Prophecy and Mystery Contrasted - Reviewing the Kingdon - Prophecy16

[0:00] Good morning. We are small in number but mighty in intellect and spirit. So thank you for joining us on this frosty wintry morning. We are glad that you could make it and we are glad also to be resuming our nine o'clock hour which has been discontinued for months and months much too long trying to modify and make some adjustments with this pandemic that's been going on. So and by the way speaking of the pandemic whatever anybody has to tell me about masks or no masks or social distancing or no social distancing or the vaccine or no vaccine I don't want to hear it.

[0:54] I've already heard too much and it is so much conflicting that it is just about to drive me batty. So we'll just go on from where we are and muddle through as best we can. So be reminded that the only thing that really matters is to remember who is actually in charge even of a pandemic. So pray with me if you would please.

[1:21] Father once again we appeal to you for wisdom we know we are lacking and yet we know that in that lack you have provided the scriptures for us so that we can search them and no longer be as ignorant as we once were. And we are grateful for every tidbit of information that you've been pleased to provide in your word. And we look to you now for a facility and an appreciation of it and being able to understand not only it but its implications.

[1:50] Thank you for being the God of all comfort and care. Thank you for being the God who is always there. Thank you for all that you have made us in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. We commit this time study and fellowship and inspiration to you in Christ's name.

[2:05] Amen. Amen. Amen. Well for our nine o'clock hour we are going to resume with the idea of prophecy in connection with the subject that we are dealing with.

[2:17] And we are coupling that with the 1015 service which is devoted to mystery as opposed to prophecy. Today however will be an exception because we will not be speaking on that subject but Nathan Rambeck will be speaking and I have no idea what he has selected for his morning message. That's up to him.

[2:40] But at any rate we are going to continue on with this nine o'clock session dealing with the aspects of prophecy. And as we have attempted to show you in the past God has been pleased to reveal well in advance those things that are in accordance with his good pleasure and in accordance with what he knows our needs to be.

[3:04] So we are examining what he has been pleased to reveal only with the understanding and intention I trust of being obedient to what we learn because that's the whole basis for communicating for God communicating with us is that there might be a response to what he has revealed.

[3:26] And our response of course is to be one of obedience. The subject we are dealing with is extremely controversial. And you need to understand and I've made this point before and I feel it's necessary to make it again that what we are teaching here at Grace Bible Church is the minority position regarding this subject.

[3:53] And you need to understand that. And when we talk about the minority then of course you wonder what's the majority. The majority is the majority is the Roman Catholic Church in general and the Protestant Church in general.

[4:11] Both of those entities comprise by far and away probably 90% of what we would call Christendom. And we are of the opinion that historically speaking the positions that they held and bought into shortly into the second century no doubt appeared very valid and very logical to them at the time.

[4:41] And I would go so far as to admit that had I been there looking at the same information and events that they had before them I probably would have reached the very same conclusions.

[4:57] And that has to do with the subject of the nation of Israel being set aside in a permanent fashion by God because they devoted themselves to idolatry and rebellion on numerous occasions for which God judged them and disciplined them and used pagan neighbors to do it all of the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Romans, etc.

[5:27] And they still continued in their unbelief. As Isaiah said all day long speaking for God I have stretched forth my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people and that God has set them aside permanently and he has replaced them with a whole new entity called the Christian Church.

[5:55] So long story short Israel is out permanently the Christian Church is in that is the majority position and you need to understand that what we are dealing with this morning is designed to counter that because we are persuaded that over the centuries that followed and based primarily however on the scriptures that preceded that Israel by virtue of the covenants that God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob God placed Israel in an inviolate position with an unconditional covenant and an unconditional covenant means there are no conditions attached to this covenant that you have to fulfill in other words what it amounts to is an unconditional promise on the part of God the fulfillment of which is not repeat is not determined by the obedience or the deservedness of the nation of Israel it is dependent solely upon the integrity of God who cannot lie now eventually we'll look at some of those references primarily in

