"…A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." Luke 19:12

Good morning, beloved – and truly a GOOD morning it can be to you!

Today let us look at things tomorrow, for, The Voice of Tomorrow reveals the things which are yet to come. I want to talk to you about the kingdom of God here on earth, in some places referred to as the "kingdom of the heavens." Let us look carefully to see what the kingdom of the heavens really is. And just why did not the Lord Jesus Christ establish this kingdom of the heavens while He was on earth, instead of returning again to His heavenly abode? If there is to be a kingdom of the heavens here on earth, in some future tomorrow, just why is it that we couldn't have it today? Is the kingdom of the heavens to come about here on earth through a magic push-button by the finger of Almighty God, or is it something for man to inaugurate? And is it possible for an individual to enjoy, here and now, the substance of the kingdom of the heavens? These are matters which will be discussed and answered in The Voice of Tomorrow as we go along.

In the Gospel accounts, the "kingdom of God" and the "kingdom of the heavens" are expressions used interchangeably. There is a considerable difference between the two, although it would appear that the Gospel writers did not make that distinction. Listen carefully: The Voice of Tomorrow will make these matters clear to you now: The kingdom of God is that kingdom, wherever it may be, where God is recognized as the absolute authority, and His every word and wish obeyed. We must assume that obtains in the heavenly realm, and over the angelic world which did not get roped into Lucifer's net at the time of his rebellion. The kingdom of God could also be said to exist on earth in any place where the people recognized and implicitly obeyed the chosen prophetic mouthpieces of God Almighty, such as Moses and other Prophets whom God commissioned. But so long as the people were not obedient to the Word of God, well, His kingdom could not be said to fully exist.

God fully realized, and that long beforehand, that human beings would not fully obey a human voice claiming to be from God, even though occasional and mighty signs were given. Carnal human beings have minds of their own and will do precisely what they wish to do, unless a sword or a gun point puts them into place and an iron heel keeps them there. Yet that is not the way of God. He has the power, but He also has the wisdom to know that whatever kingdom must be kept together and in order by the strength of sheer force or power, cannot be a kingdom of happiness. God is a Father, and a very loving Father at that. He wants His children to be happy children. This is normal for any normal parent. Therefore, that kingdom upon earth which He established for His true children, must be a kingdom of joy and happiness, and that can never obtain under a gun point.

Fully understanding these matters, God planned in the dim and distant eons of the past to establish on earth a kingdom for His true children; a kingdom of peace and abundance; of righteousness and overflowing happiness. Hear The Voice of Tomorrow: that kind of a kingdom is almost upon us; in fact, it is much closer to hand than you dare to believe. But this kingdom, soon to be established, is properly termed in the Scripture "the kingdom of the heavens." The King James Authorized Version uses the singular form – that is, "heaven" – while in the original Greek we find in every instance the plural used – that is, "heavens."

By this kingdom of the heavens, the Lord Jesus Christ referred to a kingdom to be established upon His return to earth – that is, a kingdom upon earth for earthlings, supervised and ruled over by the government of Christ, which will be located in our atmospheric and in our stratospheric heaven, extending into the spiritual heaven, which is the true abode of God Almighty. That is what is clearly alluded to in His parable of the certain Man Who went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom and to return (Lk. 19:12-27). The far country was His symbolic language for the true heaven into which His disciples and the five hundred saw Him depart (Lk. 24:50-51; I Cor. 15:6). There He was to abide until the kingdom had been received. To speak of a kingdom without its subjects becomes sheer foolishness; those He is to rule over constitute His kingdom. Therefore, He awaits in the heavenlies the required number of subjects to constitute His planned kingdom. When they have been received, then with that kingdom, or great company of subjects willing to hear and obey His Voice, He returns to our atmospheric and stratospheric heavens. His kingdom (that is, all of His subjects and Himself) will remain in our atmospheric and stratospheric heavens, instead of coming to earth; that is why it is called the "kingdom of the heavens." And it was that to which Paul referred in the clearest of language when he said, in writing to the Thessalonians about the return of Christ (in the fourth chapter of I Thessalonians, verses 16 and 17):

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

The Greek word rendered "so," is the equivalent of THUS. In other words, "...thus shall we ever be with the Lord"; which becomes the equivalent of saying that we meet Him in the air, and shall remain with Him in the air, or atmospheric heavens. Make not the mistake of believing that everyone who names the Name of Christ will be caught up in the air to meet Him. That is but wishful thinking. All of such promises are conditioned and only applicable to those who come within the specified category, or that particular category he specified as the "saints and faithful in Jesus Christ" (Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:2). To postulate that all of Christendom today are saints and faithful in Jesus Christ becomes fantastic. There are a great many classes of Christians, and God will divide them into groups. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of the good seed bringing forth some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, while others only thirty-fold (Matt. 13:23).

