THE 3 DIVISIONS WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF GOD

By Helena Lehman of the

Pillar of Enoch Ministry

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

Click On Graphic To Enlarge

Please NOTE: 

This Article was greatly revised and updated in April of 2018.

For many years, I have contemplated the divisions or categories of service within the Church or Kingdom of God and how they relate to Christ. In each successive study, I have had varying degrees of understanding. But recently, God showed me something that explains the basis for all of the various categories or divisions of service within His Kingdom that are based on merit, which we earn through the spiritual process of becoming more like Christ that is called Sanctification.

The Kingdom of God is a New Testament concept that is explained with good clarity through Yahshua’s Kingdom and Vineyard Parables, which explain who will be included in God's Kingdom, and who will be excluded. Among these parables are the Parable of the Wedding Supper found in Matthew 22:1-14, and the Parable of the Vineyard found in Matthew 20:1-16, which is also known as the Parable of the Deceitful Workers. When these Parables are coupled with the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 13:24-30), and the Parable of the Minas , and the truths that they symbolize are connected to the design of the Desert Tabernacle and the Temple to Yahweh that once stood in Jerusalem, they tell a powerful allegorical story about how the Kingdom of God is structured. Essentially, they show that there are to be divisions within the Church of born-again believers that form the Kingdom of God.

This article contains a study of how these divisions pertain to the structure of the Body of Christ, which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Scripture supports the view that all born again believers are part of the Body of Christ and can be viewed as the Temple of Yahweh that houses the Holy Spirit. Here are several passages that show this relationship:

1 Corinthians 3:15-17 - “If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 - “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

2 Corinthians 6:15-18 - “And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore: “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. 18 I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

These Scriptures show that truly born-again believers are indeed reckoned as the Temple of God because they are filled with the Holy Spirit, AND they are doing God’s Will by living a holy or set-apart life dedicated to loving God. Going hand in hand with loving God, they also love others as Christ loved them, which He did by preaching the Kingdom of God to them!

This leads me to address the other concept that has to be understood to grasp these divisions in the Church. This concept is that our relationship with God is structured around a Kingdom model. Our relationship with God is centered on Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, which is NOT a Republic or a Democracy, but a Constitutional Monarchy such as is seen in the United Kingdom. However, keep in mind that the United Kingdom is ruled over by corrupt elitists who do NOT believe in a coming future Kingdom of God, but erroneously think that they are that Kingdom, just as the Roman Catholic Church does! But they are both soon to be corrected on this issue when Yahshua arrives from Heaven to set up His true Kingdom.

When Yahshua was explaining the Kingdom of God to His disciples, He used the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:2-9; Matthew 13:3-9) to make it clear that His Kingdom is entered into by understanding the Word of God when it is preached, taking it to heart, and acting upon it so it bears good fruit. He also offered a clear interpretation of that parable immediately after sharing it. Here is the explanation given in the Gospel of Mark:

Mark 4:10-20 - But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’” 13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

Likewise, as previously mentioned, Yahshua used the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 13:24-30 and the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19:11-27 to show that God takes our level of sanctification into consideration when He determines our rewards and the crowns that we will receive in the next life. Sanctification can be defined as the process of becoming more like Christ that can be measured by the depth of our relationship with Christ, and the amount of good fruit that we produce due to our love and devotion to Yahshua. These are taken into account when God determines our status in His Kingdom.

The following two short parables in the Gospel of Mark indicate that the Kingdom of God is being achieved by the spreading of the Gospel until the Great Commission has been accomplished. They show that God’s Kingdom will not be fully established until after God’s great harvest of the saved souls whose names are written in the Book of Life, and who are to take part in the several stages of the First Resurrection:

The Parable of the Growing Seed - Mark 4:26-29 - And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed - Mark 4:30-32 - Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

Besides Yahshua’s Kingdom and Seed Parables, the account of the Last Supper in the Gospel of Luke shows that Yahshua saw the Kingdom of God as a present yet future Kingdom that has not yet arrived fully, though its fulfillment is looked forward to when we take Communion:

Luke 22:15-19 - “Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

Though the veil of separation between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place within that Temple was ripped away so that we can approach the throne of God THROUGH Yahshua, we need to be worthy to get into the Holy Place from the Outer Courts through how deeply we embrace the process of Sanctification. The closer we get to Yahshua, the more sanctified we become, and the closer we get to His throne. It’s that simple!

