The Proclaimed Kingdom
John Boda
Acts – Jude
In Biblical terms, there are really THREE times that Christ comes to earth;
1. The Incarnation
2. The Rapture
3. The Second Coming
For the incarnation, he is born in Bethlehem, grows up as both fully human and fully divine, and then offers himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world. He came as the lamb that was slain for the world. But when he comes next, in the rapture, it will be the beginning of the end! He will come in all his glory and gather up all his followers meeting them in the clouds.
But there is yet one more arrival! At the second coming, he sets foot again on earth to judge the world, destroy Satan and sin, and establish his Kingdom forever! In both the rapture and second coming, Christ comes back as a Lion!
THIS is what confused many people! Many expected the Lion in his incarnation coming, but he was a Lamb instead! Yet he is both!
But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain….. (Revelation 5: 5-6)
We also must be careful not to confuse and mix the soon dual aspect of Christ’s return!
The Last Days We currently live within the Proclaimed Kingdom, or the Last Days of God’s project Earth! Even though it seems like a very long time, it the grand scope of panorama, it is really only been just a long summer. (2000 years and counting)
These last days began in Acts chapter two when God formed the church and sent the Holy Spirit, and the disciples began to obey Jesus’ last command of “preaching the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them and making disciples” – what has been come to be known as – The Great Commission. (Mark 16: 15-16)
(We know it began here because of the “This was that” statement by Peter in speaking of Joel’s prophecy;
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” Acts 2:17)
In the Old Testament times, God’s Spirit was active on earth, but it did not abide inside all believers! It came upon certain men and women at certain times, but now, in these last days, we have the full
indwelling of the Spirit if we come back to God in repentance and believe!
We know that these are the last days because Peter says, by the Spirit of God in Holy Scripture;
“But the end of all things is at hand therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.” (I Peter 4:7)
If he said it back then, 2000 years ago, how much MORE true is it today!
In fact, one of the sure signs of the last days is the majority of people will lose hope of Christ’s return and simply assume that since he hasn’t come back yet in all these years, he never will, that it must all be a fairy tale;
“Know this first,; that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” II Peter 3:3-4
Also we must remember that God is not trapped within the limits of time as we are! What seems like a long time to us, is not at all to God. Just a few verses later it states;
“Do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.” II Peter 3:8 (This does not necessarily mean 1 day = 1000 literally, but likely a word picture for us to see that God’s measure of time is vastly different, IF he measures it at all in heaven!)
(More on the last days at the conclusion)
The Holy Spirit
mission of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom.
1. The Holy Spirit
2. The Church
Note: This does not mean that God is through dealing with Israel as some believe! All through the Bible we see God dealing with three groups of people – Gentiles – Jews – Church (The Church is made up of both Jew and Gentile) We will see in our final session that God still is yet to deal with Israel during what is called “The Great Tribulation”.
First, let’s look at the primary influence, the Holy Spirit;
Acts chapter two describes the event of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which was promised to occur by Jesus just before he ascended into heaven in Acts 1: 5-8;
“..but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Also in Luke, we know Jesus commanded them all to go up to Jerusalem and wait there until they were endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)
So clearly, by these verses, and many others, we know the specific reason that God poured out his Holy Spirit on the church. It wasn’t just to improve their lives, give them happiness, or even just to help them in their journey. Yes, all this was included, but the primary purpose was for two reasons, which also are interconnected
;
1. To empower them
2. To make them witnesses
God’s people throughout the Old Testament were influenced by the Holy Spirit, and certain people such as the prophets, spoke through the Holy Spirit, but no where do we see any indication that people were filled or in dwelt by the Holy Spirit! Likewise, we also don’t see any indication that people considered God their father, but rather he was always referred to as Lord, King, God, Creator and other general names.
Note: That is a big reason why we must be very careful in applying certain Old Testament verses to us in the New Testament. Case in point is Psalm 51:11, where David asks God not to take the Holy Spirit from him. While this was a genuine concern then, today in the New Testament the Bible gives much support for the fact that once God gives his Spirit to a person, he does not ever take it away.
But starting with Acts chapter two when God poured out his Spirit on the church, this all changed! From that point until now, we have been living in this age of grace, where we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, and Jesus clearly commanded us to address God almighty as Father!
This was an incredible advancement of God’s Kingdom establishment on earth! Within his grand design – big picture, God desires to have a Kingdom of sons and daughters! All earthly kingdoms consist of a King and his domain of subjects by which he dictates rules and commands under his ultimate rule. But in God’s Kingdom, we are not just subjects, but fellow heirs and directly related to the King! This means that all of us actually rule with him. God remains the King and ultimate Monarch over all, but we are his family of joint heirs!
