Transcription
Hello, this is Jaren with AOC Network, and great to be with you again. And as many of you know, this is the month when we plan to release one of the biggest documentaries that we have worked on, "The Law of King Jesus." And it's coming along well. We've got the music production done, we've got the voiceover done, we've got the animations done. Now we're just putting it all together and making sure that it is coherent and is easy to follow. Because it's a lot of work. For the past four months, really, we've been doing intense research. And so we're at the brink of this thing, and it's going to be big.
The episode will cover not only the law and the covenants and how it all relates to us in Christ, but it will also speak to what is happening in our world today. And so it's going to be a very, very important production. And continue to pray for it. It is due to be released by the end of this month, and it's going to have a lot of kingdom theology. When you talk about the law of a king, it's important to understand his kingdom. Before it is released, I think it would do well for us to look at and study the kingdom of God in scripture. And so here we have a compilation of some of our videos on the kingdom that we've done, and I think it will be a good preparation for the upcoming video. Look forward to seeing you soon. Take care.
Jesus always said that he came so that we could inherit the kingdom. And everything written has to be understood in the proper context. So what did Jesus mean when he said, "You must inherit the kingdom"? Let's talk about inheritance. From the very beginning, God wanted us, His children, to inherit His kingdom. And to inherit anything, it's almost like a will. To receive what's yours, the owner of it has to die. And then, once they die, then you get what's yours. But there's a problem. God cannot die. He's immortal. So if God cannot die, how are you going to inherit the kingdom? That's where Jesus comes in.
You see, many people wonder why did Jesus have to die. And there are many reasons he died. So that he could be a sacrifice for our sins. He died so that he could be the great high priest. He had many reasons for why he had to die. But one great reason that he had to die is so that you could legally inherit the kingdom. You see, God cannot die. God is spirit. But through Jesus, God allowed for His own body to be placed in Mary to become human, so that that same body could die, so that we could inherit the kingdom. And God is so powerful that after He allowed His body to die, which makes us legally able to inherit the kingdom, His spirit then raised the body back up because He is powerful. You see, when Jesus died, all of those in the family of God received an inheritance because He, being the body of God, died, which allowed you legally able to inherit what's coming to you as a child of God. And what is that inheritance? The kingdom.
You see, when Jesus walked the earth, the same body that His spirit was in is the same body that walked through Eden. The same body that Jesus wore two thousand years ago is the same body that Moses saw on the mountain. Jesus wore the body of our Heavenly Father. This is why Jesus said, "When you see me, you have seen the Father." And again, in Hebrews 10:5, notice what Jesus said about His Father. He said, "Sacrifices and offerings you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me." And again, in Philippians 2:6, it read, "Although He, Jesus, was in the very form of God, which is His body, He didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped." And again, in Colossians 1:15, it reads, "The Son is the image of the invisible God. He is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation." Which clearly shows that Jesus is the image, the visible, physical representation of the invisible Spirit of God. So now that we know Jesus literally possessed our Heavenly Father's body, we see a great mystery here. God loved you so much that He allowed for His own body to experience suffering, to experience humanity, to experience death through Jesus, so that we could inherit His kingdom. And if that ain't love, I don't know what is.
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But now, let's take a look at what Jesus talked about often. We explored how Jesus talked about the kingdom of God. Often, it was one of His main messages. He always spoke about the kingdom of God. In fact, most of His parables began with "the kingdom of heaven's life," and then He would give a parable to help people understand the kingdom. He always talks about this kingdom. And the thing is, a kingdom is not a religion. And so it's really odd that, you know, when most people think of Jesus, they think, "Oh, that religious guy." You know, that's how the world looks at Jesus, as just another religious figure. However, when you really study the life and teachings of Christ, you see that His goal was not to bring a new religion. Christ said that He came to bring what? A kingdom. And in the previous episode, we looked at how a kingdom and a religion are two completely different things. You, I mean, you really cannot get more night and day than a kingdom and a religion, right? A religion is an organization that people create to understand God better. A kingdom is a government ruled by a king. Completely two different things. And so it's interesting because when you really study Jesus for yourself and look at His words, the first thing Jesus said when He began His public ministry was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Not the religion of heaven, but the kingdom of heaven. And when people would ask who He is, you know, Jesus let them know, "I am a king." You know, Pilate asked Jesus, "Who are you?" And He said, He let him know that, "Hey, I am a king." And His parables were largely about the relationship between a king and His people.
