I was thinking of telling you, dear brothers and sisters, that this morning I would try to be short. But I do not know if I can keep my promise, so I hesitate very much. But anyway, I know you are anxious to return, so I will try my best.
Will you please turn to the book of Revelation? Revelation 10. We read from verse 1.
And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow upon His head, and His countenance as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire; and having in His hand a little opened book.
And He set His right foot upon the sea, and the left upon the earth; and cried with a loud voice, as a lion roareth.
And when He cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; and I heard a voice out of heaven, saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders have spoken, and write them not.”
And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His right hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages, Who created heaven, and the things that are therein, and the earth, and the things that are therein, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that there should be delay no longer.
Or, in another translation: “Time shall be no longer.” The time is up.
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which He declared to His servants the prophets.
Then turn to Revelation 11, beginning with verse 15.
And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages.”
And the four and twenty elders, who sit before God upon their thrones, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, Who art and Who wast; because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and didst reign.
And the nations were wroth, and Thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give their reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear Thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth.”
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, our hearts just go out to Thee in worship and in praise. We do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast brought us to this point. Thou hast been so good, so gracious, so merciful to us; and for this, we are most grateful and thankful.
Our Father, as we come to the close of this conference, we just pray that Thou Who art the Alpha will be the Omega to us. We do praise and thank Thee that it is true: all things are from Thee, through Thee, and unto Thee. To Thee be the praise unto the ages of ages. Amen.
King Solomon tells us that to everything there is a season, and there is a time for every purpose. Because this is true, therefore we need to be wise to know the time and the manner.
We need to receive revelation from above to know what the time is, what the purpose is, and to know what we ought to do. Because if we know the time, the purpose, and the manner, then we will fulfil God’s purpose in our lives, and we will be used by God to bring in His will.
But if we should miss the time, we should miss the purpose, and we should misbehave, not only we ourselves will suffer, but even the kingdom of God will suffer because of us. So, dear brothers and sisters, it is of tremendous importance that we know the time, the purpose, and the manner.
How we praise God that, in the days of old, these men and women of God knew their time, knew God’s purpose, and knew what they ought to do. And the result was that they pleased God, and God’s will was fulfilled in their lives, just as King David served the will of God in his generation.
Then, of course, we know that our Lord Jesus, during His life upon this earth, had His whole life governed by one phrase: “Mine hour.” Our Lord Jesus knew His hour. He was always walking in the light of that hour. He was never ahead of it; He was never behind it. You find that He was always right on the hour.
Sometimes He said, “Mine hour is not yet come.” At other times He said, “The hour is come.” Now He had come for that hour. And we know that hour is the hour when He should give Himself for the church. He would sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water with the word, that one day He might present it to Himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing—holy and without blemish.
And, dear brothers and sisters, we find also that God is asking His watchmen, “What of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” Brothers and sisters, are we watchmen? Are we watching?
If we are watching, the Lord will answer this question: “What of the night?” We live in a night, but what hour of the night are we living in? We are living at the very end of the last days. In other words, we are almost toward midnight.
And, oh, brothers and sisters, even though it is the darkest of the night, yet we know that when midnight comes there will be a cry, saying, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” Therefore, when the prophet was asked by the Lord, “Watchman, what of the night?” his answer was, “The morning cometh, and also the night.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, when all these things shall happen, lift up your hands. Look up. Lift up your head, because your redemption draweth nigh. How we do praise God for that!
Now, brothers and sisters, we who live at the end of the last days know this is the time. Now, what is it that God is looking for in us? We mentioned yesterday morning that God is calling for overcomers.
The calling to overcome began even in the first century, because we find that in the first two or three chapters of the book of Revelation, toward the end of the apostolic time—that is, toward the end of the first century—the church had already failed in her mission. She began to lose her strength, her spiritual strength. She was not able to maintain the light, the testimony of Jesus, in the dark world.
Because of that, you find our risen Lord calling overcomers in these various churches. Those in the church in Ephesus, God called them to overcome that lack of first love and to return to their first love. And to those in the church in Laodicea, the Lord called them to overcome lukewarmness, that they might really be hot for the Lord.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, this call to overcome has continued throughout the twenty centuries. And we who are at the end of the last days, surely that call is much more urgent, because the time is closing in.
