To fairly examine what the kingdom is, we should look to the words of the king when He announced it. The scripture used in this study is a passage from Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, called the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 4:
23. And he went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every illness among the people.
24. And the report of him went into all of Syria; and they brought to him all that were ill and having various diseases and suffering from tortures, demoned possessed, and epileptics, and paralyzed, and he healed them all.
25. Many crowds from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and beyond the Jordan followed him.

Jesus is not a moralistic philosopher, He is the son of God. He tells us the words of God. The scriptures have been used as a formula. A formula that requires us to live out a life; a salvation of works. The scriptures are God speaking to you. We are not the objects of formulas; but objects of the love of God through the spirit. Let us seek God as we study and know His will for us. Jesus is announcing the kingdom; not analyzing it. We should listen and learn. What is this kindom? Am I in this kingdom? I pray that the spirit will lead us into all things in the name of Jesus the king. Amen.

Jesus’ fame spread throughout all the countryside of Palestine. He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom and showed the signs of His authority by the power of His works. People came to him to be healed of all illnesses, both physical and spiritual bondage. He gave to them; because, He loved them. Now the king is before a crowd; and, Jesus begins to teach.

Matthew 5:
1. And seeing the crowds he went up upon the mountain and when he had sat down his disciples approached him; and,
2. he opened his mouth and taught them saying,
3. Happy are the impoverished spirits, for of you is the kingdom of heaven.
4. Happy are you who know sorrow, for you shall have comfort.

Search the meaning of the words rejoice, happy, glad. (Note: the Greek word makarios means to be blessed, or to be happy, or to rejoice in consequence – I chose happy in the translation; but, I prefer to use rejoice in this discussion of the text. Please remember this as you read. Some words Jesus used do not have a direct or equal counterpart in English. Several words in English should be used to completely grasp the essence of the original meaning. Rejoice, happy, glad; how little we know of this expression and experience. Jesus is calling us to rejoicing. Listen as He says why it can be ours. If we are spiritually poor, impoverished in the heart of our soul, we can now rejoice in the kingdom, for; we are the kingdom! The kingdom of heaven is made from the impoverished souls of men. The king is not announcing a perfect plan; Jesus is telling us about the perfect.

Jesus has announced that the kingdom of heaven is not of this world; but, is founded in the hearts of men who have realized the poverty of their spirits. What really is this poorness of spirit? Let us go on as the explanation of this kingdom unfolds.

Jesus says rejoice. If we have known sorrow; rejoice? This is what God through Jesus is saying. To understand we must listen to what He is explaining to us. Our spirits are poor when we know we have sin. Our spirits are impoverished when we realize that this sin is what we are in the sight of God, unhidden and exposed completely. There is no way to rationalize nor is there any escape of this truth. Rejoice, for in the crushing blow of this reality of sin and it’s consequence; and, in the light of the poverty of our soul, Jesus says you are what the Father has chosen to use as the building blocks of the Kingdom of Heaven. Satan would have us reply, well I thought maybe if I was almost good enough God might use me; maybe. But no! He not only can use me, He has ordained that the honest evaluation of my sin and the sorrow that this reality has brought upon me, is what He will take and build upon! Well then; Praise God!

No other man had spoken as this king, our Lord. No other man, but Jesus, had listened to the plan of the Father. Listen to him and rejoice in your moment of true sorrow. The moment when we know that the sin we see, is within us; and, that we are that sin. Oh, the anguish of the knowledge, but Praise the Lord, for out of our sorrow has He chosen us.

Matthew 22:14. Many are called, but few are chosen.

We can perceive the comfort of the Lord in our hearts as the words of Jesus become, not points of faith; but, the reality of God within our very being, within our very souls. When God is within our hearts, we are of God.

Matthew 5:
5. Happy are you hearts of meekness, for your inheritance is upon you.
6. Happy are you ones who hunger after righteousness and thirst for righteousness, for complete fullness shall be.
7. Happy, merciful ones, for mercy is yours,

Rejoice, heart of meekness. Jesus is calling us out of this anguishing moment of loneliness; and, into the healing moment of His glory. Poorness of spirit is true sorrow. Only in the real moment of loneliness can be found the comfort of the Lord. Jesus is calling you, heed the word of God in your heart, accept the call of the Lord God; and, love and live now in His comfort. There is no other way, for there is no other God.

Acts 4:12. And there is not in no other salvation; for neither is there another name under heaven having been given among men by which it behooves us to be saved.

