{"id":19239,"date":"2019-01-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-059\/"},"modified":"2019-01-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T06:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-059","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-059\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 059"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19239","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 059","sermon_date":"20190123","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6376,"sermon_slides":6377,"sermon_mp3":6384,"sermon_id":"12319217153526","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"2:44-45","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n1-23-Daniel 2:33-35\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 59\n\nGood to see everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles tonight if we could and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 2 verses 33-35.\u00a0 We\u2019re kind of, the Lord willing, going to finish up chapter 17 of the\u00a0 book I wrote this evening.\u00a0 And we\u2019re dealing with, as you might recall, why do so many people believe that we\u2019re currently in the kingdom?\u00a0 If the kingdom has been offered, rejected and post\u00adponed why are people arguing that we\u2019re in the kingdom?\u00a0 We looked at a bunch of passages and tried to refute them, the use of them, from the ministry of Christ and then we moved to the passages from the Book of Acts and that\u2019s where we find ourselves this evening.\n\nAnd without a doubt the key issue from Acts, particularly Acts 2, is that people are saying that Jesus is reigning on David\u2019s throne now.\u00a0 So that\u2019s really the heart and soul\u00a0 of kingdom now theology.\u00a0 And you might be wondering why we\u2019re drilling down so hard on this concept and the reason we\u2019re doing that is this is really the heart of the argument, right here.\u00a0 The key argument is Jesus is currently reigning on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 So anybody that\u2019s teaching kingdom now theology argues that point and most people try to argue it from the Book of Acts.\u00a0 So in response to that, we have actually six responses, the first four we\u2019ve gone over and we just have two more to go over tonight.\u00a0 Actually the first three we\u2019ve gone over and three more to go over tonight which I think we can do them all tonight, Lord willing.\n\nBut number one, David\u2019s throne, Old Testament and Gospels, is always presented as earthly.\u00a0 I\u2019ve given you 1 Kings 2:11-12 which clearly teaches (and many other verses) that David\u2019s throne is earthly.\u00a0 [1 Kings 2:11-12, \u201cThe days that David reigned over Israel were<\/em> forty years: seven years he reigned in Hebron and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem. [12] And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.\u201d]\n\nNumber two, therefore to take David\u2019s throne, which is earthly, and suddenly transport it into heaven involves doing what with the original promise?\u00a0 Changing it!\u00a0 So number two, a Davidic heavenly throne changes the original meaning.\u00a0 Now to some people that\u2019s no big deal; to us though it is a big deal because if that\u2019s true that basically makes God a liar because when He communicated the Davidic throne in Old Testament times He always portrayed it as earthly.\n\nSo number three, if the Davidic throne has been transported from earth to heaven, from Israel to\u00a0\u00a0 the Gentile church, from a converted Israel to an unconverted Israel, as we\u2019ve gone through these changes, that\u2019s a radical change and so there needs to be, number three a New Testament verse telling you that change has happened.\u00a0 And the problem is when you go through the passages people are using to argue this point no New Testament verse communicates this at all.\u00a0 And I showed you some of the verses they\u2019ve used in Acts and other places, particularly Acts 2, and none of them really teach that Jesus is reigning on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 So we spent a couple of sessions, two or three if I remember right, there on letter C.\n\nAnd let me take\u00a0 you to a fourth point and this is why we turned to the Book of Daniel and\u00a0 you guys that were with us on Sunday are already experts on the Book of Daniel\u2026 right?\u00a0 Letter\u00a0 D, the Davidic throne only comes into existence AFTER the times of the Gentiles have run their course.\u00a0 So take a look at Daniel 2:33-35.\u00a0 You might remember this was Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s dream.\u00a0 And remember Nebuchadnezzar saw that giant statue, and he says: [33] \u201cits legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. [34] You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. [35] Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.\u201d\n\nAnd then you get the interpretation as you drop down to verses 42-45.\u00a0 \u201cAs<\/em> the toes of the feet were<\/em> partly of iron and partly of pottery, so<\/em> some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. [43] And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.\u00a0 [44] In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that<\/em> kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. [45] Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.\u201d\n\nSo what basically is predicted is that there\u2019s going to be this period of time called the times of the Gentiles, where the nation of Israel will be trampled down by various Gentile powers.