The Kingdom, Part 3

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Series 5 Part III

THE KINGDOM

June 28th 2026

We are going to pause a moment in working through all Yeshua said about the coming Kingdom of God/Christ or Heaven and try and lay out the idea of heaven before creation, after creation but before the Fall, between the Fall and Christ, between Christ death and resurrection and return, and then what it all looks like thereafter.

Later, maybe next week or the following, we will take all of this information and conclude with all Yeshua said in parables about the Kingdom – and there are minimally twelve of them.

To begin, we might wonder, was there a kingdom of heaven in existence before the world was?

Limiting ourselves to scripture and biblical philosophy, it is hard to conceive of a Kingdom where “former humans” would go after death if humans were not yet made.

That said, this is not to say that there were no humans before from some other realm or dimension but relative to this life, and world and our race, it seems that there would not be any sort of Kingdom that included human beings.

In his book The Unseen Realm, which I have not read but reference here, biblical scholar Michael Heiser describes the heavenly realm before Christ as a realm populated (by angels and demons, not humans) and that it was a hierarchical spiritual bureaucracy that included God's heavenly court and an assortment of rebellious divine beings who would ultimately corrupt the earth once God made man in His image.

There is the idea that these demons were envious that God chose to make a species of material beings in His image and decided to do all they could to destroy us.

Sounds almost sci-fi but then isn’t sci-fi based on human notions of possible ideas?

In any case with no humans made in His image what need would there be for a kingdom that would include them?

Perhaps going back even further than Heiser and as a point of sheer speculation, I wonder if there has always existed two (I am very big on the number two in the things of God and His creations) and tend to believe that there has always existed, because God has always existed, two essential kingdoms, one of Light – Him – and one of Dark-not Him.

I maintain that philosophically, if we agree that God has always been, and that He is a personal God meaning He does exist in a place – spiritually, materially – and that He is not everywhere and in everything (which is Pantheism – although I do side with Spinoza and admit this possibility at the beginning of the material universe).

When it comes to discussing the biblical ideas on Kingdoms, even kingdoms outside of the Bible, we might see them as existing in four simplified ways – as realms, rulers, residences and as subjects.

GRAPHIC

Kingdoms consisting of

1. Realm

2. Reign and Rulers,

3. Residences, and

4. Subjects.

The realm speaks to the area or span of the Kingdom, reign and rulers speaks to those in power and ultimate power, Residences are where the Sovereign exists and the subjects are the beings that dwell therein and are under His authority and those who rule with Him or Her or it.

So, to the first Kingdom, there seems to be a realm of everything over which the ruler known as God reigned. We might agree with Michael Heiser that in this realm God governed by a Divine council of Beings, we might also see that in the realm of that Kingdom God existed in a place (since we admit to Him being real and personal) and we admit that both inside and outside of where the Sovereign reigned there were subjects.

Before God made human beings in His Image the Kingdom appears to have been a spiritual realm consisting of spiritual beings, and Heiser’s framework outlines the spiritual status quo prior to creation and then all the way up to Christ's victory.

In that former, pre-Adamic to Christ period, there seems to have existed an immaterial Kingdom and Heiser suggests that YAHAVAH did not rule alone, but presided over a council of lesser divine beings (he calls the elohim or "the sons of God") who served as His heavenly court and administrators.

Perhaps this was an attempt by YAHAVAH’S to engage with some of his created beings? Who knows.

But Heiser suggests that following the Tower of Babel, God disinherited the “nations of the world,” and placed them under the authority of these lesser heavenly beings.

These "sons of God" ultimately rebelled, seeking worship for themselves and plunged these various nations into spiritual darkness.

Before the flood, an additional faction of angels (called, "Watchers") transgressed their boundaries, further corrupting humanity and introducing demonic influence.

This spiritual realm was deeply fractured, with unseen, hostile cosmic powers holding dominion over both the Gentiles and unfaithful human authorities on earth.

Christ’s incarnation and ministry—culminating in His death, resurrection, and the events of Pentecost—are framed by Heiser as the beginning of a cosmic campaign to defeat these rebellious powers, reclaim the nations, and restore the human race to their intended position within God’s council.

Going back to the material creation of Man, I see another Kingdom coming into play and obviously relative to us.

This was the Garden Kingdom, if you will, a place like unto paradise where the first couple had their home with God.