Only in knowing the comfort of the Lord God can one justifiably seek, hunger and thirst after His righteousness. Without the understanding, of what in that moment of sorrow we learn of righteousness, can we know what we truly need to seek after. Oh, the hunger of the soul after the comfort of the Lord. The pleasant torture of this hunger; the pang of the heart’s thirst; we want God. We want, we need, we must know and have Him within us. Righteousness in God where are you? I cannot live without my God! The heart’s pang is as a vacuum of love issuing toward the giver of living water. The heart is pleading for the substance of eternal life. The answer of that plea comes forth from the mouth of the king. Rejoice, complete fullness is in our Lord Jesus. Stop. Open the mouth of your heart and feel the Lord pour His righteousness into you. Pouring over the ashes of your crushed soul, filling you up till you feel your going to burst with the fullness of God. Oh, the joy that is found in God; oh, the comfort of the Lord; oh, the presence of His spirit.

It is a reverent thought that the Lord Jesus prophesied unto us the very feelings of the entrance of the second comforter; the Holy Spirit, into our broken temples. To be reborn and rebuilt in Him upon His foundation. To know that the king knew how we would feel. To know that Jesus knew how He would come to us in the moment of our covering over “baptism” in His spirit. Yes, the announcement of the kingdom is upon us.

Rejoice, heart of mercy. Why a heart of mercy? Only if we have known the fullness of God in our hearts can we be the door of God to the world. Only if we have known the fullness of God in our hearts can we know how to funnel His mercy. Only if we have known our sin, and have died unto it, can we show mercy. We are nothing without God. Now this God, through His son Jesus, the king, has made His home within us. Mercy, mercy, mercy will flow from us as a river, if we truthfully have known our God and Lord in our sorrow. Can the soul of man live in the presence of God and not be the door of God in His mercy? No, the crushed heart is the vessel of God unto itself and to the world. We must know God. We must know His love. We must leave ourselves behind and feel God moving through us and into the hearts of men around us. This can only happen when we have mercy upon our lips and founded in our hearts.

Matthew 5:
8. happy, hearts who are clean, for God you shall see.
9. Happy, you makers of peace, for you shall be known as the sons of God.
10. Happy are the ones who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for of you is the kingdom of heaven.
11. Be happy if you are reproached and persecuted and evil is spoken out against you for my name’s sake, for great is your reward in the heavens.
12. Rejoice and be glad, for such happened to the prophets before you in their persecutions.

Rejoice, clean hearts. Oh, the heart of mercy shown before the Lord is cleansed of all sin. This is how the Messiah (the term used in the Old Testament to refer to the coming king) completed the law. Christ Jesus the king brings the mercy seat of the tabernacle (the place in the worship area, temple, in the Old Testament where God sat) to the heart of man. We have become the new voice of the Lord. The spirit is free to move in the mercy seat of the clean heart! I hear Him say to you believer; listen. God is calling you to mercy; and, is desirous of cleansing your soul, if you will wait in faith according to your calling. Do you hear the hand of God in your heart? Can you witness of His love from the depths of your soul? Can we live in His presence and testify of His grace? Then listen believer. God is calling His chosen. Come and sit, meet with Him, know Him, feel the waters of mercy, watch the cleansing of your heart; and, see God. Simply put, let us rise up and take a bath in the Holy Spirit. This is the promise of God. I hope we desire to heed His call with obedience.

Rejoice, makers of peace. What is this peace? How is it come to us? If we know, with truth, the love of God in our sorrow. Then, we may see God our Lord in His mercy. The peace of the King Jesus is between any man and His God. There is but one Lord and God. We are but the vessels of that peace unto the hearts of men. Listen and obey God; and, He will tell you of His peace. The Lord will make it known in your heart; and, you will carry it upon your breast in mercy and love to whomever He has chosen. If we know God in our mercy, then we have seen; and, we know of the peace and of the peace-giver. So believer hear; God is calling. Go and make peace within the hearts of the chosen. This is the voice of God, hear and believe. Peacemaker, the world will hate your love and hear not your voice. The peacemaker must wait upon the Lord and He will guide you how to give His mercy in you to everyone you meet. The king will make witness of your sorrow and deliverance. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will now know you as you were created to be; you will be known. They will recognize you and call you the sons of God. Rejoice, when for the sake of righteousness you are persecuted. God has spoken to us and we should listen. If we are to make peace among men with their God, the world will hate us and persecute us. Are we persecuted? Does the world hate us? Have we known reproach from the world? God has decreed this. Heed His call and search your soul with honesty. For if we are persecuted then take heart; we are proven of our faith. We are indeed reigning jointly in the kingdom. Praise the Lord! The king has said these things to bring us to remembrance that our heart might take on the faith of His assurance. Be ye filled at the river, drink from the vine and know that the kingdom of heaven is in you. Know that the spirit will witness of these things made manifest in you.

