THE REBIRTH OF A KINGDOM

Acts Chapter 1






Today we are walking in: The Rebirth Of A Kingdom










Numbers 24:7


He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom H4467 shall be exalted.





KINGDOM



Today we look to the word-KINGDOM- H4467 mamlâkâh, (mam-law-kaw') -dominion, (abstractly) the estate (rule) or (concretely) the country (realm):—kingdom, king's, reign, royal



The Torah testifies...............


Exodus 19:6


And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.


Numbers 32:33


And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom H4467 of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom H4467 of Og king of Bashan, the land, with the cities thereof in the coasts, even the cities of the country round about.


Deuteronomy 17:18


And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, H4467 that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:




The prophets proclaim..................


1 Samuel 10:18


And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, H4467 and of them that oppressed you:



Isaiah 9:7


Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.




Jeremiah 18:9


And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom H4467, to build and to plant it;







The writings bear witness...........................



1 Kings 9:5


Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom H4467 upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.



1 Chronicles 17:11


And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom H4467.


Psalm 145:13


Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.






The Rebirth of a Kingdom


The greatest motivation of the human Ruach is to control its environment.


The King’s goal was to cause his children to be integrated, set apart, and devoted to him—so that his Ruach could live within them once more. This would be the work of the Offspring, the one called the Messiah by the prophets. The Offspring was first mentioned in Genesis 3 and was revealed by the prophets Isaiah, Malachi, and others to be the King of heaven himself. While the First or Old Testament emphasizes the promise of the coming King, the New Testament reveals the rebirth of the kingdom on earth through his arrival.


The rebirth of the kingdom signified the recolonization of earth. Recolonization is unheard of in human history, or is at least very rare. Once a people declare independence, they don’t go back to the home country. The plan that the King was unfolding was therefore unprecedented.


The Birth of the King on Earth


The King, of course, needed to remain in the heavenly kingdom as its ruler and sustainer. At the same time, he had to come to earth to provide for the return of the Governor. The Ruach of the King was directly involved in his coming to earth. Luke the physician, the writer of the gospel bearing his name, wrote,


Yah sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendent of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Most High is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with Yah.”


The angel’s statement, “You have found favor with Yah,” shows us that Mary was yielded to the heavenly government and the purposes of the King, and this is why she was chosen for this crucial assignment in the intervention of the heavenly kingdom on earth. The angel continued,


You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Yahusha. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Most High Yah will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Ruach HaQadesh will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of Yah....For nothing is impossible with Yah.” “I am the Most High’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”


Again, we see evidence of Mary’s submission to the heavenly government: “I am the Most High’s servant....May it be to me as you have said.”


In this passage is a fact of vital significance: the Ruach conceived Yah the Son or the King-Son, whose earthly name was Yahusha, in the womb of Mary. Mary was what we might call a surrogate mother for the eternal and invisible Yah’s entrance into the physical world as a human being. Also, the King-Son was filled with the Ruach when he was conceived. This means that the Governor returned to earth at this time within the person of Yahusha. The Governor was resident in the body of Yahusha until the rest of humanity could be prepared to receive him as well, through Yahusha’ provision. At that time, the King-Son would reappoint the Governor to the earth in order to restore kingdom influence throughout the world and to give back kingdom citizenship to humanity.


The King-Son was both fully divine (as Yah the Son) and fully human (as the man Yahusha). Yet he was not infected by the rebellious nature of humanity. The womb of a woman is designed in such a way that the blood of a mother and her unborn child never mix. Yahusha’ blood was pure; his life was pure. As we read in the third book of Moses, “The life of every creature is its blood.” Like Adam before the rebellion, Yahusha and everything about him was set apart and devoted to the King-Father.


The Governor Gave the King so the King Could Give the Governor


The King-Son had to be born of the Ruach and filled with the Ruach, so that he could deliver the Governor to the people of earth in fulfillment of the promise. John the Baptist announced to the world the arrival of the King-Son who would restore the Ruach, and he said about Yahusha, “The one who comes from heaven is above all....For the one whom Yah has sent speaks the words of Yah, for Yah gives the Ruach without limit [to him],” and “He will baptize you with the Ruach HaQadesh and with fire.” Yahusha told his disciples,


If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Ruach of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.


