Poetry and Christ's Kingdom

Welcome to Have You Not Read, a podcast seeking to answer questions from the text of Scripture for the honor of Christ and the edification of the Saints. I'm Dylan Hamilton and with me is Michael Durham, David Casson, and Andrew Hudson.

Before we dig into our topic today, we humbly ask you to rate, review, and share the podcast. Thank you. To begin today, as we did on our last podcast, we're gonna talk about or recommend books that we've been reading recently.

Michael, we'll.

Start with you. I will start with Andrew. Did you get the I'm unprepared face? Pass. So jokingly, I had, somewhat jokingly, I'd mentioned the Bible as being a book to have been reading. I highly recommend it.

What do you think about that, Michael?

Very prepared, yeah. I think that's a solid recommendation. I'm finishing up a.

Book by Andrew Murray, John Murray, excuse me, Dutch Reformed, South African. It's a commentary on Hebrews, so we're talking, you know, if you're gonna read some people, make sure they're old and dead, and that's one of those guys.

And I have been really enriched going through it slowly, but what I've been trying to do is read a chapter in Hebrews, and then I'm doing that, like, each day. So there's other things, you know, we're reading, but I think I've gone through Hebrews a dozen, two dozen times now, just in a row, and I have never done a detailed study on Hebrews.

So this is, I mean, and I say that to my shame, that really, this is really the first year. And then Murray's book has really been helping. It's called The Holiest of All. That's the title of the book.

It's referenced to, you know, the holy of holies. It's referenced to that chamber, and it's referenced to Christ himself, through whose flesh we go to the holy of holies, and he is the holy of holies.

He is the ark, he is the temple. You know, all that, Hebrews brings all of that out. So highly recommend that one.

My recommendation is In the Days of These Kings. It is a book about the book of Daniel. It's written by a man named J. Rogers, who doesn't have a lot of accreditation, but I think his work speaks for himself.

He basically wanted to do his best to understand the book of Daniel, and study not only the text of the word, and the particular prophecies of interest that seems to capture a lot of attention, but then also do the work about the historical background to when Daniel was written, and the things that Daniel talks about.

So he threw a long series of publishing posts and things on his website, and then later on increasing them in depth, and getting a lot of helpful feedback, and even brothers in Christ who disagreed with him showing him where his arguments were weak, and so on.

He was greatly benefited from their help, and so on, and so it was a real labor of love. It's a very thick book, In the Days of These Kings, and the subtitle is The Book of Daniel in Preterist Perspective, and there's three sections of the book, and they're very unequal.

The very first section is a light commentary on the 12 chapters of Daniel, just a very light commentary, kind of setting things up for later, and some of the statements are going to be better supported later on.

The second section is dealing with the basic prophecies of Daniel. Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Daniel 9, you know, so on and so forth, and kind of walking through those in more depth, and dealing with the different viewpoints, and so on.

The third section, which is the thickest by far, is dealing with all the historical background information. So when you have this line in Daniel that says, you know, so-and-so did such-and-such, well, he has compiled all this information about the actual goings-on in history where this prophecy is fulfilled.

You know, when this king went into Egypt and did such-and-such, well, he's got six or seven pages of the story behind that one line of prophecy, and what happened with all of that. And there are a lot of helpful charts in the book that show you the progression of certain historical events, the different kings of the different empires, who came when, what's going on.

And in this, it's a very unique book. It's helpful because it brings all of these ancient things that we don't have a lot of familiarity with, and shows you the actual timeline of what happened from the the primary sources and the ancient historians.

And it's a wonderful history book. It's very fun to read, because I love history. And there are things in there that I never knew about, and it's just a fun book to read. But then you realize, oh, this was all prophesied of by Daniel.

And look, it came to pass, and it came to pass, and it came to pass, so it's edifying to the faith as well. Where do you disagree with Rogers? Well, I disagree with Rogers on some of his interpretation on the prophecies, because he is looking for what we call a kind of real-world physical fulfillment.

