Acts
1:6-7 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is
not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own
authority.
When the
angel Gabriel came to Mary he promised her that the Son she would bear would be
great and would be called the Son of the Most High. He went on to say that
Mary’s Son would rule over the house of Jacob and his kingdom would never end. (Luke
1:31-32) When Jesus began his ministry he began with these words: “Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) “At hand” indicates the
kingdom was present at that time. The church is not the kingdom it is the
community of the kingdom, a human society. Now the disciples wanted to know if
Jesus would “restore the kingdom”. Restoring the kingdom was an important
concern for the Jewish people and their expectations were different from God’s
reality.
There are many people who are waiting for the
kingdom of God to come. As we will see later the kingdom is a mystery and will
never be fully understood while on this earth. Some very good books have been
written about the kingdom and, I’m sure, a great many that may not be
considered “good books”. We need to recognize that the kingdom is now, and not
yet. We have a foretaste of the kingdom of heaven in our Christian fellowship
and ministry. Jesus himself said that…
The
Kingdom of God is present now. Or, at least, was then
present. Turn with me to Luke 17:20-21. Being asked by the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is
not coming in ways that can 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.”
The Pharisees, along with all the other
informed Jews, were expecting the kingdom to come. They identified it with the
rule of the great King, and Shepherd, David. After all, the prophets often
referred to restoring David’s kingdom. Therefore, they were definitely looking
for a kingdom that can be observed with the eyes and experienced in their
day-to-day life. It seems to me that Jesus is saying here, “The kingdom is
present now. After all I am here!” The King had come and the kingdom was
present wherever Jesus was. The kingdom was within their grasp and they
couldn’t see it or feel it! In order for the kingdom to be seen it was
important that…
The
Kingdom of God was demonstrated by Jesus. The
Pharisees had come along just as a demon oppressed man was brought to Jesus.
The man was blind and mute. Jesus healed him causing the people to say, “Can
this be the Son of David?” Listen while I read Matthew 12:24-28. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul,
the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 Knowing
their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid
waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And
if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his
kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by
whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But
if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God
has come upon you.
The Pharisees were very jealous of Jesus. The
people were being drawn into the kingdom and the Pharisees were standing in the
door trying to stop them! So they began to claim that Jesus’ power came from
Satan! Surely that would turn the people away from following Jesus. Jesus’
response demonstrated how weak their argument was. Beelzebul, the Prince of
demons, would not destroy his own kingdom. His kingdom could not stand if it was
divided against itself. No, Jesus was not casting out demons by the power of
the ruler of demons. He was casting out demons by the Spirit of God! And if he
was casting out demons by the Spirit of God then it was very clear that the
kingdom of God had come.
Jesus was demonstrating the power of God’s
kingdom over that of Satan! The result was that the strong man’s house,
Satan’s, was being plundered by someone who was much stronger than him. Satan
had been defeated by Jesus in the wilderness during his temptation. He was now
bound while Jesus was ministering on earth.
Just as Jesus demonstrated the power of the
kingdom…
The
disciples proclaimed the Kingdom. Jesus
had called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority over unclean
spirits. They were given the power to heal every disease and every affliction.
Then we are told in Matthew 10:5-8. These twelve Jesus sent out,
instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the
Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of
heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse
lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
At the beginning of their ministry the
disciples went first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Later they would
be commanded to go into all the world but now they were laying the groundwork
for the kingdom of God to be expressed on earth. The kingdom had to begin with
the Jews first and then spread to the Gentiles. So Jesus carefully instructed
them to not go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans. Instead they were to go to
their own people with a simple message: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Sound familiar? That is the message that John the Baptizer began with and was also
what Jesus proclaimed when he came back from his temptation in the wilderness.
With the coming of Jesus onto the scene, a new level
of power — the Holy Spirit — was released! Beginning with Jesus and spreading
through his disciples, by his word, the power of the kingdom was demonstrated.
Later, this power, the Holy Spirit, would be poured out in fulfillment of the
Old Testament prophecy on the believers. They were gathered in the upper room
at Pentecost. In fact, Jesus had told them to wait until the power was poured
out.
