The Present Reign of the Lord Joshua Christ!!

The Messianic kingdom began when Joshua rose from the dead!!

In the Old Covenant there are many prophecies of the Messiah who would be a descendent of King David and who would reign over the House of Israel forever:

And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.(II Samuel 7:12-13).

JEHOVAH hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. (Psalm 132:11).

According to St. Peter, all the prophecies about the Messiah reigning from the throne of David were fulfilled by the RESURRECTION of Christ from the dead and His exaltation to the throne of the UNIVERSE!!

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Joshua hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. (Acts 2:29-33).

If that is how St. Peter—and all the New Covenant writers—interpreted the Old Covenant Messianic prophecies, what need is there for a state of "Israel" looking for some illusory "Messiah" to come down to earth and rule the world from Jerusalem.

I Corinthians 15 is the Great Creedal chapter in the New Covenant

As far as we know, the early Christians never wrote a creedal statement like the Nicene Creed. The closest to a creedal statement of the Christian faith is found in the New Covenant book of I Corinthians, chapter 15.

In I Corinthians chapter 15, the apostle Paul gives his CREEDAL statement or a synopsis of the true Gospel. It is absolutely necessary to abide in this Gospel if man is to be saved. Paul preached the whole council of God and left out nothing that was profitable to the believers.

The book of Revelation adds nothing to Paul's Gospel. It just fills in the blanks and gives additional light on the Messianic age. As a matter of fact, if John added anything to this Gospel, the Christians were not to receive it:

As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:9).

I Corinthians 15 is the great Resurrection chapter of the Bible. Frequently quoted at funerals and at Easter to remind us of the central fact of the Christian Faith—the Resurrection of Christ from the dead.

It states that Christ must REIGN until He has put ALL enemies under His feet, and the LAST enemy DEATH is defeated at the Resurrection....After the Resurrection comes (not some illusory millennium) but the END of TIME. Christ delivers up the kingdom to God the Father that God may be all in all—hallelujah!!

Christ's reign began at His first coming and will end at His second. It is not a carnal earthly kingdom—eating, drinking etc. It is the exact OPPOSITE of the Davidic kingdom in the Old Testament:

And he (David) dealt among all the people . . . to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. (II Samuel 6:19).

In sharp contrast to the New Covenant kingdom:

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17).

It is not of this world. When Joshua was on trial before Pilate, the charge that the Jews brought against him was treason, namely that of setting up an earthly kingdom in opposition to Caesar. Not one false witness could be found that ever heard Him make such a claim. He was innocent of this malicious charge. Joshua told Pilate:

My kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36).

And Pilate believed Him!!

Joshua was not using mental reservation when He said that: meaning His Kingdom was not of this world right then, because the Jews were hindering its establishment by their unbelief!!

His Kingdom was not of this world in the past, it is not of this world now, and it will not be of this world in the future!!

Certain cults actually believe that Joshua did not tell the whole truth, and would establish an earthly kingdom sometime in the future. You hear them telling people that when Christ returns to earth, He will solve the war problem, the famine problem, the disease problem etc., etc. They are making the same accusation that the Jews made against Him!!

Tares and wheat grow together until the end of the world!!

In Matthew chapter13, Joshua explained the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven to His disciples. Both the tares and wheat—the true and false Christians— grow TOGETHER until the harvest. The harvest is the END of the world. No separation occurs until that time. No rapture before the Last Day. When Jesus says that it is the END of the world you can believe that it is the END:

Let both grow TOGETHER until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:30).

In John chapter 6, Jesus told his followers 4 times that he would raise them up on the LAST DAY. When Christ returns, the sun and the moon (which measure earthly time) vanish away and clocks will be obsolete. John, the writer of the Book of Revelation, says in his Epistle:

Little children, it is the LAST TIME. (I John 2:18).

We see also from Revelation chapter 10 that the Angel of the Reformation (Christ Himself) swore an oath that when the 7th trumpet sounds there shall be TIME NO LONGER. One of my favorite hymns is: "When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more."

