The Kingdom Of God
Spiritual Building-Stone No. 102

All Christians pray as Jesus said: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (St. Matthew 6:9-10).

So this is a Kingdom people that professes that this is not their home. This is not our home. We are looking for the coming of the King to set up the Kingdom.

And in St. John 14:1-3 we read: "In my Father's house are many mansions (or: in my Father's Kingdom are many palaces): if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

Here some further excerpts from the messenger for this Laodicean church age:

And we see the condition of time. We see the condition of people. We see the condition of politics. We see the condition of the world. It can't stand. It's got to sink like the Titanic. It must go down. For one nation gives room to another as it falls. And this kingdom must fall and every other kingdom to give room to that Kingdom that's coming which cannot fall. For we receive a Kingdom that cannot be moved - an eternal Kingdom (Heb. 12:27-29).

Every government is controlled by the devil. There's coming a government who will be controlled by Christ; but that's in the millennium. But these governments now, no matter how well we think they are, yet the back of them they're dominated by Satan. Satan is the head of all political power of every nation. Satan took Jesus up to a high mountain, and he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world that ever was, or ever would be in a moment of time. "These kingdoms," he said, "are mine; I do with them whatever I wish to. I'll give them to You, if You'll worship me." Then Jesus said to him: "Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord they God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Matt. 4:8-10). Jesus never argued with him. He knew that He was going to fall heir to them.

Satan was trying to give them over to Jesus without sacrifice. See? It was a bargain that he was going to make Him. But the world had sinned, so the penalty of sin was death, and He had to die (Rom. 6:23). That's why God was manifested in flesh so He could take death on Him to pay the penalty. It's absolutely freely paid! All the debt's paid (Col. 2:13-15). It belongs to Him now. And we are delegates of His Kingdom assembled here together in the Name of Jesus Christ, our King, setting in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).

Satan will make you all kind of promises, but he has nothing to give you, because he don't have nothing. He don't have no salvation. What is Satan? Anything contrary to the Word. He doesn't have salvation. He doesn't have Light. His kingdom is darkness; the end thereof is death. Darkness and death is Satan's kingdom. ...Again: What is Satan's kingdom? Anything contrary to the Word of God.

Now, that's cutting, but it's time for cutting. See? The branch, the tree, if it's going to bear, must be pruned. It's time.

Anything contrary to the precepts of God, the Word of God, is not God. What is it? What is sin? Righteousness perverted. What is death? Life perverted. What is the kingdom of Satan? Anything that's setting something to take the place of the Word, anything, any teaching. One word, just one word. You might believe every bit. Eve believed every bit of It to that one Word. That one Word's all she needed to disbelieve. That one Word is all you need to disbelieve.

Now, let's look at it. The only way to stay in Divine fellowship was keep that Word. God said, "Thou shalt do this. Thou shalt not do this. Thou shalt do this, and you can do this and do this. But don't do this." Now, just one little piece of a commandment that she disobeyed, and started the whole thing... (Gen. 2:15-17; Gen. 3:1-7). Because she did that, made every hungry child that was ever in the world, every pain of death, every sorrow, every heartache. She did it right then. What a horrible thing to disbelieve God's Word (St.John 16:9; St.John 3:36).

Oh, feasting on these heavenly promises of His promised Word for this age, oh, knowing, with a absolute assurance of faith, that there's coming a new heavens and a new earth... Amen. A new heaven and a new earth, for this first heaven and first earth will pass away (Rev. 21:1). But in this new heaven and new earth, Paul said over here in the Book of Hebrews, he said, "For we receive a Kingdom that cannot be moved" (Heb. 12:28). How did we get into it? Not by a religious system, but a Kingdom of God is within you. The King and His Word is the same, and It's within you, vindicating the hour that we're now living in. The promise that God made for this age, here we are, living with the King, setting in heavenly places, watching Him doing these things.

And how can we turn from that Word to some system? What does it do? It denies the Word. You have to reject Truth before you can have an error. That is exactly right. Do you believe that?

