THE
GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the
end come. Matthew 24.14
In our day the church has done a fine job of preaching the
Gospel of Salvation from sin and redemption in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of the
Kingdom of God, in reality, is very seldom preached or taught! Some churches
preach a salvation message each and every Sunday never touching on the deeper
issues of what Yeshua taught.
The disciples were commanded to preach the Kingdom of God. A
kingdom is a nation. A kingdom has laws. A kingdom has citizens and a kingdom
has a king. How much do we really understand the Gospel of the Kingdom?
When I was first led into understanding the Hebraic roots of
the Christian faith one of the first things the set apart Spirit of God led me
to study was the Biblical Calendar.
I had a desire to understand the end of the age and the Book
of Revelation. I was confused with all of the prophetic teachings on the end
times. It wasn’t making sense to me. Why should I study the calendar?
For two weeks I resisted studying the calendar because I
knew that the Biblical calendar would require I study the Jewish calendar. I
also felt compelled to visit Israel. I soon was signed up to go on a tour to
Israel with a recommended guide and I began to study the Biblical calendar.
I had always been stuck on Daniel 7.25: And he (Antichrist) shall speak great words against the most High and
shall break down the saints of the most High and think to change the times and the law;
and they shall be given into his hand until
a time and times and the half or dividing of a time.
Slowly I began to see that the “times and the law” that
would be changed were the Biblical times and laws! The Bible time and laws are
much different than the times and laws the world currently observes. We are
observing the Roman Gregorian Calendar—not the Biblical calendar. https://burningbush647.blogspot.com/2017/11/gods-time-and-calendar-vs-roman.html
I now understood that the Kingdom of God has its own
calendar and time. The world operates on other calendars and time which obscure
the truth. God’s calendar contains many clues concerning the Kingdom of God and
coming world events.
The feasts and holidays we are to be observing are listed in
Leviticus 23, Numbers 23, and Deuteronomy 16. My calendar study led me into the
study of the feasts. Eventually I realized why we were to observe these feasts
instead of the traditional Christian holidays.
These feasts contain instruction and prophetic information
on the return of King Yeshua that traditional Christianity has missed by
neglecting the importance of these Biblical feasts. These were exciting
discoveries. The truth was setting me free!
The next phase I was led into was understanding the
importance of our being grafted into “The Commonwealth of Israel”. Ref: Ephesians
2-3.6; Romans 9-11.
This phase took years to understand and I’m still learning!
Grafted into Israel is of major importance in understanding who we are, what
the kingdom is, and where we are headed. It is about inheritance, identity, and
the Millennial Kingdom to come.
The Church has not replaced Israel as many have been taught.
It is not about being Jewish. It is about both Jew and Gentile being
transformed into the image of Yeshua—it is about becoming Yeshua-ish if you
will.
Abraham was not Jewish. Abraham was a Hebrew. There is a big
difference. A Hebrew is one who has crossed over. Abram (A high father) crossed
over (into Monotheism) and became Abraham (a father of a multitude). Abraham is
never called a Jew in the Bible. He is specifically called a “Hebrew” in
Genesis 14.13. This was prior to his name being changed to Abraham and his
meeting with Melchizedek.
Abraham came out of idolatry and crossed over the Euphrates
River. He was called out by Yahweh and became a believer in the one true God of
the Universe. He is our Father, both Jew and Gentile. Essentially we both are
Hebrews (until we cross over into Yeshua).
Hang in with me, there is more! We are allowing the Bible to
interpret itself. Very important.
Moving unto Abraham’s descendants we arrive at Jacob who
fathers the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s name is changed by Yahweh to Israel.
The official name of the twelve tribes is Israel = He will be a prince with
God; contender with God, one that prevails with God. Note they are not yet
referred to as “Jews”—we will address this later.
A careful examination will reveal that the 12 Tribes of
Jacob/Israel do not include Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph. This
gets very interesting.
In Genesis 48 Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph and in
verse 16 says: “Let my name be named on them and the names of my father’s
Abraham and Isaac.” Israel/Jacob is adopting Ephraim and Manasseh, grafting
them into the family. They are not Israel/Jacob’s sons—they are Joseph’s sons.
They are being grafted into Israel the nation.
Now in Genesis 49 Jacob calls unto “his sons” in verse one.
He proceeds to bless them and in verse 28 we read: “All these (his sons) are
the tribes of Israel. These are in order: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, JOSEPH, and Benjamin.
Ephraim and Manasseh are not mentioned because they have
been grafted into Israel. Joseph was the first born of the wife Jacob loved—Rachel.
In Jacob’s mind Joseph is the first born and through the blessing of Ephraim
and Manasseh Joseph is receiving the double portion blessing of the first born
son.
Now we go to 1 Chronicles 5.1-2: Now the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the
firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of
Joseph, the son of Israel; and he was not counted as the firstborn. For
Judah prevailed above his brethren and was their prince, but the birthright was
Joseph’s….
