The Will and Testament of Christ is complete.
It was Christ who said “I go to the Father and you see Me again no more”, who also said “follow Me that where I am, you may be also”as our intended goal.
That “we once knew Christ according to the flesh, but henceforth know we Him that way no longer”. Why? Because He who “in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. That also “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. Who then put off the flesh and returned to the Father, who now calls us to Himself. How? By doing the same thing. We too become “word”.
That is why we are instructed to “put off the body of the sins of the flesh”, and not so much the flesh itself but the aspects of the flesh that are antagonistic to the reality of “spirit and truth”. And we do this with our tools in the faith. That “when we see Him as He is (WORD), we shall be like Him”? This has nothing to do with physical features, of something carried out by a poof of magic they call the rapture, but by pressing into the Kingdom, one revelation after another, in spite of the obstacles hurled at us from religious institutions claiming to work for God. You will know them as being profiteers for pay of money and Mammon.
For it is “the law of the spirit of life in Christ that sets us free from the law of sin and death” and not having to physically die to do so. We say this so as NOT to bludgeon the physical body. No, for that is the innocent bi-stander, but we “put off the body of the sins of the flesh”. Which is a body of beliefs and principals or lack thereof. That is what we must put off as being substandard and antagonistic to the things of God. To then receive the exchange to the truth and not new physical features. That we are to “be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds” as something that precedes and supersedes our carnal experience. “That we may prove what God’s good, acceptable and perfect will is”. That we can have both lives simultaneously, where the demands of the flesh have been squelched. It becomes a servant for a higher order of life. And that it is “the law of the spirit of life in Christ that has set us free from the law of sin and death”, and not our physical death or some second coming or end of life experience when we get our goods. This is the “Kingdom of God at hand” that Christ brought to us as He put out of business and shelved the old order of that day.
That is why it is “the slothful stewards” approach that says “my master delays his coming” as though Christ saving us is incomplete, that the cross was temporary, and He must do something more for our completion than just give His life for ours at the cross. For Him to have to do more, is blasphemy!
For we each one of us “shall stand before the Bema seat of Christ to receive for what we did in the body, good or bad. That we are responsible for what we do in the here and now of our life in the flesh where we are called to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” as our purpose here. This is us doing our part, because we have been given the way to overcome “the fall” as portrayed with Adam and Eve. And we do this through the application of the free gift we get through the gospel.
With this understanding, there are no good excuses for us not acquire godliness. Why? Because salvation is the restoration of the fallen image of God, to be raised back up in understanding where the fall took place. For there were no broken bones or sutures needed when Adam fell, but just to be set back in place of reflecting the image of the Creator who is a self governing sovereign indebted to no one. (This is the key) To no longer be lorded over by which we can once again say “Abba Father”.
This is the true gospel of salvation being our empowerment in the here and the now as being more than possible, but more so what is expected of us from Him who paid such a high price for our retrieval. As we read from in Hebrews to “let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.
So the proof that it is now, is that the price was paid “in full” at the cross where Christ said “it is finished” and NOT “that’s all I can take”. Proving that the New Will and Testament is NOW in full force. And like all inheritances, they are in effect upon the death of the testator, and not some 2 thousand plus years later as most suppose. That we have access to “everything that pertains to life and god-li-ness by way of the knowledge (or of knowing) Christ who has called us to glory and virtue”, which takes place right now, in the spirit of our minds with eternal ramifications.
This is our inheritance as a result of the death of Christ. Yes He rose too to show us that He overcame. But He only did that because there was no other way. Even as He prayed in the garden. “Father if there is any other way”. All He had to do is to look at those saved by the Old Law Covenant and concur that “there is none righteous, no not one….
As it was written in the book of The Revelation, “The Testimony of Jesus Christ which God gave His servants of things which must shortly take place.” Was not to be a long drawn out process. If it was, the gospel would NOT be complete, but it is now. Even as we read in Hebrews, after He had purged our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and has become greater than all the (messenger) angels (and the law with the prophets), who now waits till His enemies are made His footstool”. How? It is us that apply these truths in the spirit of our minds, and in this way we are counted as being among The Elect.
This is THE message first spoken by the Son of God inviting us to “The Kingdom of God at hand” of “the Kingdom prepared from the foundations of the world”, as a testimony that preceded, superseded and replaced the Law era that “shortly took place” because it took place and happened to them back then. And The New Testament is irreversible, un-expire-able, irrevocable, unchangeable, eternal and always “at hand”. And it is always new because of its ubiquitous nature, as “The Kingdom prepared from before the foundations of the world”. Eternal things can not be newly made, but brand new in their eternal glory, indicating that it is not in the making or coming later at a rapture or some second coming event as many suppose. And it is NOT time sensitive or location specific, or it could not be “at hand” and it could not be eternal. That is because God and His things are not subject to such.
