‘GOD HAS GIVEN US…THIS MINISTRY OF RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS.’
2 CORINTHIANS 5:18 [GWT]
The purposes of God in your life are tied to certain relationships. To succeed, you must learn to recognise them! Remember Jonathan, who loved David even at the cost of his own life? Or Ruth, who loved her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi, and gave her a reason to live again? God has people like that, and you need them. He would not say, ‘It is not good that man should be alone’ (Genesis 2:18), then tell you to do it all by yourself.
But some areas may need to be healed before you can enter these relationships. For example, you must learn to differentiate between ‘using’ relationships and ‘heart-ties.’ Even blood-ties do not wear as well as heart-ties.
So allow God to work on you. When you are ready He will make all the necessary introductions. In the meantime get to know Him better. Make His opinion the source of your self-worth, for it is the only one that really counts. If your last relationship stripped you of your identity and drained you spiritually, use this precious time to get back on your feet. You may never have it again!
Begin today to love like God loves. He sees your imperfection, handles your rejection and loves you regardless. That should help you not to throw away a good person just because they did a bad thing. Would you discard your car over a leaky radiator? If God forgave you as you forgive others, what shape would you be in? Today, ask God to teach you about real relationships.
This article was provided courtesy of UCB, from The Word for Today publication. Free issues of this daily devotional are available in the UK and Republic of Ireland, or from the website link below.
PO Box 255, Stoke-on-Trent,ST4 8YY.
http://www.ucb.co.uk/biblehelps
This is a transcript from the ‘King with a Kingdom’ preach by David Sawyer. The posts in this series include:
You may also wish to download all the entire preach rather than reading it on this blog:
Download the preach in pdf format
Download the preach in Word format
Continued from Part 2
HOW THE KINGDOM INFLUENCES SOCIETY
So the kingdom of God has an influence on all society and it is very likely that influence will flow through us – but how does it actually influence society?
We are going to finish by looking at how the power of the kingdom of God influences society and how this can be applied to our lives.
What can our society think?
Our western society often takes all of the power out of the kingdom of God. Any benefits that our society perceives the Church brings are explained away as the positive impact of better morals or teachings on how to be good people.
The bible is clear though; that the reason the kingdom of God has influence is because it is powerful. In 1 Cor 4 Paul when writing to a church where he is being bad-mouthed by some people says:
1Co 4:18-20 ESV Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. (19) But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. (20) For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
And in Romans we see:
Rom 15:18-19 ESV For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience–by word and deed, (19) by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God–so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;
Lets just look at two phrases there:
- “The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power”
- “By the power of the Spirit of God”
The bible clearly shows that the reason the kingdom of God CAN influence society is because it is backed by power.
And whilst I touched on earlier that we play a vital role – thankfully it is not our power. The power of the kingdom of God is directly from God. We’ll be seeing some examples in a minute of this power.
This is so exciting for us as Christians. No matter how clever, or strong, or sociable we are, or are not, we can all have a part to play. Because the power of the kingdom that influences society is not due to our own strength but due to the strength of God.
This is not some faceless authority’s power though, steamrollering all in its path. All of the power God dispenses is underpinned by the power of love.
– and it is a curious thing:
Make one man weep, make another man sing
Change a hawk to a little white dove
More than a feeling that’s the power of love.
I can’t find the scripture reference for that, but I’m sure its there somewhere…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/linnybinnypix/
Our aim to see the power of Jesus’ kingdom in our lives changing society should not be driven for the desire to see or have power. But it should be driven by love and compassion
1Co 13:1-2 ESV If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Lets just think about that statement because it is very powerful.
- Love is more important than the spiritual giftings such as prophecies
- Love is more important than understanding all of theology and mysteries of life
- Love is even more important than having a supreme amount of faith.
Not that these are not important things. But without love they lose their importance.
So how does the kingdom of God influence society with power and love through us?
We are going to look at three areas where the kingdom of God has an influence over society. When we look at the miracles and teachings of Jesus, and the miracles of the disciples – many will fit into these categories.
