Message 61
- By Leroy Surface
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
II Peter 1:10-11: Wherefore
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be
ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom
of God is an everlasting Kingdom. It is
as eternal as Christ Himself, because “Christ is the Kingdom of God.” He is eternal, having neither beginning or
ending. Genesis 1:1 says, “In
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In John 1:1, the apostle speaks of Christ as “the
Word,” saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus Christ tells us four times in
the book of Revelation, “I am the beginning” and three of
those times that He is “…the end,” or, “ending”
(Revelation 1:8, 3:14, 21:6, 22:13). The apostle Paul tells us something in Colossians
1:16 that is so incredible, the KJV translators could not bring themselves
to give the proper translation. They
translated, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him,
and for him.” The correct translation of this text says “For
in Him were all things created….”
The heavens and the earth were created in Christ, by
Christ, and for Christ.
Heaven and earth were in perfect harmony until iniquity was found in
God’s “anointed cherub that covereth” (Ezekiel
28:14-15). His (Lucifer’s [Isaiah
14:13-14]) “iniquity” was “self exaltation.” It began as just
a thought; he said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God.” What began with a desire to be greater than the
other angels, did not end there; “I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north (II Corinthians 3:1).” He determined to be the “god” that man
would worship in “the mount of the congregation.” Being successful in bringing about the fall of
humanity through the seduction of Eve and the transgression of Adam, he
succeeded in becoming “the god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4). Still, his lust for power was not
satisfied. He said, “I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah
14:14). Both heaven and earth were
polluted with the iniquity that was found in the “anointed cherub,” the
one called “Lucifer” (the shining one; the morning star). He succeeded in gathering one third of the
angels of God to himself (Revelation 12:4), causing them to be eternally
damned, without promise or hope of redemption (Jude 1:6). All these things happened in the “foundation
of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), a world that the apostle Paul calls “this
present evil world” (Galatians 1:4).
The entrance of sin did not make an end to
the kingdom of God, but it did result in the “casting down” of everything that was polluted with sin. That included all of humanity, the third part
of the angels that followed Lucifer, and the earth itself, which is “cursed” because of sin (Genesis 3:17-19). The creator of heaven and earth still sat
upon the throne of heaven, but man, whom He had created in His own image, was
now serving the adversary. Man fell from
paradise because he believed the serpent; now it would be only those few who
would “believe God” that would gain
entrance into the Kingdom of God. Abel “believed God” and offered the “more excellent sacrifice” (Hebrews 11:4). Enoch believed God and “walked with God, and was not, because God
took him” (Genesis 5:22-24). Abraham became the prime example of one who “believed God,” and God brought Him into
the “everlasting covenant (Genesis 22:16-18)” of the Kingdom of God. Those who “believe God” today, “believe the record that God gave of His
Son.” They know who He is (John 1:1); they know that He came into
the world to “make an end of sins,”
and “bring in everlasting righteousness” (Daniel 9:24-27); and they know that He accomplished
everything He came into the world to do through His death on the cross (Hebrews 2:14-15). This is “the
record that God gave of His Son” (I
John 5:10), and it becomes the
reality of those who “trust in Christ.”
The “First Estate”
Jude 1:6: “And the
angels which kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”
I call your attention to the words “first estate.” This speaks of the heavens and earth as they
were when God created them. The entire
universe was the kingdom of God. The
word “kingdom,” which is used a
hundred and sixty two times in the New Testament, is translated in every case
from the Greek word “basileia,”
which “Strong’s Greek Dictionary”
defines as “(abstractly) rule, or
(concretely) a realm.” The Word of God does not deal in “abstract ideas,” so we defer to the “concrete definition” of the word. The “Kingdom of God” is the “Realm of God.” The apostle Paul tells
us, “The kingdom of God is not meat and
drink; but righteousness, and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans
14:17). This was the nature of the
entire creation until iniquity was found in Lucifer. Remember what Paul tells us in Colossians 1:16; everything that was
created in the beginning was created “in
Christ,” whether “in heaven” or “in
earth;” both “visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers…,” all things were created in
Christ, by Christ, and for Christ. This was the “first estate” of the angels, of Adam and Eve, and of everything
that was created in the beginning. There
was no sin, no devil, and no curse in heaven or on earth. Man had been created just a little lower than
God, and the angels were just a little lower than man, actually created to
serve man in his “first estate” (Hebrews 1:13-14). In is beyond the imagination of man to
comprehend the first estate of man. We
know that he was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-28). We know
that he was adorned with the glory and honor of God (Psalms 8:4-6). We know that
he breathed the breath of God (Genesis
2:7), and we also know that he was made to be above the angels and a little
lower than God in the “first estate.” When David writes of the creation of man, “…thou hast made him a little lower than the
angels” (Psalms 8:5) he used the
Hebrew word “elohym,”
which in this text, speaks of God and not angels. Such was the “first estate” of man, “just
a little lower than God.”
One third of the angels of heaven (Revelation 12:4) were caught up in the
iniquity of Lucifer (Isaiah 14:13)
and left their “first estate,” which
was what God had created them to be in the Kingdom of God. There is no redemption for them, because God
had made them to be “perfect in all their
ways until iniquity was found in them.”
