The Gospel of the Kingdom
This is a model of the Kingdom, a conclusion, a small and manageable picture of the real thing.
A model is simply a learning device that helps us bring a lot of details into a single cohesive view. It helps us integrate hundreds of details into a workable reality. Without a single, all inclusive model, we may have many seemingly compatible details, which are in fact, incompatible with each other. A model forces us to prove our details within a much bigger picture. Until we can do that, we can't be sure we've got a workable product. Too often prophetic material is presented in tiny scenes but never woven into a realistic 'master plan'. This prophetic scenario is a model, a single model of the end-of-the-age and a portent of the coming Messianic kingdom. The seven major truths described below, and the hundreds of details within them, contribute to this single model. The model presented here is a new
prophetic view of the end-of-the-age. However, It appears to be able to include, more realistically, all valid traditional end-of-the-age events.
The 'Master Plan' for the End-Of-The-Age
Laying dormant within the pages of Scripture is the gospel of the end-of-the-age. It was hidden from our eyes, reserved for the last generation of this age. This gospel, or 'good news', will detail the full and startling truth of the kingdom of God, and the prophetic transitional events that prepare humanity for the reality of that kingdom. This 'master-plan' is the 'gospel of the kingdom'. It is a new gospel, never before taught or understood in clarity - except by Jesus. Jesus said that at the end-of-the-age every teacher would have to be taught this new gospel (Mat 13:52), and that it must be preached to the whole world as a testimony - and then the end would come (Mat 24:14). Humanity has NOT seen this kingdom clearly, not even Jesus' own church. The summary below reveals seven major aspects of that end-of-the-age gospel. It begins with a completely unexpected change in the spiritual environment. This 'trigger event' begins the last fourteen years of the age - the first seven are years of preparation, the last seven are years of testimony, testing, and division. Humanity will be 'sanctified by the truth'.
1. The Power Environment
The end-of-the-age begins at the Jordan River. The 'journey' work of the Holy Spirit ends, the 'destination' work begins. This supernatural 'trigger' event induces universal spiritual magnification. This new 'power' environment will produce spiritual giants - both holy and demonic. The protective, nurturing, canopy of grace is gone, man and woman are now adult, ready for the full experiences of adult kingdom life. All-truth will set us free - the wicked to unspeakable wickedness, the righteous to all-holiness and all-power.
2. The New Commission
The new 'commission' of end-of-the-age believers. The 'not by power' strategy of conquest - the wisdom war. The Biblical patterns of Noah and Joseph offer the world prophetic survival instructions. Messiah's wise and faithful managers will store up 'food' during the years of great prosperity for later distribution. God will provide an 'ark' of safety for whoever will enter, but only a remnant will 'sell out' to the earth's rightful heir. The division of mankind will be complete.
3. The Perfect Universal Lifestyle
We begin to live the lifestyle of the kingdom. The only definition of a perfect lifestyle, the lifestyle of Jesus the perfect man, turns out to be the lifestyle of the perfect man. What good sense, what beauty. So, our first step in conforming to the perfect man, Jesus, is to accept the covenant of Moses and its perfect lifestyle.
4. Gender Roles
We are created in the image of God - male and female. In the Godhead we see all the basic relationship models - male/female, husband/wife, father/son, and basic family (father/ mother/son). Aligning with this truth, believing men and women will conform to these new and powerful role models - men to Jesus Christ, women to the Holy Spirit. This will provide the power to finish the unique building process required for a 'completed male'.
5. Corporate Oneness
Oneness must come - one body, one faith. God's purposes in historical Judaism and Christianity now become clear - a marriage of mind and heart. This new truth will require new doctrine - one faith. One new and powerful body, or temple, will rise to manifest the glorious and perfect testimony of God's redemptive work to the world.
6. Transfiguration
The diploma, the robes of pure white linen, the end of redemption. The third redemptive experience - reconciliation with the Father. Faithful preparation has merited the final grace - the granting of power to live perfectly - probably at the midpoint of fourteen years, the completion of the 'blood bought' bride. This is the granting of the kingdom 'all's' - all truth, all holiness, all power. The signal for the beginning of the 'greater works' ministry and the perfect testimony.
7. Second Ministry of Messiah
The second half of Jesus' ministry, 'proclaiming the vengeance of our God'. As seven years of universal prosperity ends, the famine and judgment begins. The new commission continues into the second phase - distribution and the 'buy-out' of the kingdom citizens and territory. A perfect testimony is given to all the world. The perfect race is marked and tested for three and a half years. A panorama of end time events proceeds - perfect victory, the great rebellion, martyrdom, rapture, great tribulation - then finally, in all its glory, the coming of Messiah and his kingdom.
