Yes, in OUR TIME!
Now here we have described FOUR universal world empires — the only four that ever existed! Revelation 13 and 17 show that, after the fall of the original Roman Empire, there would be ten revivals — SEVEN of which would be ruled over by a Gentile CHURCH — the "daughter" of ancient BABYLON — a church claiming to be Christian, but actually named by God "MYSTERY BABYLON the Great" — or, more plainly, BABYLONIAN MYSTERIES!
Six of those have come and gone. The seventh is now forming — the last, final, brief resurrection of the Roman Empire by ten European groups or nations. These are the ten toes of iron and clay mixed.
In their days — and they shall last but a very short space, possibly no more than two to three-and-a-half years — shall the GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM.
This, then, shall be THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
Compare with Revelation 17. Here is pictured a church. Not a small church — a GREAT church. She rules over "many waters" (verse 1) which are described in verse 15 as different nations speaking different languages. She posed as the Church of GOD — which Scripture says (Eph. 5:23; Rev. 19:7 Matt. 25:1-10; etc) is the affianced "bride" of CHRIST, to be spiritually MARRIED to Him at His second COMING.
But she has committed fornication. How? By having direct political union with HUMAN GOVERNMENTS of THIS WORLD! She "sat on" (Rev. 17:3) all seven of these resurrections of the Roman Empire — called the "Holy Roman Empire." She RULED OVER the human kingdoms — as a common-law and unmarried "wife" ruling her paramour "husband" — a totally unnatural and ungodly relationship.
She is, therefore, to "sit on" this last "head of the Beast" — this final resurrection of the Roman Empire. It will be a union of church and state. It is to endure but a very short time. It is to FIGHT AGAINST CHRIST at HIS SECOND COMING! That will be its END.
We see it in process of rising, now. Therefore we are CLOSE to the coming of Christ! We are now very near the END of this age!
When Christ comes, He is coming as KING of kings, ruling the whole earth (Rev. 19:11-16); and His KINGDOM — the KINGDOM OF GOD — said Daniel, is to CONSUME all these worldly kingdoms.
Revelation 11:15 states it in these words: "The kingdoms of this world are become THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD, AND OF HIS CHRIST; and He shall reign forever and ever!"
This is THE KINGDOM OF GOD. It is the END of present governments — the governments that rule Russia, China, Japan, Italy, and Germany — yes, and even the United States and the British nations. They then shall become the kingdoms — the GOVERNMENTS — Of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, then KING of kings over the entire earth.
This makes completely PLAIN the fact that the KINGDOM OF GOD is a literal GOVERNMENT. Even as the Chaldean Empire was a KINGDOM — even as the Roman Empire was a KINGDOM — so the KINGDOM OF GOD is a government. It is to take over the GOVERNMENT of the NATIONS of the world. Jesus Christ was BORN to be a KING — a RULER!
When He stood, on trial for His life, before Pilate, "Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art thou a King then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world." But Jesus also said to Pilate: "My Kingdoms is not of this world" — (John 18:36, 37). His Kingdom is of THE WORLD TOMORROW!
Have you not read what the angel proclaimed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, prior to His birth? Jesus told Pilate He was born to become a KING. The angel of God said to Mary: ". . . thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son,, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the THRONE of His father David: and He shall reign over the House of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be NO END" (Luke 1:31-33)
These Scriptures tell you PLAINLY that GOD is supreme RULER. They tell you in plainest language that Jesus was born to be a KING — that He is going to RULE ALL NATIONS OF THE EARTH — that His Kingdom shall rule eternally.
But all this is only part of the fantastic, amazing, actually SHOCKING TRUTH about the KINGDOM OF GOD.
The KINGDOM OF GOD will rule over the peoples and nations of the earth. Yet these mortal peoples and nations will NOT be the Kingdom, not even in the Kingdom of God. They shall be merely RULED OVER BY IT!
We still have to learn of WHAT, or OF WHOM it is composed. Can YOU, as an individual, ever become a part of this Kingdom?
Can Be Entered!
In Jesus' day, the religious leaders knew He was a Teacher sent from God with GOD'S TRUTH. They branded Him a false prophet, heretic, and seditionist. Yet they knew His was the Voice of God!
One of them, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, occupying an office of authority over the Jews, came secretly by night to see Jesus.
"Rabbi," said this Pharisee, "we know that thou art a teacher come from God" (John 3:2). Yes, we Pharisees, he said, know that! He did not say "I know it." He said "WE know" — we Pharisees! They knew He spoke the TRUTH — yet they not only rejected it, they crucified Him!
But Jesus hewed straight to the line! He told Nicodemus about THE KINGDOM OF GOD. He told him some things you need to UNDERSTAND!
Notice! "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (verse 3 — John 3). Yes, notice! The Kingdom of God is something that CAN be seen, but only by those who have been "born again." It is something others cannot see! Read our booklet Just What do You Mean — Born Again!