Sometimes in swinging the pendulum away from any kind of so-called spiritual interpretation, I think he misses some things. So for example, last week, or yesterday, I was preaching through Daniel chapter 7, and there's this expression where the fourth kingdom, the horn of the fourth kingdom, and the fourth kingdom are destroyed by fire.

And the burning fire in that passage is expressed in such a way, in agreement with Revelation 4, to make you think this is the Holy Spirit. So God is a burning fire, His throne's on fire, the wheels of the throne are on fire, there's this flaming river in front of Him, and this is agreed with in Revelation 4, that the burning flame before the throne of God is the Holy Spirit.

Okay, so when in Daniel 7 it says that the beast and the horn are consumed by the burning fire, what is that? Well, preterists, and J. Rogers I think is one of them, who read that, they're gonna say, okay, well, there was a big fire in the capital of Rome that Nero started, and there were a lot of problems that occurred in Rome due to this civil war with the Jews, and the destabilization of the year of the four emperors, where they almost, you know, fell apart.

And there were bad things that happened to Rome later on, where you could consider it to be, you know, widespread destruction. And to keep the perspective there of only sociopolitical outcomes as the possible fulfillment of this burning fire, I think, ignores what's in the text.

Rome was overtaken by the gospel. Rome was overtaken by the gospel. The burning flame and the fire that came wasn't the kind that the sons of thunder were looking for to burn up the Samaritans, wasn't the kind that the Jewish zealots wanted to fall upon the Roman Empire, but it was the burning fire of the Holy Spirit Pentecost fire that consumed...and this is why Justin Martyr and Tertullian and John Chrysostom were able to say what they said about the rapid spread of the gospel filling everything in the Roman Empire.

And this is my reading of the text, because I think it's in the text, and I think it's supported by other texts, and I think it fits biblically. Can I go look at some historical reference where there's a big fire somewhere?

Not really, but I don't have to force it that way, right? So I think that that would be an example where he's looking for maybe some sort of political fulfillment, because, well, Babylon went down politically.

Well, Medo-Persia went down politically. Greece went down politically. So those are the first three kingdoms, so Rome has to go down politically. Well, they eventually did, but when you read the text in Daniel 7, it talks about the burning fire.

Well, in the context, the burning fire is the Holy Spirit proceeding from the throne of fire, so I want to try to stick with that. And then when it says that the dominion that was taken away from those other three kingdoms, but then they also persisted for a time, but they also passed away.

I take that to mean their pagan influence eventually waned as the gospel went forth. So this would be that example of where I would disagree with J. Rogers, where, again, what he's trying to do is so helpful in showing us the historical background, but I think sometimes the pendulum swing is a little bit too much, too sharp.

Right, and we can put the fire on level with the mountain that strikes the clay.

And the iron and fills the entirety of the earth. And it's a stone that is not carved by human hands, meaning my kingdom is not of this world. It's in the world, but it's not of the world, just like we are in the world, but.

We're not of the world. So that's stone not carved by human hands. I thought that.

Was a meteor. Well, no. No. If it was a meteor, then there was an actual statue.

And I think that's the point that you're trying to make, that you don't get to come to the text and say, this is how it should have been fulfilled. Right. You know, you're importing that onto the text versus allowing the text to tell you, or even going to the New Testament and saying this is how we.

Should read it. It's kind of mind-bending when you're, you know, it's like, okay, yeah, obviously Medo-Persia succeeded Babylon in a very political, violent way. You know, armies were involved, and you watch that march between the four empires, you know, one succeeded the other, and there was military involved, the political was involved, the violence was involved, it was real territory, economies, and everything else.

And then to have the next transition where the fourth kingdom suffers judgment, where the other kingdoms lose their influence, and so on, it's hard to make that transition to think in terms of the gospel taking over things, the kingdom of Christ taking over things, so that his, so to use the expression from Bonson, that the crown rights of Jesus Christ are being pressed into every corner of society, which they were doing their best to do as the Christians in those time frames.

But it's important to remember how Jesus phrased it to Pilate. You know, my kingdom is not of this world. He didn't mean, I have no kingdom until I reign in this world. He said the kingdom is not of this world, meaning the source of it was not of this world.

He did mean that his kingdom was in the world, because he specifically requested that, although his followers.