Let us bear the witness of the prophets of old and how they received the same. Now we are to be honored in the court of the Holy, with the same evidence of His righteousness issuing forth, as the fruit of our testimonies. Do you understand? The fruit of our witness is that we will be treated that same as the old prophets. To be worthy of the same suffering. Praise His holy name, the Lord Jesus Christ! Live kingdom within our hearts; reign King Jesus in the authority of your name over my soul. Hallelujah, God the Father. Amen.

Do you now see the wisdom of God? I pray the Lord will lead you into great witness and knowledge. Jesus hear the plea of my heart and lead this word into the heart of the believer. Give now life resurrected, unto the gift of Godly sorrow.

The following is the parallel passage to Jesus’ discourse that is found in Matthew. Please read this to discern what has been covered in the discussion. Let the entire impact of the king’s message come to you in truth and understanding.

Luke 6:
20. And he lifting up his eyes to his disciples said; happy you are the impoverished, because allotted to you is the kingdom of God.
21. Happy are the ones hungering now, because ye will be satisfied. Happy are the ones weeping now, because ye will laugh.
22. Happy are you when men hate you, and when they will separate you (ostracize for being disreputable) and reproach and cast out your name as evil for the sake of the son of man.
23. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy; for behold, much is your reward in heaven; for in the same way their fathers did the same things to the prophets.
24. But woe to you the rich ones, because you have your consolation. Woe to you, the ones now having been filled up, for you will hunger.
25. Woe, the ones now laughing, because you will mourn and lament.
26. Woe when all men say well of you; for in the same way their fathers did the same things to the false prophets.

The lamentation of verses 24-26 is an addition to Jesus’ discourse found only in the recording of the writer Luke. I find it interesting that normally these are not included in the usual discussion of the beatitudes (refers to the words found in Mathew 5:1-12). The word woe could have been equally translated alas. It is the direct and equal opposite of happy. There is a feeling of remorse implied in Jesus’ words. He is relating to us the consequences of not realizing the true condition of a soul without God. Being a rebel in this newly announced kingdom, is to be filled with yourself; leaving no room for the spirit of the living God. How can a man be filled with the spirit when he is already full of something else? The reality of true hunger can never be felt. One must void himself of this self-righteousness (unto death – Romans 6:). The world rebels is full of it’s own false laughter. Emotions felt outside of the realm of Jesus are a facade. Being a rebel in the kingdom is living in a masquerade of emotion, only sorrow and lamenting can follow.

Alas, when all men speak well of you! Jesus is not saying someone must be disreputable to be faithful. The report of the world toward the believer is a witness itself. However if no one can find fault with you, then that man must answer to the Lord’s words found in John 15:18-27.

Matthew 5:
13. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt be tainted? then, what shall it salt? for it is no longer strong, nothing; only to be cast out and for men to trod it under their feet.
14. You are the light of the world, a city set upon a mountain top cannot be hid;
15. nor do men light a lamp and place it under a bushel, but on the lampstand, and it makes light for the whole house.
16. Then, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and may glorify your Father in the heavens.
17. Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets; I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Jesus is now speaking with metaphors to the crowds to whom He has just announced the kingdom of heaven. Salt we are; salt to season and salt to preserve. Can we think for one moment, that the regenerated heart of a believer could be anything else, but the power filled agent of the Holy Spirit’s actions toward men from God? Yes, salt we are; and, salt we should be. Allowing ourselves always to be what the king has ordained as the Lord’s chosen should be. Let your salt season the word of the Lord as it is delivered into the heart of the unbeliever. Just as the Lord took the harsh food of the reality of your sin, and seasoned it with His salt (love) to prepare you to consume it; do the same for others.

The light that cannot be hid. God is speaking and telling us that Jesus beckons us to shine. If we have ever known the fellowship of the spirit, if we have ever known the love of God in our hearts, if we have ever loved the King as He rescued us from our sorrow; then, we will shine. The light of God that shone from the spirit of Jesus is within us, not upon us. This light of God is in us and through us; He shines. Our light may then become the glory of God toward men; to shine upon them and bring them to their Godly sorrow. Let us begin the work.

Jesus warned that His work was not to destroy but to fulfill. He did not say that He would not bring destruction, but that He would not destroy the law or the prophets. The law now is going to unfold itself and it’s eternal purpose will be illuminated. For the light of the Lord is upon everything.

