Daniel says nothing about destroying all human governments. The passage you cite says very clearly that four kingdoms would be conquered, one after the other. Four kingdoms that subjugated Canaan would be destroyed.From your own Daniel reference: "and it alone will stand forever."Two kingdoms of God, not one. Symbolized by the two mountains of Daniel chapter 2:The entire New Testament is about one kingdom. One kingdom of God. Christ died for only one church. He died to establish only one kingdom.As we can see in Hebrews 12:22, a verse that you cite, in the first century, believers had already come to this holy city. It is, of course, heavenly, but also earthly.It is a heavenly government - i.e. its capital, New Jerusalem as part of heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22 ff) - the Zion of Isaiah 2:2-4 - is in heaven. However, its rule extends to our planet - albeit Jesus is ruling in the midst of his enemies - Psalms 110:1,2.That's well and good, but where is this government of God's? Or what is it?According to your Isaiah reference, this kingdom would rise in the latter days. And so it did.I already know what the kingdom is. Canon articulates it clearly enough. It arrived long before the Kingdom Hall arrived, so I'm wondering how you interpret canon.The kingdom of God is the gospel, true enough. Your thread title is right.
Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones proclaiming this kingdom? That seems a bit exclusive.
Just curious - what is the kingdom, exactly, that you people proclaim?
Of course, I am just one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Our official website is:
www.jw.org
You could use God's Kingdom as a search word to find much on this and the good news (gospel) of God's kingdom.
For example this short video: (3 minutes 15 seconds)
I'm not convinced JWs are the only ones with the inside dope on a 2,000-year tradition. Posting links is not the best way to convince others.
You asked me what we people believe. If you want to know what any specific religion believes, it is best to go to their official website. However, I see you prefer in my own words. Btw, did you watch the video?
OK, for starters:
Yes, I was being exclusive - but, of course, I was referring to what we believe is the good news of God's kingdom. To clarify: we are the only religion enjoying the miraculous fulfillment of Isaiah 2:2-4 now - including our learning war no more in harmony with Jesus' direction at Matthew 5:44 for us to love our enemies.
When I was Lutheran I was taught the kingdom of God is in our hearts. They quoted a translation of Jesus' words being "the kingdom is within you." But Jesus was talking to the Pharisees who obviously did not have the kingdom in their hearts.
We believe Kingdom means the domain and dominion of the King, and we believe Jesus is anointed by Jehovah to be King of God's kingdom (over simplified of course). There are many aspects of the good news of God's kingdom (Matthew 24:14). One is in Jesus model prayer in Matthew 6:9,10 that when God's kingdom comes God's will is to be done on earth as in heaven.
But there is much more. We believe Jesus is already ruling in heaven and that we have a choice to give our undivided allegiance to Jesus as anointed King now. Since Jesus and his Father are one [John 10:30] (not one person but in unity) - this is also giving allegiance to God as our ruler:
Acts 5:27-32
So they brought them and stood them before the Sanʹhe·drin. Then the high priest questioned them 28 and said: “We strictly ordered you not to keep teaching on the basis of this name,+ and yet look! you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring the blood of this man upon us.”+ 29 In answer Peter and the other apostles said: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.+ 30 The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed, hanging him on a stake.+ 31 God exalted this one as Chief Agent+ and Savior+ to his right hand,+ to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.+ 32 And we are witnesses of these matters,+ and so is the holy spirit,+ which God has given to those obeying him as ruler.”
So, we obey God as ruler rather than men if they direct us in a way that would be disobedient to our King, Jesus, and to his God Jehovah. Thankfully, in the United States at this time (not when I was draft age) there is no law conflicting with any law of God.
Bottom line - the good news of God's kingdom includes the fact that we do not have to wait to enjoy the miraculous fulfillment of Isaiah 2:2-4 - we can and do enjoy being loyal subjects if Jesus Christ.
An example of how we apply allegiance to Jesus was under the Nazi regime under Hitler. The National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. documents our stand - you can google it! But the main points are that at the risk of death we would not join Hitler's armies nor join the Nazi party nor heil Hitler - and many of us died in concentration camps because we would not compromise our allegiance to God's government with Jesus as King.
Why, then, the need for a movement to make this happen nearly 1900 years later?
Perhaps a concept of the kingdom would help, which you haven't yet imparted. Can you tell us in a sentence or a few words what the kingdom is, besides having a king?
God's kingdom is God's government with Jesus as anointed King.
The law out of Zion in Isaiah 2:2-4 is one of the laws of God's Kingdom - heavenly Zion (Hebrews 12:22) not earthly Zion. That law leads to our learning war no more in harmony with the law of Christ including for us to love our enemies - Matthew 5:44.
We give our undivided allegiance to that government which is why we do not pledge allegiance to any human government.
The good news of God's kingdom includes that we can enjoy the miraculous fulfillment of Isaiah 2:2-4 now! (Matthew 24:14 - a sign of the last days)
Respectfully, do you pledge allegiance to your spouse? Your church? Or do you consider your home and church to be free of government?
The marriage vow is different - we are in subjection to one another and both are in subjection to Jesus. Our religion is led by a faithful and discreet slave (Matthew 24:45-47) who are 'slaves' of Jesus - thus we do not follow men but rather we follow Jesus. We do imitate faithful ones - we imitate their faith.
