The Kingdom of God
August 26, 2001
I remember noticing, while reading the Bible one day back in college, that Jesus was also preaching about the Kingdom of God. I had been a believer for about a year and had never heard it mentioned in any sermon or at any conference… and had no idea what it meant. Yet, the Gospels say that Jesus preached the message of the Kingdom wherever He went. So, it must have been pretty important!
- while thumbing thru a book on missions, I came across an article written by George Eldon Ladd on the Kingdom of God.
- I gobbled it up… it helped me understand so much, from the way I was to minister to others to a better understanding of God’s heart for us and the nations.
- I realized the message of the KoG wasn’t simply a component of our faith, it was the very foundation of our faith.
In Matthew 9:35-36 we read that…
35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Just from verse 35 we can see that Jesus not only had a distinct message, the good news of the Kingdom, but also that He had a distinct ministry, which illustrated that message, in healing every disease and sickness.
- Jesus had a message and a ministry.
- everything Jesus did supported everything Jesus said.
- What He said was “The KoG is at hand”.
o that the rule and reign of God had come into this world in fierce opposition to the ruler of this world and that He was the Anointed One set apart to destroy the ultimate power of this world, Satan, sin, death.
- What He did said “The KoG is at hand”
o Walk on water, calm the storms, multiplied food, setting the oppressed free, healing the sick…
Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom, that God had come to restore His Kingdom rule and reign was like a sledge hammer swung at the face of Satan, who had, from the time of the fall, set up a counterfeit kingdom, with humankind as its subject.
- The battle line was drawn right from the beginning. Right after Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordon, He was sent out into the desert to do battle with Satan.
- After 40 days without food and water, Jesus had made His point… that He means business.
- Then, we read in the next verse, Matthew 1:14 that Jesus went into Galilee, again proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The KoG is at hand. Repent and believe the good news! That was the proclamation.
o Now look at verse 21-28 for the demonstration…
21They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had
authority, not as the teachers of the law.
23Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" 25"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26The evil spirit shook the man
violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him."
- You see, before this time, you could walk through Capernaum or Galilee and see people possessed by evil Spirit. But no one could help them.
- When that demon said, “I know who you are—the Holy One of God” he was the only one who understood it right. The he says, “Have you come to destroy us?” Believe me, that demon knew the answer.
- Jesus came as God’s champion to, as 1 Jn 3:8 says, “to destroy the works of the enemy.”
In all that Jesus said and did He was making an outright declaration of war against the Kingdom of darkness, which was established immediately after the fall. Let’s take a look.
From just the first few chapters of the Bible we can see three things…
- a good and wonderful creation
- the entrance of a superhuman rebellious being
- mankind gets caught up in this rebellion
- LETS LOOK AT THESE MORE CLOSELY…
1. In Gen 1 & 2 we see God creating the heavens and earth. The word used in Gen 2 for “create” is “bara”, which speaks of God’s power to create upon a mere thought.
a. The imagery is of God speaking the waters and stars and wildlife into existence from His heavenly throne.
b. And, if you remember in the creation story, of each thing God creates, He says, “and God saw that it was good”.
c. But the word for create that is used when God creates Adam is different. The word here is “yatsar”, which means to form or to fashion.
i. Unlike God creating from His throne in Heaven, we now see Him intimately engaged, like a potter forming a beautiful jar of clay… He is breathing life into Adam.
ii. And only now does the text say, “and God saw it was very good”.
d. To Adam and Eve, God gave authority to rule over the rest of His creation… He loved them and walk in intimacy with them each and every day.
e. This is what we were created for, to walk in His love and friendship.
2. Then, Satan shows up. Once a glorious angel but then cast out of heaven because he purposed, as Isaiah 14 says, to raise up a throne above the stars of God… he purposed to make himself like the most high God.
a. So that is what Satan did. He set up a counterfeit kingdom here on earth… the very antithesis of God’s K.
b. We saw a picture of God’s K in Gn 1-3… God as loving King over his treasured creation. We see beauty, order, intimacy, health.
c. Almost immediately after Adam and Eve fell to Satan’s temptation, we see death, sin, murder, and sickness.
