Category: earthly kingdom / Millennial Reign of Christ

The Great Things The Lord Jesus Hath Done #6

Friday, October 11, 2013

“And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel” (Mark 5:20 KJV).

Who is this man, and what “great things” hath the Lord Jesus done for him?

While the story of the exorcism of the Gadarene (today’s Scripture) was indeed literal and should be believed as historical fact, it should also be understood as typical of (illustrative of) redeemed and restored Israel (prophetic fact). Whenever Jesus Christ cast out devils during His earthly ministry, it was literal, physical, visible proof for all Israelites to see and recognize as fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Remember, “for the Jews require a sign” (1 Corinthians 1:22a). In Israel’s program, the preaching of God’s Word was accompanied by miracles that validated those words of God.

The Bible says the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 10:7; Mark 1:14,15). This was “the Gospel of the Kingdom” (Matthew 9:35), and miraculous demonstrations—casting out devils and healing the sick—followed its proclamation (Matthew 10:5-8; Mark 16:17-20; Luke 8:1; Luke 11:20; Acts 2:22; Hebrews 2:3-5; Hebrews 6:4,5). In that earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ, there would be no sickness or evil spirits.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land” (Zechariah 13:2). When Israel’s Messiah would come, He would rid her and her land of satanic captivity. Every time Jesus cast out devils, He was evicting Satan’s minions (although Israel rejected Jesus’ efforts; Matthew 12:24-32; Mark 3:22-30). Since Israel rejected Christ at His First Coming, and refused to let Him cleanse them and their Promised Land the first time (just as the Gadarenes asked Jesus to leave), Zechariah’s prophecy will not be completely fulfilled until Christ’s Second Coming (Revelation 20:1-3).

Let us now conclude the narrative and see Israel’s (future) restoration to her God….

The Great Things The Lord Jesus Hath Done #3

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

“And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel” (Mark 5:20 KJV).

Who is this man, and what “great things” hath the Lord Jesus done for him?

Notice how Jesus addressed the unclean spirit in the Gadarene, “What is thy name?,” and how the spirit responded, “My name is Legion: for we are many” (verse 9). There are actually many unclean spirits within this man, so his condition is very serious.

Verse 10 is particularly noteworthy: “And he [the unclean spirit] besought him [Jesus] much that he would not send them [all the unclean spirits possessing the Gadarene] away out of the country.” Again, the unclean spirit admits that they prefer to stay in the land of Israel. If Jesus is to cast them out of the man, they at least want to possess the swine of the land. Those unclean spirits know the torments of hell, and they do not want to be thrown into it! In the companion verse, we read: “And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep” (Luke 8:31). Understandably, they do not want to go to hell, but why do they want to stay in Israel?

Pay attention to how that chief evil spirit addressed Jesus as “thou Son of God most high” (Luke 8:28) and “thou Son of the most high God” (Mark 5:7). The title “most High God” implies “possessor of heaven and earth” (Genesis 14:19,22). Satan originally desired to be “like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14)—the devil wants to rule heaven and earth. In order to prevent Jesus Christ’s kingdom from being established on earth, Satan has possessed the nation Israel (which was to be God’s chief nation on earth; Exodus 19:5,6; Deuteronomy 7:6,7; Isaiah 2:1-4; et al.). Hence, Jesus Christ told apostate Israel, “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you” (Luke 11:20).

So, now we begin to see that the Gadarene is a picture of the nation Israel in satanic bondage….

Consider Your Ways, Saints! #3

Thursday, October 3, 2013

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” (Psalm 119:59 KJV).

Oftentimes, the Christian is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

In what the Bible calls “time past,” God dealt with mankind on the basis of “circumcision” (Jew) and “uncircumcision” (Gentile). While God was forming the nation Israel to establish His temple in the earth, we Gentiles “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11,12).

When no one else in Israel’s program wanted to trust Jesus as Messiah, the ascended Lord Jesus paused Israel’s program, opened our Dispensation of Grace, reached down from heaven, and miraculously saved the person leading Israel’s rebellion against Him—Saul of Tarsus! Paul, divinely commissioned to be a new apostle, received directly from the glorified Lord Jesus Christ a ministry, a dispensation, and a gospel that were separate from Israel’s program. God would now form a new agency, the Church the Body of Christ, using Jews and Gentiles. This “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15) would be God’s temple, which He would use forever in the heavens.

The “but now,” the present-day operation of God, is described in Ephesians 2:13,19-22: “But now in Christ Jesus ye [Gentiles] who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

As people who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, we are “an habitation of God”—the Holy Ghost indwells us! If He is to accomplish His will in and through us, we must consider our ways in light of what the Holy Scriptures say (today’s Scripture) and by faith, apply that doctrine to life….

Consider Your Ways, Mankind! #5

Monday, September 30, 2013

“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:29,30 KJV).

