"And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26

"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My Name, I will require it of him." Deuteronomy 18:18-19

"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17

Good morning, friends, and truly a good morning it can be, and even to extend throughout the entire day, to you who are the children of the living God!

Again I want to talk to you about the kingdom of God for human beings here on earth right now; it is such a wonderful subject. Where is the person who doesn't want to be successful and happy? I believe that is human nature. I have personally found and thoroughly understand the means of achieving it; therefore, I believe that I can also help you to enter into that selfsame estate of peace of mind and abiding happiness. Not only happiness, but that wonderful feeling of satisfaction in knowing that life can be an unending series of achievements in ever greater accomplishment.

So without further preliminaries, let me take you right back to where I left off in my last message. I had shown you how God had commanded man to have dominion over the beasts of the earth, the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air, and over everything that moves upon the face of the earth. And I tried to explain to you that although we are justified to take God literally, to such extent as we are able to apply it, yet I believe it goes without argument that God was not too much interested as to whether a man would ever succeed in taming and training a lion to jump through rings of fire at the crack of the whip. We have looked upon these little and inconsequential things as constituting the chief thought that God tried to convey to man. That is tremendous error. God was only interested in conveying to man the basic precepts or understanding of how to live successfully on earth, and how to become a son or a daughter of God Almighty, in the fullest sense.

Man has looked to the beasts of the jungle and considered it a challenge to tame them. We might say this is commendable. Man has looked to distant horizons and foreign lands: how he might go in to conquer another people and exploit them. Maybe some of us think that this has been commendable. And now man is looking to outer space: to the moon, to Mars, to the planets and the sun and to the solar system in general, and, no doubt, eventually to other solar systems, wondering what lies beyond our earth, and to what extent we might be able to exploit the wonders which exist in outer space. Maybe some of us think that this is commendable. But man in his madness to reach out, to conquer and to rule and to exploit, has completely overlooked the first basic factor, which is by far the most important; and that is that man should first learn to understand himself, and to fully subdue his bestial propensities, and gain control over his emotions, and be able to fully direct his thoughts. That was the great basic truth which God tried to convey to man, and the primary requisite to becoming His true sons and daughters.

In course of time, God raised up a man known to history as Moses. Through this man Moses, God foretold that He would raise up another Man much later, in the fashion of Moses, and that this Man should have such an understanding heart and great wisdom, that He would teach the people the fullness of truth with such great power and authority, that God said that whosoever would not hear, or accept the words of that final Messenger, Whom He termed "anoint-ed" (or, the Christ) – I repeat, "Whosoever would not hear that great Messiah, it would be required of him" (Deut. 18:15,18-19). That expression "it would be required of him" implied death. But the way that God used it here rather implied being cut off from the covenant given unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Through other prophecies, it is easy to establish that the predicted time of the Messiah's arrival unto His people coincided with the birth of Jesus the Nazarene. And when He was grown, He declared to the people that He was that promised Messiah and the very Son of God.

Now, let me remind you of the very first words that the Nazarene spoke to the people as He commenced His ministry: "Repent, for the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you" (Matt. 4:17). In some places we read, "is at hand," which has the same meaning as "having come nigh unto you."

I want you to think of those words against the background of the situation as then existed in Palestine. The people were under what is commonly termed "the iron heel of Rome." They had no machines, or modern inventions which we know and have and enjoy. Their ways were primitive and their life was an unending struggle of hard labor to wrench a simple existence from the soil. And to this was added the extra burden of taxation imposed by Rome. Wherein, then, can we see "the kingdom of God" so far as those people were concerned at that time? If those conditions constituted the kingdom of God, then indeed we haven't much to look for, in the terms of the kingdom of God. But what did Jesus actually mean? Hear my words carefully: it was He Who had come unto them, for He told them that He had come forth from God, even down from heaven itself, to minister unto them. And when He said that "the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you," He referred to Himself. He was that kingdom of God in miniature form. For emphasis I must repeat to you, "Jesus the Nazarene was that kingdom of God in miniature form." What an astounding statement. Yet it is one which can easily be established by the Bible, and I believe that all of you who will stop to think will also realize the deep, penetrating truth of this statement, that it was Jesus the Nazarene Who was the very kingdom of God in human form.

How can there be a kingdom without subjects to be ruled over? A kingdom implies two matters – a king and its subjects. Now then, the kingdom of God implies that kingdom over which God rules. On numerous occasions, Jesus said that He and His Father were one. And at different times He restated the same Truth in different words, such as "I always do the Will of My Father in heaven" (Jn. 5:30). And again, "The words that I speak unto you are not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works" (Jn. 14:10). And again, "My doctrine is not My Own, but His that sent Me" (Jn. 7:16). Again He said, "My Father has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that please Him" (Jn. 8:29).

