kingdom, we will need to square our view with a couple of much neglected verses that should be carefully understood in their contexts.
They are: Isa 59:16 and Isa 63:5.
Isaiah 59:16-17
16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. 17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
Isaiah 63:4-6
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
And I wondered that there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; and My own fury, it sustained Me. 6 I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, made them drunk in My fury, and brought down their strength to the earth."
The setting is clearly the post-tribulational deliverance of Israel prior to and ushering in the millennial reign i,e., the eschatological Day of the Lord.
In both places, the Lord is deliberate in His emphasis. "The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come" (Isa 63:4), not because of the will of man, or because of anything in man, but because it is His sovereign time. This is not to say that the timing of God is not in concert with the intercession and worship of the church, but that the church's intercession and worship is not the initiating cause!
He will work in and through the church, but God is jealous that none imagine that His purpose waits upon man.
"Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come" (Ps 102:13). "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power" (Ps 110:3). "But when it pleased God ... to reveal His Son in me ..." (Gal 1:15-16).
The time will not be determined by the church or by the state of Israel, but by the sovereign predetermination of God.
"For yet the end shall be for the time appointed ..." (Dn 11:27) ... even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed (11:35) ... till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done" (11:36).
NO PRESUMPTION OF SELF-WILL
The corporate servant that God will use as a kind of mid-wife in Israel's salvation, will be a body that has been emptied of presumption. It will not see itself as the source or cause of God's saving action, but as privileged participants in the circle of grace (Ro 11:36). This is not splitting hairs; it is a repudiation of divine dependency on anything that has its source in man. God is very jealous for this all important distinction.
THE PARADOX OF GOD
God Himself is the author of this paradox. What is He saying here? It is certainly clear that the tribulation church will be an intercessory, worshipping and travailing people that will accomplish great break-through in heaven and power and victory on earth (Dn 11:32-33; Rev 11:3; 12:10). However, the form that this victory will take is a matter of great difference with what is envisioned by the advocates of 'kingdom now', 'dominion theology' or the new term of 'victorious eschatology'.
ENDTIME ZEAL
The zeal of the church does not cause the kingdom to come, but the kingdom coming causes great zeal in the church. The manifest fulfillment of the events of the last seven years will be used of God to awaken and straighten the church to a final martyr witness of obedience unto death (Rev 12:10). Truly, another will gird the church and take her where should would not have wished (Jn 21:18).
THE GREAT TRIBULATION (last 3 1/2 yrs)
In the same way that Michael came to the help of Daniel in response to his prayer and deep self abasement (Dan 9), we believe that it is through the church's intercessory travail that Michael will prevail to cast down Satan (Rev 12:7-8). This event is necessary to reveal the mystery of iniquity, which is the incarnation of Satan (the 'seed of the serpent') in the final 'man of sin'.
This event (Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 3:3-5; Dan 9:24) begins the tribulation (Satan's short time; Rev 12:12), which must come to "finish the mystery of God" at the last trump (compare Rev 10:7; 11:15 with Mt 24:31; 1Cor 15:52). Paul is clear in showing that Christ cannot come until this happens first (2Thes 2:3, 7-8). The early church had no thought of Christ's return apart from these specific and recognizable preliminary events / signs.
So what does it mean to enter or bring in the kingdom? Whatever it means, it must take into account the principle of tribulation, as Paul was always careful to exhort the disciples "that we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Not only tribulation as a general principle of the believing life, but as a definite time that the church is appointed, to endure, along with Israel, at the end of the age.
I have great concern over some of the contemporary (so called apostolic and prophetic) teaching that neglects the preparation for tribulation and persecution that is about to suddenly break out upon the body of Yeshua in the not to distant future.
PURIFICATION OF THE BRIDE AND ISRAEL
Tribulation purifies, because it empties us of our 'power' (confidence in self). The principle at work in Jacob's wrestling with the Angel is a pattern for both Israel and the church. The scripture says, "when He sees that their power is gone ..." (Deut 32:36), and "when He shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished" (Dn 12:7). It is Jacob's power that must be broken in order for the kingdom to come. It is the same for the church.