St. Peter said:

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (II Peter 3:13).

We are not looking for some 1000 years earthly reign of Christ, but the new universe that will be introduced when He comes again. When the ETERNAL comes, He brings eternity with Him!!

The New Covenant millennium is the Gospel millennium. It began when Satan was bound by Christ at His first Coming and will continue until the end of time.

No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. (Mark 3:27).

This is the only age when men and women can become children of God by Faith Alone in Christ Joshua —a golden opportunity indeed.

Great Tribulation for all true believers!!

The entire New Covenant era was to be one of persecution for all true believers who live Godly in Christ Joshua . The great tribulation began for Christ's Congregation when Stephen was stoned.

Saint Paul suffered great tribulation for the Gospel, yet continued faithful to Christ until his final beheading at Rome:

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the congregations. (II Corinthians 11:24-28).

The Apostle John was in the tribulation and KINGDOM of Christ on the Isle of Patmos.

There is nothing Satan wants to do more than postpone his defeat to some ephemeral future date. Christ is reigning now. Most of his enemies are already under His feet. 140 years ago, the spiritual Babylon lost her temporal power (Papal States) and has not been able to regain it.

Most of us who are faithful to Christ won't live to see that dreadful Last Day. We will be in the Resurrection. If Resurrection was good enough for Joshua, Paul, Peter, and all the Congregation—it's good enough for me. The living have no advantage over the dead when Christ comes again because the dead in Christ will rise first.

Futurists who say that the rapture must occur before the Antichrist is revealed are completely reversing the order of Scripture. St. Paul said again:

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. (II Thess 2:1-8).

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Joshua Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth (restrains) that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. (II Thessalonians 2:1-12).

Then he referred obscurely to something mysterious that was hindering or restraining evil and holding back the revelation of the Man of Sin.

The removal of the capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine greatly facilitated the coming of Antichrist. That "Eternal Rome" would allow a rival capital to exist is remarkable.

Emperor Constantine.

Emperor Constantine's removal of the capital from "Eternal Rome"—the imperial city—left the bishop of Rome free to vault into the seat of the Caesars. This was the removal of the let or hindrance to the coming of Antichrist.

Constantinople became the new capital of the Roman Empire.

And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that, WHEN it comes to pass, ye might believe (John 14:29).

There is a major principle in the Holy Bible, established in the Book of Genesis, that every event has a DUAL or DOUBLE fulfillment.

And for that the dream was DOUBLED unto Pharaoh TWICE; it is because the thing is established by JEHOVAH, and JEHOVAH will shortly bring it to pass. (Genesis 41:32).

Thus we have the Old Covenant and the New.

The First Coming of Christ and the Second.

The Old Covenant Israel and the New Covenant Israel.

The physical Babylon and the spiritual Babylon.

The Babylonian Captivity and the spiritual Babylonian Captivity.

The reestablishment of the physical Israel in 457 B.C., and the reestablishment of the spiritual Israel or the Israel of God in 1517.

The Jewish Passover and the Lord's Supper.

The Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Sabbath.

The attack on the physical Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., and the attack on the Spiritual Temple by Satan before the end of time.

References

Caringola, Robert. The Present Reign of Joshua Christ. Reformed Press, Springfield, MO, 1995.

Eusebius Pamphili, (260 — 340), Preparation for the Gospel, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1981.

Mauro, Philip. The Hope of Israel. Grace Abounding Ministries, Sterling, VA. 1988.

Mauro, Philip. Things Which Must Soon Come to Pass. A Commentary on the Book of Revelation. Reiner Pub. Swengel PA. 1984.

Wilmot John, D.D. Inspired Principles of Prophetic Interpretation. Gam Publishers, Sterling, VA, 1965.

Woodrow, Ralph. Great Prophecies of the Bible. Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Assoc., Riverside, CA, 1971.

Copyright © 2010 by Niall Kilkenny