The World Tomorrow

Christ's Parables, continued

by Herbert W Armstrong

(PLAY FROM START)

Well, greetings friends, around the world.

My friends, do you know what is the World Tomorrow? It’s the very thing that was the subject of the true Gospel which God sent to mankind, and which mankind has spurned and rejected. And which we have not been hearing about, for over 1800 years. Believe it or not, the true Kingdom of God has not been proclaimed, and people have not been hearing about it. And that was the message, the only true Gospel, which God sent by Jesus Christ. There have been other gospels. There have been even other concepts of a kingdom, a distorted type of kingdom, that has been proclaimed but not the Kingdom of God, not the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. Jesus said first of all when He was before Pilate;

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

Now, in so many cases in the Bible, you’ll find that the word 'world' in the English language is translated from the word 'aion' in the Greek language which is 'age'. And in other places 'kosmoo' or 'kosmos' which means, well, a pattern, a system, the system or pattern of society that men have evolved on this world. This 'kosmos' or this 'world' is the system or the way of men now.

Now, when the word 'kosmos' is used it is speaking of the method, or the system, that men have devised without necessarily regard to time. But since it is during a time that God has marked out - 6,000 years for men to do as they please, on the other hand then, it is a definite period of time or an age. But in a larger sense, the age does not end until the end of 7,000 years. The last 1,000 years or the millennium of which Jesus Christ will be the King over all the kings of the world. And all the other kings of the world will be those that are in, then the Kingdom of God. Those that are now being saved. Those that are called in Daniel’s prophecy, for instance, the saints;

"...the saints shall possess the kingdom and the saints shall rule forever and ever." (Daniel 7:18 paraphrased)

And as Jesus said in the third chapter of Revelation, and in the second chapter of Revelation also, that it is those that are overcomers, those that grow in grace and in knowledge, those that endure unto the end, and that overcome, and grow spiritually they will sit with Him on His throne. They will be given power over the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron. (Revelation 2:26-27)

And then don’t you know that the apostle Paul said; “Do [you] not know that [we] shall judge the world?..." (I Corinthians 6:2)

The saints shall judge the world, they shall even judge angels. Because, my friends, we are to be born again and born into the Kingdom of God. Which is the God Kingdom, which is God because God is not one person. Now, you go clear back to the very beginning of the whole Bible, in Genesis 1:1 and you read; "In the beginning God ..." God is before all else. And the next word is "created". "In the beginning God created..." Yes, God is the Creator. Then it tells what He created.. "...the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

Moses Wrote In The Hebrew Language (Play from 03:36)

Well, He created everything else beside, everything that is, but it was there speaking of the heaven and the earth and God created it. Now, the word for 'God' there, and Moses wrote that in the Hebrew language originally. It’s merely been translated into the language in which we speak today. The English language is a comparatively recent language, by the way.

And now, for instance we have, now, a copy of the Bible, it was printed over a 100 years ago. But it is printed from the manuscripts of the, let me see, I’ve forgotten really which Bible it is, but anyway, it goes back about 500 years. I believe it was Tyndall’s translation, if I’m not mistaken. It was one of those original, yes, I’m pretty sure this is the Tyndall translation which we have, and it is most interesting. Even these books are now over a 100 years old, and the translation was very, very old when it was printed in England, over a 100 years ago.

But really you would get a laugh if you could see it, my friends, and see the kind of English they spoke then. This was translated out of the Latin translation. Now, the Latin had been translated out of the original Greek of the New Testament and the Septuagint, or the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Well, when you begin to read it, it really is peculiar because the English language then was only partly developed. It was nothing like it is today. There were actually words there that you wouldn’t recognize, you couldn’t understand. Except that you know what the Bible does say, and you know that this has to say the same thing, that is does in the English of today. And if you know the Bible, you might know what those English words mean. But a good many of those words would be so strange, you wouldn’t understand them. So the English language has undergone changes, and sort of an evolution as it were, and has come on down to what we have today.