Not of the world, to be left in the world. And I guess I'll round off the what have we been reading section here. Everybody's been doing mostly theological text, so I'll throw in a little fiction book here, even though you mentioned Tolkien last time.

I am listening to War and Peace on Audible, so it's a 63-hour listen, but if you listen it, add it to times, two times, it's intelligible. You just, it's actually, it's kind of crazy how your ear can acclimate to that sort of speed and.

Comprehend. Now, so it's just 31 and a half hours. Right, it's just 31 and a half hours.

And you still have, it's what's interesting to me at 2 .0 versus 1 .0, you still have the same problems keeping the characters straight, the names straight, just because they're all Russian. But I'll say Tolstoy is the master of the novel and changed my mind.

He was also a red-letter Christian. Yeah, yeah he was. There's that. Yep, and he throws his philosophy in there too, and you gotta, you gotta watch out for that type of stuff. But man, that man was gifted, and he had time to work on his gift and craft, and it is one of the, it's just magic compared to all the other fiction that you can have out there.

And you know, it's kind of like having milk or meat in the pulpit, and once you've had meat you never go back to milk. It's really, it's really kind of tough to sometimes go back to other fiction of the modern variety.

Well now you have.

Me intrigued. Now how many hours again did you say it was? It was 63 I believe.

So 2X is still in the 30s. Yeah, yeah, I mean like I'm, I'm halfway through right now, and I've been listening to it last, since last week. I've been going through, I went through, I was taking like half of my day and going through the Gospels, and you know one Gospel last morning, if you listen to it at 2 .0, and then if you listen to Tolstoy at 2 .0, it's gonna last you two.

Weeks. So that gives you, that gives you the context. So who's narrating the.

Gospels for you right now? It's on just the Bible App, it's just some guy that they paid, I'm not sure, I went the cheapest route I could possibly find. Is.

He okay? Yeah, he's alright. Some people I can't listen to. Oh I know. He's a,.

It's a deeper voice, it's a lower register, and it's a little bit, it's not super methodical. Sometimes he, he reads it like you should read, so it's not too.

Terrible. But okay, we're talking about Bible audio versions. I have a version called, it's produced by Streetlights Bible. It's, the whole goal of their ministry was to provide something relevant for the urban scene, if I could put it like that.

There are some hip-hop artists in the Christian community who have lent their talents, and I believe they use the New Living Translation. However, they have done all of the New Testament, and they're still working on completing the Old Testament.

It's a good listen to, to provide a little bit difference. It has a background track to music and spoken word. And on, in the Gospels, they even have different people for the different characters. Oh.

Interesting, that kind of helps you keep track of the discourse. It is, it's very.

Helpful. Because when I read it out loud, it's my voice that I hear for each.

Person speaking. Yeah, and you probably couldn't really speed that up because you've got music. Right. So it'd kind of make it sound a little funny, so you're gonna have to listen to that at a normal rate.

I just can't. Highly, I can't.

Recommend Alexander Scorby highly enough. It's kind of the quintessential. Yeah.

That, or maybe Johnny Cash reads the Bible. Well, that too, yeah. Where'd you get.

Scorby at? Audible? Alexander Scorby. He's like the first one who did it. No, I'm... It's like he used to go on YouTube. Okay. Yeah, it's amazing. He's great. He's very helpful reading... There was an episode of The Simpsons where Homer was gonna die, and so he talked to his neighbor, and you know, his Flanders kind of helped him out, give him an audio book of the Bible.

I think it was Scorby. Like, he was, like, the last scene was Homer sitting in his chair with his headphones on, holding the cassette player, listening to Alexander Scorby read the Bible until he fell asleep and dropped the cassette out of his hand.

I think I remember seeing that episode. It's very touching. He gets into the genealogies and starts fast-forwarding.

Yeah, yeah. But when you have somebody who can read like that, it really helps with the names, places. Like, oh, that's how that's pronounced. I was totally wrong.

Well, now that y 'all have mentioned The Simpsons, get ready for some Office references, because you've opened up a can of worms here. But I'm not gonna do that right now. We're just gonna go straight into questions here.