This is the time to shake people. This is the time that God said there'd come a time, He shook Mount Sinai one time but there'd come a shaking again, that He wouldn't only shake Mount Sinai, but He'd shake everything that could be moved (Heb. 12:18-26). But did you notice the rest of the Scripture? "But we receive a Kingdom that cannot be moved." Hallelujah. Everything that can be shook will be shaken. The heavens will shake. The earth will shake. "Heavens and earth will pass away, but that Wordshall never pass away" (Matt. 24:35). "For upon this rock I'll build My Church, and the gates of hell will never prevail against It" (Matt. 16:18-19). Everything that can be shook will be shaken. But we receive a Kingdom which is the Word of God Himself, and God is His Word. He don't shake Himself. Amen. Oh, my. But we receive a Kingdom that cannot be moved; it's unshakable, said Paul, the Hebrew writer.

In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus said: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

Further we read in Colossians 1:27, "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

We are united under One vindicated Headship; that is Christ, the Word of God, not under any church. Then our Headship is a Kingdom.

"The Kingdom of God is within you," said the Bible--Jesus. We are not a denomination. We belong to a Kingdom, and the Kingdom is the Word of God made Spirit and Life in our own life, bringing to pass every promise in this day as it did in that day when the Word and God was One. And the Word and God is One in His Church today, making it the Headship of the Body that is redeemed to bring the message in the last day and be taken up from the dead in the resurrection to go back and to restore again as Adam and Eve in the beginning of the garden of Eden.

Once more: I Corinthians 4:20 says the Kingdom of God is His Word made power. The Kingdom of God is God's Word made power. What is the Kingdom of God? Is within you. The Kingdom's in you. And when the Word comes in there, what does this Word begin? It turns Itself into power, making It say just exactly what It said.

You stay with the Word. There it is. See? And It makes It power, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever." Jesus said in St. John 14:12,

"He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also." "If ye abide in Me and My Word in you, you can ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. If ye abide in Me and My Word in you..." (St.John 15:7-8).

It's true that the big church shines and glitters with polished theology, while the Kingdom glows with humbleness, the poor and humble. The Gospel don't shine; It glows. Fool's gold shines; real gold glows. There's a difference between a glow and a shine. We know that. While the big church glitters and shines with high-polished scholars, fine pews, crucifix all over the wall, and the highest and finest of structures and buildings, and great towering things, all like that; the little Kingdom, down in some little alley like here somewhere is glowing with the glory of God, filled with the humble in heart, God working in them, healing the sick, and raising the dead, and casting out devils, and so forth like that; just letting them pass on by.

A man said the other day to me, standing and talking, he said, "Well, what denomination do you belong to?"
I said, "None."
"What?"
"None," I said, "I belong to a Kingdom."
"Well, how do you join that?"
"You don't join it; you are borned in it."
"What kingdom is that?"
I said, "The mystical Body of Jesus Christ. By one Spirit we're baptized into this Body, borned of His Spirit, then we belong to a Kingdom" (I Cor. 12:13; St.John 3:1-8). Then, we look different, we think different, we act different, we live different. Not because it's a duty or we belong to church, but because of "the love that God has shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 5:5), that makes us fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God, then there is no denomination or barriers in that. We're all one great Body. And our lives are not Americans; we're not Germans; we're not nothing; we're Christians. We are settled and walk in the Spirit, a love slave (from the things of the world). And our rights to the world we sold out and bought this Pearl of great Price, and walk and let the Holy Spirit manifest Itself (Mat. 13:45-46). That's what His real Church is. That's what you are, or what I am, if we'll let ourselves go and serve God by His Word and not by what some creed says.

You're baptized into this Kingdom, and there's nobody in there but you and God. See? He gives the orders, and you pack them out. Whatever He says, there's not a shadow of doubt nowhere; you walk right on. If the Lord says this, there's nobody in the world can talk you out of it; you go right on just the same.

God made a plan for man to be saved. And man cannot add anything to that plan. It's God's plan. And that's the plan that we want to study. What is God's plan? He said, "Let every man's word be a lie, Mine be the Truth." Therefore, we'd be daresn't to change one sentence to make it something else. No matter how much our rituals and so forth reads, we got to forget that. This is God's Word. Just can't be done no other way. God has a plan; He's made a plan.

