Restoring the Kingdom

 Restoring the Kingdom

By Richard P. Joseph

10/30/2025

The book of Acts is invaluable to understanding the transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament.  It also has many enigmas, especially to those that reject this transition.  In the first chapter, Luke continues his account that he is writing for someone named Theophilus.  Luke’s writing appears to be written to, perhaps, a lawyer that might be involved in Paul’s defense as he was preparing to face court in Rome.   I would like to look at the interesting context of the first half of chapter 1.  

In Acts 1:3 Luke tells us that Jesus, after his resurrection, began teaching the disciples things about the kingdom of God.  

Acts 1:3

  to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many [b]infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Take note that he is teaching them about the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of Israel.  This is important.  He then tells them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit that was promised from the Father.  

He then compares the gift of the Father to the gift that John the Baptist brought.  One was of water and one was of Spirit.  

Acts 1:5

 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The water represents the physical kingdom and the Spirit represents a Spiritual kingdom.   So we see so far Jesus is teaching them of the Kingdom of God which is going to be a Spiritual Kingdom.  

Now here comes the kicker; The disciples then ask him if he is now going to restore the kingdom to Israel.  

Acts 1:6-8

6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [c]witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

At this point, after living with Jesus for 3 ½ years, they still don’t have a clue, but this is actually a good thing.  None of the disciples actually lived long enough to see the full second coming of Christ and the new kingdom being consummated.  

It appears that every time that the disciples asked Jesus for exact dates or specifics about the kingdom, they only got parables or vague answers.  There must have been a reason for it.  I don’t believe that they, at that early point, could really comprehend that Judaism was ending and that the everlasting kingdom would not be one about land or kings or armies but one that was spiritual in nature.  One that transcends all borders and thrones and spears.  One that has no earthly king but only a spiritual king in heaven.  That is one reason that I believe that the second century Christian did not readily understand that the kingdom had indeed come but not to their understanding.  Looking at the verse above, Jesus is giving them a hint.  They were still focused on Israel but Jesus tells them that Jerusalem is only the beginning.  He said that they would be witnesses of him starting in Jerusalem but then moving outward even unto the ends of the earth.  Jesus wasn’t focused on Israel because that gig was up.   We, today, have the real advantage.  We can look at fulfilled history and clearly see what happened.  This is something that Muhamed couldn’t see either.  He came along in the seventh century and still thought it was about land and blood and rules.  He was acting upon the common physical ways of those days never realizing that all of that was obsolete.  The Rabbis did the same thing.  That is why Islam and Rabbinical Judaism is still a type of caveman religion.  This is also why Catholics still cling to physical types of worship and hierarchy.  Once someone understands fulfilled theology, they are really set free.  They have left the physical groping for religion and have entered a free and wonderful existence.  The hardships of religion and formality have been shed and we are free to move and run unhindered and unshackled.  Like the Apostle Paul told us, not to be sucked into senseless arguments about genealogies and things of the law.  We are free now because Jesus has become the fulfilment of the law for us.  

Titus 3:9

But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.

So, in the end, the kingdom was restored, not to Israel, but to God and him alone. 

Faith

 Faith

By Richard P. Joseph

10/19/2025

Ephesians 2   8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The above verse is one of the most controversial verses in all of scripture and I can’t figure out why.  In fact, this issue had much to do with Martin Luther splitting from the Catholic church.  I am assuming that the real problem is that most people really don't know what faith means.  So, hopefully, after reading this article the centuries old argument will be solved; finally!

I looked “faith” up in Strong’s concordance and it didn’t help much so I did the next best thing; I looked it up in the bible.  Imagine that.  One of the easiest to start with is Ephesians 2:8-10.  In these verses the Apostle Paul is telling us that “works” do not save us but it is actually “grace” that saved us through the “faith” that God gave us.  However, in the next verse he tells us that we are God’s workmanship In Christ Jesus for “good works”, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.   Are you confused yet?  Before I boil this down, let’s take a look at what James (the brother of Jesus) said about faith.  

James 1:22

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

James 2:14-18

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

So, the argument starts as you hear many protestant preachers say “All you need is faith to be saved” and then you get the Catholics who say “You must also have works to be saved”.  The problem is that those that can’t seem to figure this out have never stopped and defined faith.  I do have to admit that I did hear a preacher once say that “Faith is an action word”.  That actually solves the entire issue.  If you read the epistle of James you will quickly see that Faith is indeed a verb.  Faith is not faith unless there is an act associated with it.  The book of Hebrews describes this well.  Here is one verse.  

Hebrews 11:7

  7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Noah believed God but that wasn’t faith.  When Noah started building the ark, that was faith.  This is really a physics lesson.  James also says that:

James 2:20 

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is [h]dead?

