A group of
so called ''Biblical scholars'' known as the Jesus Seminar after assessing
what they considered the teachings of the historical Jesus concluded that Jesus did not
say He would return to earth and usher in a New Age. The Jesus Seminar
members stated that... ''Predictions of a
second coming were put on Jesus' lips later by followers and gospel
writers''
DID JESUS SAY THE KINGDOM OF
GOD HAD COME?
Yes, He did because of the miracles He was doing and because of the demons
He was casting out. But was there another kingdom to come or a kingdom
related to that kingdom or was there a different aspect of the kingdom to
come? That's what we will look at today so that you can know how to live
in the light of His coming. The Jesus Seminar ''scholars'' said that Jesus made
contradictory statements...they said that Jesus can't say the Kingdom is
here and is also to come in the future.
How important it is then that you and I in these LAST DAYS know our God.
Daniel
11:32b
says that
"... the people who KNOW their God will display
strength and take action.''
And from
Daniel 2
we can know that "the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth". This prophecy parallels the
Daniel 7:13
promise that "One like a Son of Man was coming".
Daniel 2:44
states that "in the days of those kings (the 10 toe stage of
Nebuchadnezzar's statue) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which
will never be destroyed". The little horn that arises from the 10 horns
(10 kingdoms) will have his "dominion... taken away, annihilated and
destroyed forever" (Daniel
7:26).
"Then the sovereignty, the dominion,
and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given
to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an
everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him" (Daniel
7:27)
When the woman (Israel) of
Revelation 12:1-6 gave birth to a
male child (Jesus the Messiah) the
Roman Empire was ruling the world.
Rome remained in power through the death of Jesus Christ. Scripture
records that Roman soldiers put Him on the Cross, took Him off the Cross and
guarded His tomb after death. After Jesus' death He appeared to many (500
brethren at one time 1Cor 15:6). Then Jesus appeared with His disciples on
the Mount of Olives and they asked Him...
"when they had come together..."Lord, is it at this time You are restoring
the Kingdom to Israel?" (Acts
1:6)
Although
Jesus had begun his ministry with the proclamation ''Repent because the Kingdom of God is at hand''
(Mt
4:17), He did not come the
first time to rule over the earth but to serve as the sacrificial Lamb of
God Who would take away the sins of the world. Yes,
the King had proclaimed the Kingdom of God. He had
demonstrated the power of the Kingdom of God in casting out demons
who were subject to Him. However He did not establish the
Kingdom wherein He would literally rule as King of kings and Lord of
lords. Instead Jesus, the Good Shepherd, came to call out His sheep who
would believe on Him so that He would indwell them after the Spirit had
come at Pentecost. The mystery of the Gospel is Christ in you the hope of
glory (Colossians 1:27). He would indwell ever genuine believer. We
would become His children and live with Him forever and ever. At this time
prior to His ascension, Jesus
answers His disciple's question about the timing of HIS KINGDOM as
follows:
He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the
Father has fixed by His own authority; (Jesus did not say that He
would not send the Kingdom.) 8 but you shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.
" 9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were
looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they
were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men
in white clothing stood beside them; 11 and they also said, "Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? THIS JESUS, (THIS HISTORIC
JESUS Who became the Son of Man) Who has been taken up from you into
heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into
heaven." (Acts
1:7-11)
How do He Ascend? (1) bodily (2) visibly (3) in a cloud. Thus He will come
again.
DID THIS TAKE THE DISCIPLES
BY SURPRISE?
It should not have been a surprise
for in
John 14
in the upper room, Jesus predicted to
His disciples that He was going to be glorified and then He says
"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would
have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you to Myself;
that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:1-3)
So Jesus is telling the disciples that He must go away but that He will
come again and that He will receive them to Himself so that they could be
where He was. So the disciples were not surprised at what the angel said
in Acts
1:11. But Jesus had told them much more...
Matthew 24:1-3 occurs just prior to
Jesus' crucifixion. the disciples questioned Him, Matthew recording...
And Jesus came out from the temple and
was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple
buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all
these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon
another, which will not be torn down." And as He was sitting on the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when
will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the
end of the age?"
Jesus "answered" by warning His
disciples not to be misled (Matthew 24:4)
and then after some preliminary signs, He explained to them the sign of the end
explaining that...
15 when you see the ABOMINATION OF
DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in
the holy place( let the reader understand)...21 for then there will be
a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of
the world until now, nor ever shall.