\u00a0 And we are still in the times of the Gentiles; the times of the Gentiles have not run their course completely.\u00a0 The final form of the times of the Gentiles is going to be the empire of the antichrist which is yet future.\u00a0 And only after the times of the Gentiles run their course, THEN the stone cut without human hands\u2026 and by the way, what\u2019s the stone cut without human hands?\u00a0 That\u2019s God\u2019s kingdom.\u00a0 Only then the stone cut without human hands will crush the antichrist\u2019s empire which will conclude the times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 And then the stone cut without human hands will grow and grow and grow and grow till it fills the whole earth.\n\nSo what is Daniel saying here?\u00a0 He\u2019s saying don\u2019t expect the Davidic throne, as represented by this stone cut without human hands, and don\u2019t expect the Davidic kingdom to materialize until the times of the Gentiles have completely elapsed.\u00a0 So you can\u2019t expect the Davidic throne and you can\u2019t expect the Davidic Kingdom to come into existence until, number one, the antichrist\u2019s kingdom, the new world order, runs its course, the tribulation period runs its course, and only then can you expect the kingdom of God to materialize.\u00a0 Do you see the chronology that Daniel is giving here?\u00a0 So we\u2019re still waiting for the antichrist\u2019s empire.\u00a0 We\u2019re still waiting for the tribulation period.\u00a0 Until we get that era of history then and only then will the times of the Gentiles have elapsed and then and only then will the kingdom of God be set up on the earth.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0So we\u2019re living in a time period prior to the antichrist\u2019s empire.\u00a0 We see the antichrist\u2019s empire developing but we\u2019re living in a time period prior to the antichrist\u2019s empire and so we\u2019re living out of chronological sequence for the coming of the kingdom.\n\nThe kingdom can\u2019t come until the antichrist\u2019s empire comes first, the times of the Gentiles are completed, then comes the kingdom of God.\u00a0 So until the times of the Gentiles run their course don\u2019t expect the kingdom of God to materialize.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a major problem with this idea that we\u2019re in the Davidic kingdom now and Jesus is now reigning on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 That\u2019s an impossibility according to Daniel\u2019s sequence because the times of the Gentiles have not yet run their course.\u00a0 Does that make any sense?\n\nFlip over, if you could, to Daniel 7 and\u00a0 you might recall from out study of Daniel that Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 are both revealing the same period of time, the times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 Daniel 2 is sort of the story from the perspective of the Gentiles; Daniel 7 is sort of the story from the perspective of the Jews.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the times of the Gentiles looks like a beautiful time period in Daniel 2, it\u2019s Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s dream, he sees that beautiful statue and it looks like a very difficult time period in Daniel 7 because it\u2019s portrayed as four disgusting beasts.\u00a0 So Daniel 7 is the Jewish perspective; Daniel 2 is the Gentile perspective.\u00a0 So Daniel 7 is going to give the exact same chronology as Daniel 2 and look over at Daniel 7 and notice if you will verses 23-27, the same chronology.\n\nDaniel 7:23, \u201cThus he said: \u2018The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other<\/em> kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. [24] \u2018As for the ten horns,\u201d this is speaking of the antichrist\u2019s empire, \u201cAs for the ten horns out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.\u201d\u00a0 This is talking about the antichrist\u2019s rise to power, how he\u2019s going to subdue three kings in the process of taking control of this ten king confederacy, seven apparently submit to his authority, three rebel and in the process the antichrist will crush down three kingdoms or three kings.\n\nAnd then it starts talking about the antichrist, verse 25, \u201c\u2018He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.\u201d\u00a0 This is the second half, if you will, of the tribulation period. \u00a0[26] \u201c\u2018But the court will sit for judgment,<\/em> and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.\u00a0 [27] \u2018Then\u201d see the order here, see the chronology, \u201cThen the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all<\/em> the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be<\/em> an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.\u2019\u201d\n\nDo you see the same order here?\u00a0 Both Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 are talking about that tail end of the times of the Gentiles, which is the antichrist\u2019s kingdom.\u00a0 Only after the antichrist\u2019s kingdom runs its course, primarily in the tribulation period, then and only then will God\u2019s kingdom be established.\u00a0 I guess my point is simply this:\u00a0 All of these people today are saying we\u2019re in the kingdom of God now but how could that be when the antichrist\u2019s kingdom hasn\u2019t even come and gone\u00a0 yet.\u00a0 So we\u2019re living in the wrong time period, chronologically, when the kingdom of God can manifest itself.