The Church Is The Kingdom Of God
I was listening to a radio preacher speaking about the proofs of the Pre-Tribulation secret fly away. He was making for a point that God the Father refused to allow God the Son to nail all of the Law to the Cross because this would have ended the Old Testament Covenant if it was done. According to this minister, it was necessary for God the Father to save the 70th week seven years of the Law dispensation off of the Cross and away from the nailed sacred hands of Jesus, because he needed these seven years after the Church age to save unbelieving Jews.In his discourse he made the statement that Jesus was not able to convince enough of the Pharisee Rabbis about his Kingdom and so because of this the Kingdom was postponed and the Jews who would not enter then would enter during the Millennial. According to this preacher, if enough Pharisees had accepted Jesus and his Kingdom then it would have come and there would have been no Church and no Church age. But since the Pharisees did reject Jesus, God the Father decided to create the Church as plan *B* in the gap of time between the Pharisee's rejection and the Millennial. He said that the Church age would be for the saving of the Gentiles and if the Pharisees had accepted Jesus there would have been no Church and the Gentiles would have had no hope for salvation.
Are these claims valid and true?
Here are the points made:
1.) All the Law was not nailed to the Cross (seven years kept off the Cross).
2.) Seven Years of the Law postponed until after the Church age.
3.) Not enough Pharisees believe to warrant continuing with the Kingdom plan.
4.) The Kingdom was postponed.
5.) The Kingdom does not come until the Millennial.
6.) The Kingdom was for the Jews only.
7.) The Gentiles would not have had a plan of salvation if the Pharisees had accepted Jesus.Sons and Daughters of God these things are all false. They are part of the props to hold up the false doctrine of dispensationalism and the error of the Pre-Tribulation rapture theory.
The Scriptures will teach emphatically that the Kingdom did come and was not postponed. They will teach that the Church is the Kingdom. In the Scripture we will discover the keys to the Kingdom and they are found in Acts 2:38. There is absolutely no truth that Jesus postponed the Kingdom because enough Pharisees would not believe. And it is terrible for anyone to say that the Law was not fully and completely abolished and ended at Calvary.
The Law:
Was all the Law abolished or just all but seven years? There is absolutely no Scripture or text that claims seven years of the Law would be saved off the Cross. None of the Apostles ever heard of such a monstrosity. There is absolutely no Apostolic teaching whatsoever that Jews during the alleged seven years of tribulation will be saved by restored Law keeping. In fact, pointing to the very end of the tribulation in two different texts Paul does not mention that those who are damned were damned because they were not keeping the Law at the second coming. Now if after the Church is gone, salvation is only by restored Law keeping, then why are those at the end of the tribulation damned and destroyed because they believed not the Gospel and the Truth and not rather destroyed for not keeping the Law (2Thes 1:8; 2:10)?
"In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Speaking of the antichrist and prevailing conditions of the tribulation:
"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not a love of the truth, that they might be saved."
These text explicitly apply to the time of the tribulation and to deny this, is proof of utter apostasy from the Truths of the Word of God. Who then will deny that when the Lord returns in flaming fire, it is upon those who at the end of the tribulation who still have rejected the Gospel and the New Testament truth of the plan of salvation? The idea then that the Gospel ends at the rapture and Law begins, and no one will be judged for rejecting the Gospel but will be judged for rejecting the Law, is a false doctrine! The Law was fully and totally abolished at Calvary. Therefore there is no such thing as seven years of the Law after the Church is gone, taken from the 70th week under the Law, which was allegedly postponed so the Law could be the means of salvation for Jews after the Church is raptured.
"The Law and the Prophets were UNTIL John: and since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16).
Jesus knew of no such doctrine of a postponed Kingdom. He taught and quite expected converts to enter into it, even press by the very Pharisees and enter.
"For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom 10:4).Speaking of the Law and the Covenant Moses received on Mount Sinai:
"And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished" (2Cor 3:13).Anyone who teaches by means of eschatology or otherwise that there is salvation by the Law after Calvary, that there is a time God will return to the Jews practicing Law, or that God will count Law keeping as salvation by grace through faith, has become an apostate.
Let us remember that the entire book of Hebrews was written while the temple was standing and while there were still Pharisees practicing the Law. With that in mind, there is absolutely no truth whatsoever that during the tribulation it is God's plan for the Jews to rebuild the temple, hang up a rip-proof vail, revive the Law, offer animal sacrifices, and a Pharisee Rabbi officiate as a newly consecrated High Priest. The Law is fully abolished and it is forever a relic of the past. The New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant completely at Calvary.