So Rome was ruling when Jesus was born, crucified and ascended into
heaven. And a future revived
ROME will be ruling when there is a great persecution of the saints at a
time when the LITTLE HORN will be ruling, and persecuting the saints for
3.5 years until the ANCIENT OF DAYS comes (John 10:30 ''I and the Father
are one.''). So Jesus is God and is the Ancient of Days and God the Son
will come and He will set up a KINGDOM if we one reads Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 literally.
To re-iterate, Daniel teaches us that the persecution of the saints ends
when a kingdom is set up and the saints of the Most High possess that
kingdom.
Revelation 13
Describes the beast with 7 heads, 10 horns and 10 diadems on the 10 horns.
This beast is energized, empowered by Satan just as Rome had been energized by Satan
(Herod trying to destroy Jesus at His birth).
Revelation 17
Revelation 17:10
says that there
"are seven kings; five have fallen, one
is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little
while."
The "one is" is Rome,
the one that is in existence at the time of
the writing of Revelation, the "five...fallen" are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon,
Medo-Persian, Greece and the "other...not yet come" is the revived Roman
Empire. Out of
the revived Roman Empire come 10 horns and then a LITTLE HORN who makes
11 horns who conquers 3 horns so he remains as the 8th horn, who
eventually is defeated by the returning Messiah, fulfilling John's
prophecy in...
Revelation 17:11
"And the beast (the little horn of
Daniel 7) which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of
the seven, and he goes to destruction."
But before he goes to destruction
Revelation 13:
says that ...
"the whole earth was amazed and
followed after the beast"
Why? Because it is so incredible
that the beast's fatal wound was healed - he once was and now is again
MEN'S
ATTEMPTS TO REVIVE THE ROMAN EMPIRE
(Click
related discussion)
Remember that the first Roman Empire ended around 476 A.D.
but men have been trying to bring back the Roman Empire for centuries as
shown by an overview of European history:
768-800 Charlemagne brought more of western Europe under his hand
more so than
had been under the hand of one man since 476AD, the end of the Roman
Empire. On
Dec 25, 800AD the Pope crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans and when he
died in 814AD the empire fell apart.
962 Idea of the Roman Empire
was revived by the Otto the Great, a
German, started the Holy Roman Empire, but Napoleon brought it to an end
in 1806AD. But even Napoleon had plans to unite Europe into the ''United States of Europe''.
1804 Napoleon crowned himself emperor with a Roman crown of gold leaves
but was defeated in 1815 at Waterloo.
1900's = The Western Roman Empire was the dream of the German
Chancellor Bismarck, the iron chancellor of Germany-and called the empire
the SECOND REICH, bc they believed the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (962-1806 being
the FIRST REICH). Between WWI and WWII, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi began again the push for a "united
states" of Europe.
1930 Winston Churchill published an article entitled the ''United
States of Europe'' urging a federation of European nations.
1936
Mussolini wanted to revive the ancient glory of Rome and he
proclaimed the re-appearance of the empire on the faded hills of Rome.
Hitler declared the Roman Empire resurrected by Mussolini.
1940 Count Coudenhove-Kalergi came to New York to set up a seminar on the European
Union, which even drew up a proposed constitution of the US of Europe.
1944 US Congress adopted the idea of unification of Western Europe as part
of its war policy and Pres Truman endorsed the idea.
1944 In July of this year the national resistance movements in Europe issued a joint
declaration stating that federal union alone could assure the preservation
of liberty and civilization in the continent of Europe.
1946
After WWII Churchill strongly advocated European union, Sept 19, 1946, he
discussed Europe's ills and suggested re-creating in essence a kind of US
of Europe.
1948 In May of this year there was a meeting at Hague and established the Congress of Europe for the
purpose of unifying Europe and became known as the ''European Movement''
--France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg established the
European Coal and Steel Community on April 18, 1951
1957 Statesmen from the 6 nations of the European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC) met in Rome and established the European Economic Community and
in 1957 they drew up the ''Treaty of Rome'' and expected within 12-15yrs
to have all of Europe united but it didn't happen.
German's Chancellor stated that the integration of Europe was the sole
salvation for the Christian west. The necessity for economic, political,
and military reasons is incontestable.
1985 European Common Market set about a plan to build the
organizational structure and setting a deadline from fulfillment,
February 1992, the Heads of State or Government of the Member
States of the European Community meeting in Maastricht in the Netherlands
signed the Treaty of the European Union (EU) giving shape to this new
structure. At the heart of this treaty lay the provisions on
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) which took effect on 1 January 1999.