\n\nThat becomes really a major problem with kingdom now theology and Jesus reigning on David\u2019s\u00a0 throne now and that\u2019s point D, the Davidic throne can only come into existence after the times of the Gentiles have run their course.\u00a0 Well, that hasn\u2019t happened yet.\u00a0 The new world order hasn\u2019t come into existence, although we might be able to see signs of it being set up.\u00a0 The seven year tribulation period hasn\u2019t happened; the world hasn\u2019t even seen the antichrist show up. And only after those events run their course will the kingdom of God come.\n\nSo people that are arguing for kingdom now theology are basically ignoring the basic chronology that Daniel reveals in Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 7.\u00a0 And basically here\u2019s what people are trying to do.\u00a0 It\u2019s very slick the way they\u2019re working.\u00a0 They\u2019re looking at Daniel\u2019s statue which represents the four empires during the times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 You have the head of gold, which represents Babylon.\u00a0 You have the chest and arms of silver which represents Medo-Persia.\u00a0 Then you have the belly and thighs of bronze which represents Greece. Then you have those two legs which represent Rome and then you have the feet mixed with iron and clay that jumps to the future and represents the antichrist\u2019s kingdom, which we\u2019re still waiting for.\u00a0 And then and only then do you have the stone cut without human hands crushing this statue which represents God\u2019s kingdom.\n\nDaniel 7 basically teaches the same idea through four different animals.\u00a0 The lion represents Babylon.\u00a0 The bear represents Medo-Persia.\u00a0 The leopard represents Greece.\u00a0 The terrifying and frightening beast represents Rome.\u00a0 The ten horns represents the antichrist\u2019s kingdom. And then comes God\u2019s kingdom.\n\nSo here\u2019s what people are doing; you say Mr. Kingdom Now theologian, is the head of gold a literal empire with literal land and a literal king that reigned on the earth?\u00a0 And they say yes.\u00a0 Okay, question number two, is the chest and arms of silver a literal kingdom that ran a literal course of time on the earth with a literal king over a literal land.\u00a0 They say yes, of course.\u00a0 Well how about the belly and thighs of bronze?\u00a0 Was that a literal kingdom that reigned over the earth with a literal king for a literal duration of time?\u00a0 They say yes.\u00a0 How about those legs of iron, was that a literal kingdom, Rome, that reigned over a literal period of time over a literal geography on planet earth? They say yes.\u00a0 Okay, if all of that is true what do\u00a0 you do with that stone cut without human hands?\u00a0 Is that going to be a literal kingdom?\u00a0 No it\u2019s not. Well is it going to have literal land?\u00a0 No it\u2019s not.\n\nSo what they do is they take everything in that statue in its literal sense but then when it comes \u00a0to the stone cut without human hands they deliteralize it and they switch their method of interpreta\u00adtion right in the middle of the statue to make it sound as if Jesus set up an invisible kingdom at the first coming. Do you follow what they\u2019re doing here?\u00a0 And so they have to get very inconsistent with their method of interpretation.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s how to recognize something that doesn\u2019t work because they\u2019re not interpreting the Bible consistently, because that\u2019s the kingdom now theologians argument.\u00a0 Their argument is Jesus set up an invisible spiritual kingdom that\u2019s in existence here on the earth for the last 2,000 years,\u00a0 not at His second coming the way we believe it will be, but at His first coming.\u00a0 So to do that you have to take Babylon literally, Medo-Persia literally, Greece literally, Rome literally, and then all of a sudden\u00a0 you get to this \u201cstone cut without human hands\u201d and it becomes spiritual allegorical. Do you follow that?\n\nI mean, if every other entity in this statue involved literal real estate why wouldn\u2019t the coming kingdom of God have the same real estate?\u00a0 It is going to have that exact real estate over the nation of Israel, the borders are described in Genesis 15:18-21.\u00a0 [On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, \u2018To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:\u00a0 [19] the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite [20] and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim [21] and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite\u201d]\n\nThere\u2019s going to be an actual king reigning over it, his name is David.\u00a0 David is going to be resurrected and he is going to be just as literal a character as was Nebuchadnezzar or any other empire during the times of the Gentiles with Jesus reigning over the whole earth. \u00a0And so if you believe that way because you\u2019re consistently interpreting the statue it\u2019s obvious that the kingdom that\u2019s coming is yet future.\u00a0 But if you\u2019ve already bought into an idea that says that the kingdom is something that Jesus set up at His first coming then you take everything in the statue literally except that stone cut without human hands and suddenly you begin to spiritualize it and you begin to allegorize it.\n\nAnd most people, when they buy into kingdom now theology have never thought through this chronology. I mean, Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 is giving us a specific chronology which if consistently interpreted puts the kingdom in the future.\u00a0 But if you want to get the kingdom to be something that\u2019s in existence now you have to inconsistently interpret the statue.\u00a0 You use one set of rules for every other part of the statue and a different set of rules for the stone cut without human hands.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a problem, wouldn\u2019t you say?\n