Immediately, they b/c subject to Satan’s rule… with Satan usurping the authority God gave them to rule as His ambassadors over the earth.
d. Like if I were to raise up an army to attack a neighboring country. Once I defeat them, everything that is theirs becomes mine.
i. And all the inhabitants and everything they own become subject to me.
e. That’s what happen to Adam and Eve, and all their descendents after them
i. Because of the fall, man’s authority is removed
ii. They became the subjects of a new ruler, of a new kingdom… the Kingdom of Darkness.
iii. And that’s been true ever since.
The fact is, everyone whose come after them has been hurt by its power, we’ve all been sold a bill of goods, lied to be it, told all kinds of terrible things about ourselves by it, used and abused by it.
a. Everything got messed up b/c of this counterfeit K… incest, brokenness, abuse, shame, depression, fear, and disease.
b. THIS isn’t the world God created for us. We’ve all been raised in a world system that is in complete Rebellion against God… and willingly or unwillingly, we’ve all be caught up in this rebellion.
- But history didn’t stop there. No sooner did Adam and Eve fall to Satan did God declare in Gen 3 that He would one day send someone who would deal a fatal blow to Satan and His Kingdom…
- that He would not stop until, as John wrote in Rev 11:15, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."
So, when Jesus came into this world, He came as God’s Anointed One to deal that death blow.
- When Jesus spoke those words from Isaiah that the “Spirit of the Lord is on me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,” He was letting the kingdom of this world know that the time had come for God to take back what was His… you and me.
Several years ago Joyce and I were at a conference in Holland. We spent a few days in Amsterdam… and went to Ann Franks’s house. I sat there in front of that house almost seeing and hearing the Nazi soldiers marching through those streets… going from house to house forcing friends, neighbors, and family members onto those horrible boxcars.
- I couldn’t imagine the fear that this would cause day after day.
- But then, imagine hearing news that a huge invasion force was being mounted against that great evil, which has left you in fear, sickness, and all alone.
- If you knew that that evil was about to be challenged, perhaps even crushed, that the darkness and tyranny would begin to be lifted.
This is the Good News that Jesus brought when He announced the KoG was at hand.
- Good news that the power of all of this darkness, evil, deception, murder, is about to be broken b/c the Kingdom of God has come to strike back at the KoD and take back what is rightfully His.
- Gordon Fee: “In Christ, God has planted His flag on planet Earth and declared for all the universe to hear, ‘I declare this to be mine.’”
- This is why wherever Jesus went, demons seemed to manifest. Spiritual confrontation with the enemy comes wherever Jesus goes b/c Jesus has come as a liberator, laying siege against Satan’s work, setting us free.
- And when Jesus rose from the dead and when the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, He gave back to us the same authority He had once given Adam and Eve.
o And it is with this same authority that Jesus called us to go and proclaim and demonstrate the KoG to our world.
That is the message and ministry of Jesus. And, as I shared last week, it is our calling, as subjects of the King, to continue the ministry of Jesus today.
- The disciples understood this…
1When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick… 6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. Luke 9:1-6
- Paul shared in Acts 20 that it was his mission to preach the Kingdom
- We see that the good news of the K was not only the central message/ministry of Jesus, it was the central message/ministry of the apostles and those after them, and must be for the church today.
But there is an important aspect of the Kingdom that we need to understand.
- While the Kingdom is here, the reality is that it hasn’t yet come in its fullness. We know this… because Satan is still reaping havoc in the world and the fact that we are still struggling with sin.
- Though we can know victory over sin, over demonic opposition, over disease, the truth is, we wont be completely set free from the effects of sin, demonic opposition and sickness until the fullness of the Kingdom comes when Jesus comes again.
- So, there is a tension… the Kingdom is here, Jesus said this in Matthew 12:28, “Since I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, the KoG has come upon you.”