Perhaps we might say in the face of YAHAVAH giving human beings freewill in that Kingdom that when it comes to human beings we will -and this is tough for some to accept – but that we will always have the right to choose, I believe both here and now and in the ages to come above.

The saving grace is I suspect those who choose to fortify themselves with and through the Victorious finished work and power of Christ are somehow equipped with resurrected bodies that are almost impervious to seduction or temptation – hence part of the reason for this being the proving ground of human existence.

In other words, choose to sow or fortify thyself through the power and Spirit of Christ in this life, perhaps we will reap the power of His resurrection in the next and rise above the temptations of the Dark realms both here and beyond.

But I get ahead of myself.

This Garden Kingdom setting given to Man certainly had God as it’s Sovereign (and by the way, the manner in which God acts toward Man in the Garden is the manner in which God reigns over people at any stage of existence – freely, lovingly, with right execution of judgement and mercy – and I say this because the top-down authoritarian despotic Sovereign over Man was NOT present in the Garden Kingdom, was He (sorry Calvies) and Man was also, just like the elohims of Heisers view were also given dominion, in that case over all the material elements around him.

This administration is what Delaney has brilliantly coined as the, “Edenomics” of that place.

So just as God shared the governance of the first unseen realm with created beings (who rebelled against Him) material man made in His image was not one bit different and we know what the result was, right? Man falling (under the sway and impulse of the demon-haunted world around him) and becoming subject to the will and ways of the beings that rebelled against God in Heiser’s Unseen Realm.

I am not going to speak of the Kingdom after the Fall from Adam to the Flood but I will say this – I find a super interesting parallel between the flood, Christ casting Legion out into a herd of swine that immediately ran to the sea and drowning themselves and demons hating water and resorting to dry places as meaningful somehow. Side issue.

Interestingly, the first human kingdom mentioned in the Old Testament is found in Genesis 10 where we read,

Genesis 10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

9 He was a mighty hunter before YAHAVAH: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before YAHAVAH.

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

And here we see both a realm (Babel, etc) and a ruler (Nimrod) over it without any idea where Nimrod personally resided or the nature of his subjects.

After the flood, where the inhabited world was wiped out by water save eight souls and the reason given was because of violence, we see YAHAVAH established another Kingdom among Men – a material Kingdom, again with YAHAVAH as sovereign over a material nation extending from the loins of the Father of Faith, Abraham.

I see this Kingdom as a material type for the ultimate Kingdom to come which we have been talking about in the weeks prior.

Obviously, this Kingdom extending to human beings from Abraham was a kingdom of Man on earth materially, but we do not read or hear God speak of a Kingdom even to Abraham until Exodus 19 where we read,

Exodus 19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

The place this was said was Sinai, which I see as the beginning of this Kingdom of Priests.

Later in Leviticus we read God say through Moses,

Leviticus 20:22 Ye (subjects) shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, (ruler) and do them: that the land, (realm) whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.

23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am YAHAVAH your God, which have separated you from other people.

25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I YAHAVAH am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

From all of these things we realize why YAHAVAH God did what He did as Sovereign over the earth – to illustrate materially through this chosen people what His Kingdom would look like on earth among human beings.

The horrible acts we read about Him doing and telling the rulers and subjects of this Kingdom to do to invaders and threats to this Kingdom were materially based but present to us a type – the job of a Sovereign King and His rulers and subjects is to protect the realm and residence of the King.

Because this Nation was to be Holy, and separated from the rest of the world, the only material response they could or would have to threatening invaders and outsiders of evil would be death – hard as this is for people today to understand.

Other important facts about the material kingdom of the Nation included that the way they took hold of the land promised Abraham was they mercifully extended an invitation for the nations that inhabited it before them to surrender but if they resisted the took it by force, which is why we read in places like Deuteronomy 3 a recounting of Israel in the Promised Land we read about them being threatened by Og the King of Bashan, as it says beginning at verse 1

Deuteronomy 3:1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

2 And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

3 So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.

4 And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

5 All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.

6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.

7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.

Types and pictures folks for what was to come.

Additionally, the Kingdom of Israel was never supposed to have human intermediaries as Kings because God sought to be their sovereign.

For centuries, Israel was ruled by a system of judges raising up temporary military leaders.

As the prophet Samuel grew old, his sons proved to be corrupt judges. Fearing the military threat of the neighboring Philistines, the elders of Israel gathered at Ramah and demanded of Samuel:

"Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations" (1 Samuel 8:5).

