As we continue to pick apart the various places spoken of in the Bible and explore their function, we recognize that we do not have to work very hard to precisely read what Jesus said. It is simply the muddled doctrines of men, the aversion to mention anything bad, and the misunderstanding of not taking every word seriously that made this subject hard to understand. We tend to combine different words and claim they mean the same thing, such as the kingdom of the Elohim and the kingdom of heaven. The Elohim, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are kings in the heavens. It is literally a kingdom of Gods (Elohim is plural, denoting three or more). There is a kingdom inside the kingdom of the Gods, called the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is inside the entire kingdom. It is like a state capital in a city, which is inside a state. There is the state, there is the capital of the state. With the kingdom of the Gods in mind, let’s look at some things that Jesus and Paul told us.
Once again, very specifically, when speaking to a crowd on what we call the “mount of beatitudes”, Jesus uses the term kingdom of God as compared to the kingdom of heaven. Matthew wrote what Jesus said, exactly. Matthew did not paraphrase. Matthew wrote precisely. This is why we see the two different terms used in Matthew’s gospel.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
First things first. Above all else seek first the kingdom of the Elohim. Everything will fall into place when we seek the kingdom of the Elohim. Seek heaven. Make your way to heaven. Find the path to heaven and all the other things we have to be anxious about will be taken care of.
When Jesus sent the seventy/seventy-two disciples out into every city to heal the sick he also told them to say to the people that the kingdom of God is come near to them.
Luk 10:8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
The word for come near is eggizō meaning “approaches or at hand”. The word unto is epi, meaning “over or upon”. The seventy two said to the people they witnessed to that "the kingdom of the Elohim is at hand over you” or "the kingdom of the Elohim approaches upon you”.
Luk 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Luk 10:11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
Even if the disciples were rejected by the towns people, the message is still “the kingdom of the Elohim is at hand over you” or “the kingdom of the Elohim approaches upon you”. In both circumstances the message is the same. This tells us that the evangelizing and healing power that the seventy/seventy-two disciples had came from the kingdom of the Gods. Similarly, when we evangelize and minister healing, the kingdom of the Elohim has come near, upon the people, whether they accept it or not. There is always a free will choice given. But we see that rejecting the kingdom of the Elohim has consequences worse than Sodom. Jesus then says this:
Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Satanas still has access to the lower heavens where he is accusing us day and night. He was in a hurry to get down to earth and support his army of principalities and powers, as demons were being cast out of regular people. Jesus threw a monkey wrench into Satanas kingdom.
Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Jesus says that they can rejoice that their names are written in heaven. The heavenly roster of names is where we want our name to be listed. This tells us that the kingdom of the Gods has a roster for heaven. If we shift our focus heavenward and minister in the gifts of the Holy Spirit on the earth, our own needs will be met and we will be listed in heaven.
Paul clears up any misunderstandings regarding who enters the kingdom of the Elohim and who does not. Paul brings this up in the context of having a disagreement with someone and going to the secular courts, rather than to the righteous saints.
1Co 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Paul says that the saints, the holy righteous ones, will judge the cosmos. The saints judge the cosmos.
Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
The overcoming saints judge the cosmos with a white stone, a ballot. This is not for the people who are saints but do not overcome. The part about being an overcomer is the key to these responsibilities. Overcoming means we succeeded and defeated the enemy attacks against us on the earth.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
The saints will rule the nations. Those who conquer the enemy on earth will rule the nations. These rulers are people who kept the work of Jesus Messiah to the end of their lives.
Rev 3:21 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.
The overcomer saints will sit with Jesus in His throne. These people came out of the fat and lazy church, meaning that they did not rest from the work of Jesus Messiah, they didn’t care about the riches or wealth that they could have had. The saints will judge the cosmos three different ways. By ballot, by a rod of iron, by sitting with Jesus on His throne.
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
1Co 6:4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
Paul’s advice is to give the job of judgments to the least esteemed, because the least esteemed are probably more humble and less entangled with the movers and shakers of the city. Now Paul goes on to explain who will not enter the kingdom of the Elohim. Basically he says all the unrighteous.
1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1Co 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Righteous or unrighteous. The names of the unrighteous are not written in heaven, but the righteous are. Paul gives the remedy, become washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of the Elohim. Jesus is the only way to enter into heaven. There is no other way. Earlier Paul had told the Corinthians that you can’t lay another foundation, but everyone’s works will be tried by fire.
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
Everything we have done to help build the kingdom of the Elohim on top of the foundation of Jesus Christ, will be tried by fire. If anything survives, we will will be given a wage or a reward for what is left. It is like burning down a building which has some walls that were built with more excellent materials, and those walls stand. Other walls built with less quality materials incinerate and there is nothing left. In our case the foundation is Jesus. If we build something on the foundation of Jesus, we use the best things possible to survive the fire. We don’t use fear, manipulation, or intimidation, to get people saved, we use love, peace, and joy to get people saved.
