It was John the Baptist who said of Christ “here comes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” for the renewal to commence.
John was a man sent forth by God. It was said of John the Baptist that of all the prophets he was the greatest, and he was the greatest because he spoke plainly something that all the other prophets just alluded to. And that is that “the Kingdom of God is at hand”. And he didn’t mean some silly city on earth called Jerusalem. That was turned “till not one stone was left upon another”. You see no other prophet put it so plainly and so clearly than that the kingdom of God is something to be grasped. “At Hand”. The disciples in Luke 11 were told to proclaim it and this command was never retracted.
All the law and the prophets were until John the baptist, from that time the Kingdom the Kingdom is preached and all are pressing in”? Yes! Because “all the law and the prophets were parables”. Yes they were pictures and play things to mimic the invisible ever ready, ubiquitous heavenly Kingdom at hand. The law and the prophets were visible things to learn of the invisible, to teach by carnal visuals of things we need to understand in the spirit of our mind of the “Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world”.
The Kingdom of God is a pre-incarnate reality in the spirit that rules over all things. And “when that which is perfect has come”? This is the regenerate re-formatted mind of faith that co-rules and co-reigns in the Son who is with the Father. Rev 3 “He who overcomes shall rule with a rod of iron”? And so we do. And this happens how? 1 John 5 “how is it that we overcome the world? By faith. This is the overcoming by scripture and need not another earthly Jesus or another city called Jerusalem to do so. “He who overcomes shall be a pillar in the house of God”. Yes! An invisible construct to uphold the truth.
The church is called to overcome. But many are stuck in the visuals like the Jews did and were rejected saying “when does the Kingdom appear?
Visible things are not of faith but fact. They are not of the eternal in the spirit but of the building blocks of time and matter. But we are called to look to the invisible, to invest there. “while we look not to the things that are seen, for the things that are seen are temporary but the unseen is eternal” 1 cor 4.13 Look at this.
We are called to excersize faith in this way. We are taught to seek God in this way saying “since you then are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above”. So this is how we are risen. A second coming Jesus doesn’t raise us, the gospel does. The invisible God does. Didn’t we just quote a verse that says that we are raised?
And “without faith it is impossible to please God”? Yes, and because God is invisible, we need to use the invisible tools of the trade. Faith. This is our imbelical cord to the Almighty. And we need to speak the word. These are the works of Christ. And these are the greater works we do.
Every clock has a starting point and an expiration date, but not the things of God. That is what eternal means and what we get. That which was before God ever said “Let there be light!” It is “that which was, and is, and is to come”. That changeth not”. You change. You change your mind. You are renewed in the spirit of your mind.
So no visible city or king and kingdom on earth ever are the fulfillment of Gods word. Like Jesus said “My Kingdom is not of this world”. Not of time and matter.
Learn what this means ” Where there are prophecies they will fail, But when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part is done away with”. That is what this is.
When Moses was insrtucted to “make things according to the pattern you saw on the mount” he was to make visible the invisible from where “if even a man or a beast touches they will die”. This is the purpose of every true prophet. To make visible the invisible things of God and His Kingdom, A place where flesh and blood can’t go but only to the re-spirited mind of faith as touching the invisible. And this is the whole purpose of the gospel, that those who are born of the spirit, being those who receive the invisible to be more concrete than any substance of time and matter, that is those born of the spirit who see and enter the kingdom now for “all are pressing in”. We don’t need a 2nd coming Jesus.
So here is the demise of John the baptist. He was beheaded. He said “are you the coming one or do we seek another?”Yes he was a parable too. He pictured that the only place man can take you to is the end of themselves, their time. The old mindset of the parable has to be cut off and replaced with “that which is perfect” which is perfect in understanding. That “God has given us everything that pertains to life and God-like-ness by the knowledge of Him who calls us to Glory”.
As Christ’s mind struggle was at Golgotha, the skull, so is ours. This is why it is said of John “There is no one born among women greater than he, but he who is least in the kingdom is greater than John, so we are. John failed as the greatest prophet and shown when he sent to Jesus saying “are you the coming one? This is why Jesus said “I do not recieve my testimony from man, for He knew what was in man. The need to be born again, of a different make up than time and matter. “To as many as recieved Him, to them He gave power to become His children. That is those who “are a kind of first fruits now and need not another Jesus to do this.
They were all seeking a kingdom, and Jesus sent word back “tell him the things you see” So we do. Christ has come savior of the world and provided us the way. Himself saying “I am the way the truth and the light. And time must expire for eternity to begin
Christ is the new and living. The old didn’t work. Remember “Father if there be any other way? Never the less thy will be done”. And He did. And He said “It is finished”. This is about as close to Thomas you will ever get. “Stick your fingers in my side and see” This is “That which we have heard, which we have seen and handled concerning the word of life”. And this is the “Word that became flesh and dwelled among us” who returned to the Father and calls us to Himself, the new and living way that expired the law and the prophets. They were put out of business by Jesus saying “Father that where I am they may be also” Him who said “I go away to the Father and you see me no more”? And Paul’s revelation “We once knew Christ of the flesh, henceforth we know Him that way no more”. Not ever again. The Word was in the beginning! The word was God! The Word was with God! The word Became flesh (not His natural composition) and dwelled among us” to return home like the parable of John 13.. So “to as many as received Him He gave power to become His children” is not those who recieved the man Jesus but the word. Which one is your Jesus? The man? Or the Word?
Look and behold it is Me and not another. Did I not say “Lo I am with you through the ages”? That “I will never leave you or forsake you? I am the same “Yesterday, today and forever”? Yes it is Me. It is I who “stands at the door and knocks”. Behold Me. I am the coming one coming through Word. I am Word in My natural composition and this is how I come. Not a first and a 2nd coming but over and over and over. Your “lord delays not His coming”. For the Lord who does not tarry comes to you now in Word form. This is the bread of life that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Recieve me this way and not a silly waffer. Or worse another coming man for another coming kingdom on earth. John sent forth word “Are you the coming one?” That mindset was chopped off showing the “putting off the body of sin of the flesh” to be renewed in thinking. This is your rapture and you being “translated into the kingdom”.
Any other gospel message that comes short of taking away the sins of the world is incomplete. Any other message that teaches of a future saving or a future victory over Satan, sin or death in any other way is a false gospel, a truncated gospel. But “we speak of what we’ve heard and testify to the things that we have seen that God has sent His Son as Savior of the world”. The victory of the Cross is sufficient for these things. The “blood of Christ through the eternal spirit” was enough. “PAID IN FULL!”
When John said “The Kingdom of God is at hand”. That is as far as man goes. He can deliver the Word. The rest is up to you. “To as many as believed, to them He gave power to become His children”. Did you recieve that? Not the later coming Jesus but Me? Word? I gave you the keys to the Kingdom. Use them and enter in.
The Kingdom of God is now at hand.