So He is calling today for overcomers—those who overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and who love not their lives even unto death. And because they overcome, you find that when a male child was born, he was caught up unto the throne.
Now, I heard that in the discussion group the question has been asked, “Why the male child, and not a girl?”
Well, if you read the Bible, you will find often—well, actually, it is always true—that God uses the female to express that side of subjective experience. So whenever subjective experience is to be presented, you find women used as representations.
And male, man, is always used in Scripture to present to us the objective truth. So whenever objective truth is presented, you find male or man is always used.
Woman is used whenever affection and love are going to be expressed. And man, or the male child, is used because spiritual strength is in view. Through the spiritual strength of the overcomers, the kingdom of darkness is brought to an end, and the kingdom of God and of His Christ is brought in.
So that is the reason why a male child is represented. And that does not mean that they are only brothers. There are brothers and sisters, because in Scripture, when “brothers” is used, it always includes sisters. Whether you are a male brother or a female brother, we are all brothers in the Lord.
Now, anyway, we come to the end of this series of messages, and I think it is evident: the time is up.
Time is not infinite. Eternity is infinite. Time is always limited. There will come a day when time will be over, and eternity will again be brought in.
God has set the times in order to fulfil the particular purpose in each time. So when God’s purpose is accomplished through time, then time shall be no longer, because the purpose is fulfilled.
And once time is gone, it is gone forever. It cannot return. You know, in Scripture you will find only two exceptions.
The first exception is found in Joshua 10. You remember when Joshua fought against the Amorites, and because it was such an important battle and the sun was going down, Joshua prayed to God and said:
Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon;
And thou, moon, in the valley of Aijalon.
And you find God answered that prayer. The sun stood still, and the moon remained there for about a day, until God avenged all His enemies. That is one occasion in the Bible where you find time standing still—about a day.
Then again, in 2 Kings 20, you find King Hezekiah. He was dying, and God sent His servant to him and said, “Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.”
Yet Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and he wept and prayed to God, “Remember, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee with a perfect heart.” And God’s heart was moved, and God sent the prophet Isaiah back to him and said, “I will give you another fifteen years to live.”
Then Hezekiah said, “What is the sign that God will give me fifteen more years, that I may live and go to the temple to worship God?” So Isaiah told him, “Here is the sign: do you want the shadow on the dial of Ahaz to go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?”
King Hezekiah said, “It is easier to go forward ten degrees than to go back ten degrees.” Actually, they are both difficult. But he said, “Let the shadow go back ten degrees.” In other words, let time be regained—time that was already gone, regained ten degrees. And the shadow on the dial of Ahaz ran back ten degrees.
Now, these are the only two instances you find in the Bible, and in the whole world, where time has remained still and even gone back. We are told by scientists that they discovered that twenty-four hours were missing in the universe. These twenty-four hours, you find, are in Joshua 10 and 2 Kings 20. Joshua 10 is about a day, not quite a day, so it has to be added with the ten degrees, and you have a full twenty-four hours. So we do praise and thank the Lord that He is always on time.
But you know, dear brothers and sisters, there is a wonderful thing. Even though there is time, even though time is going on, and time cannot be regained—once it is gone, it is gone—it is for this reason that we are exhorted in the New Testament to redeem the time.
To redeem the time simply means to seize the opportunity that is now here, and do not lose it. Because once you lose it, you lose it forever.
But, dear brothers and sisters, the wonderful thing is this: even though God has set the time, God is so wonderful that He can either shorten or lengthen the effectiveness of the time.
If you read 2 Peter 3:8, you will find the apostle said:
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
In other words, it may be just one day, but God is able to stretch it to make it as if it were a thousand years. He can accomplish in one day that which would usually take a thousand years.
That actually happened in the life of our Lord Jesus. When the apostle John came to the end of the Gospel of John, he said, “I am just mentioning a few of the things that the Lord Jesus has done. But if I should tell you everything that the Lord Jesus has done in His lifetime, even the world could not contain the records.”