Christ's Kingdom Is Already Reigning

Question eight on this list that we've received from David, and I'm glad we kind of talked about the kingdom with Rogers earlier, because that's kind of the theme, what I'm gonna go with questions today.

Someone challenged me on the idea that Jesus is not actually reigning as king now. He is not on the throne in Jerusalem, but is instead at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. He is awaiting the time when he will come back, and then he will reign.

I do not know what to say. The Bible calls Jesus the king of kings, but doesn't he have to come back in order to establish his kingdom? If Jesus is king, what throne is he on, because he is not on the one in Jerusalem?

He has to come back first, and then take that throne on Mount Zion, which is in Jerusalem. Psalm 2 6 says this.

Well, the person who challenged you on this is on the cusp of hearing some really good news. Amen.

Amen.

Oh, there's some really, really good news that Jesus is on Mount Zion, and he is reigning, and he is king of kings, and he is reigning now. Now, I understand why there is some concern about whether or not that is so.

And I think the concern derives from a desire to ensure that Scripture is taken seriously, that it is not appropriate to have an over-realized eschatology where we're reading promises in the Bible and saying, this has been fulfilled in some mythical, symbolic way.

The approach that is being taken here, I assume, is the same type of approach that was developed in reaction to the liberals who say that the promises that Jesus Christ would raise from the dead are not going to be actually fulfilled, they are realized in us as his teachings of love emerge in our lives, or some such nonsense.

Gross.

The Christ consciousness.

Yeah. And so the person who wants to take the Word of God seriously, I'm in full agreement, and the person who wants to make sure that these promises are, you know, these need to be fulfilled in the way that God intended them to be fulfilled, I'm in total agreement with that.

So I think the key is, and here's the encouraging thing, is that because we can sit down together and we both have a love for the Scripture, and we both have full confidence in the Word of God being true and unfailing, and that all of God's words come to pass, that we have this common table to sit down at and to proceed from.

And so I think that gives us opportunity to share some really good news. So here's one part of the challenge. One part of the challenge is that how can Jesus be reigning now if he's not on his throne in Jerusalem?

So there's two things about this, but instead he's at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. There's two things about this, and they're related. One of them is, what is Jerusalem? Okay. And the other is, what is the nature of the kingdom?

Okay. So you can start with either one, and you'll come to the answer the other. And so they're related, but not exactly the same. So my question, I'm gonna throw it back to you all, why do you think it would be difficult to believe that Jesus Christ is reigning now, that his kingdom, as I've been saying, his kingdom is in this world, and that he really is reigning as a king in this world now, if he's not on earth?

We know that Christ is not here on earth physically. Jesus Christ is still fully God, God of very God. He is fully man, man of very man. The dust of earth is seated at the right hand of heaven. Jesus Christ, our Savior, God incarnate, is located at the right hand of God, and he is not currently on earth.

Now I believe he still reigns here on earth, he still reigns over us, and his authority is felt in the here and the now, and his kingdom is in the here and the now, even though he is in heaven reigning.

But what is the challenge? What is the difficulty in believing that he can reign from heaven and his kingdom can be on earth? What do you think the.

Main challenge is? Well, the first challenge is that if he's really reigning now, I'm not seeing it. All I see is sin and corruption and people and God's people that are being...they're more martyrs today than there were a thousand years ago.

I mean, isn't it getting worse? It means.

There's more Christians. Nice. And then I would say, is not the body of Christ here on the earth?

I would say, have you not read Hebrews 2 .8, wherein, speaking of Christ, you have put all things in subjection under his feet. You have put all things in subjection under his feet, and that's from Psalm 8, and the writer of the Hebrews says this is speaking of Christ, and then has this note about that, because I mean, yeah, it's...you look around and say, hmm, I see all sorts of things that are not under subjection to Christ, that are not submitting willingly to him, that are actually in opposition to him.

Well, then the writer of Hebrews explains, for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him, but now we do not yet see all things put under him. So this is the case, isn't it?

