The King (Messiah, Christ) of the Kingdom

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Some confess that “Jesus is the Christ” but do not fully understand what they are confessing.  The Bible defines the words Messiah and Christ as being the same thing.  John translated the word Messiah when he recorded Andrew as informing Peter, “We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ” (John 1:41).  To the Jews, the words Christ (Greek) and Messiah (Hebrew) were literally translated “the anointed one” which was another word for a king.  Jewish kings were crowned by being anointed.  Samuel anointed Saul and David as kings by using the oil of anointing.  When he was going to ‘anoint’ David as king in the place of king Saul, he saw Eliab and said, “surely the Lord’s anointed is before him” (1 Sam. 16:6). David referred to king Saul as the Lord’s anointed (1 Sam. 24:5,6). Thus the Messiah or Christ was the king of the kingdom which God had promised to set up.  The scriptures identify these two words together.

If the Jews could find the king, (the Messiah, the Christ), they could find the kingdom. When the chief priests asked if Jesus were the Christ, they wanted to know if he were the king of the kingdom of God (Luke 22:67).  They did not believe his confession that he was the Christ, the king of Israel.  However, when they sought to justify themselves for wanting to crucify Christ, they accused him of making himself king of a kingdom that was seeking to destroy the Roman government.  Jesus told Pilate “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36).  Pilate understood that Jesus was no threat to the Roman government.  He then put the sign over Christ that he was the King of the Jews (Luke 23:38).  Jesus confessed that he was the king (Matt. 27:11).

WORLD RULING KINGDOMS

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Kingdom Image Metal Nation Reigned Reference
First Richest Head gold Babylon 606 BC to536 BC Dan 2:38
Second Inferior Shoulders silver Medo-Persia 536 BCto329 BC Dan 2:39Dan 8:20
Third Thighs brass Greece 329 BCto55 C Dan 2:39Dan 8:21
FourthCruel LegsFeet + Toes ironiron + clay Rome 55 BC to no later than 475 AD Dan 2:40
Fifth Love Stone became a mountain stone God’s Kingdom Began to grow in 33 AD    NO End Dan 2:44 

THE KINGDOM PREDICTED

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The prediction of God’s kingdom is most clearly described in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.  This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,  His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth (Dan. 2:31-35).

The great image was totally destroyed by the stone that was cut out without hands.  The entire image was carried away by the wind and the stone grew into a great mountain and filled the entire earth. Daniel gave the interpretation.  The image represented four kingdoms “which shall bear rule over all the earth.”  The stone cut out without hands is God’s kingdom.  God’s kingdom destroyed the four kingdoms that bore rule over all the earth and became a mountain which filled the whole earth.  Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, the first of those four kingdoms which ruled the world.  Nebuchadnezzar ruled the world in (606 BC).

And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.  And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise (Dan. 2:39-40).

We know the second and third kingdoms which ruled the world were the Medo-Persia empire (536 BC) and the Grecian empire which began in 329 BC under Alexander the Great (Dan. 8:20,21).   The fourth kingdom was Rome which ruled the world from 55 BC to 475 AD.  God promised that during the reign of this fourth kingdom (Rome) that he would set up his eternal kingdom that would never be destroyed.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure (Dan. 2:44-45).

The stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, was God’s kingdom.  His kingdom would break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms – Chaldea, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.  This is the reason that the Jews were anxious for the kingdom to come.  Rome began to rule the world 55 years before Jesus was born.  It was a very cruel oppressive ruling empire which the Jews bitterly hated.  When Jesus foretold that the kingdom was at hand, the Jews were ready to escape from Rome’s oppressive hand.  They were looking for the king (Messiah, Christ) of the kingdom.

Where is the Kingdom?

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John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2), the apostles (Matt. 10:7) and Jesus (Matt. 4:17), all predicted that “the kingdom of heaven was at hand.”  Jesus told some of his disciples they would not die till they had seen the kingdom of God come.   “Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1). The expression ‘at hand’ indicates a short time.  It is supremely sad that most believe Jesus’ prediction failed.  Moses said:

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him (Deut. 18:21-23).

If Jesus’ prediction failed, he is a false prophet. If he were not wrong, then the kingdom has already come. His prediction did not fail.  The kingdom came in the lifetime of some of those who were standing there as he predicted.  If the kingdom came, why do men not find it?  Most Christians, like the Jews, are still looking for the kingdom.  Strange, but most believe Jesus is the king of the kingdom, and they believe he has been a king for 2000 years, but with no citizens to be king over!  What a pitiful king that would be!  But Jesus does have citizens in his kingdom.  Paul testified that the kingdom had already come. He said that God: “… hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:13).  Paul and the Colossians had been translated into the kingdom of Christ.  The apostle John testifies: “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9).  The kingdom must have come because Paul, John and the Colossians were in it. Where is the kingdom now and when did it come?

Where is the Entrance to This Race?

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Jesus said that many will seek to enter the race and not be able.

Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able (Luke 13:23-24).

Why could so many seek the strait gate, but not be able? Jesus said, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:8)?  The Pharisees were searching the scriptures, but they could not find eternal life (John 5:39).  Why could the Pharisees search and not find when Jesus said “he that seeketh  findeth?”  The primary problem is that they did not believe what they read in the scriptures (John 5:46).  Some today are no different.  They refuse to believe Jesus statement “. . . for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able?”  The question is, Why?  Paul could not enter into the race because he was  “. . . more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers” (Gal. 1:14).  Many today have the same faith as Paul before he was converted.  Paul thought that he was was zealous for God (Rom. 10:1-3), but he was in fact “more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of” his fathers.  When Paul saw the Christ, he realized that the traditions of his fathers were false.  Thus he rejected them, and then was able to believe the word of God.  The key for the Pharisee was the same.  If he had fully turned from his traditions he would have been able to believe every word in the scripture.  The key for the Pharisee is the same key for us today.  We should turn fully from our traditions, and refuse to believe any doctrine except what we find word for word in the scriptures.  We should accept Jesus’ warning and “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.”

The race that is set before us is one of the many different analogies that the Lord gives to show us away.  He also shows us the pathway through the analogy of a fight.  Paul was seeking to win the good fight (1 Cor. 9:26,27).  He commanded Timothy to fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12).  We are commanded to take on the whole armor of God in order to win that fight (Eph. 6:10-17).  Paul had finished the fight and won the crown of life several months before he died (2 Tim. 4:7,8).  The pathway is also described as a grape vine (John 15:1-8), which, instead of running or fighting is ground which brings fruit to perfection (Luke 8:14, 15).  The disciples are pictured as olive trees (Rom. 11:16-24).  His children are described as a family (2 Cor. 6:17-18), a household (Eph. 2:19), the temple of God (Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Cor. 3:16-19), etc.  He also describes his people as a kingdom.  This is the analogy this article follows as we seek for the entrance to this race.  How does one enter the kingdom of God.

The picture of the kingdom is the major description that John the Baptist and Jesus used as they went about preaching the good news to the Jews before the cross (Matt. 3:1-2; 4:17; 10:7-8).  Over 115 times they referred to the kingdom as coming.  When is the kingdom coming or has the kingdom already come?  Before we see the entrance to the kingdom (race) we must understand the kingdom as God reveals it.