Prophecy and Mystery Contrasted - Prophecy 21

[0:00] Good morning. Thank you all for setting your clock. Otherwise, you might not be here. And we'll find who the guilty ones are at the next hour.

[0:16] You have received the copy that I referred to last week, Salvation's 33 Blessings. This is a list that was compiled by Dr. Louis Barry Chafer, who years ago was one of the founders and the first president of Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas.

[0:34] And indeed, it does consist of 33 blessings that we know of in connection with becoming a believer in Jesus Christ. And when you do, all 33 of these things listed become true of you.

[0:51] Whether you know it or not, whether you believe it or not, it is true. And if you know it and understand them and go over them, then they are the blessing that they are intended to be.

[1:06] But it's sad that so many people are actually in Christ and yet they are not aware of what they have been made in Christ and what has been provided for them.

[1:17] Let me put it this way. In the person of Jesus Christ, God has done everything he possibly could for you and has given it to you. How good is that?

[1:30] Unfortunately, we often do not realize that, but it is true nonetheless. So as you look over the list and check the references, I'm sure you will find it to be a blessing. I mean, Marie and I conducted for about 10 years a Bible class every Sunday afternoon at one of the assisted living facilities.

[1:50] And I went through all of these 33 things in an effort to try and enlighten those dear souls there as to what had been provided for them in Christ. And I'm sure that some of them were believers and some of them were not.

[2:03] And some had a church background and some did not. But at any rate, they got some great truth from these 33 blessings. So let's have a word of prayer. Accept our thanks, Father, for the beautiful day, for the time that you've given us to be together, and for these things that we've already considered by way of assets that you've made available to believers in Christ.

[2:23] We are truly grateful and we trust that as a result of people understanding these and reading them, their index appreciation will increase and grow all the more.

[2:34] Thank you for the time we can share together in Christ's name. Amen. For these sessions, we are dealing with the subject of prophecy.

[2:45] And that doesn't simply refer to things predicted in the future, although that is part of prophecy. It's just one part of it. And that's not really the part we're dealing with so much.

[2:56] What we are dealing with has to do with those elements in the Bible that are primarily focused on the nation of Israel. And because of that, they really delve into the paramount issue for everything and everyone at all times.

[3:13] And that is the kingdom of heaven come to earth. What that amounts to, in short order, is simply this. When the kingdom of heaven comes to earth, then earth is going to be as it should be, not as it is now.

[3:30] It is going to be in keeping with how God originally created it. The evil, the corruption, the violence, all of these things will be passé. And the kingdom of God will come to earth and be right here on this planet.

[3:47] And you and I will be living in it as beneficiaries of it. That is the kingdom of heaven coming to earth. May I inform you, this is not it.

[3:59] We are not living in it. There are some who insist we are. But they know we are not doing that literally. So they say, we are doing it spiritually.

[4:13] And yet, in the vast abundance of scripture that we have to appeal to, that just will not fly. All we are saying is, this is not the kingdom of heaven.

[4:25] This is an entirely unprophesied. Did you get that? That unprophesied, got nothing to do with prophecy. Age of grace. That is just sandwiched in here between these items that we are discussing.

[4:41] And that which takes up, by far and away, the vast majority of content and time, has to deal with what we are going to be talking about right now. And there is no better place for us to start than in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 3.

[4:55] So would you go there, please? We are going to be moving very quickly. I trust that you will be able to keep up with us because it will be highly beneficial if you do.

[5:07] First thing I want you to note, in Matthew's Gospel chapter 3, and nobody, by the way, nobody speaks of the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God, which we have identified as synonymous, nobody speaks of it more fluently and more frequently than Matthew in his Gospel.

[5:27] And it is beginning here in Matthew chapter 3, and I want you to notice between verse 23 of chapter 2 and verse 1 of chapter 3, there are 30 years that have transpired.

[5:47] You see, chapter 2 is dealing with our Lord Jesus as a baby, being born, etc. But there is a huge gap time between 23 of chapter 2 and chapter 3 and verse 1.

[6:00] Thirty years need to be inserted between those. And we read in those days, that is, 30 years later, after what you have recorded in chapter 2, John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[6:25] For this is the one, John is saying, referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Now remember, when you're reading this in Matthew chapter 3, remember that Isaiah prophesied this 700 years earlier.

