THE SECRET OF SPIRITUAL STRENGTH

Here is Yehovah’s secret to spiritual strength: “For thus says Yehovah Elohim - God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength’” (Isaiah 30:15, NKJV).

Note: The word for quietness in Hebrew means “repose.” Repose means calm, relaxed, free from all anxiety, to be still, to lie down with support underneath.

Not many in Christendom today have this kind of quietness and confidence. Multitudes are involved in a frenzy of activity, rushing madly to obtain wealth and pleasure. Even in the ministry, Yehovah’s servants run about worrying, fearing and looking for answers in conferences and best-selling books. Everyone wants guidance or something to calm their spirit. They seek solutions in every source except from Yehovah. They don’t realize Yehovah Elohim - God has already spoken a word for them through Isaiah. If they don’t turn to him as their source, their striving will end in sorrow and confusion.

Isaiah describes what Yehovah Elohim's - God's righteousness is supposed to accomplish in us. “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever” (Isaiah 32:17). If we’re truly walking in righteousness, our lives will bear the fruit of a calm spirit, quietness of heart and peace with God.

As Isaiah looked around, he saw Yehovah’s people fleeing to Egypt for help, trusting in men, relying on horses and chariots. Ambassadors were coming and going. Leaders were holding emergency strategy meetings. Everyone was in a panic, wailing, “What can we do?”

Isaiah assured them, “It doesn’t have to be this way. Return from your backsliding. Repent of your rebellion of trusting in others. Turn to Yehovah, and he’ll cover you with a blanket of peace. He’ll give you quietness and rest in the midst of everything you’re facing.”

Beloved, the same is true for us today. The New Testament confirms it. The Messiah Jesus told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

Remember that Jesus told us to know that every word he spoke was given him by his God and Father to speak. John 12:49  For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. John 12:50  And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. John 14:10  Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.

So when Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" He is speaking forth the words God gave him to speak. It is God whose peace is with us and He makes sure we will recieve it because He has given to the lord Messiah power over all of His creation Himself excluded. Everything that the Messiah Jesus does he accomplished as the one Yehovah has assiagned to do so, according to His will.

We must hold fast to the words our God and Father has given to us to live by, no matter what the circumstances are around us. We can if we will draw upon the indwelling power of the Spirit of our loving Father that He has given us to accomplish all He wants us to do according to His will. So in reality it is all of Him and nothing of us except to be totally committed to walking in faith obedience before Him.

Written by David Wilkerson (1931-2011), edited by Bruce Lyon

WHEN YOU HURT LINGERS

In one way or another, we are all hurting. Every person on earth carries his own burden of pain. When you are deeply hurt, no person on earth can shut down the inner fears and deepest agonies. Not the best of friends can understand the battle you are going through or the wounds inflicted on you.

This is what the Psalmist was wrestling with in Psalm 6:6-7, “I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies.”

Is there a balm for a broken heart? Is there healing for those deep, inner hurts? Can the pieces be put back together and the heart be made even stronger?

Yes! Absolutely yes. Yehovah our God didn’t promise you a painless way of life. He promised you “a way of escape.” He promised to help you bear your pain, strength to put you back on your feet when weakness makes you stagger.

Our loving Father said, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV).

Your heavenly Father watches over you with an unwavering eye. Every move is monitored. Every tear is noticed. He identifies with your every pain. He feels every hurt. He will never allow you to drown in your tears. He will not permit your hurt to deteriorate your mind. He promises to come, right on time, to wipe away your tears and give you joy for mourning.

Paul encouraged the called-out Assembly, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

You have the ability to make your heart rejoice and be glad in Yehovah. His eye is on you, and He commands us to rise up and shake off all those fears causing doubt.

Written by David Wilkerson (1931-2011) and edited by Bruce Lyon

IS MIND MERELY MATTER?

Is there a fundamental problem in the search for AGI - Artificail General Intelligence? Is there some assumption being made that dooms researchers’ efforts to reproduce the human mind through microchips and networks; some missing element that keeps true AGI, forever out of reach?

Attempts to create genuinely human-like intelligence and its associated characteristics; consciousness, free will, and abstract thinking; have been rooted in fundamentally materialist assumptions from the very beginning.

Researchers take for granted that the material world; the physical matter and energy of the universe and the physical forces that act upon them; is all there is to reality. Their work relies on the idea that matter is essentially all there is to mind.

And, truly, matter does have its effect on the human mind. Humans are physico-chemical beings. Like the rest of creation around us, we are made of particular arrangements of atoms and molecules. The human brain: which plays an essential role in the human mind; is clearly a physical object, made up of a vast network of neurons engaging in intricate chemical and electrical transmissions. Neuroscientists have many tools that allow them to measure how different activities and feelings excite different regions of the brain. Studies show that damage to the brain can dramatically alter one’s personality, and researchers have found that applying a magnetic field to a portion of the brain can even affect the moral choices a person makes.

Unquestionably, our physical brains play a vital role in making us who we are.

MIND OVER MATTER

There is abundant evidence that our minds are also more than our brains; that something outside the physical, chemical confines of the human brain also contributes powerfully to the human mind.

In this regard, neurosurgeon Egnor frequently points to the work of two famed individuals in his field of brain science: Roger Sperry and Wilder Penfield.

Roger Sperry won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his famous split-brain research with human subjects whose corpus callosum had been severed; the connection between the right and left halves of their brains had been completely removed. The subjects seemed to function just fine, even with one half of the brain completely unable to communicate with the other. But Sperry’s tests teased out intriguing details; such as finding instances when subjects could not describe an object seen by just one eye, as the brain’s language center was located in the hemisphere lacking access to the image that eye saw.

But he also found that his subjects’ normal powers of reasoning and abstract thought were intact. Surgery had limited the information to which they had access: the right eye, for instance, could only pass information to the left hemisphere; but the ability to reason, make conjectures, and think conceptually was not diminished in the slightest, even though their brains were literally severed into two distinct parts, each unable to communicate with the other.

To fully account for his research results, Sperry concluded, one must consider the realm of ideas and consciousness not simply as a byproduct of the brain’s chemicals and molecules, but rather as vital elements that act on those chemicals and molecules. “Mental forces in this particular scheme are put in the driver’s seat, as it were,” Sperry concluded. “They give the orders and they push and haul around the physiology and physicochemical processes as much as or more than the latter control them. This is a scheme that puts mind back in its old post, over matter, in a sense; not under, outside, or beside it” ("Mind, Brain, and Humanist Thinking," The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, September 1966).

Simply reducing the human mind to the physical components of the brain, in Sperry’s formulation, fails to account for the complex activity of human thought, consciousness, and will.

While not denying that humans possess a physical brain like that of the animals, Sperry concluded that his view of the mind “does deny, however, that the higher human properties in the mind and nature of man are the same as, or are reducible to, the components from which they are fashioned.”

Another suggestion that “mind” transcends the physical brain is found in neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield’s advances in the field of brain surgery to control epilepsy. Penfield found that, when performing brain surgery on conscious patients, he could prompt them to experience particular phenomena by stimulating different parts of the brain. Patients would experience sights, odors, and other physical sensations: even emotions: prompted by nothing more than his electrical stimulation of parts of the brain.

Yet he noticed that one outcome never resulted from his work: No poking or prodding of the brain ever produced an abstract thought in a patient. It never produced a movement in the patient’s intellect or conceptual thinking. While physical sensations could be teased physically out of his patients’ brains, abstract thoughts and concepts could not. In fact, as patients could communicate with him and reason about the illusory sensations he was prompting, he understood that their human intellect, reasoning, and will stood in some way apart from the work he was doing on the physical brain.

Although Penfield began his career as a materialist; believing that there was no more to the human mind than the collection of material that makes up the brain; his 30-year career in neurosurgery forced him to reconsider that position and conclude the opposite: that something exists outside the brain, completing the human mind and contributing to its higher faculties.

THE MISSING INGREDIENT

The idea that Sperry and Penfield developed through their research; that the human mind is not completely reducible to the physical components of the brain and possesses some additional  element; is actually reflected in the inspired pages of your Bible. There, we are told that “there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding” (Job 32:8).

Indeed, it is the spirit in man that gives him knowledge and comprehension: “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2:11).

This is not an immortal soul; it is an essential God-given element of the mortal human mind, making men and women who and what they are.

The spirit in man and the remarkable human brain combine to produce the phenomenon we know as the human mind.

Just as a player sitting at a piano produces music, the human spirit and human brain work together to make thoughts, plans, and consciousness possible. Separate the player and piano, and the music stops. Similarly, separate the human spirit from the human brain, and thoughts cease.

Indeed, the book of Psalms describes the human condition at death: “His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4, World English Bible).

Consider the difference between a “player piano”; a piano with a rotating drum that can reproduce preprogrammed instructions to play its keys; and a seasoned musician sitting down at a finely tuned instrument to perform a masterpiece.  There may be a superficial similarity at first, but when the preprogrammed notes run out, the similarity ends. So, too, have all human attempts at creating AGI fallen short of the wondrous reality of the human mind.

We may; in fact, we almost certainly will come closer and closer to creating convincing imitations of the real thing. But the dream of truly and fully reproducing the wonder of the human mind through the realm of silicon and copper wire will likely remain just that: a dream.

LIMITED AI AND LIMITLESS HUMANITY

The human brain will continue to create fascinating approximations of itself as scientists develop ever-more-complex software that can interact with flesh-and-blood human beings. It will surely create broader and broader implementations of what today are narrow problem-solving artificial intelligences.

The more we advance in imitating ourselves through AGI, the more we will discover about the complex nuances of our own human image.

The more we learn in our attempts to “reproduce” our humanity, the more we learn about ourselves; including the amazing discovery that we are far more than an assembly of chemicals produced by repeatable physical processes.