Now think of that. Our Lord Jesus lived on earth only thirty-three years. For thirty years He was hidden, and He was in public ministry only a little over three years. But what He did in those three years—even the whole world, not to say the Library of Congress in this country, all the libraries in the world, and even the whole world as a library—could not contain the books.
One day is as a thousand years. He can do the work of a thousand years in one day.
And a thousand years is as one day. Even though it may be a thousand years, He will consider it as just one day. And that is the longsuffering of God. Judgment should have come upon this earth long ago. Thousands and thousands of years have passed, and to God, it is only a day. This is the longsuffering of God.
And you know, in a limited way, we can also hasten the day or postpone the time. If we cooperate with God, and God is able to accomplish His purpose within that day, then in a sense, you know, you hasten the day.
Brothers and sisters, there is one phrase in the Bible that really touches my heart, and that is this: we, human beings redeemed of the Lord, can hasten the return of our Lord Jesus. Actually, we are able to shorten the time if we are faithful, if we cooperate.
But, on the other hand, if we are unfaithful and if we do not cooperate, then God has to find somebody else to do what He wants us to do, and that will delay the hour.
It is not because our Lord Jesus does not want to come back. It is because His bride is not yet ready. We have postponed His return. But if we are faithful, we can hasten the day of His return.
But anyway, whether we are faithful or unfaithful, you find that God has set His time, and the time will come when His purpose shall be fulfilled. God never fails. His purpose shall be fulfilled in His time. And when that time comes, time is no more, and eternity will be brought in.
Now this brings us to Revelation 10. Revelation 10 is a vision inserted between the sixth and the seventh trumpets.
The sixth trumpet has already sounded. If our interpretation is correct, then you find that after the sounding of the sixth trumpet, and the things happening during the time of the sixth trumpet, at the end of the sixth trumpet, we would say the great tribulation is over.
We often talk about the great tribulation of three and a half years: a time, times, and half a time; forty-two months; one thousand two hundred and sixty days. So you find that the great tribulation which comes upon this earth is actually three and a half years. With the sounding of the sixth trumpet and the things that happen in the sixth trumpet, the great tribulation is over. Then, of course, there will be the sounding of the seventh trumpet.
Now, in between these two trumpets, you find Revelation 10 as an insertion. There the apostle John saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, with a rainbow upon His head, His countenance as the sun, His feet as pillars of fire, and having in His hand a little opened book. He set His right foot upon the sea and His left upon the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as a lion roareth.
We believe that this other strong angel is none other than our Lord Jesus. Why? Because we find that He comes down out of heaven clothed with a cloud.
Of course, in Matthew 24, you remember our Lord Jesus said that the Son of Man will come on the clouds. He will come with millions of angels. He will come with His army, and He will come on a cloud. Here you find that He is clothed with a cloud.
Now, whenever you see a cloud, it really tells you that something is still hidden. When the Lord ascended on high, His disciples saw Him going up from Mount Olivet, and they saw Him going up until a cloud received Him. They could not see Him anymore. He is in the cloud, but He is going up.
In the same way, He will return. In other words, one day He will come back on the cloud. And when He comes back on the cloud, He cannot be seen. He is still hidden. It is still a mystery, as it were. Then He will break through the cloud and appear Himself upon Mount Olivet. Mount Olivet will be broken in two, and He will come down to rescue His people.
So, dear brothers and sisters, here you find this strong angel clothed with a cloud. He is still in the cloud. It is a mystery yet to be opened.
And there is a rainbow upon His head. We remember Revelation 4: when you see the throne of God, with the One seated upon the throne, you find a rainbow around the throne. Even in judgment, there is mercy.
Here you find this strong angel has a rainbow upon His head. He is coming to judge the world, but even in judgment, He remembers mercy.
Then His countenance is as the sun. Of course, if you go back to Revelation 1, you find that His countenance shines as the sun. He is the Sun of righteousness.
And you see His feet as pillars of fire. Pillars in the Bible always stand for stability, and fire stands for holiness and righteousness. So here you find our Lord Jesus: in all His walk, it is full of holiness and righteousness.
