Blog or Article?
Blogs often focus on personal opinion, experiences, views, anecdotes or advice. Blogs tend to have a relaxed and conversational feel, such as in storytelling and are generally 300-500 words.
Articles aim to deliver well-researched, informative content with solid evidence to back up the points made. Articles are usually more formal, organized and frequently range 500-1000 words.
The information posted are excerpts from a work I am (have been) putting together for some years now. However I do not feel the timing is right to release the information as a finished work (Book) to the entire public. Hence the Blog, KingdomLink.
The thesis revolves around the phrase, “Teaching those things concerning the Kingdom of God.”
This phase is the basis for the Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah (Christ), and was also the intention for which the Father sent the Son of the Living God to be born and to “make known” the things concerning the Kingdom of God. I have discovered this was the only thing on the mind of Jesus throughout His earthly ministry.
He was born in Bethlehem, raised in Egypt and Nazareth then ministered in Galilee. He preached the Gospel (Good News) that the Kingdom of God is at hand to the House of Israel. During the final weeks of His life, He ministered in Jerusalem and was totally rejected by the Religious Leaders and Ruling Elders of Israel. They finally had Him put Him to death by crucifixion. Three days later, He rose from the dead and continued forty days to teach His disciples the things concerning the Kingdom of God (Acts 1;1-3).
Looking at the ending verses of the book of Acts (28:16-31) we discover Paul also was teaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God. This phase is used at various times in the book of Acts and in the Church Epistles, indicating the importance placed upon the knowledge of the Kingdom of God as a present day reality to the believers.
In the beginning of the Lord Jesus’ ministry, we read in the Sermon on the Mount, that He speaking as the King, taught the disciples the Beatitudes of how to live in the Kingdom of God. Notice these are BE ATTITUDES and not DO ATTITUDES, The difference being, these were not Laws to be kept in order to become a Kingdom Citizens, but the Attitudes needed in order to live as a citizen in the Kingdom of God.
Without getting into all of the eight beatitudes now, a quick glance at the first one is necessary to understand what is meant by the BE ATTITUDES:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of God” (Matt 5:3). This “poor in spirit” is the attitude of a true follower of Jesus of Nazareth. This is the opposite of arrogance or a haughty attitude. True humility and not arrogance is the manner in which Jesus lived and served those around Him during the days of His flesh. This is the first requirement of the Kingdom of God, or this is the attitude one must have in order to begin to live and be a vital citizen in the Kingdom of God.
Today this Kingdom of God is not in the material or physical realm, it is a spiritual Kingdom replete with Kingdom Blessings and Rewards for those who will learn “how” to live as a Kingdom citizen bringing glory to God and not to them.
This helps define the quest we at kingdomlink are on, which is to investigate the scriptures in order to accurately discover what Jesus of Nazareth taught about the things concerning the Kingdom of God,. In discovery the basis of True Christianity we may begin to learn and live in simple obedience to His instructions, Giving Glory to the Father resulting in receiving the Kingdom blessings now and Kingdom rewards in the future.
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Comments
Things are good for me, thank you
let us both keep studying, there'll be plenty of time to discuss in eternity :-)
God bless
Karl
Although most of the confusion of theolgical opinions stem from what is called "Modern Biblical Interpretation " which began about 200 years ago and is now the basis for many of the Major Universities' Religion Departments.
Oh well, they can keep it all!
Hope all is well for you "down under."
Just a quick reply, we are of course, poles apart on this, but I don't think we are gonna sort it out on this forum...lol
There are many alternates translations of the phrase "the kingdom of God is within you" that say "the kingdom of God is among you" or within your midst, which throws a whole different light on the whole theory.
Just a few of the thousands of links to no particular organisation that dispute the rendering of "within you"
http://www.ucg.org/bible-faq/kingdom-god-within-you.htm
http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp47.htm
http://www.voiceofjesus.org/kingdom_not_within.html
Cheers
Karl
Cheers
Karl
When Jesus talks about the "Kingdom of God" he is talking about a spiritual place and he explains this when he corrects the Pharisees in Luke 17:20 and 21:
Luke 17:20-21 (King James Version)
20And 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:
21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kinbgdom of God does not come with your carefule observation, nor will people say, Here it is', or there it is', because the kingdom of God is within you".
