Immovable Kingdom
The Old Testament predicts the coming of
Christ's kingdom and the inauguration of a new covenant. The prophet Daniel
outlined four kingdoms—the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian,
the Alexandrian and the Roman—that would rule the world before the kingdom
of God would come. Then the great prophet wrote: "And in the days of these
kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed:
and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Dan. 2:44).
The prophet Daniel also wrote: "I saw in the night visions, and behold,
one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient
of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given unto him
dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is
an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that
which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. 7:13-14).
I plan to return to Daniel momentarily,
but I shall now read Jeremiah's prediction of the new covenant. "Behold
the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day that I took them out by the hand to lead them out
of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband
unto them, says the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel; after those days, says the Lord, I will put my law in
their inward parts, and write it on their hearts; and will be their God, and
they shall be my people. And they shall not teach
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, says the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. 31:31-34).
The inspired author of Hebrews writes: "For if that first
covenant (that is, the law of Moses) had been faultless, then should not place
have been sought for a second." The author
of Hebrews next quotes the passage I have just read to you from Jeremiah 31. He
then writes: "In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the first old.
Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:7,
13). The English Standard Version
renders that last verse: "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the
first one obsolete. And what is
becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." The word "old" (palaioo in the
Greek) means out-of-date. The old covenant, including the Ten Commandments, is out-of-date and has vanished
away.
We know the old
covenant with all of its arrangements passed away because it did not accomplish the
goals God had in mind. Paul explains: "For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). The nation
of Israel came to a permanent end, regardless of the contentions of the
premillennialists. However, the book of Hebrews speaks of "a kingdom that
cannot be moved"—a kingdom that will never come to an end. Please listen carefully. "See that you
do not refuse him who speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him who spoke
on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him who speaks
from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet
once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet
once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of those
things that are made, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace,
whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming
fire" (Heb. 12:25-29). Our lesson today will have the title, "The Immovable
Kingdom."
Before we return to Daniel's prophecy of the
kingdom of God, I must say a few words about the kingdom. Many of our
premillennial friends believe the kingdom the prophets had foretold was postponed
because the Jews rejected the king. There are some serious flaws with that kind
of thinking. Daniel predicted the time of the kingdom's establishment—"in
the days of these kings"—and time prophecies cannot be postponed. If time
prophecies were postponed, it would mean the prophets were wrong in their predictions. Would
that not make them false prophets? False prophets cannot be God's spokesmen. Why should
anyone pay attention to false prophets (Dt. 18:22)?
Besides, the New
Testament specifically teaches that the kingdom came into existence on the day
of Pentecost. Three passages prove conclusively that the kingdom was in
existence in the first century. Paul affirmed that he and the Colossian
Christians had been delivered or rescued from the power of darkness and had been
transferred into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col. 1:13). Both verbs—delivered and
transferred—are past tense verbs. Could they have been transferred into a kingdom that did not
exist? The Hebrew Christians were receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved
(Heb. 12:28). The verb
"receiving" is a present active participle. That means they were then
receiving the kingdom—not two
thousand or ten thousand years later. The apostle John informed his readers:
"I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in
the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle of Patmos, for the
word of God, and for the testimony of
Jesus Christ" (Rev. 1:9).
Daniel's prophecy
outlined several important truths. The kingdom would be established "in
the days of these kings." That kingdom, unlike the nation of Israel, would
never be
destroyed. The sovereignty of that kingdom would never be left to other people.
It would break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms of this earth. And it
would stand forever (Dan. 2:44). Daniel did not use the word
"immovable" of the coming kingdom, but we know that was his meaning.
The kingdom of God—the church of the living God—not only will survive this
world's demise, but it will continue throughout eternity. It is an immovable
kingdom.