    \n \t
  1. Dwight Pentecost, I have the quote for you here, says: \u201cAmillennialists\u201d now that would be kingdom now theologians, \u201chold that this kingdom was established by Christ at His First Advent and that now the church is that kingdom.\u201d I mean, this is primarily what people are trying to argue, they\u2019re trying to argue that the church is the kingdom, Jesus set up the kingdom at His first coming. And they try to make it fit with this stone cut without human hands.\u00a0 \u201cThey argue that: (a) Christianity, like the growing mountain, began to grow and spread geographically and is still doing so; (b) Christ came in the days of the Roman Empire; (c) the Roman Empire fell into the hands of 10 kingdoms (10 toes);\u201d and after all, (d) this stone cut without human hands must represent Jesus, they say, because \u201c(d) Christ is the chief Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). Premillenarians,\u201d that would be us, we believe the kingdom is not now but it only comes after the times of the Gentiles has run their course.\u00a0 \u201cPremillenarians however, hold that the kingdom to be established by Christ on earth is yet future.\u201d\u00a0 Now watch this very carefully, \u201cAt least six points favor that view:\u201d which we think is the correct view.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nWhy don\u2019t we believe that Jesus established the kingdom in the first century?\u00a0 He gives several reasons here.\u00a0 Number \u00a0(1) The stone will become a mountain suddenly, not gradually.\u201d That\u2019s what Daniel depicts, when this stone cut without human hands strikes the feet of the statue that\u2019s a sudden cataclysm.\u00a0 And then Dr. Pentecost says this: \u201cChristianity did not suddenly fill \u201cthe whole earth\u201d [Daniel 2:35] at Christ\u2019s First Advent.\u00a0 I mean, you read the Book of Acts and it took decades, at least three decades for the Book of Acts to unfold and for the gospel finally to make its way to Rome. I mean, there was not worldwide conquest of the earth in the form of Christianity when Jesus came the first time.\n\nNumber 2, \u201cThough Christ came in the days of the Roman Empire, He did not destroy it.\u201d\u00a0 The stone cut without human hands is supposed to immediately demolish the Revived Roman Empire, the empire of the antichrist, the final phase of the times of the Gentiles. Did the Jews instantaneously destroy the Roman Empire when He came the first time?\u00a0 Of course not, the Roman Empire finally went out of existence, some say it began to really dissipate, lose its power about A.D. 476; that\u2019s almost four to five centuries after Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended back to the right hand of the Father.\n\nAnd by the way, the Roman Empire never was instantaneously overthrown.\u00a0 When you study Gibbon, Edward Gibbon I think it is, who wrote the book, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, <\/em>he never talks about Rome suddenly cataclysmically being destroyed the way its described here.\u00a0 He talks about the morals of the Roman people gradually weakening and the empire kind of gradually declines, sort of like what we\u2019re seeing in the United States today, just a gradual dissipation.\u00a0 So though Christ came in the days of the Roman Empire He did not destroy it.\n\nNumber 3, during Christ\u2019s time on earth the Roman Empire did not have ten kings at once and\u00a0 yet that\u2019s what Daniel 2 predicts; he predicts a stone cut without human hands, striking the two feet that have ten toes, Daniel 7 portrays those ten toes as ten horns.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t have any ten king confederacy in the time of Christ.\u00a0 Yet Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s statue suggests that when Christ comes to establish His kingdom ten rulers will be in existence and will be destroyed by Him.\u00a0 I mean, that never happened in the first century.\n\nNumber 4, though Christ is now the chief cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20, and a stone that causes unbelievers to stumble, 1 Peter 2:8, He is never portrayed as a smiting stone as He will be when He comes again.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:20, \u201chaving been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 2:8, \u201cand, \u2018A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE\u2019; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.\u201d]\n\nSee, Daniel 2 is predicting a smiting stone which instantaneously destroys the empire of the antichrist.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how Christ was described at His first coming.\u00a0 He\u2019s not a smiting stone, He is a cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20 and He is also a stone that causes unbelievers to stumble.\u00a0 But He is not that, at least in His first coming I\u2019m talking about, that sudden smiting stone.\n\nNumber 5, the stone, Messiah, second coming, will crush and end all the kingdoms of the world.\u00a0 But the church, at the first coming of Christ, has not and even to the present day has not conquered the kingdoms of this world.\n\nNumber 6, the church is not a kingdom with a political realm but the future millennium will be. See every other body part in that statue you have to take as an actual political kingdom with a political realm over a literal plot of land.