They are “reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6), which simply means, having “left their own habitation” which is
Christ, in whom and by whom they were created (Colossians 1:16-17), they are bound in
eternal darkness and cannot be restored to light. They are a grotesque caricature of what they
once were, twisted and distorted by the iniquity that was found in them. They are the essence of evil that has
polluted the entire universe to the point that even Heaven itself had to be
cleansed by the precious blood of the Son of God (Hebrews 9:22-24, Revelation
12:7-11).
Adam and Eve also “kept not their first estate,” but “left their own habitation” when they, at the urging of the
serpent, walked away from the Tree of Life to eat of the forbidden fruit. They, like the angels, had been created in a
perfect state in all their ways, until iniquity was found in them. Adam and Eve had been created in Christ, by Christ, and for
Christ. He was the place of their
habitation. Christ was to them, and is
eternally to all who come to Him, “the
tree of life.” In the tree of life was everything Adam and
Eve would ever need. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1:30 that God has made
Christ to be unto us “wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” In Him we have “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (II Peter 1:3). This is what Adam and Eve had to walk away
from before they could eat of the forbidden fruit. From the moment Adam took the first bite of
the forbidden fruit, the “first estate”
was lost for all humanity. Sin entered
into the heart and nature of man (Romans
5:12) and the earth itself came under the curse of that sin. We know by the scriptures that Adam was
driven out of paradise; we should also understand that he was driven from the
presence of God, out of the “kingdom of
God,” which is “where God is (the
realm of God.” God has never and will never dwell where sin
is.
Paradise
Lost
With the discovery of iniquity in Lucifer,
and the entrance of sin into man, came great loss. We can easily comprehend what the loss of
paradise meant to humanity, but we should also understand the “loss” that was suffered by the creator. Thousands of years later, when the eternal
Christ came into the world as a man to make an end of sin, He prayed to the
Father the night before He died on the cross; “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5). Jesus was thirty three
years old at that time. Only thirty five
years before He had been “in the form of
God” (Philippians 2:5-7); why
did He specify “the glory I had with thee
before the world was?”
This “present
evil world (Galatians 1:4)” began with the entrance of sin and the
fall of humanity. The phrase “before the world was” never means “before the earth was created,” but
always refers to the time before sin entered through Adam’s disobedience. This “present
evil world (Galatians 1:4)” began with the entrance of sin. God’s man, who had been created in the image
and likeness of God, was now serving Satan, who had succeeded in becoming the “god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4). What must eternity be like to the creator if
He has lost His creation? Sin is “enemy number one” to God. Wherever sin enters, the presence of God
departs. Before He destroyed the temple
in Jerusalem the first time, God took the prophet Ezekiel “in the spirit” to show him the abominations that were committed
there. He said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the
house of Israel committeth here, that I
should go far off from my sanctuary?” (Ezekiel 8:6). Abominations
always bring desolation, because the presence of God will not stay in the
presence of sin. The only remedy for “paradise lost” is the absolute
destruction of sin, and that is exactly what Christ, the creator, came into the
world to do. He came “to finish the transgression, to make an end
of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness” (Daniel 9:24-27). The “glory”
that Christ had with the Father “before
the world was” has been restored to Him in “the new creation” that is “created
in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:10).
Those
Who Believe God
Romans 4:3: “Abraham
believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
The only contact or intercourse God had
with fallen man from the fall of Adam until the birth of Jesus was with those
who “believed God.” The eleventh
chapter of Hebrews gives an account of some who believed God in the years
before the birth of Jesus. Oh what
mighty men and women they were.
Actually, the scripture tells us, “out
of weakness, they were made strong” (Hebrews
11:34), because they “believed God.” The words “by
faith” do not indicate that they possessed some mysterious power to bring
things into being. “By faith” simply means “believing
God.” Each of these “heroes of faith” heard the “still small voice of God” speaking to
them, and they “believed” and “obeyed His voice.”
When the scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness,” this doesn’t mean that God looked at a sinful
man and said “I see him as righteous,”
as taught by most teachers today. NO!
God saw a man that believed and obeyed Him, and said, “I can work with that man. I can trust that man. I can reveal myself to
that man, and I can reveal myself through that man.” It was after over
forty years of God’s wonderful dealings with Abraham that God gave him the
ultimate test. He told him to offer his
son Isaac on the altar to God. Isaac was
the “child of promise” that was born
to his barren wife Sarah when Abraham was a hundred years old. Abraham “believed
God,” and “obeyed God.” The angel of the Lord stopped him just before
he plunged a knife through the heart of his beloved son, and God, seeing
Abraham’s faith, “swore by Himself”
to Abraham, saying, “…because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: …in blessing I will
bless thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his
enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis
22:16-18). The language may seem
somewhat obscure, but in this promise to Abraham “and his seed,” is the
promise of “paradise restored;” when God would also offer His beloved
Son as an offering to take away man’s sin.
