thekingdomnowandthen

I had another glowing time in the Word last week again.

I'd often wished I could hear the conversation Jesus had with His disciples on the Emaus walk after His resurrection, in which he expounded all things in the Law and in the Prophets and in the Psalms, concerning Himself.

Well today I came across three verses wherein Jesus, during His ministry, drew passages of the Old Testament from each of those three categories - the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms - and revealed how each passage spoke about Him.

When I came across these verses in Luke today, I thought to myself, "I should have known that whatever Jesus said to the disciples in that conversation along the Emaus road after His resurrection would be able to be found already taught during Jesus' earlier public ministry!"

As I meditated on these verses, it felt like Jesus was allowing me to be privy to that conversation He had with His disciples on the Emaus walk, fulfilling my heart's desire.

Something I seem to be noticing afresh is that THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE BIBLE, THE MESSAGE OF THE "COMING KINGDOM" REMAINS EXACTLY THE SAME:

• • The major theme of the Old Testament was the coming Kingdom.

  • The major theme of the New Testament is still the coming Kingdom

  • The Old and New Testaments BOTH look forward to the coming Kingdom

  • The Old Testament looked FORWARD to the coming Kingdom

  • The New Testament announces that the coming Kingdom is now "at hand"

  • The Old Testament days are called (in reference to the coming Kingdom) "the former days"

  • The New Testament days in which we now live are called (in reference to the coming Kingdom) "the last days"

  • The theme that the Kingdom is coming, is consistent between Old and New Testaments

  • The theme of the coming Kingdom is consistent throughout each section of the Old Testament - the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms

  • The theme of the coming Kingdom is consistent throughout each section of the New Testament - the Gospels, the Epistles, and Revelation

  • The message of the coming Kingdom doesn't change in the Epistles

  • The message of the coming Kingdom in the Four Gospels continues on unchanged into the Epistles and Revelation

  • The Apostles (in the Epistles) taught exactly the same message as John the Baptist and the Lord (the Four Gospels) - the Gospel of the coming Kingdom

  • Their message was the Good News (the Gospel) of the Kingdom

  • Nothing in the New Testament indicates that the message should ever be changed prior to the Kingdom actually coming

  • The message did not change just because Israel rejected Christ

  • The nature of the Kingdom did not change just because Israel rejected Christ

  • The Prophets already foresaw that because of Israel's rejection of Christ, the Kingdom would be received by the Gentiles

  • The Four Gospels already warned that the Kingdom would be taken away from Israel and given to another, more responsive nation

  • Therefore Paul's message of the Kingdom was entirely consistent with the Four Gospels and with the Old Testament message of the Kingdom

  • Therefore the Four Gospels are still intended for the Church

  • There is no indication in the New Testament that the message was to change in any way after the last Apostle died, or after the writing of the New Testament was completed

  • If the message was meant to change, then there should of necessity have been a "third testament" written, to show us what we should now be preaching

  • We belong to the same Church that Paul belonged to; the Church today is still to preaches the same message that Paul preached

  • There is no indication that the nature of the Kingdom nor the message of the Kingdom was to change after any future event prior to the Second Coming, such as the destruction of the Temple and the fall of Jerusalem in AD70 for example

  • Therefore EVERYTHING in the Epistles is STILL for us today

  • Since John, Jesus, and the Apostles preached the same Gospel - so should we

  • The message of the Gospel is the same in the Four Gospels, the Epistles and the Revelation

  • The nature of the Kingdom was foreseen by the Old Testament exactly as it is now presented in the New Testament

  • The Prophets already saw:

    • • That Christ had to suffer before entering His glory

      • That the coming Kingdom will mean both "salvation" and "judgment"

      • That at first only a remnant of Jews would "perceive" and "understand" the Kingdom, and be saved

      • Meanwhile, the Gentiles would believe and receive the Kingdom

      • That salvation is still open to any Jew who continues not in unbelief

      • That there would be no difference between Jew and Gentile

      • That from the time of John the Baptist and Christ onwards, the Kingdom would be announced, and all men would press into it

      • That in Christ men can now enter the Kingdom and receive the Kingdom even though we await the final day of His coming Kingdom

      • That we await the Day of resurrection - some to damnation and some to obtain salvation

      • "Christ in you, the hope of glory"

      • All these things were spoken by the Old Testament

  • What the Prophets foresaw is exactly how John, and Jesus, and the Apostles described the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God

  • The Kingdom of God did not take-on a new definition at any time - not after John, not after the Cross, not after Israel's rejection of the Messiah, not after the first three-and-a-half years of ministry in Jerusalem by the Apostles, not after forty years of ministry by the Apostles, nor at any time in the future prior to the fulfilment of that great event that is the subject of all prophecy and scripture - the Second Coming of Christ, the coming of His Kingdom, the blessed hope

  • This means that all Scripture is for us today

  • The Old Testament was written for "our" learning - "our" meaning us, upon whom the ends of the world are come

  • The Four Gospels describe the beginning of the Gospel

  • The Epistles explain the Kingdom through the same grid as the Four Gospels

  • The Church (the entire Church, right up until when Jesus comes again) is built upon the foundation of the Prophets (Old Testament) and the Apostles (Epistles) Jesus Christ Himself being the chief-cornerstone (the Gospels)