As the illustration included with this article shows, this idea of how we earn our placement in the Kingdom of God through sanctification is best understood by using a picture of the Temple to Yahweh that once stood in Jerusalem. The Temple had three main divisions: The Outer Courts, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. As the Temple of God’s Spirit, the Church also shares these three divisions, and election into these divisions is done on the basis of the strength of each person’s individual level of faith and devotion to God, His Son and His Spirit. These three divisions are as follows:

1. THE MOST HOLY PLACE is analogous to the Heart as the Seat of God's Spirit and Emotions, to the Blood of the Bridegroom, who is God's Son Yahshua, and to the Bride of Christ, where His Spirit resides. It is the Blood of Yahshua that justifies His saints, and prepares them for sanctification. That is why the Most Holy Place is analogous to the circulatory systems in the body including the arteries and veins connected to the heart, and to the lymphatic system that is dependent on the muscles to purify the body This section of the Kingdom of God includes saved Jews of the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin and natural Israelites of the other Ten Tribes that love Yahshua and follow Him like the 12 Apostles did. In today's world, they are categorized by Messianic Jews that accept Yahshua as their Messiah, and all the natural-born children of Israel/Jacob that died before Yahshua was born, but were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, and to the establishment of His heavenly city called the New Jerusalem.

2. THE HOLY PLACE is representative of the Mind of God, the sensory organs of the head such as the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth that assist the Mind, and the nervous system, spine and skeletal bones of Christ's Body that the Mind (i.e. God the Father) controls in supporting all the muscles and organs that signify the Body of Christ. The sensory organs of the head and the heart itself also signify the Bride of Christ, which refers to the most devoted among the natural and grafted-in, born again Israelites (i.e. saved Gentiles). The Bride loves Yahshua with an intensity that other saved people do not understand or appreciate. These are people that have been touched by God to see and hear Him for ministry, and who have been called to serve God and His Son Yahshua in the most intimate and powerful ways.

3. THE INNER AND OUTER COURTS are analogous to the muscles, skin, vital organs, and organs of elimination in the Body of Christ. This categorizes the Ten Virgin Handmaidens of the Bride, which refer to saved individuals from among the Gentile Churches, and from among the Lost Israelite nations that are deeply beloved, but not as close to Christ as the Bride of Christ was during their mortal existence. These saved believers help the Bride to achieve her goals, but do not have the same degree of devotion to, and love for Christ as the Bride does.

Within the third category, the Wise Virgins are those in THE INNER COURT that is a division analogous to the muscles and vital organs of a body apart from the brain, sensory organs and heart that keep a person alive, Thus, they are the symbolic of the muscular system and the vital organs in the chest cavity of the Body of Christ, such as the lungs, stomach, spleen, and major arteries of the circulatory system. Those who function as the vital organs of Christ's body are born again and help the Bride with great devotion. They are the Bride’s closest friends - those who are willing to lay down their lives to preserve the Bride.

Meanwhile, the Foolish Virgins are those who are in THE OUTER COURT, which is analogous to the liver, kidneys, bladder and intestines of a living body. The liver and intestines extract nutrients from food that are deposited in the blood, and the kidneys and bladder expel waste materials from the body. This analogy also connects to the positions that apostate believers that are saved as through the fire will hold in the Kingdom of God. Those who rarely help the Bride in this life because they are friends to the world, and unwitting enemies to Christ that work at cross-purposes to His will shall have the lowest positions in the Kingdom of God. 

These initially weak believers lack humility and disdain repentance, and so will have to learn both through repentance and hard work. These foolish ones will be relegated to the lowest positions in the Millennial Kingdom of Yahshua, although there is truly no “bad” place to be in God’s Kingdom! Just being there is going to be so incredibly wonderful that all would gladly clean the toilets in the Kingdom for the privilege of being there!

Though we who are justified by our full faith in Yahshua are all of one body in Him, and there is neither Jew nor Greek in God’s Kingdom, this illustration of the Temple of Yahweh as it is tied to the Body of Christ shows that there is a definite hierarchy within the Kingdom of God that is based on our level of faith and devotion to Yahshua, which shows our level of Sanctification. Justification saves us from the pit of Hell, but Sanctification is the process by which we draw ever nearer to God, Who uses His Spirit to perfect us in the image of Christ. Therefore, it is a hierarchy that cannot be seen yet! This is because only Yahshua can and will determine who belongs in which category. There are also two specific parables that indicate that not everyone will be saved in the end, not even among those who claim to follow Christ. These are the Parable of the Wheat and Tares found in Matthew 25:14-30, and the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats found in Matthew 25:31-46.

