Series: Kingdom of God
Sun am 28 August 2011 – Kobus Swart
Matt. 24:14; Matt. 6:9-10; Is. 9:7; Prov. 29:2; Matt. 21:43; 1 Pet. 2:9; Mark 1:15; Isa. 9:7;
Rev. 9:15; Luke 17:20; John 3:3; John 1:11-12; Gal. 4; Matt. 3:1-2; Col. 1:13; Matt. 5:1-10,13; Rom. 10:13
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to every nation and then the end shall come (Matt. 24:14). Let us develop a Kingdom culture. Jesus taught us to pray: ‘Our Father….’ His Father now also becomes our Father; and He is the firstborn. We are praying for God to manifest Himself in His Kingdom with us. Of the increase of His government and of peace, there shall be no end (Isa. 9:7). The Kingdom of God, where it is functioning, brings peace. When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan (Prov. 29:2). We need to see the Kingdom of God invading every realm of politics, business, professional fields etc – in order to see the chaos of this world arrested and the peace of God established. The Law dealt with the effects of sin; Jesus came to deal with the cause of sin. When you deal with the root cause of sin, there is a transformation of life.
Jesus came to the Jews looking for the fruit of the Kingdom and didn’t find any. “I will take the Kingdom away from you, and give it to a nation that will produce the fruit thereof” (Matt. 21:43).Nation – meaning a holy nation (consisting of people from every nationality in Christ (1 Pet. 2:9). Jesus came for the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 10:6). He came for His own, but they received Him not (Jn. 1:11). The religious order of His day did not receive Jesus.
The Jesus proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come” (Mark 1:15). The mandate given to the church is to preach the gospel of the Kingdom. The saints are to execute the finished works of Jesus. There is no such thing as a postponement of the Kingdom until the millennium. Ever since the Kingdom came in the person of Jesus, it continues to increase. All the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ (Rev. 11:15). The consummation of the Kingdom will come in the final manifestation of Christ.
The Kingdom of God does not come with signs to observe (Luke 17:20). The Kingdom of God is within you; it does not come with observation. It has nothing to do with buildings and programs. The Kingdom of God comes in the hearts of people; it will be seen in the way that it manifests in the surrounding community – coming through a people who confess Jesus as Lord. People always want a sign, but we must give an impartation, a manifestation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Born again believers are born from above; we represent another realm. We are living in the earth, but we have a heavenly identity. We are in the world, but not of the world. The church is heaven’s colony on earth. ‘The earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord’ is referring to such believers.
In the beginning, heaven and earth came together in a place called Eden. Today heaven and earth come together in a place called church – the true church of Jesus Christ. To see the Kingdom, you have to come to a place called sonship. Jesus came to His own and they received Him not, but to those who received Him, gave He the power to become children of God (John 1:11-12). We will only receive our inheritance when we come to the place of sonship (spiritual maturity). Jesus had no doubt who His father was, and who He was to His Father. Unless we come to that place, we cannot receive our full inheritance (Gal. 4). God wants to bring us to a place of responsibility; of stewardship – to live your mandate to the full.
And when He saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. The multitudes did not follow Him up the mountain; His disciples did (His climbing companions). The Kingdom of God has principles that contradict many things. And opening His mouth He began to teach them (the disciples) the beatitudes. These are the principles of the Kingdom to be found operative in the saints that have translated from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of His Son.
And it was to THESE= His climbing companions, that He said: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matt. 5:13). There has to be a distinction in the world between the citizens of the Kingdom and those that are still walking in darkness. People who walk in the principles of Matthew 5 become the salt of the earth – impacting the systems of this world – with a soft spirit, not an arrogant spirit; a righteous spirit, not a religious spirit.