And, remember, to the first thing, until you're borned again you'll never understand. Twice He spoke it. "Except a man be born again he cannot enter the Kingdom. Except a man be born again he cannot even see the Kingdom" (St.John 3:3-5). Now, that's punctuated too. The word, in the making all those words, they tell me that they had to write it out, they, and when they say, "Verily, verily," that's a punctuation, like a capital. "Verily, verily, I say unto you." And the word in one place, or many places, it's translated "absolutely": "Absolutely, absolutely, I say unto you." Who said that, did a cardinal, priest, pastor, evangelist, pope? God Himself. Now, there's no excuses. He will in nowise, nowise at all, cannot in any other way, no matter how great he is, what his name is, how big he is, or how popular he is, he cannot even understand the Kingdom of God until he's born again. It's a great subject. "Verily, verily, I say unto you." Watch. Go get the Greek translation; you'll find: not see with your eyes, you see with your heart. See, you can't see the Kingdom of God with your eyes, because it's a spiritual Kingdom. See? In other words, "You'll never be able to understand the Kingdom of God until you are borned again." It's all an unrevealed mystery. And when you're borned again, the plans of the Kingdom, the Kingdom itself becomes real to you.

Like a contractor to build a building, unless he could read a blueprint, there's no need of him trying to build the building, if he doesn't understand the blueprint. And then when he understands the blueprint, then he knows how to build the building. That's the way it is. That's what happens about building the Kingdom of God. You've got to understand the Blueprint, and you won't know the Blueprint until you're born again.

"Well, I live in America." Well, that don't make any difference. That don't make you anything. God don't respect me because I'm an American. He doesn't respect a German because he's a German, or a Poland because he's from Poland. He doesn't respect a African because he's from Africa. God's not interested in Africa, neither is He interested in Germany, or neither is He interested in the United States. God's interested in one Kingdom, and that's the Kingdom of God, and men from allnations come into It. And they're borned into It through the Seed of Abraham, which was Jesus Christ, and are heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:16).

Daniel saw Him as a Rock hewed out of the mountain, rolled in and strike the image in the feet, and break it to pieces, and the Kingdom of God grew (Daniel 2:31-35). When Christ takes over in the millennium, there'll be no sickness, no sorrow. Every, all the arms will be beat into plowshares, and will study war no more. That's all. It'll all be over when Jesus comes. Until then, as long as Satan's dominating the nations, then there'll be wars and rumors of wars until Jesus comes. Amen.

And I'm saying my Christian friend, no matter what church you belong to, wherever you are, if you're not into the Kingdom of God by the baptism of the Holy Spirit bringing you into the Body of Christ, you press in now, for you don't know what hour He's coming.

God is a holy God. And when a man is borned of the Holy Spirit, he's a candidate. He's not only that, but he's a king; he's a prince. He's from another nation. His Kingdom is above. He's filled with God's power, God's Presence. The woman that does that, puts on clothes. The man lives decent and true to his wife. The wife lives true and decent to their husbands. They want nothing of the world. Their affections are set on things above. They're finished with the things of the world. They are new creatures in Christ. And they're holy, live it; not them holy, but the Holy Spirit governing them. They don't have their own mind; the Holy Spirit moves in them. That's the reason they act crazy to the people of the world, because they're moved by a Spirit of another Kingdom.

Therefore, we are pilgrims and strangers here; this is not our abiding place. But we are seeking a city to come whose Builder and Maker is God (Heb. 11:8-10,13-16). Therefore, when you are borned of above, you have the Holy Spirit coming down from God, that changes your nature. No matter, your sister, your mother, your best friend could be dressed that way (according to the taste of this world); but the Christian that's borned of the Spirit of God is born from above, and their Spirit is of another Kingdom. Oh, I'm so glad of that. The simpleness of the Holy Spirit, to follow It, to watch It, how It behaves, makes you behave...

And so will this age meet exactly to the sign and wonder and thing that God promised to do in this last days. And the Church Itself will be ready and will go in the rapture with Jesus, because we receive a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. It cannot be moved. Heavens and earth will pass away, but this Kingdom shall never pass away. Amen. I'm glad to be in that Kingdom. Aren't you happy to be in It?

Now, we see the promise being fulfilled. Christ, the true Headship coming in His Bride, doing the same works that He did at the beginning, and making ready, and fulfilling His Word as He did at first in John 14:12: "He that believeth on Me the works that I do shall he do also." Then the Head and the Body are becoming one in works and in sign and in Life, vindicated by God Hisself through His promised Word for the last days. He promised this in the last days. Now, if you're spiritual, you'll catch it.