It is Yahweh God who calls us to serve Him, and it is the Spirit of God Who empowers us to fulfill our roles within God’s Kingdom. Likewise, it is Yahshua Who will crown each of us in keeping with the level of our service to Him, and Who will assign us our roles in His Kingdom. Praise Yahshua, the One Who fully knows our hearts, and will reward each of us according to our true worth.

Maranatha, My Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Yahshua is coming VERY, VERY SOON!

~**~**~**~**~

ABOUT THE PILLAR OF ENOCH MINISTRY:

My ministry centers around my Language of God Book series, and

my many free articles and news commentaries available on my

POEM web site and at Facebook.

If you would like to learn more about my books and ministry, visit

my Pillar of Enoch Ministry web site at http://pillar-of-enoch.com/

To purchase autographed quality paperback editions, PDF E-book

versions, or CD versions of my books, please visit my ministry

web site at http://pillar-of-enoch.com/bookstore/index.html

If you wish to purchase my books for Amazon Kindle,

please go to my author page at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Helena-Lehman/e/B00ELXEDQO/

~**~**~**~**~

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HOLY?

By Helena Lehman of the 

Pillar of Enoch Ministry (POEM)

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

Click Here To See Large Image In New Window

Many believers today do not understand the concept of holiness. This is a great tragedy, because holiness is a central part of having a living faith in Yahshua (Jesus). To understand the need for holiness, all one has to do is read the Books of Exodus and Leviticus, where the building of the Tabernacle, the setting up of the Levitical priesthood, the definition of the laws of clean and unclean, and the rituals of animal sacrifice were described and instituted. 

Though the Israelite Tabernacle and Temple rites were only a dim reflection of the Person, High Priesthood, and the Ministry of Yahshua and His sacrifice for our sins on the Cross, they are important today because they show what Yahshua came to do for us. They are also important because they show us how everything designed for the Tabernacle and Temple was purified with anointing oil and sprinkled blood, and then set apart for exclusive ritual use. This is what it means to be holy. It means being set apart for God’s exclusive use after we are anointed with the Holy Spirit, and sprinkled with the Blood of Yahshua.

Reading the prophetic books of the Bible makes it clear that all of God’s chosen prophets were set apart for His exclusive use. Interestingly, a prophet’s primary job is to call people to repentance, instruct them in righteousness, and call them to spiritual reform. This means getting them to understand what sin is, and calling them to turn away from sin to achieve holiness, which is the state of being separate from the everyday world. For a person to be holy, they must choose to set themselves apart for God’s service. Just as the implements used in the Temple to Yahweh, and the Temple itself, were set apart in ancient times for exclusive ritual use, believers are called to set themselves apart in every aspect of their lives. Scripture explains it this way:

~*~  2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ~*~

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them.

I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’

17 Therefore, ‘Come out from among them

And be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Do not

touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.

18 I will be a Father to you, and you shall be

My sons and daughters,’ Says the Lord Almighty.”

This Scripture makes it clear that preachers need to teach their congregations that holiness is an essential part of the sanctification process because it allows us to be called sons and daughters of God. The call to be holy also convicts us that fraternizing closely with the enemies of Yahshua is not acceptable to God. We can and should engage unsaved sinners in preaching the Gospel to them if they are interested in our counsel or seek our help, but we are not called to be like them, or to live among them. Sadly, however, most preachers today rarely teach this concept because they weren’t taught that there is any need for believers to be sanctified or set apart for God’s exclusive service in Seminary.  

Nonetheless, though the Temple and its rituals became obsolete for us when Christ died on the Cross for our sins, the Bible tells us that true followers of Yahshua permanently house God’s Spirit, and are the living stones of God’s Temple. We also serve as the priests in the Temple of Yahweh that is our body - where the Holy Spirit calls us to care for ourselves and others. So, to understand our set-apart mission in Christ, we must learn to listen to the Holy Spirit within us, which convicts born-again believers not to love the world, or the things in it that displease God, but to do acts of loving-kindness and mercy that are pleasing to God.