Please see;
Hebrews 11:7
Romans 8:17
Ephesians 3:6
Something that I never really thought about until recently was this; In Revelation Jesus is called “The King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, but this is after he destroys sin, evil, Satan and banishes all sinners. So if he is the King of Kings, who are all the other kings? One possible answer is – you and me, and all Christ followers who enjoy his Kingdom rule forever! If we are joint heirs and rule with him, it is likely that we are all kings (There will not be male/female in eternity so no queens – sorry ladies) Jesus rules forever as The King of Kings as he is Lord over all of us, and the entire Kingdom.
The Church
(Ephesians 1:9 / 3:3 / 3:4 / 3:9)
The great mystery he spoke of was a new entity combined of both Jew and Gentile together called –
Ecclesia – (Eck – Lay – See –Ah) which means in the Greek – “Called out ones” – most English Bibles translate that word into our common word – Church.
Originally the church was not a place, or an event to go to on Sundays, but rather it was a group of people! They are the “called out ones” – called out of sin, called out of their previous mindset of religion and rule keeping, and called into faith in God as they follow Christ daily in everything they do. If we desire to be scripturally correct, we should say, “We’re going to the place where the church meets” rather than saying, “We’re going to church”!
Remember that previously, God had picked one man (Abraham) and his descendants (Israel) to be the
people of God. Other nations and people could join in also, but they had to convert to become Jews and then strictly follow all the requirements of the law. (This really was impossible)
But the great mystery is that God desires EVERYONE and ALL NATIONS to become part of his family! But they must come to him by faith and enter in the same way everyone else does, then begin to follow Christ. This WAS a great mystery, and one which many had great difficulty in accepting (Peter)! But was this really such a big change from God’s big picture point of view? NO! This is really what God had in mind all along!
(Read Genesis 12:1-3 again now and look for this huge clue when God first called Abraham)
The Church & Holy Spirit
synergistic! Meaning, they are interwoven and working together to accomplish a task! (The Church follows the lead and direction of The Holy Spirit, not the other way around!)
We must always remember that when God does something, it is ALWAYS for a specific purpose and reason! (That may sound like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised as to how many people don’t think that through)
God did not pour out his Spirit on all of the church to just give them goose bumps and feelings of ecstasy. He had a very important task in mind, and that task is what theologians call “The Great Commission”. It is found at the end of all three synoptic Gospels;
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
“Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15)
“..repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:47)
This command - event is actually repeated again by Jesus in Acts 1:8,
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth
.
What does the Holy Spirit have to do with this command? EVERYTHING!
If you read all four of these commands in context of the verses around them, they are all directly
connected to receiving power from on high, and waiting for the Holy Spirit! This was because the Holy Spirit came down and filled them all with power for that specific reason, to go and spread the good news of the Gospel!
Apart from the Holy Spirit, this task was impossible! The early disciples were a ragtag group of scared sheep who all ran off when Jesus was led off to die (except John). After Jesus’ resurrection, they still were not much better. Most believed who actually saw Jesus, but trying to convince others that Jesus was the Messiah after he had been crucified would be an impossible task, even more so including the fact that he rose from the dead, something no one had ever done before!
But enter the Holy Spirit; He came to witness these things with power and certainty, confirming the truth of it to everyone! But God’s master plan was not for the Spirit to do it alone, but rather THROUGH the church. This has been the plan from then until now.
(John 15: 25-26 / John 15: 26-27)
The event of God sending the Holy Spirit occurred on Pentecost, which was 50 days after the Passover time when Jesus was crucified. On that first Pentecost day after the cross, when God sent the Spirit, the church was born. Most theologians mark that day as the birthday of the church, and it also marks the beginning of the Proclaimed Kingdom division we are studying here, which continues even today, over 2000 years!
Witnesses
clarify what this is, and to help clear up something that it isn’t.
The English word – Witness – in the New Testament mostly comes from the Greek word – Martys – which of course is where we get our word – Martyr. The basic meaning of this word is;
“One who has knowledge of something”. In other words, “witness” is really a noun and not a verb! A
witness is you, and me, and every believer who follows Christ! All of us have knowledge of something – the Gospel message of salvation! This knowledge that we have was never meant to be for us alone, but rather to be given away to others to help lead to Jesus as well.
When I was growing up in traditional churches, there was a big emphasis on “witnessing” and going out door to door to “witness”. While this can be very fruitful in advancing the Kingdom, the wrong idea was developed that to witness meant simply sharing your faith verbally! You could go out on the street and talk to a stranger about Jesus for a few seconds, go home, and feel very snug and justified that you were accomplishing the Great Commission!
But if we can change our mindset to understand that a witness is our very lives, it can be revolutionary! We ARE the witnesses that share the Gospel; WE are the church who meets together where the church gathers.
Sometimes we witness the message by speaking, but we should ALWAYS bear witness by our very lives to our neighbors, co-workers, family, friends and strangers.
Someone once said;
Preach the Gospel to all the world…..and use words if you must!