This is the same as describing potential energy with kinetic energy.  A dead log has potential energy (belief) stored up inside of it.  This log is really accomplishing nothing useful just sitting there.  However, if I put a match to it and release the potential energy  (belief) and the log begins to burn, this potential energy now becomes kinetic energy (faith).    In other words, if there is no action taken, there is no faith.  When the bible talks about Abraham believing God and it was counted to him as righteousness, it is because Abraham not only believed God, he took action on that belief.  So James is correct, faith without works is dead, or in other words belief without action is not faith.  James is simply defining what faith is.  So, unless you plan on taking action on your belief then do not call it faith.  If you say you believe in God but never lifted a finger to honor him by your actions then maybe you should re-evaluate your stance.  That is why James talks about actually feeding your starving neighbor instead of just saying that I will pray for you.  He is talking about the helpless people, not the lazy people.  If you say you are a Christian you are saying that you act upon your belief, not just talk about it.  Jesus, many times, told those that he healed that it was their faith that healed them.  For example, the woman that had an issue of blood for 12 years could have just stood there and done nothing even though she believed that Jesus could heal her but she didn’t.  She forced her way through a massive crowd and dove at Jesus’ feet and touched the hem of his garment.  That movement was faith.  So in the end there really is no argument at all.  You can believe in God but in order to be saved you must make a move.  Once you move then God can heal you.  That is how you are saved by faith.  The works part of it is inside the word faith.  You can do a bunch of worldly works which can’t save anybody but you can do the works of faith which can move mountains.

Jesus Revealed

 Jesus Revealed

By Richard P. Joseph

10/8/2025

David Jeremiah just wrote a book for the next generation, I’m guessing because those that read the 1990’s Left Behind books never saw it fulfilled!  In other words,  they keep predicting the second coming of Christ but it, for some odd reason, never seems to happen so they keep writing more books and movies and sermons predicting the second coming is right around the corner.  I am certainly in the wrong business if I want to make a lot of money.  The futurist doctrine of the second coming is nothing but a big pot of gold for those promoting it.  I am trying to go through Revelation again, not to make money, but real slow this time, to glean the truth from it.  

So what should I expect by going through the book of Revelation real slowly?  I’m really not sure but perhaps I can pick up on clues that the untrained eye never sees.  But let’s be honest, those that completely understood the book of Revelation were those that lived through it in the first century.  I do not believe we will ever completely understand all of it, that is unless new material is uncovered but that is not likely.  So let’s take a look at a few things I am getting from the first chapter.  

John wrote the book of Revelation to the seven churches which were in Asia Minor.  My first question is: Why was it written to churches way up in Turkey and not in Jerusalem?  One reason might go something like this (which I have heard a couple different scholars expound upon);  Since Paul was imprisoned from 60 to, at least 62, and couldn’t visit those churches, John may have taken on the mantle until Paul was available again.  But John got arrested and was sent to Patmos, which was a prison Island close to those churches.  Along with that, as you read through the book of Acts you will discover that, at the beginning, just after Pentecost,  nearly all of the missionary activity was in Jerusalem.  However, when Stephen was martyred by the authority of Saul, the Church began to spread outward into the Roman empire.  As you near the end of Acts you find that most of the activity is now outside of Jerusalem.  So those seven churches were a hotbed of Christian activity at that time which was around 62-63 AD when John wrote the letter.   The second reason John wrote it to them is a reason that most pastors just can’t wrap their minds around and that is, it was relevant to those in the first century.  It was written to “them” because it was them that were to be affected by it, not us. Obviously, the church at Jerusalem also read it too.  Why people are still waiting for Jesus to be revealed when John wrote an entire book revealing Jesus to us is beyond me.  Of course we all want to see Jesus in heaven with our own eyes but that is not the revelation, what John saw was the revelation.  Just read it and you will know!

The book of Revelation was the announcement that the Parousia was beginning.  Revelation is a book of coded numbers.  It uses several different coded numbers but let’s just look at the number seven right now.  There was a seven year period of activity that was split in two sections, there were seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven spirits, seven horns, seven eyes, seven angels and a seven headed monster.   These are not necessarily written in chronological order but rather they are layers of the same thing.  The number seven is a number of fulfillment just like when the earth was created in six days and God rested on the seventh day indicating that all was fulfilled.  John now doubles down on the fulfilment scenario by introducing a new order of priests being that the old order would pass away in the next seven years.

Revelation 1:6

 6 and has made us [c]kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Peter, probably after reading Revelation himself, repeated this observation.

1 Peter 2:5

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ

This may sound nice to us today but placing yourself back in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, you would be stoned for blasphemy.  In the old order, only Levites could become priests.  In the new order each man is the priest of his household and Jesus, who is from the tribe of Judah, is the High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.    

Basically, what I am saying is that the book of Revelation is a book showing completion and transition.  One other note I would like to make is a true story I had recently.  I may have mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again.  I told a friend about the preterist view and she had a friend that had multiple seminary degrees.  He met me and I asked him to explain to me what the words soon and near meant.  I asked that because in the first few verses of Revelation it uses those words as time stamps of the prophecy fulfilment.  The scholar first asked me what bible degrees I had.  I told him none, only a science degree.  He then, in a very condescending manner, told me that I had no right to challenge him from my uneducated point.  He said the answer is too complicated to just explain in a short meeting.  On one hand I can understand what he was saying as there are many times that I try to explain to someone deep things of scripture but they do not even have a basic understanding of scripture so I sound like I am speaking a foreign language to them.  But I am not that uneducated and all he had to do was explain what soon and near meant.  The truth is that for him to explain what soon and near meant he would have to do what we call high level linguistic gymnastics.  That is a nice way of saying that he had to make up a bunch of nonsensical theology in order to evade the simple definition.  Using Occum’s razor, I will stick with the straight forward uneducated answer.  In other words, John and Jesus were not liars and Jesus did return exactly when he said he would.  No gymnastics necessary.  We will look at the number seven later in other articles so stay tuned.