Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5:6

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1).  He created it good, and filled it with things that He declared good.

He planned from the beginning there to be a man, and that he would rule over the Earth and subdue it.  He would walk through the lands, fields, valleys, forests, and hills, and be its master.  He would bring the natural Earth into the pattern of the garden.

This failed, when the man ate from the fruit.  It is said that the woman was deceived, and the man chose to disobey willingly, so as not to be separated from the woman.  Genesis 3:6 indicates that the man was not somewhere far away when the woman sinned, but was “with her”.

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A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Luke 6:40

Imagine that your job is to teach blind musicians to water-ski…  You know everything about how boats work, how the water dynamics and the waves affect you.  You know about the tow-rope, the skis, and watching out for other watercraft.  It’s really not a difficult thing for you to do, or teach.  Only now, you’re dealing with people who don’t have a clue, and don’t have even an ability to have a clue.  Yet…

Jesus said that no one could see the Kingdom unless they were born again (John 3:3).  Jesus’ ministry on Earth was to teach and preach concerning the Kingdom of God.  When Jesus was faced with the throngs of followers early in His ministry, and told so by His disciples, He simply said, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” (Mark 1:38).  Early success and popularity did not distract Him.

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Matthew 13:44

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

1. This verse is the picture of True Gospel Faith. Biblically, you don’t spell Faith R-I-S-K, you spell it S-I-G-H-T. When you see something in the Spirit, whether the carnal agrees, that alone gets you to do what seems out of place to the world, to obtain the desired end. The only time DOUBT, hence risk,comes in is when the carnal mind converses with the spiritual mind.
2. All spiritual pursuit and “gifts” work through the principle of Seeing, Selling, and Buying to receive, even Salvation. When you see Jesus, you must forsake everything else. Consider the parable of the the mustard seed: there are not multiple types of seeds sown to produce the entirety of the Kingdom, one seed produces everything. Not only would you find many gifted people with a testimony of “selling” to obtain what they saw, similar to this, you will not find any other. Whether it’s salvation, prophecy, healing, or anything else, it is the knowledge of the treasure that propels.
3. The person in faith is a “prisoner” to joy, to happiness. Here, it is depicted in the Joy. Considering Matthew 5, true Faith, rooted in God and Christ, results in happiness at expected deliverance, comfort, or other promise. The man poor in Spirit, knowing he is all right with God, is happiest then, in that place, because the Kingdom is his. Those in mourning are happy then, because heavenly comfort will come. The man in the “dire straights” of sell all is joyful because he sees the treasure. There is no fear. Emotional warfare breaks off. You sit at the door awaiting salvation. You accelerate into your deliverance instead of limping into the ambulance when it arrives. Hugely Happy are those… Because. It is the treasure that results in happiness.
4. The work of the gospel is truth, not performance or striving or guessing. The thing that keeps you going is the treasure itself. If the man in the field wavered half-way through, he would not have to work harder, he would simply go sneak another peek at the treasure. Denial is the Devil. Truth keeps you going. Obstruction is an opportunity for more faith.
5. Unless you see, you cannot receive. Even if you happened to buy the field, without the revelation, it continues to be empty to you, despite the treasure within. John the Baptist said a man cannot receive anything unless it is given to him by heaven.
6. A Focused life is essential to walking by the Spirit. It is only by the selling that we can receive. When the eye is single (incorrectly translated “good”), the whole body is full of light. The fires of the passions of the heart are not inexhaustible, and we will simply run out of enthusiasm. Unless we let go of what we have invested in bitterness, unforgiveness, and pain, we cannot fully receive the Kingdom. When the fullness of the treasures of our hearts are fully invested in the right place, the purchase is not hard. It follows that we generally do have the resources on hand to do do what needs to be done to see the treasure become ours, it is just a matter of being willing to part with the familiar and mundane to procure the sure divine.
7. The presence and purity of faith, not its quantity, is the only thing required. It didn’t take a big mind to make this transaction. The only thing that could stop the man was only doubt that it was there or worth it. It was there. Simply the vision of the true, and a recognition of that was ll that was ever required for the simplest to the most complex to become the richest. Faith becomes the “extension cord” from God’s supply to you, not the power itself, according to Jesus (Mark 11:23).
8. You can only have faith for what you’ve seen. No one else agrees with your wisdom, because no one else sees the treasure. While every criticism has a grain of truth they say, for the man in the field, everyone points out the worthless field, to which he agrees, and the value of the possessions, to which he agrees, but continues on straight ahead based on perfect logic, confidence, and truth of that which is “hidden”. The proof of faith is treasure in hand, not procurement of the field. You can keep all the fleshly manifestations, the thing that matters is the gold, silver, and precious gems. But, you might not get the goods without them.
9. The Gospel is always Good News. No one is “losing” anything, at least permanently, only gaining. The only reason for apparent asceticism is the greatness of something better, God Himself. Religion uses mental agreement and “imagination”. Kingdom uses revelation and true sight. It’s a matter of discovery and correct appraisal.
10. The gospel is as simple as a good business deal. The point of sale looks like to death to the blind, but life to the one who sees. It cost Kathryn Kuhlman everything every time she came out to the platform, but I’d take a hundred of what she had and lose everything else if I could. It’d be worth it a billion times over. The world cannot see nor enter this. We cannot all expect to be Kathryn, but we can all receive a “word” (or vision) from heaven and step out into it. We can’t all be “that”, but we can all be “all that God has called us to be” and nothing else. The only thing truly “deadly” is selling some and not buying the field in the end, or going and “fleshing out”, buying something else so you no longer have the resources to buy what you originally intended to buy.