4a – Power over Satan/demons
The fullness of the kingdom of God will only occur when Satan is destroyed. It can be difficult with our western mindset to grasp the importance of this.
Much of Jesus’ ministry included casting out demons – and as we have already touched upon, the kingdom of God is in direct conflict with the kingdom of Satan.
You can find several examples in the new testament of demons being cast out (Mar 1:21-27), of direct attacks by Jesus and the disciples against Satan’s kingdom, and in the lords prayer we pray “Deliver us from evil” (Mar 6:13)
What is really interesting is that in the old testament times nowhere does any king, priest, prophet or wise man cast out any demons. When the kingdom comes though – a new power is unleashed.
In fact, Jesus in Matthew 10.1 gave the disciples authority over unclean spirits, and told them to cast them out.
In our lives, we are likely to find that the more on fire for Jesus we get – the more the spiritual attacks will grow. Satan is powerful, and should not be underestimated. He still has a powerful kingdom which is in direct conflict with the kingdom of God.
When we come under attack is important that we:
- Trust that Jesus has power and authority over all demons and Satan
- Trust that he has given this authority to the Church
- Pray for safety and deliverance, and get other to pray with and for you (don’t make it a private prayer point!)
As long as Satan still has his kingdom – we are at risk of attack from him. However – we need to remember that our God is an awesomely powerful God, and that when Jesus was crucified on the cross the decisive battle was won in favour of the Kingdom of God.
4b – Power over worldliness
In many ways this is similar to the first point in that it means you are acting more in the spirit of the kingdom of Satan and the world than the kingdom of God.
Most likely though, we will all find it easier to apply to our lives.
We know the kingdom of God is in direct conflict with the kingdom of Satan and worldliness – so it is no surprise that God will have an influence over it.
These verses superbly sum up the issues of worldliness.
Gal 5:16-21 ESV But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (17) For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (19) Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, (20) idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, (21) envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
When we slip into the worldly ways such as jealousy or impurity as mentioned – “it keeps us from doing the things we want to do”. Worldly desires are opposed to the desires of the spirit, they are opposed to the kingdom of God.
We cannot serve two masters, and eventually if allowed to take hold the worldly desires will displace our spiritual desires.
I’m sure we can all think of something worldly that we do or have struggled with. The verse we read had 15 examples – and then said there was more too – no doubt things such as laziness, unforgiveness and gluttony would easily be added to the list.
For us this verse is both great news and a warning. It is great news because the influence of the kingdom of God will have a personal impact on us.
Jesus’ kingship is so loving that He cares about all the issues we may have in our lives from sexual immorality to fits of anger.
Simply put the opening line said:
- “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”
-
As we mentioned earlier the Kingdom of God’s power comes “By the power of the Spirit of God”. It is the same spirit that helps us overcome our sinful desires
The phrase walk by the spirit reminds us we need to be continually looking to God, the Spirit, for guidance. Daily we need to live our lives alongside the Spirit, drawing strength and grace and wisdom
God has made it clear He wants us getting involved with all of society, so it is fitting that he will also be there to guide us. Lets make sure we do not ignore His help.
We have a powerful god to help us!!! Lets not waste it as it so easy to do.
However as well as being great news, it is also a warning. We still live in a world full of sin, and as Christians we still sin. We can go back to the “already not yet” saying. As the kingdom of God is present we can walk by the spirit and not rely on our own strength. But at the same time, the kingdom of the earth is waiting very close by to catch us out.
If we want the kingdom of God to influence society through us we need to be diligent and continually come back to the Spirit, otherwise our flame will burn out and we will no longer be the light that Jesus wants us to be in this world.
4c – Power over sickness/disease
The miracles of the new testament also show that the kingdom of God should have an influence over sickness and disease in our society.
This was a really important part of Jesus’ ministry. He almost continually healed the sick and preached about the kingdom.