Over four hundred years later, God revealed
Himself to the descendants of Abraham at Mount Horeb with the desire to bring
them into the covenant of blessing with their father Abraham. He instructed Moses to tell the people, “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep
my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). These three
things are the “blessing of Abraham”
that God promised to him and “his seed,”
if they would “obey His voice, and keep
His covenant.” According to the
promise in Genesis 22-16-18, God “swore by Himself” to bless Abraham,
because, in the words of God, “…thou hast
obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:18). Abraham’s descendants, the children of
Israel, refused to even “hear” the
voice of God, saying to Moses, “Speak
thou with us, and we will hear: but let
not God speak with us, lest we die.” Sadly, the children of Israel
never became the “kingdom” that God
promised they would be. Instead, the “Law of Moses” was added upon them to
discipline and restrict them until “the
seed (Christ) should come to whom the
promise was made” (Galatians 3:19). The apostle Paul tells us once and for all
who that “seed” is. “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 3:16). Christ is the kingdom of God.
The
Kingdom of God is At Hand
Daniel 9:24-25: “Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, that
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto
the Messiah the Prince shall be
seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.”
The entire nation of Israel was in a state
of expectation of the coming of “The
Christ” when Jesus of Nazareth appeared on the scene at John’s
baptism. Luke records that “expectation” in Luke 3:15; “And as the people
were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were
the Christ, or not.” The source of their expectation was the
promise God had given to the prophet Daniel over five hundred years
before. It was the promise of one called
“The Messiah (The Christ) the Prince” whom God would send to
Israel. He would come “…to finish the transgression, and to make
an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the most Holy” (Daniel 9:24-27). God had sent the angel Gabriel directly to
Daniel to tell him of this wonderful advent.
He not only told Daniel what “The
Christ” would do, he also told him the exact year He would appear to do it.
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks…” (Daniel 9:25). According to established history, the “commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem” was given by King Artaxerxes of Persia in the year 457 B.C. According to the promise, the Messiah (the
Christ) would appear exactly four hundred and eighty three years after the
decree to restore Jerusalem was given.
That was the same year that the Holy Ghost came upon Jesus of Nazareth after
He was baptized by John in the River Jordan.
The events of that day, as recorded by Matthew, were wonderful. “And
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and
he saw the Spirit of God descending like
a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). These things were done by God to publicly
announce to the world and specifically to the people of Galilee, Judea,
Jerusalem, and surrounding areas, that Jesus of Nazareth is “the Messiah (the Christ)” whom God had promised to send. This was the day that God anointed His “Holy One” with the Holy Ghost and
declared Him to be His only begotten Son.
The timeline of the prophecy was fulfilled. The Messiah had come into the world to do
everything the prophets said He would do.
The “kingdom of God” was on
earth, because the eternal Christ had come.
When Jesus first came into Galilee after
the Holy Ghost had come upon Him at Jordan, He began by preaching, “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of
God is at hand.” Certainly this
message was not much different from that which they had heard in the synagogues
recently. The scribes and the Pharisees
knew by the prophecies that this was the year for Messiah to appear. The thing that was vastly different in their
messages was in the “nature” of the “Kingdom of God.” They expected their messiah to come and do
everything the prophets said He would do through political power. They expected Him to raise an army to drive
the Romans out of their land, and declare Himself to be their king. Even some of His own disciples were of that
same mindset until the day that the Holy Ghost came upon them. They asked Jesus just before He ascended to
heaven, “Wilt thou at this time restore
again the kingdom to Israel” (Acts
1:6)? The kingdom of God was in their presence at
that very moment, because “Christ is the
kingdom of God.” When Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” He
wasn’t speaking of “going to heaven
someday.” He wasn’t even speaking of
the Day of Pentecost. He told the
unbelieving Pharisees, “If I with the
finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you”
(Luke 11:20). Christ is the kingdom of God.
The
Everlasting Covenant
Daniel 9:27: “And he shall confirm the covenant with
many for one week.”
This is a prophecy of Christ, when He would
come to “make an end of sins.” Some
people teach that He came to confirm the Law of Moses by obeying it to
perfection. NO! He came to “abolish” the Law of Moses (Ephesians
2:15) by “nailing it to His cross”
(Colossians 2:14). Jesus came to “confirm” the “everlasting
covenant” of the kingdom of God.
This covenant, which we call “the
new covenant,” is as eternal as God is.
It was the covenant of the Garden of Eden, where everything was provided
for man even before the man existed.
When sin entered, man was driven outside the everlasting covenant of
blessing. God brought Abraham into the
same covenant when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. God “swore
by Himself” to bless Abraham and “his
seed,” but it remained to be seen exactly who “his seed” would be. God
chose the sons of Jacob (the children of Israel) to be Abraham’s seed, but when
He came down on the mountain to bring them into the everlasting covenant of
blessing, they refused Him (Exodus 20:19). Moses understood from that day that the
children of Israel would never be the blessed seed of Abraham. In the thirty
second chapter of Deuteronomy, in the last full day of Moses life, he sang
a song to those who would soon enter Canaan with Joshua. The song begins with these words; “He (God) is the Rock, his work is
perfect: for all his ways are
judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. They
(the children of Israel) have
corrupted themselves, their spot is
not the spot of his children: they
are a perverse and crooked generation” (Deuteronomy 32:4-5).
