Mt. 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Re. 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.

The gospel of the kingdom will be brought into the world by an angel. The message will be passed on to the 144,000 Israelites. My thinking is that as members of the 144,000 are studying or meditating on the Scripture, they will be receiving new understanding.

The two Trees of Mankind

Mt. 13:31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.
Mt. 13:32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

Adam was like a mustard seed, which God took and planted in His garden. Adam has grown to become a giant tree with billions of branches. Spirits come and lodge in the branches of Adam. Mostly evil spirits lodge in the branches of Adam.

Mt. 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

A woman (Eve) took yeast (sin) and mixed it into the adamic race and the yeast worked all through the race.

God made man to become a living soul by breathing divine life into man through the Holy Spirit (Ge. 2:7). A living soul is a soul that can either grow or decay. Man could continue to grow spiritually and become like God. One third of God’s angels rebelled against God because they believed that God practiced favoritism for man and against angels. The rebellious angels therefore made it their job to make sure that the human soul decays, rather than grows.

Ge. 3:4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.
Ge. 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Satan lied to man that the way to become like God is by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The truth is that the way to become like God is by eating the fruit of the tree of life.

The tree of life is God and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is Satan. The fruit of the tree of life is divine life (see Jn. 6:63). The fruit of the knowledge of good and evil is sin.

Ge. 3:22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Ge. 3:23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Ge. 3:24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Due to entrance of sin into man, God barred man from the tree of life. The Holy Spirit could never be in man again.

Jn. 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Jn. 15:2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Jn. 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Jn. 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Jesus Christ was a new Adam that God brought into the world, to save the world from sin. God’s original purpose for mankind is that through eating of the fruit of the tree of life, mankind could grow spiritually into all the fullness of God (Ep. 3:19). Unfortunately, sin entered man and God barred man from the tree of life. So, the Holy Spirit could no longer be in man.

Ro. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Ro. 3:24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Ro. 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.

Jesus Christ, the new Adam, paid for the sins of the old Adam and his descendants with his own blood, in order to give mankind the right to go to the tree of life. Due to the redemption that came by Jesus Christ, mankind can now receive the Holy Spirit.

Ac. 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ro. 6:3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?
Ro. 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

When a human being believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ, s/he should submit her/him-self for baptism into the name of Jesus Christ. Baptism unites a person with the death, and hence the blood, of Jesus Christ. The person is united with Jesus Christ in his death and dies to the old Adam. The person has been cut off from Adam and grafted into Jesus Christ. The person is now a branch of the true vine (Jn. 15:1-5) and is qualified to receive the Holy Spirit. If either the person or the minister that performed the water baptism prays for the gift of the Holy Spirit, God guarantees that He will give (Lk. 11:13).

Journey to the Tree of Life

After God made man a living soul (Ge. 2:7), He planted a garden and put man in the garden. At the centre of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating the fruit of the tree of life would make man to become like God, but before man could eat of the fruit of the tree of life, man had to be tested.

You see, angels of God had feared that God had given man a free ticket to rise up to His spiritual level, to the disadvantage of angels. One third of God’s angels rebelled against God because of this wrong understanding. In reality, God’s arrangement is that man would be given commandments; if man could obey the commandments of God, God would give man the fruit of the tree of life, which man could eat and become like God. Man’s obedience to God’s commandments has to be tried or examined. If man passes the examination, he would be promoted. In line with this arrangement, Adam and Eve were tested and they failed woefully. The person who administered the examination was the leader of the rebellious angels; hence angels could never think that the examination was skewed in favor of man. The fact that man failed woefully, with the attendant horrible consequences, was a testament that God never practiced favoritism towards man.

Ac. 10:34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism
Ac. 10:35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

Ro. 2:11 For God does not show favouritism.

Ge. 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

The details surrounding how God took Enoch away is not revealed in the Bible, but the story of Elijah gives us a glimpse.

1Kg. 19:5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
1Kg. 19:6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
1Kg. 19:7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
1Kg. 19:8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
1Kg. 19:9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

1Kg. 19:11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
1Kg. 19:12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
1Kg. 19:13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah could not have been able to embark on the forty day journey to Horeb if not for the food fed to him by an angel. Horeb, the mountain of God, was the equivalent of the tree of life because the presence of God was strong there. It was at that mountain that Elijah faced the final trial. He passed the examination and God promoted him, leading to God taking him out of the world alive.

Mt. 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.

Mt. 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Col. 1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in him.

After Jesus was baptized in water by John the Baptist, God filled him with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was moved by the Holy Spirit into the desert where he was tried. He passed the examination and God made all His fullness to dwell in Jesus Christ. He became like God.

1Pe. 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

What happened to Jesus Christ happens to every human being that is baptized into Jesus Christ in water and in the Spirit. After the baptism in water and in the Spirit, the Spirit drives the Christian into desert experience, where the Christian is tried. The desert experience lasts a very long time (represented by forty days and forty nights), during which the Christ learns and applies the word of God. At God’s appointed time, every Christian will reach the mountain of God or near the tree of life and final examination takes place. Christians who pass the examination are elevated to become eternal sons of God, just like Jesus Christ.

