>> David C. Pack: Jesus Christ's return, his Second Coming,
is central to Christianity.
Billions are waiting for it.
Scoffers deny it, but those who know anything of God's Word know
Jesus is returning.
Every indicator suggests it is near.
The Bible speaks extensively about how Jesus will establish
the kingdom of God, sometimes called, "The kingdom of heaven."
Few things could be more important.
Jesus himself plainly explained how God's kingdom begins, and it
is not what you've learned.
Next come facts never before explained.
Watch the whole broadcast.
>> male announcer: "The World to Come," the Restored Church of
God presents David C. Pack.
>> David: The very last question Jesus was asked by his disciples
was, "Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom
to Israel?"
The apostles understood two things: one, God's kingdom would
involve a restoration to the 12 tribes of Israel, but also that,
two, "It is not for you," them or us, "to know the times or the
seasons, which the Father has put in his own power."
When Jesus would build the kingdom was left a mystery,
although there are indicators, but there was to be no mystery
about how it would come.
The apostles well understood the tiny nature of the kingdom at
its outset.
This will become very plain.
But first, let's ask, how many more comings of Jesus Christ
does the Bible describe?
Contrasting verses tell us, and the answer is surprising.
First, the Prophet Haggai: "Thus says the Lord of hosts; 'Yet
once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and
the earth, and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all
nations, and the desire of all nations," long understood to be
Jesus Christ, "shall come."
Vast numbers today are looking for and desiring Christ's
coming.
While most understand little about it, they do desire it, and
it's obvious why.
This world has endless problems and is spiraling out of control.
People know Christ must come soon, or there'll be no planet
to come to.
Of course they desire him.
Here's the problem, and it's big.
The book of Revelation speaks of a very different reaction to his
appearance: "The kingdoms of this words are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign
forever and ever.
The nations were angry, and your wrath is come, and the time of
the dead, that they should be judged, and [you]
should destroy them which destroy the earth."
The nations are angry.
This is incompatible with Haggai.
These passages cannot refer to the same time, but the problem
gets even bigger.
Luke records a curious exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees:
"When he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of
God should come, he answered, 'The kingdom of God comes not
with observation.
Neither shall they say, "Lo here!"
Or, "lo there!"
For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'"
Notice, the kingdom was to arrive without observation.
The Greek is, "Without inspection or ocular evidence."
"Ocular" relates to the eyes.
So, Christ said, "God's kingdom arrives in some unseen way."
This coming is distinct from both Haggai and Revelation,
which have all nations looking for and at Christ's appearing.
Jesus was not confused about his own coming, and would have to
make sure we weren't either, he does.
In Matthew 13, Jesus gave seven parables, most very short, with
each illustrating aspects of the kingdom.
The place to start is: "The kingdom of heaven is like to a
grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his
field, which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is
grown, it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so the
birds of the air come and loge in the branches thereof."
The mustard seeds Jesus' audience was familiar with were
very small, very hard to see.
This is why he called them, "The least," meaning "small in size,"
"of all seeds."
God's kingdom is akin to microscopic when it arrives.
It eventually grows into a world government, becoming the
greatest among herbs, a tree, but it doesn't start that way.
Nobody talks about this parable because nobody understands it.
>> announcer: A new booklet from author David C. Pack,
"How God's Kingdom Will Come, the Untold Story!"
is now available on RCG.org.
This booklet explains exactly how the kingdom of God will be
established, never understood until now.
Visit RCG.org today to read "How God's Kingdom Will Come, the
Untold Story!" or to order a hard copy free of
charge.
>> David C. Pack: So, there could be no doubt of
the kingdom's small beginning, the next parable says this: "The
kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and
hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
The Greek word "hid" is "enkrupto," meaning "concealed."
Think of the English word "encrypted."
Jesus says, literally, he is bringing an encrypted kingdom.
It is hidden, concealed, but expands because leaven always
spreads.
A few verses later, Jesus underscores this.
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field;
the which when a man has found he hides, and for joy thereof
goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field."
"Hid" here comes from "krupto," meaning "to conceal by
covering."
Christ's message is clear.
God's kingdom starts tiny and hidden.
You must find it.
