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The filet mignon of the word, part 6, Our Inheritance

CORRECTION: In the two previous weblogs, I stated that the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. occurred in the 19^th Jubilee from the Jordan crossing. It is actually 686 years, or the 14^th Jubilees. I made the corrections online. Thanks to the reader who alerted me.

There are four main features in the structure of any kingdom: a king, citizens, laws, and territory. Our King is His Majesty, Jesus Christ. To be a citizen, one must be His follower, have faith in Him, and be subject to His commands (laws).

The citizens of the first Kingdom were called out of Egypt, and Acts 7:38 KJV refers to them as “the church in the wilderness.” They were organized by covenant into a Kingdom at Mount Sinai when God gave them laws that reflected His nature/character. Forty years later God gave them territory. We see from this that God formed Israel into a Kingdom incrementally and not all at once.

During the time of the Judges, God was their King. This was Jesus Christ in His preincarnate form, for He is the Yahweh (Jehovah) of the Old Testament. As I showed earlier, the citizens of that Kingdom became impatient and demanded a king before the tribe of Judah was yet eligible to provide him. So the first eligible king was David, who was the tenth generation from Judah, and when he was crowned king, the first Kingdom was complete.

This Kingdom, however, was made up of mortal and corruption citizens who were unable to retain their Kingdom over the long term. For this reason, to use the metaphor in Jeremiah 18:4 KJV, the Kingdom of Israel was “marred in the hand of the Potter,” so He beat it down and started over, making a new spiritual vessel under the New Covenant.

In this new Kingdom, Jesus Christ has remained the King. The citizens were those who believed in Him. The rebels were cut off, exiled, so to speak, much like what happened to the rebels in the first Kingdom. The second church, under the anointing of Pentecost, was still imperfect. It was patterned after King Saul, not David, so it was not really the Kingdom that God had intended.

Instead, this church remained in a 40-Jubilee wilderness before the time came to receive the land inheritance that the New Covenant promised. Though 1986-1987 was the 120^th Jubilee from Adam, the year 1993 was the 40^th Jubilee of the church in the Pentecostal Age. That is why God raised up God’s Kingdom Ministries in 1991 and activated it in 1993. Its purpose has been to “enter the land,” so to speak, and to take the land through spiritual warfare.

David, Joseph, and Elisha

The first prayer campaign was conducted from November 21-29, 1993, about six months after the 40^th Jubilee of the church. Keep in mind that this church began on the day of Pentecost in 33 A.D., and so it ended on Pentecost, May 30, 1993. The actual Jubilee was to be celebrated, not at Pentecost, but on the Day of Atonement, but the church had been functioning on a Pentecostal anointing, so this was another form of Jubilee.

Recall that I have already explained two other Jubilee cycles, the first being based on the Creation Jubilee Calendar and the second being based on the Jordan Crossing Calendar. God has had no problem using both calendars at the same time, and so the same was true with the Pentecostal Jubilee Calendar (if we may call it that).

In the months leading up to the Jubilee Prayer Campaign, God revealed two patterns that we were watching. The first was the 7 ½ years’ transition from Saul to David (2 Samuel 5:4, 5). Prophetically speaking, “Saul died” on May 30, 1993, and the transitionary period ended on November 30, 2000.

The second pattern was seen in Daniel 4, which relates King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. His dream was fulfilled over a period of “seven times” (Daniel 4:32 KJV), that is, seven years. We noted that from the climax of our prayer campaign on November 29, 1993 to the same day in the year 2000 was precisely seven years. Hence, November 29 and 30 of the year 2000 was to mark the transition into the next phase of Kingdom building.

At the time I thought we might actually enter the fullness of the Kingdom at the end of these transitions, but God had more work in mind for us to do. This 7½ year cycle related specifically to David, whose tribe (Judah) was given the scepter temporarily until the birthright of Joseph could be established (Genesis 49:10). November 29/30, 2000 completed the time of the rise of the House of David, but we then entered the next phase—the rise of the House of Joseph.

The “Joseph” phase was completed by April 12, 2009. God then added the prophetic ministry of Elisha, which is ongoing to this day. The Elisha company prepares the way for Christ’s second coming, even as Elijah (John the Baptist) prepared the way for Christ’s first coming.

New Covenant Kingdom Inheritance

The New Covenant’s main provision was to write the laws (nature) of God in the hearts of Kingdom citizens (Jeremiah 31:33). The laws of God were thus internalized by the work of the Holy Spirit, so that man’s very nature might be changed to conform to the image of Christ. This was substantially different from the Old Covenant, where the law was given on tablets of stone and where men were required to conform to the image of Christ apart from the work and power of the Spirit.

In my previous study on The Meat of the Word, I discussed the changes in the law as we moved from the Old Covenant to the New. The land inheritance was different as well. Under the Old Covenant, Israel was given the land of Canaan to inherit, but this proved to be inadequate as long as the hearts of men remained corruptible and mortal. It is only when we inherit the land that makes up our bodies that we truly receive the inheritance that we lost when Adam sinned.

Genesis 2:7 makes it clear that Adam was formed from the dust of the ground. Prior to his sin, that dust was given a measure of glory, so that he did not require other clothing (Genesis 2:25). Through sin, Adam lost the clothing of God’s glory, and this glory can be recovered only through Jesus Christ and the New Covenant. Paul writes about this in 2 Corinthians 5:2-4,

² For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, ³ inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. ⁴ For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

Paul says that we are presently and temporarily “clothed” with mortal bodies but that we expect, at some point in time, to change into clothing of immortality. In other words, we will regain through Christ the inheritance that we lost through Adam.

This is our New Covenant land inheritance. It is much greater than the Old Covenant land inheritance that was given to the first church. The principle of Zionism, based on the Old Covenant, still thinks in terms of territory, while at the same time having no genuine change of heart. The result is that they are willing to mistreat and even murder any Palestinian who gets in their way. They know nothing of the Abrahamic calling to bless all nations, because they are too focused on blessing themselves at the expense of others.

But Paul says in Romans 8:23,

²³ And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Redemption is a legal term, having to do with regaining that which has been sold to another. Adam’s sin created a debt he could not pay, and so he, his wife, his children, and his entire estate (i.e., creation) were sold into bondage on account of sin (Matthew 18:25). Christ, who is called “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), paid the price with His blood to redeem us from the law which demanded that our inheritance be sold. Our benefit is “the redemption of our body.”

This is the heavenly inheritance, which differs from the earthly inheritance. It is not that we will have a “mansion” (John 14:2) in heaven along Golden Street. The Greek word for “mansion” is the noun form of the verb “to abide.” So Jesus said in John 15:4, 5,

⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

To abide in Christ is to rest in Him, doing nothing but what we see our Father do and speaking nothing but what we hear our Father say. The common picture that believers have is of a three-story mansion in which to live. If indeed someone wants such a building, I see no problem with providing one for him, but will anyone really need such a dwelling place in heaven? Secondly, Christ is also to abide in us. In other words, our bodies are temples of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), but not as we might normally picture a temple.

When our bodies are “changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51), and when we are “transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18), then our bodies will be redeemed and we will truly and fully bide in Him. This is the great hope of the New Covenant land inheritance that God has promised us. This inheritance is older than the land of Canaan, for it goes back to the beginning in Genesis.

This is one of the changes in the law as we move from the Old Covenant to the New.