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t describe the church today at all.\u00a0 So number six, the church is not a kingdom with a political realm but the future millennium will be, thus Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s dream clearly teaches premillennialism, in other words, Christ comes back first and then the kingdom starts, that Christ will return to the earth to establish His rule on the earth thereby subduing all nations.\u00a0 The church is simply not that kingdom.\n\nSo letter D in our order here, a major problem with kingdom now theology is the Davidic kingdom with the Davidic throne will only come into existence after the times of the Gentiles have run their course. And we\u2019re living in a time period where the times of the Gentiles has not yet run their course and so don\u2019t expect the kingdom of God to materialize on the earth until the antichrist comes, the seven year tribulation period unfolds, the new world order takes place, and at the conclusion of that time period then Jesus will establish His kingdom.\u00a0 None of those things have happened yet chronologically so don\u2019t expect the kingdom of God to materialize until that chronology takes place.\u00a0 That\u2019s a major problem when you actually look at the statue that Daniel 2 gives and the corollary over there in Daniel 7 and interpret it consistently.\u00a0 To me it\u2019s almost an impossibility unless you start to be inconsistent with your method of interpretation to argue that we\u2019re in the kingdom now.\n\nWhich takes us to Letter E, I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t say number E, sometimes I\u2019ve said that.\u00a0 Letter E, another reason that Jesus is not reigning on David\u2019s throne is a present Davidic throne misunder\u00adstands the mystery nature of the church.\u00a0 And this kind of taps in a little bit to our study of ecclesiology.\u00a0 Take a look if you could at Ephesians 2:14-16, and what we need to understand is we\u2019re living in an absolutely unique period of time where God is doing something completely new.\u00a0 And what is God doing?\n\nEphesians 2:14-16 says, \u201cFor He Himself is our peace, who made both groups<\/em>\u201d what groups? Jew and Gentile, believers in Christ, He made \u201cboth groups into<\/em> one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, [15] by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is<\/em> the Law of command\u00adments contained<\/em> in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus<\/em> establishing peace, [16]and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.\u201d\n\nSo what is the church?\u00a0 The church is a really unique entity that God is at work with.\u00a0 He\u2019s been as work with this group for the last two thousand years; we\u2019re all a part of it.\u00a0 And who does it consist of?\u00a0 Anybody that\u2019s trusted in the Messiah that national Israel rejected in the first century.\u00a0 So anybody that has accepted that Messiah by way of faith is baptized into this one new man called the body of Christ.\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t matter what your nationality is, we are all part of this one new entity.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter whether we\u2019re Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, we are all one in Christ Jesus.\n\nAnd that concept there in Ephesians 2:24-26 is totally new.\u00a0 You can read the Old Testament until your eyeballs bleed and you\u2019re not going to find that idea because, as I\u2019ll show you in a moment, it\u2019s a mystery, or something brand new.\u00a0 It\u2019s hardly even hinted at, even in the ministry of Jesus; Jesus is still functioning under that prior dispensation of the Law.\u00a0 He makes a few hints that this new man is coming when He says, \u201cI will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 16:;18]\n\nBut other than those very big hints you don\u2019t have much knowledge of this new man called the church in the ministry of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You certainly don\u2019t have any glimpses of it in the Old Testament.\u00a0 What you have is Israel as the preeminent servants of God and God is working primarily through a nation.\u00a0 Now in this mystery called the church age, God is not working that way.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have a one nation elevated over another as happened in Old Testament times.\u00a0 God is at work through a group of people that have trusted in the Messiah that Israel rejected.\u00a0 And we are all Jew and Gentile, on equal footing spiritually speaking, in this new man called the church.\u00a0 That\u2019s a mystery, it\u2019s brand new, it\u2019s a concept unrevealed, you don\u2019t find it in the Old Testament and you hardly find it, other than a few big hints you hardly find it in the ministry of Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd if you go over to Ephesians 3:3-6 Paul starts to give more details about this mystery. He says in the same book, \u201cthat by revelation there was made known to me the mystery,\u201d see the word \u201cmystery there? \u201c\u2026 as I wrote before in brief. [4] By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery <\/u>of Christ, [5] which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;\u201d well what\u2019s the mystery? [6] \u201cto be specific<\/em>\u201d and here\u2019s the big deal here, \u201cthat the Gentiles\u201d non-Jews who happen to be believers in Christ, \u201care fellow heirs and fellow members of the body,\u201d\u00a0 you see that?