And He has in His hand a little opened book. Now, of course, in Revelation 5, you find that when the Lamb newly slain stepped forward to receive the book from the hand of the One Who sits upon the throne, that book was sealed.
In other words, because it was sealed, you did not know whether it was a big book or a small book. But here you find the seven seals have already been opened. Therefore, it is an open book. And surprisingly, it is a little book.
Now, we would think it should be a big book, but it is a little book. Why? Because this book is the title deed of the earth. It is not the title deed of the whole universe. So, in other words, it is just a little book.
But though it is a little book, it is an important book, because God’s heart is centred upon this planet—and not merely this planet, but man upon this planet.
There you find that He sets His right foot on the sea and His left on the earth. You know, when you set your foot down, it means that you take possession of it. The Bible says in Joshua that wherever the sole of the feet of the children of Israel stepped, that became their possession.
So here you find the strong angel puts His right foot on the sea. In other words, He possesses the sea, and His left foot upon the earth: He possesses the earth. Here you find the seal has been opened. He has executed the right of God, and He is taking possession of the sea and of the earth.
Then He cries with a loud voice, as a lion roars. Of course, you know, in Revelation 5, He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. So we believe that this other strong angel in the vision actually is our Lord Jesus. He is coming to declare the end.
Then in verse 5, the angel standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His right hand to heaven and swore by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages, Who created heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them, that time shall be no longer. The time is up.
In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God also shall be completed, as He made known the glad tidings to His servants the prophets.
Dear brothers and sisters, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God is completed. What is a mystery? A mystery is something hidden, needing to be revealed.
Now, God has a mystery. It is called the mystery of God. But at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God shall be completed. In other words, the mystery of God shall be fully manifested, and everybody will see it. It is no longer a mystery; it has become an open secret.
And you know what is the mystery of God? Thank God, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the church has been made to know what that mystery is. The mystery of God is none other than Christ. Christ is the mystery of God.
Not only are all the works and plans of God centred upon Christ, but you find that the very purpose of everything is Christ. Christ is the mystery of God. It is by Christ that God is made known to us.
Nobody has ever seen God, but the One Who is at the bosom of the Father, He declares Him. Dear brothers and sisters, how do we know God? God is a mystery.
No wonder you find the apostle Paul, touring the city of Athens, saw an altar inscribed, “To an unknown god.” God is a mystery. But, dear brothers and sisters, we need to thank God that today God to us is not a mystery, because He has been declared, manifested, and revealed through His Son, Christ Jesus.
We see God in Christ Jesus. So the Lord Jesus said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
All the purposes of God are centred upon Christ. All the works of God are done through Christ, and everything will end up in Christ, because the day shall come when all things shall be summed up in Christ, that He may have the pre-eminence over all things, that Christ shall be all and in all.
Oh, brothers and sisters, this is the purpose of time. Even though God divides time into times, and there are specific purposes to be fulfilled in each particular time, when you look at time as a unit, you find that God has only one purpose to be accomplished through time: Christ shall be all and in all.
This is the mystery of God, and at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, that mystery shall be accomplished.
Now, if you turn to Revelation 11, you find this mystery of God broken up into different parts.
There you find the seventh angel sounding his trumpet, and there are great voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages.”
Now, of course, there is another version which says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ.” You know, brothers and sisters, God always has His kingdom in view. The kingdom of God is a tremendous thing.
Even in the garden of Eden, God had His kingdom in mind. He put man in the garden of Eden, but man in the garden of Eden was not a person independent and free to do whatever he wanted to do. Even man in the garden of Eden was put under God’s authority.
God gave man a command: “Of all the trees in the garden, thou mayest freely eat.” God gave so much liberty, even to eat of the tree of life. But God said, “Thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and it was for man’s own good, because the day that he ate thereof, he should surely die.
God put man in the garden of Eden to be king over all the creatures God had created—to have dominion over the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fish of the sea—but he was to be under the one Creator.
In other words, there you find that the concept of the kingdom of God was already there. God was setting out His kingdom. Man was supposed to obey God, and if man should obey God, then man would find his fulfilment; man would find his destiny.