Therefore, the Governor gave the King-Son to the earth so the King-Son could send the Governor to the earth after he returned to the heavenly kingdom. They worked in harmony to achieve this ultimate purpose.


The King-Son Was Completely Filled with the Governor


The King-Son not only was filled with the Ruach at his conception, but he also continued to be filled with the Ruach throughout his entire lifetime. As John the Baptist said, “Yah gives the Ruach without limit [to him].” This was the first time a human being was filled with the Ruach HaQadesh since before the rebellion of Adam and Eve. The Ruach HaQadesh within Yahusha was limitless in presence and power.


In preparation for the King’s appearance on earth, John had been baptizing people who desired to be realigned with the kingdom. Then, just before Yahusha began his public ministry, he also went to John for baptism.


The next day John saw Yahusha coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of Yah, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Ruach come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Ruach come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Ruach HaQadesh.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of Yah.”


John made these declarations about Yahusha: (1) he was the one who would take away the sin of the world (making it possible for the citizens to be fully aligned with the heavenly kingdom); (2) the Ruach came down from heaven and remained on him (Yahusha had the total sanction of the King-Father); and (3) he was the Son of Yah (he came directly from the King-Father and was one with him). Paul wrote, “In Hamachiach all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Yah the Father, Yah the Son, and Yah the Ruach are one. The King expresses himself in three unique dimensions, which he revealed in the plan to restore humanity.


Yahusha therefore possesses a dual nature—he is fully Yah and fully human. Yah the Father is the King, and Yahusha Hamachiach is the King who came in human form. The New Testament book of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Yah, and the Word was Yah.” Yet the King’s coming as a man wasn’t just a convenient way in which to coordinate his rule on both heaven and earth. His mission was to restore holiness to men and women so they could again be a suitable environment for the Ruach HaQadesh to dwell in. As we will see, the only way he could do this was to become a human being himself.


The Era of the King on Earth


In the previous teaching, I stated that Yahusha began his public ministry by saying, “The time has come....The kingdom of Yah is near,” and I posed these questions:


√ What “time” was he speaking about? And why then?


√ What was the nature of the kingdom he was referring to?


The “time” was the “day of the Most High,” or the era when the King-Son would come to earth to restore the Governor to humanity. The purpose and nature of the kingdom was (1) the reconciliation of the earth’s inhabitants to the King-Father, so that it was possible once more for human beings to be his children, and (2) the reign of heaven returning to earth through the Governor’s presence and power operating in the lives of the King’s children.


The inhabitants of the colony of earth had been ransacking the King’s territory—stealing, lying, abusing, killing one another, living their lives outside the nature of the kingdom. Therefore, as the Son and heir of the King of heaven, Yahusha was coming to reclaim his Father’s territory. His arrival on earth marked “the day of the Most High” prophesied by Joel.


The King-Son came to reclaim his Father’s property two thousand years ago as a baby born in Bethlehem. Yahusha being born is not about a beggar coming; it’s about an owner arriving. He came to reclaim the earth because, as the psalmist David, king of Israel, wrote, “The earth is the Most High’s, and everything in it.” He came to recover all of creation as its legal owner.


The King-Son didn’t come to earth to plead with HaSatan to return his property. He treated him as a thief, saying, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” He also said, “How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.” The King-Son came to bind the strongman, HaSatan, so he could retake the house and give it back to the children of the household. Therefore, the man Yahusha was the fulfillment of the King-Father’s remarkable plan to send his Son to earth to restore the heavenly government here.