Note: The early churches, even after receiving the Holy Spirit, were reluctant to go and spread the
message. They were not much different than you and me, preferring to enjoy the comforts of home, family and familiar surroundings rather than risk everything and leave. So God did what he many times does in such cases, he gave them a little shove to help them launch forth. Does anyone know what I’m speaking about? (Persecution)
Tracing the Kingdom
God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule & blessing.
Here in this session, let’s trace them and reveal who is who;
God’s people: The Church God’s place: The entire world as the Church goes out to spread it.
God’s rule & blessing: The Holy Spirit as he indwells believers, leads us, and helps us accomplish the task.
Last Days Maze
Right up front I’d like to say that I am a pre-tribulationist, who believes that the next event to usher in the Kingdom of God is the rapture – the soon return of Jesus to gather his church to him in the clouds. This could come at any moment, and any day. Immediately following the rapture will be the terrible day of God’s wrath on earth – the Tribulation – and following that will be Christ ruling from Jerusalem for 1000 years during the Millennium. Following that, Christ will throw Satan into the lake of fire forever, and the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven to earth, where we will live and reign with God himself forever! (That’s it, goodnight)
There are also a myriad of other variations on these events, with some re-arranging the order, and others eliminating events as they believe that they were already fulfilled years ago, or are being fulfilled now.
(Some believe that we are all going through the Tribulation right now – but to that I can only say, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”)
Why are there so many other views? Why can’t we all get along?! Basically, it comes down to the core issue which I have been going over and over on in this series;
DO YOU BELIEVE THE BIBLE LITERALLY?
DO YOU BELIEVE IT IS THE WORD OF GOD?
DO YOU BELIEVE IT IS COMPLETELY TRUE AND ACCURATE?
If your answer to one or more of these questions is no, then you are free to develop any kind of scenario your imagination can come up with. But if your answer is yes, then you must align your thoughts and ideas to what the Bible says, and not the other way around!
Note: While I DO believe the Bible is literal in many cases, at times it is not, and we must make allowance for that. Such as in Jesus’ parables, or when he spoke of “eating his flesh and drinking his blood”. But when there is no other reason to believe otherwise, we MUST take it literal, even if it may seem counterintuitive or unbelievable to us.
Examples; Jonah & the Whale / Noah’s Ark / Red Sea miracle / Jesus Resurrection –
all figurative or all literal?
Most Bible students who believe the Bible literally, also are pre-trib people who are expecting Jesus’ return at any moment because that is simply what the Bible clearly states!
If you have other views, there is plenty of room for discussion on these issues, and there is no need for harsh arguments or fights! (In other words, you are very welcome here)
Rather than get into a lot more detail on these topics, I really want to conclude with just posting a few
charts, and a short writing I did some years ago on the rapture. Hopefully, this will help, and also arouse some comments and questions;
The Rapture
1. It's a Mystery I Cor 15:512. It Means No Death I Cor 15:52-54 / Rev 21
3. It Includes All Believers I Cor 15:51
4. It involves Transformation I Cor 15:51
5. It is Instantaneous I Cor 15:526. It is a Reunion I Thes 4:17
7. It Should Not Surprise Us I Thes 5:4 / Rev 3:3
When Will it Happen?
Soon! Rev 22:7,12,20
I Peter 4:72. More Precisely -(See I Tim 6:15)
What does Jesus Think of the Rapture?
Think of these divine Commands:
1. The Great Commission
2. Baptism
3. Communion
4. Born Again
These are all very important commands by Jesus, all of which should be taken seriously.
Guess how many times these were spoken of by Jesus- ONCE
Here is a brief account of the times the rapture is spoken of by Jesus and others in the Bible:
1. Christ - 46 times
2. Paul - 49 times
3. Peter - 8 times
4. John - 6 times
5. James - 3 times
Yet, the rapture truth is not believed by many Christians, ridiculed by the world, and is a forgotten Biblical reality which is soon to occur!
Many people's last words are often treasured, and some think that they hold significant meaning.
If so, consider the last words of Jesus in Rev 22:7, 12, 20
Our response should be in synch with the Spirit - Rev 22:17,20
It is this soon anticipated hope of Jesus' return that fueled the early Church on in proclaiming the Gospel! The rapture truth is not pie-in-the-sky religion of just something way off in the future. It matters greatly in the here and now!
Finally, look up these verses which speak of the hope of the rapture and looking for Jesus return.
I Tim 6:11-16
II Peter 3:10-14
I Thes 4:15/5:8/3:13
Titus 2:11-14
I John 3:1-3
Rev 16:15
I Cor 15:51-58
You will find, in context of every one, the direct link of living holy before God in this life here and now! In other words, the rapture hope matters greatly right now! It may be the best way for us to really live right before God based on these verses. As we continue to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God and the Gospel, please prayerfully consider asking God to make this truth a burning hope and reality in your everyday life.
All believers are encouraged to seek after various crowns which Christ will reward them with at the
judgment. One of the crowns is the reward for those who love his soon return!
“Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing.” II Timothy 4:8
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