When Jesus sent out the 72 disciples he said to them
Luk 10:8-9 ESV Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. (9) Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
There is a real connection between the power of the kingdom and the healing of the sick. This wasn’t something Jesus did as an aside. When he preached about the kingdom – he healed people. When he told others to preach the kingdom – he told them to heal people.
Many in this congregation have been healed in the past, or seen someone be healed.
But we have still have death and illness in this world. Not all of the people we pray for will be healed (this was even the case for the apostles). This can be disheartening and challenging to accept.
We don’t have time to go into detail as to why some people will be healed and others not. But it is worth remembering that healing is a gift from God – not a stone-clad promise for every circumstance.
We should pray for those with illnesses with faith and hope that they will be healed.
We should show our love for each other by praying diligently and with compassion.
Ultimately it is Gods power that will heal someone – and sometimes whilst we may not be able to fathom why – it may not be in His will to heal someone
We need to trust though that God knows best – because he does!
(5) CONCLUSION
In conclusion, what we’ve seen today is that the
- kingdom of God is a present reality – it is here
- kingdom of God is in conflict with the kingdom of Satan and many of the promises of the kingdom are not fully consummated in this world because of that.
- kingdom of God is powerful and should be influencing all of society.
In revelation 1:6 John says
[Jesus has] made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The exciting truth is that Jesus has made us priests in this kingdom:
- As priests we can draw close to God and “walk with the Spirit”
-
As priests we have a supreme and massive aim in life – to further the kingdom of God.
- As priests our lives our not futile or worthless
- As priests we are expected to have an influence on those around us
If the kingdom had not yet come we would not have these privileges.
More exciting though is who we are a priest to:
-
We are priests to a powerful God who has authority over demons, sickness, and death
- We are priests to a powerful God that loves us dearly
- We are priests to a powerful God that deserves our worship…
“To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever – Amen”
Other posts in this series:
‘…NEITHER ARE YOUR WAYS MY WAYS.’
ISAIAH 55:8 [NIV]
Children rank the words ‘not yet’ as some of the most awful in the English language. There is an impatient child in each of us that wants God to grant every request immediately. When our all-wise, loving Heavenly Father says, ‘Not yet,’ what is our mature adult response? ‘But God, You do not understand, I need it right now. Read my lips, I said now!’ But God is neither impressed nor intimidated; He simply says, ‘Kick and scream if you must, but you cannot have it yet. Trust me, I know what I am doing.’
Be wary of insisting that you know better than God! His delays usually are not His denials. Sometimes He delays in order to test our faith, other times so that we can alter our requests. As we come to understand the situation better, we may be glad to modify our prayer and make it more in line with His will. Sometimes God delays so that He can develop in us qualities like discipline, trust, compassion and submission. Most spiritual gains come only through struggle. If we had our way, how long would any of us put up with these character builders without asking God to remove them?
Often we are not able to see the reason for the delay. But that is not surprising. God says, ‘Neither are your ways my ways.’ Often we think God’s saying ‘No’ only to discover that He is saying ‘Not yet,’ so that He can orchestrate an even greater result than we had the faith to believe for.
This article was provided courtesy of UCB, from The Word for Today publication. Free issues of this daily devotional are available in the UK and Republic of Ireland, or from the website link below.
PO Box 255, Stoke-on-Trent,ST4 8YY.
http://www.ucb.co.uk/biblehelps
This is a transcript from the ‘King with a Kingdom’ preach by David Sawyer. The posts in this series include:
You may also wish to download all the entire preach rather than reading it on this blog:
Download the preach in pdf format
Download the preach in Word format
Continued from Part 1
3. Second coming
However we are also faced with the dilemma that often it just doesn’t look like the kingdom of God is here.
A couple of the promises of the kingdom are:
- We will be free from sickness (1 Peter 2:24; Matthew 8:17)
- We will be free from sin (1 Peter 2:24, Romans 5:1),
But that does not tally with what we see.
- We still go through the pain of illness and see the devastation it places on families and communities when sicknesses cannot be healed.
- As Christians we still struggle with sin, and live in a world where sin surrounds us.
