The Kingdom Is Coming to the Earth...

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We know the Kingdom of God will one day be installed on the earth, in answer to the millions of times the Lord's Prayer has been prayed by godly people. We realize this is true, and yet the realization is not firmly established in our heart and mind.

We have been seduced into believing that the "good news" of salvation is that we will go to Heaven when we die, rather than the "good news" of God's Kingdom and will coming to the earth, and we being resurrected so we once again can enjoy life as we have known it.

(6/26/2011). The recent hymns and choruses are speaking of the Kingdom and the Glory of God that soon shall fill the earth. "I'll Fly Away, Oh Glory" is changing to hymns about the wonderful prospect of God's Presence and Paradise once again being found on the earth.

In addition we can see taking place in the earth the calamities that the Lord Jesus informed us are the birth pangs, the travail that ultimately will result in the appearing of Christ and His saints and holy angels to drive all sin from the earth and bring justice and eternal life to those whom God chooses to save.

We now are turning from the "mansion" in the sky" to the "mansion" of eternal life and glory that will clothe the resurrected flesh and bones of those who have attained to the inner resurrection; the saints who have walked in victory while living in the valley of the shadow of death.

It appears that in the present hour, not too many Christians are experiencing a change from Heaven theology to that of Kingdom theology. But unless I am mistaken, this change is accelerating every day.

Any intelligent, thoughtful individual can see that life on the earth is moving toward a one-world government; and Christians know that such a government will enforce values and laws that are hostile to our Lord and to His disciples.

It is a relief to us to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ always is in control of every detail of each person living on our sin-cursed planet. Each individual who turns over his or her life to the Lord Jesus is just as safe while living on the earth as he or she would be in Heaven.

The reason the Lord permits wicked people to become ever more prominent is that all their wicked behaviour is working for good for each one who has been called from the beginning of the world to accomplish God's purpose, which is to conform His elect to the image of His Son.

One aspect of the Lord's return, that numerous Christians are not familiar with, is the necessity for war and violence if the Kingdom is to be installed on the earth. There are two dimensions of the war, two primary efforts that must be made before God is ready for the new Jerusalem to appear in the new sky and descend to a high mountain of the new earth. This is the "new world of righteousness" that I often refer to.

God's perfect and complete will shall be performed by every creature who has been saved to life in God's new world. If you can think of anything more marvellous, more desirable than that, I can't even imagine what it would be. The first dimension of the war that will drive evil from the earth is described in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation. Two armies will invade the earth at that time. The first army consists of the saints of all ages who have served the Lord. They are God's judges bringing God's moral laws into the earth, just as Israel brought the Ten Commandments into the midst of the demon-worshiping tribes of Canaan.

The second army is that of the holy angels who do God's will. They excel in strength, as the Bible says. They carry out the judgments decreed by the saints. Thus there are two armies, the army of saints and the army of angels. This is mahanaim, the double camp that always must be present when God is declaring war.

Antichrist and his armies will seek to prevent Christ and His saints and angels from entering the earth. But they will be overcome. Antichrist and the False Prophet will be thrown into the eternal fire. Satan will be thrown into the Bottomless Pit, until he is released toward the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age (Millennium). The carrion-eating birds will make a banquet of the flesh of the soldiers of Antichrist.

The second dimension of the war that will drive evil from the earth will take place after the Battle of Har-magedon, the battle described in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation.

The second dimension is described in the second chapter of the Book of Joel. Again the two armies, the saints and the angels, are present. But this time they are not attacking the armies of Antichrist that had been attempting to keep our Lord from returning to the earth. Rather, they are going through the cities of the earth that had served the world spirit of Antichrist. They are destroying the works of civilization, the institutions and structures of the world.

From the time of Adam and Eve, people have sought to live their lives independently of God. From the moment that Eve decided to rebel against God's commandment, choosing instead to gain what she desired by exerting her own will, to the present hour when the politicians and intellectuals of our world are seeking to bring about peace and safety by their own devices. people from the lowest to the highest are attempting to use their minds to gain their goals rather than by submitting every action of every day to the Lord Jesus.

Even the Christian people! They have been taught that no one really can do God's will, and so they employ what they believe to be "grace" to serve as an alternative to obeying Christ and His Apostles.

But the Kingdom of God is the doing of God's will in place of our own will!

I was taught when I first was saved that no one can do God's will satisfactorily, and so I must be "saved by grace." Such confusion as to what Paul meant in the early chapters of the Book of Romans!

We all—every one of us—can do God's will. We absolutely must do God's will at all times and in every circumstance. Are His commandments grievous? Not at all. Each day He is ready to guide our actions into that which is best for us, whether we realize it or not. To not look to God and instead attempt to figure out what is best for us is the most foolish, destructive behaviour imaginable!

Well, the long and the short of it is that Satan has deceived God's people. He has told them that He who said, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" is an ogre whose chief delight is giving people impossible duties to perform and rules to follow.

Will we ever learn!

The fact is, it is Satan who is the ogre whose chief delight lies in deceiving people into destructive, shameful actions. This is not God's way, it is Satan's way.

God way of righteousness is easy, a delight to obey. Of course, there are times when we have to trudge up the mountain with our Isaac. But this is to release us from all idolatry, from that which draws our heart away from God.

Consider the end of the obedient Abraham!

I have learned one thing in my eighty-five years: God is good. He leads us into green pastures, beside quiet waters. When we start making foolish choices, God has a rod and staff. After a while we learn that these disciplines are a comfort to us. They keep us in the way of righteousness.

God always sets a table in front of us. There are enemies all around the table glaring at us and threatening us. On that table is all we need: healing, deliverance, love, righteousness, faith, wisdom, courage, confidence, joy, strength, peace, faith, trust. All we are to do is to ignore our enemies, and eat from the table what we need.

If your desire is the same as mine, you want to dwell in the house of God forever. That House is the Lord Jesus Christ. We indeed have been invited to live forever in God's House. But remember—God expects us to be obedient. He has not given us "grace" as an alternative to obedience, but to furnish our table with every provision we need to live a victorious life in Christ.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalms 23:6)

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