As we grow in our relationship with Yahweh God and His Holy Spirit, we should naturally begin to turn away from those things that cause us to sin and feel lust. This includes leaving behind most forms of commercial entertainment and popular secular music, which often has a decidedly sexual and/or satanic undercurrent. True believers will also be called to avoid socializing in nightclubs and at private parties with unsaved friends. The reason for this is because these places encourage us to dress too scantily, drink and eat too much, dance too close, swear too often, do recreational drugs, and fall into illicit sex and fornication. These are all sins against God because our bodies are His Temple, and we are desecrating His temple when we engage in such activities. For this reason, we must do as the Apostle Paul said:

~*~ Romans 12:1-2 ~*~

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” 

There are many ways we can sin against God with our bodies, and thereby desecrate the holiness of His Temple within us. These include the use of recreational drugs, wearing revealing clothing, using heavy cosmetics and gaudy jewelry, playing violent video games, watching x-rated, violent or gory movies, and engaging in recreational sex. Those who call themselves followers of Christ - but who do not turn away from all of these forms of sin - will NOT continue to receive love, mercy, or forgiveness from God. They must repent of their sins first to enter back into fellowship with Him. As it says in Scripture: 

~*~ 1 John 1:5-9 ~*~

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

Yes, God loves us all. But only those who are holy, and who reject the world to live for Christ, will inherit the Kingdom of God. Among all the FALSE PROPHETS today, there is plenty of talk in their prophetic utterances of blessing, revival and restoration, but not one call to be holy and separate from the world. Instead they purport to be stating God’s will without telling anyone what God’s will actually is, which is to repent and be holy like Christ!

Another glaring problem with the many false prophets and preachers in our world today is that very few of them mention Satan and his demons as our enemies, or the full-scale spiritual war that we believers are facing, or the fact that Hell is real, and billions of souls are currently going there unless we preach the Gospel effectively. To be effective witnesses for God, the Apostle Paul called us to learn to use the spiritual gifts we are given when we are born again. When these gifts are divinely given to us, we are being called to use them to fight against the enemies of God within the spiritual realms surrounding us in this world. This is why the Apostle Paul said: 

~*~ Ephesians 6:11-13 ~*~

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

This means that, even as we pursue holiness, we are called to fight this spiritual battle against our unseen enemies in the spirit world by praying for the lost, preaching the Gospel, and doing acts of mercy and loving-kindness. But to witness to the lost effectively, we need to know the Gospel messages that were entrusted to the Early Church and delivered to all the saints. Unfortunately, however, there is little sound teaching coming from many preachers today about just what the Gospel is and is not. This is a terrible thing! Sadly, millions of believers are being led astray by lying false prophets that preach about blessing, restoration and spiritual and material riches without preaching that repentance, sanctification, and holiness must come first!

The fact is that no one will receive the full blessings of God or the restoration of all that they lost to the enemy before they came to Christ unless they give all that they are, and all that they have, to God for His exclusive service. To do this, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit, and we must listen to the Spirit’s call for us to strive to be like Christ. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way: 

~*~ 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ~*~

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus (i.e. Adonai Yahshua) and by the Spirit of our God.” 

To be true disciples of Christ, we all need to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). This means being able to effectively preach the Gospel message to others. To understand the basic tenants of the Gospel of Salvation in Christ, please read my short article describing the fact that there are three related Gospel messages that show the Path to Salvation - the Gospel of Repentance, the Gospel of Salvation, and the Gospel of the Kingdom:

Pillar of Enoch Ministry Blog: ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD - THE THREE GOSPEL STEPS - Excerpt: Recently, Yahweh God showed me that there are three steps to effective Evangelism consisting of three Gospel messages that prepare others to be ready for the Kingdom of God, and to be ready to receive the love, forgiveness and Grace of God. These three Gospels are the Gospel of Repentance, the Gospel of Salvation, and the Gospel of the Kingdom. Understanding and accepting these three Gospel steps guarantee that true disciples of Christ will be ready for the First Rapture...

ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD - 

THE THREE GOSPEL STEPS 

http://pillarofenoch.blogspot.com/2013/03/entering-kingdom-of-god-three-gospel.html

*************************

I pray that this article will bless you, and help you to grow in spiritual understanding as we await the Rapture. In the meantime, remember that...

Yahshua is coming SOON! Maranatha!

To Give A Financial Gift: http://pillar-of-enoch.com/contact.html

To Purchase My Language of God Series Books: 

http://pillar-of-enoch.com/bookstore