The Kingdom
by
James Harman
Copyright 2011 James Harman,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0178-2
Prophecy Countdown Publications
P.O. Box 941612
Maitland, FL 32794
www.ProphecyCountdown.com
All Rights Reserved. We encourage the use of this material; however, in order to protect the contents from changes, neither this book, nor any part may be reprinted in any form without the written permission from the publishers, except for brief excerpts used in reviews whereby the reviewer may quote brief passages with proper credit.
All references from Scripture are from the King James Version unless noted otherwise. Words in bold emphasis are authors and not in original Scripture.
Scripture quotations from the Thompson Chain Reference Bible, New International Version (NIV), Copyright 1973, 1978 and 1984 by the International Bible Society.
Numerical references to selected words in the text of Scripture are from James H. Strong Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek words.
Certain words such as Kingdom and Judgement Seat are capitalized to emphasize their importance, but not in accordance with Traditional fashions.
The picture of the Milky Way on the front cover is credited to: E. L. Wrigh, (UCLA), The COBE Project, DIRBE, and NASA, Copyright © 2000.
The image on the back cover (M 81 82) is Copyright by Dietmar Hager
www.stargazer-observatory.com.
Prologue
The infrared picture of the Milky Way on the front cover can be found at the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website on 1/30/2000: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000130.html.
It is important to understand that the Milky Way is only one of several hundred billions of galaxies in the Universe that God has created. Our Solar System is only one small part in the Milky Way, as depicted in the following artist’s rendering:
http://chadlewis.net/tag/heaven/
The point is that our God is an awesome God who spoke this entire Universe into existence. The Universe is an immense creation that is too vast for the human mind to completely comprehend. And yet, God also created man to live on our tiny little planet called Earth. His plan for mankind is laid out in the Bible for everyone to read and follow.
This book has been written to touch on one segment of Biblical teaching called “The Kingdom.” It is by no means a complete study of this important subject, however, there are very few modern authors who have correctly understood what God wants mankind to know. At the turn of the century, the Lord did raise up some godly men who did see the importance of “The Kingdom.” Men such as: Robert Govett, D.M. Panton, G.H. Pember, G.H. Lang and Hudson Taylor were given much light and understanding of what is described as Kingdom truths.
Unfortunately, as the Church entered into the Laodicean age this century, most of their teachings have been disregarded, glossed over and forgotten. Fortunately, there still are a few writers who have taken the time to dig deep into God’s Word to bring out this much-needed nourishment that is so badly lacking in the spiritual diet of most Christians.
Jesus spoke of the coming Kingdom many times. In His meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus said:
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
In order to see the Kingdom of God, Jesus said man must be “born again.” But now notice what Jesus said about entering into the Kingdom of God (the prerequisite for entrance):
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)
Most Christians have been taught about the requirement of seeing the Kingdom of God. While being “born again” is the essential requirement, it is only part of our Lord’s instructions. In the above verse, Jesus said we must be born of water and the Spirit in order to enter into the coming Kingdom of God.
This second part of our Lord’s instruction on the Kingdom is what this book will address. While it will not be an exhaustive analysis of all facets of the Kingdom truths1, it will hopefully whet the reader’s appetite to dig into the Word of God for further study. The whole purpose of this book is to help Christians understand what seeking the Kingdom of God is all about, and thereby help them be among the chosen few who will be able to enter into the coming Kingdom.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my wonderful wife Cindy, who originally taught me to be watching for the Lord to return. She has been an incredible soul mate who has weathered many trials and difficulties with me:
“Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.” (James 1:2-4 – Living Bible)
Cindy has been a great friend and encourager, and hopefully together we will both be fortunate enough to each receive the rewards at the end of our journeys:
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”
(James 1:12)
And I end this dedication by borrowing from the words of George N. H. Peter’s dedication to his wife in his great work of: The Theocratic Kingdom
(www.theocratickingdom.com):
“…that our relationship here may qualify us the more for the fruition of each other’s society in the predicted Theocracy of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, is the ardent prayer of your devoted
Husband”
Acknowledgements
I want to acknowledge a few mature believers who have contributed greatly to my understanding of the Scripture.
I met Lyn Mize back in 1990, at Ray Brubaker’s International Prophecy Conference. Lyn had just completed his book: The Open Door, and I had recently finished my book entitled: The Coming Spiritual
