An Invitation to the Greatest Kingdom Ever!





The Scriptures—The Bible—is a book that tells a story.  There are things allowed, permitted, or excused throughout the entire scripture because of the following.

1.  Revelation was progressive:  

No one writes a book with all the plot, climax, and story on page one.  Well, neither does the Bible.   It comes together piece by piece. No book comes with all the plot, climax, and story on page one.  Well, neither does the Bible.   It comes together piece by piece. It takes a long time to work through the entire plot. This was written by about 40 authors over a period of  about 1500 years.  But, there is a point to the story.  It is not answered on page one.  Think of it.  No one writes a book with all the plot, climax, and story on page one.  Well, neither does the Bible.   It comes together piece by piece.  The biggest piece is in the person of Jesus Christ! 

Hebrews 1:1,-2 “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”



2.  Man's heart was (and is) hard.  So God in His mercy gave concession to this:


Matthew 19:8 “Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce as a concession to your hard-hearted wickedness, but it was not what God had originally intended.”

So, there are things in the Bible—that God allowed—but did not originally intend to happen.  Here is the point.  Just because there is a recorded incident of something in the Bible does not mean that God wanted that to happen!  

3.  The Scripture is a unit--a complete story.  You have to read the entire book to get the entire picture.

If you pick pieces of the Bible out of the entire story you can:

  • have a slave
  • kill a rebellious teenager
  • have 100 wives
  • kill a lamb and slap the blood on the door of your house


4.  Theocratic Government:
Thinking first of all of the Torah  (the first five books of the Bible).  The intent of the Torah was the establishing of a Theocratic community of followers of Yahweh.  (God is King—His people are His subjects).   Many of the 613 laws and regulation reflected that Theocratic political environment.  Simply put--the LORD is King--obey or die.  This is not a democracy--it is a Theocracy with Yahweh as KING. 

5.  Already but Not Yet:
The Bible is always representing an ‘all ready but not yet’ manifestation of the Kingdom of God.  The Torah was the initial attempt at Theocratic government.  It failed because of disobedience and the lack of cooperation of the citizens.  The end of the story is again a Theocratic government that is ruled  completely by love.  Total obedience is demanded--but total obedience will be the normal response of Eternity's citizens.  Once a new heaven and a new earth are formed--and followers of GOD have been totally redeemed (new sinless beings:  body, soul, and spirit) the desire to be disobedient and sin will be gone!  ONLY love will remain—unconditional and eternal love.


So we are even now in an ‘in-between time.’  God is still wanting obedience.  But, God allows disobedience—but only for a season.  God allows disobedience because God allows people to respond—however they choose.  However, there is coming a time when the choosing will be finished.  There is a day coming soon, when King Jesus will rule and reign.  Jesus will physically be present for all His people to see, to love, and to worship.  

Here is the invitation for you to join Jesus’ kingdom now.  You can surrender now to Jesus as King.  You can join His kingdom now! You can choose to live for Jesus, obey Jesus and surrender to His rule and His kingdom.  

Here is Jesus’ invitation:

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”


“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to hate your sin

It's just too noisy!

Duh--What church should I attend?