The apostle Paul understood this better
than any of the apostles. He writes to
those Gentiles in Galatia who desired to be under the Law of Moses. “For as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse” (Galatians 3:10). “Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law…that the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:13-14). Paul
also reveals who the true seed of Abraham is; “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
3:16).
The Jews believed they had the “everlasting covenant” in the Law of
Moses. Paul reveals the purpose of
Moses’ Law in Galatians 3:19; “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the
promise was made.” That “seed”
was Christ, and He “confirmed” the “everlasting covenant,” both in life and
in death. Notice the words of the
apostle in Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now the God of peace, that brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you
perfect in every good work to do his will, working
in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ; to whom be
glory for ever and ever.” It is
through the BLOOD “of the everlasting
covenant” that we, who trust in Christ, are brought into His covenant of
blessing.
The
Kingdom Now
Mark 9:1: “And
he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand
here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God
come with power.”
Just before Jesus ascended to the Father,
He promised to send “another comforter”
which is the Holy Ghost. The promise
that they would see “the kingdom of God
come with power” was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. What God did for the hundred and twenty on
the Day of Pentecost is what He wanted to do for the children of Israel fifteen
hundred years before at Mount Horeb, which was the original “day” of Pentecost (fiftieth day after
the Passover). He brought those hundred
and twenty Jews, who were the “very small
remnant of Israel” (Isaiah 1:9),
into His everlasting covenant and kingdom.
They were in the kingdom, and the kingdom was “in them.” Jesus had
explained the nature of the kingdom in Luke 17:20-21, saying, “The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the
kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).
Romans 14:17: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
In a recent dream I heard myself telling
people to “Receive Christ; submit
yourself to the Spirit of Christ, and He will permeate every fiber of your
being with righteousness, peace, and joy.”
Oh, what a promise that is. I
have understood for many years that if righteousness is missing, something is
wrong with the experience. I understand
today that the same is true if either “peace”
or “joy” is missing from a person’s
relationship with God. Far too many
people believe they are “in the kingdom”
because they have “obeyed all the rules.” They mistakenly believe that the kingdom of
God is “the rule of God,” when it is
actually “the realm of God.” The “realm
of God” is where God is. It is “His presence.” Moses understood this when he said to God, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (Exodus 33:15). God had told Moses that He would not go with
the children of Israel because they were “a
stiffnecked people” (Exodus 33:2-3), but He would go with Moses. The children of Israel could not be the
kingdom of God because they had rejected God for Moses, and rejected Moses for
a golden calf. Even so, the kingdom of
God was in their midst with a few people like Moses and Joshua, and Caleb, whom
God said had “another spirit with him and
hath followed me fully” (Numbers
14:24). Today, Christ “sits at the
right hand of God” who “sends the rod
of His strength (the Holy Ghost) out
of Zion (the church)” to “rule in the midst of their enemies” (Psalms 110:1-2). We must understand,
however, that our “enemies” are not “flesh and blood” Ephesians 6:12), and the “rod
of His strength,” which is the Holy Ghost, is not the “rod of iron” that is used only after Christ returns to earth.
The kingdom of God, as it is now upon
earth, cannot be seen by the eyes of man (John
3:3). It has no organizational
structure, either denominational or independent, nor does it have an earthly
headquarters. It exercises no political
power, nor does it exercise any authority whatsoever over the people. Those who believe the kingdom of God is “the rule of God” most often want to be
the one who “makes the rules,” or at
least the one who “enforces the rules.” Jesus said, “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,
and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it
shall not be so among you” (Matthew
20:25-26).
Christ IS the kingdom of God. Those who “abide
in Him” abide in the “realm of God”
through the Holy Ghost. It is a place of
miracles; a place of blessing for those who “obey
His voice and keep His covenant” (Exodus
19:5-6). His voice, however, is not
the “ministration of death” that was “written and engraved in stones” (II Corinthians 3:7); it is instead, the
“still small voice” of the “good shepherd,” who leads us as His
sheep to the “green pastures” by the “still waters” to “restore our soul” (Psalms
23:2-3).
One of the greatest miracles I have seen in
fifty years of ministry happened about six months ago. The Spirit of the Lord had spoken to me a few
days before, saying, “When the covenant
is right, the man will be right, and I will confirm the covenant with
miracles.” We work so hard with the “rules,” trying to “get the man right,” but we forget the covenant, without which the
man will never “be right.” I told the congregation what the Spirit had
said to me and just a very few days later God gave this great miracle. A brother in our church was lifting a very
heavy load with his left arm, when the tendons that connected his biceps to his
forearm broke and his forearm fell limp.
He said the pain was beyond anything he had experienced in his life. He went into his house, and his wife offered
to drive him to the emergency room. He
said “No, I will go where Brother Surface
is.” I remember my thoughts when I
saw his limp arm and saw with my own eyes that his muscle was disconnected from
his arm. I thought, “He will not be able to work again for at least six months to a year
even if the doctors can do anything for him.” The brother asked me to pray, and I did not
know how to pray. I remember what I did
pray, however. I said, “Father, there are things that happen in
this life that we have no control over, and there is nothing that we can do
about them, but we are your people and the sheep of your pasture, and in such a
time as this, we look to you.” At
that moment, the Spirit of God came upon both of us, and faith came to ask God
for a miracle. Within five minutes, all
the pain was gone, and he had full use of his arm, but his biceps were still
not connected. He went to work the next
day, used a weed-eater for half a day, with full strength, having no pain or
weakness whatsoever. Six months later,
he still has full use of his arm, and you can see with your own eyes that the
muscle is not connected. It is a visible miracle that God gave for two reasons;
first, to confirm the covenant, and second, because we are “the sheep of His pasture.”