This kingdom of the heavens which will remain in the heavens will have direct and visible concourse with human beings. For, speaking of these things, it was written by the Prophet of old that, "...thine eyes shall see thy teachers: and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way; walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left" (Isa. 30:20-21). In that manner will God commence to set up His kingdom here on earth, which will be supervised and ruled over by His true kingdom which abides in the heavenlies. On earth it will commence as an embryo kingdom: that is, a small kingdom centered in Jerusalem and growing in size as people go voluntarily to join that kingdom.

Over 19 centuries ago when our Lord was on earth, He did not establish that kingdom of God for His people, for the simple reason that they were too carnal, they were too selfish and could think of nothing but their own interests and selfwill. Because God's Chosen People were not worthy of His goodness at the time, and far too carnal to receive Him as their supreme head, it became impossible for Him to establish the kingdom of God then and there; therefore, He withdrew again into the heavenly abode. Since His Chosen People rejected Him, He extended His mercies to encompass the Gentile nations. Now, for over sixteen hundred years, the Gentile nations have had their opportunity to implement His righteousness, and establish an order of things worthy of the Name of Christ. But we Gentiles, like the Jews of old, have rejected His absolute supremacy, and, by and large, fully repudiated His Word. Therefore did He declare thousands of years ago, that after we have had our chance to prove ourselves, and have been found wanting, that He would raise one nation against another to the end that man would destroy himself. This the Lord Jesus knew very well. For when speaking of the signs of the times that should indicate the very end of our era, He said,

"For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:21-22

That, my friends, is what our best scientists of today tell us: that if, as, and when a nuclear war comes about, it will be capable of destroying all life on the face of the earth. And those were the very words of the Lord Jesus; that unless God would interfere to cut that carnage short, no life would be left on earth. But God in His mercy declared that because of those whom He has chosen, He will personally interfere, or intervene, to cut short that time of savage destruction. Many years ago man could not understand those words of the Christ, for, His saying that no flesh could be saved, seemed just too fantastic for man to accept. But ever since the first atom bomb exploded in 1945, we have come to understand the horrifying possibility of His statement. And because He predicted the terrifying and killing power of the fission bomb, more than 19 centuries before the first one exploded, and more than 18 centuries before the smartest man could even dream about it, we must also accept His words, that God Almighty shall intervene to prevent the extinction of all life on earth. While His strategy to accomplish this is embodied in the events He has planned in connection with His bodily return to earth.

As the Son of God stood on earth over 19 centuries ago, His all-seeing eyes scanned the vista of ages yet to come; He beheld how men in their insanity would, in the final conflict of the ages, throw all discretion to the winds and release everything they could to the utter destruction of the other. And because powers would be more or less balanced, He beheld the mounting ferocity of man's supreme effort to destroy each other. As He foresaw the intensity of it growing so great, He knew that unless He would descend to personally intervene, all flesh would perish from the face of the earth!

But, wishfully thinking, we go about our self-centered lives, telling ourselves that our leaders will negotiate pacts and treaties, banning the bomb and maybe even securing disarmament. So there are conferences unending, and top-level meetings, and unceasing discussions in the vain hope and wishful thinking that war will not come, or that if it does come, it will not be in our time.

Yet the Prophet of God, well over 22thousand years ago, spoke of these very days, saying that He would send the cup of His great indignation unto the heads of all nations on earth and bid them drink. And He said that "when they tell you they will not drink, you shall tell them that they certainly shall drink" (Jer. 25:28). In those very words He forecast the psychology of these days which we see manifest in the treaties, conferences and unending efforts to secure an understanding of mutual coexistence without resorting to war. But in God's pronouncement that nations should certainly drink the cup of His fury, we know thereby that man's efforts shall fail.

That very fact is the key to God's establishment of His kingdom of the heavens on earth. I refer to the fact that most of humankind will have been wiped from off the face of the earth. Today our moneymad and pleasure-seeking people would not want for a split moment – any more so than the Jews of old – to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their head and supreme ruling authority. But after enough of human life has been destroyed through the horrors of savage carnage, much of the remaining portion of humans alive on earth will be panting with the full intensity of every fibre within their beings, and praying as they have never done before that Christ our Lord will descend to take over absolute control. And when that moment has arrived that He sees most human hearts eagerly waiting to see and receive Him, then, and not before then, will it become possible for Him to establish His kingdom, which is to be a kingdom of love, of peace, and of joy unspeakable.

According to the prophecies, the Kingdom of the heavens is soon to be established on earth. But you do not have to wait for that: right now you can commence to establish within yourself the Kingdom of God. It is not too difficult for any normal person. And so soon as you do, you start enjoying the fruits of the Kingdom of God.

*** The Kingdom of Jesus Christ is for our Here and for our Now! ***