We are in fact much more than the sum of our physical parts. We are truly something astonishing.

Indeed, how apt are these words attributed to Wilder Penfield: “How little we know of the nature and spirit of man and God. We stand now before this inner frontier of ignorance. If we could pass it, we might well discover the meaning of life and understand man’s destiny.”

Indeed, God reveals what mankind is unable to discover; not only that there is a spirit in man, but also that mankind has a wonderful destiny ordained by its Creator.

That destiny will not ultimately be found in man’s struggle to create technology in his own image, but in his rediscovering that he himself is made in the image of a creator God - Yehovah. With one foot planted in the physical realm and one in the spiritual, we bear the fingerprints of our Divine Designer in a way that should fill us with wonder and cause us to reflect: For what purpose has He made us so? And importantly: how have we aligned our lives in harmony with that purpose?

Our efforts to create something in our own image should impress upon us the humbling significance of the fact that we are made in His.

A MATTER OF FAITH

Life is short, but made up of millions of choices: Will you get up when your alarm sounds, or roll over and sleep in? What will you wear today? What will you make for breakfast; or will you even have breakfast? How will you treat those around you? Will you believe in God or in blind chance?

That last question may rankle evolutionists, as they generally do not like the expression “blind chance,” preferring to give credit to “the power of evolution.” But then there is Richard Dawkins’ book The Blind Watchmaker; so much for rejecting blind chance!

But life is short, a realization that sinks in more and more as each year passes by. Whether or not we believe in Yehovah Elohim - God is a choice. It is a choice because, if we are honest and inquisitive, we search out the evidence, weigh the evidence, and then choose what to believe based on the facts. “Examine all things. Firmly hold onto what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21, Modern English Version). We should accept neither blind chance nor blind faith. Facts do not negate faith, nor are facts a substitute for faith. Facts and faith must work together.

Beyond What We See

The children of Israel saw with their own eyes the opening of the Red Sea, and passed through it with walls of water on both sides of them. That was a fact of their actual experience, but it did not have any lasting effect on their thinking or behavior; this is where faith comes in as a different kind of evidence. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Many are familiar with the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into a furnace for defying a king’s order; but how many fully understand the story? Daniel 3 tells us that the famous King Nebuchadnezzar built a great image. Whenever the band struck up, everyone was to bow down before that image. Some jealous individuals;  apparently with tilted heads and open eyes; reported that these three young men refused to bow down and worship the image; the three were summarily hauled before an angry king and given one last chance.

Reading their response to the king’s command, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that they knew God would save them from the flames. But a careful reading of the account gives a more accurate picture.

Too often, people fail to recognize that Nebuchadnezzar’s question at the end of the ultimatum was rhetorical: “And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” (Daniel 3:15).

The king believed his power in the situation was supreme. Though no reply was needed or expected, these three young men gave the following bold and confident answer: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16–18).

This was remarkable, considering the choice before them. They understood the king’s character and knew this was no idle threat and that Nebuchadnezzar would carry it out.

So, what did they mean when they said that “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us”? The emphasis should be on the first two words: Our God was their answer to the king’s question, “And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

They answered without hesitation, despite the situation before them. As we read in the older King James Version, “Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer [you] in this matter.”

Principled people, secure in what they believe, have no need to think over a clear choice between right and wrong, and have no regard for the consequences of choosing right.

These three young men knew God was perfectly able to rescue them, but did they really expect to be rescued after being thrown in the furnace? Perhaps; but that isn’t necessarily implied in their response. They knew, based on the history of their people and all the recorded miracles; the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho, and a host of others; along with countless personal interventions for which we have no record, that God is real and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

So, what did they mean, “He will deliver us from your hand, O king”?

Remember, they did not know the end of the story. Would God change Nebuchadnezzar’s mind? Would the cavalry show up at the last minute, as in a suspenseful Western?

No matter: to these three young men of faith, bowing before this idol was beyond consideration. “But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Like Abraham, they were assured of a resurrection from the dead, over which Nebuchadnezzar had no power (Hebrews 11:17, 19). Centuries later, Jesus reminded others of this truth: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body  - your whole being in hell – Lake of Fire – Revelation 20:15” (Matthew 10:28).

It is easy to read this account and think that these were fearless super humans who knew what the outcome would be. They didn’t! Yes, they were undoubtedly men of faith and courage.

How many of us would have passed this fiery test? If we are honest, not many. How did they?

These three young men believed that Yehovah Elohim - God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him; we see this in their choice to defy the king. And, like other men and women of faith, their faith was not blind.

David appreciated the wonder of divinely designed life (Psalm 139:13-16: For you have possessed my reins: you have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them).

Amazing, Yehovah in His foreknowledge knows our end from the beginning of our being!

David looked at the heavens and marveled at mankind’s place in God’s awesome creation (Psalm 8:3–4).

The Apostle Paul declared that God’s invisible attributes are so clearly evident in the natural world that those who reject Him are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

Note: Recognition and proof of God’s existence are not the same as faith.

That heart-of-our-being conviction of faith goes above and beyond physical facts seen with our eyes (2 Corinthians 5:7). The children of Israel saw mighty miracles but lacked the evidence of faith to enter the Promised Land. Yet those three young men, who did not see the miracles of the Exodus, who were standing before the greatest king of their time, chose to believe based on the evidence they did have. Their belief was hardened by a deep convictions of right and wrong. Daily choices regarding these convictions had set their character like stone. They understood the future beyond this short life and beyond the grave, believing in the hope of eternal life.

Looking to the Reward

Faith must be exercised when we don’t know the outcome.

That is the kind of faith Noah, Abraham, and many others possessed. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:7–8, 13).

We all look around and realize that today’s world is heading for trouble such as never has been before; such terrible trouble that, without the return of Jesus the Messiah, human life will not continue (Matthew 24:21–22).

Realize that all of us have only a brief window of opportunity to choose life, everlasting life in the coming Kingdom of our God and Father Yehovah. Our lives are short; and the choices we make have everlasting consequences.

One of the most foundational scriptures in the Bible is Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believed that Yehovah Elohim - God exists; and that He would reward them no matter what Nebuchadnezzar did to them. How about you?

WHEN WE FEEL LIKE WE ARE ALONE

“Hezekiah prospered in all his works. However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chronicles 32:30-31, NKJV).

Often, while in the righteous pursuit of God’s work, the steward of Yehovah finds himself apparently forsaken, seemingly left all alone to battle the forces of Satan, this world and our own fleshly desires. Every man God has ever blessed has been proved in the same manner. Consider Abraham’s situation. “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him… ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…and offer him there as a burnt offering’” (Genesis 22:1–2). We know the end of the story, that a ram would be provided as Isaac’s substitute [pointing to what Jesus did when he became a sin-offering sacrifice for us], but the patriarch did not know this on his journey up the mountain.

Do you find yourself in strange circumstances? Do you feel forsaken and alone? Do you feel like you are fighting a losing battle with an unpredictable enemy? These are signs pointing to the proving process.

Victory is always the desired result; but should you fail, remember that it is what remains in your heart, that what God is most interested in is your attitude after you have won or lost the lonely battle. Your devotion to him in spite of failure is His desire.

Jesus [speaking as the agent - sent one - of his God and Father] has promised never to leave us or forsake us, but the record of scripture reveals there are seasons when our God and Father hides his presence to prove us. Even the Messiah Jesus experienced that lonely moment on the cross.

Notice: Psalm 22:1-31: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you hear not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But you are holy, O you that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you: they trusted, and you did deliver them. They cried unto you, and were delivered: they trusted in you, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted on Yehovah that He would deliver him: let Him deliver him, seeing He delighted in him. But you are he that took me out of the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon you from the womb: you are my God from my mother’s belly. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and you have brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.  But be not thou far from me, O Yehovah: O my strength, haste you to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth: for you have heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise you. You that fear Yehovah, praise him; all you the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear - reverence Him, all you the seed of Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hid His face from him; but when he cried unto Him, he heard. My praise shall be of you in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear Him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise Yehovah that seek Him: your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto Yehovah: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you. For the kingdom is Yehovah’s: and He is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to Yehovah for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He has done this.

Would that our God and Father will enable us to exercize this wonderful and all encompasing faith when we for a moment feel as if we are all alone not realizing that our God and Father is with us every step of the way!

We become so preoccupied in proving God that we have not prepared our hearts for the great tests of life whereby God proves us. Could it be that the great trial you are now facing, the burden you now carry, is actually God at work proving you?

Jesus says we are to take up our cross and follow him (see Matthew 16:24). What is that cross? It is the flesh with its frailness and sinfulness. Take it up, move on in faith, and his strength will be made perfect in you.

This is one of the saying that give me great hope and reminds me to seek to develop the attitude of mind that Habbakuk had when he was inspiried by Yehovah to write this:

Habbakuk 3:17-19: Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in Yehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  Yehovah Elohim - God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

May we sing this in our hearts and rejoice on how much our God Yehovah loves us and cares for us, knowing that if anyone hurts us it is as if they poked God in the eye.

Zechariah 2:8: For thus says Yehovah of hosts; After the glory has He sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that touches you touches the apple of His eye.

That is how sensitive our God and Father is towards those who love Him and seek to serve Him continually! Amazing Grace that has saved a wretch like me!

WHO IS THE ONE GOD OF THE BIBLE?

Pick up a Bible and ask the simplest and most basic of all questions: Who is the one God of the Bible?

Deuteronomy 32:39: “See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me.”

Isaiah 43:11: “I, only I, am Yehovah [YHVH], and there is no Savior besides Me.”

Isaiah 44:6: “This is what Yehovah says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Armies: ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.’”

Isaiah 44:8: “Is there a God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none.”