Oh people! That is what it is
like to live “in the realm of God.”
That is where He is calling His people to live.
“Whosoever will” may come.
God promised that His people would be a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus
19:5-6). Peter wrote to Gentiles who
had believed the truth and trusted in Christ, that they are a “royal priesthood” (I Peter 2:9). The translators, however, erred in the two
verses of Revelation which say that Christ has redeemed us by His precious
blood, and has “made us (to be) kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:6, 5:9-10). The correct
translation from the Greek text says exactly the same thing God had promised He
would do in Exodus 19:5-6); He has
made us to be, NOT “kings and priests,” but “a kingdom of priests
unto God.” “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof: for thou
wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast
made us unto our God (a kingdom of priests): and we shall
reign on the earth” (Revelation
5:9-10).
We are not sent
to take the “kingdoms of this world” through political or military
power. We will not succeed in changing
the world through the ballot box. On Election Day, 2012, I was so downhearted
when the results of the election came in.
The next night I went to the church early to pray before service. I had nothing to preach because of my
discouragement. At the altar, as I began
telling the Lord of my disappointment, He spoke to me. I distinctly heard these words from that “still
small voice” of the Lord, saying, “That’s not your kingdom.” Oh how I rejoiced to hear those words. Our
kingdom is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17). Our kingdom is a kingdom that “cannot be
moved” (Hebrews 12:28). Our kingdom is the kingdom that will stand
after all other kingdoms have been shaken.
Almost every child of God has heard that God is going to “speak from
heaven (Hebrews 12:25)” and “shake
everything that can be shaken” (Hebrews
12:26-27). What very few will
believe is that it is the “blood of Christ,” which is sprinkled on the
mercy seat of heaven, that “speaketh from heaven” to “shake both
heaven and earth.” Read Hebrews
12:22-25, which I have abbreviated for this message: “But ye are come …to Jesus the mediator
of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.”
If you are born of God you are a son of
God. If you are filled with the Holy
Ghost, you are a “priest, of the kingdom of heaven,” upon this earth. If you will “preach the truth,” God will shake the earth. Don’t preach “the bondage of the will,” and don’t preach “free will,” but stand up and preach “whosoever will.” God will
never shake the world through a message that denies the power of the blood of
Christ to sanctify, nor the power of the cross to crucify, but He did promise
to shake both heaven and earth one more time.
A great harvest of souls will be gathered to Christ even as the kingdoms
of this world are being brought down, because the truth of the gospel will be
preached as it was in the first generation of the church.
This
Generation
Luke 21:31-32: “So
likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of
God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto
you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.”
In the twenty
first chapter of Luke, Jesus tells of the signs that would precede the 70
A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. He also
gave the signs that would indicate the last generation upon this earth before
His second coming. One of the verses
makes a giant leap of hundreds of years. “And
they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into
all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). In the
one word, “until,” is a time span of 1897 years,
bringing us to 1967 when Jerusalem returned to Jewish control for the first
time since 70 A.D. This is the
generation that we live in. It is the
generation that Jesus said “shall not
pass away until all things be fulfilled” (Luke 21:32). Luke 21:25-27 gives a list of things
that must be fulfilled in this generation.
“And there shall be signs in the
sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for
fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the
powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” It is the second coming of Christ that marks
the end of this generation and the beginning of the absolute reign of Christ on
earth. Many of us who are of this
generation will see the fulfillment of the words of the angel to the disciples
of Jesus in Acts 1:11, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up
into heaven? this same Jesus, which
is taken up from you into heaven, shall
so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
Christ’s “second coming” is so near in our future. Skeptics will say that believers have always
believed his coming was near, and that is probably true, but it is in this
generation alone that we see the signs
that prove His coming. The first four trumpets of the eighth chapter of Revelation began
sounding early in this generation, as we became aware of the environmental
issues, which became the number one news stories in the decade of the eighties.
September 11, 2001 (911) was a sign
the fifth trumpet was sounding, and
that the “locusts (radical Islam)” were swarming. The sixth
trumpet, which loosens four angels out of the Euphrates river to gather
their army of two hundred million
(the locust army), must certainly have began sounding when America invaded
Iraq. The events that are in place in
the world right now will bring about the deaths of one third of the population of Israel in the most horrible
holocaust the world has ever witnessed (Revelation
9:13-15). All these events will happen immediately prior to the sounding of the
seventh trumpet, which is the second
coming of Christ.
“And
the seventh 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 for ever
and ever” (Revelation 11:15). “And the nations were angry (provoked
to anger), and thy wrath is come,
and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and
to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18).
