[Greetings, friends and listeners]

Did you know that one third of the whole Bible is prophecy?  And that about 90 percent of that has not yet been fulfilled? 

Now the Bible is a very thick book.  About one and a half inch thick in most editions and one third of that is prophecy.  Most of that has not yet been fulfilled in our day.  Only about ten percent of that has been fulfilled.  What does this mean to us?  What does this mean to our life?  Is the book just an empty book; a useless book with lots of writings, with lots of chapters, books and verses that are rendered useless, occupying pages without any benefit, without purpose?  Is that a work of an intelligent God who writes or causes things to be written but means nothing for humanity and for this world’s future? 

Listeners, there’s some good news for you.  God did not waste anything in His word.  He in fact said, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 

We said earlier that one third, about one third of the whole Bible is prophecy and 90 percent of that is yet to be fulfilled.  It is for our time.  It is for our future time as well.  It is for the hope of this world.  But this world does not know that.  You are privileged to know that there is good news ahead—good news in the world tomorrow!  And it is contained in the pages of your Bible.  And no radio program or television program, much less organization is letting you know about these things. 

The prophecies that have been fulfilled in the Bible have mostly to do with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But that occupies only a little part of the prophecies that have been written in the Bible.  But a full 90 percent of the contents of your Bible, that section on prophecies has not yet been fulfilled.  It is talking about the future of this world.  It is talking about the hope of mankind.  It is talking about the salvation of humanity.  And that is the good news that lies ahead.  This world with all its problems, with all its troubles is not hopeless.  It has a bright radiant future.  But we have to wait and we need to know what that future is. 

Now this future is actually the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.  We have talked about that, that that is the true gospel, it’s not another man-made gospel or things that man has invented about the gospel.  It’s talking about the future of mankind, the hope of mankind, the hope of this world.  That is why it is called the good news.  In fact, the Bible talks about that as a good news that is not only temporary message that has just been the idea recently but the Bible talks about that as the everlasting gospel.  I’d like to invite all of you listeners to please be serious and try to follow what I said.  Don’t take my word for it.  I would like you to follow and check up on what I am saying.  Don’t believe me because I said it, but rather believe it because you read it in your own Bibles.  And if you don’t have any Bible handy, I encourage you to please get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil and jot down the things that you are hearing especially the verses that I will be referring to.

The gospel that we are talking about is not a last minute invention of man.  But the Bible actually talks about this as the everlasting gospel.  I’d like you to open with me to Revelation 14.  Revelation 14:6, it says, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”  So we see here that this everlasting gospel is something that has been in existence in the mind and plan of God.  It was not a remedial plan but rather it has been taught out by God from the very beginning.  We mention that in an earlier broadcast that these things had been taught out from the very beginning even from the foundation of the world.  And it has to do with the agreement between God and man.  When God has determined if those He is calling are willing to follow and accept His offer to come into an agreement.  An agreement is a covenant.  Covenant is an agreement between two parties.  And it is also talking about an everlasting agreement because that is what God wants.  It transcends this earth.  It transcends our life.  It transcends our experiences in this life.  I’d like you to open with me to Hebrews 13.  Hebrews 13 and following here in verse 20.  I’d like you to open with me to this verse and it says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”  So it’s talking about covenant, an agreement, an offer by God which cannot be broken.  Now this agreement having to do with the good news or gospel is actually a kingdom.  It’s talking about a future coming kingdom.  And that kingdom is also called an everlasting Kingdom.  It’s not the kingdom of this world.  It’s not the societies and the civilization or organization of men but it is the Kingdom of God.  And that kingdom is called an everlasting Kingdom.  I’d like you to follow open with me in reading the scriptures because I’m not speaking of my own words.  It’s not my own idea, but the word of God speaks and says these things.  Please open with me to Daniel 7 in your Bibles.  Daniel 7 and looking at certain verses here, first of all, I’d like us to focus on verse 27.  It talks about the kingdom. It says, “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven…”  So we have seen here or read here that this kingdom is not there heaven but it is under the whole heaven.  God will establish a greatness of a kingdom under the whole heaven, and it said, “It shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”  So we could see here that this Kingdom will be established under heaven on this earth and the saints of the most high.  The saints here refer to the people of God.  They will possess this Kingdom.  They will rule in that Kingdom, and it will be an everlasting Kingdom.  Which means that those in that Kingdom will have, of a necessity, everlasting life, if they have to rule with Christ for an everlasting manner.

