- So this is the "Kingdom of God is Like..."
This is the first lesson in this series.
Now I'm pretty sure we're all aware
of the very contentious and emotional
and at times violent presidential election taking place
in our nation.
No matter what our political perspective is, however,
we should be grateful
that we still have the freedom to vote
and to voice an opinion about our government
unlike other places.
I wouldn't want to be in Cuba or in China,
they kind of vote but usually,
the government only gives them one choice.
But here in the United States, we still have a choice.
We still have a chance to influence the elections.
Now I'm saying all of this to remind us as Christians,
we need to remember not only to participate
in the government of this nation, but also remember
that we belong to a government of another world.
Just in case you were afraid
I was going to start talking about politics, I'm not.
I just want to make the point
that we live in the world where government is important
and we have to participate in government, but we,
you and I who are Christians, we also belong
to another government that is not of this world.
And that's what I want to talk to you about.
This government is referred to as the kingdom of heaven
or the kingdom of God here on earth.
Now Jesus explained the duality of our situation.
When I say our, I mean Christians,
the duality of our situation
when he answered Pilate concerning his true identity.
And he answered him that he was the King of another kingdom
or another government.
We read about that in John Chapter 18.
It says, therefore, Pilate entered again into the Praetorium
and summoned Jesus and said to him,
are you the King of the Jews?
Jesus answered, are you saying this on your own initiative
or did others tell you about me?
Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, I'm I?
Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me.
What have you done?
Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world,
then my servants would be fighting
so that I would not be handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.
So in this first lesson,
I want to talk about the kingdom of God.
This government that we belong to
that is present in this world and will continue to exist
in the world to come when this earthly world
will no longer be.
And so one of the first things I want you to understand
about the kingdom is the following.
The kingdom was the subject of prophecy.
The kingdom was subject of prophecy.
This prophecy primarily is contained
in the book of Daniel Chapter two,
and we'll read about that little later on.
The government of the United States, for example,
has been around for 200 years or more.
And it rules over a vast nation with millions of citizens.
However, no one in the distant past predicted accurately
that the United States would one day be a nation.
No one ever predicted or prophesied
about the United States as a country, all right?
There's no prophecy about the United States
coming into existence.
But the kingdom of God, however, was a subject of prophecy
centuries before it was realized here on earth.
And as previously mentioned, was spoken of
in the book of Daniel, some 600 years before it arrived.
I myself find that amazing.
Here we, you and I and other Christians,
we belong to the kingdom of God
and we talk about it and so on and so forth,
but we forget how amazing it is
that 600 years before it arrived,
there was a prophet who described exactly when and where
and what the kingdom would be like.
And so I want to talk a little bit about Daniel,
the one who made the prophecy that I'm talking about.
I think you are familiar with Daniel
but I'll just do a little review here.
We know that me and other young Jewish men
of noble blood were carried off
into Babylonian captivity where by the grace of God
and their faithfulness to him and trying circumstances,
these young men were raised to high levels
in the court of the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar.
Soon after, Daniel was called upon,
one of the young men, Daniel,
he was called upon to interpret a strange
and disturbing dream that the King experienced.
And within his interpretation of this dream,
God revealed the sweep of history that was to come
as well as a historical marker for the arrival
and the development of God's kingdom here on earth.
So God used Daniel some 600 years before the arrival
of the kingdom to not only announce the arrival
of the kingdom, but to also describe all the things
that would take place in history,
leading up to the arrival of the kingdom.
So Daniel's inspired interpretation of this dream
is recorded in Daniel Chapter 2:31 to 44
and its accuracy concerning future earthly kingdoms
has been established as history has unfolded.
So let's read Daniel Chapter two beginning in verse 31.
It says you, O King.
And now here's Daniel.
He's speaking to the King about his dream.
He says, you O King, were looking and behold,
there was a single great statute.
That statue which was large
and of extraordinary splendor was standing in front of you
and its appearance was awesome.
