THE KINGDOM
The kingdom is one of the main teachings of Jesus, so why is it is hardly even mentioned in the Christian creeds? Why do we not talk about it more?
The kingdom of the heavens is said to be at hand when we first hear John the baptizer speak and when Yeshua begins his 3-1/2 year ministry. Should I still say it is at hand, it has arrived or it has been delayed for nearly 2000 years? Yeshua even told his disciples to say it as they go, "The kingdom of the heavens is near."
Hebrews 4:12 Weymouth: For God's Message is full of life and power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.
Matthew 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is at hand.
Matthew 13:52 Then He said
to them, beause of this every writer instructed
in the kingdom of the heavens is like a
man who owns a home, who is bringing out of his
pantry new things and old
things.
We seem to naturally trend toward non distinctives. Soul and spirit today are said to be interchangeable words and 'The kingdom of heaven' and 'the kingdom of God' are also said to mean the same thing. But the word of God is able to separate even the soul from the spirit, so as intertwined as our definitions may become they are not all the same things. Seventy times it is called the kingdom of God and thirty three times in Matthew only it is called the kingdom of the heavens. Follow the word of God and see how distinguishing you can become; regardless of the popular teachings of the day or the traditions of men.
At the most obvious resurrection chapter in the old testament Daniel is told this:
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise will warn like a warning from the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for the age and forever.
Leading and shining for God from the heavens was definately a Jewish expectation in the first century. John 3:3 and 3:5 tell how one can percieve and enter the kingdom of God that was near at hand. Wisdom to shine from the heavens is a different matter.
It is Matthew who is said to be the most Jewish of the gospel writers. Only he calls the at hand incumbency 'the kingdom of the heavens (plural). The sun, moon and 12 stars are symbolically recognized by the O.T. writers as ruling over the creation from the heavens. The 12 sons of Israel were indisputably the headmen in the creation of the old nation of Israel. And indeed the new kingdom administration was inaugerated in power when the 12 apostles and the 12 tribes received the Holy Spirit and took the gospel to the world. It was the unbelieving Jews who started the Jewish persecution. A Jew full of the Holy Spirit of heaven saw heaven open to reveal the incorruptible Jew in the throne room in the highest of the heavens and the unbelieving Jews hated it.
If the heavens are where God's people rule from then that explains why the most Jewish gospel calls it the kingdom of the heavens. They were the ones waiting to rule with God. It also explains why some refused to hear from Stephen that the Jewish messiah they had just rejected is now sitting on the throne and ruling and shining.
The persecuted recieved the kingdom
Matthew 5:10 10 Happy are those persecuted for righteousness sake because theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
1 Peter 3:14KJV 14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
Advice from Jacob to the 12 tribes in covenant transition-
Jacob 1:2-4 ECB TRUST AND TESTINGS 2 My brothers, deem it all cheer when you fall into divers testings; 3 knowing that the proofing of your trust works endurance: 4 and endurance have a work of completion/shalom so that you are complete/at shalom and whole - lacking naught.
1 Kings 8:27 Will God truly dwell on the land? Behold, the heavens and heavens of the heavens are not containing you. How then this house which I have built?
Revelation 4:2-3 KJV Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
An undeniable change in kingdom administration was in progress: a new and better preisthood, a final sacrifice and an omnipresent teacher in a new and better covenant. That shook things up a bit didn't it?
Hebrews
8:1-13 King James Version (KJV)
1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
1 Corinthians 12:17-18 LITV 17 If all the body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If all hearing, where the smelling? 18 But now God set the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He desired.
Colossians 2:16-17 Therefore
let no one judge you in food or in drink or in the particulars of a
festival, or of a new moon, or sabbaths, which are a shadow of
the things which are about to be, but now the
body is of the annointed (an epethet of Yeshua
indicating He was the messiah; the promised deliverer of the Jewish
nation [body] prophesied in the Hebrew
Bible).
Along with the kingdom at hand message was the warning to leave the types of the old kingdom of David and Solomon behind or burn in the city refuse fires. The old body of Israel that remained in the land was about to lose it's priesthood by fire. They may represent the offensive hand and eye of the body that wanted more than was rightful. The old priesthood was about to be destroyed. In what we call 'the new testament' (even though the old covenant was still in progress) only Jesus and his brother Jacob ever speak of the destuctive fires of the old city dump. Gehenna is never spoken of to the gentiles. Below is Gehenna's every use after Malachi. Again it is Matthew who records it most. Gahenna fire was a Jewish threat.