Meanwhile, let us try to compare what we have in this world at this time.  This world is full of problems.  It’s full of evil.  It’s full of difficulties, diseases, epidemics, calamities, and this is not the kingdom that we are talking about.  But we are talking about that great Kingdom that will be established by God. And that’s the good news for humanity. That’s the good news for the entire earth.  It does not exist now.  It’s not among the organizations of men.  It’s not among the churches of this world.  It cannot be invented or put about by a society or a conglomeration of good men nor a union or alliance of religions.  That will not come by man’s effort.  It will be put on earth by God and established by God in spite of man.  Meanwhile, we will see what the Bible has to say about these things. Now the word—when we talk about kingdom, many people have a various ideas about kingdom.  Some think about it as maybe as a representation of the church.  Some might think, “Well it’s some kind of feeling within us within the hearts of Christians.”  Some might think, “Well, that would be the collective good of all the humanity,” or nice good positive ideas, positive thinking.  But it’s not talking about any of those things.   When God said, the kingdom, He really means the kingdom.  And the word kingdom in the Bible, in the New Testament, is translated from the Greek word ‘basileia’.   And basileia simply means sovereignty, royal power, dominion.  And that is what we understood to be kingdom.  It means government.  It means a ruling government.  And the Kingdom of God is nothing short but a world-ruling monarchy that God will establish on this earth through Jesus Christ.  Now, the governments of this world as I mentioned earlier is full of problems and difficulties and it will not last.  God has allowed human beings to establish a government of men for about 6,000 years in successive empires or generations in various nations.  China has its own dynasties.  Egypt has its own dynasties.  And many other kingdoms of this world have their own dynasties and empires.  But this is not what we are talking about. 

Of course, the Bible gives us a glimpse of the kingdoms that have come to this world even before the kingdoms that unfolded throughout world history have come on the scene on this world. 

One man was chosen by God to understand these things.  He was the prophet Daniel, one of the captives of Israel who was in the kingdom of Babylon at the time of King Nebuchadnezzar.  And among these captives, he happened to be blessed by God with great wisdom and intelligence and rose up to great power in that kingdom.  And to him, God revealed many of the mysteries.  God revealed to him many of the prophecies for the future of this world, which now, history simply tells us that they have been true.  During the time of Daniel, there is this story in chapter 2 about the king that he was serving at that time, the great King Nebuchadnezzar who happened to dream a great dream.  But Nebuchadnezzar forgot the dream.  When he woke up, he could not recall the dream.  He called all the magicians.  He called all his astrologers.  He called all his wise men.  And none of them could tell the dream.  And the king became very angry and was about to kill these advisers and seers and magicians.  But then, God inspired that Daniel be brought to his presence and God revealed to Daniel the future of this world’s kingdoms.  And this great king, his dream was revealed by Daniel to him and interpreted in his presence.  And he talked about the great kingdoms and empires that will rule this earth.  The great king Nebuchadnezzar actually dreamt about a great image and no one could tell the meaning of that dream which greatly troubled the king.  And it was Daniel who was given understanding about these things.  That image was very great.  It had a head of gold.  I’d like you to read with me to Daniel 2.  And in verse 31, Daniel revealed what even the king dreamt and forgot.  And in verse 31 of Daniel 2, he said, “O you king, you saw and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the form thereof was terrible. (32) This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, (33) His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.  (34) And you saw till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. (35) Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”  And starting in verse 36, Daniel the prophet began to interpret the dream.  And he said, “I will tell you the interpretation thereof before the king.”  In verse 37 he said, “You, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.  (38) And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven has he given into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold.”  And we know from history that this was the Babylonian Empire.  The great empire started by King Nebuchadnezzar.  And then in verse 39 of Daniel 2, it says, “And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.”  We know that what followed the Babylonian Empire was the Medo-Persian Empire.  And this ruled the earth also for a long period of time, from about 558 to 333 B.C.   And then this was followed by the third world-ruling kingdom.  Of course, when we talk of world-ruling kingdom, the known world at that time.  And this third world-ruling kingdom is a kingdom of brass “which shall bear rule all over the earth.”  Now this we know from reading history was the Grecian Empire.  It came to the zenith of its power through the conquest of Alexander the Great.  And in his young age, in his 30s, he died after having conquered what is known as the known world at that time.  This was the third kingdom spoken about.  It lasted from 333 B.C. to about 197 B.C.  And after that, we came to the fourth kingdom.  It says in verse 40, “The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.”  So we see here in verse 40 a description of what history now knows as the Roman Empire.  Starting from about 197 B.C., it ruled this world.  And it was among the strongest of the empires.  It’s compared to iron.  And this kingdom subdued all other kingdoms.  Of course, history shows and the Bible also shows that it had its various rise and fall.  In fact, Gibbons wrote about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.  Now, this is the empire that has an influence over this world even to our day and there is still a final resurrection of that empire just before the end of days.  And in verse 41, it says, “Whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.  (42) And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.  (43) And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”  And we are seeing this prophecies fulfilled in our day, believe it or not.  In the European powers at this time, the European nations, we have a community of nations that have conglomerated themselves together, a union of European power.  And this is what the prophecy of Daniel describes, a power that is mixed, strong and not too strong, or made of clay.  But that’s not the end of prophecy.  Human civilizations, human governments, human kingdoms and union of nations will continue on starting from the time that the prophet Daniel was given the understanding of this unto the future.  But there will be an intervening development in this world.  We go to verse 44 of Daniel 2.  It says here, “And in the days of these kings [the kings of this earth, the kingdoms of this world] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom [basileia in Greek language], which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”