The head of that statue was made of fine gold,
its breast and its arms of silver,
its belly and thighs of bronze, it's legs of iron,
it's feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
You continued looking until a stone was cut without hands,
and it struck the statue
on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver
and the gold were crushed all at the same time
and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors
and the wind carried them away
so that not a trace of them was found,
but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth.
And I want you to note that the miracle here is twofold.
First, Daniel describes the dream without any help
from the King who kept the matter of his dream a secret
as a way of testing the legitimacy of any of the prophets
or magicians that tried to interpret his dream.
So that was the first miracle.
And the second one was that Daniel accurately describes
the rise and fall of four world empires
in correct succession over a period
of six centuries into the future.
And if you want to carry this forward to today,
that's 26 centuries where his prophecy has been accurate.
So let's examine his interpretation
just a little more closely, shall we?
Note, first of all,
that the statue in the dream is made of many parts.
The head is made of gold, the breast and the arms silver,
the belly and thigh, bronze
and the legs and feet of iron and iron mixed with clay.
Now dream, a stone cut without human hands appears
and strikes the statute, not on the head
but on the feet of iron and clay,
reducing the entire statute to dust which is blown away.
And in its place, the stone becomes a mountain
that fills the earth.
So let's continue reading a Daniel Chapter two
verse 36 and seven, as he interprets this dream,
he says, this was the dream.
Now we will tell its interpretation before King.
You, O King, are the King of Kings
to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom,
the power, the strength and the glory
and wherever the sons of men dwell
or the beasts of the field or the birds of the sky,
he has given them into your hand
and has caused you to rule over them all.
You are the head of gold.
After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you,
then another third kingdom of bronze
which will rule all over the earth.
Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron
in as much as iron crushes and shatters all things.
So like iron that breaks in pieces,
it will crush and break all these in pieces.
In that you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay
and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom
but it will have in it the toughness of iron
in as much as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.
As the toes of the feet were partly of iron
and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong
and part of it will be brittle.
And in that, you saw the iron mixed with common clay.
They will combine with one another in the seed of men
but they will not adhere to one another
even as iron does not combine with a pottery.
In the days of those Kings, the God of heaven
will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed.
And that kingdom will not be left for another people.
It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms
but it will itself endure forever.
In as much as you saw
that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands
and that it crushed the iron, the bronze,
the clay, the silver and the gold,
the great God has made known to the King
what will take place in the future.
So the dream is true and it's interpretation trustworthy.
And so in his interpretation,
Daniel describes five separate kingdoms.
The first one is the Babylonian Empire.
That's the head of gold.
This was a fitting symbol because Babylon
was the finest of the ancient kingdoms,
lasting over 100 years.
They went from 625 to 539 BC.
The second kingdom he describes is the Medo-Persian Empire,
the breast of silver with the two arms.
Daniel mentioned two arms which describes the dual nature
of this empire that was ruled
by the combined might of the Medes and the Persian Kingdoms.
They were noted for their great wealth,
seen in the abundance of silver coinage in their kingdom.
And they went from 339 to 331 BC.
The third kingdom he describes as the Greek Empire,
the belly and the hips of brass represent them.
Alexander the Great defeated
the last of the Medo-Persian Kings, Derius III in 330 BC.
The Greeks innovated the arms of war
by using brass armor as protection.
Greece was defeated and then absorbed by Rome in 146.
And so they went from 330 to 146 BC.
And then the fourth kingdom he talks about
is the Roman Empire, the legs of iron
with the feet of clay mixed with the iron.
Now iron, because the Romans innovated the use
of this particular metal in warfare.
As it grew, Rome would make alliances with foreign Kings
which ultimately weakened its empire
and was a factor in its demise.
In 76 AD when Romulus, the last of the Roman Empire,
was overthrown by the German leader Odoacer,
and Odoacer became the first barbarian to rule in Rome.
So note that all of these kingdoms,
these four here all succeeded each other in history
and Daniel correctly described their appearance
and their demise in the proper order, doing so in the power
and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Well, then we have the fifth kingdom that he talks about
and that is of course the kingdom of God.
That's the stone, begins with a stone, cut without hands
and then grows to be a whole mountain that fills the earth.