Not all of the enemies of Christ have been made a footstool for his feet, but they will be. And in this, I think all Christians can agree that not all things are yet in happy submission to Christ, have not been brought into perfect agreement with him, we can all see that, but we know that they will be, and we know that he's Lord over all.

We have this expression, he's Lord of lords, and he is a king of kings, he's received a name which is above every name, and this is, I think, part of the reason why the book of Hebrews also tells us that we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

You see, believing...when you live your life with an acknowledgment that Christ is king of kings and Lord of lords and that he is reigning and his kingdom is even now in this world and advancing, yeah, there's lots of things that could be discouraging.

You look around, you can see discouraging things, and you can't see Jesus right now, I mean, he's not returned in his bodily visible way, which we know that he will, amen? But how are we to live in the here and now?

We are to live by faith. Hebrews 11 1 says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, Romans 8 would say, if you already have it, you can't hope for it, it's not here yet because you're living in hope.

That things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So yeah, you can't see Jesus standing at the longitude and latitude numbers that constitute the location in Jerusalem, you can't see him there, he doesn't have feet on the ground, well he's still king, you're called to live by faith that he is king.

And it's how we enter into the kingdom is through repentance and faith. That's what Jesus said when he came preaching in Mark chapter 1 where he said, the time was fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.

You enter into the kingdom by faith. You had just said that Christ is not on earth, he is at the right hand of God in heaven, and the Bible repeats that. That's quotation Psalm 110, and it's repeated multiple times.

In what sense is Christ with his people? I mean, we have the words of Jesus himself saying, the kingdom is in your midst. Well, that's because the kingdom is wherever the king is. So the king is here in front of them, it says, the king is in your midst.

It's right here because he's standing there, but he's not here, he's at the right hand of the father. So if the kingdom is, if he's actual king, where's his kingdom? Wherever he is,.

Where is he? When I was reading about five years ago with my wife, the book of Acts, I was reading it and my heart was on fire, reading it for the account of what it, the revolution that happened. So in Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 29, this section really challenged me to think about the nature of the kingdom.

I'm going to read it and then expound on it. So men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, knowing that God has sworn an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne.

He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God raised, has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see in here. For David did not ascend into the heavens, which makes me think, is that where David's thrown in?

But he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.

He is the King, and David's throne he has sat upon. Yeah, when we think about the nature of the kingdom, it's not kept a mystery from us, but it is something that Jesus reveals to his disciples and his apostles give full expression to in the New Testament.

You know, Jesus said, the kingdom of God is not something you say, well, here it is or there it is, but the kingdom of God is already among you. How do we know that? Well, I'm casting out demons by the finger of God.

You know, I'm casting out demons in front of your midst. This is how you know the kingdom has shown up. And it's not something you can point and say, well, there's the border right there. Beyond this wall, there's the kingdom, but on this side of the wall, the kingdom's not there.

He said the kingdom is in your midst or within you. And this is why we know...what's the border then? What's the boundary of the kingdom? Well, Jesus told Nicodemus that. He said, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

As soon as you're born again, you get to see the kingdom because you're in the kingdom. The boundary is the new birth. How do we know that? How do we know that as soon as you're born again, you're in the kingdom?

Well, when you go to Hebrews as one example, and there are many very encouraging words about this, but when you come to Hebrews 12, there's a contrast between the covenants, between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

And in Hebrews 12, in verse 18, it says...again, this is writing to Jewish Christians primarily about those who attempted to go back to the old ways of sacrifice and holiness codes and so on. And so this is an evangelistic, very fortifying kind of sermon to Jews.

Verse 18, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched. Okay, so in the Old Covenant, they came to a mountain that could be touched. In the New Covenant, it's not a mountain that you can touch.

Okay, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched. That burned with fire into blackness and darkness, into tempest, into the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words of those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore, for they could not endure what was commanded.

And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. That's what happened at the forging of the Old Covenant, the clarification of the Old Covenant.

However, you know, the people who study the covenants want to call it, when you get to Sinai and you take a look at that, here's what Hebrews is saying, the Old Covenant was like this. That's what it was like, physical mountain, and it was terrifying.

