3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those

1. Blessed - (Genesis 30:13; Numbers 22:12; 24:9; Psalms 1:1; 2:12; 32:1,2; 33:12; 34:8; 37:22, 26; 40:4; 41:1,2; 65:4; 84: 4,5,12; 89:15; 94:12; 106:3; 112:1,2; 115:15; 118:26; 119:1,2; 128:1, 4: Proverbs 5:18; 8:32,34; 10:7; 22:9; Isaiah 30:18; 32:20; 56:2; Jeremiah 17:7; Daniel 12:12; Malachi 3:12; Matthew 5: 3,4,5,6,7, 8, 9, 10, 11; 11:6; 13:16; 16:17; 23:39; 24:46; 25:34; Mark 11:9; Luke 6: 20,21,22; 7:23; 10:23; 11:28; 12:37,38,43; 13:35; 14:14,15; 19:38; John 20:29; Acts 20:35; Romans 4:7,8; James 1:12; Revelations 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7,14)

2. Readeth - (Habakkuk 2:2; Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14; Deuteronomy 17:19; 2 Kings 5:7; 19:14; 22:8,10,16; Isaiah 29:11,12; 34:16; Daniel 5: 7,8,15,16,17; Matthew 12:3,5; 19:4; 21:16,42; 22:31; Mark 2:5; Mark 12:10;26; Luke 6:3; John 19:20; Acts 8:28,30,32; Acts 13:27; 15: 21,31; 2 Corinthians 1:13; 3:2,13; Ephesians 3:4; Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; Revelation 5:4 )

3. Hear - (Exodus 7:16; 19:9; 20:19; 22:23, 27; 32:18; Numbers 9:8; 12:6; 14:13; 16:8; 20:10; 23:18; 30:4; Deuteronomy 1:16, 17, 43; 2:25; 3:26; 4: 6, 10, 33, 36; 5:1, 25, 27; 6:3, 4; 9:1; 12:28; 13:11, 12; 17:13; 18:16; 19:20; 20:3; 21:21; 29:4; 30:12, 13, 17; 31:12, 13; 32:1; 33:7; Joshua 3:9; 6:5; Judges 5:3; 7:11; 1 Samuel 2:23, 24; 8:18; 15:14; 22:12; 25:24; 26:19; 2 Samuel 22:45; 1 Kings 4:34;10:8, 24; 22:19; 2 Kings 7:1,6; 17:14; 18:12; 19:7; 20:16; 1 Chronicles 14:15; 2 Chronicles 9:7, 23; 18:18; 20:20; 28:11; 29:5; Nehemiah 4:20;  8:2; 9:29; Job 5:27; 33:1; 34:2; 34:16; Psalm 49:1; 50:7; 60:5; 66:16; 138:4; 141:6; Proverbs 1: 5, 8; 4:1, 10; 5:7; 8:6, 33; 19:20, 27; 22:17; 23:19; Ecclesiastes 5:1; 7:5; 12:13; Isaiah 1:2, 10: 6:9, 10; 18:3; continue

 things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

1. Jesus refers to things which are written in Luke 21:22; Luke 24:44; John in John 21:25; Paul in Acts 24:14; Galatians 3:10; and John again in Revelation 22:19.

2. Does the time being “at hand” refer to the preterist view of the past fulfillment of the prophecies about to be revealed? Deuteronomy 32:35 shows us that an event being at hand can happen at any time. There is nothing to prevent it from happening in the next

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moment or a thousand years from now. But, it is always imminent. For instance, in Matthew 4:17 Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is “at hand”. Now, if you believe that there is no difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God which is said to be “at hand” in Mark 1:15 then you would believe that it came right after it was announced. However, let me interject a possibility regarding those two kingdoms.

Remember, there is a kingdom in Psalm 145:13; Daniel 4:3; Daniel 4:34; Daniel 7:14; Daniel 7:27; 2 Peter 1:11. It is said of God’s kingdom in Isaiah 9:7 that “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,” There will be no end to the increase of his government? Think about that for a couple of million years. This kingdom, as revealed in Daniel 2:44 breaks and consumes and has a physical character. Now, let’s look at the book of Matthew, the only book that uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven”. John the Baptist says in Matthew 3:2 to “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and Jesus says in Matthew 4:17 “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. The kingdom of God “cometh not with observation”, Jesus says in Luke 17:20 and it is “within you” in verse 21. It’s not physical but it is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” in Romans 14:17.

I believe the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are two different kingdoms. For one, heaven and God are spelled differently. hehe. Just joking. Birds fly in the first heaven not God, outer space is the second heaven and it is not God; it’s not even good according to Genesis 1:8 and Job 25:5, and God’s throne is in the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).

Back to the kingdom of heaven. There are parables that both kingdoms share but just as a dog and a cat both have four legs, that doesn’t then say that a dog is a cat. The shared parables are the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3; Mark 4:3; & Luke 8:5; the parable of the unnatural growth of the mustard seed and tree with the birds of the air, a reference to unclean spirits in Revelation 18:2 and the devil as unclean spirits in the parable of the sower, lodging in its uppermost branches starting in Matthew 13:31; Mark 4:31; and Luke 13:19; and the woman and the leaven in Matthew 13:31 & Luke 13:21;

The parable of the wheat and the tares starting in Matthew 13:24 is unique to the kingdom of heaven. The treasure in the field is unique to the kingdom of heaven beginning in Matthew 13:44,  as are the goodly pearls in verse 45, and the householder in verse 52, who is used again as a reference in Matthew 20:1 and Matthew 21:33.

Two questions might be; what are the similarities between the parables and what are the differences? The physical kingdom of heaven, if you believe it to be Christ’s millennial kingdom, differs from the spiritual kingdom of God, if you believe they are different, in what ways? It is clear that the application of the word of God in the parable of the sower which along with Mark 5:1-16 tells us how Satan physically operates is common to both kingdoms, as is the parable of the mustard seed with the church or the kingdom growing to a point where apostasy takes place (Revelation 20:7-10) at the top, and the woman, perhaps a matchmeet for the whore of Revelation 17 corrupting or leavening the three measures of meal which might stand for the three main branches of Christianity. Remember, the leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy in Matthew 16:12 and Luke 12:1.

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The Vatican believes that it is the woman and the leaven it is mixing in with three measures of meal is spreading the gospel. I beg to differ based on the text.

If you believe that Jesus Christ ushered in the kingdom of heaven in spite of John 18:36 and Acts 1:6-11 and Revelation 11:15 and 12:10 then you might be willing to force people to submit to God’s laws under pain of death believing what the Jews believed with regard to Jesus’ followers in John 16:2 or Matthew 11:12 or as Paul himself confessed to in Acts 26:10.

But, I have digressed from the meaning of “at hand”. It is simply, imminent, and could appear or happen at any time. Nothing prevents what God has willed, not even Satan.