Where are the real men--I mean the Kingdom men--The men that God has called to represent Him in honor and truth?  Where are the Kingdom men that God has called to represent Him in holiness and righteousness?  If you take a few minutes to view the situation around you, you will see that many of our males have traded their manhood for something that God hates and calls an abomination.

    You shall not lie with a male as with a woman.  It is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22)

    There are plenty of religious males in this society, but not many real men.  I am speaking of men that walk with integrity.  Men that are always aware of who they are and their purpose in this world.  God wants males who will be men.  There is a serious distinction between a male and a real man.  A real man lives and walks with caution.  His life is an example for other young and old men alike.

    Many of our young males dress and act according to the environment in which they reside.  That is because they don't know who they are in God.  Also because they fail to re-evaluate their position in this life.  Jesus made it very clear:

    You are the salt of the Earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.  14) You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  (Matthew 5:13-14)

    Now these are the words of our King.  My question to you is this:  Who are you representing and what standard of laws are you operating by?  Those of us who know the way should lead by example according to the king's constitution, what you call the Bible.  If you aren't effective, then you are ineffective.  Meaning a hindrance.  Jesus continued by saying:

    Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.   16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:15-16)

    Is God getting the glory out of your life or are you representing someone else or even worse, yourself? 

    Once again, God is after building on Earth a kingdom of kings and priests; not to separate classes as castes, but to offices combined in the same person.  Except for Jesus Christ, such a combination has not existed since Adam.  A king is a royal executive, an administrator who exercises rule and judgement over a domain, while a priest is a spiritual representative between God and His people and is responsible for the spiritual well being of the nation.  Adam needed neither a king nor priest because he was already both.  Before the fall, Adam was a king with administrative authority over the earthly domain, but was also a priest who enjoyed immediate, direct and open fellowship with God.

    God's original plan was for both king and priest to be the same person, but every since the fall, mankind has been trying to keep the two separate.  When God delivered the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt and called them to be His own people, He told them this:

    Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the Earth is Mine.  6) And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. (Exodus 19:5-6)

    It was God's desire to bless all the nations and peoples of the Earth through Israel, as He had promised Abraham centuries earlier.  That is why He called the Israelites a "Kingdom of priests"; they were to be His representatives before the rest of the world.  Although the nation of Israel as a whole failed in this regard, God did not abandon His original plan and design.  In the fullness of time, Jesus came, in the flesh a son of Israel, but in the Spirit, God's promised blessing to the world.

    God has always wanted a priest with a crown.  Now keep in mind, the problem with democracy, republic, monarchy, dictatorship, or any other system of human government is that they separate the offices of king and priest.  Remember the devil is the deceiver and he has blinded the people from the truth of God's original plan.  In a fallen world, it is probably a wise and necessary concession, because with sinful people the power of the state combined with the power of religion easily becomes overwhelmingly oppressive.  Look at the state that this present world is in now.  Separate offices of king and priest can serve as balances against each other.

    Now, the Psalmists such as David and the sons of Korah were not the only people of Old Testament time who understood the Kingship of God and how the kingdoms of men related to it.  Many of the prophets also received powerful visions and insight into the glory and splendor of God and His Kingdom.  One of the most familiar of these visions is found in Isaiah:
    (Please note Isaiah was called to be a Prophet)
    1) In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.  2) Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  3) And one cried to another and said, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole each is full of His glory!"  4) and the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.  5) So I said, "Woe is me, for I am undone!"  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips.  For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.  6) Then one of the seraphim flew over me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. (Isaiah 6:1-6)

    Now, it would be difficult to find more powerful depiction of a king on his throne than Isaiah's picture of the Lord surrounded by a host of angelic attendants who were ceaselessly praising Him and hastening to do His bidding.  Isaiah recognized immediately that he was in the presence of absolute holiness and glory.  He had "seen the King, the Lord Almighty" and the majesty of his vision so overwhelmed him that he feared for his life.  His own human sinfulness stood out suddenly in such starkness against the awesome purity and holiness of God that Isaiah expected to be struck down  at any moment.  Instead, he experienced the merciful justice of God:

    6) Then one of the seraphim flew over me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.  7) He touched my mouth with it, and said "Behold, this has touched your lips.  Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged."  8) Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"  Then I said, "Here am I!  Send me" (Isaiah 6:6-8)

    Isaiah's vision of God the King precipitated a spiritual crisis in his life.  Once he had experienced the cleansing of his sin, the power of his vision inspired  him to respond to the King's call.  Isaiah became an ambassador for the Lord Almighty, called and appointed to proclaim the message of the Kingdom of God to a wayward people who ignored and rejected it.

    In another place, Isaiah recorded the insight he had received regarding the King's heir and the nature and character of His Kingdom:

    6) For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  7) Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.  Upon the throne of David and over His Kingdom.  To order it and establish it with judgement and justice from that time forward, ever forever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.  (Isaiah 9:6-7)

    The question is: What is the Kingdom of God like?  It is a realm ruled by a God who is mighty and everlasting and who is a Wonderful Counselor (a wise and just Judge); a realm characterized by peace, justice and righteousness.