[6:42] If you've got a New American Standard like I do, you have the luxury of seeing the verse printed out in large capital letters, which identifies the source of it, and the marginal note will tell you exactly where it is from.

[6:56] This is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. And of course, the Lord spoken of here is the Lord Jesus.

[7:09] He's 30 years old now, and he's going to be introduced by John to the kingdom of Israel. And we read that John himself had a garment of camel's hair, leather belt about his waist, his food was locusts and wild honey.

[7:23] Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan. Now, we do not know definitively how many they all consisted of.

[7:38] I think it is safe to say that it does not mean every resident in the area, but I think it does also imply a great abundance of people. We are not told how many.

[7:51] We are not told hundreds or thousands, but we are told that John and the message he was preaching received tremendous response. And the reason it did was because this, this is the message Israel had been waiting for for 4,000 years, going all the way back to Genesis 3 and verse 15, about the seed of the woman.

[8:18] When he comes, he will crush the head of the serpent, and the serpent will strike him on the heel. And that speaks of the interaction between Satan and Christ, where Satan is going to deliver a blow to Christ, the striking of the heel is the serpent, but it will not be a mortal blow in the sense that he will be back to life three days later, but Christ ultimately is going to crush the head of the serpent.

[8:46] That speaks of a more fatal and permanent kind of blow. That's what these people were promised. That's what they were looking for. That's what every Jew longed to see.

[8:58] The Messiah, the Messiah, the Messiah. When the Messiah comes, he's going to fix everything. He's going to fix a broken world. He's going to root out injustice and corruption and all the rest. That's true.

[9:08] And that's what the Messiah came to do. But the Messiah could not gain the cooperation of those to whom he came.

[9:19] So John tells us, he came unto his own, which means the Jewish people, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, and that includes us, that's part and parcel of the church age.

[9:36] So, notice John's message. We are told in verse 6, they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. This baptism was a ceremonial purification, and each one that believed John's message followed up their belief with the baptism of John.

[9:57] Not everyone did, however. Verse 7 makes it clear. When he saw many of the Pharisees coming for baptism, he said, you brood of vipers, and this is a pretty negative thing, and they are going to be the opposing element of Christ from the time of John.

[10:13] They're going to reject John and his message. Therefore, when John introduces Jesus as the Messiah, this crowd is already in a rejection mode.

[10:26] They rejected John before Jesus, and when John came to introduce Jesus, they rejected Jesus as well. And that's the crowd of opposition that he's going to contend with all throughout his earthly ministry.

[10:39] Now I want you to come over to chapter 5 of Matthew. Most of this is going to be in Matthew, although it is under passage, but we're not going to take time to go to them.

[10:49] And the Beatitudes. Do you realize the Beatitudes that so many dear people, Christian people, feel that we are supposed to live by?

[11:01] That this is all kingdom-oriented material. This belongs, this kingdom, these Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, belongs to the message that John is preaching.

[11:13] Is that so hard to grasp? I mean, we just saw John introducing the kingdom of heaven, and here in chapter 5, we read that when he saw the multitudes, this is talking about Jesus now, he's into his earthly ministry, he went up on the mountain, after he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and began to teach them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the what?

[11:37] The kingdom of heaven. Folks, this has got nothing, whatever to do, with the church we know of as the body of Christ, of which you and I are members.

[11:49] At this point in time, that wasn't even thought of, wasn't in the picture at all, wasn't even part of the mix. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[12:02] Let me inject something here, because here is where enormous misunderstanding occurs. And I've tried to make this clear in the past, so say I now again, the kingdom of heaven is not to be confused with heaven, the dwelling place of God, where he is.

[12:20] Christ will also refer to that. The kingdom of heaven is the authority and the rule and the reign of heaven coming to earth. Here's where the changes are going to be made, on the earth.

[12:33] So, this is crystal clear as you read the Beatitudes, this is all kingdom content. This is not church truth. It was never intended to be. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and he's talking about right here on the earth.

[12:49] Verse 10, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is saying the kingdom of heaven that he, the king, is going to bring to the earth and these people that he's just identified are going to have a special place in it.

[13:08] Let us move on, if we may, to verse 10. I'm sorry, verse 19. Same chapter, verse 19. Whoever then annuls one of these least of commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

[13:26] This has got nothing to do with heaven where God is. This is here on earth. But it's future. But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

[13:36] For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. That's the earthly sphere, the rule and reign of Christ.

