We now want to go into a little more depth about how the Lord has been preparing for the coming of His kingdom throughout this church age. It is important to see this to understand the events that will be coming upon the world at the end of this age and our purpose in preparing the way for the coming kingdom.

Because of the Fall, sin and death entered the world and began to run their course toward destruction. However, immediately after the fall of man in the Garden, the Lord began to implement His plan for man's redemption and restoration. These two divergent courses have been running throughout history—one imparting death and destruction, and the other leading to life and restoration. The seeds of both of these have grown, and at the end of the age they will have both matured, requiring the harvest of each. Life is stronger than death, and it will prevail. The world will live and ultimately be fully restored to the paradise it was intended to be.

The Lord, knowing the end from the beginning, knew all along that man would sin, and therefore He prepared for this even before the foundation of the world. In fact, the Scriptures affirm that He even knew us before the foundation of the world. He knew each one of us and has a perfect plan for each of our lives. The main thing we seek to understand is the path of life.

Knowing the future does not mean that you control everything about it. I may know that a young child will burn his fingers on the stove, not trusting me when I tell him that it is hot, but that does not mean I make him do it! Likewise, God knew us and called us before the foundation of the world. Scripture is clear that there will be many on that great judgment day, and who did not fulfill their calling, and whom He will declare that He did not know. Many are called but few pursue their calling so as to be chosen and commissioned. We must make our calling and election sure. God knew all of history from the beginning, but He did not cause all of it. Even so, God has very definitely steered history for the preparation of the world's redemption and restoration.

God does at times do things in anger which is called His wrath. He certainly has a right to be angry at a lot of what we do. However, most of the bad things that happen on the earth are not caused by God, but by mankind simply reaping what we have sown. Sin causes a disruption in the whole order of creation, and we will actually one day understand how earthquakes, storms, and other "natural disasters" are released on the earth by what mankind does. Man was given authority over the earth, and what we do has consequences in our realm.

However, that is not the main point that I want to address here, but rather how God has steered history in a way that has prepared the world for its redemption and restoration. In fact the very word "history" comes from His story, and you cannot really understand history unless you understand that it is His story.

The Lord began preparing for the redemption and restoration of man and the earth immediately after the Fall when He gave man a covering for his nakedness. He then prophesied the coming of a seed from the woman that would crush the serpent, the devil. This was the first prophecy of Christ.

The next one after Adam, whom it was said walked with God, was Enoch. Enoch also prophesied, and a good case can be made that everyone who truly walks with God will prophesy. To prophesy has two basic meanings—to speak for God, and to speak of the future. Those who walk with God prophesy in both of these ways. Enoch prophesied of the future coming of the Lord, as do all who walk with God. Their walk will always be in that direction—toward the coming of the Lord and His kingdom. This will be in our hearts, and it will therefore come out in our words.

After Enoch, the next main figure who walked with God was Abraham, who became the father of faith, and he took a huge step for mankind toward the coming of the Lord and His kingdom. His seed likewise carried this in their hearts, and even though they were subjected to bondage in Egypt, which is a type of this present evil age, they were promised freedom, and a Promised Land that would be a model of the coming kingdom.

Then Moses, one of the greatest of all prophets, and one about whom it was said that his life was a model of the coming Messiah who will set up the kingdom of God on earth, took another huge step for mankind toward its redemption and restoration. Moses led the people out of their bondage in Egypt, but was not himself allowed to enter the Promised Land. That leadership was given to Joshua, whose name means Jesus, and who is another type of the coming Messiah. Jesus, at His first coming began to lead mankind out of its bondage, but it will be at His second coming that we are led into the Promised Land, and the kingdom will again be restored on the earth.

After Joshua there were many prophets who took steps toward the kingdom. Some of these were big steps, such as King David's. All speak of and model in some way the coming of the King and His kingdom. Together they all reveal a remarkable picture of how the kingdom will come, and what it will be like. However, just as even the greatest picture is still far from the substance of its subject, even the most clear prophetic picture we can have in this age is still but a shadow of what is to come. It will be far better than we can even imagine!

John the Baptist was called by Jesus the greatest man ever born of woman, but Jesus also says that he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John was (see Matthew 11:11). I personally do not believe that this means greater character as much as greater power. Even so, John is the best example that we have of how to prepare the way for the Lord.

First, John the Baptist was a representative of the entire order of prophets and righteous ones who had prepared the way for the Lord from the beginning. John was their representative to declare that He, Jesus, was indeed the One they had all prophesied of. In this way, Jesus had the greatest credentials for authority that anyone has ever had—for thousands of years His life and purpose had been prophesied by many, and He fulfilled their prophecies.

