So Much More: Moving Beyond Kingdom Principles to Kingdom Power (7 page)

If Jesus came to reestablish God’s kingdom on earth and to give mankind back the dominion we lost in the garden and to erase Satan’s power and authority of sickness, pain, and death, then why are we still experiencing those things? Was He really ushering in the kingdom of God—the rule and reign of God—now? Or was He merely talking about the kingdom—the rule and reign of God—arriving at some later time in the future?

In some of Jesus’ teaching He appears to say that the kingdom of God is a future realm that will come some day when He returns to earth. For example, at the Last Supper when Jesus introduced the cup of remembrance and told His disciples to drink this in remembrance of Him, He also said, “I tell you, I will not drink this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:29). It seems that He was speaking of the kingdom as being a future reality, or in other words, the millennial kingdom.

Peter wrote,

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

—2 P
ETER
1:10–11

Peter is clearly speaking of a future day when we will enter His eternal kingdom. Another example is found in Matthew 25. Jesus is speaking of the final judgment day when He says,

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

—M
ATTHEW
25:34

Obviously, this passage is speaking of the kingdom in terms of the future. This is how many people have viewed Jesus’ entire teaching about the kingdom. We have in large part ignored this message that Jesus proclaimed first and most consistently because we have dismissed this message as having nothing to do with the here and now but simply being about a kingdom that will come at some point in the future.

I believe that one of the reasons this message of the kingdom has been primarily ignored by the church is that we think what we are supposed to do is get people saved so they are ready for the kingdom some day. We mistakenly think the kingdom has nothing to do with life here and now. If Jesus had only spoken of the kingdom in a future tense, that would make sense. But as we study the teaching of Jesus, we learn that He not only spoke of the kingdom in a future tense, He also spoke of the kingdom being a present reality as well. We see it in this very proclamation He made as He began His ministry, “The kingdom of God is near, it is at hand.” He came to reintroduce that which was lost, to reestablish the rule and reign of God on the earth and restore dominion to mankind today—not just in the future.

Matthew 11:12 says, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.” When He spoke those words, He indicated that the kingdom of heaven had already been reintroduced to earth and had already begun advancing. In this passage He is speaking of the kingdom as a present reality, not a future event.

One day Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and He answered, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:20–21). Jesus is very clearly saying that the kingdom is here now today and we are not to simply wait for a kingdom to come in the future. We live in the kingdom today.

Another clear example of how Jesus demonstrated that the kingdom was here now is found in Matthew 12. The religious leaders had accused Jesus of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, or Satan. Jesus said basically, “Why would Satan drive out Satan? A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Matt. 12:25–26). Then He pointed to the true source of His power and authority over the enemy, the Spirit of God, when He said, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (v. 28). Jesus pointed out that the reason He was able to take authority over the enemy by telling demons what to do and they obeyed Him was an indication that the kingdom of God was already present.

The kingdom of God is a present reality demonstrated by the authority Jesus took over the kingdom of Satan. But we also see that there is coming a future kingdom, the millennial kingdom, when Christ will rule on this earth and the kingdom of Satan will be completely destroyed. So which is it? Is the kingdom now or not yet? And the answer is yes! It is both now and not yet.

When Jesus started His ministry by proclaiming the kingdom of God is at hand, He was in essence saying, “It is here now. I have come to usher in the rule and reign of God today among you.” But while Jesus reestablished the rule of God on earth in the present, the realm of God’s reign over the entire earth will not be reestablished until the Messianic kingdom when King Jesus reigns on the throne and Satan is bound.

Dr. George Eldon Ladd titled one of his books about the kingdom
The Presence of the Future
.
²
He was communicating the concept that the kingdom is both a present reality and something that will come in fullness at some point in the future. The future is coming toward us, it isn’t completely here, and yet it’s partially here. But because Jesus came to reestablish this authority of God on the earth, to give us back the dominion we lost in the garden, we can choose to live under God’s rule and reign now, today! We have the opportunity today to come out from under the darkness of the enemy who has come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), and move into God’s kingdom, a kingdom of light, a kingdom of freedom, and kingdom of power in which the King has restored to us dominion over those things that the enemy wants to use to keep us in bondage.

Chapter 4
CLASH OF KINGDOMS

J
ESUS CAME WITH
both a message and a ministry. What was His primary message? The kingdom of God is at hand. What was His primary ministry? The kingdom of God is at hand. The message Jesus spoke about the kingdom cannot be separated from the works Jesus did that demonstrated the kingdom. Jesus came proclaiming the truth that the kingdom of God was at hand and that was the illumination of His mission in the world; but the works Jesus did were the illustration that the kingdom of God had come to invade the dark kingdom of the enemy who was ruling and reigning in the world. Everything He did was carefully designed to prove this message that He preached about the kingdom.

