Unveiling the Mysteries of the Kingdom

© 2013 Jasper Life Publications 1st Edition in English – July 2013 1st Edition in Portuguese – January 2013

Desvendando os Mistérios do Reino Translated from Portuguese with permission of Editora Árvore da Vida All rights reserved by Jasper Life Publications Inc. 725 Viscount Road London, Ontario, Canada N6J 4G9 Email: info@jasperlife.com http://www.jasperlife.com ISBN 978-1-926970-52-3

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Other versions of scripture are indicated as follows: Darby ASV

Darby Translation American Standard Version

Contents

Preface.................................................................... 5 1

The Mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens..... 7

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The Parable of the Sower and

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4

the Church in Ephesus..................................... 19 The Parables Related to the Churches in Smyrna, Pergamos and Thyatira...................... 33 The Parables Related to the Churches in

Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea................... 47

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The First World.................................................... 61

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The Present World............................................... 73

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The World to Come............................................. 87

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PREFACE

Dear reader, we are honored to make one more of Dong Yu Lan’s publications available: Unveiling the Mysteries of the Kingdom. We observe that in the history of humanity, all the kingdoms of the world are transitory. The kingdom framed by the Word of God alone will stand forever.

The author’s intention in this book is to help us decipher the mysteries regarding the heavenly kingdom. If we are clear enough concerning this subject, we will stop investing in this world, whose disastrous ending is already determined, and apply all our energy, being, money and time towards the unshakeable and everlasting kingdom.

Throughout each chapter, the author presents the parables of Matthew 13 in detail, drawing a parallel with the churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3.

This comparison will make us aware of our actual struggle in understanding the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens and provide us with the complete diagnosis of our problem. At the same time, it will give us a way out—a practical and viable solution.

How was the human being created? For what purpose did God create man? How did man live after the fall, and 5

how should he actually live? This book offers a meticulous investigation and indicates the “remedy” in the proper dosage.

We honestly hope you receive help, realize your true condition, and seek the way of salvation—repentance. This is especially ugent now that the end of times is near and the kingdom of the heavens is at the doors.

Read this book with a spirit of prayer before God, so that you may receive spiritual light, be washed by the water in the Word, victoriously pursue the ways of the Lord, and finally, govern with Him in the coming kingdom.

Enjoy your reading!

São Paulo, November 2012.

The editors.

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Chapter One THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS We live in an age of uncertainties; while science and technology move forward at an amazing speed, offering comfort and ease never before imagined, fear and insecurity about the future also grow in the same proportion. Amidst so many international crises and broken hopes for a better world, man begins to realize that the nations are coming to an end and that no earthly ruler is capable of changing the course of the kingdoms of this world. However, everything is happening just as foreseen in king Nebuchadnezzar’s enigmatic dream, whose secret God revealed to the prophet Daniel (Dan. 2:27-45).

This dream discloses that the great image, which represents all the kingdoms of this world, will be struck and broken in pieces by a stone cut out without hands. It will become like chaff from the summer threshing floors and the wind will carry it away so that no trace of it can be found. But the stone that struck the image will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth, referring to the establishment of God’s kingdom at the end of this age, a kingdom that shall stand forever (vv. 34-35, 44).

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There Is a God in the Heavens Who Reveals Secrets Daniel was brought before the king and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days” (Dan. 2:27-28).

At the end of the present age, the corrupted rulers who are over the nations will make way for the kingdom of our Lord, “The seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Rev. 11:15). If we want to know the mysteries of Christ’s coming kingdom, the kingdom of the heavens, we must seek God’s revelation.

To Whom Does God Unveil His Mysteries?

At the end of Matthew chapter 12 there is a verse that can help us understand to what kind of people God unveils the mysteries of the kingdom. “While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brother stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, ‘Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.’ But He answered and said to the one who told Him, ‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother’” (vv. 4650). God unveils His mysteries to those who do His will. He unveiled them to His disciples as follows.