The
Millennial Reign of Christ
It is commonly believed that the reign of
Christ on earth will bring a restoration of “paradise
on earth.” I do not like to be the
one to break the news, but according to the scriptures, planet earth will not
be a paradise during the reign of Christ.
Most prophecy teachers use Isaiah
11:6-9 to describe what is commonly called “The Millennial Reign of Christ.”
Sadly, they are mistaken.
Isaiah 11:6-9: “The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little
child shall lead them. …the cow and the bear shall feed (together); their young ones shall lie down together:
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my
holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the
waters cover the sea.”
This cannot be a description of the
millennial. Neither can it be a symbolic
description of the spiritual kingdom of God that began on the Day of Pentecost,
as those of the “Kingdom Now”
persuasion believe. Isaiah’s prophecy
can only be a description of life as it will be in the “new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” (Isaiah 67:17; II Peter 3:13), which will not come until after “the great white throne judgment,” at
the very end of the thousand years. The
thousand year reign of Christ is found only in the twentieth chapter of
Revelation, where it is mentioned six times.
Satan will be Bound a Thousand Years
Revelation
20:1-3: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having
the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that
old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand
years. And 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.”
Who Shall Reign With Christ?
Revelation 20:4-5 “And 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 worshipped 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. But the
rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is
the first resurrection.”
The First Resurrection
Revelation 20:6: “Blessed 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.”
Satan Released to Deceive the Nations
Revelation 20:7-8: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive
the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number
of whom is as the sand of the
sea.”
The Devil’s Last Estate
Revelation 20:9-10 “And they went up on the breadth
of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:
and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are, and shall be tormented day and
night for ever and ever.”
The
Rod of Iron
Psalms 2:8-12: “Ask
of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou
shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a
potter's vessel. Be wise now
therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with
trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in
him.”
With this text, we are given our first
insight to the nature of the millennial.
We have been told that it will be a return to paradise on earth. It will
be the exact opposite. The scripture
says that Christ will rule the nations “with
a rod of iron,” and “dash them in
pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Notice how this text is echoed in the book
of Revelation. First, Jesus says to the overcomer, “He that overcometh, and
keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I
give power over the nations: And he
shall rule them with a rod of iron; as
the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received
of my Father” (Revelation 2:26-27). Next, the
twelfth chapter, the promise of the “manchild (Jesus);”
“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of
iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne” (Revelation
12:5). Finally, we see Jesus as the
rider on a white horse who comes forth in righteousness to judge and make war (Revelation 19:11). “And out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron:
and he treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Revelation
19:15).
The “rod
of iron” that Christ and His “overcomers”
will rule with is not the Law of Moses, nor any other written law. Instead, it will be the environment on earth
that will be controlled totally by our Lord.
The fourteenth chapter of Zechariah gives some insight to this. “And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto
Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the
plague” (Zechariah 14:17-18).
This most certainly speaks of the reign of Christ with His resurrected
saints, which will begin immediately after His second coming. Instead of describing a “paradise on earth,” the scripture speaks of “droughts” and “plagues”
upon those who rebel against Christ in that day.
It will be the harshest environment this
planet has ever seen, gradually bringing us to the day that Peter spoke of when
the “elements will melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Peter 3:10). It will be the time spoken of in Hebrews
1:10-12; “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast
laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they
all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed:
but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”
Our universe is growing very old. Planet earth is wearing out. When Christ returns to earth, He who created
the heavens and the earth in the beginning will begin to “fold them up.” Planet earth
will not be “healed” only to “burn up” at the end of the
millennial. The environmental problems
on this planet will only increase until human life is impossible.
The sixteenth
chapter of Revelation tells us of “seven
vials of wrath” that will be
poured upon the inhabitants of the earth.
The first vial will bring
grievous boils upon the inhabitants of the earth (Revelation 16:2). The second vial will destroy the sea
until it can no longer sustain life (Revelation
16:3). The third vial will destroy the drinking waters, and they will
become as blood (Revelation 16:4-7). The
fourth vial will so contaminate and destroy the earth’s atmosphere that the
sun will scorch the flesh of men (Revelation
16:8-9). These horrible things which
are coming upon the earth will not come until after the return of Jesus
Christ. Perhaps they are the “rod of iron” that Christ uses to “break the nations as a potters vessel”
(Psalms 2:9). They are almost certainly God’s response to
the cry of the martyrs whom John saw in the opening of the fifth seal.
Revelation 6:9-10: “And
when he had opened the fifth seal, I
saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and
for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on
the earth?”
By the time John received “The Revelation” on the Isle of Patmos,
all the other eyewitness apostles had been slain because of their “testimony of Jesus.” Paul had been beheaded, along with tens of
thousands of Christians who were tortured and slain during Nero’s persecution
of the church. These are the ones John
saw “under the altar” and their “blood” is crying for vengeance against
those who hate Jesus Christ and persecute His saints.