When Daniel came on the scene, Babylon was
the most powerful kingdom in the world. When we read about the great
accomplishments of the Babylonian people, we can hardly keep from being impressed. For
example, the protective walls around Babylon were sufficiently thick for a chariot
and four horses to pass over them. Nebuchadnezzar had married a country girl
and wanted to make her as much at home as possible. In her honor, he
constructed the famous hanging gardens of Babylon—one of the seven wonders of the ancient
world. But Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians. The Medo-Persian Empire fell to
Alexander the Great. Then the Alexandrian or Macedonian Empire fell to the Roman Empire.
At the time our Lord
and his apostles roamed the hills of Judea, the Roman Empire was extremely powerful. It had the mightiest army,
the greatest educational system, and the best roads in the world. But it had
the seeds of destruction within from the very beginning. That was Daniel's reason for describing the Roman Empire as
being composed of iron and clay (Dan. 2:34). Edward Gibbon's famous set of
histories, The Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire (New
York: American Book Exchange, 1880), affirms that Rome fell because of troubled
families, sexual promiscuity and heavy taxation.
In his book, Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from the beginnings to A. D. 325 (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1944), Dr. Will Durant argues: "Rome was
conquered not by barbarian-invasion from without, but by barbarian multiplication within" (p.
666). Dr. Durant also said that Roman civilization
"resembles significantly, and sometimes with menacing illumination, the
civilization and problems of our day" (p. 8 of the Preface).
The kingdom of heaven, unlike the kingdoms of
men, will continue throughout eternity. No power on earth or in the world of Satan can
destroy the Lord's kingdom. That truth is powerfully taught in a song written many
years ago—although I do not know how many. H. R. Trickett wrote the words and
J. H. Fillmore wrote the music to the song, "The Kingdoms of Earth Pass
Away." Please listen to the words of this beautiful song. "The
kingdoms of earth pass away one by one, but the kingdom of heaven remains; it is built on the
rock and the Lord is its King, and forever and ever he reigns. The tempest may rage and
its anger acclaim, yea, the wind and torrents may roar, and the strong gates of hell
may assail it in vain, still the kingdom shall stand evermore. The kingdom of
God is now open for all, e'en the vilest may now enter in; there's a welcome
for all who will turn to the Lord, full salvation and pardon for sin." The
chorus reads: "It shall stand, it shall stand, forever and ever it shall
stand. It shall stand, forever and ever. Amen and Amen." That song
expresses the lesson both Daniel and the author of Hebrews so plainly teach.
Freed-Hardeman
College's lectureship book of 1971 (Henderson: Freed-Hardeman College) included
a lecture by Dr. Eugene Clevenger, a professor of Bible at Abilene Christian College.
Dr. Clevenger's lecture had the title, "The Church of Christ— Indestructible."
One paragraph from Dr. Clevenger's lecture should be helpful. "The indestructible
kingdom is the church of Christ. It is not a building; it is not a denomination or a
group of denominations; it is not a local congregation of Christians. Buildings decay,
congregations may die, and denominations have no assurance of permanence. But the
church will never be destroyed! Why? It is God's saved (Eph. 5:23), God's redeemed
(Tit. 2:14), God's family on earth (1 Tim. 3:15), God's temple (Eph. 2:20-22)"
(p. 91).
When Jesus met with his disciples at
Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples who they thought he was. The apostle
Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our
Lord said to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah: flesh and blood has not
revealed this unto you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say unto you,
That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of
hell shall
not prevail against it" (Mt. 16:15-18). The hadean world represented the
powers of death. Is Jesus promising that neither his death nor the death of his
followers will ever cause his kingdom to fail? Nothing the devil or anyone
else can invent will destroy the kingdom of God almighty. In the words of the
song I have just read to you, "The kingdom of God will stand forever and
ever."
