“KINGDOMS BURNING OR
THE KINGDOM BLESSED?”
By: J.Farrell Fisher, June 3-4, 2017
There is a very interesting passage of Holy Scripture in Matthew 4:1-11 informing us of Satan’s attempt to turn Christ Jesus away from His eternal mission and purpose, as well as Satan coming against all true believers and pretenders, and even the unbelieving from allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords, tempting us all with lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life, and with the lust of the eyes!
The one thing you must grasp and hold onto in your journey is that Satan is out to keep you in the throes, the troubles, and, yes, the terrors of ‘kingdoms burning’, and turning one away from “Kingdom Blessed”!
Notice the Word as a strong foundation for this teaching! Matthew 4:1-11 we read: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” (Lust of the flesh!).
But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’. Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He (God) shall give His angels charge over you”, (Boastful pride of life!), and ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You fall down and worship me.” (Lust of the eyes!)
The Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Kingdom realities are something the devil himself is eternally interested in because in his ‘kingdom of darkness’ he longs to enlarge AND to pollute the “Kingdom Blessed” by King Jesus! (Boastful pride of life!).In Hebrews 2:14-18 the author of Hebrews enlightens us as to our Christ-given victory over “kingdoms Burning”, granting us a wide-opened Door into “Kingdoms Blessed”! The Word says:
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”
Yes, King Jesus Himself had before Him an open door to worldly temptations – it caused Him ‘great suffering’, but He never gave in to fleshly temptations! It was Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.192), who wisely wrote: “Temptation is not something we may escape, it is essential to the full-orbed life of a man. Beware lest you think you are tempted as no one else is tempted; what you go through is the common inheritance of the race, not something no one ever went through before. God does not save us from temptations, He succors us in the midst of them.”
Later, in Hebrews 4:15-16, the Holy Word declares: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let US therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
When ‘kingdoms’ are burning around us or in us, is there no help from the Lord God Almighty? In Jeremiah 8:21-22 the prophet mourned asking, out of the overflow of pain and misery, “For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?” But THERE IS!! His name is Christ Jesus, the Great Physician!
There’s an old Hymn written by J.H.Stockton and William Hunter published in the old “The American Hymnal.” It’s entitled “The Great Physician” – and I praise God that I learned it as a child, a teen-ager, and adult, and sang it as long as the old hymnals were published, then we came to the period of “new music” (?), much of it without solid foundations in the Word! The old hymn says:
“The great Physician now is near, The sympathizing Jesus; He speaks the drooping heart to cheer, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.
Your many sins are all forgiven, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus; Go on your way in peace to heaven, And wear a crown with Jesus.
All glory to the dying Lamb! I now believe in Jesus; I love the blessed Savior’s name, I love the name of Jesus.
Sweetest note in seraph song, Sweetest name on mortal tongue; Sweetest carol ever sung, Jesus, blessed Jesus.”
But how much of modern society today recognizes, admits, or even tries to deal with “kingdoms burning”? To me, it’s so awakening to come to the Holy Word of God and find the Loving, Caring, Merciful God does not desire to punish, to sentence to death any man – He’s the Author and Finisher of true redemptive faith, blessing obedience but offering curses and eternal punishments upon those who live for the “flesh” and not to the honor of the Spirit and Truth of the Living God!
In Deuteronomy 28:15 we read, “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you,” and that’s because men and women, boys and girls, (Verse 14), “go after other gods to serve them.”
In fact, we live in a time period of human history when speaking of “fearing God” results in fierce opposition to a faithful messenger! Yet in Psalm 25:12-22, “Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses,” yet fallen mankind decides for himself what has his heart, and he/she isn’t interested in what Holy God has to say! But one who is tired of ‘kingdoms burning’ can, by the grace and mercy of God, enter the “Kingdom Blessed”!
Didn’t Christ Jesus teach His early disciples and us to pray: Matthew 6:9-13, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Or so be it, Lord!).” Does YOUR prayer ministry include, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”?
In Ephesians 1:15-23 Paul encourages us in the “Kingdom Blessed”! He said: Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
If YOU are “in Christ” and “Christ in you”, are you walking in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”? “The man who fears the Lord?” Back for a closing moment in Psalm 25! “Who is the man who fears the Lord?”
Psalm 25:12b, He’s a learner! “Him shall He teach in the way He chooses!
Psalm 25:13, He’s blessed! “He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and His descendants shall inherit the earth.”
Psalm 25:14, He’s fearful! “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them (unveil in them) His covenant.”
Psalm 25:15, He’s able by God’s grace to fulfill God’s purposes through him! “My eyes are ever toward the Lord, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”
Psalm 25:16-17, He’s aware of his own weaknesses! “Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distresses!
Psalm 25:18, He knows God’s heart! “Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.”
Psalm 25:20-22, He knows where and with Whom to yield himself! “Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.
Redeem Israel, Oh God, (or redeem Bedford, Texas, Tennessee, New York, California, every state, every city, every home!), redeem us out of all our troubles!”
One last Verse of Holy Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:11b-12, “Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” AMEN? REJOICE IN: “KINGDOM BLESSED!”