You just have to look at any news report, or at any of our lives to see that the promises of the kingdom of God have not been fully completed on this earth.
So we are in a dilemma in that on the one hand we are saying the kingdom of God is present, and in our midst. And on the other hand it just does not look like the bible says it would. Is the kingdom not as powerful as expected?
This is where we can come back to the “already not yet” saying. In reality we are living in an age of two kingdoms.
Firstly, we have the kingdom of God. This kingdom is present. It is here now. It is real and it will break all other kingdoms to pieces. However, it is not yet fully consummated or completed.
Secondly we have the kingdom of the world, or Satan.. This kingdom is also real, and is biblical.
1Jn 5:19 ESV (19) We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Gal 1:3-4 ESV Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, (4) who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
[see also Mat 12:22-30]
At the crucifixion of Jesus the decisive battle over sin, sickness, death and Satan was won. But the war is not over. These kingdoms are in conflict. Jesus’ ministry on earth was a direct battle against this worldly kingdom – and it continues with the Church today.
I have a really silly example to explain it. It is a bit like a game of monopoly. After a few times round the board you opponent has got Mayfair and Park Lane, Bond Street, Regent Street and Oxford Street and has hotels on them all.. The only complete set you have is Whitechapel and Old Kent Road. At that point – for all intents and purposes the game is over. You know who is going to win – the decisive battles and dice rolls have been made. Yet, you battle on for hours, and hours, and hours… trying to overcome your friend. You may even resort to cheating but eventually you will succumb
Today we are in that painful part of life we have all experienced when you play for hours in monopoly despite knowing the winner. Of course – the great news is the winner is Jesus. The winner is the kingdom of God! But nonetheless it still makes those hours playing a pain.
The final victory and the full consummation of the kingdom of God will happen when Jesus comes again.
But always, we must remember the ‘already not yet’ saying. To say that the kingdom of God is NOW and is present today is true. But we must remember always the final victory is not yet won, the kingdom of God is not completed, the kingdom of Satan still has a massive influence over the world.
- We can be grateful that “We have tasted the “powers of the age to come” (Hebrews 6:5).
- We can be thankful that we are not left to live in the evil kingdom of this world – but today we can be a part of the kingdom of God
- We can live in hope of a time when the kingdom of God will be complete and sin and suffering will have no place in our lives.
(3) THE KINGDOM INFLUENCES ALL OF SOCIETY
So the kingdom of God is here. What does this mean for us in our lives? What does it mean for those around us? The main thing to realise is that the kingdom of God should have an influence on all areas of our life, and on all society.
There are two verses I think are important to show broadly that the kingdom of God is all about influencing our society.
Luk 13:20-21 ESV And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? (21) It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
Leaven is a small lump of highly fermented dough, and when it was mixed with fresh dough it would eventually spread its quality through all of the fresh dough, and make it rise.
Jesus uses this as an example to describe both the growth of the kingdom of God, and the how the kingdom of God influences society.
- For the leaven to spread through the flour, it needed to be in contact. Similarly the kingdom of God only influences our society because it is in contact with it.
- It actually changes the flour. It isn’t that the leaven slowly multiplies and spreads amongst the flour – but the flour is transformed to be like the leaven.
- There is no area of the flour that cannot come under the influence of the leaven. In other words, there are no barriers to the kingdom of God. Its influence doesn’t stop at the gates of a prison or a school. There is no part of our lives or society that can’t be impacted by the power of the kingdom.
We’ll look at another verse key to the influence of the kingdom of God
Mat 5:14-16 ESV You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (16) In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
This is the same as the point that the leaven is in direct contact with the flour when it is working. However this verse makes it clear that Jesus expects us, as the Church and individuals within it, to share the blessings and knowledge of the kingdom of God. We are not to live our lives like hermits. We shouldn’t cling onto what we know and believe or be ashamed of it,
It is vital we understand that it is our role to get the kingdom of God into the society. God can and does break into peoples lives without the church directly, but invariable he uses us individuals as part of the church, to spread the message and impact of the kingdom. You just need to look through the book of acts to see that the majority of miracles God performs are not through lightening bolts from the sky – but through the actions and words of the disciples and early Christians.