Paul called Yahusha the “last” or Second Adam. The King-Son came to fulfill what the first Adam had failed to do. He lived a life in total harmony with the King-Father, his kingdom, and the kingdom’s purposes on earth. Yahusha taught his disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”


As the Second Adam, Yahusha came to rescue us from being dominated by the kingdom of darkness led by HaSatan and to restore us to the home kingdom. He went through his life and death on earth so we could be reconciled to the King as his children.


Through Yahusha, human beings can be restored as vice governors in the world, earthly kings who rule under the direction of the Ruach of the King—the Royal Governor. The kingdom of heaven is therefore a family of kings. This is what the nation of Israel was meant to demonstrate as a prototype: “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Although the Governor is equal to the King-Father and the King-Son, the Scriptures never refer to him as a King in relation to humanity, but as our Counselor or Comforter. This is because his role is to sustain and perpetuate the will and work of the heavenly kingdom in the lives of the inhabitants of earth.




The King-Son Reintroduced the Kingdom of Heaven to Humanity


Yahusha’ first declaration in his public ministry was essentially his mission statement: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” He continually repeated this same message for three and-a-half years during his entire ministry on earth. Throughout the written record of his life in the New Testament writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we find him restating his central theme of the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes, he would use the phrase the kingdom of Yah. While these phrases are essentially the same, you could say that the kingdom of heaven is the place, while the kingdom of Yah is the influence. The kingdom of heaven is the headquarters, the invisible country where the King-Father resides. The kingdom of Yah is the influence of that country on its territories. Here is a sample of the King-Son’s other statements concerning the kingdom:


√ Yahusha went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.


√ “But if I drive out demons by the Ruach of Yah, then the kingdom of Yah has come upon you.”


√ “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants....”


√ “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard....”


√ “The kingdom of Yah will be...given to a people who will produce its fruit.”


HaSatan (also called Satan) knew that the King-Son had come to overthrow him to restore the heavenly kingdom on earth. He therefore tried to tempt Yahusha away from his mission by appealing to his natural human desire to exercise dominion over the earth. Notice that HaSatan tried to get Yahusha to substitute the kingdoms of the world for the kingdom of heaven, which is basically the same thing with which he had tempted Adam and Eve. This would allow HaSatan to maintain his oppressive domination and destruction of the earth. Yet the King-Son was totally loyal to the kingdom. He countered HaSatan’s temptation by rebuking him with the words of the King-Father, which were first given to the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. The New Testament book of Matthew records,


HaSatan took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Yahusha said to him, “Away from me, HaSatan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Most High your Yah, and serve him only.’” Then HaSatan left him.


Baptism into Kingdom Philosophy


Yahusha’ temptation by HaSatan occurred right after his baptism by John. Many people are confused about the true nature of baptism and why Yahusha himself was baptized. While baptism is treated as a religious ritual by many people, it is actually a very practical act that is related to the will of the King and his desire for the colony of earth.


Changing One’s Thinking and Lifestyle


At the time Yahusha lived on earth, various rabbis, teachers, and groups (such as the Sadducees) baptized their followers. Baptism in this context meant you were publicly declaring you believed in a particular teacher and his philosophy. In fact, to a large degree, this was the significance of the baptism of John, which John referred to as a “baptism of repentance.” Our contemporary connotation of the word repentance doesn’t really convey John’s meaning. In its essence, repentance does not mean crying or wailing over wrongdoing. It simply means to change your mind, to reverse your way of thinking and acting. When a person was baptized, he was signaling that he was changing his thinking and actions and aligning them with the views and life of the teacher he had committed himself to follow.


This type of teacher-student relationship was not uncommon. The Old Testament makes references to “the company of the prophets,” also called the “schools of the prophets.” These particular prophets were closely associated with the well-known prophets Elijah and Elisha, supporting them and learning from them. In New Testament times, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians had disciples. Outside the biblical world, we note similar teacher-learner arrangements among the Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and their followers. A philosopher, of course, is someone who sets forth his own ideas about life. Philosophers attract people who want to learn their ideas and imitate their lifestyles, and these become their students or disciples. The Greek word we translate as disciple means “learner” or “pupil.” Disciples were personally trained by their masters in the masters’ philosophies and belief systems, perhaps traveling with them as they learned to think and act like their masters.