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On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. Great multitudes gathered around Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. “Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: ‘Behold, a sower went out to sow’” (Matt. 13:3).

“And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given’” (vv. 10-11).

The Heart Is the Key After that Jesus explained, “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear” (vv. 13-16).

The key for God to unveil the mysteries of the kingdom to us is in the heart. Jesus said that the hearts of that people had grown dull—fat, according to another translation, i.e., rich, satisfied, contented with what they already had and, therefore, unwilling to receive anything new. That is why their ears were hard of hearing and they had closed their eyes.

The disciples did not understand the parable either, but they had left everything to follow the Lord. They were willing to empty themselves of their opinions and thoughts in order to 9

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receive His word. People with such a heart receive revelation; they are the ones who carry out God’s will.

Repent, For the Kingdom of the Heavens Has Drawn Near When John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, he said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh” (Matt.

3:2 - DBY). The Lord Jesus Himself preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh” (4:17 - DBY). To repent is to have a change of mind. In his epistle to the Romans Paul says that the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (Rom. 8:6). In this context the mind represents the soul, for it is the leading part of the soul.

Wherever the mind is set, the whole soul is set.

To repent is to deny the soul, i.e., to empty ourselves in order to receive something new from God. Regarding the kingdom of the heavens, we should especially deny our opinions and concepts in order to follow our King, the Lord Jesus. He unveils the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens to those who do so.

The Parable of the Sower Jesus spoke seven parables which are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, to unveil the mysteries of the kingdom.

The first is the parable of the sower. “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered 10

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away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (vv. 3-9).

The Lord Jesus Himself explained this parable to His disciples, “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (vv. 18-23).

The Word of the Kingdom Is the Seed Through the Lord Jesus’ explanation to the disciples, we understand that the kingdom of God is not something outward or physical. It starts with the seed of the divine life that God sows in our hearts. Thus Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).

The apostle Peter also says, “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because All flesh is as grass, And 11

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all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1 Pet. 1:23-25).

The earthly kingdoms are as the grass, and their glory as the flower of the grass. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had his glory, as did all the empires that succeeded him—the MedoPersian Empire, the Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire— yet, their glory faded away. All the nations of the present world and their glory will also wither away. Only the kingdom established by God’s Word—the kingdom of the heavens—will endure forever. If the Lord is merciful and little by little unveils His kingdom to us, we will cease to invest in the things of this world and apply all our energy, being, money and time towards the kingdom that will endure forever.

Our Heart Is the Soil Where the Seed Can Grow The word of the kingdom is the seed and our heart is the soil where it can grow. Our heart is very important to God, for that is where the word of the kingdom can sprout, grow and bear fruit. That is why God created man with three parts: spirit, soul and body (1 Thes. 5:23). The human spirit also has three parts: fellowship (John 4:24; Rom. 1:9), intuition (Mark 2:8; 1 Cor. 2:11) and conscience (Rom. 8:16; 9:1). Our fellowship establishes contact with God, who is Spirit (John 4:24). Our intuition absorbs God’s word, perceiving the divine feeling and direction. Our conscience connects our spirit to our soul.

The soul, in turn, also has three parts: mind (Psa. 13:2; 139:14; Lam. 3:30), emotion (Psa. 86:4; Isa. 61:10) and will (Job 6:7; 7:15).

The mind is the leading part of the soul. The conscience connects 12

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itself to the soul through the mind. In a normal situation, the conscience conveys God´s speaking, His will, to the soul through the mind. The mind receives it, the emotion appreciates it and the will makes the decision to carry out God’s word.

According to the Bible, the heart (Rom. 2:15) is made up of the conscience (Heb. 10:22) plus the three parts of the soul: mind (Matt. 9:4; Heb. 4:12), emotion (John 16:6, 12) and will (Acts 11:23; Heb. 4:12). A genuine heart, as created by God, is truly good ground for the word of the kingdom to grow and bear fruit, for it is very open to the Lord’s speaking. However, when the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness in the Garden of Eden, she was corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3; Gen. 3:1-7).