Isaiah 45:5: “I am Yehovah, and there is no one else; there is no God except Me.”

Isaiah 45:6: “So that people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am Yehovah, and there is no one else.”

Hosea 13:4: “I have been Yehovah your God since the land of Egypt; and you were not to know any God except Me, because there is no Savior besides Me.”

Deuteronomy 4:35: “You were shown these things so that you would know that Yehovah, He is God; there is no other besides Him.”

Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, Israel! Yehovah our God is one Lord.”

Mark 12:32: The scribe said to Jesus, “Well said, teacher. You have truly stated that He is one, and there is no other besides Him.”

It is perfectly obvious that Jesus confirmed the age-old creed of Israel. As every Jew knows, this creed asserts that the true God, the God of Israel, is one being; certainly not three! Jesus subscribed to the understanding of his fellow Jews. Jesus allied himself to the Jews when he defined God. He said, “We [Jews] know whom we worship” (John 4:22). And no Jew ever worshipped a Triune God. Jesus did not deviate one inch from the unitary, non-Trinitarian monotheism of Israel. He quoted the Old Testament definition of who God is and thus presented his believing disciples with our basic creed. It is arrogant in the extreme for Gentile converts to Christianity to interfere with the creed declared with such clarity by Jesus himself. Note carefully how many persons there are in this creed: “The Lord - Yehovah our God is one Lord.” One Lord is one being, not three!

A popular theory declares that God is “one ‘what’ and three ‘who’s.’” This of course depersonalizes God. The one God is never a “what” in the Bible. He is presented as one personal being, denoted thousands and thousands of times by the personal pronouns in the singular: I, Me, Thou, Thee, He, Him. In the Bible the word “three” never occurs in connection with the word “God.”

God had a unique, virginally conceived Son, the Messiah, and God’s spirit is the Spirit of God, His divine presence and power active in the world to enlighten and save. But God never spoke to His own Spirit and the Spirit never sent greetings, was never worshipped nor prayed to.

Both the Father and the Son are addressed in prayer and both are worshipped, Jesus as the Messiah and the Father as the one true God. The biblical word “worship” is an “elastic” term with a meaning different from our English word “worship.” David was “worshipped” alongside the one God (1 Chronicles 29:20) and the saints are going to be “worshipped” by their former persecutors (Revelatopm 3:9). The Hebrew and Greek words for “worship” apply both to God and to persons who are not the one God, but superior human agents of the one God.

Jesus is the ultimate spokesman for God, His very image, reflecting His mind and character perfectly. But this does not mean that Jesus is God. If Jesus were God, this would make two Gods, a biblical impossibility. The Father is the one Lord God - and His name is Yehovah, and Jesus is the lord Messiah.

The distinction between the Father and the Son is brilliantly illumined for us by Psalm 110:1 where the one God, Yehovah, is a different, separate and distinct person from the lord Messiah. The lord Messiah is addressed in this prophecy as adoni. Adoni means “my lord.” It never refers to God, but always to a person who is not God, but a human superior (occasionally an angel). If Jesus were God he would be described in this Psalm as Adonai, the Hebrew word used exclusively for the one God (449 times in the Old Testament).

Psalm 110:5, by contrast, depicts Adonai, the one God, as supporting the Messiah in his future battle for world dominance. The distinction between adoni and Adonai is maintained in every case. Adonai is the one God and adoni is never a reference to God. How very striking then that in Psalm 110:1 the Messiah Jesus is distinctly given the superior human title, not the title of eternal Deity! The Jews knew well what was at stake in any departure from the strict monotheism of the creed of Israel.

John and all the apostles were outstanding exponents of unitary monotheism (i.e., God is a single Person). John recorded Jesus as defining the Father as the “the one who alone is truly God” (John 17:3; 5:44). It follows then that the apostles and Jesus would have difficulty with some current mainstream religious authorities who would express horror that they were not Trinitarian following the creeds of the 4th and 5th centuries!

Some try to defend post-biblical creeds by appealing to John 1:1. But they read this passage with their minds already made up that the Son of God was an uncreated eternal second Person in the Godhead. They then make the huge assumption that “the word” means the Son before his birth. But the text tells us that God’s word, not His Son, preexisted from the beginning. A world-known systematic theologian of Fuller Seminary, Dr. Colin Brown, said correctly: “It is a common but patent error to read John 1:1 as if it said ‘In the beginning was the Son.’”

Anyone familiar with Jewish ways of thinking recognizes here a strong parallel with Wisdom which is figuratively presented as being “with God” from the beginning (Proverbs 8:1, 6, 12, 14, 22, 30). Wisdom is personified (i.e. “she” speaks as though she is a person). She says “I was always with Him [God]” (Proverbs 8:30). Thus the word or wisdom of God was “with God” (John 1:1) and was itself God, that is to say fully expressive of God. Wisdom says, “I am understanding” (Proverbs 8:14). She is the fullest expression of the mind of God. The word “was” God, not as a one-to-one identity, because the word was also “with God,” but as fully expressive of God. The word is God in His self-revelation.

But note carefully that there is only one Person in John 1:1-2. It is the Father and His word/wisdom by which He created everything. Then, amazingly, in verse 14 the Son is introduced for the first time, and we learn of the uniquley begotten Son who reveals the Father. John’s intention is to tell us that the very word/expression/wisdom/idea of God was manifested in history in a human person, the Son of God. Jesus is therefore what the word/wisdom of God became. Just as the car on the designer’s drawing board becomes “flesh” as a real, functioning automobile, so the wisdom/word of God was fully expressed in Jesus. Jesus is the most perfect demonstration of God speaking in a human being, but Jesus is not himself God; that is to say the Son is not an uncreated eternal Person.

There is only one such uncreated Person in the universe, and that is Yehovah our God and Father. No wonder the Father is called “the [one] God” (ho theos, in Greek) over 1300 times in the New Testament. The term “God” is very occasionally applied to Jesus as reflecting God. Remember that Moses was to be “god” to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1). This does not mean that Moses was actually God, but that he was His spokesman. In a parallel way Jesus is the ultimate speaker for God, the supreme prophet and the chosen King of David’s royal line.

Over and over again the New Testament informs us that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, a title applicable also to the converted Israel of the future (Hosea 1:10). Jesus founded his church on the firm belief that he was the “Messiah, Son of the living God.” Remember what Professor Brown of Fuller Seminary told us, along with many other expert biblical scholars: “To be called Son of God in the Bible means that you are not God.” This is an obvious truth which can be searched out and confirmed by anyone. Simply note that Adam, Israel and men especially close to God are called “sons of God.” Christians are said to be “sons of God.” Jesus is the pioneer of our salvaton, the perfect model of what it means to be “Son of God.”

Now listen to Paul: How does he define the one God in whom disciples of Jesus believe? Paul repeats exactly the Old Testament one God texts quoted above. His statement defining the God of the followrs of the Messiah Jesusy is based on the Old Testament words we have cited earlier (Deuteronomy 32:39, etc.). Paul tells us precisely who that unique divine Person is: “We know that there is no God but one… To us [disciples] there is one God, the Father”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE "BORN AGAIN"

Almost everyone knows about John 3. This is the famous conversation between Jesus and a leading rabbi, who ought to have known what born from heaven meant, but did not (John 3:9-11). Nicodemus, fearful about being seen by his friends associating with the “unorthodox” or “questionable” rabbi Jesus, had come by night. Nicodemus was honest enough to know that no one could possibly have done the miracles Jesus did, unless the only true God was with him and had commissioned him (John 3:2: “come from God,” that is, commissioned by God, not remotely meaning that Jesus was alive before he was born!).

Jesus gave a most basic lesson. Unless we are born from above, that is from God’s creative activity, we cannot ever see or experience the Kingdom of God. We cannot be saved. We cannot understand the Kingdom now, and we will not gain immortality in the Kingdom when Jesus comes back. These are really big issues; the only ones that ultimately count!

Jesus made the rebirth from water and spirit a condition for tasting the power of the Kingdom now, and gaining immortality in the future Kingdom. Israel’s Scripture (Nicodemus ought to have known this) spoke of an outpouring of spirit in Isaiah 32:15-18. He and Israel should have known about the renewing effect and power of spirit. The Hebrew Bible is full of marvelous prophecies for a bright future, after punishment. Isaiah had foreseen that “one day from the heights of heaven a spirit will breathe into us, till the downs grow like an orchard, and the orchard like a forest. Justice fills the very downs, and honesty the orchards, and justice brings us peace and quiet; honesty renders us secure. My people will have homes of peace and rest in houses undisturbed. Ah, happy folk…” (Moffatt translation)

This was the promised rebirth from above, by spirit, which Jesus announced in advance of the worldwide appearance of the Kingdom of God. If we want to be in that Kingdom when it comes at the Second Coming of the Messiah Jesus, then we must be reborn now, receive the spirit of new life and be fit to inherit the Kingdom of God when Jesus reappears.

Regeneration, rebirth, must happen to us now in advance of the great renewal of the world. Jesus spoke of this coming regeneration of the whole world in Matthew 19:28, and Paul in Titus 3:5 teaches our need for renewal through washing and rebirth through holy spirit.

Jesus and Paul of course taught the same saving Gospel message, and both knew of Isaiah 51:16 and 65:17-25 where we read of the great coming new society on earth, the new heavens and earth, a new world order with the capital at Jerusalem. All this is Kingdom Gospel material to be believed in response to the command that we are “to repent and believe God’s Gospel of the Kingdom” (Mark 1:14-15).

Jesus and Paul were intensely conscious of an accompanying text in Isaiah 32:1 “One day a King will reign in justice with princes who rule uprightly.”