[7:17] Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Hebrews but for now I want you to take a look at the sheet that you are provided because this provides also I think a good understanding of some of the confusion that exists even today in Christendom and it has to do with the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven most commentaries well I can't I can't honestly say that because I don't I don't really know for sure I haven't looked at all the commentaries but let me put it this way the vast majority of the commentaries that I have consulted and I have a rather extensive library of commentaries from all kinds of backgrounds and positions the vast majority of them do make a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven and I'm not going to go into it now because it might be confusing but if you have a Schofield reference Bible as I do I kind of cut my teeth as a Schofield reference Bible you will see that

[8:18] Dr. Schofield did make a distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God and I do think that for believers particularly those of the evangelical stripe who have bought into the Schofield reference Bible as did yours truly many years ago and I still think it's one of the finest reference Bibles available we've been led astray by Dr. Schofield's comments and he made a distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God and the scripture sheet that is before you is designed to reveal just one thing there is no difference they are one and the same the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is the kingdom of heaven and you may wonder well Marv you make such an issue of the fact that words mean things if the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God always mean the same thing then why is it the same word used consistently and that's a very good question and one reason one reason is because the term God whether it is Elohim or Yahweh or whatever you prefer to use in the Hebrew or in the Greek it is a word that the Jews have declined to pronounce if you read any kind of Jewish publications today even if you get for instance the Jerusalem Post modern day newspaper that is that originates in Israel but is published here in the United States even in that modern day language when you see the word God in that Jewish paper the Jerusalem Post it is not spelled

[10:19] G-O-D interesting it is spelled G- hyphen D that's their way of escaping using the name of God and the reason that they got into that many many many years ago was because they believed that it was possible for you to mistakenly unintentionally use the name of God in vain so if you never use it you won't be able to use it in vain and we find that kind of referred to a number of times and I'm thinking now for instance we won't go there but in Luke chapter 15 where the parable of the lost things are given the lost son the lost coin the lost sheep when the prodigal repents of his sin and comes back to his father he says father

[11:27] I have sinned he didn't say I have sinned against God although all of our sin is against God he said father I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight what did he mean by that he was just refraining from using the word God and he used the word heaven because essentially it was communicating the same thing and that was just one example of many so I just want you to look here at the sheet that is provided before you because it is nothing more than a combination of passages where the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God is used you see Matthew consistently uses the word heaven but Luke and Mark consistently use the word God kingdom of God as opposed to kingdom of heaven and some think that this calls into question the accuracy of the scriptures because why aren't the same words used in the same place well let me ask you this question with this subject of the kingdom being so dominant and so prominent and by the way it remains such although most people don't know that even most Christians don't know that but you need to understand you've heard me deliver messages before called what everything is all about this is it this is what everything is all about this is the end game this is where everything is going this is where all of the wars all of the conflicts all of the defeats all of the victories all of the everything all of the deaths all of the births all of everything this is what it's all about this is where everything is headed this is where we will be when we get there it will be this kingdom of heaven this ruined fallen earth will be beautifully restored to a pristine kind of condition and it will be indwelt by people who have not only a regenerated spirit but a renewed body a glorified body likened to the body of Christ and we will live in that for a thousand years and that too is going to come to an end but during that interim period well we'll get there later but we won't we won't it won't be today so all I want you to understand is there is no difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God and in Matthew we read when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison he departed into Galilee from that time

[14:20] Jesus began to preach and to say repent change your mind for the kingdom of heaven is at hand that is nearby now Mark and Luke or Luke render this this way now after that John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand now you see the similarity there and how they are used back and forth and it goes that way through all of the reference that you are given here kingdom of God kingdom of heaven kingdom of God kingdom of heaven and let me ask you this with Jesus and these twelve apostles preaching essentially this message repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand get ready prepare yourself because the kingdom of heaven is really close by and the reason it is is because the king is about to appear and that will be fulfilled when John sees Jesus coming and introduces him as the Messiah of Israel and John tells us in his gospel that

[15:40] John the writer as opposed to John the Baptist tells us in his writing that John the Baptist says for this reason for this reason came I baptizing in Israel John was saying it's all in connection with this Messiah because the Messiah is the one who's going to do it he's going to provide this kingdom of heaven this glorious state this renewal this refurbation of the whole planet and everything on it and when he comes he will be the one who will affect that now with them preaching this message as Jesus gave commission to the 12 don't go to Gentiles and he said that for a very definite reason and let me just inject something here the reason he said don't go to the Gentiles is because this kingdom of heaven is a message strictly for Israel because when Israel embraces the message and gets on board then they will be responsible for bringing all the rest of the world along problem is

