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2-18-2018 Weekly Message
The contemplation of the week: Psalm 8: 1-9
Text: Matthew 3: 1-3, Romans 14:17, Philippians 3: 20-21
The title of the Word: Kingdom of heaven, Kingdom of God, and heavenly kingdom.

          The Bible speaks about the Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of God, and the heavenly kingdom. These three words are all about the kingdom that man shall live with God forever, but these three things are to be done in order.”Heaven” is a vague thought of the sky above, but the Bible says that heaven is not a place but a spiritual meaning.

          John, who was born six months earlier than Jesus, baptized the Jews before he introduced Jesus to the world, “Repent ye: , for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He cried out that Jesus, the King who created heaven and earth, came to this earth. It is a message that everyone must turn and repent and believe and accept Him. He introduced Jesus, the Messiah, who spoke beforehand through the prophet Isaiah seven hundred years before he came: The prophet Isaiah prophesied:
” The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see ittogether: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.. “(Isaiah 40: 3-5)

         God has become a man and has appeared in the name of Jesus and has done the work of God. Before four thousand years of human history, Adam sinned and  handed over this entire world to Satan with the power of sin and death, before Jesus came into the world. Satan then chastised the weak people through numerous Principalities and powers. Only truly gentle and humble God is supposed to  be king for all men, and then  their way shall be smooth and happy, and every low valley that has suffered shall rise, and the kingdoms and powers that have oppressed them shall be judged to be lower; It is said that their lives, which were living in pain and persecution, are to be stretched and flattened.

        Isaiah also testified that a man shall be revealed as the glory of God who will appear in this world in the name of Jesus. Finally, Jesus, the God who appeared in this world, showed Himself to the world through the signs of  His works that could not be done by human being, but only by the Almighty God. 

        To show himself as the Creator, Jesus fed tens of  Thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fishes leaving  twelve baskets full of them. He also rebuked the storm to make it obey to him to be calm again. . He walked on the water and went up to the boat where the disciples were riding.

          And Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in the midst of corrupting four days to show himself as the Creator who gave the breath of life to Adam. He called the name of Lazarus in the grave and raised him to life. He also raised the dead Dorga. He also raised the daughter of the synagogue leader.

            In addition, he healed  the leprosy, which cannot be healed by man, to show that he is the Creator who create man in the mother’s womb.  , There are numerous paralytic sicknesses, blind, devilish, lame, He  healed all kinds of the sick people.

           When Jesus had manifested many signs that he is the king of heaven and earth, the king of kings and Lord of Lords, the Jewish religious leaders who were under the rule of Roman Empire at that time stirred up the people and crucified him.. Herod, then the king of the Jews, was disturbed when he heard that the wise men from the East came to worship Jesus the Messiah. He had already known about the coming of the true King of Israel.

         John the Baptist said, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Because finally God, the King of Israel, appeared as a man, and now Israel is no longer to be  under Roman ruler, and  because at that time the Jews were God’s chosen people and God was with them  in the land promised to Abraham, but because they were under the rule of Herod, sponsored by Roman Empire, who was not the  true their king,

          If they had accepted Jesus as their king, the kingdom of  heaven would have come to their land. In other word, the kingdom of heaven is to come wherever God dwells.  King David, who had walked with God under the reign of  God, testified about the kingdom of heaven:

” If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there..” (Psalm 139: 8)

           But Jesus had known  that he would be killed by the politicians of this world. To be king of all the people of this world, he wanted to make the whole world a clean place without sin,  curses, and  no more death through taking away all the sins, deaths, and curses in the  DNA of man inherited by Adam . He wanted to cleanse the whole world through giving himself as the sacrificing offering for the world as the Lamb of God, to raise up the people of the world from death, by pouring the blood of the innocent God through his death to make his blood spiritually flow into all those who believe in Him .

         Before he died, Jesus said that he would be rejected, violated, and killed by the world’s principalities:

” And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12)

          At that time, the kingdom of heaven  was taken violently upon the death of the King Jesus by the Roman Empire  and Herod the king who lived under it, and also the religious leaders who had authority under Herod. The gentle and humble King, Jesus, God, died by those who use violence. For the past two thousand years, all the peoples living in this world, including the Jews, have been living in suffering  living in hundreds of countries . Many dictators, and even most of the people living in democratic countries, are still suffering in the valleys of pain and death. Even if we look at the nearest North Korean land, we realize it. Also, recently, politicians in South Korea are oppressing the people.

       But God has given hope to all those living in this miserable reality. Jesus Himself spoke of this hope:

” For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.“(John 3: 16-19)

         Until the coming of the kingdom of heaven and the coming of the king, the world is still bound to suffering by the politicians and powers of this world, the rulers of darkness, and the evil spirits, but Jesus is to be the king within them who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ giving them the Holy Spirit, and make their heart the kingdom of God spiritually.. Therefore, he is the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, who will judge nations who do not believe in him, and that before the kingdom of heaven is restored to the earth, the  kingdoms shall  be fulfilled in those who believe. . This kingdom of heaven is said to be “Kingdom of God” in the Bible. The Bible witnesses what this kingdom of God is like:

” For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)

          Though their bodies are still in this world, they are now living as God’s children, living in God’s care and being cared for and being justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, and always living in joy,   The saints of underground church  who still live in suffering in North Korea live in this kingdom of God, living physically difficult but still enjoying joy within them.

           The secret of their joy is their hope. That hope is “Heavenly Kingdom”. The day their bodies die, is their hope that their  spirit and soul can go to Jesus’ bosom in heaven. Therefore, the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20). Now to enter the spiritual kingdom of  God, we must born again through receiving the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.

 Amen! Hallelujah!