The ‘Seed’ – God’s Kingdom
INDEX:
* The Start of the ‘Mystery of God’
* Clues to the Kingdom and the Seed
* The ‘Seed’ is the ‘Anointed One’
* Others of the ‘Seed’ that are Kings and Priests
* When Does the Kingdom Begin?
* Are We Living in the Last Days?
* The Kingdom No Longer a Mystery
The Start of the ‘Mystery of God’
If a person doesn’t accept and trust in the whole message of the Bible – from the Paradise in Edem
(Eden) through the Revelation – he or she can never understand its promises, because these promises are all closely connected and interrelated.
Take for example the first prophecy in the Bible, which is found at Genesis 3:15, for this is where God’s promise of a Kingdom begins.
It’s where God foretold the results of the first sin – Adam and Eue’s (Eve’s) eating the forbidden fruit.
And there He addressed the snake that was being manipulated by the Opposer (Satan), within earshot of Adam, Eve, and all of God’s messengers (angels) that were listening.
He said,
‘I will create hatred between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
He will watch for your head and you will watch for his heel.’
So notice that God told the snake (the Opposer) that he would produce ‘a seed,’ and that ‘the woman’ would produce
‘a seed.’
Also, the two seeds would hate each other, and the woman’s seed would be ‘watching’ to step on the snake’s head.
Therefore, the great Divine Mystery (gr. mysterion) is this:
Whom would the woman and the two seeds prove to be?
Many have assumed that the woman was Eve, since she was the only woman present at the time.
And for a fact,
she would eventually bring forth the seed through her human descendants.
However, there appears to be something greater implied here than just Eve.
Clues to the Kingdom and the Seed
We find the first clue as to who the woman’s seed would be in God’s promise to AbraHam, as found at Genesis 22:17, 18, where we read:
‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sands on the sea shore.
Your seed will inherit the cities of their enemies and
all the nations of the earth will be blest by your seed, because you’ve listened to My voice.’
So here was a ‘seed’ that was to change the world.
And thereafter, the same promise of a seed was given to AbraHam’s son IsaAc, and to his son Jacob.
Then
some four centuries later, we see that the promise of a seed is tied to a Kingdom. This is indicated through
God’s words to Moses regarding the opportunity that was held out to the children of IsraEl.
Notice what we are told regarding this at Exodus 19:5, 6:
‘If you will listen to what I say and keep My Sacred Agreement, you will be a special people to Me that will be higher than all other nations.
And because the whole earth is Mine,
you will become My holy nation and a Kingdom of Priests.
So, since the children of IsraEl were literally the seed of AbraHam, IsaAc, and Jacob, they had the first opportunity to be ‘the seed of the woman.’
However, IsraEl proved unfaithful time-and-again by breaking their Sacred Agreement with God and by rejecting and even killing those whom He had sent to them…
so they lost that privilege as a group.
Yet, because the promise was made to their forefathers, the primary seed was still to come through them.
There are numerous other places throughout the Bible where this seed is further identified and clarified.
For, any promises to IsraEl
(and later to the Christian Congregation) or anything that has to do with the Kingdom, also has to do with this first prophecy in the Paradise of Delights (Eden).
One of the most important prophecies that leads to the identification of the woman’s seed, is the promise that was given to faithful King David.
For at 2 Samuel 7:12-16, we read:
‘However, after your days are finished and you’ve gone to sleep with your ancestors, I will raise up your seed after you –
someone who has come from within you – and I will prepare his kingdom.
He’s the one that will build a House to My Name, and I will make his throne stand through the ages…
I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me.
So when he misbehaves, I will discipline him with the type of switch that men use, and spank him in the same way
that the sons of men do [to their sons].
But I will never remove My mercy from him in the same way that I’ve removed My mercy from others.
Rather, his house and his kingdom will stand before Me through the age, and his throne will last through the ages.’
So here we learn that the ‘seed’ and the Kingdom would come through the family line of King David.
The ‘Seed’ is the ‘Anointed One’
Whom did this ‘seed of David’ prove to be?
Although Solomon appears to be the specific seed mentioned at 2 Samuel 7, the ultimate seed
proved to be Jesus; for he was a descendant (or seed) of David, as is shown in the genealogies found in Matthew Chapter One
and Luke Chapter Three.
Also, notice what Paul wrote concerning Jesus at Romans 1:3, 4:
‘[He] came in the flesh
from the seed of David and proved to be God’s Son in a powerful way, when he (by [God’s] Holy Breath) was resurrected from the dead…
yes, Jesus the Anointed One and our Lord.’
But we might ask: Was he also the primary seed of AbraHam?
Yes, for we are told at Galatians 3:16,
‘Now, the promises were given to AbraHam and his seed.