The next parable confirms this.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man,
seeking goodly pearls," rare and precious pearls are hard to
find, "who, when he had found one pearl of great price," it
was also hidden, "went and sold all that he had, and bought it."
Who would have to look for a kingdom all over the earth from
day 1, which is the popular teaching.
The hidden treasure and pearl parables also add focus to the
value of entering the kingdom.
Every kingdom has four necessary components: One, land, property
or territory, however large or small.
There must be clear boundaries establishing the size of the
kingdom.
Two, a ruler or king leading the government.
Three, people, subjects living within the territory governed.
And four, a system of laws and rules within a basic structure
of government.
Despite its size, when the mustard seed kingdom arrives, it
has all four elements.
It's literal, it is a kingdom.
Don't spiritualize it away as a church or something in the
hearts of men.
Christ is the central component, but all four are required.
Jeremiah 23 describes Christ in his expanding kingdom by an
unusual name while also calling him its king: "'Behold, the days
come,' says the Lord, 'that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch and a King shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In his days,'" so, at a point, and not right away, "Judah shall
be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name
whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness."
The Hebrew for "branch" is "sprout."
Like mustard seeds, sprouts are also tiny to begin.
Jeremiah 33 shows a runup to this reign, confirming something
crucial about sprout: "'I [will] cause the Branch [sprout]
of righteousness to grow up unto David and he shall execute
judgment and righteousness.'"
The Hebrew "grow up" is simply the verb form of "sprout."
God is saying he will cause the sprout to sprout.
Ponder what we're being told.
Confirming Jeremiah, Zechariah 6 pictures growth toward worldwide
rule: "Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying, 'Behold the [one]
whose name is the Branch [sprout]
and he shall grow up [sprout] out of his place and he shall
build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple
of the Lord: and he shall bear the glory and he shall sit and
rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon
his throne.'"
This last part obviously involves Christ ruling
in glory from a physical temple that would have to be in
Jerusalem.
The term "his place" is fascinating and enormously
instructive.
It means "the bottom, depressed, below, underneath."
Thus, the kingdom starts from the bottom, from a depressed
place, from below, meaning it's in a place that's concealed and
underneath in a way that people can't view it unless they seek
and find it.
Let's learn something else.
Zechariah 6:12 pictures Christ growing out of an undisclosed
location, his place, to ultimately build two temples.
The first half of the verse describes building the spiritual
temple that is the church, defined by the Apostle Paul:
"Know you not that you," the church, God's people, "are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If any man defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for
the temple of God is holy, which temple you are."
Malachi 3:1 describes Christ returning to earth to his
temple.
This cannot be a physical temple in Jerusalem because none exists
there today.
The Jews do not even occupy the Temple Mount.
Malachi says, "Christ comes to a people who seek and desire him."
>> announcer: "The World to Come"
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>> David: Back to Matthew 13.
A fifth parable shows expansion from a small beginning.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast
into the sea."
The net starts out empty.
Over time, it fills with fish of every kind, people from all
nations, but all not fish belong.
"When it was full, they drew to shore, sat down, and gathered
the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
So shall it be at the end of the world [or age] :
the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among
the just," note this, "and shall cast them into the furnace [or
oven] of fire: there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth."
Abandon any notion that the kingdom begins with only divine
spirit beings.
This parable dispels this misconception.
The wicked get into the kingdom, and must, at a point, be removed
in its first phase.
Another Matthew 13 parable describes wheat and poisonous
tares initially growing together in the kingdom of heaven.
Obviously, the kingdom is not in heaven.
Christ instructs that the tares must remain with the wheat until
the harvest.
He explains that at this point, the same as when the net is
pulled to shore, "[Angels] gather out of the kingdom the
tares and all the things that offend, and do iniquity,"
repeating that these are burned in a furnace."
So, then, the first phase of this kingdom is such that, as it
grows, the wrong kinds of people can get in.
Don't lose sight of this.
Christ said it twice, using easy illustrations so the point can't
be missed."
Verse 43 calls the harvest the point when: "The righteous in
the Father's kingdom shine forth as the sun."
The Greek means "become resplendent."
