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A world government to bring peace in our time

The Laws of God's Kingdom

God alone knows the WAY to peace and happiness! He reveals this way from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. It does not always agree with the way that "seems right" to a man, but it is the way to real peace on this earth.

Throughout the prophecies God shows that His Kingdom will be ruled according to this way. That way is based on His law. Notice Isaiah's inspired description of God's Kingdom and the way it will be administered on this earth: "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the LAW, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:3).

Yes, God's rule is according to His LAW! The spiritual principles of God's Ten Commandments are the way to peace and happiness and everything this world really wants. But men are running away from that way as fast as they can!

When Christ first comes, He will have to PUNISH the nations of the world to teach them to appreciate that way and His law! "And He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (vs. 4). As King of kings, Christ will have to REBUKE the nations and literally teach them the way to peace and the laws of God which will bring peace.

The prophet Micah reveals this same thing that is to take place in God's Kingdom: "For the LAW shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:2).

Many people today are under the false impression that the New Covenant does away with God's law! However, in describing these very events which are to take place when Christ returns and sets up God's Kingdom, the prophecies reveal that God's law is the very BASIS of the New Covenant, and of the agreement which is made between Christ and physical Israel and with individual Christians of all nations as they are converted.

"After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my LAW in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:33).

Man cannot have peace until HUMAN NATURE is changed! God's law reveals the very nature and character of God. After Christ returns to convert all nations, He will write God's law in the very minds and hearts of people. Thus, it will become part of their very nature!

Then they will KNOW the way to peace! — and JOY! — and HAPPINESS!

Jesus Christ Himself revealed that God's law is the very BASIS of His Kingdom.

He said: "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the LAW to fail" (Luke 16:16-17). Here we find Jesus' clear statement that the law of God is an integral part of the message of the Kingdom of God!

But was Jesus speaking of the law of the Ten Commandments? Yes, He was! For He continued in the very next breath: "Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery" (vs. 18). Here He showed that the law of which He was speaking included the command against divorce and remarriage based on the Ten Commandments of God.

That law is BINDING on us today! If we plan to be in God's Kingdom — a part of His government forever — we had better learn to keep and OBEY God's law here and now in this life!

 

How to Qualify for God's Kingdom

To help us understand this principle of OBEDIENCE. let us turn to the very beginning of Jesus Christ's ministry and what He actually taught when He was here on this earth. When He was tempted by the Devil, He stated one of the most basic truths of all the ages: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).

Remember that the only written word of God at the time that Jesus said this was the OLD Testament! This is the Word that contains the law of God — the law which so many ministers seem to HATE today! Yet, Jesus said that we are to LIVE by this inspired Word!

After His temptation by Satan, Jesus began to preach the message of God's Government. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (vs. 17). Again notice that it was always the message of God's Kingdom — or government — which Christ preached. He showed that men must REPENT of their ways and submit to that government.

The following three chapters in Matthew contain what is popularly called "The Sermon on the Mount." Few seem to realize it, but this entire sermon is filled with Jesus' exhortation to OBEY God's law!

Notice Matthew 5:17-19: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" — that is to do or PERFORM, setting us an example. "For verily I say unto you," Jesus continued, "till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" — or be in effect, as the original Greek indicates.

Then Jesus concludes: "Whosoever therefore SHALL" — notice this is future tense — "break one of these least commandments" — no matter which men might call the least — "and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall no and TEACH them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven."

Jesus said that as long as heaven and earth stand, God's law will NEVER be done away! And those who are to be rewarded in God's Kingdom shall both do and teach even the "least" of God's laws and commandments!

WHY HAVEN'T YOU HEARD THIS KIND OF PREACHING?

A young man came to Christ asking: "Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Here was Jesus' golden opportunity to tell him — as modern ministers would put it — that there is NOTHING he had to do.

"Just believe," they say, "and you will be saved." "Give your hand to your preacher and your heart to the Lord" seems to be the modern method of salvation.

But what did Jesus say on this occasion? He said, "If you will enter into life, keep the commandments." And when the young man asked which commandments, Jesus began to state some of the Ten Commandments (Matt. 19:16). Here is the WAY to eternal life as. taught by Jesus Christ the Son of God! Will we believe HIM?

 

Is This the ONLY True Gospel?

Is this message of obedience to God's laws and preparation for His coming Kingdom — or world-ruling government — the ONLY way of salvation? Wasn't some of this message just for the Jews of Jesus' day? Was there some OTHER gospel introduced for Gentile Christians?