Like the kingdom of heaven phrase, it is Matthew who also mentions Gahenna most often and it is the gospel of John who never mentions Gahenna. The gospel of John only mentions the kingdom twice and it is not an "at hand" mention. It is: unless you are born again you cannot even percieve it or enter it. Does that mean if you are born again you do percieve it but have to wait 2000 + years to enter it; let alone rule from it? John said nothing like that. The gospel of John is where we usually send people to open their eyes to the kingdom. When the church was born again it entered the never ending Kingdom Of God age. 1Thessalonians 5:3 urges residents of the kingdom to grow up and Matthew and Jacob often give warnings to the ones who were transferring their allegience from the old city of God to the new one.
John 3:3-5 LITV 3 Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus said to Him, How is a man able to be born, being old? He is not able to enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth out of water and Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus told a preeminate Jewish teacher that the kingdom was not able to be seen until the new birth occured. Even his own disciples could not see it until the nation was reborn at Pentecost. So there was no use trying to explain it further if they wouldn't understand till then.
Acts 1:6-8 YLT 6 They, therefore, indeed, having come together, were questioning him, saying, `Lord, dost thou at this time restore the reign to Israel?' 7 and he said unto them, `It is not yours to know times or seasons that the Father did appoint in His own authority; 8 but ye shall receive power at the coming of the Holy Spirit upon you, and ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the end of the earth.'
Isaiah 49:6
LITV 6 And
He said, It is too little that You should be My servant to raise up
the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I
will also give You for a light of the nations, that You may be My
salvation to the end of the earth.
1 Corinthians 2:8-21 Which none of the chiefs of this the age has known. For had they known they would not have crucified the master of the glory. 9 But according as it has been written, what [the] eye does not perceive and [the] ear does not hear and does not enter into the heart of [the] human, [no human thought it would happen this way] ;what God prepared for the ones loving Him. 10 But to us God revealed it through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all, even the depths of God. 11 For what human knows the [depths] of that human, except the spirit of that one in him? And so it is with God; no one has perceived if not by the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the system, but the Spirit, from the God, so that we may be perceiving the [things] being graciously given to us by God; 13 what we are talking about is not taught in the sayings of humanity's wisdom, but in [words] taught by the Holy Spirit, discerning spiritual [things] with spiritual [words]. 14 But the soulish human is not receiving the [things] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know [them], because they are spiritually being examined. 15 But the spiritual [one] indeed examines all [things], yet he himself is not being examined. 16 For who knew [the] mind of [the] master that we would have deduced this from Him? Yet we are having the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:45-46 CLV 44 It is sown a soulish body; it is roused a spiritual body. 45 If there is a soulish body, there is a spiritual also. Thus it is written also, The first man, Adam, "became a living soul: the last Adam a vivifying Spirit." 46 But not first the spiritual, but the soulish, thereupon the spiritual."
Kingdom of God is also translated as reign of God and sov'reigndom of Elohim:
John 3:3-5 YLT 3 Jesus answered and said to him, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the reign of God;' 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, `How is a man able to be born, being old? is he able into the womb of his mother a second time to enter, and to be born?' 5 Jesus answered, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born of water, and the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the reign of God;
John 3:3-5 ECB 3 Yah Shua answers him, saying, Amen! Amen! I word to you, Unless one is birthed from above, he cannot see the sovereigndom of Elohim. 4 Nicodemus words to him, How can a human be birthed when he is old? Can he enter the womb of his mother a second time and be birthed? 5 Yah Shua answers, Amen! Amen! I word to you, Unless one is birthed of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the sovereigndom of Elohim:
The kingdom was born and born again; by water and by Spirit, from above.
They didn't all accept Moses as their typical deliverer in the first exodus, when the nation was being born the first time through the water of the Red Sea. They didn't all accept their deliverer of the second exodus when the nation was being born again by the Spirit at Pentecost.