[16:56] Israel never did get on board it was only a minority that did so the kingdom of heaven that was at hand became the kingdom that is postponed it's set aside it has never happened Jesus told the 12 go and as you go you are to provide with your message kingdom conditions and that will give credibility to what you have to say and the kingdom conditions are everything is wonderful give sight to the blind open the ears of the deaf heal the lame those are kingdom realities and as you do those things Jesus we are told in Matthew 10 that Jesus gave them authority authority they couldn't do that on their own he gave them authority to heal to raise the dead all kinds of things because that's what the one who says they are going to provide the kingdom better be able to do show us your stuff why should we believe you and the miracles were designed to do that and for many people they did but there were others of course who were the shakers and movers and they were in positions of authority and they began their negativity with John they rejected

[18:28] John and his baptism and his message and because John introduced Jesus as the Messiah then they were almost required to reject Jesus too because if they accept Jesus then that gives authority to John so that was a package John the Baptist and Jesus were virtually inseparable in so far as their positions and their reality was concerned and as Jesus and the twelve went all throughout Israel preaching this message how many times do you think they delivered it a bunch how many times do you think Jesus repeated himself a bunch of course why why would he do that well he's got a different audience everywhere he goes that's nothing new preachers do that all the time I don't think there is an evangelist alive that doesn't have what he calls a barrel of sermons and that is every town he goes to and every new church he goes to he knows the sermons that the people respond to the best he knows the ones that they appreciate the most those are the ones he and he's preached them over and over and over I remember what was his name pastor of a big baptist church in

[19:46] Chattanooga Tennessee what was his name I can't think of his name anyway he preached he preached a sermon a dynamite sermon called yeah okay okay okay I got it now I was I was thinking of Jonathan Edwards and sinners in the hands of an angry God that wasn't it but he preached this message payday someday that was it two words an evangelistic message payday someday and I remember reading his obituary really greatly loved man of God particularly by the Baptist and it was estimated that he had given that sermon some three or four hundred times in his life because he said everywhere he went and he was in much demand this was back in the days when churches had a lot more meetings evangelistic meetings than what they have today but he said everywhere he went people requested that sermon and he said but I preached it so many times and the people would say yeah we know we've already heard it but we want to hear it again he preached that sermon over and over so Jesus and the twelve as they went all throughout particularly

[21:10] Galilee not limited to Galilee but especially Galilee they preached this message and great crowds started thronging because people were impressed with the miracles they were impressed with the message with the words and there were thousands of people thousands gathered on one occasion he fed five thousand on another occasion he fed four thousand and that was just the men we don't know how many women and children there were but he was his popularity was growing and wherever he went his message was essentially the same and the parables that he gave so many of the parables are as as is often said it's a heavenly story about a about a earthly story about a heavenly meaning and he would take items from everyday life that people were familiar with and make spiritual applications with them like the seer the sower went forth to sow and so on like that and they gave these over and over and over again and it is not a stretch at all to say that when Jesus was in some places he spoke about the kingdom of God when he was in some places he spoke about the kingdom of heaven and so did the others because they were synonymous terms and I'm not going to read this to you you can read it yourself but I just want you to see in these cross references here how many times these terms are used and the context in which they are used makes it absolutely inevitable to reach any other conclusion than the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are one and the same so

[22:39] I want you to keep in mind three aspects about the kingdom because there are three different ways that it is used and I'm not going to go to all of them except this last one of the three it's the one we're focusing on first of all there is what is known as the universal kingdom of heaven and that is found in Psalm 145 and verse 3 and a few other places we won't go there but what that means is as the psalmist uses it it is the idea that the kingdom of God is that which has eternal significance and there has never been a time and never will be a time when that kingdom has not existed it is the rule or the realm of everything over which God is sovereign that has always been and always will be that is one aspect of the kingdom of God but it is used very seldom in connection with the one we're talking about which is the mediatorial and then the second one is the spiritual and as far as I know it is used just one time and we are all we are all as believers we are all members of the spiritual kingdom kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven and by that