But the Apostles who were sent out to the four corners of the earth, did so to preach that The Kingdom of God is at hand”, as not being time sensitive and location specific for if it was, it would NOT be “at hand” and it would not be eternal because it would have limitations, and it does not, but the impostor does,
From the opening of the book of the Revelation “God signified it and sent it like a letter to all the congregations pertaining to the things that are at hand. For even after all the testimonies and prophecies old and new had ended by the time of The Revelation of Jesus Christ saying “seal not the prophecies of this book for the time is at hand”. This was to remind us that the immanent return of Christ was associated with the invitation of “The Kingdom of God at hand” as being ubiquitous, eternal, surpassing space and time, proving to us that it is eternal. Meaning, all powerful and within reach anywhere and anytime, or else it could not be “The Kingdom of God at hand” but one that is coming later or that you must go to visit as many suppose. But their fruits expose themselves of being powerless as needing another because that is what they were taught and what they believe. But that simply is NOT the gospel, meaning the “Good News”. And that is not salvation but an empty hope to be realized later. Do you really believe that? Well that is NOT the gospel, which means, the good news. And “all the promises of God are yes and amen” and not maybe or later or at a secondcoming.
What this means to us today is that christian-dom as a whole, has run it’s course. And the proof of this is that by and large, people believe the same things about Christ as the Old Testament Law era people did who were condemned and replaced for doing so. For they were not bearing fruit and had said “are you the coming one, or do we seek another”. So then again today they are seeking another coming one and the term “at hand is irrelevant. Hmh! What do you suppose the consequences are of that? Another time change? However the New and Old Testaments have had their turns for bearing fruit. Remember the parable about the farmer? Dig down around the roots and water it. Then if their is no fruit, pluck them out”.
,,When the gospel message that Christ died to give us,matches with and looks like the age in which He was rejected and crucified, don’t you think that would be another “last generation”? That the gospel once again has run its course? If God now wants to honor another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, then He has to apologize to the last Jews and make repairations to them for Him being a hypocrite. And if that is the case, then the Jews are in control and God serves them. This is their agenda. “Whose coming is according to Satan with ALL lying signs and wonders if possible to decieve the Elect”, of the likes of us who participate in “The Kingdom of God at hand” that Christ was crusified to instill in us. This is the battle today for the souls of people.
As Christ stated “I have not come to bring peace to the world but to start a fire, and how I am … till it is set ablaze. That scripture only has relevance in the context of which it is written, of the invisible. That all the law and prophets era along with all the parables were just tools we use to understand invisible realities that are not time sensitive or area specific. For if it were, then the message that The Kingdom of God is at hand, would not be because it would have limitations but it does not. The limitations belongs to us. Our shortfall is in the spot of our understanding.
For those who ascribe any future relevance of needing something else to happen, meaning prophecies and end times, or another time of the Jews, are doing so without authorization. Meaning, without the Authors intent or permission. In this case the Creator God’s. Why? Because you have to re-use expired texts to do so. Think about it. Old Testament, New Testament, back to Old Testament prophecies again? They really do not know what they are talking about when in truth even the four Gospels are primarily in The Old Testament because The Old had not expired till the death and the Resurrection of Christ that happened at the end of the Gospels. That a Testament is a will and only in force after the death of the testator happens, meaning after the cross, which is the cross over from Old to New Testaments. And testaments has to do with the dispersion of the deceased testators goods.
The scriptures are an evacuate plan into the spirit. This is us “ceasing from our works as God did from His”, as ‘”all things being deposited to our eternal account. We cannot add to it or take away from it. Just accept it or reject it. And to accept it is to grow into the knowledge and the application of it. To “be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind”, is where this all takes place. This is the gospel.
The gospel message is about God’s Only Begotten. It is His story, and of no coincidence, it is “history” as having happened. He is the object of the vernacular of God. That those who are truly “in Christ” are “in the rest” of God called The Sabbath days rest, and with the rest of God of those who have accepted the Gospel in its entirety. No loose ends, no open ended phrases or time frames. No incomplete or unexpired texts. And surely no room for more prophecies to happen to give us something else. The cross was sufficient for these things.
For this reason the last book in scripture called Book of The Revelation, opens with “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly (means immediately) come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed are those that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Meaning, at your finger tips.
And that same “end times book” at the very end says “12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For outside (for those who dis-beleive) are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the rooAnd if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.t and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19
The Kingdom of God really is “at hand”, meaning graspable and within reach, or Christ Himself would be a liar. Choose you this day. Amen