## [24] Jesus is the ruler of the next system of things, the Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom that Jesus preached about and that we all pray for in the Lord's prayer:

9 Our father which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
10 Thy kingdom come (Matthew 6 - King James Version)

There is no point in praying for it to come if you do not know what it is. It also helps to know when it actually does come! Jesus gave his disciples and us the signs of the times in Matthew 24, to alert us to the general period in which it would come. He describes these signs in answer to the questions below:

3 While he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things? (Matthew 24).
Just that one word 'privately' and that demand 'Tell us' shows that only his disciples will know when these things will be. So being blunt, if only we, the LWs, know precisely when these things will be, then only we, the LWs, are his disciples at this time. Although in truth, many Christians have recognised that the signs of the times are currently being exhibited. Part of his answer was:

14 And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come (Matthew 24).
The 'end', in the largest meaning of this scripture, is the end of 'this system of things', which obviously is the start of the next system of things. And the next or coming system of things is the Kingdom of God.

29 He said to them: Truly I say to you, There is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God
30 who will not in any way get many times more in this period of time, and in the coming system of things everlasting life (Luke 18).

So when Jesus was asked by Pontius Pilate, are you a King? God's favourite son replied:

36 My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source (John 18).
Whereas his apostle, John, said:

17 Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever (1 John 2).
So the world passes away to make room for the Kingdom of God. It was Eve's desire for Satan's status that kicked off 'The World', and Adam's desire for Eve's body kicked off death. But this new Kingdom of God is the final whistle on the World. And the end of the Kingdom of God is the final whistle on death. Here we have the first and the second Eden, the problem, and the resolution. 'The World' is the period between the two. The World is the primary school, the Kingdom of God is the secondary school. And although the Kingdom of God will have much more glory than the World ever had, the scripture remains saying:

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life (John 3).
Everlasting life in the Kingdom of God and thereafter.

### What will the Kingdom of God be like?

To see what this kingdom will be like we have the prophecy of Isaiah 65:

17 For here I am creating a new heavens and a new earth…
20 no more will there come to be a suckling a few days old from that place, neither an old man that does not fulfill his days, for one will die as a mere boy although a hundred years of age. And as for the sinner, although a hundred years of age he will have evil called down upon him (Isaiah 65)

This is very carefully worded. Babies and old men will not die during this kingdom, but sinners will. In other words people will not die of old age, and they will not die of illness, sickness, frailty, but they may die due to sin. Humans of 100 years old will be considered boys and will die not of old age but for life abusing sins. ‘New heavens’ does not mean a new physical universe, it means rather a new heavenly rulership for men. A new set of angels ruling over us.

21 And they will certainly build houses and have occupancy, and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and someone else have occupancy, they will not plant and someone else do the eating. For like the days of a tree will the days of my people be (Isaiah 65).

Trees can live for thousands of years (The sequoia tree lives for 2,000). There will be no economic slavery in this kingdom. A man will taste the fruits of his own labour himself. Furthermore every miracle that Jesus performed is an advert for our capabilities in the Kingdom. We will cure the injured, the lame and the blind. We will even raise the dead as Peter did with Dorcas and Paul did with Eutychus. So accidents will not be problems for long in the Kingdom. There will be no personal injury litigation!

These are just a few words but they describe one hell of a kingdom (if you’ll pardon the metaphor). The apostle Peter says of this kingdom:

3 For you know this first, that in the last days there will come ridiculers with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires
4 and saying: Where is this promised presence of his? Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep [in death], all things are continuing exactly as from creation's beginning.
5 For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God;
6 and by those [means] the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water.
7 But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.
8 However, let this one fact not be escaping your notice, beloved ones, that one day is with [the] Lord as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as one day.
9 [The] Lord is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.
10 Yet [the] Lord’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion,
12 awaiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah, through which [the] heavens being on fire will be dissolved and [the] elements being intensely hot will melt!
13 But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell (2 Peter 3).

So just as the world was destroyed by the flood of Noah, so it will be again by the fire of Armageddon. Neither of these destructions are planetary, they are both systemic. In fact the heavens were effected then too, because the demons who had come down to the earth to procreate with the women before the flood, were thrown into Tartarus.