Our destiny, as a mass of Scripture says, is to assist Jesus the Messiah in the organizing and administration of that coming new society on earth. Christianity is never about “going to heaven as a disembodied spirit when you die.” It is always about inheriting and possessing the renewed land and earth (Matt. 5:5; Rev. 5:10; 20:1-6), with Jesus and all the faithful of all the ages, when Messiah returns.

Many churchgoers are very far from having the Bible’s view of the future! Much less do they grasp the Christian destiny, the point of our present training and tribulation in view of our election to royal office in the future Kingdom.

Do you frequently meditate on Revelation 2:26-27 and 5:10: Jesus has constituted the true believers “a kingdom of priests” (Revelation 1:6) and they “will rule as kings upon the earth” (Revelation 5:10). Daniel 7:18, 22, 27 is a key passage for presenting the Gospel. The time will come when “the saints will possess the Kingdom, and all nations and people will obey them” (Daniel 7:27). I will repeat this since so little is known of these amazing propositions: “The kingly power, sovereignty and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people [saints] of the Most High. Their kingly power will last forever, and every realm will serve and obey them” (Daniel  7:27)

Ask your pastor to preach extensively on all of this. For participation in immortality and rulership in the coming, peaceful Kingdom of God on earth, we must be born again [born from above], Jesus said. Is John the only writer to have dealt with this very basic theme? Certainly not. Matthew and Mark and Luke were just as impressed with the all important issue of rebirth, and they record how Jesus treated the same subject by speaking of the seed which must lodge in our hearts for new birth to occur. This is an agricultural picture, well known to us all. Jesus speaking to Nicodemus used the biological idea of rebirth by seed, gaining a new parentage.

Many of your friends have been told that being born again involves “an acceptance of Jesus in your heart.” This concept is often very vague. Open to all sorts of imaginative guesses. It lacks entirely the clarity and specificity of the Kingdom Gospel teaching of Jesus.

Jesus, you see, begins his ministry by calling on all to “repent because the Kingdom of God is approaching” (Mark 1:14-15). More than that, Mark calls this Gospel a preaching of Jesus the announcing of the Gospel of God (Mark 1:14).

There is no higher authority than that! People in the days of Jesus knew what the Kingdom of God meant. It signified the great time coming when God would install His anointed one - Messaih on the restored throne of David in Jerusalem, resulting in world peace and disarmament (Luke 1:33; Isa. 2:1-4; Luke 2:25; Acts 1:6, etc.).

“The Gospel of God” is a wonderfully unifying key phrase and title in the New Covenant. Jesus announced “God’s Gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). He commanded belief in that Gospel of the Kingdom. Paul framed his whole teaching in Romans by calling it “God’s Gospel” (Romans 1:1; 15:16).

In 1 Thessalonians 2:2, 8, 9 and 1 Peter 4:17 God’s Gospel is the most dramatic piece of information for all mankind.

Jesus announced this Kingdom, and then followed with these imperative words: “Repent [change your mind and your life radically] and believe that Gospel about the Kingdom.” The command is clear; we are ordered by Messiah to believe that Gospel of the Kingdom. We are to believe, in other words, in God’s great world plan for us and everyone else. That is where the faith (belief) begins. That is where “the obedience of faith” starts (Romans 1:5; 16:26). It includes, as we know now, belief in the sin offering sacrificial substitutionary death of Jesus to atone for sins, and of course his resurrection on the third day. In addition, of course, belief in Jesus’ current session at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Psalm 110:1, etc.). The Messiah at the right hand is “my lord,” not “my Lord,” as wrongly rendered in many versions. Jesus is the “my lord” Messiah, the Messiahlord of Luke 2:11 and 1:43: “my lord” (cp. John 20:13). The simple truth about the Gospel of salvation is well encapsulated by Hebrews 2:3. This teaches us that Jesus was the first preacher of the Gospel of salvation. Hebrews 5:9 makes this simple proposition: “Salvation is based on obeying Jesus.” Jesus said exactly the same in John 3:36. He lays out the stark choices before us: either to believe in the Son or to disobey him.

To believe Jesus is to have “the life of the age to come.” To disobey Jesus is be under the wrath of God (John 3:36).

That is exactly why Paul defines true faith as “the obedience of faith.” Faith is not real faith if it does not go hand in hand with obedience, and obedience without faith and belief in the Gospel as Jesus and Paul preached it is not obedience.

Note: The command that we all be baptized in water to demonstrate we have died to self and are totally committed to God in covenant faithfulness and to His son Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:12, etc.) is one of the non-negotiable requirements of the NT.

Think about how Bible writers make things doubly clear and emphatic. They frame their writing with the same key concept. In other words they begin and end what they have to say by repeating the same idea. This is an excellent way to teach systematically and effectively.

Note how Jesus in the Beatitudes begins with a reference to the Kingdom and completes a series of parallel sayings by referring to the Kingdom (Matthew 5:3- 10). No wonder then that Jesus uttered these marvelous purpose statement Gospel words: “First be concerned about the kingdom of God and what has His approval, then all things will be provided for you” (Matthew 6:33). So also with the lord’s prayer. The Kingdom is at the beginning and the end. Jesus announced his own fundamental, eyeopening, career statement by saying, “I have to announce the good news about  the Kingdom of Gopd to the other cities also: That's what I was sent to do” (Luke 4:43). That is our Christian commission too (Matthew 28:19-20).

In the parable (illustrative story) of the sower and the seed, Jesus drew on an Old Testament idea, just as he did when speaking of being born of the spirit (cp. Isaiah 32). Jesus was very familiar with the tremendously hopeful words of Jeremiah 30 and 31, chapters brimming over with the prospect of national joy and restoration for Israel, following a future time of Great Tribulation, the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). In Jeremiah 31:27-31 Jesus read these words: “The days are coming, says Yehovah God, when I will sow Israel and Judah with the seed of man and of cattle. As I watched over them with intent to pull down, and to uproot, to demolish and destroy and inflict disaster, so now [at that future time] I will watch over them to build and to plant…The days are coming when I will establish a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.” Sowing is the symbol of prosperity and progeny. Now observe Hosea 2:23: “I will sow her [Israel] for Myself in the land; and I will love her who was not loved, and will say to those who were not my people, ‘You are My people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

Jesus knew these words well, and he saw as his task as Messiah, using the saving Gospel of the Kingdom, the sowing and planting of the international people of God in advance of the yet future recovery of Israel and Judah. Jesus went out to sow the seed of rebirth and conversion, the germ of future immortality. He sought to bring about the rebirth and change of mind among people, the offer being made first to Jews and then to the whole world. Via the Great Commission, Jesus was creating the new age people of God, the saints - holy ones. The process requires a rebirth under the influence of the creative spirit of God working through the Gospel of the Kingdom. Sowing and planting of kings and rulers was a biblical notion (Isaiah 40:23, 24).

For Jesus the recipients of rebirth were and are being trained and groomed for royal office in the coming Kingdom. That process of gaining a place in the future Kingdom is to be “through much tribulation” (Acts 14:22). Navy Seals are trained and tested under severe conditions. The rulers of the future world government must also be tested and tried in various ways. Jesus and God are watching their people with “X-ray” eyes, testing the hearts and minds, an activity which Jesus now shares with Yahweh (Psalm 7:9; Revelation 2:23; Jeremiah 17:10). God is “seeking men and women to worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). He wants people for His government who will give up everything for discipleship to His Son. Jesus said that if we are not willing to give up all for him, we cannot even be his disciples (Luke 14:26).

He urged us on with these warning words: “Strive, struggle to enter [the Kingdom] through the narrow door” (Luke 13:24). “Narrow is the gate and constricted the road that leads to Life, and those who find them are few. Beware of false prophets [fake preachers] who come to you dressed up as sheep while underneath they are savage wolves… Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven [Kingdom of God] but only those who do the will of my Heavenly Father. When that day comes, many will say to me: ‘Lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Out of my sight; your deeds are evil’” (Matthew 7:14-23).

Once again we see the need for the “obedience of faith for salvation.” We are first to obey the Gospel of God about the Kingdom (Mark 1:14-15). Let no one mislead you by saying that there is a different Gospel for us! Paul always preached the same Gospel of the Kingdom as had Jesus (Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23: to Jews; Acts 28:30-31: to everyone else; cp. Philip in Acts 8:12). Paul framed the book of Romans by speaking of the “obedience of faith” in Romans 1:5 and 16:26. He also called his saving Gospel by the same title as given to the Gospel of the Kingdom preached by Jesus in Mark 1:14- 15. He called it God’s Gospel (Romans 1:1; 15:16). Observe carefully that Paul made no distinction at all between the Gospel of the grace of God and preaching the Gospel about the Kingdom (Acts 20:24-25).

To preach or fall for a Gospel other than the one Gospel of the Kingdom is to put oneself under a curse (Galatians 1:8-9).

The matter of being born again [from above] through spirit and seed is developed in Jesus’ famous parable of the sower and the seed. The seed which must be sown in our hearts and minds is identified and defined as the “word [Gospel] about the Kingdom” (Matthew 13:19). Luke abbreviates this to simply “the word of God” (Luke 8:11) and Mark remembers it as “the word” (Mark 4:14).

Misdefining this Gospel/word is the source of all deception. 

Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 8:11-12. Jesus began by defining the Gospel as the word of God (certainly not just a synonym for the Bible, which is called “the Scriptures”).

Then observe with the greatest attention the amazing teaching of Jesus in Luke 8:12: “The seed along the footpath stands for those who hear the word [Gospel of the Kingdom, Matthew 13:19], and then the Devil comes and carries off the word [Gospel] from their hearts for fear that they should believe it and be saved.” This text, I used to say to the students, ought to be preached several times every Sunday! It is a brilliant summary of the saving Gospel, the message which determines whether or not we eventually gain immortality in the Kingdom! Yes, immortality! The hugest issue in our lives — by far.