This is vital information. The birthright is given unto the
sons of Joseph and the leadership is given to Judah (until Shiloh/Messiah)
comes Gen 49.10). Judah, as we will see, is going to become “the Jews” as
history progresses.
Joseph’s son’s mother was Asenath, the idolatrous daughter
of the high priest of Egypt. Ephraim and Manasseh were most probably taught
about the god’s of Egypt by their mother. Later, Ephraim will lead the northern
tribes into Idolatry.
Ephraim and Manasseh represent the Gentiles or nations. They
were grafted into the tribes of Israel. Later in Exodus we see Levi becoming
the priests of the Lord (no land inheritance) and Ephraim and Manasseh receive
land inheritance in place of Levi and their Father Joseph. Their grafting in is
complete. Ephraim and Manasseh represent the gentile nations that will be
grafted into ISRAEL. We are Ephraim and Manasseh.
The tribes go in and take the land of Canaan. Eventually
David and Solomon become Kings. After Solomon’s death there is a rebellion.
Solomon’s son Rehoboam wanted to raise taxes and the northern tribes rebelled
and broke away under the Kingship of Jeroboam the Ephramite. Ref : 1 Kings
11-12.
Jeroboam becomes king of the 10 northern tribes who retain
the name Israel. The southern kingdom becomes known as Judah. They are now
Jehuda or as we call them today—Jews. The first mention of this is in 2 Kings
16.5-6.
Jeroboam sets up idols in Bethel and Dan and changes the
Biblical feasts in 1 Kings 12.25-33. This is a shadow and type of
what the gentile Christian church would do in the far future times—reject the
feasts of the Lord and make up their own holidays/feasts.
The nation is now split in two. The northern kingdom of
Israel, which has turned to idolatry, and the southern kingdom of Judah who retain
allegiance to Yahweh. They are the modern day Jewish people who have remained
true to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are the Jews.
Note: In 1948 the Jewish state was named Israel. This is
prophetic. Ezekiel
37 says the two sticks of Judah
and Joseph (Ephraim/Manasseh) will be joined together in the future. At that
time they will once
again become ISRAEL. Jew and Gentile reunited under Yahweh and
Yeshua his son, the KING.
We know how Assyria conquered idolatrous Israel and they
were relocated to Assyria and lost their identities as they were mingled into
the gentile nations (Hosea 7.8-9). Read the entire book of Hosea. It is about
how the northern tribes of Israel become the “lost tribes” and assimilate into
the Gentile culture.
Later Judah will be exiled to Babylon, but be allowed to
return to Judah and rebuild the temple. They had not lost their identity.
SUMMARY
We all (Jew and Gentile) begin as Father Abraham--as Hebrews
when we “crossover” into Monotheism. We are named by God “Israel”. We had a
civil war and divided into Israel (Idolatrous gentiles) and Judah (Jews).
Israel assimilated into the nations, Judah kept Judaism alive throughout the
centuries.
Yeshua came and called us both to crossover into Him. That
process is still in progress.
At a future time, in Yahweh’s own time and way, we two
sticks shall become one in His hand. We will once again become known as Israel.
Yeshua will return and establish the Millennial Kingdom for
a thousand years to teach all the world (Isaiah 64-66, Zecariah 12-14, Rev 20).
There will be a final rebellion (Rev 20). Then there will be
a New Jerusalem and peace.
This information is documented in the Bible. It is the first
step in understanding the “Gospel of the Kingdom” and how Yahweh is going to
reunite Jew and Gentile once again as the nation of Israel. This is a basic “big
picture” view of the Kingdom and what Yahweh is doing in these last days. This
is how Jew and Gentile will become one in Yeshua.
It took me many years to come to this understanding. It is
not the Gospel which is widely adhered to by the world, the Christian church,
or Judaism. It is the truth. It has set me free. It is a stumbling block to the
world.
Unity comes only through division. That is counter
intuitive. The world sees unity as being all inclusive—everyone is welcome with
all of their various religious beliefs. Soon we have a dead religion with no
power and man becomes the god of this religion.
We arrive at truth through winnowing. The chaff must be
winnowed away. We cannot be unified until we arrive at the truth. Has there
ever been a time when the world stampeded towards the truth? Never. Have we
ever really been in unity? Never. It shall come at the appointed time.
Knowing the truth can be a lonely path. Yeshua walked that
lonely path. The Father will draw his own unto Himself--John 14 through 17 is
much to understand. There is a remnant in God. It is not always a comfortable
place in which to dwell but it is our calling. The world will never understand—but
Yahweh has a magnificent plan.
Below is a link to a short treatise on the Gospel of the
Kingdom of God by Tessa Beswick. It should be our manual and manifesto of the
Kingdom. Please take the time to prayerfully read and heed it.
