The Kingdom of God (part 1)

God’s plan

Did you know that the whole bible is about a Kingdom? From Genesis to Revelations, it’s all about a Kingdom and a war on who will rule this kingdom! From the beginning God’s plan was to have an everlasting Kingdom full of His glory. All of His creation was to share this glory and to rule and reign over the whole earth. In the beginning there were no barriers between heaven and earth, everything God created was perfect in every way, His kingdom was at hand. His Kingdom was made to expand even to this day, everything was to grow within the Kingdom of God, it is an everlasting Kingdom. This is why man was commanded to multiply, so that the Kingdom of God would grow and that man could take dominion over the whole earth. God’s plan was to have an everlasting family who would share in the Glory that has always been present in the Father Son and His Holy Spirit, this Kingdom was upon the earth. But in a short time man’s birthright was handed over to the kingdom of darkness. This happened at the garden where man was placed to tend and cultivate the grounds. After this, all things were subject to the god of this world. God’s Kingdom that was to be on the earth was no longer expanding but was in opposition to the one who took it over. Never the less God made a promise that someday He will bring a deliver, who will save the world from this curse, and bring back the order in which it was created. We know that God has supreme power and authority, all that has happened either good or bad was woven into the very plan of God. God’s sovereignty is always able to use all things to carry out His purpose and His will for His creation, and we can see this through out scripture.

In Daniel 7:9-10 it says, “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated, His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame , its wheels a burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him, ten thousand times ten thousands stood before Him. The court was seated and the books were opened.” In this scripture, Daniel was given a gimps of a future event when Yashua (Jesus) is presented before Him the Ancient of Days, dominion, Glory, and a Kingdom. (Dan.7:13-14) In this chapter it is interesting that both Yashua and the Father are called the Ancient of Days. Perhaps the Prophet was trying to explain it the best that he could. For this is a glorious picture of the Kingdom’s final stage, the Kingdom expanded as God intended from the beginning. Remember that God’s plan was to have a kingdom that He could share His glory with all of His creation.

The Kingdom of God from the beginning:

Nehemiah 9:6 says this, “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve all of them and the host of heaven worships You.” 

So lets go back to the beginning. I can only imagine what it was like in the beginning, where we have the heavens of heavens and all of God’s hosts living in His Glory. For all the sons of God rejoiced in all creation and worked for the building of His everlasting Kingdom. Throughout scripture Heaven’s court is mentioned. From the beginning there has always been a court in heaven in which God is the judge. Psalm 89:5-7 There is a temple, a tabernacle, where God Himself sits in the brilliants of light and Tabernacles among all the heavens. There His throne is made of all the colors of the rainbow and pure water flows from it, like pure glass. (Rev.4:2-6, Rev. 22:1) A seat of fiery flames and Flashes of lightning and thunder from the presence of God’s throne. Two Cherubim’s cover and guard the throne. Thousands of ten thousands ministering and giving praise to God. These were the most perfect of God’s creations, their beauty and splendor shown forth the glory of the Lord and they never ceased in worshiping the Almighty! These angelic host had their part in seeing the creation fulfilled. (Job 38:4) They sang together as the universe was created for the glory of the Lord. Each angel had their position to serve and worship before God. Throughout scripture God would involve His great assembly even to make suggestions and decisions of how to accomplish His will on the earth. 1 Kings 22;19, Daniel 4:17 As we study keep in mind that God is sovereign over all things, including the heavenly host and His divine council. As we read many passages of scripture we notice how God loves all His creation and how He would have us all involved in His plan. Like man kind the angelic host of heaven was created with a free will, given the choice to fallow His perfect will or not to follow.

This has always been such a fascinating subject, because these majestic creatures has always been in the presence of the Lords glory, why would any of them want anything else? They were created and fashioned by the very hand of God to serve and worship Him for all eternity. Yet we find many of the Host of heaven choosing to separate from God’s presence where darkness and evil resides. When you are out of the presence of God, you are in a place of torment, delusion and chaos. This is why hell is described a place of gnashing of teeth and thick darkness. Its a place outside of the city (the Kingdom of God) where God’s presence is not found.