Joining a School of Thought


When you became a student of a philosopher or other teacher, you joined what is called his school of thought. Schools were not originally associated with buildings. They were essentially the ideas unique to a teacher. They were the teacher’s philosophical concepts and ways of thinking, which he passed along to his followers.


From this perspective, the significance of baptism is not the water or even the act of being baptized—it has to do with the transformation of your way of thinking and living. When you were baptized in the name of your master teacher, you were saying, “I am choosing you above every other available teacher, philosopher, rabbi, and leader, and I am publicly declaring that I am submitting to your school of thought. I’m going to be associated with you only, so that whenever people see me, they’re going to know, ‘He belongs to that teacher.’”


As I mentioned, at the time of Yahusha, there were a number of teachers and philosophers, and all had their own schools of thought and their own disciples. In that culture, a man couldn’t begin such a school until he was thirty years old because this was the age at which a young man could be officially designated as a master teacher.


Therefore, when the Creator of heaven and earth himself came to earth as a man, he entered the culture of the day and presented himself in a way that the people would understand the life-changing nature of his message and its requirement of total commitment to him. It was at age thirty that Yahusha began his public ministry, became the ultimate Master Teacher, and welcomed those who desired to follow him. The kingdom was the embodiment of his teaching.


Yahusha’ Message Was in Harmony with John’s Message


Note that John the Baptist had been presenting the same message about the kingdom. Yahusha was fully aware of John’s message when he went to him for baptism. Many people are at first surprised to read of the King-Son submitting to a master teacher for baptism. Yet he did this to demonstrate to the people of the world that his teaching was not independent of John’s; rather, he was in total harmony with it. In fact, Yahusha himself was the fulfillment of the teaching of John who, as the faithful prophet of the King-Father, was proclaiming the message of the kingdom and preparing the way for the King-Son’s appearance in the world.


John had been gaining a number of disciples, and when people came to him with a sincere desire to repent (to change their thinking and lifestyle from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of heaven), he baptized them. Yet when Yahusha went to him for baptism, John was taken aback and said, in essence, “You should be the teacher, not me!” John recognized Yahusha as the King who would send the Governor to earth. In fact, John had said to the people earlier, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Ruach HaQadesh.”


Yahusha, however, replied to John, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” He was saying, “I understand your reluctance to act as master teacher to me. However, in order to demonstrate to the world that I am aligned with the kingdom of heaven, I need to be identified with it through baptism. I need to publicly declare that I belong to the school of the kingdom of heaven, that I am fully integrated with the mind and ways of the kingdom.”


The Kingdom School Transferred to Yahusha


When a master teacher was no longer able to teach, he would decide which of his disciples would succeed him. Whoever was chosen to take his place would automatically gain his students. Yahusha had to be a part of John’s school in order to take over leadership of it. And John turned the whole school over to Yahusha; he released his disciples to him, indicating that Yahusha was the one they should follow because he was the King who would restore them to the kingdom. The New Testament book of John records,


The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Yahusha passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of Yah!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Yahusha. Turning around, Yahusha saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Yahusha.


Most importantly, we should note that the King-Father had appointed Yahusha as the ultimate Master Teacher of the kingdom school. After Yahusha submitted to John’s baptism to show that he was immersed in the philosophy of the kingdom and in alignment with it, what happened to him? The Ruach HaQadesh—the Governor—descended on him. The New Testa- ment book of Matthew says,


As soon as Yahusha was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Ruach of Yah descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”


The King-Father was confirming, “This one has the Ruach HaQadesh; he is my Son, and he is fully integrated with my thoughts and ways. He is the one who will restore my Ruach to the earth.” Later on, the King-Father affirmed that Yahusha was the one whom his disciples were to listen to above all others, when he said, as documented in the book of Mark and elsewhere in the New Testament, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”


Yahusha had many disciples or students, but he chose twelve to be in full-time traveling work with him and to learn from him in an intense training relationship. Among these were the notable apostles Peter, James, and John. When Yahusha called various of his disciples, saying, “Follow me,” he was inviting them to join the school of the kingdom of heaven.


