“You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel.”
(1 Kings 8:25, NKJV)
In the previous teaching we clearly pointed out that there is no difference between the concept “the kingdom of God” and the concept “the kingdom of the heavens”. We understand that the kingdom of the heavens is NOT a space that we traditionally saw as heaven, and that all born-again Christians are all already in Christ in that kingdom. “Heaven” is nothing other than the reign of power of God (and Jesus), which is not linked to a specific space (Isa. 66:1; Acts 7:49). Contrary to what mystics believe and propagate, we do not enter it, as we already live there. It is thus not necessary to seek Him out in the heavens or try to see Him there.
Before we resume our focus on our current discussion, which concerns glory and its manifestation – it is important to make a number of final arguments regarding the issue of the kingdom of God/kingdom of the heavens, as conclusion.
In Ps. 145:11-13 David speaks about this kingdom of God: “They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.” It is important that our readers notice that David is not only speaking about God’s throne in this case, but also about his own throne as king, “the throne of David and … His Kingdom” (Isa. 9:7).
God made this promise to David: “Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’” (1 Kings 8:25; also repeated in 1 Kings 2:4; 9:5 and 2 Chr. 6:16; 7:18). The prophet Jeremiah also confirms this later in history: “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.” Who are these “descendants” (as we find in the GNB translation) who sit on the throne of the kingdom, who have access to the glory? Those who come from the descendants of David, of course; in other words, they who are born from Jesus the Christ, which, according to the genealogy of Jesus in Matt. 1:17, is the 42nd generation. (Read the teaching of Day 364-365 again to refresh your memory regarding the 42nd generation.)
[There will be pernickety readers who would want to argue that we are dealing with “the throne of the house of Israel” in this case, and that it is not necessarily referring to “the throne of the kingdom of God”. And yes, this is indeed true, but we need to remember that all of the above Scriptures are concerned with God’s prototypical covenant people of the old covenant, namely the people of Israel. This definition of the house/kingdom of Israel is enriched in the new covenant to include spiritual Israel as a nation of born again believers (Rom. 2:28-29). The man of the new covenant who first sat on the throne is “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). For this reason, Luke 1:31-33 explains to Mary, through the angel: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
In Acts 2:30 Peter explains to the people that on the day of Pentecost David, “being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne …” We know that Christ points to the Saviour, Jesus, but then especially to the Christ – the Head Jesus and His body (Eph. 1:22), “which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (verse 23)!
There should thus exist no doubt that all born-again believers are called, in Christ Jesus, to sit on the throne of the kingdom of God. Jesus makes it clear in Luke 22:29-30 (NIV): “And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones …” That this is not something that is located in the future is so clear from Gal. 4:4 where Paul speaks of the time when God sent His Son, who was then already called “the fullness of the time”. The unfolding of this today is STILL within the fullness of the times, as Eph. 1:10 also points out, that God “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him”. It is thus this same epoch of the fullness of the times in which we find ourselves, and it began when Jesus was sent to the earth, and it will end when Eph. 4:13 takes place: “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”]
This “royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9) is already reigning in the (kingdom of the) heavens. That we have not yet reached the fullness of revelation regarding how exactly that reign changes the earth is indeed the case; it is also part of the unveiling of the identities of these kings in Christ (Prov. 25:2). Remember: it is close to you (and NOT in heaven as such) that we find the unfolding rhema-word through which He, in His reign, fulfils eons or worlds (Heb. 11:3).
One of the other misunderstandings that exist about the kingdom of the heavens/of God is the words of Jesus in Matt. 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
The kingdom of God is carried through a specific gospel about this, namely the gospel of the kingdom. There are various verses about how exactly Jesus preached about this gospel, even the idea that He was sent specifically for that purpose: “but He said to them, ‘I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent’” (Luke 4:43). Later in the book, in Luke 16:16, it is spelled out: “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” We’ve already spent quite a bit of time in these teachings writing about the wide misinterpretation of Matt. 24, and specifically the fact that it commonly read as a catalogue of the signs of the end of times. This concept, the end of times, we know, is actually confusing and no longer relevant. The entire section of Matt. 24 that lists so-called signs and warnings, must be read in the light of verse 34: “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” Jesus spoke these words in around 30 AC, and one generation in Biblical terms is 40 years (based on Num. 32:13), thus Jesus speaks of the fact that this generation who are hearing his words will not die before the words are fulfilled. Thus Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible notes that: “A generation is about 30 or 40 years. The destruction of Jerusalem took place about forty years after this was spoken.” In John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible he makes this important statement: “this is a full and clear proof, that not anything that is said before, relates to the second coming of Christ, the day of judgment, and end of the world; but that all belong to the coming of the son of man, in the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the end of the Jewish state”. Selah.
Myles Munroe, in his basic but good overview of the most important doctrines regarding the kingdom of God, Rediscover the Kingdom, does however squarely step into this trap. He uses Matt. 24:14 to say that the gospel of the kingdom must first be preached to all the nations of the entire earth, and then lists everyone who has never heard of Jesus, never mind the kingdom of God! Therefore his evangelical appeal that there is still a lot of time that remains before the end of times. Although Munroe makes clear that “God never promised man heaven, but earth” (p. 33), his interpretation of this verse brings about the notion that the kingdom will only come at the end of times, with the specific precondition that the gospel of the kingdom be brought to all people. The word end in the sentence “and then the end will come,” is the Greek word telos, which can mean end or termination, “but not of the end of a period of time”! According to Thayer it can also mean the following: “the last in any succession or series, eternal, that by which a thing is finished, its close, issue, the end to which all things relate, the aim, purpose”. This is why the DRB presents it as “then shall the consummation come,” and the ERRB: “and then shall the end completion/shalom come”. The most beautiful translation is found in the Accurate New Testament: “then will come The Result”!
The coming of the kingdom is unseen: “The kingdom of God does not come with observation,” Jesus explicitly made clear in Luke 17:20. Therefore we should not seek the coming of the kingdom in manifestations of Godly government on earth and in worldly systems – “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’” (John 18:36). One of the most important books in the Bible about the kingdom of God is the book of Daniel. In chapter two we read of the king of Babylon’s seemingly unexplainable dream, and Daniel who explains what this is about, in overarching terms: “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.” (verse 28). Think about this for a moment: the worldly king who lived 600 years before the birth of Jesus, is given a dream by God about the end of the world, as he, and we, know it! And what is the dream about? About the establishing of the kingdom of God! It also explains the unfolding of man’s history in various worldly kingdoms, and how the kingdom of God destroys all these kingdoms. In Dan. 2:44 the prophet makes it clear as follows: “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
How beautifully this end is then explained through the image Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of, and Daniel explains: “Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” (verse 45).
The “rock” that detaches from the mountain is clearly the “keystone” (Eph. 2:20), “a stumbling stone and rock of offense” (in Zion) (Rom. 9:33), and the Rock is Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). Take note – that which made the kingdom approach (Matt. 3:2), was the appearance of Jesus, so that He could establish this eternal kingdom of God. And that which completes this kingdom of God is the revelation of the Christ!
Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar, reigned over Babylon after the death of his father, the first of the world kingdoms. In the first year of Belshazzar’s reign Daniel had a vision of an Ancient of Days, one of the Names of the Lord Jesus. In Dan. 7:14 this remarkable matter is prophesied: “Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”
And then in verse 18: “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” What a word! What an amazingly glorious knowledge that God then already decided on our reign in the kingdom of God!
- Selah: Explain to someone where the concept of the kingdom of God comes from.
- Read: 10-18
- Memorise: 10:7 (Beautiful!)