Through scripture we can see that before sin and iniquity was found in His creation, there was no hell! Who knows how long of time this state of complete harmony took place. Understand that this was before man came. Yes, man did bring sin into the world, and death through sin, (Rom.5:12) but Jesus said that the devil was a murderer from the beginning and is the Father of lies (John 8:44) So if he is the father of it, then he must have been the first! (1 John 3:8) Adam brought sin into the world by his disobedience but sin already excited through the sin of Satan’s pride!

Matt. 25:41 says that Jesus will someday say ‘Out of my presence, cursed as you are, into the eternal fire PREPARED for the devil and his angels.” So hell was prepared the moment iniquity was found in His creation. Hell was not part of God’s original plan because His desire was for a Kingdom that had no end and who’s citizens we are. In Christ we have been qualified to share in Christ’s inheritance in the Kingdom of heaven not in separation from His presence but part of His rule and reign on the earth.

From the beginning all things were created by Him and for His glory, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. This is talking about the spiritual world around us in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…Col.1:16-17 His plan was to have the glory of the Lord to abide forever on the earth and to tabernacle among all the son’s and daughters of God. His eternal Kingdom was a family that can commune with Him personally, it was a perfect plan but God had to give His creation the choice to follow His will or to choose their own will.

Jeremiah 29:11 says this: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Could it be these plans were plans from the beginning? I believe it was, and “because He has spoken He has purposed, and will not change His mind, nor will He turn from His word.” Jer.4:28 The covenant was made, and He never turns from it or brakes it even if His children do, He stand by His by His Word!

A Covenant broken:

The first mention of an evil presence was in the book of Genesis. It was in the garden of Eden where God placed man. Here God gave man instructions to cultivate the grounds, to take dominion over the earth and to multiply. Oh and one more thing, not to take of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you think about this, this is where most Christians would say, that there was no evil before Adam and Eve sinned, but if that was the case why would there be a tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil? Evil had to exist in order to know about it. So we know that sin came about way before Adam and Eve, and that it was the fall of Satan’s pride that birthed sin into existence, let us go over these events that led to the state the world is in today.

In order to understand these events we must first realize that Genesis is not the only place where the creation is explained. We have other books such as Job, Psalms, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and many other writings of the New Testament that will bear witness of the beginning of creation. Upon reading all the other scriptures we come to an understanding that there was much more going on in Genesis, from verse two in chapter one, we see God was redeeming the earth and not creating it! Now stay with me, I will explain.

We know that God is a God of order and that All things under heaven and earth was made for His glory, all things were made by Him and for Him, for the purpose of His Kingdom.

You see, God did ALL His creating in verse one, whether it took one day or a thousand and now in verse two Genesis starts talking about a separation. Gen.1:3 “God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.” Then God divided the light from darkness. So in the first few verses of the bible, we read that darkness (chaos, void, emptiness, evil) was on the face of the deep in which God had to speak His light back into all of His creation. (2 Cor.4:6) We come to question why was the earth filled with chaos, emptiness, darkness that God needed to speak His light into it? The answer would be that the earth was already polluted by sin and God had to do a cleansing as in Genesis 1:10 the word for “gathering of the waters” would be “Mikva” in Hebrew. This would indicate that there was a baptism or a “change of status” on the earth. (2 Peter 3:6) Why? Because the first sin ever made was upon the heart of one of God’s Holy Ones! (Ezekiel 28:15) The earth “became formless and void” (hayetah) hebrew for “became or had become”. Isaiah 45:18 says He did not create the earth a waste and in Psalms 104:6-9, 30 speaks about the creation and the renewal of the grounds. Now I know that this is something you might not be used to hearing, but keep in mind that this book, all 66 books of the bible was written to the Jews and that His people already knew the story’s and history. These writings were reminders to His people least they forget! The Genesis narrative is a brief history lesson for His people and for every generation to come. The importance of remembering was vital to the remnant of His kingdom! Least they forget who they were and all that God has done. The promise of salvation from the covenant that was broken from the beginning, will bring the world back to it’s original state! The kingdom of heaven will be on the earth once again, as the glory of the knowledge of God fills the earth as it was from the beginning. The Kingdom of God is His eternal plan, and His Word goes forth from His mouth, it shall not return to Him void without accomplishing what He pleases.

Shalom (Read part 2)