The Man of Faith in the Kingdom

1. Happy all the Time. The state of the man in faith is maximum happiness. Matthew 5:3, “Most Happy are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Not only this, but he is a prisoner of this happiness because of his faith. So long as he stays in faith, he remains happy. For poverty of Spirit, this can be described as “when you’re at the end of you’re rope, tie a knot in it and hang on, cuz God is on the way.” Or, “We start where most people let off”. We don’t have problems, we simply need faith in God.
2. Happy is a byproduct of faith. It is not worked up, it is not labored for. It comes as a by-product of simply believing in the promise. Matthew 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who found a treasure in a field, and for joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  A great way to teach faith is to meditate on the promise, such as kingdom of heaven being yours, and when happy comes, what changed is called “faith”. Afterwards, if happy leaves, what changed is called “unbelief”. Focus on the promise again to return to faith, and we answer any doubts in the interim with the Word of God.
3. Happy is the promise of mature faith. Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” As a natural offshoot of the other two premises. Happy doesn’t always PROVE faith, as happy can come from ignorance, but happy is assured when, in the face of being assured of the dangers, you are MORE convinced of the provision. When your spirit sees, and faith is, happy is.
4. The Kingdom is always “At Hand”. Isaiah 9:7, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  Only the first and the last beatitude promise a current reality, “Yours is the Kingdom.” The rest promise a future reality, such as “will see God”, “Shall be filled”, or “shall be comforted”. That means, for many, the manifestation of the good is at some time in the future. But, for the first and the last, the promise is now. The Kingdom always answers the immediate need, whether poor in spirit or persecuted for righteousness sake. It would stand to reason that the quickest way to the double portion is to be both at the same time. Jesus was this on the cross.
5. Happy is the motivation. James 1:2, ” Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” Paul was shown the trials he would endure, but he also knew the exceeding weight of glory. It was for the joy set before Jesus, that He endured the cross. We don’t seek poor in spirit or persecution. And, while we do seek purity of heart and meekness and do not shun hungering and thirsting for righteousness, it is the bliss of being with Him that makes us both willing and able to endure, no matter what the cost to obey.
6. Happy only works with a Father. John 15:10, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”Whether these are literal promises or merely the principles of God’s heart, they work with simple reliance upon the heart of who God is, as the Father of creation. There is no favoritism, and what you do for others will be done for you, and then some. Trying to manipulate these principles will only result in you being manipulated by God Himself (Psalm 18:26).
7. This life cannot be your aim. 1 John 2:15, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. … If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  This teaching does not make one popular, it keeps you alive and going through. Maximumly happy, in its greatest form of course, is on the cross, breathing your last, and forgiving those who are mocking and spitting on you, when you’re innocent. It was this position that put Jesus on the Cross, and it is these priorities that moved the heart of the Father to take lift Him back up. But, He had to go through. So long as you can make it through, you win.
8. There is always a reason to be happy. Matthew 5:3-12, “Most Happy…  Most Happy…  Most Happy…  Most Happy…..”  In the pursuit of Jesus and His Kingdom, we can be guaranteed of persecutions and tribulations. But, according to Jesus, there is always a reason to be happy, because to be oppressed for doing good is honorable before God, and He will not leave you hanging. If one doesn’t fit, try the next one. Or the next one. Until you’re happy.
9. The happies are the proper commentary on the Old Covenant. Matthew 13:35, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Think of the deliverances of the Old Testament. In general, they will fall into one of these categories. The Israelites were poor in Spirit in Egypt, and God heard their cry. When they felt comfortable, and no longer had the breakthrough of the Spirit, they backslid, and didn’t have the covering.
10. The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Matthew 18:1-4, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  If you’re not on the edge, you’re taking too much room.  There is something about the constant drive of the Kingdom. You can stop any time you want to. You can choose to be a millionaire, but the moment you stop to enjoy what you’ve found, you run the immediate risk of losing the power. The Kingdom showed up not because you are something special, but simply because of Grace and Mercy. He showed up in mercy when you were poor in Spirit, and Grace when you were persecuted for righteousness sake. God is close to the broken hearted, and when God’s righteous law is broken, it is time for God to act (Psalm 119:126)! You could try to get out of the pressure, and you could say that you can’t survive the pressure, and it’s true, but God’s is able, and His strength is made perfect in weakness. What you are unable to do, when you reach consistently the end of yourself, you will consistently run into the provision of Him.

