The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Gospel of the Kingdom, #10

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." (Psalms 2:8,9—NIV)

Our destiny is the earth and its peoples. The Kingdom of God is the clothing of the righteous spirit realm with flesh and bones. It is the most glorious of all visions of the future.

When we see the terrible situation in which most people are attempting to survive, the horrible circumstances of war and famine, we should be encouraged to be even more diligent in following the program of moral transformation the Holy Spirit has set before us. No lasting help will come to mankind until the Lord Jesus Christ appears from Heaven with His victorious saints.

The nations of the earth are the eternal inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ and His coheirs. It is paradoxical that the Kingdom of God will bring justice and peace to the nations, and yet the prophecy is that we shall rule them with an iron scepter and dash them to pieces like pottery.

If we consider the nations of today we can see that they can never be brought to justice and peace until their will to resist Christ is totally broken.

As the spirit of Antichrist comes to maturity in the earth, particularly in the democratic nations, people are encouraged to do whatever they will. Any government, religion, or philosophy that seeks to deny people what they desire is viewed as an evil that must be abolished.

As any social scientist could predict, the result is social chaos. We cannot give an individual complete freedom without denying someone else his complete freedom. It is impossible, and so today's overemphasis on the rights of the individual contains within itself the seeds of anarchy.

As an elementary-school teacher I soon learned that if the children are allowed to do as they please, the result is that most of the children are miserable. A strong, loving teacher brings about justice and peace in a classroom of children.

So it is that the best form of government is a monarchy governed by a righteous, God-fearing king. This is what the Kingdom of God is.

When the Lord Jesus returns He will find a world population of self-willed, rebellious people. They must come under the iron rule of Christ and His saints if they ever are to be blessed with justice and peace.

The eternal dwelling place of God among mankind: both Isaiah, and Stephen in the New Testament, spoke of God's need to have a house. Heaven is not God's house. God has no house except for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the eternal dwelling place of God Almighty.

But, as Jesus told us, He is not to be the only living stone in the Father's house. Rather He is the chief Cornerstone and Capstone. We of the royal priesthood are also living stones in the dwelling place of God, the eternal tabernacle of God that in the future will come down from Heaven to be located on a high mountain of the new earth.

The Gospel of the Kingdom! Our denomination, which is as good as any, does not have the expression "the Kingdom of God" in its Statement of Faith.

Can you imagine? The central topic of the New Testament is not included in our Statement of Faith?

How about your denomination? Is the Kingdom of God mentioned in your Statement of Faith?

Maybe we really have departed from the Scriptures. Maybe we are not actually preaching the Bible message.

Maybe it is time to do our homework! (from The Gospel of the Kingdom)