Kingdom Come

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. ” (Hebrews 13:8-9)

“I am the LORD, I change not…

• Remember ye the law of Moses my servant
  • Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil…Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)
• For I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:“ (Malachi 3-4)
  • Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.” (Matthew 17:10-12)

“if that first covenant had been faultless [as it was on God’s side! so the fault lay with the second party to the covenant], then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them [ the second party to the covenant, the priests]…because they continued not in my covenant…  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…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…For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 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.” (Hebrews 8:7-13)

How can an everlasting covenant vanish away? When – finally! – a human party to the covenant! – Yeshua / YHVH’s Savior fulfilled God’s covenantal charge to take dominion!

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth…

• I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day:
• the night cometh, when no man can work.
• As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world [extension of the Light of Creation].
• When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.” (John 9:4-6)

This is Creation all over again! “there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,” (Genesis 2:6-7)

“That which was from the beginning – THE COVENANT of the Word of life;

• which WE have heard,
• which WE have seen with our eyes,
• which WE have looked upon,
• and OUR hands have handled,
  • (For the life was manifested, and WE have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto US;)

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ…

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Does John have to give you the reference Genesis 1:1-5 to bring this connection to mind?

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1)

BECAUSE THE COVENANT CALLS FOR THE STRONGER TO UPHOLD THE WEAKER.

“For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

How is that?

“The Son of man / Seed of the Woman goeth as it is written of him [to crush the serpent’s head]…And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament / covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 

“For verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary…But Christ being come an high priest…by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands…by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us…through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve [in the place of the Levitical priests] the living God…And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death [life for life] for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” (Hebrews 9)

This is not the New Testament beginning with Matthew in contrast the Old Testament ending with Malachi.

We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast [finally!!] taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and[finally!!] shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth [by fire this time, keeping straight with the covenant to Noah]. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” (Revelation 11:17-19)

This is the visible evidence of the new version of the baseline covenant giving dominion to humanity, lost by man, restored temporarily by redemption of the Adam’s and their offspring’s lives by life-for-life through animal sacrifices, and ultimately by the last will and testament of the Seed of the Woman Savior from sin and death promised to the first two human beings.

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous…by faith Enoch…Noah…Abraham…Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses…these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise…that they without us should not be made perfect / complete...

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to...the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” – life instead of death. (Hebrews 11-12)

YHVH’s Savior / Jesus is only recognizable through the law of Moses and the Old Testament prophecies of salvation,

“Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:26-27)

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

If you take this statement at face value, then it must logically follow that faith in Jesus is the means of salvation throughout the Old as well as the New Testament. This becomes more clear when we use the Hebrew translation “YHVH’s Savior” instead of the Greek translation “Jesus” which, because in our English Bible translations it is applied to one single person in time and used only in the New Testament, skews our understanding of his role in history. While we believe on his actions in time and place, the individual carrying out those actions transcends time and space.

“God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling [to share dominion over creation] according to his own purpose and grace,

• which was given us in Christ Jesus / YHVH’s Designated Seed of the Woman Savior from sin and death before the world began, 
• But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ / YHVH’s Chosen Savior

who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel [as promised to the Adams in Genesis 3:15]:“(II Timothy 1:8-10)

Jesus’ message about himself before Pentecost and the apostle’s doctrine of the New Testament Church after Pentecost validate everything they preach by referencing back to the Old Testament promises to Israel.

“Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” (Isaiah 55:3)

“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:44-48)

“…they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. 

• The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt…
• he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus…
• children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent…
• we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus…from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption…

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things...Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” (Acts 13:14-43)

What is this grace of God? Is it, as claimed, a new way of salvation distinct from the Mosaic law of the Old Covenant? Not according to the Bible.

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us [the essential Mosaic law] that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.“(Titus 2:11-14)

Grace is the fundamental covenant made with the first two humans by God himself to the parents of the entire human race promising to save them and their children from sin and death.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying…of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die...And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew…

 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this…[the woman’s] seed…shall bruise [crush] thy head [kill you despite you being immortal].” (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:1-15)

The New Testament is not a new and improved religion in the sense of being a super-simple way of avoiding hell and living in a blissful heaven forever after death. The new covenant is the revelation of the mystery of how the old covenant restores immortality, i.e. sinlessness, to mortal humans through transformative death and resurrection.

“the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly….

• 1. according to my gospel,
  2. and [according to] the preaching of Jesus Christ,
  3. [and] according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began [when the bruising of Satan was first announced], But now is made manifest
  4. and by the scriptures of the [Old Testament] prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: ” (Romans 16:20-26)

“Then came the day…when the passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat...And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you…

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them…But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be…he that doth serve…[identifying, in unity with me as] I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and [as extensions of myself] sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel .” (Luke 22:8-30)

“verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service…went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: Which was a figure for the time then present…But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come…by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

• • For if the blood of bulls and of goats [in fact] sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
    • How much more shall the blood of Christ / the Chosen One, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
  • purge [by the LORD’s forgiveness of iniquity and no longer remembering our sin] your conscience
    • [allowing diversion of resources from engaging in] from dead works to [instead present our bodies a living sacrifice to] serve the living God?

And for this cause [serving the living God] he is the mediator of the new testament [with the Hebrew nation], that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9)