In Luke 12:22-34, Yahshua advised us as follows, ".....Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom...." He then went on to explain how not to fear; not worrying about materialism and rather focusing on immaterial riches. He explains as follows on immaterial riches, "...Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not..." (Luke 12:33). 

From this word Yahshua teaches us very fundamental truths about the kingdom of HaShem.

Abba wants us to be of hiskingdom; this kingdom is beyond the realms of materialsm. As much as it may sound strange to many there is an immaterial kingdom that runs concurrently with the material kingdom we are familiar with. I often observe the state of life Adam led before the fall and I am often led to observe very stark differences from the one we live here; he wore no clothes, he had no need of a house, he needed not cook, he had no money to transact business, he had no need for hospitals. I mean virtually everything you find today that gives us sleepless nights was not in the list of bills of Adam. Actually I don't think Adam was designed to eat forever. Though it is not written anywhere in Genesis, later revelations clearly show he was created to be like Elohim. 

From the scriptures Adam was created to find his way up the lives imparted through the breath of lives (Genesis 2:7) and eventually be like HaShem (I Yokhanan 3:1-3). That leads me to conclude that Adam was not designed to eat forever unless HaShem himself eats. I am convinced that the fruits in the garden were to serve him for such a time as it would take him to learn the source of life which clearly is not material food as explained by Mosheh and Yahshua, (Deuteronomy 8:3; Luke 4:4). To understand this heavenly realm, one only needs to ask oneself, does Satan eat? Does YahShua eat? Does HaShem eat? That's the state of the kingdom of heaven, governed by laws unlike those we are familiar with here. 

Now such a world seems very abstract and unrealistic; so much unlike the one we are accustomed to here. Our world seems very realistic. For instance: if you lack food, you starve to death; if you lack clothes, you get cold and contract pneumonia, you die; if you lack money, you can't travel, you can't transact business and you cannot go to hospital and so you will die. All routes lead to what we dread most; death

However Nothing could be far from the truth. The irony is that our world is the unrealistic and abstract one, while the heavenly one is the real and realistic one. You see when Adam fell, Satan went on to entangle him in an abstract world. He lead Adam and his children to found a world that is very abstract and unreal. Take an example of money and our enslavement to money. HaSatn took advantage of the curse meted on the ground in Genesis 3:17 "...cursed is the ground for thy sake.." Genesis 4:12 further explains the effects of this curse as follows, "....When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength..." This degenerative energy unleashed on the ground led to scarcity of resources. Consequently, the demand would always be more than the supply. 

HaShem in his mercy, taught Adam and his children how to navigate such a murky situation as follows, "...godliness with contentment is great gain.." (I Timothy 6:6). 

HaSatan (the devil) however taught them that such a situation calls for saving for tomorrow for you never know what tomorrow will bring forth;  furthermore you may not be in very good terms with HaShem tomorrow to receive of his bounty. From Exodus 16:19-20, we learn that this is not the way of heavens; anybody who hoarded for tomorrow was rebuked with a dish of wormy manna. With such a deception; that HaShem may not provide for tomorrow, HaSatan taught humans to possess. As much as it may look normal, HaShem did not design that an individual man would possess anything; to drive the point home, we all arrive with nothing and leave with nothing. A good example is the conduct of Yahshua and the church he left, "....And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God..."

However such a communism world cannot fall prey to HaSatan, he therefore taught each to amass own things. This a perfect setting to introduce business or currency; so that you may get what you don't have yet it is possessed by another. However this makes me wonder the following; what if she/he who possess it did not possess it but released it for everyone to enjoy, would there be money today? A big NO. So you see, money is just a mental concept that has no place in the real world. Because the real world is that what you think is not available is actually available only that someone is faking to own. Why faking to own it? Because in truth she/he does not own it, otherwise she/he should take it down Sheol/death.

The devil went further to mislead us in our feeding habits, death-courting lifestyles, coupled with sinful lifestyles and the once friendly microbes turned out foes. Diseases and infirmities strike mercilessly and hospitals as well as pharmaceuticals flourish. This is the world we are familiar with. Today, it seems like Elohim himself built hospitals and pharmaceuticals. However, a return to a healthy and righteous lifestyle dismantles the current world and the truth shines forth that the real world is a world without infirmities. Ezekiel 47:12 and revelation 22:2 explains that during the regeneration, all these shall vanish and HaShem himself will issue his healing through the waters, up the tree of life, into the nations through the leaves of the tree.

From whichever angle you look at it, the current world founded after the fall is a very abstract one. And to enslave us the devil uses fear of material poverty which again leads to fear of death. But we have already seen material poverty is man - made and not real; for the rich are not really rich and the poor are not really poor; it is the fallacy of possession that fuels this notion among humans.

And what about death? 

Now HaShem reveals a very interesting truth about death and life. Again Yahshua advises us as follows, "...And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell..." (Mathew 10:28). It is clear that death again has levels. There is death of the body and death of the nephesh (often translated as the soul). There is the first death of the body that fulfils Genesis 2:17 and there is a second death that involves the soul as well as explained in revelation 20:4-6.

I wonder if Adam understood this and foolishly sold himself to the craftiness of the devil. But it is clear HaSatan (the devil) clearly understood it and through an error of omissions blended truth and falsehood. It seems HaSatan already knew the law instituted in anticipation of the looming fall; if we transgressed, we would die bodily, but salvage our souls through repentance and reconciliation. Back then the devil played ignorant of the second death. Fast forward to post - atonement and where he said you wouldn't die (Genesis 3:4) now he cries hoarse, "....you will die." What a hypocrite!

For this very reason Yahshua came; hebrews 2:14,15 explains as follows "....Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

A candid introspection reveals the truth on why we fear the first death; we are not sure of overcoming the second death. The yearning to live cannot allow us to give up on what we currently hold yet we don't feel secure of the eternal life. It is sad that we do not even hold this life as Yahshua reveals in Luke 12:16-21. Yahshua dismisses such a misconception as foolish. The only sure way to enjoy life as we all desire is to be rich towards Elohim (Luke 12:21) by keeping our treasures in his kingdom (Luke 12:34). 

Luke 12:34 explains as follows, "....For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." When we do a self analysis we always feel that we have a made a skewed investment; we feel that we have invested heavily in this unrealistic world but very poorly in the real kingdom of heaven. 

Yahshua radically gives a 100%  investment into the kingdom of heaven in Luke 12:33; sell your possessions and give alms.I am not an expert in investments but a quick self analysis shows whether we even have a fifty %  - fifty % investment either into the unrealistic world or the kingdom of heaven. 

1. A six day investment in an un-realistic world and a one day (seventh day) investment in the kingdom of heaven,
2. A 90% investment in a nonrealistic world and a 10% (tithe) investment in the kingdom of heaven
3. Definitely more days of feeding than days of fasting
4. More hours of sleeping than hours of watching and praying
5. Lesser prayerful hours than non-prayerful hours
6. Intake of huge volumes of worldly information from media and other perceptions irrelevant to the kingdom of heaven and very little of the word of HaShem such as scriptures or even meditation on the word.

Though not much of an analysis, it paints a clear picture of how skewed our investment can be. It begs each of us to answer the question; where have you invested more: In the kingdom of heaven or in the unrealistic world which is soon perishing? (I Yokhanan/John 2:15-17). The answer will either give us boldness or make us insecure to embrace obedience to the words, "...fear not little flock."

By Bro. Bonface Muthii