In our last issue, we looked at Jesus as the anointed one, theChristos of God.
We also saw how he went to his own and his own rejected him as their king. After the crucifixion, God raised him from the dead; and for approximately six weeks he taught the disciples and apostles about the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Until the ascension, he continued to teach them. They wanted to know, "when, lord, when?!"
Jesus loved them and told them, "it's not time yet." You see, God had something up his sleeve. He was not only going to restore the kingdom to Israel, he was going to invite all nations to reign with his Christ in this future kingdom. You and I know this as the hope.
However, the hope is much more than the return of Christ. Our hope includes reigning with messiah here on the earth in the millennial kingdom, and then on a new earth in the eternal kingdom with God and Christ forever. Now that's a HOPE!!!
Matthew 6:9-10 9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
It has been said that no rabbi would end a service without including the prayer "thy kingdom come."
Matthew 25:31-34 31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
There will be a time and day this will happen. What administration will this be? It will be in the sixth administration when Jesus sets up the kingdom here on earth. This is what the Bible refers to as the sheep and goat division (judgment.)
Notice that this judgment will take place on earth. This is where the nations of the earth will be gathered after the battle of Armageddon.
The sheep (righteous people who survive Armageddon) will enter into the millennial kingdom along with the Old Testament saints and the born again saints to reign with Christ.
The goats, unrighteous people who survive Armageddon, will die without the joy of living in the Kingdom with Christ. The sheep will eventually die also; however, there will be a resurrection and judgment to come.
Now, what will become of the promise made thousands of years ago to Abraham?
Remember the promise was first to Abram, then to his seed. ...Then God makes a covenant; then He defines the boundaries; then He promises a son; then He establishes a covenant with his seed forever; and then He expanded the boundaries to include the lands of their enemies.
However, when we get to the New Testament, look at what we see:
NAB Romans 4:13 It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
So, we see how God is still unfolding His plan of this kingdom progressively and faithfully to restore man back to his original position of the under-ruler on the earth.
However, I want you to note something: Romans is a New Testament church epistle. Now the promise is expanded to include the entire earth. How does that affect us now? Lets see:
Hebrews 11:8-10 8By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
In verse 8, the word inheritance is the word kleronomia. According to Strong's, it means, "an inheritance, property received (or to be received) by inheritance or what is given to one as a possession. Strong's goes on to say, "the eternal blessedness of the consummated kingdom of God which is to be expected after the visible return of Christ.
The word tabernacles in verse 9 is the word for tents. All that time they lived in tents, wandering around and they never received the promise.
Hebrews 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
God was the draftsman and builder of this city. I don't know of any place in the Old Testament where it is stated that God would be the architect and builder of this city. Yet Abraham looked for this place. God must have told Abraham of this city to come.
Hebrews 11:13-16 13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Does God lie? Will not this promise be fulfilled at some point in the future?
Titus 1:1-2 1Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; 2In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
However, Hebrews says…
Hebrews 11:13a These all died in faith, not having received the promises,Romans 4:13-16 13For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 15Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Verse 16: …Father of all of us who do what? Those who believe, the believers.
Galatians 3:7-9 7Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
So, there is an inheritance that goes along with this promise.
If you take the time to work the associated words like rule, reign, inheritance, promises, etcetera; you will begin to understand these words in a whole different light. It's all true and it will all come to pass.
Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance…
Abraham is going to inherit the world, and not only him, but the inheritance is to all his seed!!!
Galatians 3:27-29 27For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
So, if we are heirs according to the promise, who will inherit the world with Abraham?
Genesis 13:14-17 14And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. 16And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
The land was the inheritance for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and when Abraham gets up in the resurrection in the future, he will sit down in the kingdom of God.
If the land is his inheritance, then the kingdom of God must be set up on the earth somewhere, sometime in the future.
Luke 13:28-29 28There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out....[religious people] 29And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.Revelation 20:1-6 1And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither, had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5But the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
This is still future; it's talking about the resurrections. This kingdom will start to come to concretion here on earth when Christ comes back with his saints. Christ will set up this kingdom and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etcetera will reign with Christ and us in this millennial reign.
We have it in our hearts and it's part of our hope now, but there will be a literal kingdom set up in the future that Christ will reign over and we will reign with him in it.
II Timothy 2:10-12 10Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
So, at some time in the future, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the prophets, and the Old Testament saints will be in the kingdom of God here on earth and reign with Christ and his saints.
To be continued…ÿ