© Copyright 2013 – Marlon Williamson
All rights reserved. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted.
All scripture quotations appear in italic type and are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
ISBN: 978-0-615-88374-8
ISBN: 9781483508986
Published by:
BCG PRESS
The Publishing Division of Brikwoo Creative Group
P.O. Box 1506
Trenton, Georgia
www.brikwoo.com
Cover Design & Page Layout by Brian Wooten Manuscript Development by Martha Templeton Edited by Ashley Williamson
I dedicate this writing to my wife, Brenda. First, for being unselfish and allowing me to pursue my passion for ministry, and especially this message of the finished work and the Gospel of the Kingdom. Thank you for being my partner, my cheerleader, and my refuge for the past twenty-three years of leading in the Church of Jesus Christ.
To my children and grand-children; you are my true credentials. I have no greater joy than to see you live and walk in the truth. I know what Jacob must have felt when he was weak and had gathered his feet up in the bed; and then he heard the footsteps and voices of his son, Joseph, and his grandchildren enter the house. The message in this book is nothing; , unless it somehow inspires the generations to come to have hope in this life and in this world.
To the many voices that God graciously brought in to my life many years ago when I began to realize that I was living and preaching behind man-made fences of tradition. Men like the late Dr. Kelly Varner, Bishop David Huskins, and Bishop Jim Dutton. These, and many others, were sent by God to be the iron swords that would sharpen my understanding of the Word of God and bring revelation understanding to the central message of the Bible, this book, and the Kingdom of God.
To Pastor Dale Carver for your friendship and provoking me to be all that God purposed me to be. You are a true friend and a rare jewel in the Body of Christ. You are that companion and brother that was born for such a time as this.
To Pastor Carlos and Luisa Garcia in Nicaragua for pushing me to get this book published. The two of you, and the people you lead are powerful witnesses to the truth found in this message of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. The gates of hell will not prevail in your nation or region because of the work you two have accomplished for God’s glory and His kingdom. You inspire me to believe.
To the faithful saints of Word of Life Ministry for believing in me and honoring me by serving and putting this message in skin and in action. You are so much more than a ministry. You are family.
To those who labored to get this project completed. Thank you, Brian Wooten, for your passion and professional graphic design and publishing skills. Thank you, Martha Templeton, for taking all my notes and CDs and developing this manuscript. You are a gift to the Body of Christ and your ability to communicate the heart of God is invaluable. Thank you, Ashley Williamson, for proofing and editing this manuscript with excellence. All of you have taken the rough uncut stones of my preaching and writing, and with your skills and expertise, looked deep and brought out this polished, many faceted jewel of art.
Finally, I am forever indebted to my Lord, Savior, and King, Jesus. After all, without the King, there would be no Kingdom. I am humbled and grateful that He sent us the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and to lead and guide us into all truth. I humbly admit that I have not fully arrived. I do not know all the answers to all the questions. I am certain of this, I know IN WHOM I have believed.
I am blessed and honored to have Bishop Marlon Williamson as my father in ministry. I have learned and grown so much in depth and width through his impartation and knowledge of the Kingdom of God. He has a heart to equip and empower the saints to be all that God wants them to be and accomplish. This book, Limitless, is a must read for everyone. It is profound yet simple, user-friendly yet full of truth and revelation. Get ready! Your life will never be the same.
Pastor Carlos Garcia Lacaya
Asociacion de Iglesias la gran Cosecha de Nicaragua
This book gives you an epic view of living your life from a kingdom perspective and will provoke you to pursue the kingdom of God like never before. Bishop Marlon Williamson has indeed birthed a powerful tool that will allow you to gain kingdom knowledge about the limitless God that we serve and how to live that limitless life! So many of God’s people today are not living life up to their full potential. This book is a must read for those who wish to live life kingdom minded with kingdom results.
Bishop Jim Dutton
The Worship Center
It is my extreme honor to recommend this masterful treatise written by Bishop Marlon Williamson. The Kingdom of God is the central message of Jesus’ life and ministry and yet so often gets the least attention in the church. Marlon Williamson has done us all a tremendous service by placing the utmost attention on the message of Jesus. When we truly engage in an understanding of the dynamics of the gospel of the Kingdom it ushers us to a life that is Limitless. I not only recommend this book I recommend the author. As he does in the book so has he done with his life and ministry… he expounds, lives, demonstrates the Limitless life of Kingdom citizenship. The book and author come with my highest recommendation.