But if man should rebel against God and not want God to be his King, the result would be death. Unfortunately, you find that man wanted to be his own king. Instead of obeying the command of God, man wanted to make a king of himself, and the result was that man was driven out of the garden of Eden.
As man was driven out of the garden of Eden, there was something more important that happened. It was not just a matter of man being driven out of the garden. Dear brothers and sisters, when man listened to the tempter and ate the forbidden fruit, he delivered not only himself to Satan, but even the earth that God had given him to rule into the hands of the devil.
Something much more happened at that time. God put man in control of the earth under His kingship, but when man tried to live by his own hand, to be his own king, unknowingly he actually entered into slavery to sin and to Satan.
But more than that, he delivered the world that God had put in his hand to our enemy. And you know what Satan did? He began to organize the earth. He began to organize everything upon this earth to be his kingdom.
The world has a system. He is the ruler of this world. He took over from man; he organized it, formulated it, and made it a kosmos—a system, a world system. He has been the prince, the ruler of this world.
God wanted to set up His kingdom, but Satan took over and set up the kingdom of darkness in opposition to God’s kingdom.
But God—even though man failed—never fails. Even though man was defeated, God did not give up His purpose. So you find God beginning to work to build His kingdom upon this earth.
In the beginning, you find His kingdom in Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Here and there among the multitudes of mankind, there were men and women who willingly submitted themselves to the rulership of God. They acknowledged that they had no king but God. They committed their lives to the rule of God, and God manifested His kingdom in these individuals.
Then God called Abraham. He was a great departure, because when God called Abraham, you find He began not only to have one man, but through Abraham, a family; not only a family, but a nation.
In other words, through Abraham God was able to set up His kingdom among a group of people: the children of Israel.
Therefore, when you read the Bible, you find that after God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, there was a song in Exodus 15. In the song of Moses, when they celebrated their deliverance, the song ended with these words:
The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.
This was a nation redeemed out of slavery to be a free people, in order that God might be their King.
And if you go on to Exodus 19, you find that when they came to Mount Sinai, God said:
Now therefore, if ye will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own possession from among all peoples: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
God wanted to set up His kingdom on the earth in the nation of Israel.
When they travelled through the wilderness for forty years and arrived at the border again, you know what happened? In Numbers 23, you find that they came to the border of the promised land, and Balak engaged Balaam the prophet to come and curse the people.
Every time he tried to curse the people, God turned it into blessing. If you read these chapters, it is most amazing. Balaam was a Gentile prophet, and he was an unworthy prophet. As a matter of fact, he was worse than the ass he rode on. Yet God used him, and God used him mightily.
The prophecies of Balaam are considered among the greatest prophecies in the Bible. Four times, each time he tried to curse, God turned it into blessing. I cannot go into it; it will take too long.
Lo, it is a people that dwell alone,
And shall not be reckoned among the nations.
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob;
Neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel:
The Lord his God is with him,
And the shout of a king is among them.
And his king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
There shall come forth a star out of Jacob,
And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel,
And shall smite through the corners of Moab,
And break down all the sons of tumult.
And out of Jacob shall one have dominion,
And shall destroy the remnant from the city.
In other words, you find in the prophecies of Balaam, again and again, through revelation, God was telling them that He was to be King in the nation of Israel.
Brothers and sisters, when they entered into the promised land, actually the promised land they occupied at that time was only a tiny little bit of territory. Before I went to Palestine, I thought Palestine must be a very big place. Our Lord Jesus travelled far and wide in the land of Palestine. But after you are there, you find it is just a tiny little bit of territory.
So here you find the children of Israel occupying a very tiny bit of earth upon this planet. They were a small people, small in number. Yet, dear brothers and sisters, the wonder of wonders is that God set up His kingdom in this people. He had His kingdom upon the earth in the nation of Israel.
As long as Israel, as a nation, obeyed God, nobody could conquer them. They were at the top of all things. No matter how big a nation was, no one could defeat them, because God was their King. God had given them dominion over the earth.
