Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Kingdom of God

"But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you." Matthew 12:28

I have just been so blown away by what the Spirit has been teaching me over the last week. He has been filling me with an understanding of who I am in Christ, and with that new identity, what I have been called to do. But not just me as an individual, the whole body of Christ! I was reading in Matthew and anyone who knows Matthew knows that the key phrase in the book is "Kingdom of Heaven" which is most literally translated "Kingdom of the Heavens." That kingdom is not spiritual, it is not "heavenly" as some might think, but it is all created matter from the third heaven down to the lowest heaven where earth is. But Matthew does not only talk about the kingdom of "heaven" in his book, but five times he uses the term "kingdom of God." That makes those few moments particularly stand out from the book as special. So what is Spirit teaching us through these passages? Well, rather than look at them all, I want to focus on this one verse where Jesus basically is saying that by the signs He is doing, the people in Israel see that the "Kingdom of God" is upon them! But what is the Kingdom of God? Well, it is a spiritual kingdom, it is the kingdom of all those spiritual being who have submitted themselves to Him. But because it is a spiritual kingdom, the people of this earth have no way of seeing it. That is what was so awesome about what Jesus was doing here! He was literally showing the people of Israel the Kingdom of God! By the signs He was performing, He was manifesting the Kingdom of God before their eyes! The unseen was being seen!

As believers, we are all part of the "Kingdom of God." And being part of that unseen spiritual kingdom, it is our responsibility to manifest it to the world. We are literally ambassadors for God on the earth! When we were born again, we were literally made a new creation in order that we can be fitting ambassadors for God to this world! When God sees us, He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ! And with that righteousness we are therefore able to properly represent God! And you know what? He wants us to represent Him! As Jesus showed the Israelites the Kingdom of God, we must as ambassadors for God show the world the Kingdom of God! We must show them the love and power of God! This involved humbly submitting to the work of Holy Spirit in our lives. We should live our lives in such a way that people look at us and say, "What is this? What are you?" And we can say, "We are ambassadors for God, redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ and living for His glory." Wow! Imagine that witness! Rather than the Gospel being words we speak, it becomes a life we live! The world will see the Gospel lived out in our lives! THAT IS WHAT WE AS THE CHURCH, AS THE BODY OF CHRIST ARE CALLED TO DO!!! We have been bought at a great price, sanctified and called to make disciples of all nations, SO LET'S DO IT! Let's live our Gospel to the world! Let's be the ambassadors we have been born to be! Let's come to the realization that everywhere we go now becomes an embassy for the Kingdom of God, and everywhere we go, we are shining examples for Him! Let us not live contrary to the new nature that has been given us by God, but instead let us live fully in the reality of who we are in Jesus Christ!!! We are born-again righteous ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, who are being transformed and sanctified every day for the glory of God!

And what is the point? Apart from the purpose of showing the glory of God, in doing this we are giving people a taste of the kingdom that is to come. When Jesus returns, the Kingdom of Heaven (all created matter) will merge with God's perfect spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of God! In that time, the world will be restored to its Edenic perfection and the Kingdom of God will not longer be unseen, but visible to every people on the earth! Praise the Lord!!! THAT will be an awesome day! As Jesus did, we are giving people a taste of the coming perfect Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Isn't that an awesome responsibility!?!?!!?! Oh how I praise God for it!!!