\u00a0 \u201cand fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.\u201d\n\nSo you have Jew and Gentile who are both believers in the Lord Jesus Christ on equal footing, joint heirs, co-heirs in this new man called the church.\u00a0 That is something that is completely foreign to the Old Testament.\u00a0 You cannot find that concept in the Old Testament and you can hardly find it even hinted at in terms of it coming in the ministry of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And if you drop down to verse 9 of Ephesians 3 Paul again says, \u201cand to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery\u201d and now he starts to give a definition to the word mystery, \u201cwhich for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;\u201d so you\u2019ll notice that this new man is called a \u201cmystery.\u201d\u00a0 What\u2019s a mystery?\u00a0 Well the Bible has a specific definition of the word \u201cmystery.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll find it there defined, mystery anyway, in one of Paul\u2019s other books, the Book of Colossians, chapter 1, verse 26, he says, \u201cthat is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints.\u201d That\u2019s what a mystery is in the Bible, must\u0113rion<\/em> in the Greek.\u00a0 It\u2019s something hidden but now brought into the open.\n\nSo what is the mystery?\u00a0 The mystery is the church. What is the church?\u00a0 It\u2019s a new man or a new body which is not political but it\u2019s spiritual and it consists of folks who have trusted in the Messiah that national Israel rejected; they are brought into (by the Holy Spirit) into this new man and Jews and Gentiles have equal footing in this new man called the church.\u00a0 That is a brand new concept, it\u2019s a mystery, you don\u2019t find it in the Old Testament and you hardly find it even hinted at in the ministry of Jesus Christ.\n\nHere\u2019s a definition from a lexicon, Vine\u2019s, defining what a mystery is biblically.\u00a0 \u201c\u201cIn the New Testament, it [myst\u0113rion<\/em>] denotes, not the mysterious\u201d and this is where it gets difficult because when people see the word \u201cmystery\u201d they kind of throw in the English definition; when we use the word \u201cmystery\u201d in English we\u2019re talking about something that has to be searched out with great diligence.\u00a0 If you\u2019re watching a mystery movie you don\u2019t know who the bad guy is till the last five minutes.\u00a0 If you\u2019re reading a mystery novel you don\u2019t know who the bad guy is till the last chapter.\u00a0 So when we use the word \u201cmystery\u201d we\u2019re talking about something that has to be searched out with great diligence in English.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what it means in Greek.\u00a0 In Greek mystery, or myst\u0113rion<\/em> refers to something which was hidden in the past but now is openly unveiled.\n\nIn the New Testament it [myst\u0113rion<\/em>] denotes, not the mysterious (as with the Eng. word), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by Divine revelation<\/u>,\u201d so unless God had disclosed this mystery to Paul we would know virtually nothing about it.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and to those who are illumined by the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 [W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White, Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament Words<\/em> (Nashville: Nelson, 1996), 424.\u2019]\u00a0 That\u2019s what a mystery is, that\u2019s what the church is.\n\nCharles Ryrie, in this quote here, says this: \u201cRyrie presents a word study from both the biblical and extra-biblical material and concludes \u201cthat the mystery of the equality of Jews and Gentiles in the one body of Christ was unknown and unrevealed in the Old Testament.\u201d\u00a0 [Charles Ryrie Dispensationalism<\/em>, 134]\n\nSo if indeed the church is a mystery how in the world could the Davidic throne, a concept already revealed in the Old Testament, be in existence today?\u00a0 Do you follow the logic here?\u00a0 I mean, how could the church be somehow experiencing the Davidic throne today when you understand that the church is something unrevealed and the Davidic throne is something revealed.\u00a0 I mean, if your theology is such that you\u2019re making the church just sort of a fulfill\u00adment of the Davidic promises and the Davidic promises, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, the Davidic Covenant and the Davidic throne is something that is clearly revealed in the Old Testament.\n\n[2 Samuel 7:12, \u201cWhen your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.\u00a0 [13] He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. [14] I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men,\u00a0 [15] but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.\u00a0 [16] Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.\u2019\u201d]\n\nHow could that concept be in existence today when Paul and many, many others tell us that the current age is something completely unknown.\u00a0 You\u2019re mixing something that\u2019s not a mystery (the Davidic throne) with the church, which is a mystery.\u00a0 And that really becomes another reason why Jesus could not be reigning on David\u2019s throne right now.\u00a0 So Jesus is not reigning on David\u2019s throne right now because the Davidic throne only comes into existence after the times of the Gentiles have run their course.\u00a0 That hasn\u2019t happened yet.