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I John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Jesus' Goal - Peace or Division?
The character of the end of the age is one of harvest. It's designed to 'ripen' ones real nature. The environment and circumstances will be such that the true nature of our being will be manifested and fixed. That truth alone should cause many to seek the only source of salvation and life - God's Messiah. Through the atoning work of Messiah, we receive the Spirit of Truth and the promises of grace and mercy. Only by the Spirit of Truth will we be drawn toward the light and eternal safety. Everyone will be drawn down one path or another. There will be a bewildering number of alternative paths that we could follow. The concepts of life and reality that we hold will have a great impact on each decision. Tradition, peer pressure, religion, education, self preservation, pride, fame, fortune, etc., will all influence decisions we make in the days ahead. Each decision will bring us closer in line with the reality of the kingdom, or further out of sync with the kingdom. Paul warned that there would be a great call for 'peace and safety' during the time of the end. Peace is certainly a desirable goal. It would seem likely that the road to the kingdom, would be down the path of peace and safety. Like never before, there is something within all humanity that hungers for peace and safety - especially in these uncertain times. However, the carnal mind of man is easily deceived into a path of false peace. It is the truth of God, as found in the Holy Scriptures, that gives us discernment to find the road to genuine lasting peace. Ironically, the path to true peace is down a path called 'division'. Division is a central theme of the end times and the true kingdom.
Division is the final goal of Jesus' ministry. Jesus is generally known to the world as a man of peace. A man of peace, yes, the source of all peace, yes, but with a mission of war. Peace can never bring peace in the face of lawlessness. Anyone who promises that is a deceiver. True peace can only come when lawlessness is uncovered, isolated and eliminated. That was the mission of Jesus. He said:
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. Luke 12:49-51
Jesus here indicates his two primary assignments, his two ministries - to undergo his 'baptism' and than to divide humanity. He fulfilled his baptism on the cross 2000 years ago, but the dividing assignment has waited for the end. For 2000 years God has graciously waited, in the face of great lawlessness, for man to voluntarily enter his kingdom. Who can deny he has been more than patient? But rebellion must be separated from allegiance. Everyone on earth must be confronted with a clear and pure message of the kingdom and given the right to choose. Everyone must be given the opportunity to examine the kingdom in which he will spend eternity. Some will accept it by faith, others by expediency, and others not at all. Six billion people must choose before the end can come.
So division must come before peace. But the process of division is more complex, and much more realistic, than Christianity has understood it. The first step in understanding this division is to understand the kingdom groups. There are three and only three groups. Every human who has ever lived or will live must enter one of these kingdom groups. There are different entry requirements and conditions for each group. Two of the group designations are very familiar and we commonly refer to them as 'heaven' or 'hell'. The Scriptures don't emphasize the hereafter, but it generally reveals two destinations that have been active since creation. The faithful enter heaven eventually, and the unfaithful, hell. (this is a slight oversimplification but the point is made.) The heaven group needs a great deal of clarification, but the real mystery group is the third group. One reason it has remained nameless and faceless is that it appears to be activated only during the division process at the end of the age. [Scripture does not seem to confirm the possibility, but there is a plausible scenario which may make this third group the destination of 'faithless salvations'. Faithless salvations are those who are granted eternal life without a faith decision - the unborn, children, and probably some 'unreached'] This third group, the 'citizens' as defined below, begins to fill when the 'ruler' group is complete. There may be an overlapping time when both groups (all three) are active. The Kingdom Model #2, The Wisdom Strategy, reveals more details about the surprising process God has designed to accomplish this final division.
As complex as this may sound, the division goal must be carefully and clearly defined. We can evaluate end time events by how they contribute to the formation of these groups. No end of the age scenario can be considered complete or correct until it can describe how each group is formed and shaped. Of particular significance is the ability to resolve the formation of the kingdom's citizen group.
So we see that all the events of the end of the age will largely serve to induce humanity to migrate into one of the appropriate groups. Putting the kingdom first will help us avoid deception and uncover the truths that can conform us to the kingdom, preparing us for ministry to the world. In its simplest for, a kingdom is not hard to understand. Any kingdom must have the following components.
The coming kingdom of God consists of each component as listed and described below:
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. Luke 12:49-51
The Kingdom Components: