God’s Way – His Kingdom

“A Voice for the Gathering Saints”
Duane Stewart

“God’s Way – His Kingdom”

            God’s desire revealed through the pattern prayer that Jesus spoke to the disciples, establishes His will and purpose in setting up a kingdom. This kingdom, originating in heaven shall likewise have a fulfillment in the earth. Matt. 6:10, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. This is revealing and speaking of the consummation of a kingdom rule which effect mankind’s lives in the now. This is a time wherein the earth becomes so at one with the God of the heavens that the heavens manifest themselves in the earth. This is a kingdom government which becomes the nature of a people who become the visible manifestation of that kingdom. Who qualifies and where does this qualifying begin when scriptures declare that all have sinned and come short of God’s glory? With coming up short being the position of each person, it is God who can and does bring forth the qualifier. I Cor. 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God”.

Where will such a people come from? God, through His Son and the indwelling sent Holy Spirit, has been increasingly preparing a people, a pure church, to not only receive the seed of the Son, but to birth that many member offspring that shall establish His kingdom. This many member vessels are spoken of in Jeremiah as he speaks of a woman birthing such a man. Jeremiah 31:22, “How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth. A woman shall encompass a man”. Note the condition of the daughter, a backslidden condition, but one which is subject to change, a change of one growing up to become a woman that again desires to become the spouse of her one true husband, a change which instills within her a desire to bring forth the birthing of a child. The “man” spoken of in this scripture is not just any man but it means “a champion, hero, warrior, mighty man; a man in all his strength; a man of strength or bravery”, speaking to us of a union between a woman and a man of strength, purity, holiness and righteousness. In the New Testament this same daughter is spoken of as the church. A church that for the most part, was and is backslidden from the powerhouse church that came out of the upper-room on the day of Pentecost. But a church with promise, a promise that reveals timing in God when true repentance shall again ascend before the Lord and reconciliation shall produce the birthing of a man born out of the women, to become a people that will establish God’s kingdom in the earth. Hosea 6:1-2, “Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days (2000 years) He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight”.

In God’s calendar He speaks often of the seventh month. The seventh month is also the time of one of God’s required feast which is called the feast of Tabernacles. This feast is a time of harvesting, fulfilling and restoration. In a prophecy of Haggai God speaks of a restored glory which would surpass any glory of a former time. (Read Haggai 2:1-9). Haggai 2:9 declares, “The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of Host”. In this context (verse 8 ) God declares that the silver and gold are His. Speaking of silver which speaks of God’s redemption and gold which speaks of God’s divine nature, we behold a God who, from Himself, shall bring forth such a redeemed people who shall become the manifested divine nature of God as a “man” moving in God’s presence.

The prophet Samuel was one that was born during a time when the glory of God was departing from the children of Israel because of sin which dwelt in the camp. The temple at Shiloh had been desecrated, and the priesthood was corrupt and immoral. During this time a certain man named Elkanah, whose name means “God has possessed”, had two wives. One wife had birthed children while the other wife was barren. From this setting we can receive understanding of two distinct orders that were at work among the two women. One woman produced children that speak of sons which were not turned to seeking after the things of God. Her children seemed to be content in living after the norm of the rebellious lifestyles of much of the Israelites. She was a wife, while representing her husband; she was one that caused turmoil and pain. This wife was willing to produce offspring which were not offspring of completeness and fullness but rather sons of complacency and carnal mindedness. Meanwhile, the barren wife was one that longed to bring forth, but not just to have offspring, but offspring of a double portion. This speaks of offspring who are to be returned to God for His use. In this she travailed and groaned before God in that she might be found worthy to bare such a son, a son that God would raise up to restore Israel to a glory greater than its former glory. Likewise we have among us today a portion of the church which seeks God for offspring to be birthed and usher in a glory which shall establish God’s kingdom. The systematic church of today is likened unto Eli who had lost the vision and was without the revelation of God’s word, becoming the blind leading the blind. I Sam. 3:1, “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation”. There was no widespread revelation because sin was blocking the revealing of God and His word. The people were rebelling against God and His commandments. This is very much like a picture of the church today; a church which has allowed carnality to permeate the functions and purpose of the church’s existence. But, even as God rose up in Samuel to become a prophet to Israel, likewise God is raising up through a birthing of another son, a many member son, a man-child. These many member sons shall and are in the process of restoring the glory of God to the true church. I Sam. 3:21, “Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord”.

With God’s number twelve speaking to us of His divine government, this number as used in scripture reveals for us the purpose of God’s kingdom. A kingdom that shall be established according to His divine governmental laws, His nature, as He births a man-child, a people who shall stand in God’s presence to establish such an order. In the book of Revelation God reveals the end-time events that take place in the establishing of His kingdom. (Read Rev. 12:1-17). Points of interest for this writing are that the book of Revelation was received some seventy years after the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Rev. 1:19 we are shown that the events revealed in the book were to take place after its writing. “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this”. Now, in looking at Rev. 12:1-2, our attention is again drawn to a woman, a birthing and the number twelve. “Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth”. This picture speaks to us of these days of fulfillment in which the church of today finds itself. Like Hannah, a portion of the church is in travail, groaning in labor pains to bring forth that son, that man-child which shall take God’s people beyond the in-part mixture of half truths which exist in the carnality of much of today’s church systems. In her travail, a child is being birthed which shall begin to rule, to establish an order of victory. Rev. 12:5, “She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and His throne”. This child, a male which speaks of being spiritual in nature, is a people who shall ascend into spiritual truths and realities while becoming the visible manifestation of the body of Christ upon the earth. A company of deliverers which feed truth to the world as judgment prevails to establish God’s kingdom. Note with interest that the woman has upon her head a garland of twelve stars. This speaks to us of the place which the woman, the true church, has matured unto, in her desire to see God’s word fulfilled. This is a place of worship and praise, through travail, that establishes a new mind-set, a mind-set which reacts only to the divine government of God, a coming into the place of complete obedience. Is not this woman, which is the true church, being purified and becoming ever watchful as God reveals Himself today?

Notice also that this woman is clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet. This speaks to us of a positioning of herself, a putting herself in the place where she is removed from all carnal coverings and through spiritual maturity submits herself unto the Holy Spirit alone. This speaks of a cleansing which is the results of complete obedience to God’s revealed word. In this place of obedience she ascends to a place where the moon is under her feet. Now the moon is a type of the soulish woman church. A church which receives all of its light from the sun (Christ) while having no life of herself. With the moon typing the soulish church she becomes subject to the same deceptions which Eve yielded herself to, high ideals and intellectual knowledge that promotes self above God. But also note that this woman has put the moon under her feet, meaning that she has gained victory over and conquered all that is at fault in the moon church. In this victory she has become worthy to become pregnant with the child of God’s choosing, a many member son who is destined to establish the kingdom of God in the earth.

(Please read Luke 8:40-56). Jesus, the first born of many sons is the seed planted that shall bring forth a first-fruits people, which become the remnant that shall fulfill God’s word in manifesting His kingdom. In recognizing that the life of the seed planted shall again appear in the life of the harvest, in the context of Luke 8:40-56 we are shown that manner of life imparted unto and manifested through the true church. First the number twelve appears again. The daughter of Jairus, being about twelve years of age was dying. Also a woman being sick with a flow of blood for twelve years and then along came Jesus, that expression of God’s divine government. Why the number twelve except to point us to the fact that divine government was making an appearance. A government purposed by God to heal the nations as His kingdom appears and is manifest. Note the woman, a type of a church system which has had a sickness, a sickness which causes life to flow from her. In this we see a sickness of death which the carnal man cannot heal, but that the divine government of God stops immediately as she touches His glory. This is an order which not only heals the flow of death but also restores that which had been lost. Does not the word declare, “The glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former”? A church system which has not lived up to its potential, but meanwhile there is a people who are even now pushing their way through the crowd of complacency, doctrines of devils, carnal minded traditions, and intellectual philosophies that subtract from the truth of God’s word, to touch Him who is the way and truth. These are not any longer allowing the old orders of religion to separate them from God’s presence, but in their groaning they desire to touch Him.

Now lets note the twelve year old daughter of Jairus who has the testimony that his daughter is dead, a people of carnal religious knowledge only who walk in step with the world which declares that the church system of today is gone, is dead without any hope. But, along came the divine government of God.  A government that cannot be bound by the thoughts and intents of earthly minded men. This daughter also speaks of a part of the church systems of today. While having all the appearances of being dead, she is not dead, but only sleeping. A sleeping condition, which envelopes the church, is but to be visited by God’s divine government and therein be awaken. This we are beginning to see and hear as a word of restoration is returning the spirit of life into a sleeping church, a sleeping church, which shall arise to shine forth with the life and light of God’s glory throughout the earth. Isa. 60:1,’Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you”.

Thus, His kingdom, an order of government which fulfills all that God has purposed from before the foundation of the world. As this government appears through a people, a first-fruits company, the true church shall arise until she is seen in all her destined glory. What is it that this awaken church has need of as God’s government begins to manifest? Luke 8:55, “Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat”. The invitation has been given, his people are to eat His flesh and drink His blood which speaks of His life. Therefore the only food that is profitable is a people who can and do manifest His life and His life is promised unto all who come. It is being in Him that we might have life and His life more abundantly. John 10:10b, “I (Jesus) have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly”

No related posts.