[24:05] I mean as Paul wrote to the Colossians in chapter 1 and verse 13 he is speaking of God and he says that God has removed us from the kingdom of darkness and has called us into the kingdom of his dear son that is a spiritual kingdom I would make it synonymous with the body of Christ because we are spiritually in Christ we are not physically in Christ we are physically here but spiritually we are not only in Christ spiritually we've been crucified with him spiritually we've been raised with him spiritually we've been seated with him in the heavenlies spiritually although none of those things are a reality physically they are spiritually and that's another way of saying as far as God is concerned it's a done deal all of that is already accomplished that's the spiritual aspect but it is used very seldom as well that which is predominant all throughout scripture

[25:18] Old Testament and new it is hammered on it is emphasized time and time again and it is amazing that after 2000 years it is still not understood and all I want to do is clarify it for you make it a little bit of Christianity clarified and you are familiar let me put it this way there are other differences but perhaps the greatest single difference perhaps the greatest single difference is a position that is again held by the majority of Christendom that we are now in the kingdom of heaven on earth this is it and it is spiritual and this is the position that is embraced by so many now if if they would just you see when you get in a rote memorization routine where it becomes just ritual it is easy to overlook a lot of things but if in fact this is we are in the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God on earth spiritually then what's the point in praying for it to come and do you know of any liturgical church that doesn't at least once in its service recite the

[27:00] Lord's prayer part of which is thy kingdom come thy will be done well it's already here this is it why are you praying and asking God to bring the kingdom when he's already done it here it is but for some reason they just never compute that they never look at that I'll tell you what this goes to show you how incredibly powerful ritual and repetition are they get embedded in your psyche and it's virtually impossible to root them out and here is one example let's go first now to Acts chapter 1 and verse 6 and then we'll come back to Luke and spend some time there because this is really important Acts chapter 1 this is in connection with the ascension of our Lord back to heaven and after his resurrection Jesus spent about six weeks with the apostles here on earth and revealing himself on many different occasions and

[28:06] Paul tells us in the Corinthians that on one occasion Jesus as resurrected Savior was seen by over 500 brethren at once we aren't given details regarding that but we are given the detail regarding the number so in Acts chapter 1 he is in verse 4 gathers them together commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the father had promised which he said you heard of from me now what might that be well verse 5 I think tells us John the Baptist baptized with water but you meaning these twelve apostles you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now and I think we can reasonably conclude that what Jesus was talking about there was the upcoming day of

[29:08] Pentecost that would be just ten days away and you add the ten to the forty that Jesus spent with the apostles after his resurrection and you get fifty and the word Pentecost refers to fifty p-e-n-t-e refers to fifty in the same way that pentagram is a five-sided figure we have a building in Washington called the Pentagon and it's five-sided so Pentecost is fifty days after the resurrection and that's that of which Jesus was speaking here but now I want you to look at this in verse six so when they come together they were asking him saying Lord is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel and

[30:08] I just want to inject something here without well yes yeah we will go there let's come back to Luke chapter 19 might as well make it as thorough as I can make it even though some of you are familiar with it Luke 19 Luke 19 and verse 11 and this is such a pregnant verse I mean it is just so loaded it got so much to explain 19 11 and while they were listening to these things that is the material that immediately preceded this and in particular it was Zacchaeus the little guy that climbed up the tree while they were listening to these things Jesus went on to tell a parable and I want you to look at that next word because Jesus never went around giving parables just to maintain a reputation because he was a great storyteller he always gave a parable with intent had purpose had meaning it had a connection to what was taking place that's why he gave this parable at this time and we are told that it was because he was near

[31:28] Jerusalem and they supposed they meaning the apostles who were with him they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately well what does that mean it means just this they were on their way to Jerusalem the text says they were near Jerusalem and these apostles were quite confident that boy when we get there that's going to be it Jesus is going to establish that kingdom and Zechariah chapter 9 prophesies behold Jerusalem your king comes to you meek and lowly riding on a donkey hundreds of years before Palm Sunday and here comes Jesus riding in the town and what are the people saying