[13:50] There are going to be people who are going to flock into it, be accepted into it, be advantaged by it, and there are going to be people who are not going to be admitted. They will not have qualified.

[14:04] The text goes on and I'm going to go to chapter 6 now because I want to get as many of these in as possible before we take our break. Chapter 6 and verse 8.

[14:17] Therefore, everybody's familiar with this, do not be like them. Your Father knows what you have need before you ask Him. Pray then in this way. Our Father who art in heaven.

[14:29] Now there He identifies the heaven that is the dwelling place of God. Not to be confused with the kingdom of heaven that He's going to be talking about. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come.

[14:45] And that of course will be to earth. So that Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then, verse 13, Do not lead us and do not allow us to go into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[15:02] For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. This is a kingdom prayer. It is not in vogue today, but there are people who insist that it is and they treat it as if it's almost some kind of a mantra or magic bullet that if you say this over and over enough times, who knows what's going to happen.

[15:20] But this was never, in fact, if you read back before this just a few verses, our Lord actually condemns, condemns, just the rote recitation of prayers, saying over and over and over and over again, as if, if you pray, if you pray about a certain thing enough times and bombard heaven with it, God will finally give in and do it your way, which is nonsense.

[15:49] But this is the way some people interpret this. And in verses, well, it's chapter 6 and verse 8, we've already looked at verse 14.

[16:02] If you forgive men their trespasses for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

[16:17] Can you not see the works, performance, requirement here? Isn't that clear? How do you square this with what Paul wrote to the Colossians about having been forgiven all our trespasses?

[16:37] You don't square it. It can't be squared. These are two different entities, two different dispensations altogether. This is a works-oriented thing.

[16:48] The kingdom is. It is a do, and thou shalt live. Grace is live, and thou shalt do. It's a complete reversal. But it is amazing how many people take this as their marching orders, and one reason they do is because it's in red letters.

[17:04] It's what Jesus said. And you need to understand that there isn't anything in the Bible that is more important by way of inspiration than anything else in the Bible. It is all the Word of God, and that has to be treated that way.

[17:19] In verse 14, this is a conditional thing, and the message of the kingdom has a definite work element to it, part of which was water baptism.

[17:35] Under the kingdom message, water baptism was not optional. If you receive the message of the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven coming to earth, and you accept Jesus as the Messiah, there's only one thing that you really need to do, and it's unthinkable that you would not do it, and that is you are baptized.

[17:58] But this is all Jewish. Do you understand that? Even in the kingdom thing, it's all Jewish. No Gentiles involved here at all. These are all Jews, and they are responding to a Jewish baptism.

[18:11] This baptism is a cleansing. It's a purification rite. It is a ceremonial purification that they went through to demonstrate their belief in the kingdom and the Messiah, and it was backed up.

[18:24] It was a work to do. It was a performance-based thing. You would submit to John's baptism. It's unthinkable that someone could say, yes, I believe Jesus is the Messiah.

[18:37] I believe He's bringing the kingdom, but I have a fear of water. I'm not going to be baptized. That's nonsense. You would be baptized, and what's more, you would have been glad to be baptized. You would have been eager to be baptized.

[18:48] It would have been part of the whole program. And verse 33, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

[19:02] He's talking about things in verse 31, what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we close. And this is all kingdom stuff. It's all kingdom content for the Jewish people.

[19:13] And let me make this very clear. This was for the Jewish people exclusively. This content was never delivered to the Egyptians, to the Babylonians, to the Assyrians.

[19:24] No one. Only Israel. Only Israel. Why is Israel so key? Why are they so, why are they so in the center of this? It's because God has made commitments to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Israel, the nation Israel, is going to be the, what shall I say, it's going to be the point on the spear of realizing that kingdom of heaven coming to earth.

[19:56] it's going to come through the instrumentality of Israel. And this becomes even more clear as we move on. I've got to hasten. I've got so many I want to give you and I want you to see all these in one fell swoop if possible.

[20:09] Verse 21 of chapter 7. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

[20:21] Now there is a perfect example. Do you see the two different heavens? Don't make these two heavens to be one in the same heaven. One of them is on earth and the other is in heaven where the Father dwells.

[20:35] Alright, let's take a look at 8, chapter 8, and verse 11. And I say to you that many shall come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven?

[20:57] What is that saying? That is saying that when the kingdom of heaven is established on earth, there won't be just Jews in it.

