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THE KINGDOM OF GOD J. W. Parker Are you interested in the topic of The Kingdom of God? It is a very real topic, and one that is written in almost every page of the Bible. It begins in Genesis and carries through to the Book of Revelation, so it must be of considerable importance in the plan of God, or it would not have such a prominent place in the Bible story. Things that interest us most are likely to be the theme that occupies our conversations more frequently than things of ordinary interest. That goes without saying, we all agree on that, don't we? The word Kingdom is written over four hundred times in the Bible Story. As compared with the mention of the Church, there is little comparison, for the Kingdom is mentioned about one hundred times as often, as the Church. Naturally then, one would think that the Kingdom was of more interest in the Church. At least that is the way I would conclude. More than that, the Kingdom was in existence over fifteen hundred years before the Church was created by our Lord. Just think of that! I will repeat it. The Kingdom was created, according to the Bible record, more than fifteen hundred years before the Church came into being. That is a long time. Fifteen hundred years ago would carry us back in British History to the period before Pope Gregory sent Augustine over England to preach to the British Church there, the presumed super importance of the Church of Rome, and to claim the right to impose Romanism on the Christian Church in Britain, which they refused stoutly to consider. That visit of Augustine was less than fifteen mind of Bible writers than was the hundred years ago. I will repeat again. The Kingdom of God (Israel) was created at Sinai, more than fifteen hundred years before our Lord created His Church in Jerusalem. Therefore the Kingdom of God on Earth (created at Sinai) must be important in the sight of God, whether we think so or not and that Kingdom was not created in our hearts, as most Christians think and are taught today, from our pulpits which again is the result of the teachings in our Theological Colleges. Let me repeat, the Kingdom of God is a reality and it is not in our hearts. How could the Kingdom that God created at Sinai be in our hearts? Think that over for a while. The Kingdom that God created was naturally His own Kingdom. That Kingdom was called Israel and consisted of the Children of Israel which had come out of Egypt, just a few weeks before from cruel bondage. I have the idea that the contrast in their experience must have been hard for them to realize. From bondage to freedom, and to be made into a Kingdom of their own with their God at their head as King, (that is what the Bible distinctly declares) must have been something of a surprise to them, even if they could not comprehend the full significance of it at the time. Think of it! God created the Children of Israel, fresh out from Egyptian bondage, into a nation at Mount Sinai, and He told them that He would be their King. You and I have doubtless listened in to the radio at Christmas time or other times and we have heard the voice of our King as he addressed us on such occasions. Do you remember how he frequently called us "My people" ? I have heard our King use that term several times. That is the very way that God referred to the Children of Israel after He had created them into a Kingdom and had made Himself their King. God created Israel a "Holy Nation". Those are the words He used as He addressed them on many occasions such as is in I Peter 4:9. "Ye are a Holy Nation and a peculiar people unto Me." Remember that our God said that of the Children of Israel, immediately after He had given them His Holy Laws, to be their textbook of Life throughout their generations on earth. That Kingdom of God is, or was a fact of history. God gave them their Constitution of Government (the Laws of Moses) and made Himself their King. He gave them the land of Canaan for their country to begin their existence in, with the promise of extended territory as time went by and a Throne of which the Kings of the line of David should later sit to judge His people Israel. All that is history. That was God's Kingdom. That Kingdom flourished for a time wonderfully under David and Solomon and then began its ruinous course of disobedience till God cast them out of the land of Canaan into the wilderness of the world for seven times. (Remember they were not cast off for all time.) There was a time limit given them very much the same as men of disobedience are sent to prison today for offences against the laws of the land. There is generally a limit to their sentence. It may be five years, or it may be ten years, or perhaps in very bad cases it may be twenty years. God sentenced Israel to seven times punishment. That was a long time. We know today that it meant expulsion from the land for 2520 years. True the generation that then was, at the time they were sent into captivity, or the wilderness, died. So did the next generation after them die, and their children died, but the nation existed in scattered remnants through all that long period and were to be found in perhaps every country on earth, but God never lost sight of them. The very hairs of their individual heads were counted and known to Him. Don't let us forget that important truth. God knew all about them and where they were and what their punishments were. Yes, He knew. And in the fullness of time God sent His Son into the world to redeem that downfallen nation Israel back again into their old original state of nationhood and power in the world. Their punishment period of seven times being ended they were to be gathered back to the land of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as a Great Nation and as a Company of Nations. To fall no more. That is what the Word of God says. Please don't argue with God about whether this sounds right or not. I say, please do not argue about this fact against God's Word. If you hold that view of opposition to what the Bible plainly declares, then don't call yourself