Here is what Jesus Christ commanded after His resurrection from the dead! "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:19-20). Here Christ commanded His apostles to go to all the world and preach exactly the SAME message of obedience to God's Kingdom and laws that He had taught them!

We must REPENT of our ways and sins, accept Christ as Savior and RULER, and begin to let Him — through His Spirit — live a life of obedience in us to prepare us for eternal life in God's Kingdom and to be BORN as a member of His very family! This is the VERY gospel you must believe and obey in order to be saved!

Jesus told His apostles: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15-16).

You must BELIEVE the joyous message of God's soon-coming government to bring peace through His ways, and His LAW! And you should prepare for your part in that Kingdom here and now.

What should you do, then?

Showing the way to begin this life of obedience and surrender to God, Peter said: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

You must repent of SIN. And God tells you in I John 3:4: "Sin is the transgression of the law." The Bible says that sin is breaking God's law!

You must REPENT of this—and of your entire attitude of disobedience and hostility toward God's rule and authority over your life. You should become humble, as a little child, and let God guide you and teach you day-by-day through His Word. You should be baptized — as an outward symbol of your willingness to bury your old self under the water, and to give your life literally to God to use as He sees fit.

Then God PROMISES to give you of His precious Holy Spirit. This is His very nature, His life, and His character which He places in His begotten sons. Notice that even the Holy Spirit is received through obedience, because Peter describes "the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that OBEY Him" (Acts 5:32).

After repentance and baptism, a true Christian can begin a life of overcoming and obedience to God's law and His Kingdom here and now. This is done through the Holy Spirit and its power within him. This was the message ALL of God's servants preached throughout the early inspired New Testament Church!

 

The Gospel Never Changes

When Philip went down to the Gentile city of Samaria, notice what he preached. "But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women" (Acts 8:12).

The Apostle Paul preached this gospel to the Gentile Christians at Ephesus. He told them on his last visit: "And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God, shall see my face no more" (Acts 20:25).

At the very end of his ministry — after he had turned away from the Jews — Paul continued to preach this same message! "And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him" (Acts 28:30-31).

The message of the soon-corning Kingdom of God was the ONLY message of Jesus Christ! It was the only message His inspired Church and apostles taught the world! It has been the message of God's true Church through the ages!

 

The GOAL of the Christian Life

The reason the Christian religion seems so empty and dead to most people today is that they are in ignorance of the real goal of the true Christian life.

We are NOT put on this earth by God Almighty just to attend Church once a week, or to enter into "Christian" charities, or to hear sweet stories about the "little Lord Jesus," or to make this human society a better World through confusing — often contradicting — human efforts.

We are put here to prepare to RULE FOREVER, in the Kingdom or government of God! That is why — through God's Spirit — we must acquire God's character, and learn to live by His LAWS which alone will finally bring this world peace and happiness! These spiritual laws show the WAY to peace and happiness and right government throughout all eternity.

True Christians, then, have a JOB to do! They must demonstrate in this life — through God's help and His Spirit — that they will keep God's laws and develop His character so that they may be qualified to RULE others later, and teach them the same happy way of life. Notice the reward for those who overcome their own human nature and qualify: "And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give POWER over the nations: and he shall RULE them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father" (Rev. 2:26-27).

Jesus repeats this same promise — speaks of this same reward — again and again. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His throne" (Rev. 3:21).

In Revelation 5:10, John was inspired to show that the saints shall become "kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth."

True Christians — those who overcome themselves and develop God's character through living by His laws — will be given authority as kings and priests in God's Kingdom to be set up on this earth after Jesus returns. What a tremendous GOAL we can have in this life!

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall REIGN with Him a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6). Under Christ as King of kings, the overcoming saints will help RULE this earth and bring it peace and joy at last!

That is WHY we must learn to obey God and His laws now! That is the real PURPOSE of the true Christian life.

There is only ONE true gospel — one truly "good news" — and this is that VERY gospel which Jesus preached!

Jesus Christ said His true Church would be preaching that very gospel as a last "witness" to all nations in our very day just before He returns again! "And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14).

You are receiving that gospel this very instant! Through the "WORLD TOMORROW" broadcast and Plain Truth magazine, this message of Christ is being taken to all nations as a last "witness" to the world. May God help you to understand and HEED!