I can still mend doors, but I'm building something new now. God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And so we explored how the Bible is really not just about religion. It's primarily about the relationship between the King of Kings and His people, who have the opportunity of being citizens of His kingdom. If there was one thing Jesus wanted to make sure they understood, it was the kingdom. "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. As you go, preach this message: The kingdom of heaven is near."
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"Why do you speak to the people in parables? The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path." Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared." He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants."
Paul said that in Christ, we have become citizens of God's kingdom. But even more importantly, we are members of His household. And so, not only are we able to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven, but the King calls us family. That's amazing. And it gets even deeper than that because Paul identified himself as an ambassador. We looked at how the scripture says that, yes, even though God is our Father and we are members of His household, He still wants to hire us to work for Him. Not anything odd about that. Some parents hire their kids to work for them. That's how it is. You know, we're in the family business here. And that family business is a kingdom business. And it's our King, God, our Father, who has hired us to work and represent His kingdom in the world as ambassadors of His kingdom. He wants us to represent Him in every area of life. And so, in short, there's just so much there to show that, you know, the Bible and Jesus, it's not just about another religion. In fact, it never was really intended to just be about religion. Religion is in the Bible. It's a part of the Bible because religion is a part of humanity. You know, you will never have humanity without bumping into religion. So religion is in the Bible. Even James says that there is such a thing as pure religion, which is to care for the orphans and those who need help. So religion is a part of the Bible. It's a part of humanity. But the Bible, in its totality, is bigger than just religion. If I could sum it up, really, I would say that it's more so about a King, His kingdom, and us, His family.
Jesus came to really bring the kingdom of God in a powerful way. And that is not something that just happened or was spoken of in the New Testament, but even in the Old Testament, the prophets foretold that this Messiah, He would come to establish the kingdom. Now, to really get deep with this, we need to look at the kingdom of David because, as it says, "He will reign on David's throne." So what is that referring to? Well, the kings of ancient Israel and Judah were Saul, and then after Saul, you had King David, and then you had King Solomon. Now, of course, we know that Saul was a man who, uh, initially started out as being someone who wanted to please God, but then he got caught up into pride, he got caught up into sin, and that led to the downfall of his [Music] kingdom. And that kingdom then was given to David. And even King David himself was a man after God's own heart. He was a man who God favored. But God was with David. He even allowed Dave to defeat Goliath, and He allowed David to be a great warrior who could just destroy nations easily. But even David himself, as a man, as a human, was not perfect. He had shortcomings. [Music] And so his kingdom was then transferred to his son, Solomon. And then Solomon was known as the wisest king of all. He was very blessed and even established the temple of God with the kingdom that was given to him. However, Solomon also, in his humanity, fell victim to his own lusts. He fell victim to pride and to wanting to please other people, even to the point of allowing foreign gods to be set up in the kingdom that God had blessed him with. And because of that, his kingdom also crumbled. And so, with Saul, David, and Solomon, what we have here is a united kingdom. After that trio fell, the kingdom began to be divided, and there were many kings, both from the house of Israel and from the house of Judah. But it never was quite what God originally wanted, and that was for a united kingdom. A united kingdom.
Now, technically, technically, God wanted to be the ultimate King over His people. Right? He always wanted to be the ultimate King. They didn't really want Him. They wanted a human King to rule among them. So they prayed to God and asked His prophets to please allow a King to be set up, so someone could rule over, someone that we could see. And so God then allowed them to have King Saul. But God began to show His people, Israel, that really, no human is going to ever be able to be King over you like I can be King. And so what's going to happen is that even though God allowed His people, Israel, to have kings because they wanted a King to rule over them, He's going to show them that actually, the ultimate King has always been Himself. And He is going to make a promise regarding David, and He's going to basically prophesy that one day there will be a King that comes from the lineage of David who will rule over His people in a united kingdom, and this kingdom will last forever.
