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man. His friend has committed a
crime, plunged into debt for mil–
lions of dollars, which he cannot
pay. In compassion for his friend,
the son pays the multimillion–
dollar debt out of his own money.
His guilty friend's debt is PAlO IN
FULL. His guilt- his tremendous
obl igation-no longer hangs over
him- he is freed from that obli–
gation and its heavy penalties!
All humanity had followed
father Adam-had brought over
it the supreme DEATH PENALTY.
Before Jesus (the "WoRo"), now
the Son of Goo, could found His
CHURCH, those called out of the
world
into
that CHURCH must be
freed from the supreme DEATH
PENALTY, SO that they might
inherit ETERNAL ÜFE!
One of the purposes for which
J esus carne as a human to earth
was lo PAY THAT PENALTY- that
Supreme DEATH PENALTY- for
those called into His Church not
only, but ultimately to fre.e ALL
HUMANITY!
But since that OEATH PENALTY
He would pay
for
sinning human–
ity would END His human life,
paying it was reserved as His final
human act after all other pur–
poses of His human life had been
finished.
Nevertheless this gives the
reader a grasp of
HOW GREAT
is the Jesus who carne to found
the CHURCH OF Goo!
Continually bear in mind that,
although His earthly ministry
began when He was barely 30
years old (in His HUMAN life) yet
He was the EVER-LIVING-the
ETERNAL-who had ALWAYS ex–
isted. How GREAT was that 30-
year-old human life!
And this Jesus, who had grown
up in the town of Nazareth, had
since human birth resisted and
overcome SATAN- had rejected
Satan's self-centered way of
"GET," and in the final titanic
confrontation had QUALIFIED to
RESTORE the GOVERNMENT OF
Goo and to establish on earth the
KINGDOM OF Goo, to rule that
Government!
Immediately after the decisive
battle to overcome Satan, two of
the disciples of John the Baptist
saw, with John , Jesus. Jesus
December 1980
asked them to follow Him to His
home. One of these was Andrew,
son of J ona. He called bis brother
Simon-bar-Jona.
Jesus looked on Simon, and
said to him, "Thou art Simon, the
son of Jona: thou shalt be called
Cephas (in Greek, PETER),"
meaning a stone.
In Mark
3:14, 16,
we read:
"And he [Jesus] ordained twelve,
that they should be with him, and
that he might send them forth to
preach. ... And Simon he sur–
named Peter." A surname is
according to Webster, "an added
name derived from occupation."
The surname Peter had for
centu ries been a surname or
TlTLE, designating a religious
LEADER, HEAD Or HEADQUAR-
~~
The Kingdom of God is
not the Church. It is to
be the world-ruling
Family of God, ruling
earthwide with the
Government of God!
' '
TERS. Peter was the first and chief
apostle. An apostle is "one sent
forth to proclaim or preach."
So, at the very beginning of
His earthly ministry, preparing
the FOUNDATION for the Church,
J esus Christ chose His chief
human apostle and the other orig–
inal
11.
They, with the prophets
whose writings were preserved
from the days of God's fi rst chos–
en Congregation (and NATION),
Israel, were to form the very
FOUNDATION of God's CHURCH.
Jesus Himself was to be not only
Founder but HEAD, and chief
"corner stone" of the CHURCH
(Ephesians
2:19-21; 5:23).
Prior to age 30, J esus had been
a carpenter-probably building
with stone rather than wood. He
well knew the FOUNDATION
should be laid first, before the
structure itself.
But Jesus had Himself chosen
His apostles. He said to them
later, "You have not chosen me,
but 1 have chosen you" (John
15:16, 19).
Now Jesus began proclaiming
the Gospel MESSAGE God the
Father had sent into the world by
Him as God's Messenger (Mala–
chi
3:1).
We read of it in Mark chapter
1:
"The beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Ch ri st the Son of
God; ... J esus carne into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the KING–
DOM OF Goo, and saying, The
time is fulfilled and the Kingdom
of God is at hand: repent ye, and
believe the gospel" (Mark
1: 1, 14-1 5).
And, from Matthew, "And
Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, and
preaching the gospel of the King–
dom" (Matthew
4:23).
This prophetic Message (Gos–
pel) of the KINGDOM OF Goo was
explained in detail in Part 7.
1t
was the GOOD NEWS of the future
establishment on earth of the
GOVERNMENT OF Goo, restored
and administered by the Divine
Goo FAMILY-:-the KtNGDOM OF
Goo.
J esus' proclaiming of this
amazing future NEws--combined
with His miracles of healing,
turning water into wine a nd
others, caused great excitement.
Immense crowds followed Him
and His disciples. He was teach–
ing His disciples to become the
future apostles, while He
preached this Message to the
public.
The news proclamation had
spread to Jerusalem. There the
Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees
became alarmed by it. The Phari–
sees were a Jewish religious sect
sorne of whom occupied minor–
yet to them important- govern–
ment offices. The Roman Empire
then ruled over Palestine. The
Romans sent a district king and a
limited occupation army to super–
vise rule in Judea. But the Romans
set sorne of the J ewish Pharisees in
offices of lower civil rule, under
the Roman king. These were well–
paying political jobs, and these
Pharisees did not want to lose their
jobs or their power over the people.
These Jewish rulers and their chief
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