God created man to live by his spirit, but man’s spirit was numbed when he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From then on, man lived by his soul, having no contact with the spirit, and, consequently, no contact with God’s word. Knowledge became the basis of man’s conduct and his perception of what is right and wrong, and his self controlled his actions, completely independent from God. Man’s heart is no longer open to God’s word, i.e., Satan damaged man’s heart in regards to the kingdom of the heavens.

In such a condition, man needs to repent so that God can recover his heart and make it adequate to receive the seed of the kingdom. As already mentioned, John the Baptist appeared in the beginning of the New Testament preaching in the wilderness, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh” (4:17 - DBY). John brought the baptism of repentance so that the Lord Jesus could work in man’s heart and make it adequate for the seed of the kingdom to grow and bear fruit.

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The Problems of the Heart When the Lord Jesus explained the parable of the sower, He unveiled the problems that exist in man’s heart, hindering him from receiving God’s word and preventing the seed from growing and bearing fruit.

A Hard Heart In former days, roads were carved out by the treading of many feet along the fields. As the earth by the wayside is hardened by traffic, it becomes barren and packed in such a way that no seed can penetrate it. This type of soil represents a heart that is hardened by the daily traffic of one’s own thoughts and opinions, leaving no space for the word of the kingdom. As expressed in a proverb, “A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet” (Prov. 27:7).

Such a heart is so self-sufficient that it is unwilling to receive the seed of the kingdom.

A Heart Full of Stones Next come the stony places, where there is some good earth on the surface, but many stones underneath. This kind of heart receives the word of the kingdom with joy, but due to the lack of earth, it is unable to absorb enough water and produce the necessary nutrients for the seed to develop. The roots are not deep enough, and when the sun comes up they soon wither away. The sun represents tribulation or persecution because of the word, for this kind of heart easily stumbles or becomes discouraged under daily pressures.

Some say that the stones in our heart represent our hidden 14

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sins and personal pursuits. Yet, we can affirm that they are related to our self, or to the strongholds of arguments in our mind set up to defend our reasoning. God’s enemy builds strongholds in man’s mind through arguments, exalting it against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-6).

A Heart with Thorns “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Matt.

13:22). Daily concerns and anxieties can choke us like thorns.

The struggle for livelihood became lawful from the day that God cursed the ground because of Adam’s fall, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life” and “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen. 3:17b, 19a).

In Matthew 6 the Lord Jesus also said to His disciples, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (vv. 31-33).

On the one hand, when in scarcity, we daily struggle for our family’s livelihood; on the other hand, when our situation is plentiful we want to earn even more money, for riches exert a strong fascination on our soul. In order to save us, the Lord Jesus also said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor 15

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rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (vv. 19-21).

The apostle Paul also warns us, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:9-10). The fire that refines our soul and removes all its impurities must burn up these thorns (1 Pet. 1:7).

In short, our self, our soul-life, is the source of all our problems.

God wants to work in our heart and turn it into good ground, so that His kingdom can grow in us and we can bear fruit for Him. Therefore, God placed us in the church life as soon as we were born again, for the life we received through our new birth is the seed of the kingdom that needs to grow. However, for this to happen, our heart needs to be good ground. Right after revealing the church, Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24-25). In the church, the Spirit works in our heart and makes us deny ourselves. Thus, the Lord obtains good ground for His kingdom to grow.

Good Ground Finally, we reach good ground, “But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matt. 13:23). God’s intention in unveiling the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens to us is to work in our heart until it becomes good ground and yields a hundred, sixty 16

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or thirty times more than what was sown. Our responsibility is to preach the gospel of the kingdom to others, so that many hearts can become good ground for the seed of the kingdom to grow and bear fruit in the whole inhabited earth, bringing in the age of the kingdom. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

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