The Gospel is something to be believed and obeyed! “Those who refuse to obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus the Messiah” (2 Thessalonians 1:8) are the unconverted, the unsaved. The Gospel must be defined of course before it can be intelligently obeyed.

The Same Seed and Rebirth in Peter

Not many seem to realize that Peter, who had listened for hours to the Gospel teaching and preaching of his master Jesus, repeated the whole account of the parable of the seed and the sower. We can read it in 1 Peter 1:22-25. He begins like this: “Since you have purified yourselves in obedience to the truth [you have believed and obeyed the Gospel of the Kingdom, Acts 8:12], producing a sincere affection towards your fellow Christians, love one another wholeheartedly with all your strength. You have been born again [from above] not of mortal but of immortal seed, through the living and enduring word of God. As Scripture says, ‘All mortals are like grass; all their glory like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord - Yehovah [the Gospel] endures forever,’ and this ‘word’ is the Gospel [of the Kingdom, Matthew 13:19] which was preached to you.”

Peter was an excellent student of Jesus. He is listed in a leadership position among the twelve (Matthew 10:2). He had heard the Messiah preach the Kingdom Gospel/parable of the sower over and over, even from a boat to folk standing on the beach! Peter here combines the idea of “having been born again” [from above]; pause here to note that anyone who says you cannot be born again [from above] until the future resurrection is very much astray!; “born again [from above] not from perishable seed, but from the seed of immortality” (1 Peter 1:23). Ponder that amazing truth. Our physical lives derive from the seed of our fathers. Our immortality derives from the seed of immortality provided by the Creator God, the God and Father of Israel and of Jesus and of us!

No wonder then that “you must be born again” [from above] if you hope to live forever (John 3:7). And “having been born again” [from above] we are commanded to seek the milk of the word! “Like the newborn infants you are, you should be craving for pure spiritual milk, so that you may thrive on it and grow into salvation. For surely you have tasted that the Lord - Yehovah is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3).

Peter then goes on to give the people of God a clear idea of their true identity as believers: “So come to Jesus, to the living stone who was rejected by men, but chosen by God and of great worth to Him. You also as living stones [like those of a temple building] must be built up into a temple and form a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus the Messiah… You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, a people claimed by God for His own to proclaim the glorious deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people at all, but now you are God’s people. Once you were outside his mercy; but now you are outside no longer” (1 Peter 2:4-10). Peter has here taken the identity markers of the ancient people Israel and applied them to the called-out Assembly of God. It was Israel who were designated to be priests and kings for God (Exodus 19:6). Now it is the  called-out Assembly of God that assume that privilege. That is not all: Israel was to be the special treasure belonging to God. And that impressive status is now given to the called-out Assembly of God in Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9.

The one nation which was Israel is now the one holy nation, the called-out Assembly of God (1 Peter 2:9). To these people Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock: It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). The Kingdom was removed from Jews hostile to Jesus and given to the little flock who bear fruit from the seed of the Kingdom (Matthew 21:43).

There is of course also a future recovery for now blinded and hardened ethnic Israelites (see Romans 9-11 and much prophecy in the Hebrew Bible).

Peter is thrilled too with the destiny of the faithful who according to Paul in Romans 2:7 are commanded to “seek for glory and honor and immortality.” Peter described “our new birth [being born from above] into a living hope [of the future Kingdom]” (1 Peter 1:3). Peter balances the present trials and tribulations which come to all believers with the greatness of the disciple’s future destiny: “Much more precious than perishable gold is faith which stands the test. These trials come to you so that your faith may prove itself worthy of all praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7). Yes, “your faith”!

James, Jesus’ half brother, was equally impressed with the fundamental teaching about how to gain immortality in the Kingdom. He gave us a similar picture of rebirth, speaking instead of birth from a mother:

“Make no mistake, my dear friends. Every good and generous action comes from above [cp. ‘born from above’ in John 3:5], from the Father who created the lights of heaven. With Him there is no variation, no play of passing shadows. Of his own choice He brought us to birth by the word of Truth, to be a kind of firstfruits of His creation” (James 1:16-18).

James had in mind no doubt the destiny of the disciples prophesied by Daniel: “Many of those who are asleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to the life of the age to come [‘everlasting,’ ‘eternal life,’ some 40 times in the NT] and some to the reproach of eternal abhorrence [annihilation in the lake of fire]. The wise leaders will shine like the bright vault of heaven, and those who have guided the people in the true path will be like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:2-3).

John in 1 John 3:9 speaks with equal passion of the seed of God in the Christian believer. The parable of the sower is his reference point, of course.

od is the parent of all true believers by the transmission of the seed of the immortal God placed in the believer via the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, God’s Gospel.

1 John 5:1 speaks of God as the “begetter, parent” and the believers are those begotten, born from above by the Gospel. Jesus in 1 John 5:18 is the unique Son who was begotten, brought into existence, and as God’s Son by miracle begetting, he now protects the believers who have been begotten by God, i.e. regenerated (don’t read the KJV here, which is corrupted in this verse).

Paul spoke often of salvation as springing from the same Gospel promise. “You, brothers and sisters, are children [i.e. born from above] of promise” (Galatians 4:28). The promise in this context was the promise made to Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant which is the basis of the NT Gospel (“the Gospel was preached ahead of time to Abraham,” Galatians 3:8). The promise to Abraham was of property (land, Kingdom), progeny (seed, the Messiah) and prosperity (every possible blessing). The promise to Abraham, said Paul, was that “he will be heir, inheritor of the world” (Romans 4:13). (See the article “The Promise to Abraham That He Would Be Heir of the World” at the website restorationfellowship.org, and my book Our Fathers Who Aren’t in Heaven).

Here is the same Gospel teaching in Ephesians 1:13: “In the Messiah, you also, after listening to the Message of the truth, the Gospel of your salvation, having also believed [cp. Mark 1:14-15: ‘Repent and believe the Gospel of the Kingdom’], you were sealed in the Messiah with the holy spirit of the promise [that is, of your future inheritance of the Kingdom].” Again in Ephesians 2:12: “Remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God [Greek: atheists!] in the world.”

He goes on to say that now as believers in the Kingdom they are part of the commonwealth of true Israel, the true people of God, fellow citizens with the saints.

Paul repeats the same theme over and over. In Galatians 3:1-5, Paul urges them to understand that the spirit is received in response to intelligent “hearing with faith”; intelligent reception of the one Gospel of the Kingdom.

The spirit, as Peter said so well, is “given to those who obey God” (Acts 5:32). And “the spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:6) since the words of Jesus “are spirit and truth” (John 6:63). For a full list of all the synonymous terms describing the Gospel, see Appendix 1 in my The Amazing Aims and Claims of Jesus.

The Importance of This Topic

Many churchgoers think of Jesus as only the one who died and rose. Those facts are of course absolutely central to the Gospel, but they are not the whole Gospel. The death and resurrection are picked out as among the vital elements of the Gospel, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 (en protois). But the Gospel was first preached by Jesus, and for a long time Jesus said nothing about his death and resurrection (see Matthew 16:21: he began to speak of his death). He preached the Kingdom constantly.

Jesus laid the foundation of the entire Gospel by announcing the Gospel of the Kingdom which Mark defines as “God’s Gospel.” Jesus’ first command was that we are to believe that Kingdom Gospel. That is where obedient faith begins (Romans 1:5; 16:26).

Jesus unpacked the great saving truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom in the parable of the seed and the sower. Jesus noted that none of his parables could be grasped unless the key parable of the sower was first understood (Mark 4:13). Repentance, conversion, and new life in preparation for immortality in the coming Kingdom are the product of that seed message of the Kingdom. In Mark 4:11-12 Jesus uttered these astonishing words: “To you [true believers] God has given the mystery [the revealed Plan] of the Kingdom, but those who are on the outside get everything in parables [in that case inscrutable enigmas and puzzles!], so that [quoting Isaiah 6:9-10], they may see and not perceive, and hear but fail to understand. Otherwise [if they did comprehend] they would be able to repent and be forgiven, by God.”

This is a staggering preaching, echoing Jesus’ first words in Mark 1:14-15: “Repent and believe God’s Gospel about the Kingdom of God.”

In the absence of a clear understanding of the Kingdom Gospel, repentance and forgiveness are not possible!

Luke 8:12 is equally a riveting teaching from Messiah Jesus. The Devil knows very well what is at stake in the matter of responding intelligently and believing the Gospel of the Kingdom as preached by Jesus and all the NT writers:

“When anyone hears, is exposed to, the word of God [the Kingdom of God Gospel, Matthew 13:19; Mark 1:14, 15], the Devil comes and snatches away the Message from his heart, so that he cannot believe it and be saved” (Luke 8:12).

The NT church faithfully preached that same Gospel of the Kingdom and required belief in the Kingdom Gospel message before men and women were ready to be baptized in water and become part of the body of the Messiah - the called-out Assembly. This is the whole point of Acts 8:12, easy to remember in view of Luke 8:12 just discussed!

Once the Gospel of the Kingdom has been grasped, believers must persist in obedient faith until the end. “Some people,” Jesus taught, “believe for a while and then fall away” (Luke 8:13). The seed Message of the Gospel of the Kingdom must be retained and produce the necessary fruit, which results in a successful entrance into, inheritance of, the Kingdom of God when it comes. In the US currently, the President elect is choosing his cabinet, seeking the most qualified and talented personnel for the various jobs in government. An exact parallel is found in the Biblical teaching and preaching of the Kingdom. Jesus the Messiah and King of the Kingdom was “about his Father’s business” (Luke 2:49); and still is to this day, selecting those who will be honored with governmental positions in the first ever really successful world government (Daniel 7:18, 22, 27; 1 Corinthians. 6:2; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10; 20:1-6; Luke 19:17, “Excellent servant, you are to be in charge of 10 towns”). “May your Kingdom come!” (Matthew 6:10). The Kingdom of God frames the Lord’s prayer as the central and most important topic in God’s great world plan. Daniel 7:27 is an astonishing vision of the world and its societies as they will be when the 7th trumpet announcing the return of Messiah sounds (Revelation 11:15-18).

THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

The restoration of the Kingdom to Israel is the principal theme of the message of the Hebrew prophets. With one voice they look forward to a great day coming when the Messiah, God’s agent, will rule the earth from Jerusalem. No New Testament writer ever doubted this. They do not need to repeat all that the prophets had written.

From time to time, however, the New Testament Christians refer to the coming time of restoration (Acts 3:21). In Acts 1:6 the disciples of Jesus ask their final question of their master. They want to know if the time had now finally come when God would intervene to restore the Kingdom of God to Israel.

It will be most instructive for the student of New Testament Christianity to examine the commentaries on Acts 1:6. It is astonishing how this text has been mishandled. So many commentators are strangely critical of the apostles’ inquiry and unaccountably negative about a restored Israel. The reader may indeed assess his own sympathy or lack of sympathy for New Testament Christianity by his reaction to this verse (Acts 1:6).

Note: After their intensive course of personal instruction in Kingdom theology from the lord Jesus, including the crucial six weeks in his company following the resurrection (Acts 1:3), the disciples are eager to establish one supremely important fact: “Lord, has the time now come for you to restore the Kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

The future establishment of the Messianic Kingdom on earth

The question, of course, implies belief in the future establishment of the Messianic Kingdom on earth, to which all the prophets had looked forward. It was the Kingdom to be restored by the regathering of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Kingdom was to be administered by Jesus, the apostles and the resurrected saints. The Messiah himself had promised the apostles: “In the New Age, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you too will take up your positions on twelve thrones to rule the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28-30).

The enthronement of Jesus the Messiah and the disciples would occur at the Second Coming: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory… then he will sit on the throne of his glory” (Matthew 25:31).

In these passages of Scripture we are at the heart of Messianism, a term which is synonymous with Christianity (“Christos” being only the Greek form of the Hebrew “Messiah” — the anointed King).

The disciples’ question in Acts 1:6

Tragically, popular theology is most reluctant to accept the disciples’ question in Acts 1:6 as a valid one. The prevailing opinion is that the disciples were still in ignorance about their master’s purposes for the future, and this on the eve of their being empowered as the New Testament Church at Pentecost!

Note: The spirit of error, it appears, has mounted a theological industry against the simple Truth presented to us everywhere in Scripture, what Jesus was the Messiah was promised in the Old Testament; and that he has ascended to heaven only until the “restoration of all things, which God has promised through the mouth of the prophets” (Acts 3:21).

This restoration of all things implies the regathering of the remnant of the nation of Israel. The fiction that all Old Testament prophecy has been fulfilled in the Church, leaving no future of Israel, must be banished, if the Hebrew prophets are to be allowed to speak clearly to our generation. A theological system which denies the future Kingdom of God on earth practically denies the Messiahship of Jesus; and this denial is the spirit of Antichrist (i.e. anti-Messiah) (1 John 2:22).

The restoration of Israel

Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ question about the restoration of Israel (Acts 1:6), which would involve the re-establishment in Jerusalem of the Davidic throne, gives not the slightest hint that the question was based on a misunderstanding (as so many commentaries would have us believe).

That the Kingdom will be restored to Israel is assumed by Jesus (as also by Paul: Romans 11:1, 25-27). Acts 1:7 shows that Jesus did not deny the premise of the question. Just when this restoration will take place remains unknown. Jesus had admitted ignorance about the date of his return in glory to establish the Kingdom: “But of that day or that hour no one knows” (Mark 13:32). “It is not for you to know the times and seasons which God has set in His own authority” (Acts 1:7).

According to Isaiah

Since Jesus was sent to “confirm the promises made to the fathers” (Romans 15:8), we must establish what future for Israel had been foreseen. The great prophet Isaiah, who is quoted in the New Testament more frequently than any other OT writer (some 85 times) has left us in no doubt about the divine future for Israel. Though the nation was constantly upbraided for its failure to measure up to its high calling as God’s chosen people, her final restoration was assured beyond all question.

The following survey of the message of Isaiah will put is in touch with the background against which Jesus preached the Good News of the Kingdom:

“How the faithful city [Jerusalem] has become a harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness once lodged in it, but now murderers… Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and goes after rewards; they do not seek justice for the fatherless, nor consider the cause of the widow” (Isaiah 1:21, 23).

The time will come for God to punish His people for their apostasy, but with a view to refining and rehabilitating them: “I will avenge all my enemies…and I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterwards you will be called the City of Righteousness, the faithful city. Zion will be redeemed with judgment and those who return to God with righteousness” (Isaiah 1:26, 27).

The current condition of Israel

It should be clear that the current condition of Israel, which has largely rejected its Messiah, does not fit the promised description of the Faithful City. But in the days of the Messianic Kingdom all will be changed:

“It will come to pass in the latter days [the days of Messiah] that the mountain of Yehovah’s Temple will be established as the highest mountain and will be exalted above the hills and all nations will stream towards it. And many peoples will say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yehovah, to the House of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths’; for from Zion instruction will go forth, and the Message of Yehovah from Jerusalem; and He will act as international arbiter for the nations and will rebuke many peoples. And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into scythes. A nation will no longer raise a sword against other nations, nor will they ever again learn to make war” (Isaiah 2:1-4).

The suggestion that this prophecy has been realized in the churches (who in time of international war have not hesitated to kill members of the same churches in enemy lands) can hardly be taken seriously.

The promise of a world freed from the terrors of nuclear warfare lies at the heart of the Good News of the Kingdom of God, the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus. The message points to a time never yet fulfilled in human affairs. But where will we find the Good News of the Kingdom being proclaimed?

The return of the Messiah

The New Testament everywhere associates the “Day of Yehovah” with the return of the Messiah Jesus in glory to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. It is precisely in that context that the promises of world peace are given; nevertheless, peace will not be achieved until a terrible worldwide judgment has occurred. The condition of the world at the Second Coming will be as godless as at the time of the flood: “They will not know until the flood comes and takes them all away” (Matthew 24:39).

“The day of Yehovah will come upon every one who is proud and haughty… and he will be brought low… and Yehovah alone will be exalted in that day… when He arises to shake the earth terribly…. Jerusalem will be ruined and Judah will fall… A curse upon their soul! For they have rewarded evil to themselves. O my people, your leaders are causing you to go astray… Therefore my people has gone into captivity, because they are without knowledge. Their leaders are starving and their people are parched with thirst. They have rejected the instruction of Yehovah of Hosts, and despised the Message of salvation from the Holy One of Israel” (from Isaiah ch. 3-5).

The result of Israel’s rejection of Yehovah is a judicial blindness. The prophet is told to “Go and tell this people, ‘Hear indeed, but do not understand; see indeed, but do not perceive.’ Make this people’s heart fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and become converted and healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

The preaching of the message

Jesus and Paul recognized that this insensitivity to the Gospel Message of the Kingdom would be a typical reaction to their preaching of the Message (Matthew 13:14-15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40, Acts 28:26-27).

This blindness will last “until the cities are wasted without inhabitant and the houses without a man and the land becomes an utter desolation” (Isaiah 6:11).

Israel’s only hope is the promised Savior: “Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son and will call him Immanuel: God is with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; see 2 Corinthians 5:19: “God was in the Messiah”).

The promised Son will become an international ruler. He is to administer the first successful world government:

“For to us [Israel] a child is born, a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulders. His title will be ‘Wonderful,’ ‘Counselor,’ ‘Mighty Hero,’ ‘Father of the Coming Messianic Age’ [so rendered by Greek versions of the Hebrew], ‘Prince of Peace.’ There will be no end to the increase of his government and peace. From the throne of David he will reign and order his Kingdom, establishing it with judgment and justice from that time onwards forever… The zeal of Yehovah of Hosts will see that this is carried out” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Rebellious Israel must first suffer calamity at the hands of the Assyrian, whom God uses as a rod of anger, but “when Yehovah has carried out His whole plan on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will punish the arrogant boasting of the King of Assyria and his haughty pride… The Light of Israel will be like a fire and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour the King of Assyria’s thorns and briars in one day” (Isaiah 10:12, 17).

The surviving remnant

The result will be that in the future Day of Messiah:

“The surviving remnant of Israel and those who escape of the House of Jacob will never again rely on the one who attacked them but will rely on Yehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in Truth… The surviving remnant will return to the Mighty Hero… Lebanon will fall at the hands of a majestic hero and there will come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse [David’s father] and a Branch will grow out of his roots, and the spirit of Yehovah will rest upon him, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and the fear - reverence of Yehovah” (Isaiah 10:20, 21, 34; 11:1-2).

The age-long dream of humanity for world peace will be achieved under his rulership: “With righteousness he will judge the poor and reprove with equity on behalf of the meek of the earth. And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and destroy the wicked one with the breath of his lips” (Isaiah 11:4). (Paul cites this passage as applying to the destruction of the “Man of Sin” at the return of the Messiah Jesus; 2 Thessalonians 2:8.)

The Messiah’s government

Universal peace will result from the Messiah’s government:

“The wolf also will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will feed and their young will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like an ox. The infant will play over the hole of the asp and the weaned child will be able to put his hand on the adder’s den. They will not harm or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yehovah as the waters cover the sea. In that day [the day of Yehovah] the root of Jesse will stand as an ensign for the peoples. The nations will seek him, and the [millennial] rest will be glorious” (Isaiah 11:6-10).