Romans 13:1-5 shows we are to be in subjection to whichever human government ruling over our area. Acts 5:29 shows that subjection is relative - we obey God as ruler rather than men when a conflict between the laws of the 2 governments contradict.
In the United States at this time there is no law against God's law. Under Hitler, however, there was conflict and many of us died in concentration camps rather than compromise our loyalty to Jesus as our anointed King.
The National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C, documents this - would you like me to post links from their extensive database?
Christ started his reign in the kingdom as the union of heaven and earth (Eph 1:10). He is the sovereign endowed with all authority in heaven and on earth (Mt 28:18).
This kingdom does not have a capital that is a part of it. The new Jerusalem is the heavenly Jerusalem. It's the new country, the city of God, the new Most Holy Place, as the Revelator conveys it, that is a 1400-mile cube nearly the size of the moon (Rv 21:16). That is, it spanned the earth as they perceived it then.
No longer do a select few periodically commune with God on behalf of the whole. Jesus ripped that veil open once for all. All are priests in this new kingdom that spans the earth.
This kingdom - the church and her king, the bride and her bridegroom, a union consummated nearly 2,000 years ago - is here. It is not incumbent on Jehovah's Witnesses or anyone else to bring it. The Lord was fully capable of finishing his own work.
There is more than one kingdom of God - see the 2 mountains of Daniel 2:35,44,45.
More importantly, only loyal subjects of God's Kingdom obey the law out of Zion referred to in Isaiah 2:2-4 and thus learn war no more. We don't have to wait to enjoy the miraculous fulfillment of this prophecy!
There is an old saying: actions speak louder than words!
I'm quite familiar with Daniel. One kingdom.
Daniel 2: 44,45
“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom+ that will never be destroyed.+ And this kingdom will not be passed on to any other people.+ It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms,+ and it alone will stand forever,+ 45 just as you saw that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the copper, the clay, the silver, and the gold.+ The Grand God has made known to the king what will happen in the future.+ The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
So this new kingdom is cut out of God's already existing universal kingdom and it is the stone that destroys all current human governments at Armageddon. Earlier, it is revealed that this stone also became a large mountain:
Daniel 2:35
At that time the iron, the clay, the copper, the silver, and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a large mountain, and it filled the whole earth.
These two kingdoms are identified with two women - God's woman of Genesis 3:15 and the bride of Christ (New Jerusalem) of Revelation chapter 21.
This is also explained by Paul in the prophetic drama of Galatians chapters 3 & 4 where Abraham pictures Jehovah, Isaac pictures Jesus, God's woman, the mother to the bride of Christ, is pictured by Sarah - see the accounts - here is one portion:
Galatians 4:25,26
Now Haʹgar means Siʹnai,+ a mountain in Arabia, and she corresponds with the Jerusalem today, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
So, to sum up - the original mountain of Daniel 2:44,45 is the Jerusalem above of Gal.4:26 and is God's woman of Genesis 3:15 - pictured by Sarah.
The stone of Daniel 2:44,45,35 cut out from that mountain that becomes a large mountain is the New Jerusalem of Revelation chapter 21 and is the bride of Christ - the plural seed of Abraham and Sarah (not Hagar which is earthly Jerusalem.).
But you are missing the point! Part of the good news is that we can already choose God's kingdom as our government - specifically the Messianic Kingdom with Jesus Christ as anointed King.
This is why we do not give allegiance to any human government as our government is God's Kingdom.
Note: heavenly Jerusalem (the Zion in Isaiah 2:2-4) of Hebrews 12:22ff. encompasses both kingdoms of God since both the angels (part of the original kingdom of God - God's universal kingdom) and the congregation of the firstborn (the bride of Christ = New Jerusalem & the messianic kingdom) are included - see the account.
Just curious, though. What was "God's already existing universal kingdom"?
And I pledge allegiance to my "human" government, at least while it still recognizes most of our freedoms.
Yes, that is correct - all human governments will be destroyed by God's messianic Kingdom at Armageddon and it alone will stand forever (Daniel 2:35,44,45).
God's already existing universal kingdom, the first mountain of Daniel 2, existed long before the Messiah/Christ came (Daniel 9:24-27) - in fact before earth was created and before humans existed. It was/is God's heavenly organization made up of angels, cherubs, seraphs. These sons of God shouted in applause at the creation of the earth:
Job 38:4,7
4 Where were you when I founded the earth?+
Tell me, if you think you understand.
7 When the morning stars+ joyfully cried out together,
And all the sons of God*+ began shouting in applause?
Daniel 2:44 shows a problem with giving allegiance to a human government: these governments will be destroyed at Armageddon along with any people giving allegiance to those governments:
Revelation 6:15-17
Then the kings of the earth, the high officials, the military commanders, the rich, the strong, every slave, and every free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.+ 16 And they keep saying to the mountains and to the rocks: “Fall over us+ and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne+ and from the wrath of the Lamb,+ 17 because the great day of their wrath has come,+ and who is able to stand?”+
Part of the good news of God's kingdom is the unity among God's people who are loyal subjects of God's kingdom and are already enjoying the miraculous fulfillment of Isaiah 2:2-4.
There are no national (or racial) differences among us - we all love one another as well as loving Jehovah and Jesus.
See two greatest commandments in the Bible according to Jesus at Matthew 22:37-40!
Jesus said in no uncertain terms, a number of times, that God's kingdom was coming during his ministry. That was during Rome's occupation, the fourth of those kingdoms.