Acts 7:35-60 LITV 35 This Moses, whom they denied, saying, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge, this one God has sent as ruler and redeemer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the Bush. 36 This one led them out, having worked wonders and miracles in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and forty years in the wilderness. 37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, " The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet to you" "from your brothers, One like me." You shall hear Him. 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living words to give to us, 39 to whom our fathers did not desire to be subject, but thrust him away, and turned their hearts back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, "Make for us gods which will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him." Ex. 32:1 41 And they made a calf in those days, and led a sacrifice up to the idol, and made merry in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned and gave them over to serve the host of the heaven, as it has been written in the book of the Prophets: "Did you bring slain beasts and sacrifices to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, the figures which you made" "in order to worship them. And I will remove you beyond" Babylon. 44 The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, as He who spoke to Moses commanded to make it according to the pattern which he had seen, 45 which also was brought in, our fathers having inherited with Joshua, in the taking of possession of the nations, whom God drove out from the face of our fathers, until the days of David, 46 who found favor before God and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob; 47 but Solomon built Him a house. 48 But the Most High does not dwell in temples made by hand, as the prophet says, 49 "Heaven is My throne, and the earth a footstool of My feet; what house will you build Me," "says the Lord," "or what the place of My rest?" 50 "Did not My hands make all these things?" Isa. 66:1, 2 51 Oh stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and in the ears! You always fell against the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, you also did. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who before announced the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become betrayers and murderers, 53 who received the Law by the disposition of angels and did not keep it . 54 And hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and gnashed the teeth on him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, looking intently into the heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right of God. 56 And he said, Behold, I see the heavens having been opened, and the Son of man standing at the right of God! 57 And crying out with a loud voice, they held their ears and rushed on him with one passion. 58 And throwing him outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses put off their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And placing the knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not make stand this sin to them. And saying this, he fell asleep.
Peter ruled from the heavens
Matthew 16:12-19 ALT 12 Then they understood that He did not say to be guarding against the leaven [or, yeast] of the bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 13 Then Jesus, having come to the regions of Caesarea of Philippi, began asking His disciples, saying, "Who are the people saying Me to be [or, that I am], the Son of Humanity?" 14 And they said, "Some [are saying] John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; but others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." 15 He says to them, "But who do youp say Me to be [or, that I am]?" 16 Then answering, Simon Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" 17 And answering, Jesus said to him, "Happy are you, Simon Bar-Jonah ["son of Jonah"], because flesh and blood did not reveal [it]to you, but My Father, the [One] in the heavens. 18 "Now I also say to you, that you are Peter ["a stone"], and on this solid rock I will build my Assembly [or, Church], and [the] gates of the realm of the dead [Gr., hades] will not prevail against it. 19 "And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth will have been bound in the heavens; and whatever you loose on the earth will have been loosed in the heavens."
Hebrews 9:24 ALT 24 For Christ did not enter into holy places made with human hands, [which are] copies of the true, but [He entered] into heaven itself, now to be revealed in the face [fig., presence] of God on our behalf;
In Luke 17:21 Jesus says, the kingdom of God is within you. And later He says , I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom comes. Luke 22:18
We now live in the eternal covenant to bear fruit for Yahwey. He left the types cursed, but took the curse of the tree for anyone who believed in the real thing.
Mark 11:12-17 LITV 12 And on the morrow, they going out from Bethany, He hungered. 13 And seeing afar off a fig tree having leaves, He went toward it, if perhaps He would find anything on it. And coming on it, He found nothing except leaves, for it was not the season of figs. 14 And answering, Jesus said to it, Let no one eat fruit of you any more forever. And His disciples heard. 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And entering into the temple, Jesus began to throw out those selling and buying in the temple; also He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling the doves. 16 And He did not allow any to carry a vessel through the temple. 17 And He taught, saying to them, Has it not been written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations." "But you have made it a den of robbers."? Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11
Hebrews 12:28 ALT 28 For this reason, [since we are] receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be having grace, through which we are sacredly serving God in an acceptable manner, with reverence and godly fear.
Revelation 11:15 ALT 15 And the seventh angel sounded [his] trumpet, and [there]occurred great voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world became [the kingdom] of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign into the ages of the ages [fig., forever and ever]!"
From the beginning of this orderly arrangement (world, system or cosmos) the son of God from the dust was appointed to rule in the image of the supreme Elohim.
Genesis
1:26 ECB 26 And Elohim says, We work Adam in our
image, after our likeness! - to subjugate over the fish of the sea
and over the flyers of the heavens and over the animals and over
all the earth and over every creeper creeping on the earth. (to
make subjects for the kingdom)
The only begotten son
from heaven now make subjects for the kingdom in His
image.
Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came to him and
asked, for what reason are you speaking to them in parables? 11
Then answering he said to them, Because it has been given to you(p)
to know the secrets of the kingdom of the
heavens but to them it
is not given.
Matthew 13:17 For verily I am saying to you(p) that many prophets and just men have yearned to be understanding what you(p) are observing ...