In that day

The restoration of Israel will be accomplished “in that day” when:

“Yehovah will set Himself the task of recovering for the second time [the first was at the Exodus from Egypt] the surviving remnant of His people, those who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, Pathos, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath and the coastlands of the sea. He will raise an ensign for the nations and assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth… And Yehovah will completely destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt.

He will wave His hand over the river and His scorching wind will divide it into seven channels so that people may cross dryshod. And the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third nation with Egypt and Assyria, as a blessing at the center of the earth. Yehovah of Hosts will bless them and say, ‘Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance” (Isaiah 11:11, 12, 15; 19:24-25).

The miraculous deliverance of Israel will cause a universal thanksgiving to be made to Yehovah - God who will now be present on earth in the person of His vice-regent, Jesus, the Messiah.

The restoration of Israel will mean relief from the slavery inflicted upon them by Babylon: “for Yehovah will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel and place them in their own land… They will take captive those whose captives they had recently been. They will rule over their [former] oppressors” (Isaiah 14:1-2).

Universal relief

The King of Babylon, who prior to the return of the Messiah will have been “ruling the nations in anger, will be persecuted and no one will prevent this” (14:6). The universal relief is expressed in a beautiful picture of a world rescued from turmoil:

“The whole earth is at rest and at peace; they break forth into singing” (Isaiah 14:7). “In mercy the throne (of Messiah) will be established and he will sit upon on the throne of David ruling and pursuing justice and hastening righteousness… In  that day a man will look to his Creator and his eyes will respect the Holy One of Israel. And Yehovah will be known to the Egyptians… Egypt will return to Yehovah” (Isaiah 16:5, 7; 19:21).

The result will be international peace amongst those who were formerly enemies: “In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria” (Isaiah 19:21-23).

The prophecies of Isaiah (and of the other prophets) describe with equal clarity both the devastation to occur when Yehovah intervenes and the peace which will follow in His Kingdom:

“The earth will be utterly emptied and spoiled. The earth is mourning and fading away… It lies polluted under its inhabitants who have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the covenant. The curse has therefore devoured the earth. The inhabitants are desolate. The world’s population is burnt up and few men survive… The earth will reel to and fro like a drunkard” (Isaiah 24:3-6, 20).

He will manifest His glory

Then, when the Messiah Jesus appears at his return: “They will raise their voices and sing for the majesty of Yehovah. They will shout aloud from the sea. The moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for Yehovah of Hosts will reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and He will manifest His glory before His elders” (Isaiah 24:14, 23).

There will be a Messianic banquet to celebrate the triumph of the Messiah: “Yehovah of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine ” (Isaiah 25:6).

The blindness will be removed from the hearts of the people: “And he will destroy in this mountain the covering that is cast over all the peoples and the veil that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up death in victory” (Isaiah 25:7-8).

The world will be instructed to build a new system based on righteousness, for “When your [anointed one's ] judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9).

Meanwhile the saints will have been resurrected to immortality at the Second Coming: “Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust. For your dew is a dew of light and the earth will bring to birth its dead” (Isaiah 26:19).

The leading millennial nation

Israel will be rescued from captivity and restored as the leading millennial nation:

“Israel will blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit… The iniquity of Jacob will be purged… Israel will be gathered one by one… This is what will happen in that day: A great trumpet will be blown, and those who are being exterminated in the land of Assyria and the outcasts in the land of Egypt will come and worship Yehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:6, 9, 12, 13).

A general conversion of the nations will follow: “In that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of their obscurity and gloom the eyes of the blind will see. And the meek will obtain new joy in Yehovah and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 29:18-19).

A warning to all who approach Yehovah - God

Isaiah gives the classic indictment of false religion, a warning to all who approach Yehovah: “This people draws near to me with their mouth, and with their lips they honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, for their fear toward me is based on the teachings of men” (Isaiah 29:13). The very real possibility of attempting to worship Yehovah - God on the basis of a non-biblical, man-made system of belief will account for the tragic disappointment of the “many who will say to me [Jesus] in that day, ‘Lord, lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and in your name done many miracles? We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets’” (Matthew 7:21, 22, Luke 13:26). Jesus will answer by telling them that he never recognized them as his followers (Matthew 7:23, Luke 13:27).

In the same context Jesus had warned of false prophets appearing in the guise of sheep (Matthew 7:15). Paul warned that Satan’s technique would be to preach another Jesus, another Gospel, and offer another Spirit (2 Corinthians 11:4). “Many” would be corrupting the Gospel (2 Corinthians 2:17).

Note: There could be no more serious warning than this. Safety can lie only in a personal examination of the beliefs which one has accepted in the light of the Scriptures, with the recognition that it is fatally possible to worship in sincerity, but in vain (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7).

The only acceptable worship is that offered “in Spirit and in Truth,” that is, based upon the truth revealed by the Scriptural revelation (John 4:23).]

The millennial Kingdom of Yehovah - God

At the beginning of the millennial Kingdom of God many will come to understand the truth for the first time: “And those who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmured will accept instruction…For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. Yehovah will be very gracious to you at the voice of your cry… When He hears it He will answer you” (Isaiah 29:24; 30:19).

The rescue of Israel through the intervention of their Messiah will involve the destruction of their enemy, the Assyrian: “Through Yehovah’s voice the Assyrian who struck Israel with a rod will be beaten down. Yehovah will come down [cp. “The lord [Jesus] himself will descend from heaven with a shout…” 1 Thessalonians 4:16] and fight for Mount Zion and for its hill… Then the Assyrian will fall” (Isaiah 30:31, 31:4).

The Messiah and the saints

The Kingdom of God will be administered by the Messiah and the saints:

“Behold a King will reign in righteousness and princes will rule in judgment…The spirit will be poured on us from on high and the wilderness will become  a fruitful field… Then judgment will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, quietness and assurance forever. And my people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in sure dwelling places and quiet resting places…Yehovah has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.

And wisdom and knowledge will provide stability in those times. Your eyes will see the King in his beauty… Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle which will not be taken down. Not one of its stakes will ever be taken down, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the majestic Yehovah will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams. For Yehovah is our ruler and law-giver. Yehovah is our King; He will save us” (from Isaiah ch. 32, 33).

Joy and singing

The joy of the Messianic Kingdom will be complete:

“The wilderness and the solitary place will be glad for Israel and the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. It will blossom in abundance and exult with joy and singing… Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb will sing. In the wilderness waters will break forth and streams in the desert… And those ransomed from exile will return and come to Zion with songs and the joy of the Age to Come upon their heads. They will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow will flee away” (Isaiah 35:1, 6, 10).

The Good News (Gospel) of the Kingdom of God is closely linked to salvation in the Messianic Kingdom. The Gospel is introduced by John the Baptist who quotes from Isaiah. The latter places the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:3) in a setting which implies the ultimate establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. It is to that great event that John and Jesus invite us to respond when they say, “Repent and believe the Good News of the Kingdom” (Matthew 3:2, Mark 1:14-15).

The government of the world

Thus the great future Kingdom makes its presence felt in the teaching of the called-out Assembly of God. It is the prospect of the return of the Messiah Jesus in glory to inaugurate the Kingdom worldwide which provides the stimulus to hope and endurance according to the New Testament writers. John the Baptist’s announcement and call to repentance imply a warning that the government of the world must ultimately pass into the hands of the one to whom it rightfully belongs, Jesus the Messiah:

“The glory of Yehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together…The Message of our God will stand forever. You who herald the Good News to Zion, get up into a high mountain. You who bring the Good News to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Do not be afraid. Tell the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God! He will come with a strong hand to rule, bringing His reward with Him’” (Isaiah 40:5-10).

The prophet turns to the theme of the suffering servant who ultimately triumphs as King. The words are true of Jesus and of those who suffer with him (cp. “If we suffer with him, we will reign as kings with him,” 2 Timothy 2:12):

“Behold my servant whom I uphold, my Elect One in whom my soul delights. I have placed My spirit on him and he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. Even a bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands will wait for his instruction” (Isaiah 42:1-4).

Israel will be saved

In the days of Messiah, the house of Jacob will be restored:

“O Jacob, my servant, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon your seed and my blessing upon your offspring. And they will spring up like grass amid waters, like willows by flowing streams. Israel will be saved in Yehovah with an everlasting salvation. You will never again be ashamed or confounded…Sing, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, for Yehovah has comforted His people and will have mercy on His afflicted” (Isaiah 44:2-4; 45:17; 49:13).

In the heat of the premillennial affliction, Israel will believe that she has been abandoned, but:

“Can a woman forget her sucking child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Indeed, they may forget. Yet I will not forget you… Thus says Yehovah, I will raise my hand to the Gentile nations and set up my standard to the people, and they will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders… and all humanity will know that I, Yehovah am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 49:15, 22, 26).

The great theme of Isaiah’s message

The establishment of the reign of God, announced as the Good News of the Kingdom of God; the Christian Gospel; is the great theme of Isaiah’s Message. Israel will suffer a final calamity from which she will be rescued by the return of her Messiah:

“Awake, awake! Clothe yourself in strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the Holy City. From now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will never again enter the city. Shake yourself from the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the bands around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion… How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings Good News, announcing peace; who brings Good News of good things to come, announcing salvation, saying to Zion: Your God is reigning” (cp. the reign or Kingdom of God, the content of the NT Gospel) (Isaiah 52:1, 7).

“Break forth into joy. Sing together, desolate places of Jerusalem. For Yehovah has comforted His people and redeemed Jerusalem. Yehovah has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations. And the whole earth will see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:9-10).

