Lesson 13

Key Text:

“ ‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:

I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;

and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’ ”Jeremiah 31:33

Since Adam and Eve’s fall, every human being has decided between being loyal to “Christ’s Kingdom” (Eph. 5:5) or being subject to “the power of Satan.” (Acts 26:18)

In Christ’s victory we find assurance and the promise of an eternal life in God’s everlasting Kingdom. For “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed” (Dan. 2:44)

Jesus also had to decide between getting all the kingdoms of this world from Satan and being faithful to God’s law.

“Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the

kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, ‘all

this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered

to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.’” (Luke 4:5-6)

Read Ephesians

2:2; 2 Corinthians

4:4; Matthew 4:8, 9.

What do these

verses tell us about

Satan’s power in

this world?

What happened during the

wilderness temptations is

very revealing. Satan offe-

red to give Jesus rulership

over all the earthly king-

doms if Jesus would fall

down and worship him

(Matt. 4:8, 9; see also Luke 4:5–7). Jesus came to take the world back from

Satan, but He could do so only at the cost of His life. How strong, then, the

temptation must have been when Satan stood there and offered to give

the world to Him! However, in bowing to Satan, He would have fallen into

the same trap as had Adam and, consequently, would also have been

guilty of violating His Father’s law. Had He done so, the plan of salvation

would have been aborted, and we’d be dead in our sins.

Of course, we know that Jesus stayed victorious, and, in His victory, we

have the assurance and promise of our own, which is life in God’s

everlasting kingdom, the one depicted in Daniel 2, when the stone cut out

without hands destroys all kingdoms of this world. And then, afterward, “

‘the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed;

and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces

and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever’ ” (Dan. 2:44.).

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which

we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord

Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)

There is no dual citizenship in a spiritual way; just citizen of this world or citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

God asks us to make a decision, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (Dt. 30:19)

Therefore, our behavior must agree the moral law of the Kingdom of Heaven, and not the morals of this earth.

Those who have decided to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Heb. 11:13). We desire “a better, that is, a heavenly country.” (Heb. 11:16)

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

According to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Revelation 22:14-15, who can become a citizen of God’s Kingdom?

Cannot become citizens:

• Unrepentant sinners (unrighteous, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, murderers…)

Can become citizens:

• Those who have been washed (their sins have been forgiven)

• Those who have been justified (they have been declared righteous)

• Those who have been sanctified (they have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit)

God’s Law is our guide to live as citizens of Heaven. Only by God’s grace, power and love we can be made citizens if we want to.

“God’s love and justice have provided one

way, and one only, whereby man can be

saved from eternal separation from Heaven

and alienation from God, and that is by faith

in Christ and obedience to his law.

The Spirit of God operating upon the human heart never leads men to

belittle the law of Jehovah. Enlightened by this divine influence, we

will see with awe the majesty of its requirements, the heinousness of

sin, and feel the terror of its inevitable penalties upon the

transgressor.”

E.G.W. (The Signs of the Times, December 15, 1887)

“But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and

possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” (Daniel 7:18)

The Bible teaches about “a perpetual sleep”; we cannot awake from it… until the resurrection (Jer. 51:57; Rev. 20:4-5). It also teaches about “an everlasting fire” that will never quench… until it is consumed (Mt. 25:41; Jude 7; Mal. 4:1)

How can we be sure that the everlasting Kingdom will last forever?

God is the only eternal Being (1Tim. 6:16). All the created being can only be everlasting if they stay faithful to God.

Satan, his angels and humankind rebelled against God, so we lost that eternity.

We will have that eternity back forever when Jesus will give us everlasting life in his Second Coming. Forever?

Yes, forever. For God has promised that rebellion will not rise up a second time (Nahum 1:9)

E.G.W. (The Great Controversy, cp. 29, pg. 504)

“The last enemy that will be

destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians

15:26)

“For the wages of sin is death…”

(Romans 6:23)

Why will death not exist anymore in the everlasting Kingdom?

Death is a natural consequence of transgressing God’s moral Law.

The principles of God’s moral Law will exist in the eternal Kingdom. They will still be written on our hearts (Heb. 8:8-13)

The difference, of course, is that those principles will never be violated there as they have been here.

“And God will wipe away every tear from

their eyes; there shall be no more death,

nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no

more pain, for the former things have

passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

“And the Lord will deliver me from

every evil work and preserve me for

His heavenly kingdom. To Him be

glory forever and ever. Amen!” 2

(Timothy 4:18)

CHRIST AND HIS

LAW

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