Thy kingdom come
At the request of the twelve
Apostles, Jesus briefly told
them the things around
which their prayers should
be centered. In Matt. 6:9-13, Matthew gave us the account of
how Jesus began with the importance
of our need to approach "our Father
which art in Heaven" with praises
and accolades. The first thing which
He placed on our requests list was
"Thy kingdom come." This passage of Holy Scriptures
is quoted billions of times per day,
around the world, but I suspect that
there are very few who actually pray
for God to set up His kingdom on
Earth. However, some of us are
praying in this manner, and Jesus
will come, at the appointed time, to
"execute judgment upon all," and
rule upon the Throne of David until
"He shall have put down all rule, and
all authority and power." (1 Cor.
15:24,25) Two prominent
prophecies on the subject are Rev.
20:4, and Isa. 9:6,7. I was born an American, the son
of a long line of Americans, at least
as far back as my great, great-grandfather Lorenzo George
Washington McNabb, who was born
in 1823. But when I was ten years of
age, something wonderful happened
to me. I was born again, and am now
a fellow citizen with the saints of
God. America is not "The Kingdom of
God" as Israel was in the days of
King David and others. America is
not even a Christian nation, although
it was partially founded upon
Biblical principles. What I began to
realize, as a new creature in Christ
Jesus, is that I am only a pilgrim and
a stranger in this great land. All of
the great men and women of faith
who are mentioned in the eleventh
chapter of Hebrews had the same
testimony. In Hebrews 11:13-16, He
said, "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.
And truly, if they had been mindful
of that country from whence they
came out, they might have had
opportunity to have returned. But
now they desire a better country,
that is, an heavenly: wherefore God
is not ashamed to be called their
God." It has been easy, and somewhat
misleading to live in America up
until now. The matter of the
citizenship of those of us who are
"new creatures in Christ Jesus" has
been clouded by America's tolerance
for religion. The fact is, America is
the same as all other countries,
insomuch as they follow the
guidance of our adversary, the Devil,
which Jesus called, "The Prince of
this world." In 1962-1963, the
federal government of this country
began to show which side it is really
on, when they officially outlawed
participation in Christian prayers and
the reading of the words of our
Creator in the public domain. Oh, it
is still done to some "acceptable
degree," but that prohibition is the
official stance of this country.
During the last four decades, the U.S.
Government has gradually become
more and more anti-Christian. That
trend will rapidly increase in this
decade, and has already begun to do
so with the "war on terrorism." On 9/22/2000, an Israeli official
"violated" an Islamic religious area
in Jerusalem, and in so doing, Israel
once again became a sign, especially
to Christianity, by marking the
beginning of the last ten years before
the "marriage of The Lamb." Then,
on 9/11/2001, God gave another
special sign to those of us who have
eyes to see, and are seeking the
Kingdom of God and His
righteousness. The calamity of 9/11
was, in reality, a 9-1-1 call. It is
emergency time for the redeemed in
Christ Jesus who live in the West.
The whole prophecy of Zephaniah
shows that the destruction of the twin
towers in New York City and of the
Pentagon was an alarm against
Christianity first, and ultimately
against the secular world. (See 1
Pet. 4:17) The general Christian conception
of 1 Thess. 4:13-18, has clouded the
truth concerning those things which
accompany the return of our Lord.
One of those things is "the trump of
God." If we are to understand that
trumpet we must go to Exodus
chapter nineteen for our
enlightenment. God said in Isa. 8:20,
"To the law and to the testimony: if
they speak not according to this
word, it is because there is no light in
them." Exodus nineteen shows us that
the trumpet which accompanies
Jesus' return sounds long and
gradually "waxes louder and louder."
And in Zephaniah 1:10-16, we are
told that the events of Sept. 11th of
this year was a sign to us that we are
now in "A day of the trumpet." God
has announced the beginning of the
judgment of Christianity, and He will
finish it before the year of Jubilee. (1
Pet. 4:17) Thus shall be fulfilled the
words of Jesus, "They shall be
beaten with many stripes, ... or few,"
depending upon the extent of their
knowledge of the will of God. (Luke
12:47,48) That judgment will come
by way of the U. S. government, and
ultimately by the U.N., (Rev. 17:1-18) as this country, for the next
several years, having now received
the heart of a beast, speaks "with the
voice the dragon." The Year of Jubilee is the last
year of the first six-thousand years
from the creation of Adam. It is also
the year of the resurrection and of
our change. Further, it is the year of
the "Marriage of the Lamb." The
bride will have made herself ready
before that year by clothing herself
"in fine linen, which is the
righteousness of the saints." In Romans 2:1-16, The Apostle
to the Gentiles told us about this
"day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God; Who
will render to every man according to
his deeds: To them who by patient
continuance in well doing seek for
glory and honour and immortality,
eternal life: But unto them that are
contentious, and do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness,
indignation and wrath, Tribulation
and anguish, upon every soul of man
that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and
also of the Gentile; But glory,
honour, and peace, to every man that
worketh good, to the Jew first, and
also to the Gentile: For there is no
respect of persons with God." God raised up the nation of Israel
and blessed them with "the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and
the giving of the law, and the service
of God, and the promises," and the
Kingdom. As King David said, it
was not Israel with which Goliath
fought, but "the armies of the Living
God." The nation of Israel did "not
obey the truth," though a remnant
did, therefore Jesus told them, "The
kingdom of God shall be taken from
you, and given to a nation bringing
forth the fruits thereof." (Matt.