It doesn’t say, to his seeds, as though there were many of them, but just one,
to your seed, who is the Anointed One (Christ).’
Then, was he also to be the king of God’s Kingdom?
Yes, for notice what Jesus testified to in front of Pontius Pilate, as recorded at John 18:36:
‘My Kingdom isn’t from this world.
If my Kingdom were from this world, my followers would likely have fought so I wouldn’t be handed over to the Judeans.
But my Kingdom isn’t from here.’
Therefore, it isn’t surprising that the main topic of Jesus’ preaching while he was on the earth was this Kingdom.
In fact, it was one of
the main things Jesus told his Apostles to preach about; for notice what he said, as recorded at Matthew 10:7:
‘[You may each] go your own way,
but as you go, preach that the Kingdom of the Heavens has drawn near.’
But wasn’t Jesus’ Kingdom already there and ‘within them,’ as some Bibles quote him as saying at Luke 17:21?
Well, yes and no… for his rulership hadn’t begun yet. In fact, it wasn’t to begin until ‘the Lord’s Day,’ as we will discuss later on.
However, he was there among them,
and what he was telling them was that they also had the opportunity to become kings in that Kingdom… to become God’s ‘Kingdom of Priests.’
Others of the ‘Seed’ that are Kings and Priests
That there were to be others that are the seed spoken of at Genesis 3:16 and the seed of AbraHam, is clearly pointed out by what Paul wrote
at Galatians 3:26-29:
‘The fact is; you’re all sons of God because of your faith in the Anointed Jesus. And all that were baptized into the Anointed One have put on
the Anointed One.
So there aren’t any Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen, males or females, because you’re all in the Anointed Jesus.
And if you belong to the Anointed One; according to the promise, you’re AbraHam’s seed and his heirs!’
So as you can see; All of Jesus’ faithful disciples are that seed.
All?
Yes, that’s what Paul wrote… for the hope of being part of the seed wasn’t
just offered to a special few among his followers.
Rather, in order for the promise to AbraHam to be fulfilled in them (‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the
heavens and as the sands on the sea shore’), they literally had to become a huge nation whose first loyalties are to God and to His appointed king.
But doesn’t the rest of the prophecy to AbraHam (that ‘all the nations of the earth will be blest’ by this seed) mean that the seed is a limited number?
No!
Notice that this is not what God promised; for that seed was to be unnumbered (‘as the stars of the heavens and as the sands on the sea shore’)!
Then, who are ‘the nations,’ or ‘the ethnics,’ or ’the gentiles’ for whom the seed of AbraHam was to serve as Priests?
They appear to be the ’unrighteous’
that have not been found worthy to be counted among the seed of AbraHam.
(For more information, see the linked document,
’Jerusalem and the IsraEl of God’.)
Then in what sense will spiritual IsraEl become Priests in the Kingdom?
In a very literal sense, for this is what God promised to Moses… that this seed will become God’s ‘holy nation’ and His ‘Kingdom of Priests.’
However, it appears as though some could possibly receive their reward as Priests in the heavens,
while others could possibly serve as Priests on the earth.
(For more information, see the linked document, ’God’s Promise of
an Inheritance.’)
When Does the Kingdom Begin?
It is at Revelation 12:1-12 that we find the answer to when God’s Kingdom will begin. For in verses 1 and 2 we read:
‘And then a great sign appeared in the sky. There was a woman that had the sun wrapped around her, the moon was under her feet,
on her head was a crown of twelve stars, and she was pregnant… screaming to give birth in labor and agony.’
Notice that this appears to be a description of the same ‘woman’ that was described in the prophecy at Genesis 3:15; for she is about to give birth and produce
a seed.
Also, notice that this woman is in ‘the sky’ or ‘in the heavens.’
So our conclusion is that this woman is likely ‘the Jerusalem above,’
which Paul described to other Christians at Galatians 4:26 as being ‘our mother.’
Continuing on to Revelation 12:3, 4, we read:
‘Then another sign appeared in heaven. {Look!} There was a huge fire-red dragon
with seven heads and ten horns. On its heads were seven royal turbans.
It was dragging a third of the stars of heaven with its tail, and it threw them down to the earth.
This dragon was standing in front of the woman that was about to give birth, so that when she had her baby, he could eat it.’
Now, a dragon in mythology is usually described as snake with legs (which may have been very much like the snake in Eden).
And throughout the Bible, that term is used to describe the Opposer, Slanderer, or BeelZebub.
(See the Note ’Dragon’).
And notice that he has also produced a seed, ‘a third of the stars (or messengers) of heaven,’ which he drags down to the earth.
Thereafter, in verses 5 and 6, we read:
‘Then she gave birth to a son, a male, who is going to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.