So note carefully what Daniel says about
this fifth kingdom appearing
as a stone that grows into a mountain.
First of all, it's time of appearance.
When does it appear in history?
Well, it appears during the period of the fourth kingdom
which is the Roman Empire.
Then he talks about the place of its appearance.
And that is at the feet of the statue, not the head,
which in context of the Roman Empire
would have been the City of Rome itself
which was the target of all its earthly enemies.
You think of David and Goliath.
Did David throw the stone at Goliath's feet?
Of course not.
He aimed for the head to try to take out the giant.
And so any attack to try to overpower the Roman Empire
would naturally be against Rome,
which was the seat of power and government
and wealth and so on and so forth.
But the stone that Daniel talks about
does not attack the head,
the stone strikes the feet of the target.
And so the feet represented the outlying provinces.
At first, the Romans, they would simply overrun a country
and take it over and rule it by force.
Eventually, as it grew out outwards,
the Romans would then make alliances.
The deal was, look, we won't overrun your country.
We won't bring you down, but you will come
under the Roman orbit and you'll pay taxes to us.
And if you agree to that, well, then we'll leave you alone.
We'll send one of our governors and that'll be it.
Well, they made many of these types of alliances,
and Judah was one of those things.
So note that, unlike these other kingdoms, Daniel,
excuse me, unlike these other attacks against Rome,
against the City of Rome, this attack went to the feet
which represented the outlying provinces
like Judea which I mentioned,
and what's important, Judea is the place
where Jesus ministered and established his church.
Number three, the type of kingdom
that Daniel describes, the stone cut without hands is a way
of denoting that this would be a supernatural kingdom
not a temporal one like those before it.
Note also that unlike these other kingdoms, Daniel states
that this fifth one will be established by God,
Daniel Chapter two verse 44.
And then he talks about the duration of this kingdom
because he's spoken of the duration
of all the other kingdom.
This'll be one kingdom, it'll be replaced by another,
it'll be replaced by another.
But when he talks about the fifth kingdom,
he doesn't talk about any replacement, okay?
The other kingdoms had periods of glory
and power lasting centuries.
But Daniel says that the fifth kingdom will be everlasting.
It will never fail.
The image of the stone growing into a mountain,
filling the earth symbolizes a kingdom
that will dominate every other kingdom.
Therefore, some 600 years before Christ,
a Jewish prophet spoke of four kingdoms
that would rise and fall until a fifth one
would be established that would dominate the world
and last forever.
So for six centuries,
the Jewish people waited for this kingdom.
They prophesied, excuse me,
this kingdom that had been prophesied by Daniel,
for six centuries, the Jewish people waited
for this event to take place.
And then one day, a prophet in the spirit
of Elijah proclaimed, repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand, Matthew Chapter three verse three.
Can we understand then why John the Baptist's preaching
caused so much excitement among the people?
They could read, they knew the content of the Old Testament.
They knew about the four kingdoms
and they knew they were living in the forth kingdom.
And if they knew this, they also knew
that that fifth kingdom would be arriving
somewhat around this time.
And now you have a prophet coming out and saying,
the kingdom is coming, get ready for it.
And so in speaking of the kingdom
that is not of this world,
we note first that this kingdom was spoken of in prophecy
which has since been confirmed by history.
Okay, another feature of the kingdom
that we as Christians belong to
is that this kingdom of God is on earth,
but it's spiritual in nature.
Now Daniel predicted that the kingdom was to come
and John the Baptist preached that it was at hand
and then Jesus proclaimed that it was here.
And so for Jews who had actually lived
through the four empires mentioned by Daniel,
this was exciting news.
For some, it rekindled nationalistic aspirations
that had appeared throughout their history.
Now we need to understand some of the thinking
that the Jews had at the time concerning the kingdom.
We have one idea of it.
And hopefully, after the series of lessons,
we'll even have a better idea of it
but the Jews had a different idea of them.
One such idea was the Davidic concept of the kingdom.
Their hope, according to the Davidic concept,
was that God would send a King like David
who would lead them out of bondage
and regain their lost territories.