The conversion of the whole world

Israel will be instrumental in the conversion of the whole world, and she will be completely vindicated:

“Yehovah Elohim - God who gathers the outcasts of Israel says: I will gather others to him… And the redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob. The abundance of the sea will be converted to you; the wealth of the Gentiles will come to you… In my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I had mercy on you. For the nation and Kingdom which will not serve you will perish; those nations will indeed be ruined… The sons of those who afflicted you will come and bow before you.

All those who despised you will prostrate themselves at your feet…Violence will be no more heard in your land; there will be no more devastation or destruction within your borders… Your people will all be righteous and they will inherit the land forever… You who make mention of Yehovah, do not keep silent. Give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 55:8; 59:20; 60:5, 10, 12, 14, 18, 21; 62:6-7).

The triumph of the righteous, the faithful elect from every nation, is expressed in moving terms:

“For you will go out with joy, and be led forth in peace. The mountains and hills will break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12).

Your Kingdom come

With this heritage from Hebrew prophecy, it is little wonder that Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “Your Kingdom come,” and the petition of Isaiah could be added:

“O that you would rend the heavens and come down, so that the mountains might quake at your presence… to make your name [Yehovah] known to your enemies, so that the nations may tremble at your presence… Yehovah will appear to your joy… Yehovah will come with fire… and with His sword He will plead with all flesh, and those slain by Yehovah will be many… And this is what will happen: Every New Moon and every Sabbath everyone will come to worship in my presence. And they will go out and look at the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me. Their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched. And they will be viewed with abhorrence by all humanity” (Isaiah 64:1-3, 66:5, 15, 16, 23, 24).

This is a background to the New Testament announcement of the Good News of the Coming Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14, 15, Luke 4:43, etc.). An understanding of Hebrew prophecy is essential for a comprehension of the expectations of Jesus and his contemporaries.

The removal of the Gospel from its Hebrew setting inevitably leads to its distortion.

Many students of Scripture are reading the NT through the prism of later developments influenced by Greek philosophical thinking.

The question that must be asked is whether this was a fair development or a defection from original Truth.

The coming Kingdom in the Psalms

We may add further information from the Psalms, especially those which describe the activity of the Messiah, and which the NT quotes most frequently as prophecies of the career of Jesus.

Psalm 2 describes the climax of history when the kingdoms of this world are to be taken over by the Messiah and his saints (cp. Revelation 11:15):

“Why are the nations conspiring and the peoples plotting in vain? The kings of the earth are assembling and forming a conclave in opposition to Yehovah and against His Messiah. They say, ‘Let’s burst their bonds and cast their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens will laugh. Yehovah will have them in derision. Then He will address them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, and say, ‘I have set my King [Messiah] on Zion, my holy mountain.’ [The Messiah replying says], ‘I will declare the decree: Yehovah said to me, ‘You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ Now, therefore, O kings, be wise. Be instructed, you rulers of the earth. Serve Yehovah with fear, with trembling kiss His feet, lest He become angry and you perish when His wrath is quickly kindled. Happy are all those who put their trust in Him” (Psalm 2).

He makes wars cease

The Psalmist has the Messianic Kingdom always in view:

“All the corners of the globe will remember and turn to Yehovah and all the families of the nations will worship in your presence. For the Kingdom belongs to Yehovah and He is the governor among the nations” (22:27, 18). “He makes wars to cease throughout the whole earth” (46:9). “Let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth” (59:13). “All the earth will worship you and sing to you” (66:4)… ”for you will rule the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth” (67:4). “Because of your Temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring presents to you” (68:29). “He will have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth…Yes, all kings will fall down before Him, all nations will serve Him” (72:8, 11).

“Arise, O God, rule the earth, for you will inherit all nations” (82:8). “For He is coming to rule the earth. He will rule the world with righteousness, and the people with His Truth” (Psalm 96:13). (Paul quotes this psalm to the people at Athens as a prophecy of the return of Jesus to reign in the Kingdom: Acts 17:31.) “Yehovah is reigning. Let the earth rejoice” (Psalm 97:1). “He has remembered His covenant forever, the Message which He commanded to a thousand generations, the Covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath with Isaac… saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance’” (Psalm 105:8-11).

Sit at My right hand until…

It is constantly asserted by the NT writers that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, from the ascension until the Second Coming. At that time he will return to rule in his Kingdom. Psalm 110, which foresaw this plan to exalt the Messiah and then send him back to the earth, is the NT’s favorite psalm: “The Lord [Yehovah, the Father — the One God, 1 Corinthians 8:6] said to my [David’s] lord [Jesus the Messiah], ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord - Yehovah will send forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies… The lord at your right hand will strike through kings in the day of His wrath” (Psalm 110:1, 2, 5).

The psalmist prays for the Second Coming, as did Isaiah: “Bow your heavens, O Yehovah, and come down” (Psalm 144:5). “Let Israel rejoice in his maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King…. Let the saints execute vengeance upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment prescribed. This honor is given to all the saints” (Psalm 149).

The throne of David

Thus the second psalm and the psalm second from the end (Psalm 149) contain the same central message about the Kingdom. The throne of David is the principal concern of Psalm 72, which closes the 2nd book of Psalms (the Psalms are divided in the Hebrew Bible into 5 books). Psalm 89 closes the third book and deals primarily with the Davidic throne. The Kingdom is the theme of Psalms 96-100, and 102. Psalm 2, containing the term Messiah (AV, “His Anointed”) is quoted often in the book of Revelation (12:5; 11:18: “The nations were angry”; 19:15: The Messiah implementing the Messianic “rod of iron”; 2:27: the promise of rulership for the saints).

It is not surprising, though astonishingly unfamiliar to most churchgoers, that the triumph of the Messiah in his coming Kingdom is the underlying theme of the NT proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom (the Gospel): “[Jesus] will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord - Yehovah God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob! The called-out Assembly reigns with him, 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10; 3:21; 2:26; 20:1-6], and of his Kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33).

“Jesus said to them: ‘I must announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God to other cities also. That is the reason why I have been sent’” (Luke 4:43).

Blessed is the coming King

At the mention of the word “salvation” (Luke 19:9), “and because Jesus was near to Jerusalem, they thought that the Kingdom of God would be manifested immediately” (Luke 19:11). Jesus then explained that he must depart to his Father and then return invested with the power to rule in the Kingdom (Luke 19:11-27). When he then entered Jerusalem, “the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: ‘Blessed is the coming King’“ (Luke 19:38).

“‘Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David’“ (Mark 11:10). “‘Blessed is the King of Israel who comes in the name of the Lord - Yehovah’” (John 12:13). The Pharisees then told Jesus to rebuke his disciples (not ignorant Jews!) for their Messianic fervor, which was not in the least out of place: “I tell you that if these [my disciples] were to keep silent, the very stones would cry out [for joy]” (Luke 19:40).

These episodes show the profound Messianism of the NT and underline the fact that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. On that solid rock the NT called-out Assembly is to be built.

Any church which denies the Second Coming and the reign of the Messiah in a renovated earth is founded upon sand.

The inheritance of the Kingdom and rulership over the earth were to be shared by Jesus with his disciples: “In the New Age you who have followed me in my trials will be enthroned to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28-30).

The heart of the New Covenant

This promise forms the very heart of the New Covenant (cp. Luke 22:29: “I appoint you to rulership as my Father appointed me. This is my blood of the New ‘Appointment.’” The Greek verb “appoint” is the root of the noun translated “covenant”).

“Are you unaware of the fact that the saints will rule the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2). “How I wish that you had begun to reign [the aorist, ‘reign’ is ingressive], so that we might be reigning with you!” (1 Corinthians 4:8). “If we suffer with him we will also reign as kings with him” (2 Timothy 2:12). “Will God not with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). “The saints will rule on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). They will sit with the Messiah Jesus on his throne (Revelation 3:21), receive power over the nations (Revelations 2:26), and reign as kings with him for a thousand years (Revelations 20:4). “The meek will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5)

The promise to Abraham and his seed was that they would inherit the world (Romans 4:13).

In view of this impressive biblical data, will anyone dare to criticize the apostles when they inquire: “Lord, is this the time when you are going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

Light was thrown on this question by Peter in his second sermon to the first converts to the called-out Assembly. He urged repentance, “so that the Lord - Yehaovah may send you Jesus the Messiah, who was previously proclaimed to you. Heaven must retain him until the times of the restoration of everything; of those times all His holy prophets have spoken” (Acts 3:20-21).

To reign with the Messiah

The destiny of the called-out Assembly is to reign with the Messiah over restored Israel and the world.

The surviving remnant of Israel will form the nucleus of the world population destined to live into the New Age to be inaugurated by the arrival of the Messiah. There will be survivors from all nations who will live to see the dawn of a new era of civilization in which international warfare will be a relic of past history, no longer, as now, an ever-present threat. In that New World there will be one called-out Assembly founded upon the worship of Yehovah the One God, the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6, Zechariah 14:9), through His Son, Jesus the Messiah.

The earth will be reorganized under a theocratic Goverment administered by the Messiah and his followers, the faithful of Old and New Testament times. At the resurrection, they will be granted immortality in transformed bodies, animated by spirit (1 Corinthians 15:23, 42-55). This transformation will occur for both the Christian dead and the Christians surviving in the flesh at the Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 4:13ff). There will be no “rapture” 7 years before the end! All believers will be caught up (raptured) to meet Jesus the Mesiahand then descend with him to the earth at the time when he comes in power and glory, “taking vengeance on those who do not obey the Gospel” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-9).)

Such is the divine future proclaimed by the prophets and by Jesus himself. Such also is the Message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven; the terms are entirely synonymous, cp. Matthew 3:2 with Mark 1:14-15) entrusted to the called-out Assemby.

Why has Christendom become so silent about this, the Christian’s glorious destiny and the world’s only hope?