The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Vision of the Kingdom, #8

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (Genesis 3:14)

. . . for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19)

Adam and his race are the dust of the ground:

God has cursed the fallen angels with an insatiable appetite for human flesh (the dust). Man and Satan are bound helplessly to one another. This is Divine justice.

Today we witness the most abominable debaucheries being practiced as human beings yield to the appetites of demons for human flesh. Recently we read of cannibalism being practiced in the so-called "civilized" nations. This corruption of the flesh of mankind will become increasingly perverse and bizarre until our minds no longer can cope with it. We are entering an age of moral horrors.

But the God of Heaven has given a solution to us. That solution is the keys of the Kingdom of God, the authority and power to bind and loose on the earth with corresponding actions taking place in the heavens. The keys of the Kingdom include the authority and power to bind that which is taking place today in the moral behavior of people.

We Christians have not as yet been entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom because we are ignorant of God, of His eternal purpose in Christ, and of His ways—particularly the way of the cross, of strength out of weakness and suffering. We are full of sin, rebellion, self-love, presumption, and pride. We cannot be trusted with the awesome authority and power of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

But in the time in which we are living, the hair of Samson is growing back, so to speak. In the future, perhaps the near future, the saints will be given all four keys of the Kingdom to use so a true witness may be borne and so the perverting of mankind may be halted for the duration of the witness.

The end-time Kingdom witness and the accompanying exercise of the keys of the Kingdom are described in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation. This is a true Kingdom witness and it will be given before Christ returns from Heaven.

The use of the first two keys, the key to Paradise and the key to eternal life, are not mentioned in the eleventh chapter of Revelation; but they are given to the church in Philadelphia, which is the last church before the abominable church of the Laodiceans.

Speaking to the angel of the church in Philadelphia:

. . . I have set before thee an open door,.... (Revelation 3:8)

The "open door" consists of the first and second keys—the keys to Paradise and life. It is the authority and power to bring the Kingdom witness to every nation; for the Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached to every nation for a witness before the end of the age can come.

The church in Philadelphia has a "little strength," and so, in accordance with the Kingdom principle that more will be given to those who use what they have, Christ gives to Philadelphia an "open door." This is the latter-rain revival, and we can expect the fullness of the power of the latter rain of God's Holy Spirit in the days in which we are living.

In the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation the emphasis is on the last two keys, the key of Hell and the key of death.

To be continued.