[21:09] There will be Jews and Gentiles. There will be a mix. There will be people coming from the east and the west and all over the world. And they will be coming and sit at table.

[21:21] This is like this is like a feast. This is a time of celebration. And he's talking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

[21:31] Many shall come from the east and the west. Some of them will be Jews. Some of them won't be Jews. The kingdom of heaven once it is established on the earth is going to be made up of believing Gentiles and believing Jews.

[21:43] Verse 14. And when Jesus had come to Peter's home, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. He touched her hand.

[21:53] The fever left her. She arose, began to wait on him. And when evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill.

[22:08] In order that, so that, what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet. We just looked at him in chapter 3, chapter 2, remember?

[22:20] 700 years earlier, he himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases. Here is a miracle manifestation that is just getting underway, and please understand this because it is so very, very important.

[22:39] The whole kingdom concept motif for Israel super abounds with the supernatural.

[22:51] One miracle after another. The greatest reason Jesus performed miracles apart from the fact that he had compassion on people who were suffering, and he certainly did, but that was secondary.

[23:08] his primary reason for the 35 miracles that we have recorded in the Gospels that Jesus performed was to authenticate his claim to be Israel's Messiah.

[23:25] He claimed to be, and he is saying with his miracles, and this is the proof of it. And do you not see how and why many people were convinced that he was?

[23:35] Remember John 3, Nicodemus? We know, Rabbi, we know that you are a man come from God for, because no one can do these miracles that you do unless God is with him.

[23:51] So Jesus is going to perform miracle after miracle after a miracle. Some will involve nature such as stilling the storm and the coin and the fish's mouth for Peter, and some will involve raising the dead, some will give sight to the blind, some will cause the lame to walk.

[24:10] All of these things constituted the Messiah's calling card. He backed up what he said he would do and who he was.

[24:21] This is so very, very important. Now, let's look at chapter 9 and 32.

[24:33] 932. And as they were going out, behold, a dumb man, a mute, demon possessed, was brought to him.

[24:43] And after the demon was cast out, the dumb man spoke and the multitudes marveled, saying, nothing like this was ever seen in Israel.

[24:55] Well, I guess not. You think that didn't get people's attention? And listen, the most stunning, amazing, hard to process thing about all of this, in light of all of the miracles that Jesus performed, the nation is still going to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear toward Jesus being the Messiah.

[25:24] And you know what that proves to me? that proves to me that man's unbelief has nothing to do with the lack of evidence or how much evidence you give him to justify belief.

[25:40] If he doesn't want to believe, he isn't going to believe, it doesn't make any difference how much evidence there is. Do we not see that proved time and time again right here in our own culture, in our own world?

[25:51] We most certainly do. So Israel is still going to reject. And Jesus is going to say later on, two of the cities in Galilee, where he was from, perched on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Bethsaida and Chorazin.

[26:11] Bethsaida is Peter's hometown. And Jesus is going to upbraid them and say, woe. Listen, woe is not W-H-O-A like you say woe to a horse.

[26:22] Woe is W-O-E and that is bad news. That is calamity. That is something you don't want to tangle with. Woe is major adversity.

[26:34] And Jesus said, woe unto you, Bethsaida, Chorazin, because if the mighty miracles done in you, that you witnessed, you saw with your own eyes, if they had been done in Tyre and Sidon, and where is Tyre and Sidon?

[26:53] Over on the coast. They're not even Jews. They're Gentiles. If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented.

[27:05] But not you. It is a matter of the will, not a matter of evidence. These people were simply steeled against this. And do you know something?

[27:16] This figures in. I don't know to what extent. I don't know how he operated, but I know this. Satanic influence is always afoot. And everywhere Jesus goes, Satan is dogging his heels.

[27:32] He is the main, he is the main force against the Son of God in every way and still is to this day. So much so that Jesus referred to him in John 12, 14, and 16, as the prince of this world.

[27:52] Jesus was not talking about himself. He was talking about Satan, the prince of this world. And in 2 Corinthians 4, we know that Paul emphasizes that.

[28:04] All right, we've got to move on. I've got many more verses here. Let's go to chapter 10 and verse 1. Having summoned his 12 disciples, he gave them authority.

