Where I Go, You Cannot Follow Me Now...

This is a continuation from the video blog of What I'm doing now you know not.

NEW JERUSALEM – THY KINGDOM COME

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek Me: and as I said to the Jews, Where I go, you cannot come; so now I say to you. -- Where I go, you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow Me afterwards. -- Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. -- Jesus saith: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me. John 13:33; 36—14:1-4;6

And Isaac brought her in to his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Genesis 24:67 Notice that there were other tents in Abraham's “home”. Isaac did not leave his father's house. But he brought Rebekah into the tent of his mother, who had recently passed. In Bethany, I had the wonderful privilege of visiting a Palestinian home, just a little ways away from the tomb of Lazerus. This house was more like an apartment building in that the Patriach and Matriach of the family lived on the ground floor. On the next floor was the eldest son and his wife and above them the next son and his family, etc. In a sense, this was Abraham's kingdom, just as it is with this Palestinian family.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:8-10

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country (Greek: Patrida: Fatherland). Hebrews 11:14 But you are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels... Hebrews 12:22

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. -- And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. -- And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Revelation 21:1-3; 9-12; 14

 When we are praying, "Thy Kingdom Come", this is what we are asking for in its fullness!  The New Jerusalem. The City of the Living God. We are seeking a country (not just any country, but our Homeland) and in praying, "Thy Kingdom Come", we are asking God to bring us into that Kingdom. 

Hidden Treasures

This morning, I woke up late and spent the earlier part of the morning wasting and squandering my time online.  I finally came downstairs and ate a bite, then moseyed into my study to pray.  I felt really bad about waiting so long to spend time with God, so I pulled out my book of Psalms and began to pray Psalm 51.  I came to the verse that states "in the secret parts You shall make me to know wisdom."  Secret is the same word in Hebrew that used in Psalm 91 - he who dwells in the "secret" place.  My heart rejoice when I read this.

Next, I sang my Psalms and read my daily portion, then began to pray the Lord's prayer.  When I came to the line, "Thy Kingdom Come," my mind went to the parable of the hidden treasure: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  Matt 13:44. the line: and bought the field was suddenly illuminated to me.

The Holy Spirit directed my thoughts to story of Ruth and how Boaz, through the ancient Law of Moses concerning the Right of Redemption, became the redeemer of the field.

Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, “Come aside, friend, sit down here.” So he came aside and sat down. ² And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. ³ Then he said to the close relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴ And I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’”

And he said, “I will redeem it.”

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.”

⁶ And the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.

⁸ Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” So he took off his sandal. ⁹ And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. ¹⁰ Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.”

¹¹ And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹² May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.”

 Next, my attention was drawn to another story concerning the right of redemption.  This is found in Jeremiah 32: 

⁶ And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.”’ ⁸ Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. ¹¹ So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; ¹² and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.

¹³ “Then I charged Baruch before them, saying, ¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.” ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.”’

  

Yeshua the Messiah was our Kinsman redeemer and He left His glory to come down and tabernacle among us, to redeem us from evil. He bought the field, thereby marrying Himself to us! What a glorious revelation!!!

Thy Kingdom Come

Jesus stood before Pilate and declared, "My Kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not for here." John 18:36 He explained to His disciples: "The Kingdom of God cometh not with [outward sign] observation. Neither shall they say, lo here! or lo there! For behold the Kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:20-21 So, then it's obvious that the Kingdom of God is not on our plain of existence. Jesus told us in the Lord's Prayer, though, to pray: "Thy Kingdom Come" and with great parables, He taught us about the Kingdom. "And He said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see; and hearing they might not understand." Luke 8:10 giving us the right to understand the Kingdom.

Kingdom speaks of Authority. When Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they lost the dominion and Kingdom right to govern the Earth, as they once had. However, according to Psalm 8, the Son of Man came to restore that back to the believer. The only way we can gain that authority is by seeking the Kingdom of God with all our hearts: "But seek ye first the Kngdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt 5:33 Jesus said this during the Sermon on the Mount, just after telling us not to seek after clothes and food - giving us the example of the lillies of the field and the sparrows.

But, how, you ask? Jesus never promised that getting into the Kingdom would be an easy task. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Matt 11:12 Luke also records this, but the wording is a little different: "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it." Luke 16:16 And in Acts, we find Paul and Barnabas teaching the discpiles: "Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God." Acts 14:22 Jesus told the rich man, if he wanted to enter into the Kingdom of God, he would have to sell all of his possession and give to the poor. Why? Because he trusted in his riches and possessions.

So far, we know the Kingdom of God is not of this earth, it is about Authority and that getting into the Kingdom comes with a price. But what is the Kingdom? When you repent of your sins and are baptized in His Name, are you in the Kingdom, then? Not according to the apostles - who are our foundation, mind you.

We find Paul saying, "For the Kingdom of God is not in meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Rom 14:17 He had just got through telling the Gentile believers not to trust in the works of eating Kosher foods, but also, if someone was weak in the faith and felt they must do those things, not to condemn them or argue the point, so that their good would not be evil spoken of. It is not hypocrisy to do a thing or refrain from doing a thing if it means not offending your brother or sister. Finally, we find him telling us, "For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." I Cor 4:20 Who's power? "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." I Cor 2:4-5

Then we find Peter telling the church, "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." II Peter 1:11 He spoke this just after telling us about the divine power that we are given to have the divine nature that was in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit ruling in our lives, having leadership to direct our words, path, actions, etc. He is the divine nature that was also in Christ Jesus.

So, when you are praying, "Thy Kingdom Come" you are in essence, asking that the Holy Ghost have full authority in your life. For, it is only by the Spirit of Jesus Christ that we can have power over all the powers of the enemy. It is only through Him that we can work the works of Christ. And His promise to us is, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the works that I do shall you do also; and greater works than these shall you do; because I go unto My Father." John 14:12