Growth in the kingdom depends on being in the good land; the better covenant is now the good land.
Matthew 13:18 Hear you(p)
therefore the parable of the one sowing. 19 Of everyone hearing the
word of the
kingdom and not
understanding, the wicked one is coming and is snatching what was
sown in his heart. This is the one being sown beside the
way.
Matthew 13:23 Yet the one being sown onto the good soil he is the one hearing and understanding, who is bound to be bearing fruit and is producing: some a hundredfold, some sixty fold and some thirtyfold.
Good fruit in the kingdom depends on the right seed.
Matthew 13:24 Another parable he places before them saying, the kingdom of the heavens is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. While the men were sleeping his enemy came and sowed bearded darnels in the midst of the grain and went away. But when the blade germenated and produced fruit then the bearded darnels also appeared.
(Being born again by the
Spirit He sent means His image is in you.)
1 John 3:7-10 …7 Little offsprings, let no one be leading you astray; the one doing justice is just, even as He is just; 8 the one doing the sin is out of the adversary; for from the origin the adversary is still sinning. Into this was made to appear the Son of the God, that he should be loosing the works of the adversary. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.…
Shelter for the birds in the kingdom depends on the smallest seed that becomes the greatest plant.
Matthew 13:31 Another parable he
places before them saying the kingdom of the heavens is like a
grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. 32
Which is indeed the least of all the seeds, but when it is grown it
is greater than all the plants and becomes a tree so that the birds
of the heaven can take shelter among the branches of it. (notice
the birds live in the (first) heaven singular but the kingdom of
God rules in the heavens plural)
This kingdom parable depends
on the introduction of a new life that spreads
throughout.
Matthew 13:33 He tells them another parable. The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven which a woman recieved and hid in three measures of meal until it was all leavened.
Matthew 13:36-43 Then Jesus left the crowd and went into the house. And his disciples came to him and said, explain to us the parable of the bearded darnels of the field. So he answered them. The one sowing the good seed is the son of the human. The field is the system (orderly arrangement or cosmos). The good seed are the sons of the kingdom. The bearded darnels are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy; the one sowing them is the adversary. The harvest is the conclusion of the age. The reapers are messengers. Then even as the bearded darnels are collected and burned in the fire so shall it be at the conclusion of this age. The son of the human shall be dispatching his messengers and they shall be gathering out of his kingdom all of the snares and the ones doing lawlessness. And they shall be casting them into the burner of the fire. There shall be the lamentation and the nashing of the teeth. Then the just ones shall be shining out as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one having ears to be hearing, let him be hearing.
Matthew 13:52 Then He said
to them, beause of this every writer instructed
in the kingdom of the heavens is like a
man who owns a home, who is bringing out of his
pantry new things and old
things.
Right after John the baptizer was put into prison Jesus said,
Mark 1:15 And saying, the era has been fulfilled and the kingdom of the God has drawn near. Be having a change of mind and be believing the good message. (gospel)
Matthew 6:10 Pray like this then;
our Father in the heavens, let the name of you be being hallowed.
Let her be coming; the kingdom of you; being and becoming the will
of you; as in heaven and also in the land.
After this prayer the Holy Spirit was sent from the third heaven to the new leaders in the upper room of the land of Israel to commence the new covenant with God's offspring; to write His ways on their minds. The old covenant administration completely ended in AD 70. The King of the kingdom now rules through the new covenant eyes and hands and ears. Everyone is in the fifth and final everlasting kingdom prophecied by Daniel. It came during the time of the Roman empire. The head of God's rule on earth is not Adam or Moses or Abraham or the 12 tribes or the chief priest in Jerusalem or Nebuchadnezzer in Babylon or Nero in Rome. The new covenant has been fully installed and the high preist is King Yeshua who reigns from heaven through his capital city extending from heaven to earth. Not everyone is in the true image making City of God. Not everyone can see the kingdom or have God's kingdom growing in their heart. But everyone is enjoying the residual benefits of the Holy Spirit's teaching. And the gates of the city are always being held open by the gospel. Imagine the world if it's bad behavior were not being tamed by the Holy Spirit in God's people.
In the first kingdom of Daniel; Nebuchadnezzar tried to decree the kingdom of God but he couldn't even rule it in his own heart
Daniel
3:29 Therefore I decree
that the people of any nation or language who say anything against
the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and
their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can
save in this way."
In the second kingdom of
Daniel; Darius tried to decree it from the outside in
too
Daniel 6:26
I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble
and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the
living God, and stedfast for ever, and his
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his
dominion shall be
even unto the
end.