\u00a0 And the Davidic throne concepts arguing that we\u2019re in the Davidic kingdom now completely misunderstand the mystery nature of the church.\n\nAnd let me take you to the final reason why Jesus is not reigning on David\u2019s throne now.\u00a0 Letter F, A present Davidic throne misunderstands the parenthetical nature of the church.\u00a0 What exactly is the church?\u00a0 I mean, are we some kind of fulfillment of Israel\u2019s program?\u00a0 No, what the church is, is a break if you will, of God\u2019s past work and future work with Israel.\u00a0 That\u2019s the proper way to understand the nature of the church.\u00a0 And the term that I think is the best term used to describe this parenthetical break that we\u2019re in now is something that Lewis Sperry Chafer called an inter\u00adcalation which basically means an insertion, an abnormal insertion into God\u2019s past work and future work with Israel.\n\nSo notice this quote here from Chafer.\u00a0 He says, \u201cIn fact, the new, hitherto unrevealed purpose of God in the out calling of a heavenly people from Jews and Gentiles is so divergent with respect to the divine purpose toward Israel, which purpose preceded it and will yet follow it, that the term\u00a0parenthetical<\/em>, commonly employed to describe the new age purpose, is inaccurate. A parenthetical portion sustains some direct and indirect relation to that which goes before or that which follows; but the present age-purpose is not thus related and therefore is more properly termed an intercalation<\/em>. The appropriateness of this word will be seen in the fact that, as an interpolation is formed by inserting a word or phrase into a context, so when intercalation is formed by introducing a day or a period of time into the calendar. The present age of the church is an intercalation into the revealed calendar or program of God as that program was foreseen by the prophets of old. Such, indeed, is the precise character of the present age.\u201d\u00a0 [Lewis Sperry Chafer, vol. 4, Systematic Theology <\/em>(Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1993), 41.]\n\nNow that\u2019s a lot of verbiage but just to kind of sum it up what he\u2019s saying is what is happening today?\u00a0 Well, it began happening at the Day of Pentecost and will continue to happen until the rapture.\u00a0 It\u2019s so abnormal in terms of what God had revealed in the Old Testament.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t even have much knowledge of it if it wasn\u2019t for the writings of Paul and what Paul is describing as he\u2019s describing the church age is so abnormal compared to what God had revealed for the past and the future for Israel.\u00a0 The only way you can describe it is an intercalation or an interruption or an interval or something that\u2019s been totally abnormally inserted into the divine program.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why when you start grasping this you start understanding why your pastor took so long going through the Book of Daniel, particularly the 70 weeks prophecy, we were in that prophecy almost 70 weeks in and of itself but humor aside I think I spent about seven or eight sermons on that 70 weeks prophecy because I wanted our church to understand the nature of the church. What is that 70 weeks prophecy?\u00a0 Well, it reveals 69 weeks or the prior 483 years that concerns Israel.\u00a0 Now we know that Israel rejected the offer of the kingdom and so one week or seven years remain on that prophecy when you understand it all.\u00a0 So we\u2019re living in this unique period of time between the first 69 weeks and the 70th week.\n\nWe\u2019re living in this unique period of time in between the first 483\u00a0 years of the prophecy and the final seven\u00a0 years of the prophecy; 483 years of the prophecy have happened but it got inter\u00adrupted when Israel rejected Christ as their Messiah, leaving 7 years on the clock, yet future; that\u2019s going to be the tribulation period itself.\u00a0 And what I was trying to get folks to understand is what is happening right in-between that break.\u00a0 We\u2019re not completing Israel\u2019s program, we\u2019re not the fulfillment of Israel\u2019s program.\u00a0 What we are is something that Paul describes it as wild olive branches kind of grafted in.\u00a0 So we are something that\u2019s completely abnormal inserted into Israel\u2019s program, past program and future program.\u00a0 And how do you describe that thing?\u00a0 Paul describes it as a mystery as the Holy Spirit was giving him information about it and Lewis Sperry Chafer, looking back at the things Paul said,\u00a0 uses the word intercalation, interpolation, interval whatever word\u00a0 you want to use to describe this time period.\n\nSo we in no way shape or form are Israel.\u00a0 In no way shape or form are we fulfilling Israel\u2019s program. What we are is an interruption in it.\u00a0 We sit right in between the first fulfilled 69 weeks of Daniel\u2019s prophecy and the final week or seven years yet future.\u00a0 So these are the kinds of diagrams I like to describe the church; there we are, right in the middle after the conclusion of the first 483 years but before the beginning of the final seven year period.\u00a0 So we are that unique break while the nation of Israel is in unbelief, having rejected their Messiah.\u00a0 And that unique break started as Israel rejected Christ on Palm Sunday and consequently God started something brand new called the church, on the Day of Pentecost.