Therefore the kingdom of God is a condition of the heart. The spiritual leaders of Christ's time didn't get it and sadly, many spiritual leaders of our own time don't get it. It's God who changes hearts. It's God who sent his own son to be the sacrifice for all the sins of the world.and it is God who saves us by grace and not by good theology!
anyway that;s enough for the moment
Cheers
Karl
Thank you for sharing, I think you are right about many things in your post, especially the dissecting frog example, I love it, but you gave the balance well when you said:
“I am completely convinced that knowing the scriptures is not enough! Even if we are the best and most accurate theologian that ever lived, it is not enough! However it would be very rare indeed if not impossible to genuinely experience an intimate relationship with him if we are ignorant of the scriptures. Because it is in the scriptures and the scriptures alone where he reveals himself to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
A balance is required because once the pendulum swings too much the other way you end up with me-ology instead of a theology. This is what I see happening in most of the church’s that I have been in, many of the people I meet are getting more revelation than the apostle Paul ever got.. lol
However you said:
“Understanding of spiritual truths is not the result of “hard work”. Perhaps the understanding Algebra may come from hard work, but not spiritual understanding. This spiritual understanding comes exclusively from or by revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ as he is our exclusive teacher of spiritual truth. He alone is The Truth!”
I do disagree with you (respectfully) about studying the scriptures not being hard work, it is hard work, but hard work can be enjoyable and I believe God expects us to put some work in. I did not equate hard work with understanding “spiritual truths”. I’m not even sure with “spiritual truths” means, but in my experience in the Way, we were too busy trying to get “revelation” while ignoring the revelation that God has already given us in written form. I have learned much about the scriptures and virtually none of it in Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic, just a dictionary and some common sense and of course, hard work , reading, re-reading and comparing, scripture is its own best commentary and much can be learned that enlightens our understanding simply by reading carefully.
Okay, I will keep the post short and to the point as possible:
Please don’t take this personally, it’s not intended to be arrogant, but there is nothing concrete that you have said that has shown there to be a spiritual kingdom in operation now, it’s just something that you are deducing based on personal reasoning.
You said:
Where was this Kingdom of God he was speaking of? It was not yet visible or physical. So then, are we supposed to wait until the physical Kingdom is established on earth before we can receive these provisions from the Father? Or is there a spiritual Kingdom which has been in place since before the creation which Jesus came to tell about?
Now there may or may not be a spiritual kingdom in place before the creation, I don’t know, because the scriptures do not specify that anywhere clearly. But I think the key to the discussion lies in the phrase you used
“So then, are we supposed to wait until the physical Kingdom is established on earth…”
Now I will say, like you, I had a lot of unlearning to do when I left the Way, but there was one principle that was taught that I believe was correct and that because it was initially came from Myles Coverdale and later E. W. Bullinger and that is “get to whom correct”. Oddly enough it is something we never really practised in the Way. We still ran all over the OT taking the promises that God made to Israel to our selves, while leaving the curses for them.
…and that long ramble was to point out that. No…
WE are not supposed to wait for the physical Kingdom to be established… because he was not talking to US. This kingdom has nothing to do with us, it is for Israel. Christ never came to gentiles (Rom 15:8) and in His ministry on earth he only ever dealt to two Gentiles, one who he initially ignored, but she received healing for her daughter because she understood her pace as a gentile (Matt 15) and two, a Roman Centurions servant in Luke 7 who was only healed because he had done good work for Israel in accordance with Gen 12:3.
I suggest reading the book of Acts and take note of the Jewish nature of the book. Gentiles only came into the picture 8 to 10 years after Pentecost, there were no gentiles there on the day of Pentecost and when they were introduced it was only to provoke Israel to jealousy (Rom 11). All signs miracles and wonders were carried out by Jews, all church leaders were Jews, they were first at that time (Rom 3), Paul always went to the Jew first and even as late as Acts 28:20, Paul was still labouring for the “hope of Israel” which was the restoration of the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6).