So let's take a look at this. We are given a great prophecy regarding the kingdom of God and how He is going to raise up a new King for them from the lineage of David. So here we have the prophet Nathan speaking to David and letting David know that your kingdom is not going to completely be destroyed. God will raise up from you a ruler. As it reads, "The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." Now, this is where it gets deep. "And I will be his father, and he will be my son." Here we hear that Nathan is prophesying to David, who is basically almost, his kingdom is almost in shambles here. And then Nathan lets David know, "You're going to one day have a son." Now, David did have King Solomon, and he was a great king, but his kingdom didn't last forever. It had a lot of issues. And then after that, we had many kings that came about, and they all had issues. All their kingdoms had risen and then they fell. And so none of these here fit the qualities of the prophecy that was given here because He says to David that God is going to raise up from you a King who will establish it forever. And then He says that this King who will one day come, God says, "I'm going to be his father, and he will be my son." That's huge. That's huge because here, really, really, we are told kind of what Isaiah said, that there will be this coming King, and He would be the Son of God. "And when he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands." Okay, when he does wrong, I will punish him. When did Jesus do wrong? He never did. He never did. He never did wrong. He was sinless. But watch this. He was punished by human hands. When was Jesus punished by human hands? When He took on the sins of the world. You see, He was flogged. He was crucified by human hands. Why? Not because of what He did wrong, but because of our sins, because of our wrongdoing. He was punished. Look at this. He was punished, which was really on us because He took on our sin. But look what it says. Look what it says. "But my love will never be taken away from him as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me, and your throne will be established forever." The prophet Nathan told David that one day, David, God is going to raise up from you a King who will be the Son of God, who will have a kingdom that will last forever.
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The kingdom of God, in a way, was colonized through people. Okay? God always wanted to be the ruler over His people, right? He always wanted to be the ultimate King. They didn't really want Him. They wanted a human King to rule among them. So God basically allowed Saul to be representative of the kingdom of God on earth over His people. Okay? And then Saul set up a kind of like a colony of God's kingdom on earth. And because he was supposed to keep the laws of God, he was supposed to manage people by the structure of God's kingdom. But Saul himself was a human who made mistakes. He had many issues. And so Saul, he did many things that displeased God. And God basically showed His people, Israel, that through a series of kings, because they wanted a human King to rule over them, He showed them through a series of kings that every King that they would get would fail the qualities of the King they need. Now, the point I want to make is this: God always gets what He wants. God always gets what He wants. And the reason why I say this is because what did God always want? He wanted an earth that was perfect. He wanted people who loved Him, and He wanted to be King over them. And guess what's going to happen? He's going to get what He always wanted. One day, He's going to get a perfect earth. He's going to get people who choose Him, and He's going to be King over us all. He always gets what He wants.
The people wanted a King to rule over them, but God wanted to always be their King. And they said, "God, we want a human King. We want a human King." And so God basically does something amazing. God basically, in His wisdom and magnificence, says, "Okay, I want to be King over you, but you want a human King. Okay, I'm going to allow you to have human Kings to show you how they can never measure up to Me. But since I told you that you could have a human King, and I want to be your King, I'm going to make Myself human so I can still be King over you, so that you can still have that human King, and it would be Me on the throne in Jesus Christ, because I always get what I want." You know, they got their human Kings. They didn't measure up. Okay. Solomon was great. David was great. They were all great guys, but God wanted to be King. They wanted a human King. So God just basically allowed Him to be in human form so He could still be King over them.
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Now, when Jesus spoke about the kingdom, He spoke of it in two phases. The first phase is about our reality as living in the kingdom today, as citizens on the earth in this age. The second phase that Jesus often spoke of was how the kingdom will be when He returns. And when He returns, oh, it's going to be something else. He's going to literally bring His physical throne down on this earth. There will be no other government on this earth. There will be no other sovereign. His name will be the only name. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess Jesus is the only Lord. And not to mention, you will have an immortal body. But that's another topic. One day, we're going to get into what that's going to be like. But now, okay, that's the future. But now, you are already a citizen of God's kingdom. Which means we better make sure we understand exactly how kings operate.
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