20111021 : Altar#2 What really is Kingdom of God??

Very often, we do not really understand what is actually the Kingdom of God (or Heaven). This recent conference by Peter Tsukahira - I thought best summarised it all. Here are the extracts:-

Before the "what" question, we need to find out the "where".

Where did the Kingdom of God begin?

• It all began in Ex19:6 when God appeared to Moses and He became the King to the disorganised slaves who just came out of Egypt. This was His covenant "if the people keep his voice and covenant...then they will be a kingdom of priests and holy nation"
• Moses was never King but only God
• IN Ex 20 : God called Moses up to the mountain and gave him the 10 commandments. The law was given. The Lord laid down his laws and He rules his kingdom LAWFULLY.
• The first 5 books of the Torah (Pentateuch) and more than 600 other laws - they showed God's dominion over society
• The kingdom of God is the Reign of God

But what happened?

• The people grew tired with God as King!
• They saw other nations with kings and so went to Samuel and demanded a human king!
• They forgotten that Israel is a holy nation set apart!

When did the rejection of the kingdom of God happen?

In 1 Sam 8:6 : Saul relented to the people's demands. But human kings are never perfect as they did not fully follow God's ways!

Briefly the 3 human kings background:-

1. King Saul - first human king who ruled for 42 years, still failed
2. King David - the good king Israel had (but deep in David's heart's, he knew he was just the little king but God is the great King of Zion) and being a man after God' own heart, the Lord blessed him
3. King Solomon - Under his reign, Israel reached her highest height. But later went into idolatry. The rest of the subsequent kings were mainly BAD.

400 years of SILENCE : The people of Israel realised what they had done! They began their cries of forgiveness to God.

The interconnection between OT & NT after the 400 years of silence.

The gospels in NT with John the Baptist coming into the picture. What were his first words?

"REPENT for the KINGDOM Of GOD IS NEAR!"

It is a call for repentance! After the silent years.

In Acts 1:6 , now we understand why the disciples asked" Lord are you at anytime going to RESTORE the KINGDOM to Israel?"

ie When is God going to rule our nation again?No human king?

Then Acts 1:7 "It is not for you to know the times or dates..."

But in Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power.."

Power to do what??

Power to demonstrate the Kingdom...to change the culture!

The good of the law? It enshrines and protects the people.

Quote " Laws are good if they are good laws, better laws are better and perfect laws are PERFECT!!

So God is restoring the Kingdom today.

The Issue of Prophesy:

• Today we seem to have the degeneration of this term. Question is :"Is this truly prophetic?"
• According to Peter Tsukihara's definition : The biblical or Foundation of Prophetic is defined as "When God says He will do something in scripture and then does it in human history"
• Prophesy is the convergence "WORD of the scripture " + "Act of God DONE in history" + "SPIRIT of revelation"
• The examples ie virgin birth - Matt 1:22 and Matt 2:14 " All this took place to fulfil.." "And so was fulfilled what the lord had said..."
• The last part on the revelation is most important. Reason we need the spirit of revelation to see and hear. Luke 4 records the life of Jesus of Nazareth. For 25 years he lived in Nazareth before heading to Capernaum and performed his first ever water to wine miracle. He picked his 12 disciples. For years of silence, the people of Israel cried out for a long time and Jesus came. For generations passed. Jesus become and event in Israel. But when he went back to Nazareth, he was rejected! Luke 4:18 where it recorded the first synagogue teaching by Jesus . It happened that Jesus read the book of Isaiah 61 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...". IN Luke 4:21 "THIS IS THE DAY FULFILLED IN YOUR EARS" Jesus told the people his identity! He brings the prophesy of the Big prophesy into FOCUS! Jesus himself brought the scriptures as written by Isaiah into the picture. But now it depended on the Spirit of revelation .That very day, the people had the Son of Man among them. BUT on that day, did the people receive ? NO. They lack that spirit of revelation!

Restoration of Israel

• Israel is an event of the world. It appears on the news almost every other day.
• What does the bible say about Israel. It is a convergence of prophesy.
• There are more than 60 over prophecies on Israel
• Eg Ez36:22 Here God declares to Israel to get ready. He will use Israel as an instrument, not for 'your name sake but mine great name sake" - It is all about God's identity, character and his reputation. And the beneficiaries? "then the nations will know I am the Lord" V24 God will take her out , gather her from all countries and bring her back. We are the generation to see this prophecy come to pass. Israel became a nation again on 14/5/1948. This is one of the greatest prophetic event of the day.
• The people of Israel are covenant people of God. Ez 36:22 "My name is profaned" Yes, they know the bible and yet they profane the name of God. But the day is coming where we talk about the God who brought the people out of Egypt. Most people in Israel do not believe in the NT. They think it is for the gentiles
• But the LAW of the KINGDOM is that of the Spirit
• What will be the new covenant be like?? Jer 31:31-32 "Behold the days come, saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers int he days that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant brake, although I was an husband unto them."
• Jer31:33" But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. Adfter those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people"

Conclusion

So going back to the roots of Israel to understand the real beginning of the kingdom. Too bad that Israel chose over a human king over an invisible King to rule over them. Human kings shown to fall so short of their rulership in history. But we thank God that Jesus Himself has come to fulfil the new covenant.

Lawfulness vs lawlessness. (today we see the release of such a spirit of lawlessness taking place - a real misunderstanding of 'freedom' where many equates to independence.."I am free to do anything?"

On the contrary, to live under this Kingdom, we have to understand this difference.If we are under the rulership of the King, we are under his law. His kingdom is that of lawfulness and not lawlessness. God is free yet He is completely lawful.

2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord id the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is freedom.

May we all be spirit filled and led to have the Spirit of Revelation in these last days. Eyes to see. Ears to hear. Not legalistic but like Paul said in Acts 1:8 - to receive the power from on high - to demonstrate the power of the kingdom of heaven here on earth! Look out for events happening especially in Israel. The current horrific floods in Thailand where the government now had no choice but to declare a 5 day public holiday from 27/10/2011 and the 7.2 quake in Turkey on 23/10 @10:41pm-just birthpains increasing...clock ticking away..Watch and Pray!

Choose wisely. Which king we want to be under?