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BACKGROUND
DEFINITION OF TERMS (For Serious Students)
COVENANT
LAW
LAW
I. In the Old Testament
II. In the New Testament
GRACE
GRACE, MEANS OF
KINGDOM OF GOD
KINGDOM OF GOD, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
I. In John the Baptist
II. In the teaching of Jesus
III. Kingdom and church
IV. In the rest of the New Testament
V. In theological thought
The
full background to this teaching is available online at this link
<b>DEFINITION OF TERMS</b> (For Serious Students)
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Online links to scriptures (New International Version [NIV] unless otherwise stated) are shown in blue
| THE KINGDOM'S REACH |
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___________THE THREE KINGDOM AGES__________
THEME______PATRIARCHS__PROPHETS___PEOPLE___
_______________Creation_____c.1500BC______c.5BC___
_______________c.1800BC_____c.432BC___Jesus Return
SOCIETY_______Nomadic_____Agrarian___Developmental
REACHING______Family_____Nation______World
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| A FOCUS ON THE FAMILY |
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 Throughout the book of Genesis, God worked through families. This is not surprising, as the family was the basic social group of organisation amongst early societies and indeed remains so amongst nomadic people today.
God created the world's first marriage in Adam and Eve. Perfect - for a while!
Genesis 2:23-4
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| And they did what most couples do. Produce a family. |
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Genesis 4:1-2
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 Sadly, like most families, they had problems with their children. Normal life, then as now! Although murder was a more extreme problem than most of us have to face up to!
When it came time for God to regenerate mankind, he chose to do it through a family. The family of Noah, that was. And God gave them the same basic task he had Adam and Eve. To procreate - produce still more families!
Genesis 9:1
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 But they too had their family problems. We are not sure what had happened to Mrs Noah, but Noah got into big problems after getting drunk.
Genesis 9:24
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 It is when we come to the Patriarchs though, that we see the special way God worked through the family during this era. It was a perfect blend of the natural with the spiritual. In the natural, when the family group got too big for the animals to be able to find food within range of the camp, the group had to split. As we see with Abraham and Lot.
Genesis 13:5-9
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 This was the way the godly inheritance worked too. The inheritance would only be passed down through the one Son, one of God's choosing. Starting with Abraham, much to his surprise and sadness, Ishmael, the elder son, would lose the inheritance, but still be blessed. Something we need to remember, as Ishmael is of the Moslem line.
Genesis 17:17-19
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 The same thing happened in the next generation. Isaac's favorite, and the oldest son, Esau, missed out on the inheritance, which was passed down through Jacob's line.
Genesis 25:21-26
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 As a result of this single line inheritance, by the time it came for the chosen line of Jacob to go to Egypt, there were but 70 in the family.
Genesis 46:27
Here we see a perfect blend of the natural and the spiritual.
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| NEXT THE NATION |
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 In the 400 or so years of the 'Gap' the population of the God's chosen nation increased dramatically. From 70 to around two million!
Exodus 12:37-38
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 As the people settled in the Goshen area of Egypt, learning the skills required for many people to sustainably live in close proximity to each other from the Egyptians, the chosen people of God increased from a family to a community. When it came time to celebrate the Passover,
Exodus12:47
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A community that was to become a nation, as had been promised to Abraham 700 years earlier.
Genesis 12:1-3
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 The community effectively became a nation as they crossed the River Jordan under Joshua's leadership, to commence possession of the Promised Land of Israel.
Joshua 3:17
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 The reality though, was that after the conquests under Joshua, throughout the time of the Judges, the nation was more a grouping of tribes than a united nation. It was not until part way through the reign of King David that the 12 tribes effectively united as one.
2 Samuel 5:2-5
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 The nation's unity would continue, through the reign of Solomon, although latter on, with cracks starting to show again.
Once Solomon's son Rehoboam succeeded his father, the situation quickly deteriorated.
1 Kings 11:43-12:4
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 Rehoboam, with the misplaced confidence of youth, would not take good advice. Very quickly, the Kingdom of Israel split into two.
1 Kings 12:16-20
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 After a succession of some good, but more bad, kings, the Northern Kingdom of the 10 tribes of Israel were taken into captivity and the elite deported by the Assyrians in 722BC.
2 Kings 16:6-8
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 The southern kingdom of Judah lasted a further 136 years, until Jerusalem finally succumbed to the army of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar on 14 August, 586BC.
2 Kings 25:20-21
After a period of exile a remnant of the people returned to rebuild Jerusalem under Zerubbabel in 538BC, a second group under Ezra in 458BC. A final group under Nehemiah arrived from Babylon in 432BC, the time at which the Old Testament ends.
The reality of the nation had disappeared as Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks, and then Romans controlled the Promised Land. But the dream of the kingdom lived on. As it still does in Israel today.
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| AND NOW THE WORLD |
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 The focus of the ministry of Jesus moved away form the Jewish nation to the world. Of course, He spoke mainly to the Jews and was highly critical of the religious system that had developed in Israel.
A system leading people away from, rather than into, the kingdom.
Matthew 23:13
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 The people were warned about the results of the religious system.
Matthew 16:6
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 He was introducing a far different view of the kingdom than them.
Matthew 5:20
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 And he took His message of the kingdom to anyone who would listen, irrespective of race.
Matthew 8:7-11
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He confirmed that there was indeed a change in kingdoms from the nation of Israel to believers worldwide.
Matthew 8:12
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 He ministered to the Samaritan woman, looked down upon and hated by the Jews as half-castes (from intermarrying, mainly through the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom)) and an immoral one at that!
John 4:17-18
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 Jesus taught of a kingdom not just for the Jews but for all those who believe, in Spirit and in truth.
John 4:19-26
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 He dramatically and forcefully confirmed this message of hope of a kingdom, open for all those who will believe, in the last words he uttered before His return to Heaven. We call it the Great Commission. The fulfillment of which is the duty of every believer.
Matthew 28:16-20
Yes, Jesus ushered in the final kingdom, open to all those who will believe.
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| <i>NEXT WEEK</i> A REVELATION OF....... 3 KINGDOM AGES
SALVATION - ENTERING THE KINGDOM |
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 It is hugely interesting and revealing to see the development of 'salvation' through the ages. The crucial area of 'salvation' is what we will be looking at this week.
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| A NOTE FROM DAVID |
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 I really love the way that God works, in tandam, both through the natural and the spiritual.
Also, I am pleased to live in taday's world where God's love is available to all who will only believe. That is you and that is me.
PATRIARCH'S CLOTHING IN ABRAHAM'S TIME
This is how a man would have dressed in ancient times about the time of Abraham which was around 2000 BC. From inside to out he wore an under garment which was bound by a girdle. Over this he wore a coat or outer garment, sometimes called a vesture. Around the head was the head cloth which was a scarf wrapped around the head. He also wore sandals and carried a tall staff.
Source: http://www.bible-history.com
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So until next week.......
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD!
His servant and yours
Learn more about us at...
www.wwj.org.nz/about.php
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A DAVID'S DOODLING
369. When the family founders, society sinks.
David Tait
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Check
out the WWJ website for….
More David's Doodlings: www.wwj.org.nz/dd.php
Just jokes: http://www.wwj.org.nz/jokes.php
Waxing Lyrical: http://www.wwj.org.nz/waxing.php
If Only I'd Thought of it: http://www.wwj.org.nz/thought.php
Laughing at Ourselves: http://www.wwj.org.nz/laugh.php
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A kingdom based on actions rather than words.