They believe that the day of the Lord
was to be a time when the nation would be restored.
We read about that in Amos Chapter nine verse 14
and Zechariah Chapter eight, verses four to eight.
And they also believed this would be a time
when the nations would be judged,
according to Amos Chapter one.
Their hope was kindled and dashed repeatedly
throughout their post United Kingdom history.
In other words, the hope was high
that may be now was the kingdom,
no, it wasn't then yes it was.
And it kept going up and down throughout history
as they waited for the appearance of the kingdom.
And so from Zerubbabel who led the first wave
of exiles back to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity
to the Maccabean Revolt which took place between Malakai
and John, intertestamental period,
there was the Maccabean Revolt.
From these two big events, the hope of the Jewish people
was for a kingdom of this world peopled by Jews.
In other words, their kingdom was a dream
of Jewish nationalism where they would be on top.
They would control, they would go back to the glory days.
So that was the Davidic concept of the kingdom, okay?
Some people were waiting for this type of kingdom to appear.
Then during the intertestamental period,
remember I said between Malakai and John the Baptist
that there were no prophets,
no inspired writings during this time.
That's why we call it the intertestamental period
between 400 BC and six AD.
During this period,
another view of the kingdom began to develop
among non-inspired writings of that time.
And we refer to these writings as apocalyptic literature.
The writers of this era hoped for a heavenly kingdom
which would end the present evil age.
In the Book of Jubilee, for example, a non-inspired book
but a book that talks about these things,
the author suggests a golden age to come
in which God himself would usher in his kingdom,
reversing the evils of Satan.
And so these and various combination
of these ideas were swirling about in the minds
of the people as John the Baptist began to speak
about the kingdom, and it's only natural.
They have prophets, generation after generation,
they have prophets leading the people, encouraging them
to wait for this time when the kingdom would arrive,
and then all of a sudden, there's nothing.
Intertestamental period, there's nothing for centuries.
Well, there's a vacuum there.
And so other writers stepped into the vacuum
and began writing about what might happen.
Although they were non-inspired writings,
they did have an effect on the people
and what the people thought the kingdom would be like.
So we can understand therefore
that when the people heard Jesus teach
that the kingdom had arrived, that was one thing.
But then they witnessed his powerful miracles.
Well, they were ready to crown him King and by force,
if necessary, we read about that
in John Chapter six verse 15.
I'm just trying to get across to you the idea
that there was a palpable excitement about
something great that was going to happen.
And then when Jesus arrives
and starts doing the miracles, of course,
people are thinking, this is it finally.
But Jesus started to describe the kingdom in detail
and his description did not fit
any of the notions that the writers
or the people had of the kingdom.
In addition to this, he described the kingdom
in abstract terms with the use of parables,
without reference to political or military
or economics features which was what they were thinking.
He said, for example, that the kingdom
was like a mustard seed or the kingdom was like a man
who sowed seed or a leaven that leavens dough
or a net that catches fish or a relationship between master
and servant or a person that finds a pearl or a treasure
and sells everything he has
in order to gain possession of that pearl.
So true to Daniel's words, Jesus begins to teach the people
that the kingdom is supernatural in nature
and not political.
And a lot of people, they weren't buying into that, okay?
So the kingdom Jesus says is not of this world.
That was the kingdom, not of this world.
This didn't mean that the kingdom had no power or authority.
It simply meant that as a spiritual kingdom,
its power and authority were derived
and controlled by God, not armies, not human rulers.
And so the kingdom that Jesus and his apostles announced
was one that was small enough to exist
in the heart of the individual.
However, it was big enough to include
all who would enter in.
This kingdom was powerful enough
to dominate every other kingdom
and were so precious that when someone found it,
they would abandoned everything they owned
in order to possess it.
And yet it was so elusive that some people stood
right next to it, but they never saw it.
So finally, the kingdom that Jesus spoke of
was being built in their lifetimes,
exactly as Daniel had spoken.
So a couple of things that we've learned
about the kingdom so far.
First, the kingdom was a subject of prophecy.
