Kingdom Come

“Who raised up the righteous man from the east [Abram] gave the nations before him [Abraham], and made him rule over kings [as Melchizedek]?…calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD…

thou, Israel, art my servant / slave, a permanent relationship, Jacob whom I have chosen [to fight with me], the seed / descendant / a generation of Abraham my friend…and said unto thee, Thou art my servant / slave; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.” (Isaiah 41:1-9)

So when Judea was again, under Rome, as previously had happened under Babylon, desolated and its people scattered, YHVH was not abandoning them. He was following the terms of his covenant with Israel to be his witnesses of salvation to the whole world.

“Jesus Christ / YHVH’s Savior the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.“ (Hebrews 11-13)

I spent 60 years defining myself as a Christian while, as a biblically literate individual, struggling with the inconsistencies between the Bible and Christianity – even the brands that claim to be rock solid Bible-believers. Christianity has degraded the whole purpose of the new covenant with the false gospel that Jesus’s death took away the punishment for sin so we can go about our merry way secure in the knowledge that, since we ‘asked Jesus to come into our heart’, no matter what we do, we don’t face judgment. This is a dreadful lie.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?…our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin…Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body…but yield…your members as instruments of righteousness unto God…Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:1-16)

Adultery and fornication are two behaviors most denounced as sin in the Bible. The is not an arbitrary ruling by a God who invented house rules. This is a fact of life – or death – of the body in conditions like AIDS and infertility caused by STDs, breakdown of the family and by extension society’s cohesion and stability.

If we can recognize that choices made to pursue a short-term pleasure of drug use leads to long-term destruction of the body, soul and spirit, can we not extrapolate the personal, family, social, and international damage caused by physical drug abuse to the abstract but same pursuit of any self-absorption expressed on a spectrum of ignoring to neglecting to ruthlessly exploiting those whose quality of life, or very life itself, depend on us meeting their needs in our tightly interconnected web of life? Self absorption is easy enough to see when it ruthlessly exploits others in pornographic dehumanization, pedophilia, and rape and Me Too! but is also the root cause of broken families, poverty, and war.

Why is it so hard to understand the righteousness can’t be simply declared, it must a choice resulting in changed behavior.

• “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH – BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT!
• God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH – BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT..
• For to be carnally / physically minded / focused is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
• Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
• So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, IF so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
• Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ / Mashiach, he is none of his [mashiachs].” (Romans 6, 8:1-9)

• “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day,
  • the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee…
• But if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day;
  • all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.“ (Deuteronomy 28:1-28)

Overlay this template onto the following statements from Paul in Romans 11 where he is jumping around with the lightning speed of his memory quoting from Isaiah 43-44 and Psalm 69 and Numbers 23  and using some clever parallels and tightly knit logic. It is only when we patiently line up everything that he was following that the lightbulb over our heads clicks on.

• Israel [under Jeroboam’s leadership] hath not obtained that which he seeketh for [blessings and power]
  • he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.” 
• but the election [chosen to rule in the kingdom of God] hath obtained it.
  • This people have I formed for myself; They SHALL shew forth my praise…hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen…beside me there is no God. And who…shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people?…ye are even my witnesses. 
• and the rest were blinded [in accordance with the trustworthiness of his word for both blessings and curses.]
  • They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
• until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in [according to YHVH”s purpose for Israel to lead the whole world to salvation]
  • The earth is the LORD‘s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein…Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? [Not just Jews]. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive…righteousness [through redemption by the Seed of the Woman] from the God of his salvation.
• and so [upon fulfillment of God’s plan] all Israel shall be saved…
  • for thou art my servant / slave / permanent ownership: I have formed thee…O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
• as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 
  •  I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me…for the LORD hath
    1. redeemed Jacob,
    2. AND [by so doing] glorified himself / triumphed over looming defeat in Israel [by keeping his covenant in both separating and remaining unified forever, exactly as he did with the Adams.]
• For THIS is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
  • That confirmeth the word of his servant [of salvation], AND performeth the counsel of his messengers [judgment on sin];
• For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
  • God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 
• For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
  • The Jews…spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:45-47)
• Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
  • For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. (Isaiah 54:7)

Knowing human nature as well as he does, Paul foresees how the Gentile converts to YVH will respond to the upcoming desolation of Jerusalem and scattering of the Jewish people. The Jews were demonized and segregated from and persecuted by the new revised version called Christianity. This is the antithesis of qualifying for rulership in God’s kingdom!

And that is a problem.

• Now if the… diminishing of them [the Jews] be the riches of the Gentiles 
  • how much more their fulness?…
• if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world [through their spreading of the knowledge of God’s word beyond the bounds of geographical Israel,
  • what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead / RESURRECTION DAY!?” 

Well, now we know why it’s taking so long for John’s appeal – the last words in the Bible – to be answered: “Come, Lord Jesus.” 

He is waiting for Jews and Gentiles united under YHVH’s Savior.

“And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written [quoting from multiple prophets] After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

1. that the residue [Israel / Ephraim scattered]…might seek after the LORD,
2. AND ALL the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called.