THE KINGDOM OF GOD

EMMANUEL MINISTRIES
902 So. 11TH AVE YAKIMA, WA. 98902
APRIL 2008 (509)-453-9623 fretwell@aol.com




THE KINGDOM OF GOD
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

I’ve heard of, and read about, the KINGDOM OF GOD for the seventy years I have had the Holy Ghost. I even did an exhaustive study once about the difference between the KINGDOM OF GOD and the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. I spent days looking up every scripture containing the phrases, in the Robert Young’s Analytical Concordance (There is no difference, by the way),)

But, with all my studying, I still was unable to figure out the dynamics of the Kingdom. I did “know” that it would be a THEOCRACY instead of a DEMOCRACY or a MONARCHY as we know it, and that the prospective inhabitants would undergo a rigid scrutiny before they would be granted entry. I did “know” that nothing hurtful or destructive would be allowed to enter through its gates. I was also “aware” that it would be set up by Jesus Himself, and that it would endure for a “thousand years.”

Some things were a bit of a mystery to me, however. I wondered how Jesus would accomplish the feat in an instant when He returns to earth at the time of the “rapture”, and why the Kingdom would be necessary if the Saints were all gone, and only the Christ Rejecters were left on the earth.

But my reckoning was, that if everyone else believed it that way, it MUST be correct, so I didn’t think it worth my time to ask too many questions, though I knew I didn’t have the answers myself.

Would we (for I was sure I would be granted entrance) have a City Council, a Mayor, a Chief of Police, etc., and if so, what were the chances that I would be chosen to fill an office?
An in-depth study has produced some startling facts for us to consider.

BUT PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THEY PERTAIN TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD and NOT TO SALVATION.

Those are two DIFFERENT SUBJECTS—separate and distinct from one another.

SALVATION IS FREE

KINGDOM STATURE IS VERY COSTLY.

I use the term KINGDOM STATURE deliberately, for I am seeing the Kingdom in an entirely different light than in the former years. I am now ready to state flatly that the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught about is a NURTURED CONDITION OF OUR HEART IN ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE WORD AND SPIRIT OF GOD.

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU.

IT IS THE STRAIT (difficult) GATE AND THE NARROW WAY THAT COMPARATIVELY FEW SOULS WILL FIND.

The price of CHARACTER REFINEMENT seems so unreasonable to many of us. We can not comprehend the need for such a stringent heart condition and life style.

And, indeed, those requirements are NOT laid on folks who aspire ONLY to the Salvation of their souls.

Mar 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Luk 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

Luk 13:18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
Luk 13:19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
Luk 13:20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Luk 13:21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

Like leaven, this CHARACTER REFINEMENT will not stop until it has touched, and CHANGED, every aspect of our lives.

Luk 13:27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

INIQUITY IS THE ROOT PRINCIPLE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. When we indulge our human desires, we are “working” iniquity.

Luk 13:28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
Luk 13:29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
Luk 13:30 And, behold, there are last (least important—CEV) which shall be first, and there are first (most important—CEV) which shall be last.

Luk 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

We are not required to PRESS into Salvation. It is FREE for the accepting.

SEEING THE KINGDOM

Luk 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

WHAT DID THEY SEE? Jesus had taken three of them to the top of a mountain, where He was transfigured before them. They experienced His Glory. They were “scared to death”, so to speak. The humanity of Peter expressed a desire to always be in the presence of the Glory, but he had too much “baggage” in his soul yet for that to be realized.

Most of us, (and I include myself also), still have far too much of our “baggage” with us while we crave the Glory of God in our souls. “Baggage” blocks our vision of the Glory of God.

We have failed to understand the need of Character Refinement, and hence have either failed or refused to submit ourselves to the searing heat required to separate ourselves from “ourselves”.

We are NOT dealing with rules and regulations which our fellow Christians would lay on us. We are dealing with the Holy Spirit of God. HE (not our neighbor) IS THE REFINER AND THE PURIFIER. Mal 3:3

Mar 4:8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some a hundred.
Mar 4:9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mar 4:10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
Mar 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:

Mar 4:26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
Mar 4:27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
Mar 4:28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Mar 4:29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
Mar 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
Mar 4:31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:
Mar 4:32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.

Even the Disciples had difficulty separating Salvation and the Kingdom.

Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Mat 19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying,
Who then can be saved?

Earthly possessions are of no value to help us enter into Kingdom Stature. In fact they CAN be a hindrance.

Mar 10:23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Mar 10:24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

Luk 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

Eph 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

REQUIREMENTS OF UNDERSTANDING

There are conditions that humanity must meet if they expect to understand some of the Truths contained in God’s Word,

Luk 8:10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Luk 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear

The Disciples had forsaken (made secondary) their earthly ways to follow Jesus in His Ministry. If our mind is cluttered up with the affairs of life, we are not very apt to hear the secrets of the Lord.

Luk 18:29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,
Luk 18:30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

Luk 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Luk 9:61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
Luk 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Mat 21:31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

Sophistication CAN be a detriment to Spiritual understanding.

There are LAWS OF THE SPIRIT, as well as LAWS OF NATURE. They are not always in agreement..

Mar 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Mar 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive
the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein

Luk 18:16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Luk 18:17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Jam 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire