Welcome to Episode #165 of Way of the Bible podcast. This is our fifth of eight episodes in our Twenty-First mini-series entitled, Sermon on the Mount Part 2. On today’s episode we’re going to take a slight detour and address why Jesus came when he did.
On our last episode we l=ooked at the Lord’s Prayer, in which Jesus said in Matthew 6:10 – Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. For numerous past episodes I’ve been talking about this kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of his Son whom he loves, etc.
We looked ever so briefly at if this was a literal or figurative kingdom. Jesus told Pilate in John 18:36 – “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
“When” this kingdom was coming was addressed by Jesus in Luke 17:20-21 – Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” [NKJV]
Why the kingdom is coming is an entirely different matter and is literally the subject of the entire Bible. Most people won’t go and look at the “why” answer, even believers. It can literally make your head hurt. Those who can best understand it are particle physicists because they know mathematically and experimentally nothing is really here except concentrations of light energy. I know, that’s a lot to handle.
Let’s start with something easy. Jesus said in John 4:24 – God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” That actually loses most people to a simple thought that God is only in your mind. When in reality, God is all there is. We are all in a very real sense existing in the mind of God even now.
Stop, Stop, my head is hurting already. OK, we’ll stop there and keep going down another path. Simply look at how the Bible starts and ends. Specifically, Genesis Chapters 1 to 3 and Revelation Chapters 20 to 22. In Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 we are introduced to the creation narrative. I believe these to be reflective of what God wants us to know about what really happened at the beginning.
The reason why this is important is how the Bible ends; which we’ll get to momentarily. If you can’t believe how the Bible begins, you certainly won’t believe how it ends. And without the beginning and end being true, the rest of the Bible doesn’t make sense.
I don’t mean you can’t read it like an interesting novel, or a book written by a spiritualists or philosopher. With all thoughts starting with man and ending with man and no God or gods there shall be. Yet it talks all about God and gods. Thus, the Bible doesn’t make sense without Genesis and Revelation both being true.
I hate to burst your bubble, but you may be believing in vain. Not realizing that Paul was telling his readers what is really true in Colossians 1:12-14 – giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. What the heck does it mean to be transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son? Is that transfer some intellectual switch in your mind? Or an actual spiritual phenomena that you experienced.
For time, I’ve got to stop her. Back to the topic at hand. In Genesis 3, we are introduced to a serpent who deceives Eve to eat the forbidden fruit who then gives it to her husband who was with her and he at it. Immediately, sin, condemnation, and death entered not just
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