We are walking in today: Re-establishing The Kingdom On Earth!!!!! PART 2
Witness fire throughout the Bible: H784 esh--fire, flames
Exodus 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: H784 and the smoke there of ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire H784 out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, H784 and the bush was not consumed.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 4:5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire H784 by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
The writings bear witness.......................
1 Kings 18:24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire,H784 let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.
Baptism with Fire
Water baptism aligned and identified Yeshua's followers with his kingdom teaching. But what had John meant when he said that Yeshua would “baptize...with the Holy Spirit and with fire”? The baptism with the Holy Spirit, which we will talk about in more detail in later chapters, is the consummation of identification with the King and his kingdom, as well as a reception of the power of the heavenly kingdom. The Holy Spirit is the personification of the heavenly government. To be baptized in this way means you are immersed in kingdom philosophy and lifestyle, and that it has total influence over your thoughts and actions.The word philosophy is derived from the Greek word philosophos, which is a combination of two smaller Greek words. Philos means “fond” or “beloved,” and sophos means “wise.” So philosophos means a fondness for or a love of wise things. Disciples of kingdom philosophy are to fall in love with the mind and will of the King, so that his mind and will become theirs, and their actions mirror his. As the wise King Solomon wrote, “As a person thinks within himself, so he is.”This process of transformation into kingdom thinking and lifestyle is absolutely necessary because the Creator-King has declared this about the rebellious inhabitants of earth: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways....As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Our thoughts and ways need to become realigned with the Creator-King’s, and we do this by identifying completely with kingdom thinking, submitting to the Master of the kingdom, and being baptized into his power.The way to fully live out the life of the kingdom, there-fore, is to be baptized with the Spirit. We are to be totally submerged in the Creator-King’s frame of reference and mind-set so that we always think his thoughts, live his thoughts, and manifest his life.The New Testament book of Luke tells us that, following his baptism by John, Yeshua was “full of the Holy Spirit,...and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” When he emerged from that experience, having overcome each temptation, Luke further records, “Yeshua returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,” and the book of Matthew adds, “From that time on Yeshua began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” The message of the kingdom and the fullness and power of the Spirit are intimately connected.
The King-Son Demonstrated the Influence of the Kingdom on Earth
The King-Son not only spoke the message of the kingdom, but he also lived it out. His entire life on earth was evidence of kingdom rulership. Everything Yeshua said or did was the administration of the King-Father’s will through the power of the Governor within him. He spoke about this reality with statements such as these:The message of the kingdom and the power of the Spirit are intimately connected.
√ My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.
√ These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
√ My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.
√ I and the Father are one.
√ I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because what-ever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.
√ Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.
√ If The Most High were your Father, you would love me, for I came from The Most High and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.
√ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.
In the Old Testament accounts we reviewed in the previous chapter, we saw that what we call miracles were actually evidence of kingdom influence on earth. The same thing applies to the miracles Yeshua performed. The administration of the kingdom could be seen whenever Yeshua healed some-one who was sick (power over the effects of humanity’s rebel-lion), delivered someone who was possessed by an agent of Lucifer (power over the kingdom of darkness), fed thousands by multiplying small amounts of food (power over the natural world), or raised people from the dead (power to give life). These acts were confirmation of heavenly dominion over the environment of earth; they were demonstrations of kingdom power over circumstances. Yeshua was saying, in essence, “What you see is what the heavenly government is doing. I’m just manifesting it.”
The King-Son Died to Redeem and Restore Human Beings to The King-Father and His Kingdom
The King-Son’s mission on earth was not only to deliver the message and demonstrate the influence of the kingdom, but also to provide a way for human beings to reenter the kingdom and be reconciled to the King-Father. The children’s separation from the Father because of their rebellion had to be addressed. And the only way their holiness (integrity or internal wholeness and devotion to the Father) could be restored was through a sacrifice. As we saw, the Old Testament animal sacrifices of the tabernacle and temple were only temporary. Animal sacrifices were not equitable blood payment for the rebellion and the culture of hatred and death that human beings had brought to earth. Animal sacrifice did not have the power to change the perpetually evil hearts of the world’s inhabitants. Only human blood could make restitution for the rebellion and bloodshed of humanity. Instead of making the people pay for their rebellion with their own blood, however, the Father sent the Son to earth as a human being to pay for it with his blood. The Son took the punishment for all the inhabitants of earth, which allowed them to be reconciled to the kingdom. This was the ultimate reason for his incarnation.