[28:15] Look at this. He gave them authority. It's almost tantamount to saying he gave them authority just like he himself had, which is quite remarkable because the miracles that Jesus performed are going to be replicated by six teams of disciples, six two-man teams comprising 12, and he gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

[28:50] And verse 5, these 12 Jesus set out after instructing them saying don't go to the Gentiles. Why? God doesn't have it in for the Gentiles.

[29:04] The Gentiles come along later. You've got to get Israel on track first. And do you know something? That's never happened. That still hasn't happened.

[29:15] But he's telling them don't go to the Gentiles. In the first place, the Gentiles won't know anything about what you're talking about. They don't have a frame of reference for this. They don't have any history.

[29:26] But this concept of the kingdom and the Messiah is rooted deep in the heart of every Jew. But not Gentiles, just Jews. Jews. That's why they are so strategic.

[29:39] And this is one reason that they receive so much flack and persecution because Satan is involved in that also. So let's move on. Do not enter into any cities of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[29:55] and as you go, here's your message. Preach. Say, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And it isn't enough just to say it, fellas.

[30:06] You've got to show it. So, you heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, freely you receive, freely give, do not acquire gold or silver, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

[30:19] Wow. This is all kingdom content. This has got nothing to do with the church today, the body of Christ. Why do we spend time with this then?

[30:32] For an understanding. Listen, this is to take into consideration that it is an important part of the whole mix. This is not given.

[30:44] This is not given for you to go and do likewise. And that's where a lot of confusion comes in. That's where our Pentecostal brethren come in with what I think is a misunderstanding.

[30:57] And their mantra is, well, if we have the faith that these people have, we'll be able to do the same miracles that they did. We'll be able to raise the dead. We'll be able to cast out demons. We just don't have enough faith like these people did.

[31:09] That's not true. It isn't contingent upon the amount of faith. It's contingent upon what ministry is given to what people at what time, for what purpose.

[31:19] Do you know what you call that? You call that rightly dividing the word of God. That's what it's all about. And if you don't make these divisions and you don't see these distinctions, you jumble it all together, and you've got this, it says this, but this seems to contradict this, and what is it?

[31:37] Nothing fits. Nothing fits. And it's not supposed to fit. But we cram it and push it and shove it and try to squeeze it in that box and make it fit. And the reason we do is because we don't want the Bible to have any contradictions in it.

[31:52] And these sure look like contradictions, so we've got to find some way to solve this thing. The answer is right division. When you put this where it belongs, put this where it belongs, put this where it belongs, put these people where they belong at the time they belong, the Bible fits like a hand in a glove.

[32:13] But it doesn't fit if it isn't rightly divided. We're not going to get through this. Chapter 11 and verse 20.

[32:27] Chapter 11 and verse 20. He began to reproach the city in which most of his miracles were done because they did not repent. And here's a passage I just quoted a while ago, Chorazin and Bethsaid.

[32:40] And by the way, do you realize that out of all of the miracles that our Lord did that are recorded, 35 that are recorded in the Gospels, and I'm sure there's probably a whole lot more, plus the miracles the disciples did.

[33:02] I cannot find any place in the Scriptures, any place in the Gospels, where the authenticity of the miracles, was ever challenged. I mean, for instance, a blind man healed, he's going to know whether he was healed or not.

[33:23] For a lame man to walk, if he's walking and jumping and leaping, he's going to know whether it's real or not. And so are all the people. There isn't any indication that anyone ever said, ah, these miracles, they're all staged, they're all put up, they're all, it's all a show, it's a big sham, it's designed to fool people.

[33:44] Nobody ever said that. Nobody ever questioned the validity of the miracles. Nobody ever said they're not real. They knew they're, listen, there were multitudes that came to Jesus.

[33:55] We don't know how many a multitude is because we're never given a definition, but it's safe to say a multitude is a lot of people. A lot of people. And out of all of these multitudes, you would think that there would be somebody who says, oh, don't you people understand this?

[34:13] There's a trick to it, and here's the trick, this is what he's, no, no, no, none of that. Out of all of the multitudes that were healed, nobody ever questioned the validity, the genuineness of the miracles, or the results of the miracles.

[34:27] The scribes and Pharisees objected, not on the grounds that, well, the miracles aren't real. They said, no, no, they're real, is through the power of Satan.

[34:40] You're doing it through the devil's power. That's how you're doing those miracles. And by the way, that also ties in, their accusation ties in with the unpardonable sin that was committed by that generation exclusively.