The promise of the kingdom was for them, they were to be (and will still someday be) the kingdom of priests, the healing in the gospels was for them because priests were not to have any blemishes. The healings in the book of Acts was to authenticate Christ as the messiah to Israel. It’s always interesting that both times when gentiles saw healing in the book Acts, (Iconium and Malta), they went to worship Paul and Barnabas, a mistake a Jew would never make… it turned them into idolaters and it still does the same today, which is why neither you nor I will ever do signs miracles or wonders. Christ was preparing Israel to be the kingdom of priests and thus the channel of blessing to the rest of the world, in accordance with the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. The physical kingdom was on offer all through the book of Acts, all Israel had to do was repent (Acts 3:19-21), but of course we know they did not.
And so you are right…, the kingdom could not stay on offer indefinitely, it all changed at Acts 28:25 – 28 and that is when the church of the one body began. The revelation of the one body was given to Paul in Ephesians AFTER the rejection in Acts 28:25-28, so we cannot read Ephesian truth into the Acts period. The Acts church was not a church where Jews and gentiles were on equal footing, there was a huge difference between them. Jews were first for the blessings and the judgements, (yes.. just like in the OT, Annais and Saphira died because they lied, Herod, Elymas the sorcerer were all Jews). Romans 11:18 and Ephesians 3:6 are mutually exclusive, if one is true the other cannot be. Romans is an Acts period epistle, written to a church made up of Christian Jews who kept the law of Moses as was right and proper for them to do and gentiles who did not have to keep the whole law of Moses, only the 4 rules revealed at the council of Acts 15. This, so that Christian Jews could witness to Jews who had not yet believed in Christ, because a non-Christian Jew would not even look at a Christian Jew if he had stopped keeping the law of Moses. The four rules given to gentiles were specifically things that would make sure that the gentile Christians were not unclean so as they could go into each other’s houses and eat together.
The post acts epistles (Eph. Col. Phil. 1 & 2 Tim, Titus and Philemon) reveal so much contrast to Pauls the Acts period epistles (Rom, Cor, Gal, Heb. Thess.) and the letters written specifically to Jewish Christians (James, John, Jude, Rev. Peter) that it is really worth reading to make the comparison. In the Way we mixed them all up reading the mystery into Romans and Corinthians and Galatians, etc., which makes no sense.
Sorry… didn’t really want to go on this long…
In conclusion…
what I’m saying is that the kingdom I see is physical, I have to strain to see a spiritual kingdom and when we understand that the kingdom was on offer when the king was here and through the book of Acts but always dependent on the repentance of national Israel,
then the proclamation that the time was short in the Acts period epistles made sense,
the belief in the imminent return of Christ made sense,
the spirit poured out on the ministers of the kingdom as prophesied about THEM all makes sense
When the kingdom was rejected the
The mystery is revealed, no difference between Them and us
The Law is abolished
There is no immediate return of Christ
Paul cannot heal Timothy or Epaphras…” but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus” he left no one sick in Malta
It is a heavenly hope, not an earthly hope now
For me, it has got to be about simplicity as the Truth must be available to the educated as well as the non-educated.
An individual does not need a GED, Phd or Thd. to know Christ and His Truth.
Paul put it this way:
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ
I love it! because in the late 1980's when my wife and I were leaving a ministry because they no longer acted on the Word they were teaching and other reasons just as important, my only desire was to know Jesus Christ.
I decided that after all my theological studies at most, I could only tell you about Jesus of Nazareth, but I did not know him in a personal way. I likened this to when I was a young boy growing up and loving baseball, my favorite team was the NY Yankees and Mickey Mantle was my favorite player. In fact the Mick was my hero; you might say he mentored me as I watched him play on T.V. I watched every move he made and I tried to emulate him in everyway when I played the game. In fact, I became a pretty good center-fielder and switch hitter because of his example. I knew everything about number “7” where he was from and all the stats. But I never shook his hand; I never met or talked with him ever. This same thing was true about my personal intimate relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ! Yes he was my Savior, but unknown to me at the time, I had never really made him Lord of my life! So after years of being super involved with a ministry, I found myself feeling angry, alone and empty. I knew enough about the scriptures that I was sure there had to be more.If there wasn’t, then I was finished.