Secondly, the kingdom was spiritual in nature
and not physical in nature.
A third point about the kingdom,
the kingdom has been established.
Now that's very important
because this is still a question of debate today.
Many years ago, I had a friend who worked
in Saudi Arabia for several years.
And when I would write to him, part of his address read,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
that actually I had to write that down on the envelope.
And so the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia includes
all the territory over which the King of Saudi Arabia rules.
And throughout history, this has been different according
to how much land the King obtained
through wars and negotiations and so on and so forth.
The point here is that a kingdom
is that which belongs to a King.
This is the earthly physical understanding
of the term kingdom.
Now in Matthew Chapter six verse nine and 10,
Jesus says the following in that prayer.
He says, pray then in this way:
Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Now in this passage, Jesus mentions one kingdom
but two different spheres,
one on earth that had yet to be established,
and one in heaven that was already established.
Therefore, Jesus was praying that the will of God
be done on earth as it was already being done in heaven.
Now, an important point to note here
is that the kingdom of God exists
wherever his will is being done.
As a matter of fact, the word kingdom comes
from the Greek word meaning sovereignty or will.
In Matthew six, nine, and 10 therefore,
Jesus is praying that God's will be done here on earth
and thus establish his kingdom just as God's will
is now being done in heaven.
And when this happens, God's will
will be done and the kingdom will be established
in both the heavenly and the earthly realms.
That's what Jesus' prayer was about.
Your will be done as it is in heaven on earth.
Your will's already being done in heaven,
meaning your kingdom is there.
The kingdom of heaven and heaven is there.
His prayer that just as it is there in heaven,
he prays that it will also be established here on earth.
Let's see.
Now, if we want to know what the kingdom looks like,
we need to examine what God's will is for all men
because the kingdom exists
wherever God's will is being done.
So what does that look like?
So we read in First Timothy Chapter two verse three to six.
Paul writes, this is good and acceptable
in the sight of our God our savior
who desires all men to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
I stop there.
Notice what he says, God who desires, God.
God desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge
of the truth for there is one God and one mediator
also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself as a ransom for all the testimony given
at the proper time.
So what is God's will?
God's will is that all men be saved
and come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the son of God.
As Paul writes, God's will that every man,
every woman recognize the truth
that Jesus Christ is the son of God,
and they will be saved as a result.
That's God's will.
That's the nature of the kingdom.
The kingdom is established every time someone recognizes
that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
In so far as the kingdom is concerned,
it is being established whenever
and wherever people are confessing Christ
and expressing this faith in repentance and baptism,
Acts Chapter two, verse 38.
The kingdom of God on earth is being established and grown.
Now doesn't this knowledge unlock
all of the parables about the kingdom?
If we understand that the kingdom
is God's will being established,
and God's will is that all men believe in Jesus Christ,
doesn't that make sense when you read the parables?
Isn't Jesus the pearl of great price?
And are we not willing to abandon everything
in order to have him?
Isn't the word of God, leaven that permeates the entire life
of a man or a woman?
Isn't preaching the gospel
a great net that draws in many heroes
that are eventually reduced to just a few believers?
Isn't Jesus the master that leaves his disciples
to care for the kingdom
and will return one day to examine their stewardship?
Isn't the knowledge of God's will small enough
to exist in a believers heart and yet big enough
to reach every soul in the world?
Isn't God's power powerful enough to destroy
every human kingdom while sustaining his own kingdom
to the end of time and beyond?
Brothers and sisters, we're not pre-millennialists
who are waiting for the kingdom to come
nor are we post-millennialists who think
much like the Jews of the first century
that the kingdom will be a golden age
where the church will dominate the earth
until Jesus returns.
That's not how we think.
Our view is much simpler to understand and taken primarily
from the previously quoted Matthew 10 verses six to nine
where Jesus prays that God's will be done on earth
as it is being done in heaven.
So when seen through the lens of the kingdom,
we understand that all who are in heaven
are obviously under the authority and will of God.
And so the kingdom of God is firmly established in heaven.
Jesus' prayer is that God's will, that is, man's salvation
through Christ, God's will also be established here
on earth as well.
So when someone one asks when or how
was God's kingdom established here on earth,
your reply according to scripture
should be the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Christ
was established when the gospel began to be preached
and people responded to it in faithful obedience.
So the kingdom of God in heaven
is established when the gospel is preached.
Every time someone confesses Christ
and is immersed in water in his name
for the forgiveness of sins and he receives the spirit,
the kingdom is established in that place.
And if there are many such people in that place,
then the kingdom is expanded by one more, one more soul.
Now, to be more specific, the kingdom was established
when Christ defeated sin and death with his resurrection
to accomplish the first part of God's will.
And that is to provide redemption
for man's sins through the sacrifice of his son.
And the doors to the kingdom were flung open
as the apostles were first to enter in.
And then on Pentecost Sunday,
they began to preach the gospel to invite everyone
who believed to also enter into the kingdom of God.
And let's read a familiar passage, shall we?
Concerning the moment when the doors were open
and the people began to flock into the kingdom.
Peter says or Luke actually writes that Peter is saying,
therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain
that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucify.
Now, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart
and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren,
what shall we do?
Peter said to them, repent.
And each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins.
And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
for the promise is for you and your children
and for all who are far off,
as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.
And with many other words, he solidly testified
and kept on exhorting them saying,
be saved from this perverse generation.
So then those who had received his word were baptized.
And that day, they were added about 3,000,
about 3,000 souls.
Another passage here.
They were continually devoting themselves
to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders
and signs were taking place through the apostles.
And all those who had believed were together
and had all things in common.
And notice he says that in that day, 3,000 souls were added.
You ever asked yourself they were added to what?
What were they added to?
Well, they were added to the kingdom.
That's how you add to the kingdom.
Whenever someone is converted,
whenever someone confesses Christ and is baptized,
they're added to the kingdom,
you can say they were added to the church.
Those words are interchangeable.
And so, as Jesus said to Pilate,
my kingdom is not of this world, but as we have learned,
it is very much in this world and embodied
by those who have been added to it through faith in Jesus,
expressed in repentance and baptism.
Okay, one of the thing here, we want to talk about the kingdom
and that is the growth of the kingdom and its development.
So far, we have seen how
and when the kingdom was established.
Next, we need to examine how the kingdom grows
because Jesus often spoke of its growth and development.
So very briefly, Jesus poke about the kingdom in two ways.
One, as it relates to an individual.
In other words, the kingdom of God within you.
Jesus used the example of a seed or leaven referring
to agents that worked on the inside of a person
to cause change.
These agents were figures representing God's word
given through the Holy Spirit and recorded by the apostles.
And so the kingdom, that is, the ability to do God's will
and become Christ-like,
the kingdom grows within the individual as he internalizes
and submits to the direction of God's word.
The growth of the kingdom within becomes evident externally
as the kingdom dweller produces spiritual fruit;
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
and so on and so forth, Galatians Chapter five, 22 to 24,
Paul calls it the fruit of the spirit,
but we could just as easily call it
the fruit of the kingdom.
The people in the kingdom also produce fruit
or the kingdom within the believers, same thing.
So when you see these things developed in one's life
in the name of Christ, what you are seeing
is the kingdom that is not of this world living
within a believer who happens to be in this world, alright?
Now the other way Jesus referred to the kingdom
was in a collective sense.
Jesus, the apostles and other New Testament writers
use different words
when referring to the kingdom collectively.
Many people, when we say collectively,
we mean when many people
who have been converted are together, all right?
They use terms like the church
or the saints or the household of God.
Many different terms, but all meaning the same thing.
This collective kingdom grows in numbers
and spiritual influence on the world
as it spreads the gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom.
And so this kingdom of God on earth is made up
of individuals who have and continue to respond
to God's will in Christ.
Individually, they're called Christians or saints
or disciples or believers, to name a few.
Collectively, they're referred to as the church
or the body of Christ among other terms.
So if you've obeyed God's will
in believing and obeying Christ,
the kingdom in the form of the Holy Spirit
and the word of God are in you as an individual.