[35:00] No one has ever been able to even commit the unpardonable sin today. It does not exist. And do you realize there are people who spend sleepless nights thinking that they have committed the unpardonable sin?

[35:14] What's an unpardonable sin? That means a sin for which there's no forgiveness. You're sunk. And there are people who believe they've committed that. And because the Bible talks about an unpardonable sin, they beat themselves up thinking that they've committed it.

[35:27] And it's not even possible. When Jesus Christ died on that cross, he died for the sins of the world. Well, let's go on. Let's go on. Chapter 11, and where am I?

[35:40] Verse, let's go to 1228. This is a powerful, powerful verse. This is where they accused him of casting out demons by Beelzebub.

[35:54] and Jesus said in verse 28, but if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God or by the power of the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

[36:13] Could anything be clearer? God this is the king, and he is bringing with him kingdom conditions of healing, of wellness, of sight to the blind, of calming the angry waters of the sea, all of these things.

[36:35] It's all vested in his person, and when Jesus said to the Pharisees, the crowd again was opposing him, the King James is a terrible translation here.

[36:47] The King James says, I don't even know where the reference is, I'm not going to take time to look it up, but anyway, they said, Jesus said, in the King James it says, the kingdom of heaven is within you, and that's the way the King James renders it.

[37:06] It's a terrible translation. Prepositions mean things, and you've got to find out what it's talking about, and if you've got a new American standard, in the text, and I can't even think of where it is now, I think it's in Luke, I'm not going to take time to go, he says, the kingdom of heaven is among you.

[37:28] What did that mean? He who was speaking was among them. He represented every aspect of the kingdom of heaven in his own person, and when he said the kingdom of heaven is among you, he was speaking of himself and the miracles that he was doing and the kingdom conditions that he was bringing.

[37:53] And for those who think that a typical liberal interpretation of that, the kingdom of heaven, the way it is rendered in the King James, the kingdom of heaven is within you.

[38:05] And they jump on that and they say, ah, there's the kingdom of heaven, it's just spiritual. And it resides in every person, which is kind of like the old spark of divinity in every person, which is complete nonsense.

[38:22] But if you look at the context, Jesus was talking to people who opposed him, who denied him, who were going to be complicit in his crucifixion.

[38:34] Do you think Jesus is saying the kingdom of heaven is in you? Then, of course not. Nothing even close. He was speaking of himself when he said the kingdom of heaven is among you, in his own person.

[38:48] And then, maybe we can, oh, gee. Well. I can't, oh, I hate that clock, I just hate it.

[39:07] Okay, I'm going to have to do it.

[39:28] Going to have to skip some of this. Good stuff we're skipping. heaven. Let's go to 1352. 1352.

[39:39] All I'm trying to get you to see is the dominance of this concept, the kingdom of heaven, and, and don't lose sight of this, and it's exclusive Jewishness.

[39:54] Got to get those together. treasure. In verse 52, or verse 51, and he said, do you understand these things?

[40:05] They said, yes, and he said to them, therefore, every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.

[40:21] So, this kingdom concept just continues to permeate. Come over to chapter 16, if you will. We're skipping a lot because we have to.

[40:34] 16 and 14. Who do people say the son of man is? And some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, Jeremiah, so who do you say?

[40:45] Peter said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus said unto him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, my father did not read you. Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven.

[40:57] And I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church. By the way, that's not us. There are a lot of different churches in the Bible.

[41:11] We are the church that is the body of Christ, spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 3. We are the church that is comprised of Jews and Gentiles who both have faith in Christ as their Savior.

[41:24] That's the church that is the body of Christ. That's not the church he's talking about here. The church he's talking about here is a Jewish church. This is going to be a Jewish assembly.

[41:37] And they are going to be that surviving remnant in the tribulation period. The church that Jesus says he's going to build here has never yet been built because the kingdom has never yet come.

[41:50] This is all kingdom content. And the gates of Hades and I give to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Wow. What's that all about?

[42:01] What's a key? What's that referred to? A key represents authority. It's the ability to unlock or to lock, to retain or to loose.

[42:13] whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. This is kingdom content. This is when the twelve are ruling and reigning in Jerusalem under the person of Christ and they are going to be established on the twelve thrones of Israel, judging the twelve.

[42:32] The twelve will be judging and Christ himself, David is going to be the vice-regent. Christ is going to be there. You're going to be there. We're all going to be there.