Revelation 6:11: “And
white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that
they should rest yet for a little season, until
their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”
We do not know how many tens of thousands
have been murdered because of their faith in Christ during the past nineteen
hundred years, but we know they have joined those martyrs that John saw under
the altar. Persecution against Christians
is increasing around the world, including here in America. True believers are dying for their faith in
Islamic nations right now, and many more will die before God says “enough;” which will be when the “witnesses”
of Revelation 11:7 are slain. The world
will rejoice over their dead bodies for three
days, and in the middle of the fourth
day, a “great voice” will be
heard from heaven, saying “Come up
hither” (Revelation 11:11-12). I believe it will be the “voice of the archangel,” which will be accompanied by the “trump of God.” This is when all the dead in Christ will
arise at the second coming of our Lord and Savior (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).
In his vision of the millennial, John says,
“I
saw the souls of them that were
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God,
and which had not worshipped 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.” The millennial reign will be the day of God’s
vengeance on the ungodly inhabitants of earth because of their rejection of
Christ and persecution of His church. It
will climax with the events John saw when the sixth seal was
opened.
“And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig
tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it
is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places. And the kings of the earth, and
the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men,
and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the
rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb” (Revelation 6:13-15).
I realize it is very offensive to burst the
bubbles of traditional thought. We have savored the idea that we will have a “thousand years of peace” because Satan
will be “bound.” In that day it will be seen that Satan is not
the reason the people sin. They sin
because sin is in their nature. Christ
came into the world to “make an end of
sins” for everyone who will believe and trust in Him, and sin is taken out
of their nature, “not by works, but by
His grace” (Ephesians 2:8-10),
because He is the “Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world” (John
1:29). Those who tell you that a
child of God will always be a sinner by nature will cause you to be among the
damned if you believe them and trust in their lie (II Thessalonians 2:11-12).
The
Millennium Controversy
There is a controversy over the actual
duration of the coming reign of Christ with His resurrected saints. The Greek word “chilioi,” which is translated as “thousand” in the twentieth chapter of
Revelation, is defined by Strong’s Greek Dictionary as a “plural of uncertain infinity; a thousand.” Actually, the Greek
word “chilioi”
is the plural of the Greek word “chilias,” which does mean a “thousand.” If the reign of
Christ is not “a thousand years,”
then it must be “thousands of years.” I refuse to enter that argument, but I will
show the things the scriptures clearly say.
1. Christ will return to earth again.
2. At His coming, the “dead in Christ” will arise, which includes all the martyrs of all
time who were slain for the testimony of Jesus.
They will receive a glorified body like the resurrected body of Jesus.
3. The righteous who are “alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord (I Thessalonians 4:17)” will
also be “changed, in a moment, in a
twinkling of an eye” (I Corinthians
15:51-52). Their “corruptible body”
will be changed into an incorruptible, immortal body, like the resurrected body
of Jesus.
4. The
scripture specifies that John saw “the
souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of
God…and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” This will be the “day of vengeance (Isaiah
63:3-4)” that God promised to the
souls of the martyrs when they were under the altar (Revelation 6:9-11). The “dead
in Christ” will be raised incorruptible, and we who are “alive and remain” will be “caught up (I Thessalonians 4:15-18)”
and “…changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump”
(I Corinthians 15:52). This is the “seventh trumpet” (Revelation
11:15), which announces the return of Christ to reign over the kingdoms of
this world for a thousand years.
5.
Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit at the beginning of the
thousand years, where he will remain until the end of those years.
6. The rest of the dead will not be
resurrected until the end of the thousand years.
7. Satan will be loosed at the end of the
thousand years to deceive the nations.
8. Gog
and Magog, the enemies of Christ, will survive until
the end of the thousand years, and their number will be “as the sand of the sea.”
They will rise up from “the four
quarters of the earth” at the end of the thousand years to make war against
Christ (Revelation 20:8-9).
9. God will utterly destroy the vast
multitudes of Gog and Magog with fire from heaven.
10. The devil will be cast into the lake of
fire where the “beast” and the “false prophet” have been for the entire
thousand years (Revelation 20:10).
11. The “rest
of the dead” which were not in the first resurrection, plus those who died
during the thousand years, will be raised up to stand before God at the great
white throne judgment (Revelation
20:11-13).
12. The
earth and the heaven will “flee away from
the face of Him that sits on the throne, and there will be no place found for
them” (Revelation 20:11).
13. The beast and the false prophet will be
cast into the lake of fire at the beginning of the thousand years. The devil will be cast into the lake of fire
at the end of the thousand years. Death
and hell will be cast into the lake of fire, and “whosoever is not found written in the book of life will be cast into
the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).
14. In Revelation 21:1, John saw “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away.”
15. In Revelation 21:2, John saw “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” This “new Jerusalem” is the church of Jesus
Christ, made up of the redeemed, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. These are those whose names “were found written in the book of life.” They are the only ones to pass from this world
into the world to come, which is “the new
heavens and the new earth.”
It really doesn’t matter, in the mind of
this preacher, whether the reign of Christ on earth is a thousand years, or a
million years, it will begin with the second coming of Christ and the
resurrection of the righteous dead. It
will end in the absolute wrath of God at the great white throne judgment, where
the heavens and earth, and all that are in them will be utterly burned up, and
we will enter into a new heavens and a new earth.
Changed
in a Moment
I Corinthians 15:51-53:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
There is a wonderful physical “change” that is coming to the children
of God at the return of Jesus Christ to earth.