Bishop David R. Huskins
International Communion of Charismatic Churches
There are many echoes in Christendom but few voices as it relates to the Gospel of the Kingdom. Bishop Marlon Williamson is definitely one of the most prolific voices of our generation when it comes to the glorious message of Christ the King and HIS Kingdom. Like me, I’m sure this study will leave you hungry for more of Jesus and the present reality of His Royal Work in our daily walk. Don’t discard this dissertation; for a modern day scribe of Heaven’s expectation on Earth has given you the very heart and purpose of God for humanity.
Dr. Joseph Dutton
The Epicenter at Dominion Harvest Ministries
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
Pursuing The Kingdom
CHAPTER TWO
Restoration And The Fall
CHAPTER THREE
Kingdom Revelation
CHAPTER FOUR
Sons - Not Servants
CHAPTER FIVE
A Kingdom Paradigm: Colonization, Citizenry, And Culture
CHAPTER SIX
A Biblical World View
CHAPTER SEVEN
Eschatology: What We Know about the End of the World
CHAPTER EIGHT
Tear Down This Wall
God is omniscient.; the divine attribute of perfect and universal knowledge. He knows all, and He desires to share this knowledge with His children. He tells us throughout the Bible, to search out the hidden truths and to obtain knowledge. With all of our getting, we are to gain understanding. It is to our own detriment if we fail to gain understanding and lack knowledge. God said His people perish for lack of knowledge. On the subject of the Kingdom, there is not a man on the planet that knows more than the author of this wonderful book. It appears that God has downloaded his perfect knowledge on this subject to his son, Bishop Marlon Williamson.
I am a self-confessed book-nut. I have read many books on this subject, and many by the “giants” in today’s church. These men and authors are wonderful and have contributed greatly to my life; however, there is not one man on the planet that will teach you more of the limitless God and His limitless Kingdom than my friend and Bishop, Marlon Williamson. He is a wealth of knowledge. This book is the best book of the year, and I have recently published books of my own. If you can read only one book for the next few months, this should be the one. I love the title, Limitless. In this book, you will discover that the Kingdom that the Father desires to give you is truly limitless, as God, Himself, is limitless. This book will challenge you and provoke you. It will, if allowed, tear down some religious strongholds in your mind. This book will make you question some of your beliefs and traditions, which is a good thing. This book will make you question everything from now on. It will free you from your own limitations and barriers that you, or others, have erected to keep you from enjoying a fruitful and full life. You will not find one thing in this book that will contradict scriptures in any way; in fact, it will confirm it. The Holy Bible will testify and validate this book. This book is simply AWESOME!
I met Bishop Marlon in Kenya, Africa, some years ago. We were both asked to speak at a Pastor and Leadership conference. I had some success in ministry, and I thought I knew my subject matters very well. As I recall, we had one break a day, which is one session in which we would not speak and be free to do as we chose. As I was getting ready to speak to a group of leaders from Africa on the subject of the Kingdom of Heaven, Bishop Marlon Williamson was taking his break and chose to sit in my class. I had read a couple of books on the Kingdom, I had studied the Word of God, and I was prepared as well as I could have been. I did a good job with the elementary understanding that I had. After the session, Bishop Marlon and I talked and became friends. To me, it was like Jonathan and David’s meeting years ago. Since that time, he has taken me aside like young Apollos that had been tutored by Aquilla and Priscilla in Acts 18, and showed me a more excellent way. He has enriched my life in immeasurable ways. My ministry is more powerful today, and my life is more wonderful today because of Bishop Marlon Williamson and the limitless teaching that is found in this book. My eyes have been opened to the limitless possibilities of being a child of God and citizen of this limitless Kingdom. I owe Bishop Marlon Williamson more than I can ever repay. If you read this book openly and objectively, you will owe him too. As you read this, get ready to see everything from heaven’s point of view. Get ready to live out of your spirit. Get ready to tear down every barrier and limitation that you have set for yourself. You can truly do all things through Christ. Get ready to have your eyes of understanding opened to the truth that God loves you and wants the best for you. Get ready for limitless possibilities of what you can do, and what you can have in the Kingdom of our God. Your life is limitless. As you read this book, you will be free from all limitations. Never again will there be a barrier that will keep you down. You will achieve your dreams. You will live in the limitless Kingdom of God. Your adventure to this limitless life starts today as you begin to read and understand this amazing truth. Heaven is open over you. Whatever you thought was impossible is now very much possible. As you read this book, enjoy and discover that you are Limitless!