[42:43] This is going to be incredible. And what he's talking about here is the future. And it isn't the future to the church that we know of as a church. This is the church that is in keeping with that kingdom.

[42:57] And that's part and parcel. In verse 28, look at this, verse 28, some of you standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

[43:11] And then look at the very next chapter because there's a chapter division there and there shouldn't be because chapter 17 explains what he just said in verse 28.

[43:24] But if you stop reading, you break the continuity. And the context goes on and six days later, that is six days after he said what he did in verse 28, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, his brother, brought them up to a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them.

[43:43] His face shone like the sun, his garments became as white as the sun. Listen, this is what Jesus is going to look like at the second coming. They are given a foretaste of that.

[43:55] This is Jesus arriving in Revelation chapter 19 on that white horse with the sword that proceeds out. This is what he's going to look like. This is how he's going to be presented.

[44:06] The disciples here are given a sneak preview and it's just three of the twelve. Just Peter, James, and John. Not the other nine. Why these three? I don't know, but I do know Peter has a specific position that the others do not have.

[44:22] It was to Peter that the keys of the kingdom were given, and our Roman Catholic friends, of course, translate that to mean that Peter is the head of the church, and you have to read a lot into it that is not there, and we're dealing with that on Christianity clarified in volumes 63 and 64.

[44:38] They're not out yet, but they will be before long. So all of this is kingdom content, and it has to be kept in the context in which it is given, and if you will look at chapter 18, verse 1, the time the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

[45:04] And he called a child to himself, and stood them in the midst, and said, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, and what that means is you become believers.

[45:18] You know, one of the characteristics of a child is a childlike faith, and if a child hears something from an adult that they recognize as an authority person, they tend to believe them.

[45:34] If you tell a little child, if a father tells a little child that yellow moon is made of pasteurized cheese, he's going to believe it.

[45:47] You know why he's going to believe it? Because his father told him, and he knows he can believe anything his father tells him. But that's just an extreme example. But all Jesus is saying is that it is essential to place your faith in that object that you say you believe.

[46:06] And whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. This has got absolutely nothing to do with dying and going to heaven. This has got everything to do with that kingdom of heaven coming to earth, living and operating in it, and it will go on for one thousand years before it comes to an end.

[46:31] I guess I should congratulate myself because I got halfway through it. Okay, let me just close. We've got just a couple of minutes. And here's a bombshell about this whole thing.

[46:45] verse 1. The kingdom of heaven that is proclaimed, that will be rejected by the Jews in the Gospels, now hear me, will continue to be proclaimed and continue to be rejected by the same Jews after death, burial, resurrection of Christ, after the ascension.

[47:13] In fact, this is what Acts 2 is really all about. It is not about the beginning of the church.

[47:27] It is about this kingdom concept. I'm excited to share this with you because it is blockbuster material.

[47:37] and if it does for you what it has done for me over the years by way of clarification and enabling you to get some things fixed straight in your mind, then it will have served its purpose.

[47:54] So I'm going to resume with Matthew and we'll go to Acts and this is critical. This is absolutely critical because so many Christians, Roman Catholics and Protestants, so many Christians believe that everything and anything concerning the kingdom of heaven ends with the crucifixion of Christ and his rejection.

[48:21] Most do not have a clue that it continues right on because God is going to graciously extend the opportunity to Israel to embrace the kingdom that they rejected during Jesus' earthly ministry and the apostles are going to go out all over Israel and proclaim that kingdom and they will meet with the same result that Jesus did, which was persecution and death.

[48:53] But nonetheless, the patience, long suffering, mercy, grace of God will give Israel repeated opportunities to reverse themselves.

[49:04] They did not, they have not, but they will. So there we must leave it because our time has gone. So thank you.

[49:15] Question, I'll take a couple of quick questions. Since we're not having a coffee break anyway, why? Okay. Dolly? I don't want to sound sacrilegious and I might be way off on the far limb here, but it almost seems as if we should be appreciative of Judas and the Pharisees and the Romans because if Jesus had not been rejected, if he had not died on that cross, then the conditions and the works orientation of the kingdom of heaven and the exclusiveness for the Jew would have prevented we Gentiles from having an opportunity to be forgiven.

[50:06] You are absolutely right. You are absolutely right. And what you need to do, very quickly if you would, is come to Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter, actually Romans 9, 10, and 11 all deal with this.