The Kingdom:
The Kingdom of God also called the Kingdom of Heaven, began with Adam. The Luke genealogy traces the seedline of the Kingdom and the authority of the throne from Jesus to David and then to Adam. It is interesting that the word *Adam* is pronounced in Hebrew *Aw-dawn* and the word *Lord* is prounced *Aw-done.* It is further interesting that *Aw-done* means also he who is *Sovereign* or rules alone. There can be absolutely no other meaning implied in regards to Adam but that his name infers he was the first King of all men upon the earth. This is the lordship of every husband in regard to his wife and his family. The family of God, the righteous seed of the first *Aw-done* have always been in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has always consisted of those Godly upon the earth. And, if we look at the long list of names of those men in the Luke genealogy we can see that if each were a King, and *Aw-done*, then there was in essence a Godly supervisor upon the earth at all times from Adam to Jesus. That is why Sarah could call Abraham *Lord* because she knew his seedline and heritage dignified him with this ancient glory in the household of the Kingdom.
We may deduct this from the exegesis of Genesis 1:26 where *dominion* was given to Adam and his righteous seed over all the earth. Dominion is sovereign authority to subjugate. There is an animal kingdom and then a human kingdom. A kingdom will consist of those who are ruled and governed and the one who governs by sovereign right. A kingdom without sovereign dominion is no kingdom. Nothing with two heads has ever been the plan of God. Antichrist and Christ do not and will not reign over the same people. They are either in the kingdom of darkness or the Kingdom of light (John 12:46). If the kingdom of darkness is here now, and the Kingdom of Light is here now (Col 1:13), how then can the Kingdom of God be postponed until the Millennial? In 1Peter 5:11 we find:--To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Dominion is to reign sovereign over and what could describe a kingdom any better. If there is no kingdom there is no sovereign dominion, ...and there is no reign. Can we apply this to the Church as the Kingdom of God? Absolutely! Jesus Rules, he is Sovereign, he has Dominion, and his Kingdom is everlasting. He is not waiting until the Millennial to reign, halleluyeh he Reigns NOW!
The idea of a postponed kingdom is a Jewish fable. It is a tradition but it is not a truth. The Jews reject the Church as the Kingdom because they deny Jesus was the Messiah. They had no choice but to concoct the theory of a postponed Kingdom when the seventy weeks of Daniel expired and no Messiah appeared who qualified but Jesus. Since a Pharisee Messiah did not appear and validate their errors and the Babylonian Traditions of the Elders, they had to say there was a gap between the 69th and the 70th week. So, any doctrine of a postponed Kingdom is rooted in an antichrist confession that Jesus was not the Messiah come in the flesh. Any idea that Jesus postponed the Kingdom because he could not get enough religious Pharisee to enter it, is sorry, sorry, sorry!
The Kingdom was prophesied in Isaiah 9:7 and in Daniel 2:44:
"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of host will perform this."
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."
Here the Kingdom is tied to the throne of David. We shall not let this point be overshadowed by conjecture, opinion, or theory. It is a fact that where ever the throne of David is there we will find this Kingdom. That is a point within eschatology that sets the entire foundation of the truth of the New Testament. It was essential that Jesus be of the seedline of David to qualify to be born heir of the throne of David. The purpose of the seedline is unequivocally that Jesus reign in his Kingdom upon the throne of David. Take a look at the most profound verse in the Scriptures proving that Jesus is God and that the Kingdom came when he was incarnated in the seed of David:
"The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne" (Psalms 132:11; Acts 2:30).
We hail and exalt the wondrous story of the birth of this Messiah in the words of the angelic host:
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" or Messiah the King (Luke 2:11).
The angel who visited Mary said this:
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the LORD God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1:32-33).
When someone says that Jesus does not now reign I refuse to believe them! When someone says that Jesus did not inherit the throne of David when he was born, I call them children of the devil. When someone says the kingdom never came and was postponed I call them an apostate from all truth and righteousness. For all these denials is the same as being an antichrist. These are the very false claims of Phariseeism and modern Talmudism. And I shall not follow those whom Jesus said made their converts two-fold more the children of hell.
Please follow this carefully:
In Mark 9:1 the Kingdom was to come with Power during the lives of some of those standing there.