21:43) For almost thirty years now,
God has been making promises to the
Gentiles, and covenants as well. Between now and the year of
Jubilee, God will raise up a nation,
similar to the way in which He raised
up the nation of Israel. (He brought
them up in a strange country and
then led them out with a mighty
hand.) Then, in due time, God will
give to that nation The Kingdom of
God on Earth. The shadow of that is
given to us in the exodus of the
nation of Israel from the land of
Egypt. Moses spoke of it in this
fashion in Deut 4:34. "Hath God
assayed to go and take him a nation
from the midst of another nation, by
temptations, by signs, and by
wonders, and by war, and by a
mighty hand, and by a stretched out
arm, and by great terrors, according
to all that the Lord your God did for
you in Egypt before your eyes?" God must give birth to a Gentile
Christian nation within another
nation, for which cause God has
raised up the United States of
America. In Daniel 2:31-36,41-45,
God used the stone which was hewn
out of the mountain to reveal that a
small group of Christians must break
away from a larger group. That
"stone" shall smite the United
Nations in the days of the Group of
Ten and shall become a great nation
and fill the whole Earth. He said, "In
the days of these (ten) kings shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed: and
the kingdom shall not be left to other
people, but it shall break in pieces
and consume all these kingdoms, and
it shall stand for ever." In order to accomplish this, God
shall raise up a mighty prophet
foreshadowed by Moses, and two
mighty prophets foreshadowed by
Moses and Aaron. By these two or
three witnesses, God shall deliver
that new, holy nation out from under
the host nation just about the time
that the edict shall go forth to
persecute them unto death. The Holy Scriptures are clear
concerning the rulership of Jesus
Christ upon the Earth. "Of the
increase of his government and peace
there shall be no end, upon the
Throne of David, and upon his
kingdom, to order it, and to establish
it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even for ever. The
zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this." (Isa. 9:6,7) Where is
this "Throne of David?" We know it
is not Jewish, because Jesus said He
would take it away from the Jews,
and give it to another nation. When God said "David," we tend
to forget that King David was the
shadow, not the true. The Throne of
David was the shadow of the good
thing to come. (Heb. 10:1) Whoever
prepares that throne for Jesus to sit
upon to rule the world when He
returns is the person who is implied
by the prophetic use of the term
"David." Isn't that what we are
meant to hear from the words of the
Ethiopian eunuch? "The eunuch
answered Philip, and said, I pray
thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this? of himself, or of some other
man? Then Philip opened his
mouth, and began at the same
scripture, and preached unto him
Jesus." Where shall we look for this
"Throne of David?" Jesus "ordered"
it when He was here the first time,
and we must "establish it" for Him to
sit upon when He shall return. (Isa.
9:6,7) Isaiah spoke of it on this
fashion, in Isa. 16:1-5. "Send ye the
lamb to the ruler of the land . . ., unto
the mount of the daughter of Zion.
...Take counsel, execute judgment...
And in mercy shall the throne be
established: and He shall sit upon it
in truth in The Tabernacle of David,
judging, and seeking judgment, and
hasting righteousness." Isaiah gave
us the prophecy, but it was King
David himself, who gave us the
shadow when he prepared a tent for
the Ark of the Covenant, with the
"Mercy Seat" upon it. David pitched
a natural tabernacle for the natural
Mercy Seat (2 Sam. 6:17), but Paul
told the Corinthian Church that in
this era we are supposed to look for
a spiritual one. (1 Cor. 15:46) When
Jesus built the Church among the
Jews, He did it in such a way that it
would be a tabernacle for His throne,
but it went down. (Jude 4) This becomes even clearer as we
read about the council in Acts
fifteen. James declared that the
Gentiles should not be burdened with
unnecessary things such as
circumcision, because of the
prophecy in Amos 9:11. He said,
"Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
Simeon hath declared how God at
the first did visit the Gentiles, to take
out of them a people for his name.
And to this agree the words of the
prophets; as it is written, After this I
will return, and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is fallen
down; and I will build again the
ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
That the residue of men might seek
after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
upon whom my name is called, saith
the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world." God had been prophesying, from
the beginning of the world of the day
when He would call forth a group of
Gentiles in the United States of
America, and with them prepare a
nation and a throne upon which Jesus
will sit and rule the world for a
thousand years. We have now come
to the time when these things must
take place. The United States of
America must soon cast us out or
crush us, but God has ordained that
He should raise up unto us a prophet
who shall deliver us from their hand.
We are now in the days of the voice
of the seventh angel in the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, during
which he shall sound his trumpet and
"the mystery of God should be
finished" and great voices in heaven
proclaim, "The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord and of His Christ; and He
shall reign for ever and ever." The
voice of that trumpet is sounding
now, and shall sound long and grow
louder and louder until Christ Jesus
shall appear, and that great year of
Jubilee shall come and the dead shall
be raised and we shall be changed. In that great year of Jubilee it
shall be heard "as it were the voice of
a great multitude, and as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of
mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia:
for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give honour to him: for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and
his wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of the saints. And he
saith unto me, Write, Blessed are
they which are called unto the
marriage supper of the Lamb." "And
(the messenger) saith unto me, These
are the true sayings of God." By C. Eldon McNabb