And at the same time,
you as an individual become part of the kingdom of God
comprised of all those who have been saved,
both in heaven and on earth.
All right, one more thing I want to say about the kingdom
and that is the glorification of the kingdom.
The apostles had a hard time understanding the nature
of the kingdom to the extent where they never even asked
the obvious the obvious question,
what is the purpose of the kingdom?
Why was it formed?
What is all this leading to?
Well in my lesson, I've been talking about
the kingdom of heaven here on earth,
but I haven't really discussed
the kingdom of heaven on earth.
An important point to remember in all of this
is that if we are part of the kingdom here on earth,
it means that we will also participate
in the kingdom of heaven that is in heaven.
And we shouldn't be grateful for that.
The kingdom a here on earth is the kingdom.
However, it is not yet a glorified and exalted kingdom.
This is the end game.
This is the purpose of our faith.
The kingdom of heaven in heaven is glorified.
And those who are part of it have things
that we do not have, things that Paul mentions
in First Corinthians 15:42 to 49
where he describes the features of the glorified body.
Things like incorruptibility, meaning no sin
or no weakness of the flesh or excuse me,
no sin or weaknesses that were present
in the flesh previously.
Supernatural power, in other words,
not being subject to time or natural laws.
Eternal existence, no death and spiritual glory,
in other words, spiritual gifts perfected to the point
where they are a source of light emanating from within.
And so the glorified state will enable us to become
like Christ in power
as well as personality and righteousness.
This is the reward for the faithful.
We become like Christ in more ways than one.
The return of Jesus at the end of the world
will signal the joining together
of the kingdom of God on earth
with the kingdom of God in heaven, and together
with the angels and Jesus himself, all will be united
within the Godhead to exist in this way
for an eternity, imagine.
The ultimate goal, the ultimate end, the final product,
if you wish, of our life in Christ and our faithfulness
is that we will eventually participate
in the Godhead as part of the Godhead
through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Okay, let's just summarize.
I know it's been a lot for the first lesson here.
I've tried to squeeze in as much as possible.
So let's just summarize very quickly, shall we?
First of all, the kingdom of God here on earth,
Daniel the prophet predicted it,
Jesus proclaimed and died for it.
The apostles opened its doors with their preaching.
People have entered in through faith expressed in obedience
and we all await the return of Jesus
for its glorification and it's final eternal exultation.
However, in the meantime, I want to remind you of one thing,
and then this lesson is yours.
One thing to remember while we're here on earth,
dealing with all the things
we have to deal with here on earth.
I want you to remember that you,
you are the kingdom in this world, not these guys.
Doesn't matter how many people show up,
doesn't matter the fanfare, doesn't matter the noise,
doesn't matter the idols and all that kind of stuff.
You're the ones who are the kingdom.
Let this be a comfort to you when personally you feel weak
or we're dry spiritually, remember, you're the kingdom.
You are part of the kingdom here on earth, not these guys.
Let this be a comfort to you and your church
when it seems that there's no progress taking place
or the progress is not very fast.
Remember you are the kingdom in this world, not these guys.
And because this is so, you may be reduced and discouraged
and unsure, but you cannot be defeated because you,
you are the kingdom in this world, not these guys.
So let this be a motivation to persevere and invest
and launch out and speak up and proclaim and repent,
and then try again
because you are the kingdom in this place.
It's you who are the kingdom.
When you're in one city, you're the kingdom in that city.
When you're in one home, you're the kingdom in that home.
We need to realize that we are members
of the kingdom always and forever, forever more.
So I pray that God bless you
as you build up the kingdom of Christ,
and as you wait patiently for his return.
All right well, that's the material for this first lesson.
I want to encourage you to read Matthew Chapters five, six
and seven for our next lesson
because we're going to be talking about life in the kingdom.
Today's lesson was simply what is the kingdom
and where did it come from?
And kind of some general information about
making us familiar with the idea of the kingdom of God.
Next lesson, we're going to talk about real life.
What is life like for those who live in the kingdom?
Okay, that's our lesson.
Thank you very much for your attention.