JOHN’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE KINGDOM, Chapter 15 of Kingdom of God volume 2

JOHN’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE KINGDOM, Chapter 15 of Kingdom of God volume 2

Pages 117-123
 
In those days came John the Baptist . . . saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matt. 3:1,2)
 
From the time of King David, to the time of Christ, one thousand years had passed. The plight of Israel and the demise of the theocratic Kingdom of David had both been a disastrous tale of woe. The tribes of Israel had suffered divisions, captivity, bondage and dispersions. What a terrible scenario for God’s people.
 
The theocratic Kingdom of David was the Kingdom of God, but with the personal failure of David and the weaknesses of the Israelite people, that Kingdom was doomed. It remained in its fallen condition for another millennium. Once the pride and glory of Israel, the house of Judah gradually returned to Jerusalem with only a hope for the restoration of the Theocratic Kingdom.
 
The Jews were diligent in their tithes, temple sacrifices, keeping the Sabbath and obeying other rites and rituals of the Aaronic Priesthood. They lived in humiliation because their Kingdom had been replaced by the kingdom of the Romans.
 
The great hope for the restoration of their Kingdom included the return of their Messiah, and their hope was not in vain. Once again the heavens were opened. Once again they [118] heard the voice of angels and the voice of their Lord. The first voice they heard was from an angel named Gabriel, whom Joseph Smith identified as Noah: “Then to Noah, who is Gabriel: he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood.” (TPJS, p. 157) Gabriel appeared in the temple to a priest named Zacharias.

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