4 Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.
5 And he did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly people (2 Peter 2).
Also since Peter refers to the Lord (a term which can mean either God or Jesus, but here means God) as not being slow respecting his promise, it is apparent that a day has been set when these things will occur. Now Peter refers to a day of judgement, and then says that a ‘day’ to God is a 1,000 years. From which we deduce that the day of judgement, the judgement day is 1,000 years long. The destruction of the ungodly men by fire is Armageddon and this battle kicks off the 1,000 year judgement day. We have already seen from Isaiah 65 above that people will die only due to their sins in the Kingdom of God, so the kingdom of God is a day of judgement. But the confirmation of the length of this Kingdom, and the fulfillment of both Isaiah 65 and these words of Peter is seen by the Apostle John in his visions of Revelation 20 and 21:

### The Kingdom of God lasts for 1,000 years

1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years.
3 And he hurled him into the abyss and shut [it] and sealed [it] over him, that he might not mislead the nations/ethic groups anymore until the 1,000 years were ended. After these things he must be let loose for a little while.
4 And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the axe for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a 1,000 years.
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
6 Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the 1,000 years.
7 Now as soon as the 1,000 years [of Satan's imprisonment, not of the Kingdom of God] have been ended, Satan will be let loose out of his prison.
8 and he will go out to mislead the nations, the [ones] in the 4 corners of the earth, [ This cannot be in the kingdom of God, as the 'earth' is the political administration of this world - see 'kings of the earth' in 19:19, and the 'nations' are of this world] the [antitypical] Gog [he is] and [the antitypical] Magog [is his land/administration], to gather them together for the war [Gog the chieftain of the land of Magog launched a disastrous attack on Israel and got pestilence, blood, flooding downpour, hailstones, fire and sulphur from Jehovah who sanctified himself at Gog's expense in Ezekiel 38,39 - In the final part of the years you will come to the land - In the final part of the days it will occur and I shall certainly bring you against my land - the prophets of Israel who were prophesying in those days, years as to bringing you in upon them]. The number of these is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the holy ones and the city, the [one] having been loved. But fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. (Revelation 20).

All we need to take from the above 9 verses of Revelation, is that the Kingdom of God lasts for 1,000 years. It is of course apparent from the scriptures that Satan is also locked up for 1,000 years. Now many churches equate these two periods. But reading the verses carefully reveals that Satan is let out of prison, to mislead earthly nations (a feature of this system and not a feature of the next) before the battle of Armageddon, 'the war' of verse 9. Whereas the 1,000 year Kingdom happens during and after Armageddon. When the Kingdom of God starts, 'the Devil', is thrown into the figurative lake of fire and Sulphur. But 'The Devil' here does not mean Satan. For in verse 2 above we read...

2 And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years.

The dragon and the original serpent both had a head and a body. Now just as the church is one body, the congregation, with one head Jesus Christ, so Satan's administration has one body, the body initially of the serpent in Eden but today of the dragon in Revelation, and one head, Satan himself. But both creatures are defined above as being both 'The Devil and Satan'. So Satan is being used to describe the head of both creatures and 'the Devil' is being used to describe the body of each creature. The word 'Devil' means slanderer, whereas the word 'Satan' means resister, or opposer. So it is Satan's entire organisation which is permanently destroyed in the lake of fire and sulphur. The sulphur symbolises everlasting fire...

10 And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were] (Revelation 20).

This is the everlasting destruction in the eyes of every reasoning being of the credibility of any government run in the way Satan has run this planet. It is not the everlasting destruction of any of the individual demons that were involved in Satan's disastrous attempt to run mankind.

14 And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.
15 Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire (Revelation 20).

This lake stands for the garbage dump at Gehenna (the Greek word for the Hebrew Geh Hinnom, which means the 'valley of Hinnom'). This valley was outside Jerusalem, and was where the dead bodies of criminals were burnt with fire and sulphur. It was Jerusalem's criminal crematorium. It stands figuratively for the second death, which is the death of the angelic soul but not of the spirit. It is a sin bin for spirits, and is referred to as the lake of fire only. It is the perfect prison, for how can one escape it without a soul?

### Who is resurrected into the Kingdom of God?

The ‘dead’ who come to life after the 1,000 years have ended is a reference to those who will be physically alive in the 1,000 year kingdom but still be under the death sentence that God passed on Adam, and so will still be condemned to death judicially, but not actually physically dead. Every one is judicially dead, until they are baptised in holy spirit. The holy spirit baptism is the only way to lift the Adamic death penalty indefinitely - see I34. Jesus used the same symbolism when he said:

22 Jesus said to him: Keep following me, and let the dead bury their dead (Matthew 8).

Since corpses cannot dig graves, the ‘dead’ grave diggers, must have been dead spiritually but alive physically. They were dead in the sense that they had not been ransomed, so they were still under the death sentence of Adam.

The apostle Paul tells us...

15 and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous (Acts 24).

The righteous ones are resurrected into the Kingdom of God, and are declared righteous by virtue of the various salvation covenants described in I26 in this website and U9 in the research site. The unrighteous are resurrected from the first death (which death is unconsciousness, which is existence in a sleeping angel) into the second death (which death is Gehenna, consciousness without a soul). Hence Jesus said in the parable of the sheep and the goats...

46 And these will depart into indefinitely lasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into indefinitely lasting life (Matthew 25).

### The Sea is No More

John sees this Kingdom in a vision, in the next chapter of Revelation:

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.
2 I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them.
4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away (Revelation 21).

