THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE

A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
(Isaiah 40:6-8)

 

The Gospel of Salvation is also known as the Gospel of the Kingdom (Mat 4:23; 9:35; 24:14), for those who are purchased by the blood of God’s only begotten Son, also inherit an eternal and glorified Kingdom, (Rev 1:5-6). This gospel is clear – Messiah, the Priest-King, will purchase by His blood “a people for God’s own possession” from among men, justify them in the Court of Almighty God by paying the penalty of their sin through His own death and resurrection (Rom 3:21-26; 4:25; 5:18), wash and cleanse them throughout their walk of sanctification (Rom 6:22; 1 Cor 1:30-31; 6:11), and glorify their bodies through resurrection at His Second Appearance, (1 John 3:2; Col 3:4). Thus they will take possession of their eternal inheritance and rule and reign with Messiah on this earth for 1,000 years, (Rev 11:15-18).

The prophet Daniel received a vivid picture of this phenomenal promise:

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him [the Son of Man] was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed…But the court shall sit in judgment, and his [Antichrist’s] dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his [the Son of Man’s] kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him [the Son of Man].” (Dan 7:13-14; 7:26-27) (Insertions added by the author.)

When the Gospel was spread throughout Judea and Samaria, and eventually to the ends of the earth, it was proclaimed as “the good news of the Kingdom” – a message understood by the people along these lines, “The King was born, and His Kingdom has come, do you want to enter into His inheritance?” (Mat 2:1-6; Mat 3:2; 4:17; Mat 13:19; 13:44-52). Truly, we need to keep the Gospel in tact – the message of salvation from sin is extended to those who accept the Priest-King, Messiah, as their Savior and King, hence to live their lives as citizens of the Kingdom of God, for those who accept salvation by faith are liberated from the dominion of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:9-14), and they have to hence forth conduct their lives on earth as citizens of the Kingdom of Light, (Eph 4:5-16; 1 John 1:5-10; 2:1-6).

We cannot continue our lives according to the standards of this world (Eph 4:17-24), and live the way we think best, (Gal 5:17). A kingdom is administrated according to the wishes of the ruling King, and those who fear the King will obey Him. Our citizenship is in heaven from where the King, at the right hand of the Father, rules our hearts, (Luke 17:20-21; Phil 3:20-21). Messiah will establish His presence in the lives of those who abide in Him through the Holy Spirit, (John 14:16-17; 14:23-26; Rom 8:1-9; Gal 5). YET, the Spirit will not guide or act on His own initiative, in fact, Messiah made it clear that the Spirit of Truth will only teach, disclose, or bring to remembrance what was already laid down as fundamental truth in the Word of God (John 14:26; 1 John 2:20-21; 2:27), including that which is to come, (John 16:13).

Thus, all truths pertaining to the administration of the Kingdom will be disclosed to those who would enter the Kingdom by faith. The foundation of Truth was laid down as a blue print by the Hebrew prophets (Heb 1:1-2; Heb 8:4-5), were fulfilled in Messiah (Mat 5:17; Gal 4:4-5; Rom 7:4-6; Rom 10:4), and were interpreted in His teachings as recorded in the four gospels i.e. the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 to 7. All these truths were affirmed by the teachings of the 12 apostles, and so His House will be built:

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph 2:19-22). (See also 1 Peter 2:4-10.)

In order to protect the Kingdom from impostors, namely false teachers and false apostles, who will seek to disturb and shake the stability of our faith “by countless winds of doctrines” (Eph 4:14-16), the plumb line was set in God’s eternal Word of Truth, (Amos 7:7-8). Indeed, “all flesh is grass, the grass withers, the flowers fades, but the Word of our God stands forever,” (Is 40:6-8). There is no “new revelation” pertaining to the foundational truths as some claim to receive. The Word of God should remain the plumb line as we build our most holy faith on our Messiah:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col 2:6-8)

The ancient truths laid down as road marks or “ancient paths” in the Word of God should establish us as obedient citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. All instructions, if accepted and obeyed, will lead to a fruitful and stable life and equip those who walk by faith to stand firm in difficult times:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Mat 7:24-27)

 

 

 

  “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.'”
(Jer 6:16)