The demonstration of kingdom power, during the
days of Christ’s ministry on earth, was a temporary thing that laid the
groundwork for the kingdom. So long as the King was there the kingdom was in
their midst! A kingdom only requires a king and subjects and Jesus had both
during his life on earth. Yes, the kingdom was there and is now here but…
Yet
the Kingdom is not yet. Jesus was traveling towards Jerusalem when he
saw a man in a tree. Jesus told Zacchaeus to come down from the tree because he
was going to stay with him that day. The man in the tree had his life changed
that day when he spent time with Jesus. Jesus proclaimed that he had now become
a son of Abraham.
A son of Abraham is someone who believes God
and it is counted to them as righteousness. Just as Abraham believed God,
Zacchaeus now believed God. And the people responded in such a way that Jesus
had to correct their thinking. Turn with me to Luke 19:11-12. As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he
was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to
appear immediately. 12 He said therefore, “A nobleman went into
a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.
More than once, the crowds around Jesus began
to think that the kingdom of God was there. If they had had their way they
would have made him king and placed him on a throne in Jerusalem to drive the
Romans out!
They certainly did not understand. In order to
correct their thinking, Jesus told them a story. The story began with the line,
“A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then
return.”
Obviously, Jesus is the King who is going to go
away into a “far country” — heaven itself — where he would receive a kingdom!
The King, before he left on his journey, gave his servants gifts. These gifts
would be used to enrich the kingdom and would be returned to the King, with
interest, when he came back.
The message today is not designed to explain
this parable. The parable demonstrates that Jesus would be going away and would
return at a later time. These 2000 years have passed and the King has not
returned. So, in that sense, the kingdom is not yet! In one sense, the kingdom
is present because the King and his subjects are here.
There is a connection between the kingdom of
God and the church today. As the church proclaims the good news of the kingdom,
people will come and begin to experience the blessings of God’s rule in their
lives. The kingdom shows itself through the church and the future reign of God
comes into the present. It is already here and not yet completely here! Those
who believe in Christ will begin to experience something of what our God’s
final kingdom reign will be like. Eventually Christ will return and his kingdom
reign will extend over all creation. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p.
864)
While we are experiencing the kingdom and at
the same time waiting for the manifestation of the kingdom in it’s fullness…
The
Kingdom is a mystery. Jesus’ hearers could not grasp the meaning of
his parables. Turn with me to Matthew
13:10-12. Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in
parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given
to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been
given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he
will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be
taken away.
Even the disciples, who had spent about three
years with him, were not able to understand his teaching. Jesus assured them
that they would be able to understand. Later he would promise them that he
would provide the Holy Spirit to walk alongside them and teach them all that he
had taught and even more as time went by. (John 16:13) The apostle Paul wrote
about a hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
He then said that none of the rulers of this age understood. If they had only
understood what was about to happen they would never have crucified Jesus. (1
Corinthians 2:7-8) Now what has all this to do with the kingdom? The kingdom of
God is based on the secret that the Christ would take the sins of all who would
believe into his own body and bear the punishment for that sin. He would be
raised again on the third day in a glorified, resurrection body that will exist
forever. During the time Jesus was on earth everything about him was focused on
that final event of crucifixion. Since then the kingdom has been expanding
across the world and will continue until…
The
Kingdom will be delivered to the Father. Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. Then comes the end, when he
delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every
authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all
his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed
is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under
his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain
that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When
all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to
him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
When the end comes Jesus will have defeated
every enemy, including death, and will have brought everything under his
authority. When Jesus was asked how we should pray he gave us a pattern that
included, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.…” (Matthew 6:9) The kingdom of God
was so important to Jesus that he called on us to pray for the kingdom to come
in its completion. One day in the future, no one knows how long, Jesus will
pronounce, “It is finished” and space and time as we know it will be changed
forever.
There is a close connection between the kingdom
of God and the church. Just as the church tells the good news of the kingdom.
Born again people who come into the church begin to experience the blessings of
God’s rule in their lives. The kingdom shows itself through the church. The
kingdom is here now because the King rules over his people now. Those who are
born again have entered the kingdom of God. Some of what the kingdom will be
like is seen today. There is some victory over sin, over demonic opposition,
and over disease. The church exists in the power of the Holy Spirit and when
Christ returns the kingdom will reign over all creation. Have you submitted
yourself to the King? Are you a citizen of the kingdom? Today could be the day!
All scriptures quotes are
from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard
Bible Society.
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