Dr. Dale Carver
First Community Church of Alma
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
The Kingdom of God: no other subject found in the scriptures is given a level of attention and focus equal to this one. In fact, no other subject comes close. Yet the modern church’s focus on the Kingdom is sketchy at best. Consider the words we most often hear threaded through our sermons on any given Sunday. Words like faith, salvation, hell and the cross sift through the Sunday morning air like light through a stained glass window. We rage and warn against the schemes of the devil with fervency, and we culminate with the hope of being born again, as if salvation were the happy ending to this beautiful story, rather than the hopeful beginning it actually is. Amidst all the singing, the preaching, the teaching and the shaking of hands, how likely are we to give even a cursory look toward what exists as the central theme of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation: the establishment and advancement of the Kingdom of God?
“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God…”
Jesus commands us to seek His Kingdom first, foremost, overshadowed, outranked and overruled by nothing. The evidence to support this command is significant. Consider the number of times we see the following terms, either in singular or plural form, used throughout the scriptures:
King and Kingdom...............................................................................2,793 times
Reign........................................................................................................363 times
Rule and ruler..........................................................................................247 times
Earth........................................................................................................987 times.
Faith.........................................................................................................247 times
Salvation..................................................................................................158 times
Hell............................................................................................................55 times
Devil..........................................................................................................57 times
Cross.........................................................................................................28 times.
Born-Again..................................................................................................3 times
Heaven.....................................................................................................739 times
It bears noting that, of the 739 times the word heaven is mentioned, 32 of those are given in the context of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let’s take a moment and place these terms in order based on their quantitative value in the scriptures; overwhelmingly, king and Kingdom outnumber all other terms and concepts listed, followed by earth, heaven, reign, rule, ruler, faith, salvation, devil, hell, cross, and, finally born again. If we were bold enough to infer that the number of times a word or concept is repeated bears witness to its holistic value, we would prioritize these subjects accordingly. The moment we start to wonder whether the numbers really matter, we are reminded that it was Jesus, Himself, who instructed us to seek the Kingdom first. What matters is the order, priority, frequency and depth with which we seek the Kingdom of God.
I don’t say any of this to negate any portion of the scriptures. On the contrary, I know the value of careful study of the scriptures in their entirety; clearly, the King and His Kingdom have preeminence in the scripture. They should have the same emphasis in our thinking, teaching, preaching, and worship, and, as such, they must be at the core of our study.
Kingdomology
Whenever the suffix, -ology, is attached to a word, it simply means the science or study of the root word to which it is attached. Common examples include astrology (the study of the influence of stars on people), biology (the study of life), and psychology (the study of the mind). Further examples permeate the medical fields established in our culture – terms like cardiology, dermatology and radiology. All of these fields require intense study in order to fully grasp an understanding of the work embodied within them. These kinds of work are so complex that to study them requires an uncommon level of commitment to the content and the processes involved.
Anyone can know a little bit about the heart and how it works; however, when a man has a heart attack, he needs to see a cardiologist. In times of such need, he will spare no expense to have audience with the best in the field. Why? The answer is that expertise matters; knowledge, practice and study all matter. Once he is stabilized, he will most likely look up some information on the internet, and he may even read a book or two about heart health; however, the first and most important thing he will do is to seek a specialist, a cardiologist, who knows and practices this work with great depth and expertise. It is impossible for a single text to encompass all the information regarding cardiology. The time the cardiologist has spent studying and practicing his work is invaluable to the man in need, and so, his life’s work and worth contribute to the quality and worth of another life, as well as all the lives touched by that life.