And oh, we need a mediator. Oh, we need a mediator. We are so scared. Moses, you go talk to God because we don't even want to get close to this mountain. And Moses is like, I don't want to go up there either.

Like this, the holiness of God is such that we, Moses is like, what about me? I need a mediator. You know? So in contrast to the Old Covenant, which was shadow, now we have the substance. Now here's something that we need to pay attention to.

But, verse 22, very huge contrast. But you have come to Mount Zion. Now remember what verse 18 says, you have not come to the mountain that may be touched. Which means what? You have come to Mount Zion.

Is that a mountain that may be touched? No. And that's just a plain reading of the text. This is the very same mountain that Psalm 2 talks about. I have established my anointed, my Messiah on the holy mountain.

Okay, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. If the mountain can't be touched, can the city be touched? Are the boundaries of the kingdom something you can say, here it is, or there it is, Jesus says no.

It's not that way. You've come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus.

We have come to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant. See, this text itself, we're not importing the idea that it's a contrast between old and new covenant. The text itself is saying this is a contrast between the old and new covenant.

And to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Now, what is the import of this? The so what, the application? Well, the preacher to the Hebrews says this, see that you do not refuse him who speaks.

Don't refuse Christ. Don't refuse God as he's calling you to this heavenly mountain, the mountain that cannot be touched, calling you into the heavenly Jerusalem to this new covenant. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, remember that first generation?

Remember that first generation that refused God, that broke covenant, and then they died in the wilderness? For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven.

See how much more important the new covenant is, how higher, how more intense. Whose voice then shook the earth, but now he, remember he shook the mountain, he shook Sinai. Like when the forging of the old covenant, Mount Sinai shook, but in the new covenant, Mount Zion does not shake.

It's not a mountain that can be touched, therefore it's not a mountain that can be shaken. So, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he is promised saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

This is from Haggai in the context of the prophecy of a new temple. Okay, so he's going to shake heaven and earth, and shake things up, and turn things upside down, and in the prospect of what? And making a new temple.

Okay, which turns out Jesus also defines what the new temple is, and so does first Peter chapter 2, and so on and so forth, and Ephesians, and so on. So now this, yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, the once more shaking, the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

So there's a big shaking up going on, folks, and the stuff that has been made and are shakable, they are being shaken and removed, so as to make clear the stuff that cannot be shaken, it's all that's left.

Right? This is all in a piece of what the writer of Hebrews has already said, that the old covenant is obsolete and ready to pass away. So he said the old covenant is, the old is obsolete, and it is ready to pass away.

You know, it's ready to be shaken up and removed out of the way, but the new will remain forever. Now, let's pay attention to everything that's been happening so far. Okay, verse 18, you have not come to a mountain that can be touched.

Verse 22, you've come to Mount Zion, a mountain that you cannot touch. Because you can't touch it, it can't be shaken. The old stuff is going to be shaken and moved out of the way, but you have Mount Zion which cannot be shaken.

Verse 28, therefore, since we are receiving, present tense, this is the way it is right here in the here and now, not in the future, but present ongoing. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken.

What kingdom is that? Mount Zion, city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, general assembly of the church of the firstborn, so on and so forth. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.

So, these are the kinds of passages that I read, and I read, and I read, and I read, and I just think this is really good news. You know, this is just really good news, and as I look around at all the bad news in our world today, this good news remains.

Our world is getting shaken, right? Things come and things go. People get really upset. I was buying, I bought some more rabbits today for my rabbit herd that I'm trying to restart, and I bought them from a self-confessed prepper, and she's got 50 other rabbits that she's got back at home, and she was just talking about how everything's, you know, getting really, really bad, and everyone needs to prep, prep, prep, prep, because the end is nigh, you know, and so forth, and her hope was in how much food she had stored up, right?

In contrast, where should our hope be? Our hope is in an unshakable kingdom, present tense. We are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. So that's why I say there's good news for somebody who's concerned about these things.

When we look at the testimony of the scriptures, we see that he's at the right hand of God. All authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. He's king of kings and lord of lords. He has not left us orphans, but he has sent us another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom he has poured out upon us, and therefore, where is the kingdom?