There are several
reasons why the church of our Lord—the kingdom of God— cannot be moved. I
shall examine some of these as time permits. The church is immovable or
indestructible because it came from the very mind of God. I am fully aware that
men have destroyed some of God's works, but they have not and cannot destroy
that which God himself declares to be indestructible. Paul tells us that the
church was in the eternal purpose of God (Eph. 3:9-11). Jesus Christ gave
himself up for the church (Eph. 5:25). God's Holy Spirit provided the gifts to start the
kingdom and to perpetuate it until it was full grown (Eph. 4:7-16). Just as the Godhead
is indestructible, so is the church of our Lord. As violent and perverted as
some men are, they do not have the power to destroy the kingdom of God, although you
can rest assured many of them would like to.
Neither Satan nor his servants can destroy
the church of God because the church is heavenly in nature. Do you remember how John
the Baptist began his ministry? "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching
in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand" (Mt. 3:1-2). Is that not also the way the Son of God began his
personal ministry (Mt. 4:17)? The kingdom cannot fail because it has as its divine
king the Lord Jesus Christ. On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter informed the Jews of
the fact that Christ now reigns on the throne of his father David.
"Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up
Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see
corruption. This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear. For David
is not ascended into the heavens: but he himself says, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool"
(Acts 2:30-35).
The kingdom of God
originated with God and is protected by God. The angel who announced to Mary
that she would be the mother of the Son of God said, "Behold, you shall conceive in
your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his
kingdom there shall be no end" (Lk. 1:31-33). The inspired Psalmist
predicted: "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of thy
kingdom is a right scepter" (Psa. 45:6). The author of Hebrews quoted
those words from Psalm 45 and applied them to Jesus (Heb. 1:8).
We know from the
scriptures I have read to you today that the kingdom of God, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is immovable. We know it will last forever and ever. If you are not a member
of the Lord's church, can you think of any good reason why you should not be?
In this life, we oftentimes join human institutions, such as, the Civitan Club or the Rotary Club. These clubs often do much
good in our communities. But they do
not save us from sin and prepare us to live with God throughout
eternity. The church of the living God is the realm of salvation, redemption
and justification, as you can discern
by a careful reading of the book of Ephesians and other Bible passages.
I have a question
that is of vital importance. How does one become a member of the body of
Christ, a citizen in the kingdom of heaven? I hear on radio and on television various answers to my
question, but I want to know—I must know—what the word of God teaches. There is
no other sure guide to God's plan of salvation. So, if you will, turn to Acts 8 and
examine with me the conversion of the Samaritans.
The enemies of the cross bitterly attacked
the church of our Lord in Jerusalem. They scattered those early Christians,
except for the apostles, throughout the Roman Empire. "Therefore they who were
scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to
the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them" (Acts 8:1-5). All
Bible students are familiar with the expressing, "preaching Christ."
But what
does the term really mean? We cannot know all Philip preached to the
Samaritans, but we know three topics he discussed. Please listen. "But when
they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and
the name of Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12).
I am not going to
tell you that I know what Philip taught about the kingdom of God. He could have consulted Isaiah, Daniel, Micah
and other Old Testament prophets, and he probably did. He may have said that
the kingdom of God was established on the day of Pentecost. Did he tell the
Samaritans about the immovability of the kingdom, as I have done in this
lesson? We do not know and do not need to know, but we do know he preached "things concerning the kingdom of
God."
What did Philip
teach about the name of Christ? Could he have said, as the apostle Peter did in
Jerusalem, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)?
Is it possible he told the Samaritans: "But let none of you suffer as a
murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer,
or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed: but let him glorify God on
this behalf (or in that name)" (1 Pet. 4:15-16)? We know Philip preached
the name of Christ, but we do not know exactly what he taught.
We also know that Philip preached baptism. How
else could the Samaritans have known they needed to be baptized? When we consult other
scriptures, such as, Acts 2:38; Mk. 16:15-16; Acts 22:16, we know the
Samaritans had to be baptized for the remission of their sins. And when they were
baptized for the remission of their sins, were they then citizens in that
immovable kingdom? If they were not citizens in the kingdom, what else did they have to do
to become citizens? Please listen carefully to Paul's words to the Corinthians.
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13). If you are not in the kingdom of God, will you not
obey the gospel this very day?
Winford Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
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