Then we can see that the marriage supper is at hand. Now, if I never see you again, remember, the marriage supper is at hand. And then the Kingdom according to the promise is ready to be issued in, the great millennium, the taking up of the Church, and the destroying of the wicked, and the world under the Sixth Seal to be purified by volcanic to take all the corruption and sin of the world, and to mold her out again, and to bring forth a bright new millennium for the age that is to come. When we see all these great threefold revelations: God in Christ, Christ in the Church, the Kingdom coming, Adam and Eve redeemed back to the garden of Eden in the representation of Christ and His Bride, and then the Kingdom is going to be restored according to His promise.

(God's purpose was:) First, to express Hisself completely: God in Christ. Second, to have the preeminences by this in His Church (which is His Body, Bride) to... He could have the preeminence to express Himself through them.

And thirdly, to restore the Kingdom to its rightly position that fell by sin by the first Adam, back to where He walked in the cool of the evening with His people, talked with them, fellowshipped with them.
"The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it-- every man presses into it" (St. Luke 16:16).

Not just simply walks into it easily, but it's got to be pressed into. See?
"Now, when you seek Me with all your heart, then I'll be found" (II Chron. 15:15; Jer. 29:13-14).

I believe there is a Bride that's predestinated. I believe God said He would have a Church without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27). I believe in predestination, that the Bride is predestinated; She's got to be there. I hope I'm with Her. See? I'm with Her. Now, it's up to me to work out my own salvation with God until these things are approved of God and then sealed into the Kingdom of God. There's the Holy Spirit. There's the genuine works of God. It's sealed until the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30).
"And He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 1:6).

"He hath made us!" Oh, there are certain truths we need to emphasize. This is one of them. HE! HE HATH MADE US! Salvation is His doing. Salvation is of the Lord. All of grace. He redeemed us for a purpose. He bought us for a purpose. We are kings, spiritual kings (I Peter 2:9-10). Oh, we are going to be kings upon the earth with Him when He sits on His throne. But now we are spiritual kings and we reign over a spiritual kingdom. It says in Romans 5:17, "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." And in Colossians 1:13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom (reign) of His dear Son." Right now we reign with Christ, having dominion over sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Showing forth His praise and glory; showing forth HIMSELF, for it is Christ in us, willing and doing of His good pleasure. Yes, indeed, even now we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).

"And made us priests." Yes, priests unto Him, offering the spiritual praise of sanctified lips. Spending our lives as a sweet offering unto Him. Worshipping Him in Spirit and in truth (St.John 4:24). Interceding and petitioning. Priests and kings unto our God. No wonder the world does not appeal to us and we are a peculiar people zealous unto good works (Titus 2:13-14). We have been recreated in Him to be children like unto our Heavenly Father.

Reference:
"How Can I Overcome", par. 19 / "The Masterpiece" (Vol.4 No.7), par. 77
"The Absolute" (Vol.3 No.18), pg. 5 / "Oneness" (Vol.10 No.2), par. 55-58 / 186-188
"Things That Are To Be", par. 54 / "World Again Is Falling Apart" (Vol.17 No.4), par. 172-174 / 175-177
"In His Presence" (Vol.11 No.4), par. 35
"Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed" (Vol.3 No.7), pg. 24-25 / 76 / 56-57 / 83
"Hebrews Chapter Six, Part III", pg. 255, par. 539 / "Paul A Prisoner Of Jesus Christ", pg. 26
"Oneness Of Unity" (Vol.2 No.7), pg. 10 / "Paradox" (Vol.15 No.8), par. 208
"Perfect Faith", par. 114 / "You Must Be Born Again" (Vol.11 No.5), par. 42-44
"Israel At The Red Sea", par. 51-53 / "The Uncertain Sound" (Vol.16 No.3), par. 438
"Oncoming Storm" (Vol.15 No.2), par. 84 / "Desperation", par. 43-44
"Blasphemous Names", pg. 26 / "The Revelation Of Jesus Christ", Church-Age-Book pg. 35-36

Spiritual Building-Stone No. 102 from the Revealed Word of this hour, compiled by: Gerd Rodewald, Friedenstr. 69, D-75328 Schömberg, Germany
Phone: (+49) 72 35 76 13, Fax: (+49) 72 35 33 06

There's coming one with a Message that's straight on the Bible, and quick work will circle the earth. The seeds will go in newspapers, reading material, until every predestinated Seed of God has heard It.
[Bro. Branham in "Conduct-Order-Doctrine", pg. 724]