The journey to fully comprehend and experience the Kingdom of God is a life-long journey, worthy of close and careful study and marked by the call to thread the concepts and the precepts of that study through the practice of our everyday lives so that we might bring the hope of life to others. It is a journey into the Kingdom, itself, which is an adventure of a lifetime. Ironic though it may seem, we are the chosen ones. The King, Himself, calls upon us, to step up and be the heroes of this hour, of this time, in this Kingdom – the Kingdom of God.
If we are to be effective in that calling, it is paramount that we have a working knowledge and understanding of the conceptual framework of this Kingdom, as well as how it operates. The intent of this writing is to study and to discover the many attributes and principles of the Kingdom of God. The suffix, -ology, comes from the Greek word, logos, which has a dual meaning, “word” and “logic” or “reason”. A life of intensive study involves not only reading about a subject, but delving into the logic and the reasoning that drive the work and being willing to consider things that you have never considered before.
Kingdomology requires a commitment to truth. It requires us to delve into a deep study of the logos of God, into His Word and the reasoning and logic that live within the Word. This commitment also requires that we examine our own ideas, in the light of the truth, as it is revealed. Most of us operate within belief systems that were handed down to us. Often, we don’t spend time questioning or trying those beliefs; in short, we simply accept them as being so. The danger of this notion is that we can easily dismiss or fail to recognize the truth if a misconception is in the way. There is a poem written by a friend of mine that illustrates this point clearly:
Fences
Martha Templeton
I grew up building fences-
Tying truths together
One rule at a time,
Knotting them with teaching,
Trying them with thought.
Some served me well,
Kept danger out
And helped me know
The paths I shouldn’t cross.
And some, I’ve just begun to see,
Are standing in my way.
Like this one here-
The one I built around
My notions about God.
I happened on it yesterday,
Glanced through a hole.
In a knotted plank
And caught a glimpse of Him
The likes of which
I’d never seen before.
And as the scent
Of sweet, fresh oil
Came wafting through the slats,
I closed my doubting eyes,
Heard His voice take flight
Let it swarm around my Head,
Let it loosen up the many
Knotted notions I’d been
Tightening so long.
And now I sit here,
Thinking how I’m gonna have to
Tear this old fence down
And let Him show me
Who He really is.
Unfenced, unbound
And Limitless.
When we make the audacious and courageous commitment to do exactly what Jesus suggested, to seek the Kingdom of God first, before our pre-conceived ideas, before the teachings of our fathers, before our “many knotted notions” about what the truth is, we can expect a paradigm shift. We can expect that our own, personal glimpses of God will reveal things no one else could ever have prepared us to see. A personal search for a personal God always reveals something different than we ever thought we would find when we began the search. Whether you are beginning that commitment for the first time, or whether you are a seasoned Kingdomologist expect revelation. God always has something to reveal when we are curious and passionate enough to seek Him first. A revelation is what happened and continues to happen with me on my journey to discover the Kingdom of God. As you journey through this text, I pray that revelation knowledge and truth will be opened to you.
As we make this commitment to pursue the Kingdom, we must look for more than a shallow, surface meaning of the subject. We are searching for the logos or logic of the Kingdom. In Mark 4:3-20, Jesus told the parable of the sower:
“Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
After finishing the parable, the disciples asked the meaning of the parable. Jesus answered, “Know ye not this parable? How then will ye know all parables?” It is as if Jesus is saying, “If you do not understand this, you will not understand anything I say.” Jesus then expounded the meaning of the parable to them. He said in verse 14,
“The sower soweth the word” (logos).
Every parable that Jesus ever spoke was in essence sowing the logos of God. Whenever He spoke, his intention was to communicate the logos, or the logic, of God. Jesus was the greatest communicator, of the Gospel, who ever lived. He spoke in a language that the common man understood, and yet the Scribes and Pharisees were dumbfounded by His wisdom.
The logos of God is not simply the spoken word. It is much deeper than that. Jesus never rambled or spoke idle words. Whenever He spoke, He was intentionally revealing the logic or the way God thought. The words He spoke were “spirit and life”. This is why nearly every parable Jesus spoke began with the phrase, “The Kingdom of God is like…”
Often, in order to understand a concept that is outside our realm of understanding, we need to connect it with our own prior knowledge of the concept. To anchor a concept, in an understanding we already have, helps us as we grapple with those things our minds can’t quite wrap themselves around just yet. Jesus found this necessary when trying to teach about the nature and logic of God. Understanding God’s identity, as a being, is powerfully important; therefore, not only does this understanding help us to seek Him, it also helps us to see why we should.