If the Kingdom was postponed would there not be some 2,000 year old men and women roaming the earth?
In Acts 1:8 the Power was to come with the Holy Ghost.
In Acts 2:1-4 the Holy Ghost came on the day of Pentecost.
Remember, this is not a new Kingdom, this is that Holy and sublime Kingdom of which the throne of David rules. This Holy Kingdom was in exile and an apostate kingdom of Judaism had been set up over the house of Israel. This apostate house of Jacob went to Babylon as a proof God had evicted them out of the land of Promise because they had broken his Covenant (Jer 11:10-14). When we look at the Luke genealogy we see the list of these ambiguous exiled righteous Kings of the throne of David. They are named. The genealogy was kept. These true Kings were just not recognized by the Babylonian mystics and they were of no importance to the religious cults then in control of the religious mind of the people. False high priest reigned in their stead out of the temple. But in the fullness of time, when the plan of God was to be fulfilled, Jesus of this seed line was born that he might set back up again a throne of David, a Holy nation, a Righteousness people, and restore the Kingdom not to the Jews in their entirety, no, but rather to those who would believe he was the Messiah, the son of David, and the King and Lord of Israel.
When we say *Lord* we are honoring the Kingship of Jesus. If he is not King then he is not Lord. If he is Lord then he is now reigning as King. The house of Jacob that was to come under the Davidic throne of Jesus were to be the ones in and under the reign of the Kingdom. They who come under the Throne will receive the Holy Ghost as the proof of birth into the Kingdom. And no man can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Ghost! Apostate Jews without the Holy Ghost will never confess he is Lord and King of Israel. That makes them antichrist by default! And that, Sons and Daughters of God is the Gospel message. That is the preaching of the Kingdom. That is the Gospel of the Kingdom message we are to preach to all nations. Any Jew who rejects Jesus as the Messiah has absolutely no hope, because the throne of David is now and forever in Jesus and there shall never be an end of his Kingdom. So the Kingdom that came on the day of Pentecost was the restoration of the Holy Kingdom of David's throne that was under the Law. Only now it would be governed by the New Covenant which Messiah brought and set in order.
In Matthew 16:18-19 we find additional proofs that the Kingdom was not delayed or postponed. In verse 18 Jesus said he would build his Church. The word Church here is a substitute for the Hebrew meaning assembly or congregation. And the assembly or congregation were terms to describe Israel in worship and covenant before the Lord. For Jesus to say he would build his Church, meant that he would build his Israel. And seeing how he reigned as heir upon David's Throne he had a right to chose his Israel and the kind of lives and religious practices they would manifest. He had a right to exclude from his Kingdom anyone or anything that offended. What we call the Church is then the real and only valid Israel of God. It is and will forever be the only Kingdom of God upon this earth. And this is not claimed by race (blood and flesh like the Jews want to preach) but by GRACE (the blood and flesh of Jesus as we preach).
The Church of verse 18 is the Kingdom of verse 19. In the latter the Apostle Peter is given the keys to the Kingdom. Sons and Daughters of God it makes absolutely no sense for Peter to have keys to a Kingdom that was to be postponed! It makes no sense for Jesus to tell Peter he was being given the keys to salvation to enter the Church of verse 18, if the keys were for a Kingdom to be postponed until the Millennial. And those who teach the heresy of the postponed Kingdom are by it destroying the entire New Testament Church. If Peter is given the keys to the Kingdom, and if these keys are the three-fold faith of Acts 2:38, then are we to conclude that Acts 2:38 is only for the Millennial? If not, then some are preaching a doctrine that in practice they are calling a false doctrine. Any Minister who quotes John 3:3-5 about the new birth to enter into the Kingdom and then has the Kingdom postponed until the Millennial has then the born-again experience in the Millennial and it is not in the present Church at all. Any Minister who quotes Acts 2:38 as the keys to the Kingdom and then has the Kingdom postponed until the Millennial has denied the plan of salvation we now use for the Church.
The Kingdom is here now and it will conclude at the end of the Millennial. And because of that there are Kingdom scriptures that describe it being past, present, and future. The dispensationalist and Jews have a postponed Kingdom until the Millennial. The amillennialist have the Kingdom here now and none in the Millennial because they do not believe in a thousand years of earthly reign. The Apostolic Truth is that the Kingdom has been here since Adam, was restored by Jesus to the Church, and will extend through to the end of the Millennial.
