BACK TO THE FUTURE – PART 1

I always thought this was a great title and concept for a movie but I never considered this concept in regards to God’s plan. But actually it is very well connected to the plan of God. Let me show you a verse where you can see this.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” (Matthew 25:34)

The Back To The Future concept may not have jumped out as you read this verse but it is all over these words of Jesus. We have a tendency to talk about heaven as the future world for Christians but that’s not what Jesus said here. Christians, or as Jesus refers to them, “you who are blessed,” will be inheriting a kingdom. And this future kingdom was prepared way back at the foundation of the world.

First I want to explain the word prepared that Jesus uses here for it establishes an important aspect of the kingdom. The Hebrew word translated prepared comes from an ancient oriental word. When a king from the orient would travel somewhere a group of people were sent ahead to prepare the road he would travel on so nothing would prohibit the king from reaching his destination. Jesus said the kingdom was prepared meaning back at the foundation of the world God made everything ready so nothing would prevent the kingdom from coming. We are not talking about a couple of weeks between the foundation of the world and when God's favored ones enter the kingdom. According to the Jewish calendar, at the time I am writing this there have been 5776 years since the foundation of the world. And Jesus said that everything needed to take us to the future kingdom was made ready so that nothing could prevent the kingdom from coming whenever God says that moment in time will occur.

Let me bring your attention to another aspect of this word prepared. This word has nothing to do with the concept of creating something. This has the idea of making things ready for something that already exists. God did not create the world of the kingdom, Instead, He prepared everything needed back at the foundation of the world so nothing would prohibit the kingdom from being inherited by those who are blessed.

Satan is not a stupid being so most likely he knows that he can do nothing to prevent God's plan concerning the kingdom from happening exactly as God planned. But we know that satan is very active in our world so what is he trying to do then? Jesus very clearly reveals this in Matthew 13:18, 19.

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.” (Matthew 13:18, 19)

This is what occupies a great amount of satan's time. Satan travels all around the earth looking for someone who has heard about the kingdom and then he does whatever he can to snatch away the truth concerning the kingdom so it cannot bear the intended fruit the truth of the kingdom would naturally produce. This is exactly what Jesus warns us will happen to someone who does not understand the kingdom.

The definition of the Greek word translated understand will help explain what this means. The Greek word understand means you are able to perceive or bring together those things that appear to be at odds with each other in such a way they make perfect sense. We see things like this all the time. You may be listening to someone preach at church or it could be someone going over your new insurance program at work. As they talk some things you understand and some things you just can’t quite wrap your mind around. These are the things referred to in the definition that are at odds with all that you are able to understood. And you know as well as I do that those things you didn’t understand concerning your insurance program will really cause you problems later on. So it also is with truth concerning the kingdom. Satan obviously cannot snatch away the kingdom truth that a person understands, but the things that don't quite fit together concerning the kingdom that you just can’t make sense of are what Jesus said satan will snatch away. This is why we know so little about the kingdom of God.

The kingdom is the only subject in the Bible that God warns us that satan will purposely snatch away its truth. This would make the kingdom something that satan is very much afraid of us understanding, which says a lot about how important the kingdom is. You could hear a thousand messages about any other subject in the Bible and it never says satan will snatch away what you learned.

Satan can do nothing to prevent the kingdom from coming to full fruition because God has prepared everything needed for this to happen. So satans focus is on removing the truth about the kingdom so we will never understanding it. Make sure you catch this.

Lets see if satan has ever snatched away any kingdom truth from you. Do you know what the kingdom is that Jesus said those favored by His Father will inherit? If you cannot explain in detail all that this is then most likely you have been a victim of satan at some point in your life. If you have not been a victim of satan personally snatching kingdom truth away from you, then most likely you have been a victim of this in another way. If Jesus said the kingdom was prepared at the foundation of the world and you don't know exactly what something that important is, then obviously satan has done what Jesus warned us about in the church. Something that important to all God is doing would not be purposely ignored by God's people. Something much bigger must be behind this and that something is satan.

To show you a little more of how important the kingdom is to God and us, yet, how little you know of it let me show a few more verses that clearly illustrate this. The first is Luke 4:42, 43.

"When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, 'I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.'"