We are followers of Yahusha when we have decided to identify with the life and message of the King-Son and submit to him as our Master Teacher. Yahusha said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both Yah and Money.” Although this statement was about money, it also has broader application. In the context of baptism, it tells us, “You cannot be in two schools. You cannot have two philosophies that are in contradiction to one another.”


Baptism with Fire


Water baptism aligned and identified Yahusha’ followers with his kingdom teaching. But what had John meant when he said that Yahusha would “baptize...with the Ruach HaQadesh and with fire”? The baptism with the Ruach HaQadesh, which we will talk about in more detail in later teachings, is the consummation of identification with the King and his kingdom, as well as a reception of the power of the heavenly kingdom. The Ruach HaQadesh 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, therefore, is to be baptized with the Ruach. 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, Yahusha was “full of the Ruach HaQadesh,...and was led by the Ruach in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by HaSatan.” When he emerged from that experience, having overcome each temptation, Luke further records, “Yahusha returned to Galilee in the power of the Ruach,” and the book of Matthew adds, “From that time on Yahusha began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” The message of the kingdom and the fullness and power of the Ruach 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 Yahusha 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:


√ 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 whatever 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 Yah were your Father, you would love me, for I came from Yah 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 teaching, we saw that what we call miracles were actually evidence of kingdom influence on earth. The same thing applies to the miracles Yahusha performed. The administration of the kingdom could be seen whenever Yahusha healed someone who was sick (power over the effects of humanity’s rebellion), delivered someone who was possessed by an agent of HaSatan (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. Yahusha 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, Yahusha 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. Yahusha 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.


Yahusha’ death on the crucifixion 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 Yahusha’ own body; the Ruach HaQadesh was present within him. Again, Yahusha was able to be the ultimate sacrifice because he was fully aligned with the King and lived a perfect life. Yahusha 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 Hamachiach Yahusha were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Hamachiach 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 Yahusha 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. Yahusha’ 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, Yahusha 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.


Yahusha 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 Hamachiach will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”


Yahusha 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 Yahusha 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 Yah, and Yahusha Hamachiach, 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, Yahusha 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 Most High, as the waters cover the sea.” Because Yahusha completed the work of restoration, the glory (nature) of the kingdom of heaven was released and began to spread throughout the earth.


The King-Son Destroyed the Ruach of Independence and Rebellion in the Colony


Yahusha’ death at Calvary, the blood that he shed on the crucifixion stake, 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 Yahusha did break this power, allowing the earth’s inhabitants to instead yield to the Ruach HaQadesh. Paul wrote, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Ruach, and the Ruach 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 Ruach, you are not under law.”


Breaking a spirit of independence is very difficult, but this is what Yahusha 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, Yahusha 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 will give you another Counselor [the Governor] to be with you forever.”


Can you imagine anyone in American politics telling the voters, “Do everything I say”? They would think he was crazy because we’re taught not to trust anyone like that. But Yahusha came to bring back the perfect government. In the kingdom of heaven, trust in the King-Son is the only way to experience life. In the kingdom of heaven, independence from the King- Son brings death, as Yahusha explained to his disciples:


Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.


Yahusha was destroying the idea of independence and rebellion, showing that this leads to deadly consequences. In contrast, dependence on him leads to life because “apart from [him] you can do nothing.” We are to be dependent on him so that he can help us be what we were created to be. Paul discovered this truth firsthand. Yahusha told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul’s response was to say, “When I am weak, then I am strong [in the power of the kingdom].”


The key, then, to being freed from the grip of rebellion, restored to wholeness and devotion to the King-Father, and released in the power and life of the Ruach is to acknowledge 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 human- ity. 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 Yahusha’ kingdom school and enter into the king- dom 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.