[50:28] And it is through, it is through the unbelief and the rejection by Israel toward Jesus that this whole thing called the church, the body of Christ, has come into being.

[50:41] 13, and in verse 11 and 12 through 15. Oh yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you.

[50:55] Yeah, 11, 11, 11, 11. Well, actually we need to start with verse 7. 11, 7.

[51:07] What then? That which Israel is seeking for it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it and the rest were hardened. Just as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not, ears to hear not, down to this very day.

[51:19] David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, stumbling block a retribution to them, let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever. I say then, they did not stumble as to fall, did they?

[51:33] May it never be. In the Greek, this is meganoito, meganoito. It's the strongest negative adversity you can get in the English language. Neganoito. And when he says, they did not stumble so as to fall, he means that their fall is not final.

[51:52] That was not the basis for the stumbling. The fall was real, but the fall is not final. So that the fall would be the final outcome. May it never be. But by their transgression, whose?

[52:06] Israel's. By their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. Now, if their transgression, that is Israel's transgression, and their transgression is the rejection of their Messiah.

[52:23] If their transgression be richest for the world, and their failure be richest for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be?

[52:36] Who's? Israel! Now? Nope. Not now. But then, later. But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles, when he writes this book to the Romans, inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.

[52:55] I want you to note a very important distinction here. Paul is not magnifying himself. He declared himself less than the least of all the apostles.

[53:06] What he is magnifying is his office, his calling, that which God committed unto him. And that is the dispensation of the grace of God.

[53:21] He's saying, that's what I magnify. That's where the riches are for the Gentiles, actually for the Jew also. I magnify my office if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.

[53:37] Why do you think Paul always headed for the synagogue whenever he went into a new town? Always went to the synagogue. And he tried to bring them up to speed as to what was taking place.

[53:49] And so often, the response was mixed. And I want to close with this. I know I said that before, but I didn't mean it then. In the last chapter of the book of Acts, which is probably about 67 A.D., only about three years away from the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

[54:17] Paul is under house arrest in Rome. He is chained for six hours to a Roman guard who is relieved by another guard for six hours, who is relieved by another guard for six hours around the clock.

[54:39] He was that way. By the way, what do you think Paul had to say to those guards? Yeah. He says, the preaching of the gospel is rather, the persecution and the rejection of the gospel that resulted in my imprisonment has rather led to a furtherance of the gospel because he had inroads into the Praetorian Guard, the elite crack troops of Rome, and you may be sure he preached the gospel to them.

[55:08] And when Paul says that he invited fellow Jews, he was in Rome, there's a lot of Jews living in Rome, Jews were scattered all over the Mediterranean world, a lot of Jews living in Rome, and Paul sent out word to all the Jewish brethren to come and visit him at his hired villa, and they had a day-long Bible conference.

[55:29] You can read this in the last chapter of the book of Acts. They came to him and it says that they reasoned from the scriptures from morning till night. Oh, it would love to have been a fly on the wall, and that, wouldn't that have been something?

[55:42] And the text said, and Paul argued, and he reasoned, and what did he reason with? He reasoned with the only thing he had, the Old Testament. That's all that existed.

[55:52] But that was enough. That was enough. And the text says at the end of the day, some believed, and some believed not. And the church in Rome, to which Paul wrote this letter, was a flourishing church, and it was made up of Jews and Gentiles, but early on, it was just Jews exclusively.

[56:17] Gentiles were not added until at least ten years after the resurrection. Think of that. We Gentiles, we Gentiles just can't get the Jewishness that is involved in this in place.

[56:31] We just have to think in terms of Christians rather than Jews. And do you realize every single book in this Bible was written by a Jew?

[56:44] Not Gentile. Every one of them. Possible exception, Dr. Luke, but I don't think that's true. I don't think anybody could have written Luke's gospel but a Jew myself.

[56:56] And Acts as well. Okay, well, I'm I'm not finished but I quit. We're going to take up here next week. And you know what all of this is connected with?

[57:08] All of this kingdom business got nothing to do with mystery in the body of Christ. Nothing. It's got everything to do with prophecy and the Jew and the kingdom.

[57:20] freedom. And if you don't keep them separated, you're going to have yourself a ton of trouble. You'll never be able to figure out anything. So, we'll continue this and thank you for your kind attention.

[57:33] alcohol ABenION, love call me crazy.

[57:49] Thank you.