Now, when the Bible was written, there wasn’t any English language. And so Moses wrote the first chapter of Genesis, and all of Genesis for that matter and everything he wrote in the scriptures, in the Hebrew language. Now, in the Hebrew language the word for 'God' is 'Elohim,' - Elohim. And Elohim is a uni-plural word and it means more than one. It means a family, a group, a nation of persons: the Kingdom of God, that’s what it means. God is not one person. We have the Father, and the Father is God, and there is the Son, Jesus Christ, and Jesus is God. He is as much God as the Father, however, the Father is greater in rank and Jesus did say;

"...my Father is greater than I." (John 14:28)

And He said; "...the Father [that] sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." (John 12:49)

The Father was greater and sent Him and gave the orders. There is the one lawgiver, the one supreme lawmaker, that is God the Father. Jesus was sent as the executive. But Jesus first was sent with a message for mankind, and that message was about the Kingdom of God. It wasn’t a message about His own person, it was a message about the Kingdom of God. Now, it included a message about His own person, that’s true, that’s a part of it because He is the coming King of that Kingdom. But the thing that Jesus made plain all the way through is that the Kingdom of God is not here, actually set up now.

Jesus' Message Was The Kingdom of God? (Play from 07:11)

Some of them say the Kingdom of God is the church. Some of them say the Kingdom of God is the old Roman Empire, finally you know, in its later stages was called the Holy Roman Empire. Well, that was just another way of saying what they believed it was to be the Kingdom of God on earth. But that was not the Kingdom of God, that was merely another kingdom of men, misguided men that wanted to take the name of God and apply it. And then some people today, even believe that the British Empire is the Kingdom of God. Now, Jesus very plainly said that; "...flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God..." (I Corinthians 15:50). Or even see it.

You could see the Holy Roman Empire. You could see, can see today, the British Empire, and the people in it, and those in it are flesh and blood mortals. They are not the Kingdom of God. It is not the Church because everybody in the Church today is a flesh and blood mortal. If they’re in the true Church of God they have the Spirit of God. They have the impregnating germ, so to speak, of immortal life. And that is the presence of immortality residing in them, merely in the form of the Spirit of God that can make us immortal. But we are not ourselves immortal. We can merely have immortality by promise, and in the sense of having the Spirit of God which is immortal, within us now, but that’s all. Now, Jesus said;

"...because they thought...the kingdom of God [would] immediately appear. He [was the young] nobleman [that] went to the far country to [get] for himself a kingdom, and to return." (Luke 19:11-12)

And it’s when He comes that He sits on His throne ruling over the whole world. And here we read in Matthew 25:31 that;

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory [now, when He comes in His glory], and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:" (Matthew 25:31)

Then will He sit on His throne. He isn’t sitting on His throne now, He isn’t ruling over the Kingdom of God now. But over here in Revelation in the third chapter, the twenty-first verse, Jesus said;

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne..." (Revelation 3:21)

Now, you go back to the first chapter of Luke, and you will find that it was revealed to Mary by the angel, that Jesus was born to be a king, and that He would sit on the throne of His father David. Now, He is to take over and inherit the throne of David. And that throne is on this earth, and that will be His throne. But He’s not sitting on His throne now.

Notice this. He said, "[he] ...that overcometh will I grant to sit with me [on] my throne [now, what is Jesus’ throne and where? It’s the throne of David on this earth], even as I also overcame [that’s in the past - He did overcome when He was here on earth], and am [that’s present tense, now] set down with my Father [on] his throne." (Revelation 3:21)

Where is Jesus now? Why, He’s up in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Now, where is God’s throne? If you’ll read in the Bible that; "...heaven...is God’s throne:" (Matthew 3:34) "...but the earth hath He given to the [sons] of men." (Psalms 115:16)

And Jesus’ throne will be in Jerusalem, Palestine, on this earth. And if we overcome, we can sit with Him in His throne and He will; "...give [us] power over the nations: and [we] shall rule them,[the nations] with a rod of iron..." (Revelation 2:26-27)

But, my friends, we won’t even be mortal then, we will be immortal. We won’t be human then, we shall be divine too. In the Kingdom of God, in the family of God. The Kingdom of God is God, the Kingdom of God is that family that have been born again into the Kingdom of God. Until they are as much God as Jesus Christ who is the first-born of many brethren. And we shall be born again, as He was by His resurrection. And when we are born again into the Kingdom of God, as Jesus was by a resurrection, we will then be in the God Kingdom even as Jesus is, and even as the Father is now. Oh, I tell you my friends, have you heard that preached in the last 1800 years?