“He Lives with You and Will Be in You”


This brings us back to what Yahusha told his followers about the Governor, the Ruach of the King: “He lives with you and will be in you.” Yahusha’ followers had seen the demonstration of the Governor’s power lived out in his life. The Governor’s works were manifested on the earth, but no other human being besides Yahusha had the Ruach living within. Yahusha was promising the disciples that, through his sacrifice, the Governor would be coming back to live within them, also, just as had been promised since Genesis 3 when the rebellion occurred. This would not only align them with the nature and thinking of the kingdom, but it would also empower them to live it out just as Yahusha had lived it out on earth. Soon, the Governor would be taking up his official residence again in the citizens of the kingdom on earth, as the prophet Joel had foretold.


The King-Son’s Ultimate Reason for Coming to Earth


After his resurrection, Yahusha told his disciples, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised.” The King-Son was restating the essential reason for his ministry. This next statement may shock a few people, but I believe it is vital for us to understand: the promise of the Father was not Yahusha’ sufferings, his death on Calvary, or even his resurrection. Over the centuries, the Christian church has emphasized these aspects of Yahusha’ ministry to the point that I believe the ultimate reason he endured them has been obscured.


Through the years, people—especially religious people— have changed the meaning of the Father’s promise to humanity. Christianity has become the celebration of what Yahusha did rather than a reception of the reason He did it. We have declared a message that Yahusha never gave. We’ve changed the promise into one of leaving this earth and going to heaven, when what we’re called to is restored dominion over the earth through the indwelling Ruach.


The result is that we have worshipped Calvary, rather than benefiting from it. Yahusha’ sufferings, death, and resurrection were the means to an end—the reconciliation of humanity to the King, and, ultimately, the restoration of the Ruach to humanity. They were not ends in themselves. We’ve made the process the purpose. The promise of the Father was the reappointment of the Ruach as a result of these things. The entire reason for the King-Son’s coming into the world was to break the stronghold of HaSatan, destroy the grip of rebellion from human beings, and reconnect them to their King-Father so that the Governor could be restored to them.


The Ruach is what all human beings need in order to be realigned with the King and fulfill their purpose on earth. We should note that John the Baptist never emphasized the blood or death or resurrection of Yahusha. He emphasized the Ruach HaQadesh, because John was expressing the specific reason for his coming: “He will baptize you with the Ruach HaQadesh and with fire.” Humanity is not in need of a “religion.” We don’t need rituals and traditions. We need this promise of the Father to be a reality in our lives.


We must come to truly understand that the Ruach HaQadesh is the heavenly government personified. He is the source of the power of the kingdom in our lives. The Old Testament experience of the priests and prophets was only a shadow of what was to come. At that time, the Ruach HaQadesh couldn’t live in human beings; he could only be among them. But now, Yahusha was saying, “The Ruach of truth...lives with you and will be in you.”


As I said earlier, every miracle of Yahusha, every healing, every act of dominion—whether it was walking on water, casting out demons, or cleansing a leper—was not for entertainment or for making an impression; nor was it for the purpose of creating a religion or providing interesting material for preaching. These things were for the purpose of producing evidence to the world that the Ruach of the kingdom had returned to earth and would soon live within humanity again.


Just before Yahusha died, he gave his disciples many instructions, and these instructions had important information about the Governor. He was trying to tell them, in effect, “Everything I’m about to suffer is all because of my purposes concerning the Ruach HaQadesh in your lives and in the lives of those who will believe in the future.” He told them, in essence, “I’m going to leave you, but don’t panic or worry. The Governor is going to come back; he will be with you forever, and he’ll never forsake you.”


A striking illustration of the Governor’s return occurred at the moment of Yahusha’ death. The curtain in the temple separating the people from the Holy of Holies tore in two from top to bottom, signaling that Yahusha had made provision for human beings to be holy and receive the Ruach once more. The Ruach no longer had to be separated from them, dwelling only between the cherubim on a mercy seat that had been sprinkled with the blood of animals. Because of Yahusha’ ultimate blood sacrifice, the Ruach could once more be at home within human beings, giving them direct access to the King.