  • The nature of the Kingdom is still the same; the message of the Kingdom is still the same

  • The New Testament is called the Gospel, because it shows us how, through Christ, we can now at this time enter the Kingdom

  • We enter the Kingdom through repentance and through believing in Jesus

  • Through faith we enter the Kingdom NOW - receiving redemption, salvation, righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost NOW

  • Even if we die before the Kingdom comes, we who believe intrinsically receive that Kingdom now - because the dead in Christ will be raised first on that day, so as to participate in the blessing of that day

  • The last enemy to be destroyed is death

  • The receiving of the Holy Ghost is the hallmark of the Kingdom of God

  • The MESSAGE and POWER and the LIFESTYLE of the Gospel is still for us today

The Apostles consistently preached that the Kingdom is coming. There are a variety of practical applications of this observation:

• • That is an important observation to me because it implies that no matter how good society becomes in history through the Gospel - the message remains that we look forward to the coming Kingdom

For example, the development of Great Britain, the founding of the United States, and the settling of Australia as geo-political entities were great events for mankind which came about as a result of years of Gospel work and the blood of Martyrs. But no matter how good society becomes, we can never say that this is the ultimate fulfilment of the Kingdom of God in the earth. Because there is atleast one enemy that still has not been destroyed, and won't be until the Second Coming - and that is physical death. No matter how good it gets in this age, all Scripture still points FORWARD to that Great Day: a day of wrath and mercy; a day of judgment and redemption, a day of gloom and salvation; a day of resurrection to damnation or salvation; a day when even the heavens and earth shall be made anew. That's what we look forward to. And we preach that by the blood of Jesus, all men may now enter in. "Whosoever will may come". That's the Good News. All men can now experience the power (within them) of the coming (outward) Kingdom, through the indwelling Spirit of God.

Paul did however talk about government, business, finance, and such things. He recommended working, so that people had enough to give to others. He said that unfairly treated employees will be repaid at the Second Coming, therefore we should work well, as if unto the Lord. He recommended that young widows marry and bear children. He described civil officers as "the ministers of God". Paul reasoned with civil officers regarding "righteousness and judgment to come". Paul clearly recommended a lifestyle of honest work, earning money, providing for others. He set the example himself, even though he had the right as an Apostle to abstain from working and to be supported by others. So that is to be taught and recommended by us too. Paul told Christians to aim to have the reputation of being the best workers around. The more Christianity affects a society, the better its economy, politics, and family life should be. Amen. And I believe we still haven't seen the prosperity that God has for His servants in Australia.

Whilst all these things are an outward expression of the inner Kingdom within us, and whilst they can combine and grow into something glorious and tremendous, and whilst God delights in that, it still doesn't replace the doctrine of the ultimate future fulfilment and glory of the Kingdom of God, which we are all preaching, and eagerly waiting for, and urging men to prepare for.

Paul suffered all things so that this message could get out there. But at the same time, even whilst we await the coming Kingdom, he saw that the Kingdom WITHIN us will still produce blessed individuals, blessed families, blessed governments, blessed businesses, blessed nations and a blessed world. But the message of the Gospel is that the children of the wicked like weeds grow alongside the children of the kingdom like the wheat, and that only on the last day will the weeds be gathered and thrown into the fire, and the wheat gathered into the barn. So even if things get pretty good down here, there will always be unsaved, wicked people around somewhere, and the Kingdom may have an outward expression, but it is not yet outward in a full, political sense. It is still selective, and inward. The ultimate is still coming, the big thing, the real thing, when the Kingdom is seen by all, and only the righteous will live in it - that's what Paul lived for, and that's what he preached so that others could have the hope of entering it.

So I do believe in prosperity and blessing and businesses and families and government and nation-building etc. But I don't think these things should be taught as some do, that Paul's Gospel was different to that of Jesus, or that we ought to "move on from preaching the Gospel" or that the message of the Kingdom in the Epistles was different to that which Jesus said it should be.

• • It is also an important observation because it helps you understand Israel as a geo-political entity in the light of Biblical revelation. This could have ramifications on one's Middle East policy

  • It also means that tongues, and healing and prophecy and the power of God did not pass away with the last Apostle

  • It also means that we should still have an urgency in our message

  • It means that a lifestyle lacking in willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel should not be spawned

  • It means that the whole of the Bible has benefits for us

  • It means we keep looking upward, looking to that Great Day

  • It means we value unseen things more than temporary things

  • It means that we can expect the power of the coming Kingdom to be at work inside us NOW

  • It means that the inner Kingdom can now find tremendous expression - in our individual life, in our families, civil life, businesses, governments, nations, and in the world - while we await the ultimate expression of His Kingdom at His second coming

  • It sets our heart on Jesus, on things above, where Christ is seated for us, from whence He will come again

  • It unites all the saints - those before the Law, under the Law, the Prophets, and those in the New Testament, Jew and Gentile - in the same Church, the same Commonwealth, the same hope

"That Christ may be all, and in all."