The King-Son could reconcile the inhabitants to the King-Father because he was holy. Again, in his humanity, Yeshua was like other human beings in all ways except one—he had no rebellion in him or double-mindedness toward the kingdom. He was fully integrated, devoted, and set apart for the King-Father. He lived within a human body because he wanted to go through every aspect of human experience—he desired to feel what we feel and experience everything about being human, without the rebellion. Yeshua demonstrated by his life what it meant to be a human being with the Governor living within. He was true humanity rightly related to the King-Father and his kingdom. Yeshua's death on the stake at the place called Calvary (meaning “Skull”) was the plan of the Father to provide for the return of the Governor. It was not a mistake, but part of the program. The earthly temple with its sacrifices would no longer be needed because the heavenly temple had arrived in Yeshua's own body; the Holy Spirit was present within him. Again, Yeshua was able to be the ultimate sacrifice because he was fully aligned with the King and lived a perfect life. Yeshua explained the nature of his death before he died:
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. The King-Son laid down his life in payment for the rebellion of all humanity, past and present. When this was paid, the Father gave him authority to take up his life again, and he was raised from the dead. The Author of life chose to die because of his love for the human beings whom he had created; he desired to rescue them from the kingdom of darkness so they could live within the kingdom of heaven once more. Paul described our entrance to the kingdom through the King-Son’s sacrifice as walking in “newness of life”:
Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into HaMaschiach Yeshua were baptized into His death? There-fore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as HaMaschiach was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Some people wish they could go back to the day Yeshua died and prevent his death. We would all want to spare anyone from that kind of death. However, his dying was necessary to fulfill the Father’s restoration plan. Yeshua's death wasn’t forced upon him; he chose it for the express purpose of saving the world and releasing the Governor to the earth again. Once more, before he was crucified, Yeshua made his choice very clear, saying, I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Yeshua told his followers beforehand that he was going to die to pay for the rebellion of humanity, even though they didn’t comprehend it at the time. He said, “This is what is written [was predicted by the King’s prophet]: The HaMaschiach will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.” Yeshua therefore wasn’t killed as a tragic mistake. He gave up his life in sacrifice so we could be cleansed vessels for the Governor to live in. He kept moving forward with the restoration plan until everything was set in place for our reconciliation with the Father. Just before he died, he said, “It is finished.” The enemies of Yeshua didn’t finish him. He gave up his life when he was finished with his mission. Just before his arrest, he prayed, Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true one the Most High, and Yeshua HaMaschiach, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Again, Yeshua wasn’t a helpless victim of jealous enemies. He is the King of glory who overcame both sin and death. Notice that he prayed to the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk had foretold, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Because Yeshua completed the work of restoration, the glory (nature) of the kingdom of heaven was released and began to spread throughout the earth.Because Yeshua completed the work of restoration, the kingdom was released on earth and began to spread.
The King-Son Destroyed the Spirit of Independence and Rebellion in the Colony
Yeshua's death at Calvary, the blood that he shed on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead were required in order to break the spirit of rebellion in humanity. I use the word spirit because rebellion is really an attitude or nature within every human being. It’s something we’re born with; it is ingrained within us. This spirit is antagonistic to the kingdom of heaven. It couldn’t be wished away or ignored. It had to be broken. And Yeshua did break this power, allowing the earth’s inhabitants to instead yield to the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Breaking a spirit of independence is very difficult, but this is what Yeshua accomplished. He gave us the ability to say to the Father, as he himself said at the most difficult point in his earthly life, “Not my will, but yours be done.” He provided for the spirit of rebellion to be replaced with a spirit of yieldedness to the kingdom. He gave us the ability to obey the will of the Father. In fact, Yeshua said that submitting to him was the same thing as submitting to the Father, since he and the Father are one. “If you love me,” he said to his followers, “you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he and receive the cleansing that the King-Son accomplished for us when he paid for our rebellion through his death. His was the ultimate sacrifice for the rebellious nature of humanity. It was a sacrifice for all of humanity. It is available for all people. Yet each human being must make a personal decision to commit to Yeshua's kingdom school and enter into the kingdom by accepting his sacrifice to break the spirit of rebellion and by desiring to realign with the King. As he does this, he will receive the nature of the kingdom within.
Shema Selah now is the understanding of His original intent being brought to light--this is all about a King and His kingdom!!! Matthew 3:2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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