Monetary policy sovereignty was thereby transferred from the national
central banks to the European Central Bank.
2000's European Union comes into full bloom. As of 2006 the EU had
25 Member States with a combined population of around 450 million citizens.
Revelation 13:4-5
they (those who dwell upon the earth)
worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast; and they
worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to
wage war with him?" And there was given to him a mouth speaking
arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for forty-two months
was given to him.
The
Beast was energized by Satan and given authority to act 42 months;
speaking blasphemous names. This authority is world-wide and is for 3 1/2 years.
Revelation 13:11
And I saw another beast coming up out
of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.
The Second beast in Rev 13:11 is the
spokesman for the Beast, the one who is
analogous to Christ. The name "Anti-Christ" means against or instead of
and as Christ had a prophet like John the Baptist, so too does the
Anti-Christ. The second Beast makes the earth worship the first beast
whose fatal wound was healed (Kay believes this signifies the Revived
Roman Empire)
Revelation 13:12-18
12 And he (the second beast, the false
prophet) exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.
And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first
beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
13 And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out
of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.
14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which
it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those
who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of
the sword and has come to life.
15 And there was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast,
that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do not
worship the image of the beast to be killed.
16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor,
and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand,
or on their forehead,
17 and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except
the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of
his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of
the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred
and sixty-six (666).
The
Second Beast performs great signs. Remember that in Matthew 24 Jesus had
warned
about many false prophets who would come and perform signs and wonders and
miracles.
Matthew 24:24
false Christs and false
prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to
mislead, if possible, even the elect.
This false prophet deceives the whole world He causes the earth to make an image to the beast and to worship
it or die. All earth dwellers are commanded to receive the mark of the
beast ("666") on their right hand or forehead
in order to buy or sell.
Bringing back Rome means also bringing an economic federation that needs a
military establishment...Kay believes that just before the 3 1/2 years
when the beast begins to make war with the saints, he says if you want to
buy (eat) or sell, then take the MARK OF THE BEAST and worship the beast.
But John describes the demise of the Antichrist in
Revelation 19.
10 KINGS WHO RECEIVE
AUTHORITY FOR ONE HOUR
Rev 17:12
"And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet
received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for
one hour.
This passage describes
a federation of 10 nations that give their power to the beast (the
antichrist) and
with him wage war against the Lamb. John records that...
Rev 17:14
"These (10 kings subordinated to the Antichrist) will wage war
against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of
lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and
chosen and faithful." (beloved, this latter description is us, the saints
who return with Messiah when He destroys the Antichrist).
The following passage gives details of the final destruction of the
Antichrist and the kings of the earth...
Revelation 19
11 And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who
sat upon it [is] called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges
and wages war. 12 And His eyes [are] a flame of fire, and upon His head
[are] many diadems; and He has a name written [upon Him] which no one
knows except Himself. 13 And [He is] clothed with a robe dipped in blood;
and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies (this is us)
which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white [and] clean, were
following Him on white horses. 15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword,
so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod
of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the
Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING
OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun;
and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in
midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God; 18 in order that
you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh
of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the
flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great. " 19 And
I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to
make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army.
Revelation 19-20, when read and
interpreted
literally, unfolds a
logical sequence of events that follow the defeat of the Antichrist and
culminate in the establishment of the
Millennial Kingdom
of the King of kings and Lord of lords. John records these glorious events...
Revelation 20:1
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and
a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of
old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and
threw him into the abyss, and shut [it] and sealed [it] over him, so that he
should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were
completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 4 And I
saw thrones, (does this sound like Daniel 7?) and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given to them. And I [saw] the souls of those who had been
beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God,
and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not
received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to
life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the
dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is
the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the
first resurrection; over these the second death has no power (this phrase
indicates that it is not just those saints who were martyred in the Great
Tribulation who will reign with Christ but all who are not subject to the
second death, which can only be a description of believers), but they will
be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand
years.
Just as the lightning comes from the east to the west, so shall
be the coming
of the Son of Man. Irregardless of the false conclusions reached by the
so called "experts" of the Jesus Seminar, Jesus will keep His word. He will return and establish His
throne. Don't let anyone teach you otherwise.
Remember Jesus' promise in
Revelation 22:12...
"Behold,
I am coming quickly,
and My reward is with Me,
to render to every man
according to what he has done."