The sea stands for uncoordinated, unruly, structureless mankind. It is those of mankind who do not want to accept authority (which can be from God). The earth stands for those with structure, who do accept administration and authority (which can be from God).. But at the end of the day, the earth does set the boundaries for and guides the waters, however fluid they may be. To see this consider the below scriptures..

12 Ha for the commotion of many peoples, who are boisterous as with the boisterousness of the seas! And for the noise of national groups, who make a din just like the noise of mighty waters! (Isaiah 17).

15 And he says to me: The waters that you saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues (Revelation 17).

6 He who is building in the heavens his stairs, and his structure over the earth that he founded; he who is calling for the waters of the sea, that he may pour them out upon the surface of the earth, Jehovah is his name (Amos 9).

So boisterous, unruly mankind ends at Armageddon. But the surface of the earth is 71% water and 29% land - see www.physicalgeography.net. This design is living, it is prophetic. It may be saying that 29% of mankind joins the last true religion before Armageddon. We do not know as yet. But we do know that 50% of mankind is saved by rapture at the end of this system and 50% is destroyed by fire - U43.

### The Animals and the Food in the Kingdom of God

In the garden of Eden and until after the flood, the sons of Adam were vegetarians - see U1 in the research site. The animals in the garden of Eden were vegetarians as well, existing in an enclosed environment protected from the rest of the carnivores and omnivores see also - U1. This garden was an archetype for the kingdom of God. In this kingdom man is a vegetarian and so is the Lion. What the Lion is going to do with his claws remains to be seen, unless God is creating fast moving vegetables in the Kingdom. In fact the way that animals interact in nature today is a prophetic declaration from God as to how mankind will treat each other. We know of many sharks, mad dogs, hermit crabs, lemmings, armies of ants and even snakes, worms and vultures, amongst the sons of Adam. And what is worse just as one animal will eat up everything that another animal is and has been, today, for every creative step that the idealist makes, there lies an opportunist waiting to steal his glory, his art, his science, his revolution from him without conscience, and to devour it for his own benefit, either destroying it or possessing it or exploiting it as if he had created it himself. This will not happen in the next system where one man will not eat the life or the works of another. Yes, the way that animals interact in the next system, which is the kingdom of God, will again declare man's treatment of his brothers. In this new Kingdom we will not eat each other for breakfast. Isaiah prophetically declares:

23 They will not toil for nothing, nor will they bring to birth for disturbance; because they are the offspring made up of the blessed ones of Jehovah, and their descendants with them.
24 And it will actually occur that before they call out I myself shall answer; while they are yet speaking, I myself shall hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb themselves will feed as one, and the lion will eat straw just like the bull; and as for the serpent, his food will be dust. They will do no harm nor cause any ruin in all my holy mountain, Jehovah has said (Isaiah 65).

6 And the wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the
calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them.
7 And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull.
8 And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra; and upon the light aperture of a poisonous snake will a weaned child actually put his own hand (Isaiah 11).
The literal meaning of this is that the Lion will be a vegetarian, and the serpent (those who used to be in Satan's organisation, they will be incarcerated to watch and learn from us human dust bags. There will be snakes in the Kingdom of God but they will not damage humans.

### Summary

[1] The Kingdom of God is a 1,000 year kingdom, starting with the destruction of ungodly men (the sea) by fire (which is Armageddon).

[2] Satan is deposed before Armageddon and imprisoned in Tartarus after Armageddon.

[3] The earthly subjects of this 1,000 year Judgement day do not die of age, and so do not age, and they do not die of disease, and so do not get sick, but they can be killed as a result of sin. These subjects make up the new earth. All of them accept God’s authority, and entrance is either by resurrection, or by being raptured at Armageddon.

[4] 50% survive Armageddon. The other 50% are killed not because they are not good enough, they are killed because they are not interested. Actually 10% of mankind are in the true religion at the end, God's farming tax percentage, the tithe, and the other 40% are, the citizens, saved by the rapture.

[5] God's creatures do not eat each other in the Kingdom of God - This does not mean that we should be vegetarians now however. In fact quite the reverse, Jesus was not a vegetarian, and Christians follow him.

[6] You will reap the benefit of your own hard work not someone else's hard work.

[7] There will be no money in the Kingdom of God. Things will get done out of love in response to needs, not out of greed in response to financial inducements.

44 All those who became believers were together in having all things in common,
45 and they went selling their possessions and properties and distributing the [proceeds] to all, just as anyone would have the need (Acts 2).

In a sense the Kingdom is perfect capitalism and perfect communism. More accurately it is perfect centrist politics with a fully functional safety net (social services) and a fully operational ladder (business opportunities).

Incidentally, every human who has ever lived after Adam (who passed or failed a spiritual test) is resurrected into the Kingdom of God or into Gehenna. They are resurrected in the reverse order to how they died. So that the children receive their parents into the Kingdom. This is a beautiful way that we can say thanks to them, for what they did for us in this system. This is one of the many meanings of Jesus' famous words: The last will be first and the first last (Matthew 20:16).