Identifying The Kingdoms

John Wesley said, "Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.”

Those who are true spiritual visionaries realize that it is impossible to establish the Kingdom of Heaven here if we are wanton for the things of this world. I have said this so many times until I am sure by now it may sound like a broken record. If God would grant me those one hundred men and women who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, we would indeed make the Kingdom of Heaven visible here on earth.

Many are concerned about the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. It is true that they are one and the same. However, a more accurate statement would be that the Kingdom of Heaven is a part of the Kingdom of God. But it is also true that:

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS MANIFESTED IN TWO WAYS HERE ON EARTH.

1. During the dispensation of Grace and Truth which we live in today, it is an invisible kingdom dwelling in the hearts of those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and become filled with the Holy Spirit. It can only be seen by their righteous obedience to God, the Father, the joy they have in their salvation and the peace they have in the midst of trials and persecution.

2. At the end of this age the Lord will come again to establish the visible kingdom on earth. He will set up His government in Jerusalem and rule the world from there. Those who have kept the faith will rule and reign with Him.

It is the intent of God to give the kingdom of man to the one man who was able to redeem it, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the coming of Christ was to take back that which the devil had stolen. However, the people of the kingdom were dead, walking in sin and trespasses. If the Lord was to redeem them He would have to pay for their sins. This He did superbly.

But if they are to live in the Kingdom of Heaven they must enter in through the only door God has given them. “I am the way, the truth and the life,” says our Lord. “And this is the record in heaven, that God has given us eternal life and that life is in his son.”

The Kingdom of God is everlasting and all encompassing. The forces of evil cannot destroy it. However, evil has been permitted to exist in God’s creation. This we can readily see in the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 4:34-37

34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.

37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Think on this wise, the Word of God made the heavens, the earth, and all that dwell in them. God is the creator and maker of all kingdoms. He is the supreme sovereign of all. He rules in all the kingdoms of the earth, heaven and the underworld.

EARTH: THE KINGDOM OF MAN

When God created the world and man, all was perfect and all that was created was the Kingdom of God. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. Psalm 115:16.

In the beginning of man’s reign on earth, Lucifer was also given responsibility concerning the earth. He was the “anointed Cherub that covereth” or protects or even secures the will of God on the earth.

THE ANOINTED CHERUB

Let us consider the cunning character of this anointed cherub we came to know as satan. The prophet gives us an insight as to his movements in times past.

Ezekiel 28:12-14

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; (Here we are given a startling reality. Satan was at some point given access to the Garden of Eden). …every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; (This word covereth means to fence in, cover over, to protect: cover, defense, defend, hedge in, join together, set, and shut up. Thus it was Lucifer’s responsibility to defend or protect the earthly creation.) and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Another disclosure here is satan’s presence at the holy mountain of God. Lucifer was here in the beginning. He worked at the altar of the stones of fire. This is most likely the altar of incense, wherein praise and worship were offered to God from the earth. We know from many passages of script that this too is an earthly location.

Ezekiel 20:40

For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

Daniel 9:16

O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

Joel 3:17

So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

Zechariah 8:3

Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.

With the above passages, we are able to establish the fact that satan or the anointed cherub was at one point given access to the Garden of Eden and the Mountain of God. While the Mountain of God is Mount Zion or the site that was to become the city of Jerusalem, it is also the place where the Father will at the end of the millennium relocate His throne from Heaven. This indeed is a holy place and preferred by God.

Consider here that the God of our salvation wants us to know and to understand the foundational history of our very existence here on earth. He wants us to understand the war that is raging between good and evil. If we are diligent we will allow the scriptures to unveil the mystery of iniquity with whom we are now adversaries.