The Teachings of the Kingdom

Note: The below article is still a bit new to me and I have been giving it much time and prayer for comprehension before sharing it.  So, any comments and questions concerning the material will require extra cooperation, patience and prayer from the viewers also.  The Lord give us to comprehend His “Word of Truth” according to the level He chooses for each, and God be blessed!
 
 
 
It is the desire of God for all “to be saved,” and that none “should perish” (1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9), but it is the will of God that “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).  Thus, there should be useful instruction in realizing that God’s will and desire are not always synonymous.
 
Is God’s will being done “in earth as it is in heaven?”  How is His will being done in heaven?  It is being done in perfection, without the presence and effect of any sin whatsoever—and by all present!  His desire concerning the resolution of sin on this earth is being done within believers, but when the Kingdom comes in its entirety, it will not involve sin at all within the believer.
 
His Kingdom has “come unto you” (Mat 12:28), e.g. in Christ, this world has been visited by a foretaste of the Kingdom and He is presently bringing its future residents into it (internally—Luke 17:20), but eventually He will bring the Kingdom to its residents (externally).  Then God’s will shall be done on earth as it is presently being done in heaven, and such a prayer (“thy kingdom come”) will no longer be necessary.
 
Those who are of God will be in resurrected bodies, which will begin the Millennium (Rev 20:5), immediately followed by the last resurrection consisting of the condemned, who “lived not again (yet to be resurrected) until the thousand years were finished”; whom Satan will “gather them together to battle” (v 8); thus the “old man,” which is the source of human sin will be finally eradicated from the believer, enabling perfect service to God in every manner, devoid forever of the effect of sin.
 
- NC
 
 
 
The teachings of the Kingdom have not been applied to men in all the ages; nay, they have not been applied to any man.  Since they anticipate the binding of Satan, a purified earth, the restoration of Israel, and the personal reign of the King, they cannot be applied until God’s appointed time when these accompanying conditions on the earth have been brought to pass.
 
The Kingdom laws will be addressed to Israel and beyond them to all the nations which will enter the Kingdom.  It will be the first and only universal reign of righteousness and peace in the history of the world.  One nation was in view when the Law of Moses was in force in the earth; the individual is in view during the age of grace; and the whole social order of mankind will be in view when the Kingdom is established on the earth.
 
The rein of the King is never said to be ushered in by a gradual process of world improvement; it is introduced suddenly and with great violence.  Satan and the satanic deception will have been removed from the earth, Israel will have realized the glory of her Covenants, and the long-awaited blessing will have come upon all the Gentiles, and upon creation itself.
 
The Church is not once mentioned in relation to the teachings of the Kingdom, nor are those teachings applied to her; for her part in the Kingdom is not to be reigned over, but to reign with Christ—her Head.  She, being the Bride of the King, is His Consort.  She will be under the heavenly teachings of grace, and her home will be in the bosom of the Bridegroom in the ivory palace of the King.  The King will rule with a rod of iron.  Sin and iniquity will be rebuked instantly and judged in perfect righteousness.  Clear conception of the glory of the Kingdom is lost if it is confused with the age of grace.
 
There is a dangerous and entirely baseless sentiment abroad which assumes that every teaching of Jesus must be binding during this age simply because He said it.  The fact is forgotten that the Lord Jesus, while living under, keeping and applying the Law of Moses, also taught the principles of His future Kingdom, and, at the end of His ministry and in relation to His Cross, He also anticipated the teachings of grace.  If this threefold division of the teachings of Jesus is not recognized, there can be nothing but confusion of mind and consequent contradiction of truth.
 
The ceremonial law required for its observance the presence of Jehovah in the holy of holies, an altar, a priesthood, and a temple in Jerusalem.  All these prerequisites for the observance of the ceremonial law were withdrawn at the beginning of the present age.  The Church of Rome, in its attempt to continue the law system, proposed to meet this difficulty by creating its own altar, temple service and priesthood, and alleges that the Lord is present in the consecrated bread.
 
The teachings of grace are perfect and sufficient in themselves.  They provide for the instruction of the child of God in every situation which may arise.  There is no need that they be supplemented, or augmented, by the addition of precepts from either the Law of Moses or the teachings of the Kingdom.
 

- Dr. L. S. Chafer