I get letters from people coming in here, that are - oh, they’re so shocked because I say that this Gospel has not been preached in 1800 years. My friends, that’s not my doing. I have had nothing to do with it. Am I to be censored? Am I am to be blamed if God has called me? If God has opened my mind to see these things? If God by His power has set me here to preach and to proclaim these things in your ears, and if your ears have not heard them before in 1800 years? That is not bragging on my part, I want you to know. And that I have had nothing to do with it. I am merely a tool, an instrument, a servant of God Almighty and I must preach faithfully what He gives me to preach. What I say to you, my friends, I didn’t get from any man. I didn’t get it from any men. I didn’t get it from any church. I got it directly from God. And I didn’t get it by any whacky, crazy kind of visions or imaginations, but I got it right where you can get it, out of the Holy Sacred Word of God. Why don’t we blow the dust off the Bible and look for it and find it there?

What Is The Kingdom of God? (Play from 12:45)

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Why don’t we learn what the Kingdom of God is? It isn’t just some fluffy-fluff thing of sentiment, as we say, 'set up in our hearts'. It isn’t just some fanciful platitudes or imaginings when you’re in a good mood, and you want to think beautiful thoughts, and think you’ve got something in your heart and that’s the Kingdom of God. Then go out and steal, and rob, and lie, and everything else the next minute or so. That’s the way people do.

Who is so good, my friends, who is so righteous that you can have what you call the 'Kingdom of God set up in your heart'? And think these beautiful things, and read the Bible for inspiration. And oh, you get thoughts way up in the fleecy clouds, and you think how good you are and everything. Who is so good that there isn’t some evil in them? And that other times their thoughts aren’t on other things, and material things. And who is so good that when things come up they don’t like, they perhaps get impatient and think thoughts that perhaps they shouldn’t think? I find I have to battle to prevent doing it and perhaps I don’t always succeed either. And I’m sure you do too. We’re mortal, we’re human. Oh, I tell you, my friends, it’s about time we wake up.

We’ve been seeing recently that whenever He proclaimed the truth to multitudes, when He preached to them, He always spoke in parables, so they could not understand. He spoke in parables to cover up the meaning to them. But explained the meaning in plain language to His own disciples, because He had called them to be His instruments, to go out and to proclaim the truth to the world. Now, He Himself didn’t come to proclaim the truth to the world, because He is God, and He works though human agencies. And He was teaching His disciples so that they would go and proclaim the truth to the world.

Now, they did proclaim it during that first century, but within a 100 years, my friends, the truth had pretty well been stamped out. And by 200 years there were over 50 different sects, different sects and religious denominations on the earth. And they were doing away with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the Gospel that Christ preached, that is the Gospel that God sent. I tell you, some people are so ignorant of history and what really happened, and they’re so gullible, and they have been so deceived. That it’s about time we got our eyes opened and that we began to listen and to heed the truth of God because time is running out on us.

So listen, Jesus did explain the parables to His own disciples. And He intended them to go and explain it to the world. It wasn’t that He intended this to be hid from the world, else I would not be proclaiming it to you now. This is for the one who can understand. But let me tell you something, a carnal mind cannot understand the Word of God. Unless you will surrender to God as you’re ruler, as you’re Master as well as you’re Savior, you cannot understand the Word of God. But Jesus preached the Kingdom of God. All of His parables were about the Kingdom of God. Now, here was the first, the parable of the sower and the seed, and it had to do with the Kingdom of God, that’s all He spoke about.

"Hear ye then the parable of the sower. When...one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not..." (Matthew 13:18-19 American Standard Version)

He was talking of the Kingdom of God. Now, here comes the next one Mark 4. So, he said; "...he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man [did] cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow..." (Mark 4:26-27 ASV)

Now, He was talking about growing, and we have to grow spiritually before we can ever enter into the Kingdom of God. Then, next, in Matthew 13, beginning with verse 24;

“Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field:" (Matthew 13:24 ASV)

The Kingdom Not At This Time (Play from 16:49)

Now, there was also the bad seed in the field. And I’ve shown you that His Kingdom is not of this age, it is not of this time. His Kingdom is of the world tomorrow. It is of this system that men have been allowed to set up on this earth. It is the one when He will rule the world. And all under Him that are ruling, will be those that are now saints, but then will be in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is a world ruling kingdom that will rule the world after the second coming of Christ.

