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"And in the days of these kings [the
last resurrection of the Roman Em–
pire, ye t to come] s hall the God of
heaven [that makes the
who
clear]
set up a kingdom (that makes the
what
clear], which shall
never
be de–
stroyed [that makes the duration of
that Kingdom's power clear) ..."
(Dan. 2:44). " ... And the stone that
smote the image became a great
mountain [biblical symbol for gov–
ernment], and filled the whole earth
[that makes the
where
clear]" (Dan .
2:35).
" I
beheld, and the same horn
made war with the saints [that's us.
we hope!) , and prevailed against
them;
until
the Ancient of days
carne, and judgment was given to
the saints of the most High; and the
time carne [that makes the
when
clear) that the saints possessed the
kingdom" (Dan. 7:2 1-22). " And the
kingdom and dominion, and the
greatness of the kingdom
under
the
whole heaven, sha ll be gíven to the
people of the saints of the most
High, whose kingdom is an ever–
lasting kingdom, and all dominions
[te rritories, rulers] shall serve and
obey
h~m
[rhem,
as it is translated in
the RSV]" (Dan. 7:27).
Daniel had no questions about
whether God's Kingdom was to
have power and dominion here on
earth or no t. He dealt with the first
two of the world-ruling, earth-gov–
erning kingdoms (Babylon and Per–
sia), and all his prophecies a re very
pointed and deal exclusively with
the governments of the earth (in–
cluding the Kingdom of the most
High) and all its peoples.
Jesus Speaks
" Blessed are the meek: for
they
shall
inherit the EARTH"! Jesus said in
Matthew 5:5. Yet He said in verse
3: " Biessed are the poor in spirit : for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Ooes this mean that "meek" people
have to settle for earth, while those
who are "poor in spirit" get to go to
heaven? Or does it simply mean. as
the rest of the Bible corroborates,
that the "kingdom
of
heaven" is
~o
be established here
on
earth, and
that both the "meek" and the " poor
in spirit" (and it is rather hard to
distinguish between the two, you
must admit) will share that kingdom
ofheaven
on
earth?!
Jesus exhorted us to pray- and
surely no one is ignoran! of this
most oft repeated "Lord's Prayer"–
"Thy kingdom
come.
Thy will be
do ne
in earth,
as it is in heaven."
The book of Revelation, which
tells in deta il of the time of God's
intervention in the affairs of man–
kind, the
coming of His Kingdom ro
this earth,
plainly says: "And the
seventh angel sounded; and there
were great voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of this world
are be–
come the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ; and he shall re ign
for ever and ever" (Rev. 11 :15).
That certainly agrees with wh at
Daniel had to say. And to make
crystal clear the precise location of
the heavenly control of earthly king–
doms, the same book reveals: "And
hast made us unto our God kings
and priests:
and we sha/1 reign on rhe
earth"!
(Rev. 5:
10.)
Would You SeHie for Earth?
Reviewing the biblical doctrine we
expound, a minister who believed
tha t the saved go to heaven asked us
cryptically, "Would you settle for
ea rth?" 1 want to answer that ques–
tion now.
A brief glimpse of all history
proves that the great majority of
mankind in every generation would
not only "settle for earth," but has
fought bitterly over the jurisdiction
of every square inch of its surface to
try to ensure that they and their
heirs would control sorne portion of
it! A second glimpse wi ll reveal that
very religious-minded people have
been in the forefront of provoking
" holy wars" to gain or regain " holy
/ami"!
"Settle" for earth? Man has
fought, scratched, killed, connived,
deceived, plotted, etc. throughout
his entire history for just
pieces
of
the earth!
. They don ' t call it
"real
estate" for
nothing, you know!
There is a biblical record of one
who did have control of earth a t one
time (Jude 6), but was not willing to
"settle" for it. Ra ther he made war
in heaven and sought to take over
God's throne and replace Him. He
ascended above th e clouds and
stormed the very gates of heaven.
He fai led. You can read about that
in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel28.
Since God's promise to the faith–
ful
is
the earth, my answer is, "YEs,
1'11
'settle' for earth!"
Sorne Parables
The parables of Jesus have been
grossly misunderstood. First, let 's Jet
Jesus Himself tell us
why
He used
parables. "And the disciples carne,
and said unto him, Why speakest
thou unto them in parables? He an–
swered and said unto them, Because
it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to th em it is
not
give n ....
Therefore spea k
1
to th em in
parables: because they seeing see
not;
and hearing they hear
not, nei–
ther do they understand .
. . .
But
blessed are your eyes, for they see:
and your ears, for they hear" (Matt.
13: 10- 16).
Then follows Jesus' parable of the
sower and the seed. Jesus Himself
interpreted the parable and said:
' 'The field is
the world;
the good
seed are the children of the king–
dom ... "(Matt. 13:38).
The lesson is this. Do not con–
elude that the generally accepted
understanding of the parables is
correct. Usually they a re applied as
having sorne "spiritua l" lesson only ·
to be realized in sorne distant heav-
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21