There is no other person in history with those credentials. That is why, when Jesus was asked by what authority He did His works, He asked them a question: Where did the baptism of John come from? (see Matthew 21:23-25) Jesus was not trying to deflect their question, but the answer to His question was the answer to their question. If they understood John, they would have understood that Jesus and His authority, the authority of witnesses and prophets for thousands of years, were all foretelling His life.

It is in this way that we need to understand prophecy. It is not just for the purpose of letting us know what is going to happen so we can be ready for it, but it is also for the purpose of establishing the authority upon which the kingdom is built. If someone comes and does something great it will gain them authority, but when someone comes along and fulfills prophecy it carries a whole different level of authority.

Just as this is true of Christ, it is also true of the antichrist, who seeks to copy or counterfeit everything that Christ does. In fact, the antichrist is not so much one who is opposed to Christ as he is one who tries to usurp His place, taking his seat in the temple of God and declaring himself to be God in Christ's rightful place. Therefore, we need to understand the prophecies concerning each and the works of each.

However, just as the way that you learn to distinguish counterfeit money from real money is not by studying all of the counterfeits, but by becoming so familiar with the real that you instantly know a counterfeit when you see it, or even feel it, the same is true of knowing that which is of God and that which is not. Just as an authority on a great art master will know their work by the brush strokes regardless of the signature, we should know the Lord and His work that well. There is a quality to the work of God that the devil will often try to counterfeit, but he can never fully duplicate.

Therefore, if you really want to understand what is going to happen in these times, spend far more time studying what Christ is doing than what the antichrist is doing. We must not be ignorant of the devil's schemes, but do not want to give them too much of our time and attention either.

Concerning the Book of Revelation, it seems that now almost everyone who seeks to understand its message completely overlooks the very first verse, which if we do not understand we will not understand the prophecy. Revelation 1:1 states, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place...." There are two main points made here. The first is that this is a revelation of Jesus Christ, not the antichrist. The second is that the things written in this prophecy "must shortly take place." He did not say that they should shortly take place, but they "must," and they did begin to take place immediately after John had this revelation. Without understanding these two points we will not understand the rest of the prophecy.

For people to believe that the Book of Revelation only points to things that will happen in the future would be if they were completely ignorant of history, which sadly most Christians are. Having been a student of history for over thirty-five years now I am continually marveling at how accurate and perfect this prophecy was. However, I do not believe that it has been completely fulfilled; but there are some matters yet to come. I do not believe that it is possible to understand them correctly if you do not understand what has been fulfilled.

From the time John received this prophecy, parts of it began to be fulfilled, and there has been a continual unfolding of the rest throughout the church age. It is a remarkable faith builder to see its accuracy and the way that it illuminates the great events of history. Without seeing this, the last two thousand years appear to have been turned over to the devil, but the Lord was very busy preparing the way for His kingdom, and the job of preparation is nearly complete. The kingdom really is at the door, and it will come so that His will is done right here on earth just as it is in heaven—soon!

Our goal in this study of our Promised Land is to understand how possessing our Promised Land fulfills biblical prophecy. Of course we want to take the time to lay a good foundation and build upon it carefully. Understanding the plan of God is essential to really understanding Him, ourselves, and our purpose. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which means He is God in every generation, and if we are going to know Him as He is we need to see Him in every generation. He is the Alpha and the Omega—we need to see Him from the beginning all the way to the end. If we want to understand the wisdom of the age to come there is a depth of seeking that is required, as Paul wrote in I Corinthians 2:6-10:
 

We can summarize this to say that those who are the true seekers and who are led by the Spirit will not be shallow, but will search even the depths of God. Such are the ones who will really understand the wisdom of the age to come. We want accurate knowledge, but we do not just want knowledge—we want wisdom! As we are told in Proverbs 24:3-4, "By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established, and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

So knowledge can fill a house, but it takes wisdom to build it. People will be drawn to knowledge, but we do not just want to draw people, we want to see them built into His house, to become His dwelling place. We do not want to just know how the kingdom is going to come, but we want to be a part in helping to prepare the way for it by building on His kingdom now. It is by this understanding that what we build is established, built on the Rock so that it remains.

Knowledge is a treasure. Accurate knowledge of the future is one of the most valuable treasures there is. Just as the children of Israel used the treasure that they took from Egypt to build the tabernacle of the Lord so that He could dwell in their midst, the greatest use of any treasure that we have is to build Him a home. Having God with us is greater than any amount of treasure we could have. As one friend once said to us, "One moment of the favor of God is worth a lifetime of effort." This is true. We are seeking the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but more than that we are seeking Him, and seeking to build Him a dwelling place that will cause Him to stay with us. We want to prepare the way for the kingdom so that the King will come!