    Please note Jeremiah was another ambassador (if you will) who had a profound understanding of the kingly nature and lofty statutes of God.  He said:

    (Idols and the True God--Jeremiah 10:1-16)

    6) Inasmuch as there is not like you, O Lord (You are great and Your name is great in might), 7) Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?  For this is your rightful due.  For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.  10) But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King.  At His wrath the Earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation. (Jeremiah 10:6-7, 10)

    To Jeremiah, God was "King of the nations" the true God... the living God...the eternal King whom people of all the nations should revere and honor.  As King, God sat rightfully as judge of the Earth, and under His wrath and anger the nations could not endure.  What a powerful picture of God!  Jeremiah knew God as King, who was truly sovereign over His entire domain, both spiritual and physical.  The strongest and most fearsome of human kingdoms are nothing in comparison to the Kingdom of God.

    Now how important is the Kingdom of God?  It is so important that our lives depend on it, literally.  That is so true!  All that we are, all that we see and hear, the air that we breathe, and the food we eat, the water that we drink; this physical world of ours issued forth from the Kingdom of God by His hand at creation.  The Kingdom of God is at the center of everything.  God's every action and activity is motivated by His desire and passion to see His Kingdom established on the Earth.

    Now my question to you... How important to the Body of Christ is the message of the Kingdom of God?  Frankly, we have nothing else to preach or teach.  The message of the Kingdom is good news, and the Church exists to proclaim it.  Now, if we are doing our job, everything we are about will be Kingdom-focused:  every sermon we preach, every Bible study we teach, every ministry we perform, every activity we accomplish and every worship service we celebrate. 

    Keep in mind, that the Kingdom of God must be our highest priority; Jesus gave us no other commission. When He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19)  He was commanding us to proclaim the Kingdom of God to a world that knew it not.  He wasn't commanding us to spread another religion called "Christianity".  Although the world is very familiar with the regimes of men, it is essentially ignorant of God's Kingdom.  People of every nation need to know that God's Kingdom has come to Earth, and that faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is the way in.

    Now normally, when we talk about the Kingdom of God, we think only of what Jesus said about the subject as recorded in the four Gospels. Although it is certainly true that in His life and words Jesus revealed the Kingdom more fully than ever before, they were simply the culmination of all that God had been working toward from the beginning, as was His life in general.  Everything that God says and does relates to His Kingdom.  Keep in mind, that the entire Bible deals with the Kingdom of God.  From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture reveals God as the great and almighty King of heaven and Earth resolutely at work on His plan of the ages.

    And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.  (Exodus 19:16)

    For the Kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations.  (Psalm 22:28)

    Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your Kingdom.  (Psalm 45:6)

    They shall speak of the glory of Your Kingdom, and talk of Your power.  (Psalm 145:11)

    And in the days of these kings, 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 shall stand forever.  (Daniel 2:44)

    The plan is to reverse and destroy the works of the devil and fully restore He rule over the earthly realm through His human representatives.

    Remember what we have said: the Bible is not about religion, but about a kingdom.  Everything centered on the Kingdom of God.  All the saints of the Old Testament recognized this fact.  Abraham knew it.  Moses knew it.  Samuel knew it.  David, the King of Israel, knew it.  The prophets knew it.  Jesus knew it.  All the apostles and other believers in the New Testament knew it.  Everyone, it seems, understood the priority of the kingdom; everyone except us, that is.  In recent years the focus in much of the Body of Christ has shifted away from the Kingdom of God to other issues.  The tragic results is that multitudes of believers today know little about the kingdom, and even fewer understand their place and rights as its citizens.

    Keep in mind, even in spite of all our sophistication, education and technology, we of modern and "enlightened" democratic societies are worse off than the people of Old Testament times when it comes to matters of understanding the Kingdom of God and how our world relates to it.

1.  God's Kingdom is founded on eternal principles that will never fade or         pass away.

2.  Jesus' overarching mission on Earth was to reintroduce the Kingdom of God     on Earth to mankind.

3.  The key to man's manifesting the Kingdom of God here on Earth is the     presence of the Holy Spirit.

4.  Jesus came to restore righteousness and holiness to man.

5.  In God's Kingdom economy, blood is absolutely necessary for our
    restoration.

6.  Jesus came to restore the Holy Spirit in mankind.

7.  If we are to exercise our full status and potential in the earthly realm as         ambassadors of our Father, we must be retrained in the behavior and                mindset of the Kingdom.

8.  As royal children of our heavenly Father, we can take charge of our                 circumstances rather than being a slave to them.

9.  Jesus came to retrain mankind for Kingdom leadership.

10.  Jesus came to restore the Kingdom rulership of God on Earth through mankind.