In the third kingdom Alexander definately conquered from the outside in and was left unfulfilled.
In the forth kingdom Nero refused to be a human at all and cut off Paul's head to try to stop the fifth kingdom from arriving.
God decrees it in the fifth kingdom of Daniel from the inside out.
Daniel 9:27 And the kingdom and the juristiction and the majesty of that kingdom under all the heavens, she was granted to the highest holy people of his kingdom. His kingdom is everlasting and all his rulers will listen and serve him.
Psalm 146:10 Yahwey will reign for ever, [even] thy God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Halleluiah!
Isaiah 9:7 ECB 7 Of the increase of his dominion and shalom there is no end, on the throne of David and on his sovereigndom; to establish and to support with judgment and with justness from henceforth - even eternally. The zeal of Yah Veh Sabaoth works this.
Daniel 2:44-45 In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to another people. She will crush and terminate all these (other four kingdoms). And she will herself endure forever. For as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the copper, the clay, the silver and the gold; the great God is making known to the king what shall be after this and the dream is certain and His interpretation is faithful.
Daniel 2 and 7 do predict events that were future to Daniel.
Daniel 2 describes a dream from the king of the Babylonian kingdom, which Daniel interpreted. Nebuchadnezzar had seen a large statue with a head of gold, arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron. It's feet were it's weekness; made of iron and clay. The rock that was "cut out" struck the feet and caused it all to fall down and crumble. The rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. The rock is the Christ who came to divide his people and become a stumbling block to those who wanted a military messiah. The clay in the feet were the old covenant Jews who wanted to rule Rome. Iron and clay don't mix well.
In Daniel 7, Daniel has a dream. He sees four beasts coming up out of the sea: a lion, a bear and a leopard. The fourth beast was terrifying. Daniel then saw a vision of the Son of Man, to whom was given "authority, glory and sovereign power" and all peoples, nations and men of every language worship him. His dominion is everlasting, and his kingdom will never be destroyed.
1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
In the old covenant world both the people of God and the people of false religions used God's administration for their own selfish and scandalous goals. Yet God continued to sov'reignly raise his children into his goodness. So it is in the new covenant world of God's people. King Constantine 'Christianized' his heathan empire and today we still name the resurrection holiday after his pagan goddess as we anually celebrate her fertility with colored chicken eggs while the church preaches on the birth of the new covenant. I'm sure very few people even realize this, let alone worship her image. Nevertheless the ostensible powers that be are not always the gospel truth tellers nor the incorruptible kingdom administrators.
The term 'Christendom' today may refer back to the 15th and 16th century geopolitical power that militarily threatened the paganism of the world at that time or it may refer to the Catholic Holy See. Or it may mean the true community of all Christians in spite of it's apparent fragmentation and public irregularities. Denominationalism, as a reaction to the historically corrupt church dictatorship in the 'name of Christ', can of course result in local monocrats falsley ruling in their own little boxes. While England seperated church and state in order to protect politics from the abusive pharisaical tactics well known to her history, America seperated church and state to protect the church from political usurpations; leaving the church free to influence the states politics from within. Apparently we are here to learn to trust Yeshua as the only incorruptible human who rules his kingdom from within. Maybe we won't have to exercise our faith in Yeshua after we get to heaven. But for now how could one possibly hope to grow up in a world without good and bad consequences for our actions? What are you waiting for?
Hebrews 11:1
Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended to the Most Holy place in heaven. There were first century Jewish witnesses for Jesus' resurrection and ascension. They were waiting for the eternal high priest of the new covenant prieshood to come out of the Most Holy place. When He did, the typical temple, with it's first and second room veils, was completely removed. The old land with their typical animal sacrifices was not accepted. It was consumed in the fires of AD 70. The new body of God's people however lived on after Jesus came out of the Most Holy Place, having offered Himself as the last sacrifice. He was sacrificed just outside of Jerusalem's gates and descended into the lowest part of the land. He was resurrected to the Holy Place of the new covenant and ascended to the highest place in heaven. He took his living body into the real Most Holy Place, in the real temple in heaven, so we can live through Him in His eternal kingdom.
Hebrews 9:3
YLT 3 and after the second vail a tabernacle
that is called `Holy of holies,'
Hebrews 9:28 Interlinear Thus the annointed was once offered to bear the sins of many; shall appear again, apart from sin, He shall appear to bring salvation to the ones waiting for Him to come out.