Now; "Let them grow together until the harvest..." (Matthew 13:30) And that’s at the end of the 1,000 years that is ahead of us yet. "Let them grow together until the harvest..." That is the end of what we call the Millennium. The word 'Millennium' is not in the Bible, but it is not unscriptural because it merely is - it comes from a Latin word, I guess it is a Latin word, that means 'thousand years'. Now, "Let them grow..." that is the ones that are evil, as well as the ones that are good. And of course, here is the good seed and then the tares also.

"...and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers [yes, He’s the King that is going to do the ordering at that time. I, Jesus, He says, will say to the reapers], Gather up first the tares, and bind them in[to] bundles to burn them [they’re going to be burned, and that doesn’t mean they’ll keep burning forever, tares don’t burn forever, my friends, they’ll be burned up]; but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matthew 13:30 ASV)

Now, His barn, His field and so on, oh, my friends, you need to find out what that is. That is His Kingdom. And they will come in and be made immortal and they too will then come into the Kingdom of God. Now, we go back to Mark to catch the next parable, Mark 4:30;

"And he said [unto them], How shall we liken the kingdom of God?..." (Mark 4;30 ASV)

The people didn’t understand it then, but He explained it to His apostles. And they were sent out to explain it to the world and we ought to understand it today.

"It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs..." (Mark 4:30-31 ASV)

The Kingdom of God starts small. Actually, the Kingdom of God in a human sense started with one man, Abraham, who obeyed God. Then in the spiritual or divine sense it starts with one man, Jesus Christ. And Jesus was the one first-born from among the dead, the first of the many brethren that are to follow Him. Oh, I hope you will be one of those brethren. I hope, my friends, that you’ll be there with me in the Kingdom made immortal. And you know when we are finally in the Kingdom of God, we won’t be in the kingdom of humanity, we won’t be in the animal kingdom, we’ll be in the God Kingdom.

Now, animals get sick. And so, we have what I have seen referred to as a copy of an MD, meaning 'mule doctor' - but I don’t mean any slam at the medical profession, I just heard that. Now, we can get sick and animals can, but in the Kingdom of God we’ll never get sick. Think of it. We can have fears and worries now, but you know we have to conquer fear and worry and learn the lesson of faith. And it’s by faith through grace that we are saved, and ever enter into that Kingdom, oh, it’s a wonderful thing.

You have to conquer and overcome, what do you overcome? Well, sickness and disease. How do you do it? Learn what causes sickness and disease and quit doing it. You might have to eat a little less candy, and pie, and cake. You might have to start getting rid of so much grease, and everything that you cook in so much of your food. And learn that fat was never made to be - animal fat, to be consumed in the human system. And it just isn’t going to - it isn’t the right kind of fuel, that’s all. It’s just like putting the wrong kind of fuel in your gasoline tank in your automobile, and it’s going to cause trouble. And some of the other things we eat and many, many of the things we do that dissipate our bodies. We could be healthy if we knew the laws of health and followed them. And when we’re not healthy it’s because we’re breaking the laws that God designed and set in motion to regulate our bodies.

And then, we have fears and worries. Oh, we go along, and I tell you that kind of mental sickness, that’s not insanity, it’s another kind, but it is a kind of mental sickness, isn’t it? And it can cause you more suffering than physical sickness. Well, you have to learn the opposite - faith. And faith is exactly the opposite of fear and worry. And it’s through faith that we’ll ever enter into the Kingdom of God.