The Goal of the King


The King’s desire to restore the Ruach HaQadesh to humanity, therefore, is what made the entire redemptive program of Yahusha Hamachiach necessary. The principle goal and primary purpose of Yahusha’ coming into the world was to deliver the Governor of heaven to the colony of earth. Everything else was a means to that end. He didn’t come to bring us to heaven. He came to bring heaven to earth. This is why our Master Teacher taught us to pray, in what we call The Most High’s Prayer, that the King- Father’s influence, will, intent, and laws be done on earth—the colony—as they are in heaven—the home country.


The Roman Empire as a Type of the Heavenly Kingdom


The best time in history for the concept of the heavenly kingdom to be fully communicated to the inhabitants of earth was during the time of the Roman Empire, and this is a major reason why the King-Son, the Messiah, was born at that time. It was not a random choice by the King; it was the perfect time. Paul wrote,


When the time had fully come, Yah sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, Yah sent the Ruach of his Son into our hearts, the Ruach who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, Yah has made you also an heir.


The structure and functioning of the Roman Empire (though not its moral nature) at the time of Yahusha served as a type of the kingdom of heaven. For those living under its rule in Palestine, the analogy would have been obvious. Caesar was the emperor or king in Rome, and he was a type of the heav- enly King.


Caesar sent Pilate to be his procurator or governor over the region of Judea, to oversee it and create the culture of the Roman Empire there. Similarly, Yahusha said that when he returned to the Father, the Governor would be released to earth, enabling the inhabitants to fulfill the will of the King on earth once more, making it into a replica of the kingdom of heaven. Yahusha told his disciples, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Ruach of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me,” and “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”


Political concepts familiar to the people of the time were present for them to come to understand that Yahusha was talking about the return of the Governor to earth to enable them to fulfill the will and work of the kingdom of heaven. Interestingly, Yahusha’ enemies recognized that his message was about a kingdom, not a “religion.” This kingdom demanded full loyalty to the King-Father through the King-Son. Because Yahusha’ enemies did not want to submit to the authority of the heavenly government, they sought to kill him. They told Pilate that Yahusha was a threat to the political order of the day, saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” In this way, they pressured Pilate into choosing between killing an innocent man and appearing to support a king other than Caesar. He caved to the pressure and allowed Yahusha to be crucified. He was responsible for his choice, even though Yahusha’ death was part of the heavenly restoration plan. Every person essentially faces the same choice. Allegiance to the kingdom of heaven does not allow for any person or anything to take the place of the King.


The Release and Reception of the Governor


After the King-Son’s life on earth, a process unfolded by which the Governor was given to his followers. First, of course, the Ruach HaQadesh dwelled within the body of Yahusha—the first human being to have the Ruach within him since Adam and Eve. When Yahusha died on the cross, eyewitness and disciple John recorded that he “gave up his spirit.” Although this term can be a description for taking one’s last breath, I believe it also has a deeper significance here. The Greek word for “give up” means to “yield up.” Therefore, I think this term means that Yahusha also released the Ruach HaQadesh back to the Father in heaven at his death.


When Yahusha was resurrected, he was raised by the power of the Ruach, and the Ruach again dwelled in him. Paul wrote, “And if the Ruach of him who raised Yahusha from the dead is living in you, he who raised Hamachiach from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Ruach, who lives in you.” Just as the King-Son was raised from death by the Ruach, and the Ruach dwelled in him, those who enter the kingdom through the King-Son’s sacrifice will also receive the Ruach.


At Yahusha’ resurrection, then, the Ruach was now poised to return to humanity and rescue lives that had lived in rebellion, confusion, and despair under the kingdom of darkness. Just as the Ruach brought life out of emptiness and order from chaos at the creation of the earth, he would transform the earth once more into a colony of heaven through the return of the kingdom in the lives of its citizens.