1Co 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Now if everything we did to build the church is burnt up, we will still be saved. However, Paul immediately refers to us as the temple of the Elohim and the Holy Spirit inside us, saying that if we defile the temple the Elohim will destroy us. At first it sounds harsh, but if we think it through, maybe we can understand his point. The preacher who preaches Jesus, has a wife but also is an adulterer, and/or who rapes children, and/or rubs elbows with politicians, who is now bought off, is not only not able to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, he is defiling his own temple, with the Holy Spirit living inside. He will be destroyed. He will have nothing to show for his work, when he stands before Jesus. We know that Gods justice is longsuffering, but it will come. For those who have been abused in the church, there will be justice.
Paul told the Galatians to be led by the Spirit. He contrasts the leading of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us because we are temples, with works of the flesh.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul uses the contrast of works of the flesh to make it clear that there has to be a change in the one who confesses Jesus as Lord and believes he rose up on the third day. We are not led by the flesh. We are no longer bound to our flesh, by the Holy Spirit. Those who are connected to their fleshly works do not inherit the kingdom of the Gods. With the Holy Spirit dwelling inside there should be a change in us, fruit or the growth of good things.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The good fruit grows because we died to our flesh. We took up our cross and died to ourselves. Now we walk in the Spirit. If we do, then we will definitely inherit the kingdom of the Gods.
Paul tells the Ephesians not to be deceived.
Eph 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Eph 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Eph 5:4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Eph 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Paul says that these people will not inherit the kingdom of Christ, the Messiah, the millennial kingdom, nor the kingdom of the Elohim. Paul even warns people not to be fooled because those who do these things are children of disobedience and will experience the wrath of the Elohim.
The wrath of the Lamb and the Father that occurs during the tribulation is for those that are alive during the tribulation. The result of the wrath of the Elohim is hades or gehenna. Jesus gave us a good comparison as Matthew records.
Mat 13:37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world (age); and the reapers are the angels.
The time period is the end of the age. The word here is not cosmos, but aiōn, “eon or age”. The timing is the end of this age, before the millennial reign. The angels will gather the children of Drakōn just before the millennial kingdom starts.
Mat 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world (age).
Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Jesus will send the angels to gather the tares and they will spend one thousand years in hades weeping and gnashing their teeth. When the unrighteous are all removed then the righteous will shine out in the kingdom of heaven. What have the righteous been doing? Some of the righteous survived the tribulation. The righteous in heaven have been preparing for the millennial kingdom. The righteous from the kingdom of heaven have been cleaning the earth, Joel 2-3. This marks the completion of the work of the righteous saints who came back with Jesus.
Mat 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
Mat 13:48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Mat 13:49 So shall it be at the end of the world (age): the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
Mat 13:50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The kingdom of heaven is like a big net. There is a separation that takes place between whatever the net draws in, good and bad fish or garbage. Once again it is the end of the age, not cosmos. The angels sever the wicked out from the middle of the righteous. This tells us that at the end of the age, the people who have survived the tribulation, who are righteous, will go to the kingdom of heaven. The unrighteous will go to hades with weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus says something else that is very insightful regarding servants. Remember that servants are people who have declared they would serve Jesus. Not everyone wants to serve Jesus, some confess Jesus is Lord and believe he rose up on the third day, but do not actively make disciples of others. There is nothing wrong with that, as they will enter heaven. However, as we see, lazy servants are not really serving.
Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Jesus is specific here in talking about a servant over his household. What is Jesus’ house? It is the church. Here we see Jesus explain that the good servant gets rewards for serving meat, trophē, which means “provisions or food”, at the right time to the household. The time for giving food is what the good servant is blessed for. The servant doesn’t stop giving food, he keeps giving food until the master comes. The good servant feeds the household, Jesus’ household, his church. It is not our church. It is Jesus’ church. We feed His church. This is what a true and righteous servant does.
Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The evil servant fights with the fellow servants. Why is the evil servant fighting with the other servants? Shouldn’t the evil servant just do his own thing? In the church how many times has one preacher or minister risen up against another preacher or minister? Why attack the other servants? To stop the servants feeding the household of Christ. If the evil servant attacks the one feeding the household of believers, the household will die off. That one, who claims to be a servant, is not really serving the Lord, he is serving Satanas. The evil servant then goes to eat and drink with the drunken or intoxicated. The word translated drunken here is methuō which can also mean “someone who has shed blood”, or “murderers”. Jesus is saying that this servant causes trouble for the other servants who are feeding the household, then hangs out with the drunks and the murderers.