There was a man who lived not far from where I grew up who made his living with woodwork. He crafted beautiful, hand-made clocks, tables and other objects by combining both beauty and practicality in his craftsmanship. In his spare time, he loved to go camping, and he had a certain ritual that always intrigued anyone who happened to join him around the campfire in the evenings. He took with him a whittling knife and a small block of wood, and, on every camping trip, he sat around the fire at night and whittled the wood away until, by the end of the trip, he had a souvenir – a hand-carved animal of some sort.
He found it relaxing and rewarding, and it always got him a lot of attention from those who frequently visited campgrounds in those days. Children, in particular, were always captivated by his ability to chip away at the block of wood until the desired shape emerged. The man loved hearing the people around the fire trying to guess which type of animal the final piece of work would resemble. Invariably, as they sat, circled around the dancing flames of the welcoming fire, someone would ask him, more out of wonder than true curiosity, “How do you do that?” This man was always ready with his answer whenever the question arose, “You take a piece of wood like this one here in one hand, and you take a whittling knife like this one in the other, and you cut away anything that don’t look like a dog…” (or a bear or a duck or whatever shape happened to be taking form in his hand).
His answer always got a laugh, but there was an element of profundity in it. I’ve known many men who sat around campfires or under shade trees in back yards and whittled to pass the time. Most of them, however, were just whittling. There was no intention or vision behind it. The more they whittled, the less they held in their hands. Though, he may not have seen himself as such, this man was an artist, and he was doing much more than whittling around the fire. He may have had the same kind of wood and the same kind of knife as anyone else, but he also employed two other very powerful tools: creativity and intent.
CREATIVITY WITHOUT INTENT IS CHAOS.
INTENTION WITHOUT CREATIVITY IS BARREN.
What does this have to do with the Kingdom? Everything. Creativity and intention are powerful forces together. Creativity without intent is chaos. Intention without creativity is barren. When combined together, these two forces create an environment in which incredible things can occur. When God created the earth and its inhabitants, He did so with clear intention. He wasn’t just playing around with dust one day when suddenly it surprised Him by taking the form of a man. God created man intentionally, and He breathed the breath of life into his body for a purpose. If we fail to see His purpose in creating man, we run the risk of never fully understanding our own purpose in this life and never receiving the benefits He intended us to receive from the beginning.
It’s amazing, actually, when you think about it. As Christians, we whole-heartedly embrace the belief that creation did not happen by chance. It stands to reason, then, since our God is a logical being, that creation did not happen without intent. Yet, how many of us hold steadfastly to those beliefs without ever studying or even considering the intent of the Designer, Himself? Instead of pondering His intent, we are more likely to invest our time and energy considering our own intentions while trying to get God’s attention. We want a God who will see and understand what we want and will then, kindly align Himself with our intentions, and often we fail to even realize that we are focused on the wrong thing. Rather than trying to make God into our image, we need to give our attention to His intention.
What was on God’s mind when He decided to create man? Would it surprise you if I told you that God made His intent and his thinking about this beautiful creation known from the very beginning? It is true. Unfortunately, the original mandate has been lost in today’s modern church, and as a result, we are surrounded by an endless cycle of religious activity that fails to produce the outcome of God’s original plan. The modern church has lost its way in light of God’s plan, and seems to be content just holding on until Jesus comes and rescues us. We have become so preoccupied with going to heaven that we have lost sight of the big picture.
So, to get a clear picture of the intent of this design, let’s go back to the beginning – to the chronicle of the design, itself. Genesis 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” From the very first sentence of the bible, we can see what was important to God- heaven and earth. Then, we see how God fills the earth with His creativity, energy and life, one step at a time. God creates, reflects, assesses, and continues the cycle, occasionally stopping to survey what He has created and proclaiming, “It is good.”
This is our first evidence that there is intention with His creation; there is careful attention to the value and validity of His work, evident in the need to pause, to reflect and to evaluate before moving on with the process.