\u00a0 The age of the church will finish with the rapture. The age of the church has been going on for the last 2,000 years and one of these days the church age will be over, the church will be translated to heaven and then God, in the final seven years of human history, prior to the return of Christ, will put His hand back on the nation of Israel.\n\nThis model, intercalation model, is completely different than what you\u2019re going to get from most churches.\u00a0 Most churches are going to teach replacement theology which is this idea that God is through with Israel as a nation, all of Israel\u2019s blessings have been transferred to the church, and we\u2019re in the kingdom now.\u00a0 And to get that to work you can\u2019t interpret the Bible consistently, you have to interpret parts of it literally and parts of it allegorically.\u00a0 But if you\u2019re committed to a consistent literal approach to the whole Bible from beginning to end you start to recognize very fast that God is not through with Israel, there are many, many promises He has made to Israel which have never been fulfilled and while God is at work today in the church it cannot in any way, shape or form be considered a fulfillment of the prophecies He\u2019s given to Israel.\n\nThe church is a new man.\u00a0 In fact what God is doing today is so new the only word you could use to describe it is an intercalation.\u00a0 So there we live in that gap in between the end of the 483rd<\/sup> year of the 70 weeks prophecy and the beginning of the 484th<\/sup> year.\u00a0 The prophecy of Daniel and\u2026 sorry to dump all this on you, you might want to go back and review those sermons to get a handle on that prophecy, but the prophecy ran consecutively for 483 years; there\u2019s a gap in between the end of the 483rd<\/sup> year but the beginning of the 484th<\/sup> year, between the first 69 weeks and the 70 weeks, between the first 483 years and the final 7 years and there we are in the gap.\u00a0 And what do you call that gap that began on the Day of Pentecost and will end with the rapture?\u00a0 You call it the church age, which was unknown, a mystery, and we describe that as an intercalation.\u00a0 Does that make any sense at all?\n\nAnd what is this peculiar intercalation?\u00a0 It\u2019s Ephesians 2:14-16. Jew and Gentile united together in one new man called the church, co-heirs, joint heirs, Jew and Gentile having equal status in the body of Christ.\n\nSo you see how we understand it this way, how bizarre it is to argue that today Jesus is reigning on David\u2019s throne?\u00a0 The church is completely unrelated to David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because David\u2019s throne is a clearly revealed Old Testament concept.\u00a0 How could that be fulfilled today in the church age when the church is an interruption in Israel\u2019s program.\u00a0 You see that.\u00a0 David\u2019s throne concerns Israel, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 What is the church?\u00a0 Is the church Israel?\u00a0 NO, the church is an interruption of Israel\u2019s program.\u00a0 So if that\u2019s true how could Jesus be reigning on David\u2019s throne now?\u00a0 It makes zero sense.\u00a0 So all of that to say, I spent several lessons on this, why is Jesus not reigning on David\u2019s throne.\n
      \n \t
    1. David\u2019s throne is always earthly.<\/li>\n \t
    2. To put David\u2019s throne into heaven now would require changing the original meaning of the promise which means God was lying to everybody He spoke to in Old Testament times.<\/li>\n \t
    3. Or number 3, if Jesus is really reigning on David\u2019s throne and a change in the prophecy that abrupt has happened don\u2019t you need something in the New Testament telling you it\u2019s happening? And we\u2019ve gone through the evidence, there is no verse that clearly argues that Jesus is reigning on David\u2019s throne now.<\/li>\n \t
    4. The Davidic throne comes into existence only after the times of the Gentiles have run their course. That\u2019s the stone cut without human hands striking the antichrist\u2019s empire.\u00a0 Has that happened yet?\u00a0 No it hasn\u2019t, the antichrist\u2019s empire hasn\u2019t even come into existence yet.\u00a0 So how could we be in the Davidic kingdom now?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nNumber 4, a present Davidic throne idea misunderstands the mystery nature of the church.\u00a0 The church is a mystery; it\u2019s an unrevealed commodity so therefore how can you take the Davidic throne, a revealed commodity in the Old Testament, and insert it in the present age.\n\nAnd then finally, number 4, a present Davidic throne understands the parenthetical nature of the church. We\u2019re a break in Israel\u2019s program and if we are a break in Israel\u2019s program how can the Davidic throne, which concerns Israel, be in existence today?\n\nSo you put these six things together and what\u2019s my point?\u00a0 My point is Jesus is not now reigning on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 Well then where is Jesus?\u00a0 Anybody know?\u00a0 He\u2019s at the right hand of the Father, not functioning as the Davidic King but as high priest after the order of Melchizedek.\u00a0 That\u2019s how to\u00a0 understand the present session of Christ.\u00a0 And yet this is not what kingdom now theology is arguing today.\u00a0 They\u2019re all arguing that Jesus is on David\u2019s throne.\n\nSo I\u2019ve given you probably more information than what you were looking for tonight so I think now would be a good place to stop. \u00a0I was going to give you a few more things but I understand information overload and drinking of water out of a fire hydrant can be difficult.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t