Jesus is not making a comparison of servants, he is noting that the good servants feed the household while the evil servants attack the good servants and then go hang out in the secular world. The evil servant is called a doulos just like the good servant. This means at one time the evil servant said he was going to serve. He told the Master that he would be his servant over the Masters household. Maybe he said that he would be a pastor, a priest, a worship leader, or a youth leader. In other words he made a commitment that he didn’t keep. The evil servant “said in his heart” meaning he has his own thoughts and intents apart from the Master. The reward for the evil servant is to be cut in half dichotomeō. The evil servant will be placed with the actors and stage players, hypocrites, hupokritēs. This tells us something important. There are fake leaders, pretenders, actors running the Masters household, and one day the actor will attack the other servants and leave the Masters house to hang out with the evil people. We should try not to be fooled by the pretenders. They are in our midst. When one of these pretend servants starts acting out, walk away. Actors do not act without an audience.
This shouldn’t surprise us. There have been many people in recent years who were leaders in the church that left. They didn’t leave quietly, they attacked other leaders, and made persuasive arguments to the body of Christ to leave the church as well. Some of those evil servants followed their lusts for money, sex, and drugs, which hurt many people in the church. Some were later found out to have been abusing their position for their lusts, including raping children. But these people were just actors and pretenders, they were not real church leaders. They will be cut in half, anything they may have gained when they served honestly will be cut in pieces and they will be stuck hanging out with the other actors with weeping and gnashing teeth.
This is a very big deal to Jesus. The people who honestly serve the household will be attacked by pretend servants. Jesus doesn’t have much tolerance for this, as noted by the weeping and gnashing teeth. Paul explains this to the Romans.
Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
If we are servants then we are not living for ourselves. This also means that we do not die for ourselves. Whatever we do as servants, we live and die for Jesus Christ.
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Jesus Messiah lived and died for us, he is now at the right hand of the Father and Lord over the living and the dead. (Remember Jesus took back the keys to death and hades.) This is why, if we call ourselves “servants”, then it is not about us. At the very least we need to be faithful servants, feeding the household until He comes.
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Paul is not talking about judging sin in the church. He covered that in his letter to the Corinthians. Paul is talking about judging other people who do lay their lives down for Jesus but may be in a different place than we are.
We will all stand before the rostrum, bēma, of Christ. This is not a seat, but more like a step. When we are speaking of our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, if they are living and serving we do not need to judge them. They might be of a different denomination, or a different church, but we do not need to judge how they serve. If they are living for Christ and dying for Him, then they will stand before Jesus’ judgment just like we will. This means that all our doctrinal denominational differences will be settled. Jesus will deal with the things that have not been right in the Body of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
Every knee will bow, every tongue confess, and everyone will give an account of themselves, not of anyone else. The rostrum is only between us and Christ. While we do not need to judge each person who is serving Jesus Messiah and laying down their lives for him, we do need to judge the hypocrite servant, or the actors. We do need to judge the sin in the church. We do need to judge worldly disagreements between church members. We do need to judge who is doing the Fathers will and who is not.
To understand the rostrum, it was a portable platform. The Greeks used two, one for an accuser and one for the accused to stand on. In this case the portable rostrum would have been in the front of a Roman procurators house. If this is the idea that Paul is conveying then Jesus would be standing on this platform in front of the kingdom of heavens entrance. How else would Jesus determine who his chosen and faithful servants are?
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 5:9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
We labor and serve him to be accepted by him. We will stand openly before Jesus who we serve and we will receive or collect for what we have prassō “practiced” or “preformed repeatedly" or “habitually”. This is the key to this understanding of the word prassō. These are things that are regular practice, good habits like reading our Bible, praying, or anything else we do on a regular basis. We are not speaking about the one time we did something spectacular, we are speaking about the things we do all the time.
What then is the Fathers will and how do we habitually apply those things to our lives? Jesus said our light will glorify the Father. In short, serve Yahweh Jesus Messiah. We will go into more detail next week. We can keep this in mind, the Father wants to give us the kingdom. He wants us in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. As we started out with this idea from Matthew, we see Luke recorded it from the disciples as well.
Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Therefore we should not be in fear. We should put into practice good Godly habits. We can serve Jesus and add works that won’t be burned up. We can receive rewards as well. The Father wants us in heaven. The Father wants us to enter the kingdom of heaven. There are many mansions in the Father’s house. Where we go is up to us. If we told Jesus that we would serve him, then we serve him, feeding his household until we die. If we need a break or a new direction, ask Jesus what else you can do for him. He will give a respite and a plan. Just keep serving. In all things we seek the kingdom of the Elohim, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, first and foremost. We should not fear the rostrum if we have habitually lived and served Jesus Messiah.