Matthew 5:10-12
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12"Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The kingdom comes to a broken and contrite people who have been brought by God to the end of their own power. "For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he" (Jer 31:11). Crisis reveals the remains of self sufficiency and unbelief, and so casts the believer in greater dependency on the Lord. "We through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God." Acts14:22
Art Katz many times said that; "tribulation and persecution reveal and absolute tribulation and persecution will reveal absolutely".
POST-TRIBULATION PRE-WRATH RAPTURE
Significantly, the church is translated and Jacob is saved at the end of the great tribulation. There is a profound principle here. The kingdom comes at the last trumpet when Christ returns to destroy the Antichrist (2Thes 2:8), translate the church (1Cor 15:52) and deliver the penitent remnant of Jacob (Isa 59:21; Jer 30:7; Dn 12:1-2; Ro 11:26). So it is not the church, but Christ Himself that brings in the kingdom. The church must endure with patience until the time appointed of the Father.
Acts 1:6-7
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying,"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 And He said to them," it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
THE VICTORY OF OVERCOMING AND BEING OVERCOME SIMULTANEOUSLY
The saints posses the kingdom only AFTER they have first been "worn out" and "overcome" by the Antichrist in the final persecution of the 3 1/2 years (Dn 7:21-22, 25; Rev 6:10-11; 13:5, 7). Paradoxically, the saints that are being overcome are also overcoming and going from strength to strength, as "the people that know their God will be strong and do exploits, instruct many, and turn many to righteousness, loving not their lives unto death (Dn 11:32-33; 12:3; Rev 12:10). It is through the utter weakness of the end time church that a multitude that no man can number (Rev 7:9) will come out of "the tribulation, the great one" (literal translation of Rev 7:14). This implies the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever seen. Isn't this what The Lord did on the cross?
THE GLORY COMES ON A SERVANT
I believe the last 3 1/2 years will see the godly remnant come into a corporate fullness that will parallel the Lord's ministry on the Earth. The glory of God in the church has always taken "the form of a servant". When this fullness comes to a people in great tribulation, God will be able to say of them what He said of His preeminent Servant Son, "Behold My Servant!"
Revelation 12:10-12
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time."
Maranatha!
THE NORMALCY BIAS
The normalcy bias refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of the government to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred that it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.
This was what happened in WWII! Many Jews, even hearing rumors of concentration camps and death camps said, "This too shall pass". Such is the condition of the world. The church was not very sensitive either. Less then 1/2 of 1 per cent of the European church helped the Jews in WWII! It is critical to release this word in this hour of preparation!
THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
Prior to every judgment by God through the entire 440 years of the Judges, He warned the children of Israel, but they would not hear. He then judged them in ways they did not expect, nor were ready for...but when they "Cried unto the Lord" he delivered them!! That is His character and His disposition and we can trust it!!
Prior to the 722 BC final deporting of the 10 Northern tribes, He warned them as well, and they had no idea what He was going to do and they heeded Him not and never turned back to Him!!
When the judgment came upon the Southern tribe in 605 BC, they too were warned, but never turned...this moment was one of two "Determined time periods" by the Lord (the other was the 400 years in Egypt!). The southern tribe had no idea, despite the warnings, what was about to happen. (Habakkuk had the best view!), Daniel, Hananiah, Mishial nor Azariah had any idea what was about to happen. They would be taken slaves for 70 years, but in that time they (when everyone else bowed!) believed, look to, trusted and walked with their awesome God in captivity challenging even the word of the king! Daniel continued to look to the Lord according to Solomon's prayer, even when he knew the time period would not be changed!! They each had a demonstration of the power and prophetic work beyond today's New Testament Christian!!
This is the way of the kingdom! This has to be the response of the believer in "The Day of Trouble"!
It's Habakkuk's prayer..."That I might rest in the day of Trouble"!
Habakkuk 3:16 When I heard, my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones; and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops.
Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.
THE PROMISE TO THE PERSEVERING CHURCH
Revelation 3:10 "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you (protect you in the midst of--Goshen principle) from the hour of trial (great tribulation) which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11"Behold, a I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
Revelation 13:10
10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Revelation 14:12-13
12 Here is the perseverance of the saints; here are those a who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes" says the Spirit,"that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them."
I want to thank my endtime friends, wordsmiths-both of them, Reggie Kelley and Jay Lereaux for helping me forge this Word.
May we all ponder this word in our heart.
Thy kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,"Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
Shalom, Clint
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