Saturday, April 5, 2014

The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God

Revelation 1:9-11, 12-18 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day* (this could also be the day of Christ, or when the day star arises in our heart, as explained earlier and elsewhere), and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
*For many the term Day of the Lord this means the day of judgment and the termination of all things, but here like in the other locations in the New Covenant it means the first day of the week. The exact day that this references is obscured by our Julian calendar because it changed the numbering sequence of the days possibly by only one day. I do not plan to do a study of days and years as this is very complicated but be it said that they have been altered somewhat by the church and Roman government.

I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; His feet like fine brass, as if they were burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters (Daniel 9). He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun that shines in his strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

This is a description of our Lord of Judgment and the Ancient of days (as found in Daniel 7:9, 9, 10:6, Matthew 28:3-4) because of how He is described here. I will look at the fullness of the Beatitudes spoken on the Mount where Jesus takes a position, as a seat upon a rock, like a College prophesier takes when addressing a large group of students in a authoritative manor, in the old style lecture halls of the old world.

Matthew 4:23-25 Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people (displaying He authority and power to do what He was then about doing in accordance with the ancient scriptures and prophesies about Him). And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought to Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatics, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond Jordan.

Then begins the Beatutitudes in the following list: 
Matthew 5:1-2, 3-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-26, 27-30, 31-32, 33-37, 38-42, 43-48, 6:1-4, 5-15, 16-18, 19-21, 22-23, 24-34, 7:1-6, 7-12, 13-14, 15-20, 20-23, 24-27, 28-29



 

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