But if they disobeyed God, then you find they would be defeated by their enemies around them. Unfortunately, they rebelled against God. They were not faithful to God, and finally that nation was completely destroyed. They were taken into Babylonian captivity.
Do you know, during the time of the Babylonian captivity, if you read the Old Testament, you will find that God was never addressed as the God of the heavens and of the earth. God was only addressed as the God of heaven. Why? Because He had no testimony upon the earth.
He put His name in Jerusalem. He committed Himself to the nation of Israel. He made the nation of Israel His own kingdom upon this earth. Yet Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed, and the people of Israel were taken into captivity. There was no testimony of God upon the earth.
Therefore, during that short period, God was never addressed as the God of the heavens and of the earth, but only as the God of heaven.
But that does not mean that God did not leave any testimony for Himself. You find that He still did. Even though the times of the Gentiles had ushered in, in the first Gentile power God had left behind a Daniel.
Daniel, under Nebuchadnezzar, the golden head, was given the knowledge that even though God had given him power over the whole world, God was still above all. Do not think that God had given up.
Again and again Nebuchadnezzar was warned by Daniel. You can read Daniel 2. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar:
Thou, O king, king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory.
But remember, the day will come when, in the days of these kings, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. He will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, but it shall stand forever.
In other words, God had given Nebuchadnezzar the kingdom, but it was God Who gave him the kingdom. During the days of these kings, all the kingdoms of the world will be destroyed, and God will set up His own kingdom, and His kingdom shall stand forever.
Then in Daniel 4, he again told Nebuchadnezzar that the heavens do rule over the affairs of men. And then in Daniel 7, you find Daniel seeing a vision of the night. A throne was there, and he saw One like the Son of Man being led to the throne. He received from the One Who sits upon the throne dominion and a kingdom, and His dominion shall know no end, and His kingdom shall last forever.
So, brothers and sisters, even though during the Babylonian captivity God seemingly did not have His kingdom upon this earth, yet He still had His witness upon this earth that God had His own kingdom. His kingdom will come, and it will be forever.
Before, or at, the coming of our Lord Jesus, you find John the Baptist, the forerunner, coming forth. What was his message? He said, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
God had not forgotten His kingdom. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Why? Because the King had come.
But the King alone does not make up the kingdom. For the King to have a kingdom, He needs a people. That is the reason why, in the beginning of the ministry of our Lord Jesus, He repeated the message of John the Baptist: “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
But when you come to Matthew 11, you find He changed His words. He said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.”
Why? It is because at that time He already had His disciples. His disciples were the subjects of His kingdom. He was King over His disciples. His disciples placed themselves under His dominion. Because of that, He had His kingdom upon this earth.
So He tells us that anyone who wants to enter into His kingdom has to do violence. Now, we do not like the word “violence.” It has a bad connotation. But actually, the word itself is neutral. It simply means that you have to do something—something drastic.
Not that the Lord wants us to do violence to other people. That is the problem today. But the violence there is to do violence to yourself. Deny yourself. Now, that is very violent.
Oh, we love ourselves. How we take care of ourselves. How we try to gratify every lust, passion, and desire. Oh, we are so soft to ourselves. We may do violence to other people—very critical, very judgmental—but when it comes to ourselves, oh, how we love ourselves. How we take good care of ourselves. We embrace ourselves and pet ourselves.
But, brothers and sisters, the Lord said, “If you want to enter into My kingdom, you have to do violence to yourself. You have to deny yourself. You have to tell yourself, ‘Who are you? I do not know you. I have no reason to yield to your demand, because I am under the order of the King.’”
Dear brothers and sisters, here you find our Lord Jesus setting up His kingdom upon this earth.
As our Lord Jesus died and rose from the dead, He was upon this earth for forty days before He ascended to heaven. You know what He did and what He said during these forty days? Of course, He appeared to His disciples and disappeared. But if you read Acts 1, you find that during those forty days He spoke to His disciples about the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Our Lord Jesus had the kingdom in His mind. He talked to these disciples about the things of the kingdom, that they might know what the kingdom is. His kingdom is not of this world, He said. But what is His kingdom? He was teaching His people the principles of His kingdom, the things concerning the kingdom of God.