I think much of the church today has missed this connection between the words of the kingdom and the works of the kingdom. Many have noticed that Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom, but most seem to ignore the connection between the words about the kingdom and the works He did that demonstrated He had come to usher in the kingdom today. Thus, instead of recognizing that we live in the kingdom today and must preach both the message of the kingdom and do the ministry of the kingdom, many have simply assigned the message of the kingdom to future events, such as when we got to heaven or when Jesus returns to rule and reign on the earth in the millennial kingdom. However, when we recognize that Jesus didn’t just preach a message about the kingdom but His ministry demonstrated that the kingdom of God had invaded the kingdom of this dark world today and He took dominion over the works of the enemy today, it will change everything about how we do ministry.

When Jesus healed the sick, took authority over demons, multiplied the five loaves and two fish to make it a meal capable of feeding 5,000 men plus women and children, turned water into wine, or raised the dead, all of these things were carefully calculated to demonstrate and validate the message that He had come to usher in the kingdom. The Bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and every time He took authority over the works of the devil it was a demonstration of the truth that He had come to reintroduce the kingdom—the rule and reign of God on earth.

One of the most freeing things that Jesus did that demonstrated that the kingdom of God had invaded earth to bring an end to Satan’s kingdom and replace it with the rule and reign of God, was that Jesus delivered people from demons who were polluting, contaminating, disrupting, and destroying their lives. These demons had been victimizing people, wreaking havoc, and attempting to destroy their lives; and Jesus set these people free! Every time Jesus took authority over demons, it was a clear demonstration of the message of the kingdom. He had come to confront and bring an end to Satan’s rule and reign on the earth.

For most of my ministry, when I would read in Scripture of Jesus casting out a demon, I didn’t really relate that to me or to my ministry today. I had never had an encounter with a demon. I had been taught that there really weren’t people who had demons that needed dealt with today, except maybe in some of the dark third world countries, so I thought I was pretty safe from encountering demons in places like Indiana and Colorado. However, after several encounters where I have seen demons manifest and I have taken authority over these demons and seen people set free, I have come to recognize that demons are real and are still tormenting people today, even in America. It is an amazingly beautiful thing to see the gratitude and the freedom people experience when demons that have been trespassing in their lives are removed. Some of them have been tormented and victimized from early childhood by these demons that had come upon them to oppress them, bring pain to their lives, and to destroy them. Sometimes the effects are physical, sometimes emotional, sometimes social, or at times even all three, depending on the demons working in their lives. But the good news of the kingdom is that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. And throughout Jesus’ ministry one of the kindest things He did for people was set them free from demonic oppression; and in doing so, it was a clear demonstration that the kingdom of God had come to replace the Satan’s rule and reign on earth.

In Mark 1 there is a story that takes place immediately after Jesus’ baptism in water and the filling of the Holy Spirit and that initial proclamation He made that the kingdom of God is near. Jesus went to the local church, the synagogue, and stood up and began to read Scripture and teach. This is the first public teaching of Jesus’ ministry that we have recorded in the Bible: “They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach” (Mark 1:21). We don’t know for sure what message Jesus was teaching that day because it doesn’t specifically tell us in the text, but I have a feeling it was this same message that He had just proclaimed as He started His ministry and the message that Matthew said He preached from that day forward. It was likely the message of the kingdom. It was the message that proclaimed, “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (v. 15). As you dig down into the Gospels and the messages Jesus taught, the kingdom was the topic He almost always taught about.

When the people heard this teaching, it says, “The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law” (v. 22). Notice, there was a difference between Jesus’ teaching and the teaching the people were used to. The difference is in the area of authority. Jesus had a different level of authority in His teaching that the people had not experienced before because He was preaching that He had come to reestablish the kingdom.

Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “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!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

—M
ARK
1:23–28

This was the initial confrontation between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan during the time of Jesus’ ministry. It was a declaration of war that clearly illustrated that Jesus had come to usher in the kingdom of God and replace the rule and reign of the kingdom of Satan.

This whole scene took place in the synagogue, at a church service, if you will. I doubt if you have ever been to a church service like this one before. If you have been, it is one you would never forget. It started out much like any other Sabbath day. The people had gathered at the synagogue to worship and pray; and then this guy, Jesus, stood up and began to read the Scripture and teach. As He taught, the people began to notice that His message was different. There was a new power and authority in the way this guy taught far beyond what they had experienced when they listened to their own rabbis teach from Scripture. Then, as Jesus was teaching, right in the middle of this church service, a man stood up and started screaming at Him. That is not your ordinary church service! This man started screaming; but what we see is that it was not really the man who was screaming, but demons that are trespassing in this man’s body are using his voice to shout at Jesus: “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!” (v. 24).