It is that which the apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 8:23 as “the redemption
of our body.” The spiritual
redemption of those who believe the truth and trust in Christ has been complete
from the day that Jesus rose again from the dead. Hebrews
10:14 gives an amazing record which blind religious leaders refuse to
believe. “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified.” He offered the “perfect”
sacrifice which has made the believer “complete”
in Him, with nothing lacking in our spiritual redemption. It is our physical body, which is not a “sinful body” but a “corruptible body,” that will be changed. The word “corruptible”
simply means that it will “decay” and
“return to dust” when our spirit is
taken from it in death. Paul spoke of
our “change” to the Philippians; “For our conversation (not our ‘talk,’
but our ‘citizenship’) is in heaven; from
whence also we look for the Saviour (the second coming of Christ), the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change
our vile (not sinful, but corruptible) body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body…” (Philippians 3:20-21). Those who reign with Christ for a thousand
years will have a body exactly like His glorious body. Whether they reign from heaven or on earth
makes no difference. The harsh
environment of earth cannot affect their glorious bodies in any way. “They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat” (Revelation 7:16).
The
New Creation
From the day that God’s original creation
was contaminated by sin, a “new
creation,” and ultimately “new
heavens and a new earth” were guaranteed.
The “beginning” of the new
creation was the birth of the Son of God into the world. Christ, “in whom, by whom and for whom” the
original creation was created, came into the world to make an end of the old through
His death on the cross, and bring the birth of the new through His resurrection
the third day. “Therefore if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ…” (II Corinthians 5:17-18).
I Corinthians 15:45-49: “And so
it is written, The first man Adam
was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but
that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The
first man is of the earth,
earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is
the earthy, such are they also
that are earthy: and as is the
heavenly, such are they also
that are heavenly. And as we have borne
the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
The “new
creation” is greater than the old, inasmuch as the “last Adam” is greater than the “first
Adam,” and the “second man” is
greater than the “first man.” I speak, of course, of Adam, whom God made
from the dust of the earth, and Christ Jesus, who is “the Lord from heaven” (I
Corinthians 15:45-49). The apostle
Paul calls Jesus “the last Adam” because
He is the end of Adam’s sinful race to everyone who trusts in Him. Paul says, “Knowing this, that our old man (Adam) is crucified with him (Christ), that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead (crucified with Christ) is freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7). Jesus is called “the second man” because He is the “first man” of the “new
creation.”
When God created the first man (Adam), He
placed him in a paradise on earth.
Everything was provided for man in this earthly paradise, where he had
complete dominion over all the works of God’s hands (Hebrews 2:6-8). He could
have remained in paradise forever except for his transgression, which brought
his fall, and a curse upon the earth in which he lived. In the “new
creation,” God’s sons and daughters are born, by new birth, into a world
that is hostile to their very existence.
Paul tells us that Christ Jesus was “in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). We should
understand that the Greek word which is translated as “tempted” actually means “to
be tested.” Jesus could not have
failed, because He was “born of God”
(I John 3:9). He could not be “tempted with evil” (James
1:13), but He could be “tested with
evil,” and He “passed the test with
flying colors” because there was no evil in Him. In salvation, we are not “restored to Adam,” but we are “born
of God;” made in the image and
likeness of His only begotten Son (Romans
8:29). We are “new creatures,” created “in
Christ,” who is the kingdom of God.
Right now, we are in the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is in
us. He didn’t place us in an earthly
paradise, but we have a paradise in Christ.
In this world we will be tested in every point as Jesus was. If He was hated, we will also be hated (John 15:18; I John 2:13). If He was
rejected in His generation, we will also be rejected (Luke 17:25). Jesus prayed
for His disciples, telling the Father, “I have given them thy word;
and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world” (John 17:14-16).
Adam found it impossible to overcome, even
while he lived in paradise. Jesus told
His disciples just hours before he suffered the death of the cross for us, “These
things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world” (John 16:33). We are made to be overcomers “by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is impossible that we shall not also “overcome the world” when we “abide in Him” (I John 3:5-6). The apostle
John speaks to the “newborn babies in
Christ,” saying, “Ye are of God
(ye are born of God), little children,
and have overcome them: because
greater is he (Christ) that is in
you, than he (the spirit of antichrist)
that is in the world” (I John 4:4). The children of God are overcomers by virtue
of their new birth; God is their Father (John
20:17), and Christ is their life (Colossians
3:4). “For whatsoever (whosoever) is
born of God overcometh the world” (I
John 5:4). Consider Saul of Tarsus,
who hated Jesus until he discovered that “Jesus
is the Christ” (Acts 9:5). After which, he became the apostle Paul, the
greatest among the apostles, who suffered more to preach the gospel than any
man that is on record, yet He said, “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, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts
20:24). Certainly, we may think, “this man is greater than Adam, who failed in paradise.”
Paul would rather say, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints,
is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). Jesus told us that “the least in the kingdom of God” is greater than any of those who
have been “born of woman” (Matthew 11:11). He still says, “Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew
11:28). Why not come to Him today?
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Message 61 - By Leroy Surface - The
Everlasting Kingdom of God
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