king·dom
n.
1. A political or territorial unit ruled by a sovereign.
2.
a. The eternal spiritual sovereignty of God.
b. The realm of this sovereignty.
3. A realm or sphere in which one thing is dominant: the kingdom of the imagination
"5 Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine;
6 and ye shall be unto Me a Kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.'"
Exodus 19
"4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah.
5 And they said unto him: 'Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways; now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.'
6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said: 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed unto YHWH.
7 And YHWH said unto Samuel: 'Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not be King over them."
1 Samuel 8
"15 I am YHWH, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King."
Isaiah 43
"6 Thus saith YHWH, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer YHWH of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last, and beside Me there is no God."
Isaiah 44
Exodus 19 above clearly shows that YHWH had intended for the Children of Israel to grow in their relationship with Him to a point where they would all be likened onto Priests in His sight. This would be achieved thru obedience to and understanding of His instructions to them.
From the definition of 'kingdom', we can infer that this Kingdom of Priests would have YHWH, as its sovereign ruler. This is made even more abundantly clear from 1 Samuel 8 above, where YHWH states that the request of the Elders of Israel for a king like other nations, was so He would not be King over them!
The scriptures from Isaiah clearly state that YHWH has always viewed Himself as not only Israel's King, but as their Creator as well. He has always been King and has sought from the beginning to be, as stated above, 'the one dominant thing' within the realm of the people known as the Children of Israel. It was always the Israelites who rejected Him and, thereby, also the blessing of their become the Priests of His Kingdom.
" 44 And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; nor shall the Kingdom be left to another people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
Daniel 2
The Most High Creator of all things has said that He will set-up an eternal, indestructible Kingdom, one that would not be left to another people. Then who are the people that it was/is to be given to?
" 25 At that time, saith YHWH will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."
Jeremiah 30
" 28 And the nations shall know that I am YHWH that sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever.'"
Ezekiel 37
The people spoken of in Daniel are without a doubt, the Children of Israel, the very ones who asked Samuel for a king likened onto the other nations! This is His promise, and it cannot fall to the ground.
So, what about the time of Yeshuah?
" 'I have only been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,' He replied."
"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Matthew 15:24, 6:33
"20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’[a] For indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you.”
Luke 17
Yeshuah was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, in an attempt to fulfill the prophetic promises of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; the return of the Children of Israel to their Creator and the establishment of the promised Kingdom. He states emphatically that the Kingdom of the God of Israel must be sought above all other worldly things, along with understanding of YHWH's righteousness, for once this goal is achieved all worldly/material needs will be satisfied.
But, he then goes on further to say that this Kingdom would not be observable! It would first be a living part of each person:
"30 Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;
31 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; forasmuch as they broke My covenant, although I was a lord over them, saith YHWH.
32 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith YHWH, I will put My law in their midst, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people;"
Jeremiah 31
"17 therefore say: Thus saith YHWH GOD: I will even gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
20 that they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 11
In verse 30 of Jeremiah, we see that a new covenant is to be made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, one covenant for both houses, liken onto the one that existed with the whole nation in the wilderness (which was broken by the Children of Israel), but different. The 32nd verse gives the nature of the New Covenant, but it also says that it is to be made with the House of Israel!
This is clear evidence that the reunited nation would again be known as The Nation of Israel; Judah is to be absorbed back into the larger body of the people of the Children of Israel.
Before this can take place, Ezekiel states that the returnees must undergo some important transformations; they would have one heart, i.e. one mind, be given a spirit, for they came out as dry bones, and the stony heart they returned with would be replaced by YHWH with a heart of flesh. He could not put His instructions in a stony heart; they would remain on the surface and not penetrate to the inner-most portions where they would become a living part of the individual's being.
They could not comprehend the higher wisdom hidden within His instructions without the spirit He would impart to them; like the stony heart, the mind without a living spirit can only perceive the letter of the instructions and not ascend to the higher wisdom they are the steppingstones to.
Thus, Yeshuah was saying that, initially, the souls, hearts and spirits of the people had to be worked on, in an environment where they would be able to take hard, honest looks at themselves and thereby remove the impediments that hindered their receiving the keys to the Kingdom.
"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
John 4:23, 24
The essence of the Kingdom of God is, therefore, spiritual in nature, which is why it does not come with observation. What is observable is the re-establishment of the king of Israel, with the seed of David as its king.
"22 and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;
24 And My servant David shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in Mine ordinances, and observe My statutes, and do them."
Ezekiel 37
With the establishment of the Israelite kingdom, with the seed of David as its king/prince, the instructions of YHWH as given to Moses would be instituted as its foundation. As the people progress in their adherence and understanding of these instructions, they will begin to take on the spirit that YHWH wanted our fathers to acquire. Proper understanding of these instructions will humble those who acquire, for they will realize the depths to which we had sank and be remorseful for all that was lost and all the suffering endured as a consequence of rejection by our fathers of these life-giving words. This is the beginning of receiving a heart of flesh.
"18 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better it is to be of a lowly spirit with the humble, than to divide the spoil with the proud."
"12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honour goeth humility."
Proverbs 16:18, 19 18:12
"8 It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what YHWH doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
Micah 6
This would be an ongoing process on two fronts; the natural, where the government of the House/Nation of Israel is established and begins to order itself, and the spiritual, where the process of shedding the grave cloths and the stony hearts goes forth as understanding of the instructions of YHWH as given to Moses grows. This is correction in measure.
Thus, we see that the Kingdom promised in Daniel 2:44, will not come forth fully formed, but will be the end result of much work and labor, both physically and spiritually. To truly be the Kingdom of Yah YAHWAH in this day, it must be both physically and spiritually complete; all the governing institutions must meet the standards of justice, righteousness, compassion, humility, truth and love, i.e. the righteousness of Yah YAHWAH, while also functioning efficiently and to the benefit and uplifting of His Holy Name and people to be acceptable in His sight.
Once this amalgamation of the spiritual and the physical is achieved, the result will be the answer to Yeshuah's prayer;
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."
Matthew 6:9
In the words of Ben Ammi, the Anointed:
"The by-word will be 'beautiful' once the struggle is over, but for now the struggle seems repulsive.
Joy and laughter will overwhelm us when the struggle is won, but when it is begun, there will be weeping and moaning.
There will be harmony and unity at the conclusion, but in the beginning discord and division.
With the victory there will be wealth and abundance for everyone, but until the victory is achieved, there will be shortages and poverty.
We will have health and life at the consummation of the struggle; in the beginning there will be suffering and death.
We will have a land, a language and a culture in the end, but in the beginning we will just have a plan.
At the culmination it will seem as if it were not hard after all, but now it appears like an impossible dream! "Thus will the prophet's words be fulfilled: 'Humility before Honor.'"
God, the Black Man and Truth, pg. 227
Much has been accomplished thus far on the journey, yet even more remains to be done. The foundations of the kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Yah YAHWAH have been laid, now they must be perfected and become one. In our patience and due diligence will we possess our souls and our Kingdom!
"22 until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High; and the time came, and the saints possessed the Kingdom!"
Daniel 7