I am sixty-four years old, saved when I was twenty-one and I have never once heard someone say that one of the reasons Jesus came to earth was to preach the kingdom of God. Not even once. Why? I think it is very clear why. Satan has done his best to keep us from understanding this truth.

Here are some more words that Jesus said and most likely you have never heard it like Jesus actually said it. This passage is found in Matthew 24:14.

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."

Did you catch what Jesus said we are to preach to all the nations of the world? Not the gospel, which is what everyone says, but the gospel of the kingdom. How could we leave out the word kingdom from the message Jesus said we are to preach throughout the world? It is simple. We wouldn't, but satan would certainly snatch this concept away so we would not even be aware that it is gone. This can be the only explanation of something so important.

Here is another passage that shows how subtle satan has been with his attack on the kingdom. It is found in Luke 16:16.

"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it."

Jesus said that the Law and the Prophets were taught before John the Baptist. OK, that fits with what most people have heard but once again Jesus very clearly tells us that the message which is supposed to be taught from the time of John the Baptist and should still be taught to this day is the gospel of the kingdom of God. Another quick point about this is Jesus doesn't say that everyone is trying to force their way into heaven, which is pretty much what we always say is our final destination. Jesus says everyone is forcing their way into the kingdom of God.

I hope you are beginning to see how important the kingdom is to God and how active satan has been throughout church history to remove the truth concerning the kingdom from our doctrine, our gospel and the place of importance it should have in our thinking.

Speaking of the gospel, let's look a couple of other passages and see how effective satan has been at snatching away the truth of the kingdom from the gospel message we preach. The first passage I want to look at is Acts 9:5.

"Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them."

I have heard this passage used many a time to help convict Christians to go out into the world and preach Christ everywhere. I am sorry to say I have used it numerous times myself. Look though at what Philip actually preached. It is found a few verses later in Acts 9:12.

"But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike."

Philip preached about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ not just about Christ. It is pretty obvious that Philip didn't preach Christ without preaching about the kingdom of God. And he is not the only one that did this. Look at what the Apostle Paul tells the church of Ephesus that he preached everywhere he went.

"And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God." Acts 19:25-27

Paul clearly reminds the church elders at Ephesus what the message was he taught them. He said it was, "repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 21 but just like Philip, when Paul preached about Jesus he preached about the kingdom of God as it says a few verses later. Look what the Bible says about the message Paul taught the Romans.

"When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening." Acts 28:23

"And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered." Acts 28:30, 31

If we are to preach what Jesus said we are to preach. If we are to preach what the disciples and the Apostle Paul preached then we must preach the kingdom of God with our preaching about Jesus. If we don't then we are disobeying the very commandment and example of Jesus and allowing satan to have his way with us.

Another stark example of this is found in the definition of the word gospel. According to Strong's Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible the definition of the gospel is composed of six things: The good news as the result of (1) the kingdom; (2) the expiatory death; (3) burial; (4) resurrection; (5) the ascension; (6) the reward that comes from the kingdom. We typically think the word gospel only means good news or the good news of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus but once again we can see how satan has snatched away the truth of the kingdom from this.

The words of Jesus should have been enough to make us aware of satan's aggressive attacks against the truth of the kingdom but apparently we don't read and study the Bible with the same intensity that satan puts into stopping us from understanding the kingdom. And just to add a little more to this concept. What is it that Jesus said should be the greatest thing that we need to seek after? More than even what we wear, what we eat and more than even what we drink? It is the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) I don't imagine there have been too many days in your life when the kingdom of God has taken on that place of significance in your life. And why hasn't it if Jesus placed such importance on it? You guessed it – satan. What shows the affects satan has on our understanding of the significance of the kingdom as much as anything is as a Christian you know full well that adultery, murder, lying, stealing and things like these are sins. But Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, and it doesn't even jog our conscience that we don't. I hate satan!

My goal in writing this is to alert us to the importance of the kingdom and reveal how desperate satan is to stop us from understanding the kingdom so the words and desire of Jesus can once again take their rightful place in guiding and directing the course of our lives.

In BACK TO THE FUTURE– PART 2 I will explain what the kingdom is all about and show from the early messages of the Apostles and in the teaching of the New Testament how the kingdom is the heart and soul of the truth God wants us to understand.

See you soon.