 THE
KINGDOM AND GOD'S PURPOSE
In order to understand the Kingdom of God , it is necessary to
see the Kingdom from the viewpoint of eternity rather than from the viewpoint of time and
space and from the earth. This close up viewpoint of time and space is what has led some
into error interpreting the Kingdom as it relates to us, or as it relates to the church.
DAN 7:14 "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples,
nations, and {men of every} language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. DAN
7:27 'Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of {all} the kingdoms under
the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom
{will be} an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.' The
Kingdom of Heaven has always existed, exists now and always will exist. It is an
everlasting Kingdom that will not pass away or be destroyed. The saints of the highest one
do not generate the Kingdom, they receive the Kingdom that has always existed. When we
search the scriptures and try to interpret the Kingdom from a microscopic viewpoint, we
see the parables and the principles of the Kingdom from Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Then we do
word studies, background studies, interpret scripture with scripture and compare
concordance references and arrive at a microscopic conclusion of what the Kingdom is. The
problem is we still don't see the Kingdom from God's viewpoint. We see it from the earth
perspective. For that reason we get a confused interpretation. When God views His Kingdom
He sees it from the viewpoint of eternity and He sees it as a panoramic vision of His
eternal purpose. God sees His creation and His kingdom from His Throne. If we were raised
up and seated together with Christ, we would see creation and the Kingdom as He sees it.
If we view the Kingdom from the church we see the Kingdom from the wrong end of the
telescope. We need to view the church from the Kingdom. It looks quite different. Then our
vision perspective is of tremendous importance in interpreting the purpose of God For
example, man has generally interpreted God's purpose as it relates to his own need for
redemption. Man begins with the fall in Genesis 3 and relates all that God does as God's
response to the fall. Calvary then becomes an emergency measure to correct the error of
mankind, to provide salvation for man and the means God uses to save man from hell. From
man's earthly viewpoint sin is the whole problem. When the sin problem is handled by the
blood of Jesus, the goal has been reached. If we could just see from the throne of God, we
would see that God's purpose still needs to be completed by redeemed man. Man certainly
needs redemption before he can fulfil the purpose for which man was created but redemption
itself does not fulfil God's eternal purpose. >From the panoramic viewpoint, from the
throne, this is clearly evident. Redemption is simply the doorway that leads to God's
eternal purpose. Now if we can see the Kingdom as it relates to God's eternal purpose from
the panoramic view from the throne of God, the Kingdom takes on a whole different
dimension. Now we can see redemption doesn't automatically put us into the Kingdom but
from the viewpoint of redemption we can at least see the Kingdom. JOH 3:3 Jesus answered
and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God." However seeing the Kingdom is not the same thing as entering the
Kingdom. JOH 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. If man tries to see the
difference from the viewpoint of earth, he will argue there is no difference. Seeing and
entering is exactly the same thing. But from just the elevation of the mountain it was
clear to Moses that seeing and entering is quite different. DEU 34:4 Then the Lord said to
him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will
give it to your descendants'; I have let you see {it} with your eyes, but you shall not go
over there." Our vision perspective is very important. If we try to understand the
Kingdom of God by first studying the details of the Kingdom we lose the proper
perspective. We are too close to get an overall view. If we first view the Kingdom from
the panoramic viewpoint, we have a dimension into which we can fit the details. If we saw
the Kingdom from the perspective of the throne of God , we would see Jesus is not just the
savior, He is THE LORD and SOVEREIGN KING. He is the ruler of all God's creation. He is
the one who is fashioning the church to fulfil God's eternal purpose. Not for man's
benefit, but because of God's eternal design. The proper view of the Kingdom shows us that
everything God does is NOT to glorify, exalt and benefit man. It IS to complete what God
started out to accomplish before the world was created. The problem has been to get a
proper perspective between man's need for salvation and God's need to complete His eternal
purpose. That perspective is only available from the throne of God, when we see the
Kingdom of God. When John was lifted up to the eternal realms he saw the New Heaven, the
New Earth and the New Jerusalem. He saw the Bride and her perfection. When Paul was caught
up to the third heaven he saw things that was not permitted to be spoken. They were given
a panoramic view of eternal things. From that elevation, their perspective took on a new
dimension that changed the course of their lives. If we could stand at the same place they
stood we would see THE SAME THING THEY SAW. EVERYTHING THEY SAW IS STILL THERE BECAUSE
WHAT THEY SAW IS ULTIMATE REALITY. All we can see from earth is temporal and is set in the
limitation of time. It is all related to the space around us. What is really important to
us is limited to time and space and whether or not we are happy and being blessed. The
primary concern of the Kingdom has little to do with those things. From the Kingdom
viewpoint, all that is really important is for man to complete God's eternal purpose and
bring joy to His heart. Man's happiness is of minor importance. THIS IS THE FOUNDATION OF
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. GOD IS THE CENTER AND NOT MAN. This whole man centered emphasis that
has invaded the church in the last 20 years is the result of the church falling into a
" Christian humanism." HOW CAN I GET GOD TO DO WHAT I WANT HIM TO DO."
"HOW CAN I PROSPER AND BE IN HEALTH." " WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME." "
IF I BELIEVE ,GOD HAS TO DO IT." From man's viewpoint from the earth the scriptures
become a blueprint for man's benefit and success. The Kingdom of God is the revelation of
what God has purposed for Himself. Man , in his earth bound viewpoint, rejects that kind
of a kingdom. The kingdom of man must be rationalized as the Kingdom of God. Man's first
thought is for himself, his benefit, his provision, his blessing, his ultimate good. Man
tries to wring a blessing out of each Kingdom scripture. Is it any wonder man's
interpretation of the Kingdom of God is clouded and confused? Even the rapture is seen as
God moving into realms of earth to get man out of a desperate situation and solve man's
dilemma and provide man a means of escape. Prayer is used for the same reason. Thank God,
He has made tremendous provisions for man, but the center of all those provisions is God
Himself. If the Kingdom of God is seen as one of the measures God uses to deliver man from
his own self-centerness, the Kingdom will be seen in purer light. The Kingdom of God
should be first seen as the artillery God uses to blow away the kingdom of man. The
kingdom of man should be seen as the adversary of the Kingdom of God. Humanism has no
capacity to interpret the Kingdom. Humanism is diametrically opposed to the Kingdom.
Humanism stands for that which is exactly opposite the Kingdom of God. The Devil said in
the day you eat from the tree you will be like God. That is the foundation of Christian
humanism. Man thinks he is god and he should be treated as god. God should exist just for
me. I must be the recipient of all the blessings. Of course, secular humanism declares
there is no God ,but man is his own god and he alone can establish what is good and what
is evil. I alone must determine what is moral. Secular Individualistic Humanism says
" I live by my own rules. No one tells me what to do. I refuse to fit into society. I
am my own man." The Kingdom is God's corporate unit. If man is going to participate
in the Kingdom he must be one member of many members, who is compatible and harmonious
with the corporate unit. Jesus Christ is the Sovereign head of the corporate unit and all
members will serve and obey Him. Those who do not like that arrangement cannot
participate. Each of us was a "Secular Individualistic Humanist." Salvation must
transform us to be compatible and harmonious with God's corporate unit. The kingdoms of
this world must become the Kingdom of our God, and of His Christ. Whether you are happy or
not is irrelevant.
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