The Incredible Human Potential PDF - Church of God Faithful Flock

172 THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN POTENTIALfrom ancient Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, whose name waschanged to Israel. He was the father of the nation Israel. Beforethe twins were born, God said to their mother, Rebekah, "Twonations are iR thy womb ... "(Gen. 25:23).Now Jesus the Messiah was to come as "the messenger of theCOVENANT." The "old covenant" had established the human childrenof Israel as a NATION or KINGDOM of humans, called theKINGDOM OF IsRAEL. Jesus carne as the messenger- heralding themessage of the NEW covenant that shall set up the Spirit-composedchildren ofGoo as the Kingdom ofGod!As the ancient kingdom ofisrael was composed ofthe humanFAMILY ofthe human man Israel, so the Kingdom ofGod will becomposed ofthe Divine Family ofthe Divine God!And what does this have to do with life after death? It haseverything to do with it!WHY Jewish Rulers Rejected the MessageThe Jewish rulers of Jesus' day thought He was proclaiming agovernment to be set up immediately - to overthrow the RomanEmpire, then ruling Judea as a vassal state.One of these prominent Jews was a man named Nicodemus;mentioned earlier. He was a Pharisee, and the Pharisees were hostileto Jesus because of this new gospel. Nicodemus, however,wanted to meet this astonishing messenger and discuss it withhim. To avoid criticism from his colleagues, he carne to Jesus bynight."We know," he said, "that you are a teacher come fromGod."The "we" implies that the divine identity of the messengerand the source of His message was known to the Pharisees. Butthey were "Now" people, concerned with protecting their status asrulers under the Roman government, not with receiving revelationsfrom God.Jesus perceived the import of Nicodemus's first words. Hismessage was the good news of the coming WORLD GOVERNMENTof Goo - that is, the KrNGDOM OF Goo, which shall rule all nationswith the GOVERNMENT of God.These Jewish rulers feared that message. Jesus was of their