And her child was snatched away to God and to His throne.
Then the woman escaped into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her,
where she would be fed for a thousand, two hundred and sixty days.’
Who was this son?
The easy conclusion is that the son was Jesus.
However, Jesus will obviously not be born again in heaven.
Rather, what will be born or begin there is his Kingdom!
So, the seed of the woman of Genesis apparently wasn’t a person, but God’s Kingdom through Jesus
(the primary seed and king of that Kingdom).
Then verses 7 through 9 tell us:
‘Next, war broke out in heaven. MichaEl and his messengers went to war with the dragon, and the dragon
and his messengers fought back. However, he lost and could no longer stay in heaven.
So, the huge dragon was thrown out. He is the first snake
(the one called the Slanderer and Opposer) who is misleading the whole habitation [of man].
He was thrown down to the earth along with his messengers.’
Now, it may seem as though this scripture is speaking of something that happened ages ago; for most people believe that the Slanderer and his demons
have been living in and stoking the fires of hell, not living in heaven.
However, that is a myth based on a misunderstanding of the Bible’s use of the Greek term ‘tartarus.’
(For more information, see the linked document, ‘Is there a Burning Hell?’).
If you read the Bible book of Job, you’ll see that the Opposer has always had access to God in the heavens.
Notice that Revelation 12:10, 11 goes on to tell us this:
‘Now has come the salvation and the power,
As well as the Kingdom of our God;
For His Anointed has now been empowered,
And the accuser of our brothers has been cast down,
Who blames them before God day and night!
By the blood of the Lamb, he was conquered,
And by the things that they testified.
For they did not value their lives,
Even when facing [their] deaths!’
So the Kingdom of God begins after the battle in heaven is won. And when is that? Verse 12 tells us:
‘So, rejoice you heavens and all those that live there,
But woe to the earth and the sea;
For in rage, the Slanderer has come down to you,
Knowing that he has little time.’
As you can see; when God’s Kingdom begins, there will be a terrible time of ‘woe’ on the earth… woes such as we would expect to see in the ‘last days,’ in ‘the Lord’s Day,’ and in the time when the ‘four horsemen’ start their ride!
Are We Living in the Last Days?
So did the Kingdom begin in heaven around the time of World War One, as some religions had once concluded?
It could have,
since that was a time of ‘nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom,’ as Jesus foretold.
But then again, maybe not.
Realize that people have been saying their generation was the one that would see the fulfillment of these prophecies for centuries.
For example; many First-Century Christians believed that the Kingdom was coming in their time.
Notice that Jesus’ Disciples asked him just before he ascended into the heavens (as recorded at Acts 1:6:
‘Lord, are you going to restore the Kingdom to IsraEl now?’
Then in Europe, many Christians thought that they were surely living in the last days
during the invasion of the Mongols, during the times of plague, and during the Napoleonic wars.
And today, people have pointed to several other modern events that
seem to indicate that we could be close to that period of ‘woe’ for the earth.
(For more on this, see the linked document,
’Armageddon – When?’)
The Kingdom No Longer a Mystery
So as you can see; the mystery of who ‘the woman’ of Genesis 3:16 would prove to be, and who her ‘seed’ and the seed of the snake would prove to be, has (after almost 7,500 years) been unraveled by the last writings of the Bible (the Revelation) and by world events.
The woman of the prophecy at Genesis 3:15 appears to be ‘the Jerusalem above,’ which is probably comprised of all God’s faithful messengers that are helping to bring about God’s Kingdom.
The woman’s seed appears not to be a person, but God’s Kingdom through Jesus (it’s his Kingdom)!
And as all governments require
administrators and local governors; Jesus has many (a secondary portion of seed) that will be appointed to positions of rulership will have proven themselves
righteous and trustworthy.
The snake’s seed includes ‘a third of the stars of heaven’ whom he draws with him (likely many of God’s former messengers
that have joined the Slanderer in his rebellion against God).
Also, there are humans that qualify as his seed. For notice what Jesus told a crowd of Judeans at John 8:44:
‘You are from your father the Slanderer and you want to do whatever your father wishes.
He was a murderer from the start and he didn’t stick with the truth,
because truth isn’t in him.’
So, since each of these characters have now been identified, all we are awaiting is the time when Jesus will bring an end to those wicked ‘seeds,’
whom the Bible shows will choose to stand in opposition to the rulership of Jesus, his true Disciples, and his Kingdom.
(For more information, see the linked document,
‘The Mark of the Beast’).
Then the kings and priests (the ‘seed’) of that Kingdom will begin their rule
in an age-long period of righteousness, which will be the start of the great period of joy to the earth and ‘all creation’ upon it, under what is called,
‘The glorious freedom of the children of The God.’
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