Mt. 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
Mt. 7:14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

A person who is baptized into Jesus Christ in water and in the Spirit has entered through the narrow gate. In order to get to the tree of life or mountain of God, the person must travel on the narrow road that leads to life. What is this narrow road? It is the message of the gospel of the kingdom or the eternal gospel: “Fear God and give him glory.” – Re. 14:7

Ec. 12:13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Ec. 12:14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

The modern gospel being preached by some churches of today says that we don’t have to keep the commandments because we are saved by grace and not by works. That is a misunderstanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What are we being saved from? Sin! You cannot claim to be saved when you still commit sin. That is why the Bible says that we should work out our salvation (from sin)—Ph. 2:12. Salvation by grace and not by works is simply restating Zec. 4:6. We cannot stop sinning through the exercise of our will power but only by the Spirit.

Journeying to the tree of life simply means to grow in holiness. Sin still bars people from the tree of life. Jesus Christ saved us from sin by enabling us to get the Holy Spirit, who makes us holy. How does one grow in holiness through the Holy Spirit?

Ep. 5:26 To make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.

The Holy Spirit cleanses a Christian of sin by the washing with water (Ez. 36:25) through the word. Ez. 36:25 is a promise of God to Jews. It must be fulfilled first to Jews, and then through Jews to the rest of the world. That is why the gentiles have not been able to reach perfection till date and have invented all sorts of doctrines that circumvent their imperfection.

Ro. 11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Ro. 11:16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

When the firstfruits of Israel (the 144,000 Israelites) become holy, then the rest of the Church can become holy.

Zep. 3:9 “Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder.
Zep. 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Cush [That is, the upper Nile region] my worshippers, my scattered people, will bring me offerings.

Purification of the peoples of the world will be started by Jews of sub-Saharan Africa. In the mid-1990s, some white evangelists were holding Christian workshop in Port Harcourt Nigeria towards the end each year. One of the white evangelists declared, “Nigerians, the whole world is waiting for you!” Jews of Nigeria will commence the great end-time holiness revival.

Ep. 5:26 says that holiness happens by the washing with water (Ez. 36:25) through the word. In Is. 55:11, God says that His word cannot return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it. Why did God give His commandments to man? It is to make man holy. Therefore, any man who wants to become holy should return the commandments of God to God, in agreement. This means that the one who wants to become holy should agree with God that s/he will keep specific commandments of God. For example:

By your grace, O God, I shall be perfect as you our heavenly Father are perfect (Mt. 5:48).
By your grace, the Most High God, I will always love you with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and with all my strength. I shall love my neighbor as I love myself. Mk. 12:30-31

Jn. 3:34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

Jo. 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

If you belong to God, form the habit of continually returning God’s words (especially commandments) to Him. As you do so, God will continue to increase the measure of His Spirit in you. The Spirit will make you holy.

1Jn. 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn. 3:3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

The final Examination

If we look closely at the trials of Adam and Eve, Elijah and Jesus Christ, we can see that the examiner is Satan. Satan is the great enemy of mankind. If the examination is to be administered by the enemy and his intention is to make us to fail, it is obvious that it is a very tough examination.

Re. 12:7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Re. 12:8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
Re. 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

When it is time for the final examination to take place, God will command His angels, led by Michael, to go and dislodge Satan and his angels from the second heaven. Satan and his angels will be hurled to earth.

Re. 3:10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Re. 3:11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no-one will take your crown.

In Re. 3:10-11, Jesus Christ is speaking to those who have taken time to grow in holiness by building up the measure of the Holy Spirit in them through continually returning God’s words to Him in agreement. He warns them that the rapture is very near and that they should hold on to the righteousness they have by continuing to return God’s words to Him. They must make sure that they do not lose their crown of life to Satan.

Mt. 24:9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
Mt. 24:10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
Mt. 24:11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
Mt. 24:12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
Mt. 24:13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Ro. 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or unclothedness or danger or sword?
Ro. 8:36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” [Psalm 44:22]
Ro. 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

God revealed to Pastor Dana Coverstone the trials the people of God will witness just before the rapture, as will be seen in USA. It will also be seen all over the world. In one of Pastor Coverstone’s dreams, the white figure that he saw in many of his dreams rose up and said, ‘brace yourself, brace, brace, brace yourself on the word and My promises and do not rely on your own strength’.” The white figure clearly implies that the only way to successfully go through the coming great trial and make the rapture is to brace oneself on commandments and promises of God and never rely on one’s strength. The only way to make it is by returning God’s words to Him; that is the way to increase the measure of the Holy Spirit in one’s soul.

Kei144:
Mt. 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Re. 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.

■ The gospel of the kingdom will be brought into the world by an angel. The message will be passed on to the 144,000 Israelites.
■ My thinking is that as members of the 144,000 are studying or meditating on the Scripture, they will be receiving new understanding.

1. Wrong! Revelations 14 vs 6 does not tell you that the message is passed on to the 144,000 israelites so I don't know where you get that from. Instead, the message is passed on to all Israelites scattered by God to every tribe, every language, and every nation.

2. Wrong! just as the disciples were not studying or meditating on scriptures while Jesus Christ was with them, so also did the first batch — the 144,000 did not have to engage in studying or meditating rituals. They instead had God's Truth inside of them, sealing and teaching them as they went out to do that which they were called to do.