If you read the book of Acts, it not only begins with our Lord Jesus speaking of the kingdom of God, but when you come to the end of Acts, in Acts 28, you find Paul in Rome in his hired apartment. What was he doing there? He was teaching the kingdom of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the message of the church? The message of the church is the kingdom of God. The church is to proclaim that Jesus is King. He is Lord. He is to set up His kingdom upon this earth.
Here you find a conflict, this battle between the two kingdoms. On the one hand, you find the kingdom of God; on the other hand, you find the kingdom of darkness. These two kingdoms are in constant, continuous, unceasing conflict with each other.
Again, let me draw an instance from the Old Testament. In 2 Samuel, you find the house of David and the house of Saul. David was king in Hebron, but the seed of Saul was king in Jerusalem, and these two houses fought against each other.
David was king in Hebron for seven years and six months. During that period there was constant conflict between these two houses. Eventually, gradually, the kingdom of Saul became weaker and weaker, and the house of David became stronger and stronger, until the day when the house of Saul came to an end and David was crowned in Jerusalem.
Now this is the picture here. You find the conflict between two kingdoms: the kingdom of God that Christ set up on earth, and the kingdom of darkness that Satan set up on earth. These two kingdoms have been in conflict through the ages, through the centuries.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we know one thing: the kingdom of darkness is getting weaker and weaker, and the kingdom of God is getting stronger and stronger until it prevails. Now, you may think it does not look like it, but let me tell you.
You know the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw. God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar the kingdoms of this world: the Babylonian kingdom, the Medo-Persian kingdom, the Greek-Macedonian kingdom, and then the Roman kingdom. The kingdoms come and kingdoms go, but behind all the kingdoms of the world there is the kingdom of darkness. In other words, Satan is at the back pulling the strings.
Do you think the kingdom of this world is getting stronger and stronger? No. Why? Because in that image you see the value of the kingdoms of this world becoming less and less. First gold, then silver, then brass, then iron, then clay.
Brothers and sisters, in the eyes of men it is as if the kingdom of darkness has become stronger and stronger. It looks like it. But in the eyes of God, God sees that the kingdom of the world is getting weaker and weaker and weaker.
The day is coming when that stone not cut with hands—that is, the kingdom of God—will smite and defeat all the kingdoms of the world, break them to pieces, and the stone will grow into a great mountain and fill the earth.
In other words, the kingdom of God shall come upon this earth. It is the time when the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. Thank God, it is coming.
Brothers and sisters, you need spiritual eyes to see. Do not see with your physical eyes; see with the eyes of faith, and you know it is coming.
Now let me just use an illustration. I did not keep my promise. I am in the middle.
You know, in the first century, the kingdom of this world was represented by the Roman Empire. It was such a powerful kingdom.
The power of this empire put every force upon the kingdom of God—the church of God at that time. How the Roman Caesars, one after another, tried to destroy Christianity. They tried to destroy Christians. They tried to wipe out the name of the Lord Jesus.
You find that the whole force, all the power of the Roman Empire—the greatest empire upon this earth—was mobilized against the church of God. Seemingly, many were killed. Seemingly, many were put in jail. Seemingly, they were able to wipe them out. The Christians had to meet in the catacombs and be buried in the catacombs.
But, dear brothers and sisters, do you know what history tells us? The Roman Empire was out to destroy the church, but the church prevailed. The Roman Empire was destroyed.
That is in the beginning of history, and, brothers and sisters, this is true throughout the centuries. No matter how the kingdom of the world may appear to be, we know that the kingdom of God is gathering strength. We know that the kingdom of this world is getting weaker and weaker, and the day is coming when the kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ.
When that day comes, the time is up. You find a number of things there. I will not describe them; I will just read them, because I will keep you here.
Here in Revelation 11, there are several things that happen after the sounding of the seventh trumpet. In verse 17, they worship God, saying:
We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, Who art and Who wast; because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and didst reign.
God has always reigned. God has never given up His reigning. But here you find that He has taken His great power and has reigned publicly.
Today God reigns. He reigns secretly, privately. You need spiritual eyes to see and understanding to understand. The world does not know. They think that they reign. No, God reigns.
