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| How God is Re-establishing His Dominion |
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Today, just as He promised, God is setting up a Kingdom, but how is He accomplishing this? First, we need to recognize, and submit to the fact, that God does not do things as man would do things. The establishing of God's Kingdom is entirely spiritual and will be accomplished through the wonder working power of His Holy Spirit, working in the human mind to prepare a people to meet their Lord. Please see “God Prepares His People” Part 2 of a 7-part series. We are encouraged by Jesus, in John 16::7-11, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”While this passage is the key to understanding what the work Holy Spirit, there are a number of other verses that are also very important in understanding the work of the Holy Spirit. These verses are found in, John 14:16 “...I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”John 14:26 “...the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”John 15:26 “...when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:”John 16:13-15 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.”Each of these texts further clarify, not only the work that the Holy Spirit has been sent accomplish, they also represent the work that is to be done in the minds of those who allow Him to do His Will in them. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 Here is a list of 12 attributes, drawn from the texts above, that represent the various functions of the Holy Spirit. He will:
Many will not allow themselves to be reproved of Sin. To be reproved of Sin, is to recognize our sinful nature and the fact that we can not, of ourselves, do anything about it and, at the same time, realize that something needs to be done. Through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we come to recognize that only righteousness will receive eternal life, we are also made aware of the fact that the righteousness of Christ, is the only righteousness that is sufficient to meet that standard. Having come to the realization that we aare sinful (full of Sin), we that if we, standing shamefully before our Lord, we should be judged guilty, but Jesus assures us that He is both our judge and advocate, pleads His blood on our behalf and judges us righteous. Not only does the Holy Spirit abides with us, but He dwells in us — in fact, He MUST dwell in us to do the work of cleansing that must be done. We will be discussing this further, below, but for now, let me emphasize that the Spirit whill TEACH us ALL things When we say TEACH us all things, we must also allow ourselves to be taught This is a purely supernatural occurance. We have only the words recorded in Scripture, but the Holy Spirit reveals not only what Jesus said, but also the meaning. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, testifies of Jesus and if the Holy Spirit is, indeed, living in us, we too, will testify of Jesus. This, and point # 5, have much in common, but it is determined, in this text that the Spirit of God will be teaching us “Truth”, but again, we must be willing to learn. The Holy Spirit will speak only of Christ, never Himself, and, as stated before, if the Holy SPirit is dwelling in our heart and mind, we will not testify of ourrselves, but rahter, we will testify of Jesus at every opportunity. Each of these points should be seen as a promise of God, and in view of this particular promise, we can be assured that His SPirit will reveal the meaning behind His prophecies, that we might know what is coming upon the World and how to, Spiritually prepare for it. All this are done to the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We will never attempt to glorify self, nor even expect to share in His Glory, this side of Heaven. We will, indeed, be glorified, but not until the Glory of God is revealed in us. This is not something that we can ever hope to accomplish on our own, but by the blood of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, those living in the last days, will be glorified with Him. The Father, Jesus, His Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, working in perfect concordance on each souls behalf. We have been told plainly, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”We are also warned, in Matthew 7:21-23, that, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”Also, we are warned that the assault will come from inside the body of believers, which will, conssequently, increase the number of people who will be decieved and the chance that they will be decieved. Again and again, in Scripture, we are warned that deceptions will abound in the last dayss (end times), but with the heart and mind submitted to God, we can be more than conquerors, being assured, when Paul, the Apostle, asks a question and then, assures us, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 “there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”Those spoken of here, are Evidently people, who claim to follow Jesus, but have attempted to be saved by their works. Please notice, they could even cast out demons and climed to prophesy in His name. We must realize that, as the work of the Holy Spirit is being accomplished in God's people, Satan is busy, working to deceive — Going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is most interested in deceiving God's people and, if possible, He will deceive the very elect. But, where Sin abounds, God's Grace does that much more abound, for we are assured, “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:” Romans 5:19-6:8 |
| Many would like to see God re-establish His dominion and make everything “okay,” without the total erradication of Sin. They would like Him to just make all the pain, suffering, disease, death and destruction go away, and continue to live in this world. Basically people love life and don't want it to end. Ridding the world of Sin is, of course, also God's intent, but He must solve the problem His way — He must rid the Earth (and the Universe) of ALL sin. The ideas and/or plans of mankind, regarding how God should do this work, are invalid, because no man understands the true nature of Sin. No one fully appreciates how pervasive it is and how it destroys anything that exists while it is present. Only God knows how to deal with Sin in such a way to TOTALLY erradicate it from the Universe, so He must do it His way, even if, in the process, His creation and creatures must endure much hardship and suffering. | 
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| Many say, “If God is such a loving God, why doesn't He just put an end to the way things are?” What they don't understand is that He IS doing just that. He is doing it in the only way it can be done, because He wants the solution to be permanent and complete. He knows what is at the root of the entire Sin issue and, unlike man, who usually only adresses the symptoms, God is striking at the root. God, in His great mercy, restricted the effects of Sin to Earth, but it has nonetheless, tainted the entire Universe. That Sin entered the human experience and must be dealt with on that level, is not based on the fact that MAN sinned, but rather that Satan sinned. Satan is the one with whom God has to deal. While “...the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now,” erradicating Sin from the Universe is a God-sized task and must be completed in His time — in His way, which is, again, entirely spiritual.
God is not without the power to end the Sin situation, but the manner and methods that He must use are beyond man's understanding. One thing is certain, however. Sin will not cease to exist until Satan ceases to exist. It is with him that it all started and it is with his destruction that it will all end. One basic issue must be addressed: Who is right? God or Satan? Which way is best, God's way or Satan's way. How is this to be determined? I will address that in a moment, but bear with me as I expand on a couple things. First, let's allow Scripture to speak to the issue at hand. We are told, in 2Peter 3.9-14, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”There are a number of statements made here, that reveal the goodness of God in that He is not willing that ANY should perish, but that all should come to repentance. At the same time, the Earth that now is, is tainted by Sin and He it must be cleansed with fire. This is not the same as the Lake of fire, spoken of in Chapters 19 and 20 of the Book of Revelation — the lake of fire that is reserved for Satan and his angels, and into which they are, ultimately cast. This is a purifying fire that burns up (destroys) “...the earth also and the works that are therein...” Not only does this verse express the mens by which the Lord will cleanse the Earth of Sin and its effects, but it also speaks of the New Heaven and New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Two other things are pointed out, here, and this is where we begin to see how God is establishing His Kingdom on Earth.
God's Kingdom is made up of those in whom He has been able to do His good work of destroying Sin. As Sin is erradicated in the lives of His people, the strength of Satan's power is diminished, until the power of the Holy Spirit controls the life completely. Some may question whether this is possible, and we will come back to this point, explaining it, from Scripture, in detail. But for now, when I say, “until the power of the Holy Spirit controls the life completely,” I am speaking of nothing less than victory in Christ. Is victory possible? Is it possible to have victory. “...thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 15:57 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1John2:2-5) “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3:21)We are told that we can be more than conquerors. What does “more than conquerors” mean. I believe it means that Sin cannot only be conquered in each of our lives, but that more than that can be accomplished, namely, we can receive Eternal life, having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.“ (1Peter 2:20) and “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1John 5:11 & 12) “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1John 5:19-21) While it is true that Jesus, by His sacrifice on Calvary, overcame Sin and death for all, there is still a work that He must be allowed to accomplish “in His people.” We are told in Revelation overcome the world Today, Christianity has become divided and functions on division. Satan has succeeded remarkably in breaking up historic Christianity into innumerable parts. |
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