[32:29] Hosanna what's that mean that means save now deliver now rescue now from who they weren't thinking about here comes the Messiah he's going to deliver us from our sins he's going to die on the cross for our sins no no no no no no no they weren't thinking anything like that in fact when Jesus told them earlier that that's what was going to happen when he got there Peter rebuked him Peter took him aside and said you've got to stop talking like that that's not true nothing like that's going to happen to you we would get thee behind me Satan because you are thinking just like men think like Satan wants them to think rather than the way God thinks ought not the son of man to suffer these things and enter into his glory they didn't see that and all the shouts

[33:35] Hosanna Hosanna blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord and the crowd was huge and they were taking down palm branches which by the way was a symbol of Israel's nationality and you could be sure the Roman authorities there didn't appreciate that it looked like the brewing of an insurrection because in connection with the holy days of Israel these Jews get kind of frisky and they get kind of nationalistic and here comes the one who they think is going to deliver Hosanna Hosanna save now and the Pharisees and the scribes they were in bed with the Romans they were they were to the Romans what the vishy government was to the Germans in World War II now most of you maybe are too young to remember that but when

[34:39] Adolf Hitler was on a rampage and had his troops march into France when they got there they found a number of Frenchmen a number of Frenchmen who were already in bed with the Germans and ready to collaborate with them and the Germans put those renegade traitorous French in positions of authority over their own people and it was called the vishy government v-i-c-h-y the vishy government they were traitors traitors to France got in bed with the Germans that's much the same way that these rulers were they were thoroughly corrupt Caiaphas Annas the whole bunch were as corrupt and rotten as they could be and they served at the pleasure of the Roman government and Rome put them in power and let them have authority over the people and the common people hated them so when they come into

[35:44] Jerusalem and the people are shouting and saying Hosanna Hosanna to the son of David they recognized his royal line they knew Jesus to be a direct descendant of David the king and the only one who was authorized to sit on the throne and who was on the throne Herod Herod Herod didn't belong there he too was a lackey of the Romans and Herod was an Idumean he wasn't even a Jew so they were looking for deliverance and and and this made this made the hoi polloi the Jews who were Pharisees scribes etc made them very uncomfortable because they knew that this scene would make Rome uncomfortable and they called upon some of the disciples and they said they came to Jesus and they said you tell your people to stop saying that you're going to get us in all kinds of trouble tell them to be quiet and Jesus said if these hold their peace the stones will cry out he would not be denied that that's just that's incredible so they supposed this was a faulty assumption the Bible is filled with faulty assumptions things we believe to be true that turn out to be not true at all but we believed it and in good faith believed it but that didn't make it true so we're told that they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately and what did Jesus do to counter that he gave a parable and this parable of all things was about a man who was a noble man who went in who left the area and went into a far country and was gone for a long period of time before he returned who's he talking about he's talking about himself he's talking about himself he's talking about this is what's going to happen to me he was the fulfillment of that parable and do you know what he's still gone he still has not received a kingdom unto himself he shall but he hasn't yet because that whole kingdom thing is put on hold it is in abeyance it has never happened this is not the kingdom of heaven this is not even a spiritual kingdom there is another reference by the way in well let's see while we're nearby here chapter 17 this is another reference that really while you're in the neighborhood come back to Luke 17 and it too is remarkable in verse 20 of Luke 17 we have now having been questioned by the

[39:04] Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming Jesus answered them and said the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed nor will they say look here it is or there it is for behold and here's the key phrase Jesus said for behold the kingdom of God is in your midst does anybody have a King James translation what does it say King James says what yeah says the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is within you now this translation by by itself has led many to believe that what this has reference to is that each and every person individual has the kingdom of heaven in their heart and this once again is the spiritual aspect the kingdom of heaven is in your heart within you but if and that by the way would be a good thing but do you think that that could have been true of the

[40:30] Pharisees and the scribes these were the ones who were constantly opposing Jesus about everything do you think for a moment Jesus is saying you people have the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven within your heart absolutely not these people were as far removed from that as they could possibly be what Jesus meant I think and this is this is a Wiseman opinion but I think it I think it coalesces with all the rest of scripture what he is saying is that Jesus in his person embodies the kingdom of heaven that he is the king and the kingdom of heaven and the king are inseparable and when he went throughout the whole region he provided all kinds of evidence to reveal that the kingdom of heaven was in his person and he brought kingdom conditions with him everywhere don't ever lose sight of the fact that the miracles of