Other passages make clear it is at this point, many more saints,
people who qualified for rule in God's kingdom, join Christ and a
small number of early administrators, Luke 12:32, in
Jerusalem, where he will superimpose his kingdom over all
nations.
It will have by then sprouted into the large mustard tree that
started from the smallest seed.
The very first parable in Matthew 13 brings yet another
perspective, showing those who ultimately succeed in the
kingdom.
Jesus spoke of a sower that cast seed that fell on good ground,
some on stony ground, some where thorns could choke it, and some
fell by the wayside.
As with the wheat and tares, Jesus went on to interpret it
for us: "Hear you," or understand, "therefore the
parable of the sower.
When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom, and understands it
not then comes the wicked one [Satan] , and catches away that
which was sown in his heart.
This is he which received seed by the wayside.
But he that received the seed into stony places the same is he
that hears the Word," of the kingdom, "and with joy receives
it; yet has he not root in himself, but endures for a while
for when tribulation or persecution arises because of
the Word," many don't wanna hear of the kingdom, "by and by he is
offended."
Notice also that tribulation and persecution are associated with
the kingdom.
Conditions will not be easy for subjects in its first short
phase, but the rewards will be awesome.
"He also that received seed among the thorns is he that
hears this same Word and the care of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word, and he becomes
unfruitful."
Only one category survives.
"He that received seed into the good ground is he that hears the
Word, and understands it, which also bears fruit, and brings
forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."
Matthew 13 alone is enough to understand all popular kingdom
narratives are woefully incomplete and often totally
wrong.
A brief inset, it is helpful to know that it is after his
initial reign that Christ temporarily steps aside to
punish all nations through the seals and plagues of Revelation
because most never change their hearts.
It is why the nations are angry at that return, a huge subject
beyond our scope here.
But understand that it is at that time he begins his
1,000-year rule.
That said, be careful of rejecting or spiritualizing away
plain teachings about how God's kingdom will come simply because
you've never heard them before, because no one else teaches
them.
Everything taught here is completely consistent with all
other parts of the Bible, and I mean, completely.
But it would take many hours to explain.
Our purpose here is to explain how God's kingdom comes to
earth, not to harmonize hundreds of verses that apply, but they
all do fit in perfect harmony.
In fact, they fit together so beautifully that a host of
common questions on people's minds simply vanish.
Anyone desiring to come unto the kingdom will have opportunity.
God also has a master plan to install many spirit leaders.
He's been carefully working with people all over the world,
preparing them for rulership.
Only after a reckoning of past performance before Christ's
judgment seat will they be permitted to rule.
Luke 19 describes a nobleman, Christ, who went to a far
country, heaven, to get for himself a kingdom.
Notice, "When he was returned," from heaven, "having received
the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto
him, to whom he had given the money that he might know how
much every man had gained by trading."
Some servants passed, some failed.
Reading the whole account reveals that those who succeed
are placed over cities on earth.
Returning to Zechariah 6, the second temple Christ later
builds is a physical third temple in Jerusalem when he
rules all nations.
Countless Scriptures establish Jerusalem as earth's
headquarters in God's eyes.
If the kingdom starts very small and concealed, growing from his
place to encompass all earth, no wonder the Prophet Micah says:
"O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of
Zion, unto you shall it come, even the first dominion, the
kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem."
It does not say, "The kingdom, the first dominion," Christ's
rule before events in Revelation, after which he
continues it for 1,000 years, "is built in Zion or starts in
Zion."
Micah says, "It comes there," meaning it was initially
somewhere else.
Yes, it was in his place.
>> announcer: "The World to Come" program is presented by
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Visit RCG.org to read or order these materials.
Now, back to David C. Pack.
>> David: Let's look at one last passage referencing the Branch
after it grows and goes to Zion.
The setting is a great war that afflicts the nations of modern
Israel and the disastrous effect on Jerusalem and the tribe of
Judah.
"Your men shall by the word, and your mighty in the war.
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate
shall sit upon the ground.
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man," the
survivors of the war, "saying, 'We will eat our own bread, and
wear our own apparel, only let us be called by your name, to
take away our reproach.'"