Matthew 5:
18. Truthfully I tell you, until the heavens and earth pass away not one iota or one point by no means will pass away from the law, until all things come to pass.
19. Therefore whosoever breaks the least of these commandments and teaches this to men, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but, whosoever does and teaches thus, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20. For I tell you that except your righteousness shall exceed and be more than the scribes and Pharisees, by no means shall you enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The reader will please note that I will write only what I feel is definitely necessary. I wish to say nothing more, or do I choose to invent. These verses say what they plainly say. I only feel led to instruct concerning a doctrine that is being taught by men concerning them. It has been said that the law passed away at the cross. Well I ask, if the law has passed away, where did the heavens and earth go? In the absence of a true answer I can only assume that the doctrine is brought forth to avoid the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the only way to fulfill Matthew 5:6 in our lives. Therefore I ask this question: Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, how can one become completely full to be perfect as the Father is perfect?

Matthew 5:48. Be therefore perfect as even your heavenly Father is perfect.

The king, Jesus, is now entering upon a testimony of six different fulfillments of the law. (This law is a common term to refer to the first five books of the Old Testament, the law books.)

Matthew 5:
21. You have heard that is was said to the ancients: Thou shall not kill; and whosoever kills shall be liable to the judgement.
22. But I tell you that everyone being angry with his brother shall be liable to the judgement; and whoever says to his brother you fool (vain, empty) shall be liable to the council; and whosoever says to his brother you lost soul shall be liable to the fire of hell.
23. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and then remember that your brother has something against you;
24. leave your gift before the altar, and go first and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer the gift.
25. Come to terms quickly with your opponent while you are still with him in the street; or else your opponent will deliver you to the judge and the judge to the attendants, and into prison you will go.
26. Truthfully I tell you, by no means will you get out until you have paid the last penny.

The first is on the subject of murder. The Jews had taken the law and made it into a monstrous code of ethics; much the same as some men have done unto the words of Jesus in our time. Jesus is telling us that the act alone is not the sole grounds for condemnation. The act found in the heart is either the glory offered unto God or our condemnation – our liability in judgement before the Lord. As members of the kingdom of heaven we have known ourselves as past vessels of condemned sin. We are among those whom God hath raised up upon His mercy seat and washed clean in the blood of His sacrifice. We must know that we cannot ever stand alone in judgement upon another man. We should not show anger, in the form of judgement, toward another man; because, we have come to know whom we really are without Jesus. Who are we to be a judge over matters of anger. Do we have the right to loathe the actions of another? We must not forget that without Jesus we would be lost. To call another man a rebel (fool) before the Lord is a greater liability; for, before the Lord revealed to us our rebellion, we could never truly realize it in anyone else. Stand back and look at the wisdom of the Lord. Listen believer, you must never judge the soul of another without the will of God giving you the word. If it does not have the authority of the king, it is sin.

Ezekiel 3:
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul. (KJV)

Jesus is talking of the self-righteousness we can breathe into our hearts. We, now among the saved, with a self-righteous spirit, look with indignation upon the rejected anatomy of the lost soul. Where has mercy gone? Who are we that we can claim the glory and Kingship of Christ in these moments? I pray you receive this in understanding. Please ask the spirit to reveal to you the understanding of the difference between anger and the grace of God placed in your heart as His wrath toward unrighteousness. Simply stated, we have no right to judge any man. We as the sons of God; however, have a right to rise against unrighteousness. Realize that the judgement is not upon the soul; but, we must act as joint heirs and protect the spiritual integrity of our inheritance.

The final warning falls. Even still we may in great moments of self glory (nothingness) judge the destiny of the soul. How has the evil one come into the heart, to lead one to such spiritual audacity? We are breathing the fire of hell in those kinds of judgement. Do not fall into the way of the pit. Pray for wisdom always, lest we should be overcome with self glorification. Jesus has given us this to instruct and warn. Obey! His instruction should not come as a thou shalt not; but, as a loving brother saying, “Be careful, look what is really happening. Beware, because I love you. I give this warning, lest you be harmed.”

Make your heart right at all times with all men and you will come to the loving glory of God. Never; never let the false importance of worldly ritual keep us from the spiritual reality of the nearness of heart. Without mercy, we will fall into the course of our own self-judgement and die at the words of our own lips. Lord God give us the wisdom concerning these words of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

NEXT ARTICLE

Kenneth D. Davis

Copyright 1996 – 2023 Ekklesia, All Rights Reserved
No Portion of this Internet document may be copied without prior permission

Last modified 22 Jun 2005