Mankind, in his natural state, is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

Ephesians 6:12 talks about “spiritual wickedness in high places” (the Greek word here rendered “high” is translated “heavenly” in Ephesians 1:3 and Ephesians 2:6). “Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight” (Job 15:15; cf. Job 25:5). Satan has corrupted the heavens (outer space) with sin, and he will not be banished from there and cast down to earth until a future date (Revelation 12:7-10).

“The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16). God had given the earth to man in order to keep earth out of Satan’s hands, but Adam sinned and Satan’s policy of evil, which rebellion started in heaven, infiltrated earth. Both the heavens and earth are corrupted by sin. Until we come to the salvation and ministry of the Apostle Paul in Scripture, we only read about God’s purpose and plan for the earth. God, until revealing it to and through the Apostle Paul, was silent about how he would restore the heavens unto Himself (Colossians 1:16-21).

Through Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, alone, we learn God’s purpose and plan regarding the heavenly restoration. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ will use the same pagan Gentiles He had given over to Satan back in Genesis chapter 11, He will save them from their sins and give them a place in heaven (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6,7), even giving them bodies to function in outer space and replace Satan’s minions (2 Corinthians 5:1). This is the story of the pagan Greeks to whom Paul spoke (today’s Scripture)—it is our story, too!

No one would have guessed that God would use formerly idolatrous Gentiles such as us to be His vessels, His temple, to glorify Himself in the heavens forever…!

Consider Your Ways, Mankind! #3

Saturday, September 28, 2013

“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:29,30 KJV).

Mankind, in his natural state, is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

When preaching about Jesus Christ returning to earth one day and bringing “the times of restitution [restoration] of all things,” the Apostle Peter confessed that this coming of God to establish an earthly kingdom was what “God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21). From the time the Lord Jesus put man on the earth until the salvation and ministry of the Apostle Paul, the Bible’s focus is God’s purpose and plan for the earth. God wanted the earth to be His “temple,” His dwelling place!

In the book of the Revelation, the Apostle John wrote about the future: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:1-3). This will be the fulfillment of Messiah’s title “Immanuel,” “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). Again, the hope of believers in Israel’s program was not dying and going to be with God in heaven, but being resurrected to have God come down to earth and live with them (Job 19:25-27)!

Daniel 2:35,44 speak of Jesus Christ’s kingdom as one that will “fill the whole earth” and will last forever and ever. Exodus 19:3-6, Isaiah 2:1-3, and Zechariah 8:20-23 demonstrate the earthly nature of Israel’s kingdom. Sin has continually delayed the establishment of this “temple” of God….

Consider Your Ways, Mankind! #2

Friday, September 27, 2013

“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:29,30 KJV).

Mankind, in his natural state, is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

“For by him [the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16). God created and placed angels in heaven to serve Him there, and He created and placed man on earth to serve Him there.

Man was to govern earth for God’s glory as Genesis 1:26,28 explain: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish [fill up] the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Psalm 8:4,7-9 elaborate: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

Adam was to prepare earth for God to come down and dwell on, but Adam sinned, delaying the construction of that “temple….”

Consider Your Ways, Mankind! #1

Thursday, September 26, 2013

“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:29,30 KJV).

Mankind, in his natural state, is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

Job, the oldest Bible book (predating Moses and his books of Genesis to Deuteronomy), summarizes the hope of every believer who lived in the “Old Testament” economy (although, technically, this was also the hope of believers in Christ’s earthly ministry and the early Acts period):

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27).

As a representative of the believers living in Israel’s program, Job shows us that the hope the believer in the God of the Bible had was not to go to heaven, but rather to be resurrected bodily to live forever in an earthly kingdom with that God reigning. As opposed to them expecting to go to heaven upon death, these saints expected heaven to come down to earth (literally, “heaven on earth”)! This was the hope believers had prior to the salvation and ministry of the Apostle Paul.

In early Acts, the Apostle Peter offered to Israel that earthly kingdom which was “spoken by the mouth of all [God’s] holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). That earthly kingdom was the heart of “the Gospel of the Kingdom” that John the Baptist preached, that Jesus Christ Himself preached in His earthly ministry, and the Gospel that He commissioned Israel’s 12 apostles to preach (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 10:7; Matthew 24:14; Mark 1:14; et al.).

Note how Peter says that God’s promise of that earthly kingdom goes right back to Adam, the first man. That kingdom prophesied “since the world began” is still postponed.…

Where Was God? #6

Thursday, September 19, 2013

“Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1 KJV).

One of the most common questions ever asked….

When God does not react to situations, especially tragedies, the way people expect Him, He is accused of being “negligent.” They consider how He visibly and directly intervened and rescued people from various dangers in Bible times. Since He does not do this today, people erroneously conclude that He must be unconcerned, that He is judging us for un-confessed sin, et cetera.