God sets up kings and God casts down kings. God reigns, but He reigns in secret. Thank God, when the time is up, you find He shall reign publicly. The kingdom of God shall be established upon this earth, and righteousness shall rule over the earth.
This is the utopia man dreams about. This is the time when there will be peace all around. This is the time when the lion will eat grass with the lamb. This is the time when a child can play at the hole of a poisonous serpent. Nothing in the holy hill of God will hurt anybody. Why? Because Christ reigns over this earth.
And, dear brothers and sisters, those overcomers shall reign with Christ for a thousand years.
At the same time, you find the nations have been full of wrath, and God’s wrath has come. Oh, the nations, instead of repenting, are full of wrath. But what is the wrath of the nations compared with the wrath of God?
Here you find that the wrath of God has also come. In other words, He will judge the nations. There will be the last war, and this last war is a just war. It is a war that ends all war, because Christ and His army will come and defeat Satan and his followers.
Then, clearly, you find the time of the dead to be judged. You know, it really covers a great many things. Here it goes even to after the millennium. After the millennium, all the dead will be raised and will all stand before the great white throne to be judged.
Whoever’s name is not in the book of life will be judged according to the books. And what are the books? The books are your records.
God has a file on everyone. Not by a computer thing, but, as someone said, “Now where does God keep that file? Probably He keeps that file here—in you.” He can just bring it out to the screen, and everything will be there.
You know how true it is. We are told—I think it was Moody who said that—when a person is drowning, suddenly his whole life comes before him on the screen. I forgot the details, but anyway, that was what he said.
God just touches a button, and you find history going back, and everything will come. Nothing is lost. All that you did, all that you said, all that you thought—everything in your life is in the books. And you will be judged according to the books. Who can stand it?
Then you find that He will give recompense to His servants the prophets, to the saints, and to those who fear His name, small and great. Thank God. On the one hand, there will be judgment of the nations. There will be judgment of the dead. But, on the other hand, oh, brothers and sisters, there will be reward.
God is going to reward His prophets—that is, those who were His in Old Testament times, who were faithful to Him. He will reward the saints, those who are faithful to Him in New Testament times. And He will reward those who fear His name.
Now, I do not know what this group is. I think probably these are the people who came to fear the name of the Lord during the time of the great tribulation. But anyway, whether it is back in Old Testament times, in New Testament times, or even in the time of great tribulation, those who respond to God’s grace will be rewarded. Overcomers will be rewarded, small and great.
Now, oftentimes we have a kind of mental image of an overcomer. We think that to be an overcomer, he must be seven feet tall or two hundred and fifty pounds. Oh, he must be of such a stature; then he is an overcomer.
You know, there will be small and great. So even though you are small, you can be an overcomer, if that stature is the stature of Christ.
Then He continues on to destroy them that destroy the earth. Not only will you find the beast destroyed; Antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire, but even Satan will be destroyed and thrown into the lake of fire. All that destroy the earth will be destroyed.
And, brothers and sisters, when all these things happen, time will be no more, because everything God wants to accomplish within time has been accomplished. So you find time is over, and eternity comes in.
If you want to know something about eternity, read Revelation 21 and 22. There you find the holy city, the New Jerusalem, descending out of heaven and coming upon the new earth. The tabernacle of God is among men.
Dear brothers and sisters, there you find all who are in the city, all who are redeemed, all the Old Testament saints—they shall all be kings, and they worship God. That is eternity.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee that Thou art the God from eternity to eternity. For Thou hast set up time in Thy dealing with mankind in order to accomplish the purpose that Thou hast for Thy own Son.
How we do praise and thank Thee that no matter what has happened or what is happening, we know that the day is coming when time shall be no more. Thou wilt have what Thou hast purposed even before the foundation of the world.
Thou wilt get Thy church. Thou wilt get Thy bride. Thou shalt have Thy kingdom upon this earth, and Thy kingdom shall know no end. Thy dominion shall be everlasting.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee, knowing that that day is coming when we shall, by Thy grace, be ushered into eternity, and there we shall worship Thee forever. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.