The challenge for us is to live our Christian lives openly in our society. Whether at work or shopping our actions and words should be promoting the kingdom. We need to let our light shine before others.
When Jesus was preaching about the kingdom of God it would invariable be backed up by the power of the kingdom. The kingdom is not here for no reason or just as a little play thing for Jesus.
One of the key reasons the kingdom needs influence is to grow the kingdom through the salvation of people. Now there is a whole preach on the growth of the kingdom in a week or so, so I do not want to say too much on the matter.
But it will suffice for now to say that when we look at the way the kingdom of God influences society – remember that often it will be as a part of bringing the gospel of the kingdom to people.
Other posts in this series:
This is a transcript from the ‘King with a Kingdom’ preach by David Sawyer. The posts in this series include:
You may also wish to download all the entire preach rather than reading it on this blog:
Download the preach in pdf format
Download the preach in Word format
(1) INTRO - JESUS IS THE KING
Over the annals of time there have been many ways to tell that a king is king.
1. Money
As a general rule of thumb kings are stinking rich and spend obscene amounts of money. King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia is the perfect example. He is worth £30bn which means that he could:
- Buy 120,000 average priced houses in London
- Eat a KFC variety meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for 6.5 million years
2. Power
What the king says goes – no matter how cruel or crazy. Henry VIII is a great example:
- He wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and so changed the religion of England, created the English church and made himself the head.
- He killed anyone who objected, including his close friend Thomas More
- Of course he then got through another five wives because they didn’t create a male heir.
3. Symbols of royalty
Often kings will own things like crowns or a castle that show they are the king. They will surround themselves with people to do everything for them. And I mean everything.
Sir Henry Norris had the unenviable job of being “groom of the stool” for Henry VIII. I don’t want to get too graphic but basically his job was to make sure Henry VIII royal rear was nice and clean after any visit to the little boys room. Oh yes, and they didn’t have toilet paper so it was a hands on job to say the least.
Anyway – if you hadn’t guessed today’s preach is about a king. We’re going to look at the “King with kingdom”. That King of course being Jesus Christ
We are going to see how:
1. Christ’s rule is now
2. The kingdom of God influences all society
3. How it influences society and us
Over the coming weeks there will also be preaches on the style and the growth of the kingdom.
Before we throw ourselves into it though its worth noting that this was a huge thing for Jesus. It was always on his tongue. The kingdom of God was Jesus’ conversation of choice – and it is impossible to look at his teachings without seeing this. Indeed throughout the new testament the phrase is used over one hundred times.
We can quickly see from one verse that Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of God. I won’t spend long on this as it’s been covered in previous three weeks sermons on the risen and exalted Christ.
However, here is one verse on Jesus’ kingship
Php 2:9-11 ESV Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It is worth noting at this point that all the bible reading experts agree that the terms ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ mean the same thing. Therefore whenever we read a quote about the kingdom of heaven – it is talking about the kingdom of God, that Jesus is the king of.
(2) CHRIST’S RULE/KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOW
There is no power in if your kingdom is not current. If you were the King of Babylon over two thousand years ago that would be a pretty huge thing. You would be very powerful. But now? The kingdom has gone. It has no more wealth or power. If you were the king of Babylon now it would just be a name – with none of the attached benefits.
No major church group has ever doubted that Jesus is the King, or that He has a Kingdom. But many disagree on when this Kingdom will come. Has it always been here? Is it here now? Or … is it in the future?
Unfortunately it is not a straight forward concept so you’ll all need your thinking caps on today.
It has been described usefully and less usefully as:
- “Now not yet”
- “Already not yet”
- “the presence of the future”
- “inaugurated eschatology”
I’m sure for many here today that last quote will explain it all. But for those of you like me I’ll delve into it a bit further.
The easiest way to grapple with this is to look at what people thought about the Kingdom of God at various stages over time.