[41:46] Jesus were designed to authenticate his claims of being the Messiah because he was able to render all of the works and miracles that are in keeping with the kingdom he had the credentials and he proved it time and again and do you know what they were never satisfied they were never satisfied they never had a show us a miracle and finally Jesus got fed up and he said Capernaum Bethsaida if the miracles that had been done in you had been done in heathen pagan lands like Tyre and Sidon they would have believed but not you so the problem wasn't a lack of evidence the problem was a lack of will they didn't believe Jesus was the

[42:46] Messiah because they didn't want to and this is why the message of repentance is given to Israel on the day of Pentecost when he when Peter ascribes what actually happened on that cross and that Israel had crucified by wicked hands had slain the Lord of glory and God raised him from the dead and the people responded and said and the text says in Acts 2 the text says they were pricked in their heart oh man you know that is the epitome that is the dream that every preacher has when he preaches a message that people will be pricked in their heart that means it penetrated they got it they got it and those that got it numbered 3000 and I can see them now

[43:47] I can see them now looking at each other scratching their head jaws dropping and saying to each other you know what he's right he's right that's exactly what happened that's what we did and there's no way we can undo it what what can we do now we can't undo what we did what can we do now and Peter said you can change your mind from rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and the Lord from heaven you can change your mind from that position and do a 180 and come to the solid conviction that Jesus is who he said he was wow and if you really mean business you submit to

[44:48] John's baptism this would have been the baptism that they had rejected earlier and to demonstrate the reality of their repentance Peter says you need to go all the way you need to back up what you say you believe with a deed you need to submit to John's baptism and by the way there is absolutely there's absolutely no justification here at all for saying this is Christian baptism that's complete nonsense this is John's baptism it's John's baptism for the Jewish people and for the Jewish people exclusively and that is not going to break rank for ten years think of that ten years and then a new phenomena will be introduced that will really reverberate throughout the whole world and it will come via a

[45:51] Roman army officer by the name of Cornelius who is certainly not a Jew even though he is a God fearer he's not a Jew and he is going to believe and he's going to be baptized with John's baptism and I well we didn't get too far this morning next week next week I plan to bring the message that I intended for today but we will have a couple minutes for questions anyway a couple of minutes anybody Joe what you go back to that God is in your midst you know you said I'm it you know Jesus that's what it meant for sure and sure enough if they the original plan of God was if they would have accepted him as the Messiah the coming king then the kingdom would have come in right then if everybody would have accepted him the kingdom would have come in well

[46:56] I would agree in part with what you said but in reality that was not to be and of course Jesus knew it was not to be because as they were going to Jerusalem remember before they ever got there he told them what was going to happen to him when they got there that's when Peter rebuked him and said no no that's not going to be true at all well it was and the scriptures made it clear that that was predetermined and Isaiah 53 really spells that out and when Jesus confronted the disciples on the Emmaus road after the resurrection they didn't know it was Jesus they didn't know it was Jesus they were downcast and all the rest of it and he revealed himself to them and then they were just dumbfounded and Jesus said oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not the

[48:04] Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory what was he talking about he was talking about he was saying you have just accepted selected portions of scripture that you like you just took the part about the power and the reign and the glory and you ignored the part about the Messiah suffering ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory so the kingdom could not have begun then two things don't ever forget this two things are required before the kingdom of heaven can come to earth and the first is the Messiah has to pay the bill in his death burial and resurrection Jesus paid the price for recapturing this kingdom this earth that had been handed over to

[49:07] Satan who is the prince and the power of the air and is also the god of this age and when Jesus died on that cross he paid in full everything that was required to satisfy the justice of god and when he comes again he's going to collect on what he paid for so the first thing that has to be experienced and realized is the Messiah has to die for the sins of the world and he did so that's part fulfilled and the second thing is Israel as a nation has to get on board with the program they never have that's why the kingdom remains in obedience the time is coming when Israel will because they are not set aside permanently they are set aside temporarily according to Romans 9 10 and 11 Marvis and then Joe about the rapture is not going to happen until the fullness of the

[50:39] Gentiles come in well does that mean there really aren't going to be very many Gentiles saved during the tribulation no well well I think there are going to be a lot of Gentiles I have to continue in there are these