- Yet Paul says in 1 Cor 15:24 that “the end will come when He delivers the Kingdom to the Father after destroying every (earthly) rule, authority, and power.”
- In other words, the Kingdom is both here and not yet here. This tension is commonly referred to as the already/not yet paradox of the KoG
o It was inaugurated when Jesus came to destroy the power of Satan, sin, and death.
o And it will come in its fullness when Jesus comes again to once and for all rid the world of Satan and his counterfeit kingdom… after destroying every rule, authority, and power.
A classic example analogy of this is its parallel to the end of WWII.
- D-Day (June 6, 44). The Allied forces invade Normandy, breaking the back of the enemy and ensuring their total victory. Yet, the war lingered on even though the Nazis were defeated.
- Yet, it wasn’t till V-Day (May 7, 45) that the peace treaty was actually signed. Sadly, more people were killed during that period of d-day and v-day than any other period of the war.
- Like that period b/t D & V day, we are living in a period between the inauguration of the Kingdom and the Consummation of the Kingdom.
o While we have total victory, we can understand why the ruler of this world continues to reap havoc.
o When we pray for the sick and they are healed, it is b/c of the already reality of the Kingdom. If they’re not healed, it is likely b/c of the fact that we are living in the not/yet. You see why our understanding of the K is so important?
o Yet, anyone who gives their life to Jesus can come out from under his rule and into relationship with Jesus… walking in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.
But this message of the Kingdom, that God has come to take us out from under Satan’s rule into relationship with Jesus demands a response… that is why Jesus, while preaching the good news of the Kingdom, also called for people to repent and believe.
- Because if God is King, then we must subject ourselves to Him as King.
- Its pretty obvious to say that in God’s Kingdom, God is reigns as the King. One thing that is true about a Kingdom is that its people are subjects of the King.
o In America, we are citizens of a country, which is governed by the people and for the people… where every 4 years we elect a new president.
o Our democracy is built upon the sovereignty of the people, not the government.
o In the UK, on the other hand, people aren’t called citizens; they are called subjects… subject to the Queen who, by right of birth, sits as monarch (albeit ceremoniously) over the nation.
This is how it is with the Kingdom of God… The K is not identified with its subjects… they are the people of God’s rule who enter it, live under it, and are governed by it.
- This is important, b/c we don’t elect God. We make statements like “put Him on the throne of your heart.”
- but the fact is, as Don Williams has said, you can’t put Him anywhere! He is already on the throne and He is high and lifted up and the King of kings and Lord of lord whether or not you submit to Him or not.
- Now, you can humble your heart before Him, but you can’t put Him anywhere, He is already there.
As the church we are the community of the kingdom. We are a community of disciples under the Lordship of Christ committed to bearing His message and continuing His ministry.
- And as we go out, continuing the ministry of Jesus, we can expect the miraculous b/c the KoG is already, its here!
- But we ought to expect opposition because the KoG is not yet.
- We have the incredible opportunity as a church and as individuals to live out both the message and ministry of Jesus to our neighbors, friends, co-workers.
o Always remember that the message and the ministry are a unity, telling and showing what the Kingdom is and what it is like.
And as we proclaim and demonstrate the KoG in the power of the Spirit, we’re going to see people come the Christ. Our vision as a church is that at least 25% of our growth be conversion growth. I believe this will happen.
- the is no greater sign of the K than someone comes to Christ, as 1 Peter 2:9 says, coming out of darkness into His marvelous light!
- As I said last week, we will see people healed and set free
- We will see those emotionally wounded find wholeness again thru Christ.
- It’s our calling… to be an authentic representation of Jesus in Morris County.
But it starts with us. How will you respond to God’s rule and reign? If He is King, will you subject your life to Him? As I said before, the Kingdom message and ministry always demands a response.
* This whole thing… everything we’ve been talking about re the KoG… is about God’s passion for you and me to walk together with Him in the Garden as A&E once had.
* He passionately wants us to come out from under the weight of this world… away from the fear, shame, brokenness, spiritual poverty, anger, and into His love, peace, and joy.