At this point we moved to a rural part of the USA and I decided I would not participate in anything or with anyone until I found my place with the Lord. No Church, no offshoots organizations formed out of the many who parted ways from the ministry as we did. No! I was not interested in following another fallible man or ministry. I likened this phase as entering a cave to isolate myself from any other source of biblical knowledge. I eventually threw away the Bible I used for years that was full of marginal notes and other extraneous scribbling and purchased a new Bible without any references or notes whatsoever! To this day I have not written one note in my new Bible. I was convinced that one day I would find Jesus and he would be my “notes” and may teacher of truth.
I won’t go through all of the details at this time, but suffice it to say that within a short period of getting alone and quiet for hours in the woods, I began to hear not a voice within, but what I can only describe as a “knowing.” I would walk into the woods daily because I read in Matthew that, “His disciples came unto him privately and then he taught them.” This is exactly what I wanted and needed and I was not disappointed in my expectations of what Jesus delivered. What transpired over the next phase of time is most of my theology was ashed away and I began to be filled with insights and understanding of the scriptures like never before. This is when I began writing or you might call it journaling the lessons I was receiving during my personal visits with my Lord.
As I continued in this manner, it seemed as if the closer I came to him, the more I realized my inadequacies and shortcomings and after awhile I felt so unworthy and aware of my personal sins that I concluded that I could not serve him. That day, I found myself alone and groveling on my living room floor, feeling like my guts were going to pour out of me I experienced what I have come to call the deepest prayer I could ever pray and the scripture that aligns with this is found in Romans 8:26 and 27(KJV)
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
There I was face down on the floor, with my insides groaning and agonizing, when suddenly a flood of understanding broke through, and like I said before, not in a voice but a deep knowing as a scripture came to mind from Romans 7:24(KJV) when Paul cried out and said:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
In a moment of time thousands of years ago, Paul came to the realization that he was a spiritual man trapped inside a sinful body of flesh! Suddenly, I realized that I too was in this same predicament, a spiritual man trapped inside a body of sinful flesh. wanting with all my heart to serve the Lord but seeing my stinking rotten flesh as an impediment. And like Paul, I soon realized that I needed the Lord not just during what some would call a brief salvation experience, but I needed the Lord Jesus every moment of every day of my entire life! This is when I consciously made Jesus the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God my Lord! From that moment on he was no longer just my savior, but he was my Lord and Savior! What rejoicing filled my heart and soul as I remained flat on my face and praising God for all of his goodness, grace and mercy to allow a wretch like me enjoy the intimacy of his presence. In a moment of time, I went from deep despair and disappointment to a spiritual high or joy and rejoicing! I no longer felt inadequate to serve the Lord as he had cleansed me from all of my doubts.
Emerging from this I realized that if there were anything I could do for the people of the world, it would be to introduce them to a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah. Once this was accomplished then I could help then to connect and remain connected to him the True Vine. Then he would produce the fruit in them and he would get all the glory.
I am completely convinced that knowing the scriptures is not enough! Even if we are the best and most accurate theologian that ever lived, it is not enough! However it would be very rare indeed if not impossible to genuinely experience an intimate relationship with him if we are ignorant of the scriptures. Because it is in the scriptures and the scritures alone where he reveals himself to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. You can see this in the account of the two men walking to Emmaus when Jesus came alongside of them and asked why they we sad as they walked? Then he expounded unto them the scriptures concerning himself.
I do not consider my self a biblical researcher and I may not be able to quote this or that at times, but what I do know and I am confident of is this one thing, which is through his grace. mercy and forgivness I now enjoy a deep and abiding personal intimate relationship with The Teacher of Truth, Jesus of Nazareth!
In conclusion I believe that those who have had similar experiences as this (and I believe there are many in this category) need to encourage one another to remain faithful for there are many gainsayers and enemies of the truth that would beat us down every chance they get. But always remember that he is faithful who called (us) you and put (us) you in the ministry of reconciliation and gave us the Word of reconciliation to share with others the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
There are many other issues I could cover and go into but I must make myself stop at this point as everyday life in knocking at my door.
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