Samuel was super displeased by this request. When he prayed, God comforted him by stating, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).

Then God instructed Samuel to grant their request, but only after giving them a stern warning about the heavy burdens a king would impose, including forced military conscription, heavy taxation, and eminent domain. The people refused to listen and reiterated their demand.

And God allowed them their folly and granted their request by directing the prophet Samuel to anoint Saul, the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin, as Israel's first monarch.

Interestingly, we see that Saul was elected by both God and the people, though the process started as God’s concession to the nation's demands.

God specifically chose Saul (who I believe was physically and symbolically stood head and shoulders above everyone else as an emblem of the people being impressed with fleshly power and presence) and in 1st Samuel 10:1 Samuel privately poured oil on Saul’s head, declaring that God had anointed him leader over His inheritance.

Samuel then gathered all the tribes at Mizpah and used lots to narrow down the selection publicly, confirming Saul as the chosen king before all of Israel.

While some initially doubted Saul, he solidified his leadership by rallying Israel to defeat the Ammonites who were besieging Jabesh-gilead.

Following this military triumph, the entire nation went to Gilgal and officially confirmed Saul's kingship with peace offerings and great celebration.

King Saul’s downfall in the Bible was ultimately caused by a pattern of disobedience, pride, and growing insecurity.

In 1st Samuel 13 and 15 we read about how Saul usurped the priestly role by offering his own sacrifices instead of waiting for the prophet Samuel.

Later, he deliberately failed to completely destroy the Amalekites as commanded, attempting to justify his disobedience by blaming the people.

After David successfully defeated Goliath, Saul grew insanely jealous of David's military fame and favor with the people. This paranoia led Saul to abandon his duties and spend years obsessively hunting David in an attempt to kill him.

As his disobedience and bitterness deepened, the Bible notes that God's spirit left him, leaving him tormented by a distressing or evil spirit.

In his final hours before a battle with the Philistines, Saul consulted a medium (the Witch of Endor) to contact the deceased prophet Samuel, violating his own laws and God's commands.

Saul was mortally wounded during the ensuing battle with the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, choosing to fall on his own sword rather than be captured and abused by the enemy.

No, God has never ever wanted His people to be governed by any king other than Himself.

That said, His people wanted a King, and when Saul failed due to his weakness as a man, God elected His own King who had a heart for Him first and foremost – and His name was David.

This was a case of God choosing heart (David) over appearance (Saul) and David was a man after God’s own heart.

Essentially, by electing David, God transformed the kingship. Instead of an autocratic ruler leading a nation like the pagan nations around them, David established a lineage of kings meant to serve as earthly representatives of God's direct rule over His people.

This election of David also paved the way for the ultimate fulfillment of God's covenant: the promise that an eternal king (the Messiah, or "Son of David") would eventually establish God's perfect, everlasting kingdom.

The Bible establishes Jerusalem as the political and spiritual center of the United Kingdom of Israel when King David conquers the city around 1000 BCE) and makes it his royal residence.

This was the material residence of God’s Kingdom through the Nation of Israel.

2 Samuel 5:1–10 first describes the tribes of Israel anointing David as king. David then marches on Jerusalem, captures the fortress of Zion, and takes up residence, formally naming it the "City of David".

Very symbolic for what is to come.

2 Samuel 5:5 specifies that David reigned for seven and a half years in Hebron over Judah, and then 33 years in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah, then

1 Kings 8:1–21 & 2 Chronicles 6:5–6 describe King Solomon (David’s Son) building God a house (the Temple) solidifying the city as the religious and national heart of the kingdom, and where God chose to "put his Name".

In 1 Kings 14:21 we read that following the split of the kingdom into a northern and southern, the text continues to identify Jerusalem as the city the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name, remaining the capital of the southern Kingdom of Judah thereafter.

All this said, however, we come back to the first part of this series where we see that the material Kingdom of the Nation was never going to last.

The first time scripture warns of the fall and division of the United Kingdom of Israel is in 1st Kings 11:11-13.

There, the prophet Ahijah delivers God’s message to King Solomon, declaring that because of his unfaithfulness, God would tear the kingdom away from him and give a portion to his servant which ultimately splitting the nation.