From these numerous statements, we cannot help but conclude that He stated emphatically that He had placed Himself to the side in order that the Spirit of His Father might have full control and manifest through Him. Now then, if that was the actual fact, then we realize that it is correct what I have already told you, that Jesus of Nazareth was that kingdom of God in their midst. Whosoever becomes fully obedient to the Voice and to the Spirit of God, can properly be said to be ruled over by God. He is then the subject of God. God is then the great King, and that person His subject. Hence what I said a moment ago: in a miniature form He was the kingdom of God.

There was certainly no other kingdom of God that had come upon them, for the conditions continued to be precisely what they had been previously. But Jesus the Nazarene, having fully set aside His Own personality, thoughts and ideas, and offered Himself unto the living God as an absolute and total sacrifice, in order that the Will of God Almighty should be wrought through Him, could say truthfully that "the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you."

Because He was ruled over completely by God, and, through His Own free will, had offered Himself unto God, and had thus lived over the required period of time, He not only manifested the Will of God, but could wield the power of God through His spoken word. People have looked upon that power He wielded and thought of that as the kingdom of God. But that is only a small portion of truth, for to wield that power of God, He first had to be completely ruled over by God.

Let us not forget that God made man in His Own image. Is there any one of you as a parent, who will grant to a son or daughter the right and the power, through arrangement with the bank, to write checks on your account? I am sure that has been done plenty of times, but only under certain conditions: namely, when that son or daughter has grown to maturity, and throughout a period of years fully proven and convinced you that he or she thought the same way as you, had the same ambition as you, and worked for the selfsame objective, whatever that might happen to be. In other words, that your interests had been demonstrated to be the interests of your son or daughter. And when that has been fully demonstrated and proven over a period of time under different circumstances, then the right-thinking parent does not hesitate to give that son or daughter the authority to issue checks on that common account.

Today money can be said to represent the sum and substance of that for which we have labored and achieved. It is the equivalent of power in our world. Because of that, I have used this to illustrate the selfsame truth with reference to God and His relationship to man. We were born to be children of God, and to grow into sons and daughters of God. We were born to become His subjects, and to eventually constitute His kingdom. Therefore, said the Lord, the kingdom of God would never come upon the people through observation, that is, through outer or material conditions. It was not something that could be set up and established, but could only be if, as and when, and through that far greater and underlying prerequisite thereto, namely, that man puts his foot upon the beasts within his own nature, and commits himself fully to the rulership of God Almighty. Then, when the person is fully ruled over by God, doing His Will and bidding happily, then is he a subject of the Heavenly King. And when the similar condition obtains, with all of the other people constituting the community or the nation, then can it be said that in the external sense, the kingdom of God obtains.

But now as in the days of Moses, the people think that there are giants in the land, and that they are not able to wage successful battle with them. Therefore, the beasts within human nature rule the world, and fish of the sea and the birds of the air have their own sweet way, which has now continued for so long that man stands on the threshold of national catastrophe. He is preparing to bring upon himself the utter destruction of all life on the face of the earth. And in that he will succeed, unless God Almighty personally intervenes. Over that one great promise, we can rejoice – that our Lord told us very distinctly that those days would be cut short, because of those whom He had chosen, to the end that all life should not perish from off the face of the earth. Therefore came His Voice to me out of heaven, saying, "Call My people together." Therefore these messages, that you may learn that the kingdom of God is for the here and for the now, for you, as commencing at this very moment – if you will only hear and accept the word of our Lord. And that you may believe the days are upon us when a great storm shall arise, you must be shown how to acquire that shelter which will make you absolutely safe. Hear the words of God: your time is short to prepare for what tomorrow holds in store.

WHAT can we say of the days in which we live? That depends on the category to which the person belongs. IF you belong heart and soul to the kingdom of Lucifer, who is the ruler of our present order of things, then your "tomorrow" may become very serious. For, there is a great storm to arise, and that within an odd few years, when the citizens of Lucifer's kingdom will come into great tribulation – such as has never been before, no, not since man came upon earth. Therefore I warn you, that your time is short – to get prepared for the developments which will soon come to pass.

On the other hand, IF you have been REborn into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, then are you a citizen of the Lord's Kingdom. In that case you have nothing to worry about. For, emphatically has the Lord promised that He will fully look after and take care of His Own. He is even like an earthly father who labors without ceasing to provide for his children all their needs, and to see to their safety both for the NOW as well as into the years of their young manhood and womanhood.

To further help you, order these booklets: Destiny: Create your Own! This one carries a message of joy for all who will HEAR the word of Truth. And Port of Entry should be everyone's daily companion: it is worth much. The Sleeping Pilot is a companion-volume to Destiny: Create Your Own! as well as to Port of Entry. These three can be very helpful unto every Christian.