But what about the CHURCH? Can carnal people who make no claim to having been "born again" SEE a CHURCH? Of course! But they cannot see the Kingdom of God! So SAID JESUS! Then, if you believe Jesus, the CHURCH cannot be the Kingdom of God!
Notice further: "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God" (verse 5). The Kingdom of God is something that can be entered into — BUT, only those "born of water and of the Spirit" can enter into it!
Notice further! In the resurrection chapter of the Bible, we read: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (I Cor. 15:50). The Kingdom of God is something no human, of flesh and blood, can enter or inherit!
Now do flesh and blood people enter into the CHURCH? If so, then the Kingdom of God cannot be the CHURCH — for the Kingdom of God is something flesh and blood humans cannot enter into!
What do you think the "church" is? Is it the building? Flesh and blood people can and do enter buildings and cathedrals called "churches." Is it the converted PEOPLE? Flesh and blood people can and DO enter into the membership of any group of PEOPLE that may call itself the church. But flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of GOD — so the CHURCH is not the Kingdom of God!
In Men's Hearts?
Now some think the Kingdom of God is some ethereal sentimental feeling or something set up in men's hearts. If so, then the Kingdom of God enters into mortal man. But these plain Scriptures say plainly that it is men, after they are no longer flesh and blood — but resurrected into spirit-composed bodies — who can enter into the Kingdom of God. It does not enter into men. Men enter into it, — after resurrected in glory — after they are no longer "flesh and blood."
Is it the "god within you"? No, it is not something that was born inside of man, or has ever entered into man — it is something man may enter after he is "born again."
What about the British Empire? Well, I have been pretty well over the British Isles, Canada and Australia — and all of the multi-thousands I have seen there were flesh-and-blood humans. They did enter The British Empire — but they cannot enter the Kingdom of God, in their present flesh-and-blood life. So the British Empire cannot be the Kingdom of God.
But, someone misunderstanding the Scripture may ask, "Didn't Jesus Himself say that the Kingdom of God is `within you'?" In the 17th chapter of Luke, verse 21, King James translation, is a MISTRANSLATION which has led some to suppose the Kingdom of God is some thought or feeling or sentiment within man.
In Hearts of Pharisees?
Let's take a good look at this. First realize, if it does say that, it is contradicted by all the other Scriptures I am giving you in this article. If the Bible does contradict itself, you can't believe it anyway — so then it still would prove nothing.
First, to whom is Jesus speaking? Read it!
"And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the Kingdom of God should come, He answered them and 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" (Luke 17:20-21).
He was speaking to the unconverted, carnal, hypocritical, lying Pharisees. Notice, "He answered them, and said" It was the Pharisees who asked Him the question. Were they in the CHURCH? No, never! If one thinks the Kingdom is the CHURCH — and the Kingdom was "within" the Pharisees — was THE CHURCH within the Pharisees? Such an assumption is rather ridiculous, now, isn't it?
Notice again, precisely WHAT JESUS SAID. Remember the CHURCH had not yet been set up. Jesus did not say "the Kingdom of God shall be set up in your hearts." He said none of the things people interpret into this verse. He said to the Pharisees "the Kingdom of God IS" — present tense is, NOW! Whatever He was saying the Kingdom of God is, He made it present tense, not future.
But Jesus was speaking in the Hebrew or the Greek language. At any rate, Luke wrote these words, originally, in the Greek language. He did not write the words "within you." The Greek words he wrote were mistakenly translated into the English words "within you." If you have a Bible with the marginal references, you will notice that this is corrected in your margin to read "in the midst of you," or "among you." If your Bible is a Moffat translation, you will notice that the translation recognized that Jesus was talking of His reign or rule, at the head of government.
This is the Moffat translation of the same verse: "He answered them, 'The Reign of God is not coming as you hope to catch sight of it; no one will say, "Here it is" or "There it is," for the Reign of God is now in your midst.' "
The Revised Standard translation renders it "the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you." All these translations render it present tense.
Jesus was not talking about a Church soon to be organized. He was not talking about sentiments in the mind or heart. He was talking about His REIGN, as the Messiah! The Pharisees were not asking Him about a Church. They knew nothing of any New Testament Church soon to be started. They were not asking about a pretty sentiment. They knew, from the prophecies of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others, that their Messiah was to come. They overlooked completely the prophecies of His first appearing as the "Lamb of God," to be slain for the sins of humanity — being born as a babe, growing up, being rejected and despised by them, as recorded in Isaiah 53. They looked only to the prophecies of His second coming as the all-conquering and ruling KING.
But they had even these prophecies distorted in their minds. They looked for Him to come as a purely Jewish Messiah, to liberate them from the Romans, and reversing the situation so that the Jews would be masters over the Romans. They looked for a limited Jewish Kingdom, located in only a small part of the world, with the Messiah ruling and letting the Jews lord it over the Romans.
This, the Pharisees anticipated as the Kingdom of God. They had an erroneous conception of the Kingdom of God — but at least they did know it was to be a REIGN — a GOVERNMENT.