1. Old testament
The first thing to clear up is what was meant by the term ‘kingdom of God’. In one sense, the kingdom had been in existence forever. God created the world and the heavens, and in Psalm 145:13
Psa 145:13 ESV Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
So it is not that when we discuss the kingdom of God coming we are saying God was powerless over the world in the old testament times.
However, the phrase ‘kingdom of God’ was used by Jews for a much more specific purpose than the eternal rule of God. The phrase ‘kingdom of God’ was not a vague phrase, but one that embodied the hopes and expectations of Israel. The longing that Israel’s god would become King on earth – not just heaven. That He would come in power and rule the world as he intended.
There was a distinctly political theme to their beliefs – but we need to be careful when we say this. In the west now, most politics and religion are separate. That would not have been the expectation of the Jews when wanting political upheaval. Yes, they wanted Israel to run itself and not Rome, but they would also want the priests to run the temple correctly and so on.
There was also an implicit or implied expectation of the Jews that this would be a rule you could clearly see and would have geographic earthly boundaries. This was based on the covenant promises of land that God had made to Abraham.
There are many old testament verses that prophecy of the coming Kingdom, perhaps the most clear being Daniel 2:44
Dan 2:44 ESV And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
So in the old testament times we can see that the kingdom of God was not yet here, but it was expected – Jews longed for it to come into existence for generations. Indeed, with their suppression at the time under Roman authority, many were expecting that the Messiah surely must be coming soon.
Other OT verses to look at: Isa 2:2-5, 24:23, 40:3-5, 52:6-7 Dan 7:13-14
2. New Testament
So that was the expectations of the Jews, but what changed when Jesus came?
The reason people were excited by Jesus was because he was so explicit about His importance, and because he backed that up with signs, wonders and powerful teaching.
John the Baptist whet the Jews appetites by leading the way and whilst baptising said:
Mat 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Imagine being a Jew and hearing that, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, The kingdom of God is near, its almost here! The nation has been waiting for generations but maybe this is the time for the kingdom of God to come? There had been false prophets in the past but that would not stop their excitement. Just as England fans believe each new manager will bring the trophies back home – despite all previous ones failing.
Then Jesus confirmed John’s words by saying, after his forty days in the wilderness:
Mar 1:15 ESV The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The following statement of Jesus also made it clear that the kingdom of God was present.
Luk 17:20-21 ESV Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, (21) nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
When the Pharisees asked when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus said – it is in the midst of you, it is amongst you now. Look! I am here! Jesus corrected their belief that the kingdom would be an earthly reign at the same time. This kingdom was to be greatly different from their expectations.
Whenever Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God being present it was always related directly to Him. To His presence.
However he also made it clear that the Kingdom of God would be experienced within the current generation of Jews.
Mar 9:1 ESV And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
The kingdom of God came in power at Pentecost. Finally humans could experience the power of the kingdom of God. If you could turn to Acts Ch 2.
After Jesus had ascended to heaven he promised the power of the Holy Spirit would come, then:
- The spirit came like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire room where all of Jesus’ disciples had gathered
- They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance
- They were amazed that they could hear their own native tongues being spoken by those who did not know it
Some bystanders thought they were drunk or crazy
Act 2:14-18 (14) But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. (15) For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. (16) But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: (17) “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; (18) even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
On that day 3,000 people gave their lives to Jesus and became what we would today call a Christian. The kingdom of God had come and fulfilled Joel’s prophecy.
From the quote we saw earlier in Daniel we know that the kingdom shall stand forever.
From this verse, and many other scriptures (see directly below) and indeed our own lives; we can be confident that the kingdom of God has both come, and is here now. Many in this church speak in tongues as they did at Pentecost. This is a clear sign that the kingdom of God is here today.
Other verses to look at: Mat 12:25-29, Mat 6:31-33, Mat 3:11
Other posts in this series:
February 18, 2008 
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Posted in weekly devotion 
Tags: Christian, The Word for Today, weekly devotion
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