The Gentiles:
There is absolutely no truth to the claims that the Church is a Gentile Bride. Misuse of the phrase *for his name's sake* has lead many novices into a life-long theory of false teaching. The idea of a *name sake* in this regard has to do with raising up a seed to continue the name of the family. The *name sake* children were to be considered fully the heirs of the seedline of which they were a *name sake.* Gentiles for his *name's sake* contains the same concepts. Therefore the Gentiles once a *name sake* have all the dignities of the seedline of which they are a *name sake.*
The Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, was first completely Jewish. These where the house of Israel that came in over under the throne of David. They came into the Kingdom. They pressed past the unbelievers and entered through Acts 2:38. The Gentiles were grafted into this assembly, this congregation, this group of worshipers in the New Covenant. They then replaced cut off branches and became *name sake* children of God. Being grafted into the Israel of God, they became adoptees and joint heirs of all the promises and blessings in Abraham. Of twain (Jew and Gentile) there was made one new man (Israel) in Christ. All converts to this Messianic Judaism were to be considered full-fledged converts to Kingdom Judaism. They were no longer to be considered Gentiles or strangers from the Covenants. Even the Pharisees believe Gentiles become full-fledged Jews:
"It is important to remember that if your son or daughter is married to someone who has converted to Judaism, then there is no intermarriage. An intermarriage means a marriage between someone born Jewish and someone born non-Jewish who has not converted (http://www.uscj.org/uscj/intmar/parents.html)."
"Remember that Abraham and Sarah were not born Jewish and Ruth was the great-grandmother of King David. A sincere convert is genuinely Jewish" (Ibid).
Because of Catholic mind-sets and false concepts within eschatology, many miss the obvious facts of Jewish history at the time of Jesus. Judaism consisted of several denominations or sects as we find within the Catholic-Protestant family of denominations. As these Catholics and Protestants lay claim to being authentic Christianity and they are false, so the religious sects within the family of Judaism at the time of Christ claimed they were the legitimate Jews and the rest were damned because of non-membership, practices, and or beliefs.
A person must first accept and view all the religious sects of Judaism as being false before they can grasp that when Messianic Judaism arose apart from them, this group or sect was the right and legitimate religious practicing Israel. So many want the Pharisees and the other Jews in general to be the chosen people of God because of flesh and blood, they fail to understand that being born of flesh and blood did not certify a Jewish person's salvation at all. To be saved under the Law required more than just flesh and blood birth. Each Israelite had an obligation to observe the Covenant of the Law as it was first given, not as it came to be controlled, reinterpreted, redacted and interpolated, and fashioned into man-made traditions. These were all apostate Jews and although they could claim flesh and blood, they were of the devil. This is why Jesus could say they were Abraham's seed but still religious devils. A person who is a religious devil does not have salvation. The Old Testament will bear this out in many places. And these sects in Israel who were of the devil by their leavened false religious teachings abusing the Law as a cloak, were not the Israel of God. Jesus, in his proofs of authentic Messianic Judaism pointed to the authority of Moses and the Prophets. He did not rely upon the Pharisee's doctrines or their Babylonian traditions of the Elders at all. Until these points are grasped and accepted there will always be those trying to certify religious devils as the chosen people of God.
The Messianic sect that arose apart from these sects of the devil, represented the little flock of Israel called a remnant (Rom 11:5). Many sons and daughters departed from the other sects and joined Messianic Judaism. And this Messianic Judaism became the New Testament Church. The word *Christian* in Hebrew is *Messiahian*. The first believers were called *Messiahians* or people of the Messiah. The Church is then the Messianic continuation of the Israel of God and Gentiles are grafted into that heritage. We are now one in Christ (Greek for Messiah). We are no longer Gentiles we are Jews. We are under the throne of David and in the Kingdom. The Lion of the tribe of Judah reigns over this household of faith. He dwelt with the first Messianic Believers as Lord (King) and now he reigns in us as Lord (King); and very soon he shall appear and reign in person again with us as Lord (King). This is the blessed hope of the second advent.
The Israel of God is no longer Jew and Gentiles but Jews, Messiainic Jews!
Conclusion:
The false teachings that the Kingdom was postponed and the undergirding errors used to support that heresy are hereby refuted. This is not written for strife, but for the glory of the Throne of him who reigns.
Reign on King Jesus, your Sons and your Daughters worship you.