This is the promise of the Kingdom. These are the promises of Jesus. They are not the promises of today’s preachers or churches, but they are what the Kingdom is. They missed Jesus because He wasn’t the conquering King they expected, but we miss Him today, because He is still the same, Yesterday, Today, and Forever.

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.

Matthew 13:33

Thoughts and beliefs are powerful things.  Jesus said that to look with lust at a woman was to commit adultery, and to be angry at someone without a cause is to murder him.  Ultimately, it is what you think and what you believe that will either deliver you or condemn you to an eternal judgement of hell.

We can tend to look at our actions primarily, in the Christian life, but the unsurrendered self is perhaps the most dangerous weapon against the Kingdom, even as a believer.  Yet one sinner can destroy much good (Ecclesiastes 9:18).

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Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

Matthew 13:12

One sad thing I see in the interpretation of Matthew 13 is a large branch of thinking that rationalizes that Jesus was saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is somehow corrupt, not holy, or not pure.  Because of lack of understanding, or partial revelation (which we all must deal with — 1 Corinthians 13:9), many have assumed the Jesus meant somehow that the Kingdom of Heaven was itself divided.

In the case of Matthew 13, most of the parables start with the phrase “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”.  The Kingdom is likened to 7 things.  Some see believe that because they cannot find a species of mustard plant that grows from a very small seed into a large tree, that Jesus must have been implying some abnormal growth.  In addition, with parables such as the leaven which a woman hid, they assume that because in MOST of the references to the leaven in the Old Covenant are a reference to sin, and that sin was outlawed in most of the sacrifices, that Jesus obviously couldn’t be saying that the Kingdom was like leaven.  However, Jesus also plainly said in John’s gospel that unless you ate His flesh and drank His blood, you would have no life in you (John 6:53), a highly detestable practice in Jewish custom.  In the course of Jesus’ teachings, the fact that the image was abhorrent because of misunderstanding did not seem to matter to Jesus.

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Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17-20

God’s original standard to Adam was holiness.  And, in failing that, by one man’s sin, death came to all.

God’s standard to Moses was holiness.  He who broke the smallest commandment was guilty of all, and hence deserved death.  He who sinned under the law deserved death, and even Gentiles, who were not aware of the law, proved that they were indeed under the law, for they demonstrate that the law itself was written on their hearts, so that their own hearts condemned them.  Therefore, he who sinned with the law, and he who sinned without the law, both perished because of it, for failing to meet God’s standard.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

Finally, we come to the New Covenant, and for some reason, people think things have changed.  And, indeed they have changed, quite a bit, but God’s desire and conditions for complete fellowship really have not.

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You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:14

Jesus said not to think that He was come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).  What this means for us today, was the He was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.  What He lived on Earth, perfectly satisfied the perfect of justice of the Father, so that anyone who is baptized into Jesus Christ has lost their old life with its sin and corruption, and entered into that perfect, finished, and sufficient righteousness of God.

Yet, more than this.  In Matthew 5:19, Jesus says that whoever continues to BREAK one of these commandments AND teaches other to do so, will be considered least in the Kingdom.

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But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 5:22

In Luke 11:20, Jesus said that if He was driving out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom had come upon those listening.  While all the other miracles of the Old Testament had been done previously by other prophets, deliverance was unique to the New Covenant, and, by this verse, a distinguishing feature of the Kingdom being present.  Despite a small faction in so call “liberal” theologians that attempt to say different, demons, or evil spirits, are presented as the primary cause for many ailments and behaviors.  The basic difference between a Pharisee and Sadducee was that the Pharisee believed in the resurrection from the dead and evil spirits, while the others did not.  Obviously Jesus believed in evil spirits, because He cast them out of people!

So, the understanding of the role of deliverance in the New Covenant is quite understood.  So much as healing is the children’s bread, and Jesus said this in reference to casting out a demon (Matthew 15:26), this is just as necessary in the Kingdom as healing and salvation is (the Greek word for “salvation” generally indicates all three).  But, where does this leave the place of inner healing in the New Testament?  This was a stumbling block for a while for myself, until it suddenly occurred to me, as deliverance and the miraculous is the apparent half of the gospel, the inner work of the heart is its covered, veiled, or hidden work.  The other “half”.

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A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

Luke 6:40

There is exactly one reason why we do not see miracles on the order of Jesus.  We have not understood and applied His teachings.

This is not to question anyone’s authenticity in the Gospel, nor their sincerity, but the truth remains, that we as a church as a whole have fallen far short of the Gospel Jesus preached.

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