Following this, the definitive fall and captivity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel is explicitly prophesied in 1 Kings 14:15 where the prophet Ahijah foretells that God will "strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and uproot Israel out of this good land... and scatter them beyond the Euphrates."

And that was the ostensible end of the Northern Kingdom as a whole.

The southern Kingdom would go into Babylonian captivity for her crimes and come out a Hellenized, Law-driven people who would de-evolve theologically all the way up until the time of Christ, who along with John the Baptist, came preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand.

At this point the Christian world agrees and disagrees on important elemental differences and similarities between

the former Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Christ.

Of course, the former was an earthly, political theocracy rooted in physical descent and the Mosaic Law.

By clear contrast, the Kingdom of Christ is described as spiritual, eternally reigning, never changing, extending to all nations, defined by inward faith rather than ethnic identity or material conformity.

Some of the main differences most believers agree upon (although these lines are getting thinner with each passing day) include that the

GRAPHIC

• The Kingdom of Israel was bounded by geographic borders in the Middle East (still fought over by Man) while the Kingdom of Christ operates spiritually, with Jesus declaring to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" in John 18:36.

GRAPHIC

• Entrance into Israel required physical birth (descending from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and circumcision) whereas entrance into Christ's Kingdom requires a man being "born again" (John 3:3) through baptism of water for the Jews then and according to the Spirit for all by faith.

(We will spend some time on this element later.)

GRAPHIC

• The foundation of Israel's theocracy was the Mosaic Covenant, governed by strict external laws and a Levitical priesthood. Christ's Kingdom is established on the New Covenant, characterized by the grace of God and the law written internally on the hearts of believers (Hebrews 8:10).

GRAPHIC

• Israel was ruled by fallible, mortal kings and eventually dissolved due to political collapse and exile. Christ's Kingdom is ruled eternally by God and His Son.

GRAPHIC

• The former Kingdom had special approaches to sin, rituals, rites, genealogical priests, slaves, purity and between men and women. In Christ there are no differences between bond or free, male or female, or racial standings and there is, according to Peter, a Kingdom of Priests with one High Priest overseeing the Empire.

GRAPHIC

• Where the former Kingdom of the Nation of Israel was geographically determined, material, earthly, centralized in Jerusalem, limited to subjects of ancestral purity and ceremonial conversion and governed by human Kings, the Kingdom to come would be the whole world, with a new Jerusalem residence for the true King, with subjects from every corner clime and nation, male and female with circumcision of the heart and established in a new heaven, on a new earth for a new creation.

We maintain that the whole of human kind since the victory of Christ is a new creation, with the world having been reconciled to God once and for all, and operating under an economy where all know Him, all are His Subjects, and He alone reigns.

Because Christ plainly told his critical disciples in Mark 9 that the man who did not walk with them was fine, saying, “leave Him alone, if he is not against us He is for us,” I take this ideal broadly – especially in the face of the temple veil coming down, Christ defeating Satan, hell, death and Adam’s contribution to the human condition and we see His Kingdom from a very different place than most Christians around the world today.

Thus far in our study today, we see the following template in place relative to Kingdoms.

• They all speak, whether in conjecture or biblical text of referencing,

GRAPHIC

1. A Realm

2. Reign (and of Rulers),

3. Residences, and

4. Subjects.

Let me put up a chart (which are always hard to see – I know – to help review what we might say about Kingdom’s thus far:

KINGDOM

Realm

Reign

Rulers

Residences

Subjects

Pre-creation

Heavenly Spiritual

YAHAVAH

Divine Council

A heavenly realm

Heavenly hosts

Garden Kingdom

Garden of Eden

YAHAVAH

Man

Garden

Whole Human Race (Adam and Eve)

Fall to Flood

Fallen earth

YAHAVAH

Demons

Man

Satan

Earth

All souls

Flood to Sinai

Cleansed earth

YAHAVAH

Demons

Man

Satan

Earth

All souls

Sinai to Christ

Promised Land

YAHAVAH

The Law

Kings

Satan

Promised Land /

Jerusalem

Nation of Israel

Christ to Destruction

Earthly Spiritual

YAHAVAH

Christ

Jerusalem

Bride

Destruction to present

Heavenly/

Spiritual

YAHAVAH

YAHAVAH

New Jerusalem

The world’s inhabitants

We will continue from here specifically talking about the last two boxes on this diagram next week.

Questions/Comments/Prayer