If you have not read “My People Who Are Called By My Name” and Who Are God’s People? (key words–Called and People respectively), I suggest that you do so in conjunction with this series. I cannot stress enough the need for salvation seekers to know about, believe and walk THE LORD’S ONE AND ONLY WAY THAT LEADS TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. ALL OTHER WAYS (CHURCHES, DENOMINATIONS, CONGREGATIONS, ASSEMBLIES, ETC.) LEAD TO DESTRUCTION (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14). King David wrote that all of God’s commandments are righteousness (Ps. 119:172). They, not the commandments of men, are righteous (Mk. 7:7) and lead the obedient saint into the Kingdom of God. Keeping them proves one’s love for the Lord, just as Christ’s keeping them proved His love for the Father (Jn. 14:14,15; 15:10). The Word “Keep” is a military word meaning to surround and protect.

We uncover a hint as to the character and form of God’s way of holiness in the Book of Acts where we find Jesus, having returned from heaven following His resurrection and ascension, meeting with His disciples on the Mount of Olives where He had been teaching them “the things pertaining to the KINGDOM OF GOD” (1:3) for the past 40 days. Recall that in Matthew 6:33 He had told them to “SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ….” We know from this statement that only the righteous will be allowed to enter God’s kingdom upon His (Christ’s) return. As the Apostle Peter tells us, “Judgment begins in the church, and ONLY THE RIGHTEOUS WILL BE SAVED, AND THEY JUST BARELY (1 Pet. 4:17,18). Righteousness is required for entrance into God’s kingdom. Otherwise, why seek it relative to entering the kingdom?

Righteous is what the believer becomes upon being justified (had all past sins forgiven–Rom. 3:25). THE ABSENCE OF SIN=RIGHTEOUSNESS/HOLINESS/GODLINESS. Following justification, one is required to walk in the righteousness God has awarded him/her for it is the result of his/her hungering and thirsting for it (Mat. 5:6). DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY SATAN’S FALSE PROPHETS relative to God’s command for righteousness/holiness. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5:21 and 6:22: THE END RESULT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS IS ETERNAL LIFE. There is no substitute for godliness. Only the godly will be allowed into the presence of the Gods–Father and Son. For godly saints, eternity will be spent in the earthly Kingdom of God, not in heaven. As the Scriptures plainly proclaim, no one except Jesus Christ has ever lived in heaven or will ever live there. That includes Elijah, Enoch, Grandma Pearl and Uncle Joe. They are all dead and await their respective resurrections. Read about heaven using that word as the key. Read The Kingdom of God. Key word–Kingdom. Reade The Three Resurrections. Key word–Three.

Sin is the breaking of the Law (1 Jn. 3:4). Therefore, to be justified is to have been forgiven for breaking God’s Law (sinning) in the past. This is the same Law that was supposedly nailed to the cross of Christ. Relative to the believer’s righteousness, we have been taught that Jesus was righteous (obeyed the Father’s Law) for us (in our stead), therefore there is no need for us to be righteous ,even if we could, which, as we are told, is impossible because of Adam’s sin gene transferal miracle. Only Satan could concoct such an anti-Bible deception and deceive billions of people into believing it.

The Apostle James tells us that to break one of the commandments is to break the entire Law (2:10). The irony is that Law-breakers (“workers of iniquity”) believe in keeping nine of the commandments, but not #4–God’s Sabbath Law. This in spite of the fact that He “blessed the Sabbath Day, sanctified it” and called it “My Holy Day” and “the holy unto the Lord” (Gen. 2:3/ Isa. 58:13). Relative to the Law-righteousness-sin connection, the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 2:13 that (following justification), only the “doers (keepers) of the Law shall be (shall remain) justified.” Yes, dear readers, justification can be lost through sinning following God’s act of grace. Read about God’s CONDITIONAL FORGIVENESS. Key word–Blanche. To make sure that believers understand God’s attitude toward His Law, Paul tells us in Romans 7:12 that “the Law is holy, just and good.”

Bear in mind that most of the above statements are found in the New Testament. I cannot end this segment without tying Jesus directly to the Law as recorded in Isaiah 42:21 where it is written that the Messiah would come to earth in order “to magnify the Law and make it holy (again).” Why would it be necessary for Him to make His Father’s Law holy in the eyes of religious people AGAIN? Because God knew that by the time of the Messiah’s arrival on earth religious men would have DESTROYED HIS FATHER’S HOLY, JUST AND GOOD LAW, WOULD HAD DONE SO IN HIS NAME, THEN WOULD HAVE BLAIMED THEIR ACTIONS ON HIM. Again, only Satan could convince billions of people to 1) ignore the Book they all own and claim to believe, 2) obey church doctrine which is a supposed improvement over God’s inspired Word and 3) believe that He (the Lord) approves of his (Satan’s) improvements.

Recall that in Acts 1:3 Jesus had been teaching His disciples about the earthly Kingdom of God. Then in verse six they said to Him; “Lord, will You at this time RESTORE AGAIN THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?” This question says much about the character and image of the Kingdom of God. Anciently, while under the kingship of David, the Israelite kingdom was a God-fearing, Law-keeping nation that, due to their obedience to God, had become the greatest kingdom on earth. The 12 tribes operated as a singular unit with the Old Testament God ruling them by His Law. People would gather at their local synagogues to hear the Law read and taught by the priests. Most people were illiterate and depended on this system for instruction when learning God’s narrow way. Not everyone obeyed the Lord, but the majority did, which is why He blessed them so mightily.

The disciples wondered if Jesus would, during His time on earth, restore the Israelite kingdom to its former power and dominance. Notice that He did not correct them–He did not tell them that the coming kingdom would not be an Israelite nation. He only said that He, being a man, did not know when He would restore the kingdom TO ISRAEL, that only God knew when it would take place. That the kingdom would be an Isaelite entity was clear. What did this mean? What does it mean today?

To answer these questions we need to turn to the Old Testament where we are told that when the Israelites left Egypt a “mixed multitude” came out with them” (Exo. 12:38). The “mixed multitude” consisted of people who had been captured and enslaved by the Egyptians who were, at that time, the most powerful nation on earth. The multitude was comprised of various Gentile peoples who, having seen what Israel’s God had done to the Egyptians, had embraced Israel’s God, did what He had told the Israelites to do and, because of their obedience, were allowed to join the Israelites as they escaped “on eagles wings” (symbolically–Exo. 19:4). Together they had crossed the Red Sea on dry land and camped with them on the other side while awaiting further orders. Those orders involved the future observance of Passover for all who would become God’s people indeed and not in name only. This included the mixed multitude of Gentiles (Heb.–heathen) who would eventually intermarry with the Israelites, obey the Law of the Israelites’ God, thereby becoming SPIRITUAL ISRAELITES. By this we know that the Israelites welcomed into their midst Gentiles who would embrace their God and obey His Law. Their obedience included the observance of the Lord’s weekly Sabbath day and all other Holy Days such as Pentecost, Feast of Booths and Feast of Trumpets which symbolized the Lord’s harvest seasons during which He would harvest souls unto Himself, including many Gentiles. The harvest continues. Read The Eternal Harvest. Key word–Harvest. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. L.J.