This outlook results from a rather simple error—a failure to approach the Bible dispensationally. We are not Israel, so by going to the Bible verses written to and about Israel in an attempt to discover what God is doing today with us, is simply a dangerous—and, quite frankly, satanic—method of handling the Scriptures. To ignore the verses written to us, and to “name and claim” the verses not written to us, is dishonest. We cannot make God do something He is not doing: He is not operating Israel’s program today.

God is not using extra-biblical methods (circumstances, angels, feelings, emotions, “visions,” et cetera) to reveal His will to us—we have God’s complete, written, and authoritative Word, the Holy King James Bible (Ephesians 1:9,10; Ephesians 3:4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17). Specifically, Jesus Christ is speaking to us through Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, for those 13 Bible books are God’s Word written to and about us Gentiles (Romans 11:13; 1 Corinthians 14:37). Today, God is dispensing grace, not law (Romans 6:14,15). God is currently forming the Church the Body of Christ, not the nation Israel (Ephesians 2:13-22). Today, God is forming a heavenly people, not an earthly people (Ephesians 2:6,7).

In this the Dispensation of Grace, members of the Church the Body of Christ endured bodily sickness and other difficult circumstances (Romans 8:18-25; 2 Corinthians 11:22-30; 2 Corinthians 12:7,8; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20). Rather than God removing those troubles, He gave those Christians strength, hope, and grace to bear them (Romans 8:24,25; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9,10; Philippians 4:11-13). In Christ, we are equipped to endure “all things….”

Mercy and Not Sacrifice? #7

Thursday, September 12, 2013

“But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12:7,8 KJV).

What did our Lord mean in today’s Scripture?

The Pharisees, as well as other religious leaders of Israel, were not serving the LORD of the Old Testament Law that they studied. While they were highly educated and appeared good, they were not merciful toward the sick and hungry. They were sticklers for not working on the Sabbath day, and yet, they had no idea what the Sabbath day even represented. Blinded by their religious tradition, they preferred to see the hungry faint and the sick suffer, than even dare break the Sabbath!

Jesus told the Pharisees, “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (today’s Scripture). The Pharisees’ heartlessness originated from a desire to serve a denominational system rather than let the love of the Lord Jesus Christ operate in their hearts and actions. The disciples were hungry, so Jesus Christ—the Person who authorized Sabbath-day observance—permitted them to pick food on the Sabbath. The Pharisees erred in presumptuously criticizing Christ’s disciples. They failed to realize that the JEHOVAH who had instituted the Sabbath-day observance, the “Lord of the sabbath day,” was Jesus Christ—the Person standing right in their midst!

One last interesting tidbit to conclude: In the companion passage of today’s Scripture, our King James Bible has the unique expression, “the second sabbath after the first” (Luke 6:1). That Sabbath of today’s Scripture loops back to the original (first) Sabbath of Genesis 2:1-3. The time of the fulfillment of the purpose of that original Sabbath—the establishment of God’s earthly kingdom—was near during Christ’s earthly ministry. Alas, the Pharisees failed to make that connection between those two Sabbaths. Religious tradition had caused them to ignore the God of the Sabbath, thereby causing them to be merciless and self-righteous for the sake of religion, and worst of all, they missed God’s kingdom altogether!

That is what our Lord meant in today’s Scripture.

Mercy and Not Sacrifice? #4

Monday, September 9, 2013

“But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12:7,8 KJV).

What did our Lord mean in today’s Scripture?

Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11, and Hebrews 4:3-11 explain how the Sabbath day (the day of God’s “rest”) was the sign of God’s earthly kingdom (God’s “rest”). Psalm 132:5,8,13,14, the words of King David, enlighten: “Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob…. Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength…. For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”

The Sabbath-day rest reminded Israel of God’s original purpose in creation, and her role in His plan to reclaim the earth. Had Adam not sinned, God’s earthly kingdom would have been established 6,000 years ago with Adam and Eve. God created the nation Israel to do what Adam failed to do in the earth, but Israel too fell into sin, so again, God’s earthly kingdom was postponed. That earthly kingdom was in David’s mind when he sought to build the Temple, God’s house (Psalm 132 in the previous paragraph, and note how God declared, “This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”).

Unfortunately, 600 years after David, at the close of the “Old Testament” Scriptures, sinful Israel has been scattered among the nations, JEHOVAH’S glory has left the Temple, and the Temple has been utterly destroyed. For the next 400 years, God is silent toward Israel (John the Baptist’s ministry breaks that silence).

When we come to the context of today’s Scripture, we find Jesus Christ, the LORD of Psalm 132, now come to His nation Israel. The mighty JEHOVAH has now arrived in human flesh to offer Himself as their King, to usher in that kingdom whose establishment has been repeatedly interrupted by sin.

The Pharisees, blinded by their religious fervor, fail to see Jesus as “Lord of the sabbath day….”