You Have To Overcome (Play from 21:46)

So you have to overcome those things and I don’t think we’re ever going to become as perfect in this life as Christ, or as God the Father. But we’ll be made as perfect as they are through God’s power, through the Holy Spirit, through the living resurrected Jesus Christ, we can be made just like God. And then it will be impossible for us to sin. You turn over to I John and isn’t it in the third chapter of I John over here where it says that;

"Once you’re born again, you cannot sin, it’ll be impossible to sin." (I John 3:9 paraphrased)

Now, people go around, they claim they’re born again now and yet they’re puzzled about it. They know that they can sin. Why, Jesus was able to sin. He was; "...tempted in all points like as we are..." (Hebrews 4:15 paraphrased)

How could He have been tempted if it was impossible to sin? But He was tempted and therefore He could have sinned, He just didn’t. And you can sin and the difference is you do, and He didn’t. But; "He that committeth sin is of the devil...[and] Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him [and that seed is merely the spirit and the power of God]: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (I John 3:8-9)

And God can't sin, and when you’re born of God you’ll be as much God as God is, and you cannot sin. Then only one human has ever been born of God, and that’s Jesus Christ — the first-born of many brethren. And we are to be born as He was, glorified as He is glorified. Well, here He’s talking about the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is that family, that Kingdom, that with Him will sit on His throne. And will rule the world under Him, when He comes to rule the world, and to save the world, if you please! Oh, that’s shocking! Have you heard that preached? That’s in your Bible and it’s all over the Bible. It’s in the New Testament, and it’s in the Old Testament prophecies. And the Church, the Church that Jesus Christ said He would build, is built on the foundation of the prophets as well as the apostles. Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:20)

Alright, now then the Church is, or the Kingdom of God, not the Church. The Kingdom of God is to grow. The Church is merely those that are spirit-begotten, they are heirs. "...if [we are] Christ’s [we], are Abraham’s seed, and heirs..." (Galatians 3:29)

Not inheritors, when you’re born again you will have inherited the Kingdom of God. You won’t be in it - I mean you’re not in it now, you’re an heir. But once you have inherited the Kingdom of God, you’ll be in the Kingdom of God, and a part of it. But you won’t be flesh and blood because; "...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God..." (I Corinthians 15:50)

So, we have to grow up, like a grain of mustard seed, the Kingdom grows. It started with one man, and it grows to more and more and more. But the one man, Abraham, who obeyed; there had to be another man, Christ, who was spiritual. And it takes the spirit put into the human, to make us increase and grow spiritually. Until finally God by His supernatural power, will suddenly convert or change us from mortal to immortal, from human to divine. "...and [become] greater than all herbs..." (Mark 4:32)

In other words, the Kingdom of God, my friends, and if this is not good news, I don’t know what it is, the Kingdom of God will be greater than any nation on earth. Now, how many billions it may run, God doesn’t tell us and I don’t know. I only know what is revealed. Now, here’s another parable in Matthew 13, getting back to Matthew beginning verse 33;

"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took [she], hid...three measures of meal, till [all] was leavened." (Matthew 13:33)

Now, this earth is there leavened with the Spirit of God, and with the truth of God. But it says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, and that’s the time, and the reign, when the Kingdom will be reigning over the earth. But that certainly isn’t true now. And the whole earth isn’t being saved now, but it will be, my friends, until all is leavened. And then;

"Again, the kingdom is like unto treasure hid in a field; which a man found, and hid, and in his joy he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." (Matthew 13:44 paraphrased)

In other words we’ve heard that Christ paid it all. Well, I want to tell you there’s something that we have to pay too. He paid the big price, He paid the great price, He paid the price of your sins, that’s true. By His resurrection, He can give you eternal life, the Living Christ. But you have to be willing to forsake all. It is recorded of Peter that when Jesus called him, he forsook all and followed Christ. And if you are not willing to forsake all, and that means these worldly ways, these worldly traditions, the things that I’ve been talking about on this program. If you’re not willing to forsake your neighbors, even husband, wife, children, father, mother, anyone, if you have to forsake them, and that depends on them. Hope you don’t have to, but sometimes you do because they’ll persecute you for the truth. You’ll have to be willing to forsake all. Then again, in Matthew 13:45;

"...the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant, seeking goodly pearls...when he found this one pearl of great price, he had to sell all he had, in order to buy it." (Matthew 13:45 paraphrased)

You’ll have to be willing to give up everything for that one great pearl.