The Inaugural Address

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     The term "kingdom of heaven" does not generally refer to a place or a people under the rule of a sovereign. This is demonstrated in the message of both John and Jesus who urged people to reform because the kingdom was then approaching. We may draw near to a place but it is not good form to speak of a place or territory coming to us. The kingdom of heaven is the rule of heaven. In the new covenant regime it is that rule exercised by the Son of God. Since it is the rule of God's anointed, the kingdom in which it is our good fortune to be citizens is a Christocracy.

     The inception of the kingdom was not the birth of the Prince of peace but his coronation. This event took place in heaven where the throne room is located. The first official act was to dispatch the Holy Spirit to waiting envoys in Jerusalem who had been previously called, qualified and commissioned. The arrival of the Spirit was a divine signal for them to begin their mission of summoning aliens to enroll as citizens under the banner of the newly-crowned King.

     The annunication of the coronation was made by a former fisherman, Simon Peter, who had been given the keys to the kingdom when he had previously properly identified the person and office of the King. In his inaugural address, with the guidance of the Spirit, Peter defined the nature of the kingdom by specifying those materials essential to its constitution. In doing this he gave notice that a new dispensation had begun, of which all previous ages and dispensations were but tributaries. This address, delivered as it was at the commencement of the Reign, must constitute the touchstone by which the Kingdom is to be measured in all ages.

     It is noteworthy that the rule of heaven over its citizens is not exercised upon the basis of a speculative philosophy or ideology. It is not their understanding of, nor subscription to a compilation of opinions or a written code or creed, that makes them worthy. The materials of Christianity are simply seven facts. These were announced on the natal day of the Christocracy and the acceptance of these, and these alone, by assurance derived from the testimony and immersion of the believers, constituted as citizens those who submitted and committed their lives and fortunes to the King.

     The seven pillars upon which the Christian economy rests are the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, glorification and coronation of Jesus as the Lord of all. These constitute the faith--the one faith--in which we must stand because upon them the Kingdom rests. In his opening speech Peter announced these astounding and earth-shaking facts. His demand growing out of them was that his hearers should know assuredly that God had Christed (anointed) as Lord the same Jesus whom they had crucified.

     Those who accepted these facts, accepted the faith. They were immediately admitted as citizens when they submitted to the initiation ceremony of baptism. The seal of their acceptance was the indwelling Spirit who would act as a

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guarantee of their inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, i.e., the resurrection of the body from the grave.

     Those who embraced the faith might become careless or indifferent about their citizenship responsibilities, they might require correction and chastisement, but such instruction and reproof would no more be a part of the one faith, than bread provided for our fleshly children or punishment administered to them are a part of the birth process. Until we can distinguish between that which begets us and that which sustains us we will confuse aliens and confound the saints.