a Christian. Call yourself an Unbeliever or an Atheist or a Pagan or anything, but certainly you cannot classify as a Christian if you will take sides against God's plainly declared Covenants. First decide that the Bible is the Word of God, and then believe what it says and try to understand and live it. Then and then only are you a Christian. Jesus, your Saviour and my Saviour, died to redeem Israel. The Bible says so as plainly as language can express it. He came to redeem His people Israel. His Ministry was all concerning the Redemption of the Kingdom of Israel. He was the Redeemer of Israel. Did He die in vain? Where is the Kingdom of Israel for which He died and rose again that they might live? Where it? Be logical and answer. Where is it? Please don't reply that the Kingdom of God is in your heart, for that doesn't make sense. You cannot have a Kingdom such as we have tried in these few words to illustrate, in your heart. You cannot have the Kingdom of Israel in your heart. With the Throne of David and the Crown and the City of Jerusalem and the land of Canaan in your heart. Such talk is nonsense and makes the Bible a text book for mystics, instead of a book of common sense, and history fulfilled before our very eyes. "The Kingdom of God is in your midst" is what Christ said to His Disciples. He might also have said that the Kingdom of God was all around them or that they were in the midst of the Kingdom and in fact that they consisted of that Kingdom that He had come to Redeem. It was for this Kingdom He prayed when He solemnly prayed. "Thy Kingdom come… on earth, as it is in Heaven." He never prayed that the Kingdom might come into our hearts. He knew that such a thing was unreasonable, and He had come to restore to its God-appointed place, on the earth, the very Kingdom that He had once created on earth, from the top of Sinai, as His chosen people stood in rebellion at the very foot of the Mount. While He was proclaiming them (as was right) to be His people and to be His peculiar people, and as His Kingdom on earth, these very people were in the very act of making a Golden Calf at the very foot of the Mount. It is a strange picture, but that is the Bible Picture. That is the Word of God. That is true, or if not, your Bible is worthless. If that is not true then there is neither Old Testament or New Testament and there is no Redeemer of Israel and no Saviour of Men and the Bible becomes a fairy tale and a mockery and unworthy of our consideration. If the Bible is not true then we are still in our sins and we might just as well face the facts as they are and eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die, as was the proverb of the Assyrian King of many centuries ago. I am discussing this Bible topic of the Kingdom of God as the Bible deals with it. I am discussing it as British Israel students see it. I am discussing it as the only way that makes sense and in the way that proves history to be the fulfillment of prophecy, and the only way in which the Bible can be proven true and understandable. If redeemed Israel does not exist on the earth today, then what use is prophecy? If the Redeemer of Israel did not Redeem Israel, then why did He claim to be their Redeemer? If Christ was not the Redeemer of Israel and if He did not Redeem Israel, then how does anyone know that He forgives sin? Both statements and claims are true and stand together or both statements are false and there is no salvation or redemption. If the latter state exists then the sin of Adam still rests upon mankind without recourses and we are lost. We can't play fast and loose with the Word of God. Why can't we, as Christians, simply believe it and prove it, as it deserves and, accept Salvation in God's declared way? It was to save a world that God created Israel. When Israel rebelled against His way and failed, then He punished Israel. After punishing Israel for her rebellion, He redeemed Israel so that Israel might do the work of evangelizing and blessing the world as at first intended. It is on Israel's shoulders that the fate of the world rests for their blessings. The Bible says so. Don't argue with God. Where then is Israel? Listen Christian friend of the great Company of Nations of British stock--listen, you and I are the people and on us and on no other people on earth rests the well-being of Mankind, If this war-weary world is to arise from the wreckage of war and its inevitable works of destruction, then your people and mine must get busy and do something about it for we are Israel and there is no mistaking that fact, by any course of reasoning or logic. If Britain and her Company of Nations together with the United States of America don't save this tortured world from misery and chaos then there is not much hope for the future of this old planet and its people. Who of all the nations of the earth are supplying the food and clothing and necessities of life to smitten Europe since the holocaust of war has allowed them to do so, but Britain, her Dominions and the U.S.A.? I ask again, who are the saviors of wrecked Europe and the world today? The only answer is that Israel has been redeemed and that "Israel Redeemed” is back on her appointed job for which she was created-- "To bless the world of men.” For "Him that curseth thee I will curse and him that blesseth thee I will bless." --is the proclamation of our God to His Disciples and to His ancient Chosen Race. That is the Spirit that Jesus breathed upon His Disciples and sent them out to bless the world. It is in that spirit that Britain's race has sacrificed her food and clothing to the very limit of exhaustion, that helpless and destroyed Europe might live. God's Kingdom has come again to earth. It was for these that He died and rose again. We plead with you to repent and believe the Bible to be the Word of God. NEW SERMON #10819, THE KINGDOM OF GOD __________ New Christian Crusade Church |
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New Christian Crusade Church You may call us Monday, Wednesday or Friday at 601-749-8565 Last modified: Wednesday, 17 October 2007 |
