NT Framework - The Kingdom is At Hand!

A real, physical kingdom, with a person as a king, ruling over real people in physical lands; that was the offer. And that kingdom is still future in the millenium.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Transcript

Framing The Gospels’ Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.

Prophet Before The King

Is John Elijah

SPEAKER_02 0:10

So let's look at the plan of the Gospels. Matthew 1 through 11, the kingdom offered. Let's go to Matthew chapter 3. And you can see there was this guy who was the forerunner of the king. He's predicted by Isaiah, Isaiah 40, the one who would come to herald or prepare the way for the king. There is always in the Old Testament the prophet precedes the king. The prophet precedes the king. Remember, it was the prophets who anointed the kings, right? And the kings were quote unquote little messiahs. Okay, that's the concept of anointing. When they anointed them, it's the concept of messiahs. It's a word that means to rub, right? And they would take the oil, they would anoint the prospective king, the one who's going to be king. And so the prophet precedes the king. And this is why the prophets were super powerful in the Old Testament, right? Now we have a new prophet come on the scene. They haven't had one for over 400 years during the intertestamental times, right? And John the Baptist is that prophet. In fact, the idea was that maybe he's Elijah, right? Because Elijah is also predicted to come in the very last verses of the Old Testament. Micah 4, 5 and 6. The very last two verses predict uh Elijah's return. And so there's a big question in the Gospels, right? Is John Elijah? You know, you remember all this? And Jesus goes into it. And um he basically says, Hey, if you receive me, then John is Elijah. Well, did they receive him?

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Then he's not Elijah, and Elijah is still too.

Contingent Prophecies In Scripture

Why John Was “The Baptizer”

Mikvahs And Self-Baptism In Israel

SPEAKER_02 1:49

But it's perspective, it presents it like John's true identity is contingent on the nation Israel's response, which is super interesting. God builds contingencies into his plan. Um, we don't have a lot of time to go into contingent prophecies, but they're all over the Old Testament. Um, looking at Matthew 3 1, here we see this one who came and to prepare the way. His name is John the Baptist. Well, his name's just John. They called him, his nickname was the Baptizer, not the Baptist. He was not Southern Baptist, he wasn't uh anything like that, but um, it's technically the baptizer. They nicknamed him the baptizer because he was doing something very odd. He was baptizing people. You say that's not odd. We baptize people all the time. Yes, they do. You we do, but Israel didn't do that. The type of baptism that they experienced was just a ritual bath. You you just walked into what was called a mikvah, which was basically had steps going down into water that was considered pure, a purification ritual. You would walk down into this water and uh you would walk out of the water, and then you had undergone a baptism. But it was a self-baptism. You nobody touched you. In fact, you weren't supposed to touch anybody. The whole point is if you've gone into the bath, you're now purified ritually. And when you walk out of the bath, if somebody touches you, now you're ceremonially unclean again, possibly. Because why? Because they're unclean going in to get what? To get ritually clean. So they're unclean and you touch them. Well, now you're unclean. Okay, so the whole point was not to touch anybody during the baptism. Okay, and these are called mikvas, and they're all over the land of Israel. If you go, you can you'll see them everywhere. Um, so they didn't know about someone baptizing other people. So they said, What's this? Let's let's go out there in the wilderness. This is a weird thing. This guy's baptizing people. So they'd actually make the trek from Jerusalem down to the Jordan River, which is uh quite a ways down. You've got to walk back. Don't forget, you've got to walk back uphill. Um so they were going out, right? So he's going out, he's preaching verse one in the wilderness of Judea saying, and here's the message repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There it is, this at-handedness, this concept that the kingdom is about to come, okay, or is in the position or standing position where it can come. So that's his message. And what does the nation of Israel need to do? I mean, who's he preaching to? Gentiles, Syrians, Romans?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

No, he's preaching to Israelites, right? And the message is repent. Meaning what? Have a change of mind, right?

Repent For The Near Kingdom

Righteousness Beyond The Pharisees

Faith Credited As Righteousness

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Metanoia, have a change of mind about the type of righteousness that a person needs to enter the kingdom of God. The nation of Israel had to be ready for their king. John is the one who would prepare them. He's preparing the way for the king. When a king would come to a city, just for some historical background, when a king would come to any city, it would be announced in advance that he's coming. Then everybody would do this clean up their lawns, place some flowers outside, and prepare to stand along the way as he made his march into their city. And this was the welcome. This is how they would welcome a king, right? And that's John's role is to prepare the nation to receive their king. So they've got to have a change of mind about the type of righteousness that they need that will be fitting with the Messiah's arrival. So this is what the nation needs to do. And people are coming out and they're getting baptized, you know, and verse 6, if I can read, they're confessing their sins because obviously, you know, they've thought that if we just follow the Pharisees and do whatever the Pharisees say, we'll be fine. But evidently that's not true. And we know that. The Pharisees were not living righteous lives. Jesus will say later, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not see the kingdom of God, right? Matthew 5.20. So that was not the type of righteousness that you needed. Not a Pharisaic type of righteousness. You needed the Messiah's righteousness. It's the same righteousness that Abraham accessed by faith, right? It says, Abraham believed, Genesis 15, 6, and God credited it to him as righteousness. It's faith credited as righteous. That's the type of righteousness a person needs. So they're coming out, they're confessing their unrighteousnesses, right? Then the Pharisees and the Sadducees in verse 7, they're coming out, and he says, You brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. I mean, they're not, he knows they're not there on legitimate motives. But that's the message. Okay, the kingdom is near, people need to prepare.

A Warning To Religious Elites

Closing And Where To Find Visuals

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.