Isaiah continues, "In that day," by
this time, "shall the Branch," the growing, maturing sprout,
"of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the
earth excellent and comely for them that are escaped of
Israel," from the war.
"And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion and he
that remains in Jerusalem," the survivors, "shall be called
holy, even everyone that is written among the living in
Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of
the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of
Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and
by the spirit of burning."
Fiery judgment is involved, including the furnace we read
about.
Read Isaiah 31, and verse 9.
By this point, the Branch and kingdom are flourishing.
Its fruit is called, "Excellent and comely," meaning "an
ornament."
Christ is called, "Glorious and beautiful," the latter meaning
in the sense of "prominence, splendor, as conspicuous."
By this time, the kingdom has become the opposite of small and
hidden.
It is conspicuous and prominent.
Try to make all of this fit the popular narrative.
No one is teaching it, yet it is the truth of your Bible.
Isaiah 59 brings another perspective of Christ's coming
to Jerusalem, again, years after his kingdom begins small: "'The
Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob,' says the Lord."
Then chapter 60 begins: "Arise, shine; for your light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you," remember, from
a depressed place, underneath, and below view.
"For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross
darkness the people but the Lord shall arise upon you, and his
glory shall be seen upon you."
If he started in heaven, his journey would be described as
descending, and not rising on Zion.
Don't miss this.
Many verses do confirm Jesus comes from heaven to his people,
but then to Zion from his place on earth.
Certain passages further prove Christ relocates to Zion.
A prophecy for our time, the latter days, that almost no one
talks about is found in Numbers 24.
The Prophet Balaam foretold: "In the latter days there shall come
a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of
Israel.
Out of Jacob," not Judah, "shall come he that shall have
dominion, and shall destroy him that remains of the city."
This is Jerusalem.
Called, "The Star," these passages describe Christ as the
Son of Righteousness, Daystar, bright and morning star, and
Scepter, the Ruler.
He brings his dominion, his rule, to Jerusalem and Judah
from a different modern nation of Jacob or Israel.
This cannot be referencing Christ's birth location because
he was born of Judah and in Judea.
Many Scriptures covered in my book, "America and Britain in
Prophecy," make clear the distinction between Judah and
Israel.
The modern Mideast nation called Israel is, in fact, Judah, with
the democratic English-speaking nations of the West identified
as the descendants of the other, of the 12 tribes of ancient
Israel.
Christ first comes to one of these countries, not Judah.
A basic summary, Christ first comes to his people, his temple,
bringing his kingdom without observation.
It begins microscopic and hidden, and is led initially by
a little group, again, Luke 12:32, read it, under Christ,
who will at first hide his presence by being sproutlike.
The kingdom will be steadily growing in number of subjects
before Christ transfers a ready-to-be greatly expanded
world government to Jerusalem.
From there, he will rule all nations with a larger group of
saints coming from his by-then much larger flock.
If you were surprised, even shocked, at the simple truths
within Jesus' parables and wonder why you have never been
taught their meaning, recognize he designed them to confuse
those he was not calling.
Here's what he said, "Therefore speak I to them in parables:
because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither
do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says,
'By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing
you shall see, and shall not perceive,' for this people's
heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
their eyes they have closed."
The masses close their eyes to the truth of the Bible.
Parables keep them from understanding what they don't
want to hear, but you can understand.
Speaking more of the reason for parables, Matthew added, "All
these things spoke Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and
without a parable spoke he not unto them, saying, 'I will open
my mouth I parables; I will utter things which have been
kept secret from the foundation of the world.'"
You've received precious knowledge, kept secret
from the world.
It is not the popular traditions or fables of modern Christendom,
but Jesus' plain words, and now understood in our time.
God has been waiting for thousands of years to establish
his kingdom on an earth that desperately needs it.
Yet it will not come as billions expect.
Think, you've heard word of the kingdom before it comes.
There is great advantage in this.
Christ is today preparing a specially chosen team of
qualified administrators in advance of its arrival to rule
under him.
Now, will you cling to long-held beliefs, or take hold of
life-changing truth?
Keep watching every "World to Come."
Until next time, this is David C. Pack,
saying, goodbye, friends.
>> announcer: This program was made available by Restored
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