So we see here the coming Kingdom of God.  Under the rule of men, and men’s government, we have injustices, social unrest, religious unrest, upheavals, uprisings, revolts, tyranny, anarchy, and many other problems, apart from economic problems, social problems, military problems, health problems, diseases and death, and ecological problems.  God will have to step in at the end of days to save humanity from itself.  Because humanity will then prove that it does not have the power or the capacity to solve its own problems.  It would become worse and worse.  The situation of this world will not become better.  It will simply become worse and worse.  For a time it might seem to be good.  The economy might seem to be good for a certain time.  But overall, it will deteriorate.  Even inflation of our currency is a symbol of the deterioration of even our purchasing power.  It talks about this state of economy.

So we see here that we are looking here in the Bible about a future kingdom that will not be established by men, but will be established by God.  And that will solve all of humanity’s problems.  It will finally bring peace on this earth.  It will bring prosperity on this earth.  It will solve all the problems that had been affecting humanity for all these thousands of years.  One regime comes, the same problems remain.  Administration comes, another election comes… the same problems remain.  It’s just a like a rigodon of rulers, administrators, but the problems of humanity has continued on for the past almost about six thousand years.

But we are happy that the Bible talks about these things.  There are many prophecies in the Bible which we talked about, 90 percent of the prophecies on your Bible, talking about the things that will happen in the future.  And many of these things that it’s talking about are things that are good, things that are good news.  That is why it is called the gospel or the good news.  And that good news is the Kingdom of God which will be establish on this earth.  It will not be in the hands of man.  It will not be the rule of man.  But it will be the rule of God in justice and fairness and in goodness.  And God will have the power to change all the problems and to solve all the problems which are insoluble and not solvable in the hands of men.  Because in the hands of men, people are limited, even rulers of this world are limited.  [In] democratic nations, the rulers are incapacitated in solving their own problems.  They have to please the people.  They have to be popular with the people.  Sometimes the right solutions will entail a solution that will be unpopular.  But politicians as they are, they cannot afford to lose the popularity of the people.  So they’ll go with the wishes of the people. 

It therefore takes the government of God to bring us world peace.  Right now we have troubles and looming troubles, and bad news of troubles ahead.  But the happy news is that these things will be over, not long from now.  Now in our future broadcast, we are going to understand how this kingdom will be set up.  What constitutes this kingdom?  What will be the description on this kingdom that God will set up and as prophesied in your Bible?  Now the Bible does not waste words.  It will come to pass.  And this kingdom will not be given to people.  I’d like you to open to another passage here in Daniel 7.  In Daniel 7 starting in verse 14, talking about Jesus Christ here whom Daniel saw in vision.  He said, “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”  And this is the Kingdom that we are looking for and expecting in the future.  Now the Bible talks about this kingdom.  Now this kingdom is not going to be given to the hands or under the administration of other people.  The Bible is specific about this and Daniel 7 continued in verse 18.  It says, “But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.”  So it’s talking about the saints.  Now by the way, when the Bible talks about saints, it’s not talking about people who have been canonized by certain religious group.  It talks about the elect of God, the chosen of God, the people of God.  Not those chosen by men, but it will be God who will administer and choose and establish and appoint them in their positions of power and authority.  Verse 21, it says, “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.”  It’s talking about the great power.  We mentioned earlier about an existing power at this end time which will have great power which will even make war with the people of God.  It will prevail against them and God will have to intervene.  In verse 22 of Daniel 7, it says, “Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”  It possessed the kingdom.  And meanwhile, things will be difficult for the saints of the Most High.  The people of God will have problem because it says in verse 25, “this power who speak great words against the most High, shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws [which were actually done in history and in reality to this day]: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”  This is talking about the prophetic three and a half years, talking about the tribulation of the end time.  But then in verse 26, “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.”  The great powers of this world will be destroyed by God at His coming.  And in verse 27, “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven…” Now notice again the words, “under the whole heaven.”  It’s not talking about going up to heaven, but this is a dominion, and power and a kingdom that Christ will establish under the whole heaven.  Meaning, on this earth, as other Bible prophecies will show you, “[which] shall be given to people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”  Now that is indeed the good news—the good news of the gospel of the Kingdom of God and that is the central message of the Bible. 

The important question now is how can we be part of that kingdom?  How could we guarantee that we’ll be part of that great Kingdom that God will establish on this earth?  Listen for future broadcast to find out about these things.  And there’s many more that we can learn from the word of God. 

Be sure to tune in next time as we follow through these things and also talk about other relevant things that affect this world, affecting your life, my life and the life of all peoples of this world. 

[So in behalf of the Good News of the World Tomorrow, this is Ed Macaraeg, thanking you for listening.]