MYSTERIES OF GOD'S KINGDOM. Kenneth B. Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ said: “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

      The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1 Co 15:54-56; Isaiah 25:8; Hosea 13:14). This is truth. To dwell in Christ’s and resurrected, imperishable body.

      To become like Christ, and thereby know the truth, we must be “born again” in the Spirit. Christianity today uses the term “born again” to reflect the state of anyone who has been “saved” that is has received Christ as their Savior. This is not being truly “born again”. Christ describes a total experience of actually being completely born again with a new nature, displacing our human nature. Christians who claim to be born again just because they have accepted Christ are mistaken. Basis salvation is only step 1 in the process of receiving the nature of Christ in its totality.

      Jesus said in response to a question posed to Him by a Jewish Pharisee Nicodemus: “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [from above] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [symbolic of the Word of God] and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again [from above].’ “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8).

      So how do we conduct this search for truth? Very simple. We seek Him, to know Him and the power of his resurrection.

      Paul said:

      “That I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may KNOW HIM and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship [participation in] of His sufferings,… in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Phil 3:10).

      Since all truth resides in the person of Jesus Christ, we must seek Him in order to know Him, so we can become like Him.

      Paul said: “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

      Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I PRESS ON toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:8-14).

      “Knowing Him” is knowing Him as a husband knows his wife. It is an intimate relationship between you and God. When you have this you will KNOW and thus experience the truth.

      Another scripture refers to this knowing and the search for Him:

       “So let us know, LET US PRESS ON TO KNOW THE LORD.

      His going forth is as certain as the dawn;

      And He will come to us like the rain,

      Like the spring rain watering the earth” (Hosea 6:1-3).

      Our searching is a pressing on to the relationship God has planned for us with Him, resurrection life, an imperishable body, eternal life in His Kingdom. This is truth.

      How do we seek? One way is through prayer. Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6.

      “Pray, then, in this way:

      ‘Our Father who is in heaven,

      Hallowed be Your name.

       ‘YOUR KINGDOM COME.

      YOUR WILL BE DONE,

      ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

       ‘Give us this day our daily bread.

       ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

       ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]” (Matthew 6:9-13).

      In Luke 11, the disciples asked Jesus how to pray. Jesus quoted the Lord’s Prayer. But He went further. He showed them by a parable that one must be persistent in prayer (seeking, searching) and not to stop praying until you have received of what you asked (Luke 11:1-13). It is not even necessarily a searching; it is an asking. He who seeks finds; he who asks receives.

      Heaven is not some faraway place we reach only when we die. It is a state of being. Jesus said that we should pray that His Kingdom come both in “heaven” (the spirit realm where God lives) and in the earth AS IT ALREADY IS in heaven. The kingdom is all around us. We just need to seek God to bring it down to become real to our senses.

      Paul said: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

      Set your mind [be intent on] on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

      For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).

      This is truth. We don’t look for it using natural resources in a temporal world. Jesus, the person, is truth. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. God said “Heaven and earth may pass away, but My words will not”. So let’s seek him while He may be found.

      IS THE BIBLE OUTDATED AND IRRELEVANT

      In this evil and perverted age, man has grown too smart for the Bible. It is, according to some, contradicted by history, by evolution, by science and human independence and intelligence. However, as we shall see, the Bible is not outdated and irrelevant. It only appears that way to those who have no eyes to see or ears to hear, as in the days of Jesus.

      As David said (speaking to the Word of God) "Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:2). So it is with the Bible. A better title for this topic would be: "Is This Present World Outdated and Irrelevant". It is filled with violence, corruption, genocide, wars, immorality, impurity, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, dissensions and factions, drunkenness, false religion and all matter of evil. (See Galatians 5:19-21). And after all of that, many still cling to the idea that the human way is the only way. The Bible teaches that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control should reign supreme in the earth (Galatians 5:22-23).

      There is one problem common to all people who sneer at the Word of God. God did not intend for all to understand its contents. Most people have no eyes to see or ears to hear. To them it has not been granted to see the true meanings of the Scriptures (Ezekiel 12:2, Romans 11:8). In His calling of Isaiah to be a prophet (Isaiah 6:9-10), God said: "Go and tell this people: 'Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.' "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Lest they see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."

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