My question is this .. Is the Kingdom of God a future reality to be hoped for or a present reality to experience now? And is how we live and breathe a product of that belief? So as we dig into this I hope to grow your faith. To allow your eyes to see possibilities, and have even more have faith to believe.
Yes we have blessings here and now, and some blessings are waiting for us in Heaven. We do have some Kingdom powers available to us now, but some powers promised to us will have to wait till Heaven. And sadly the curse of old which some we can overcome but ultimately will be defeated when we are in Heaven. Yes, satan was defeated, sin was defeated, and death was defeated. All of this was defeated by the Atonement of Christ Jesus our savior the His resurrection. Romans 8:32 “He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? You see he promises us that when we are in his will he will grant us anything.
Now if we can get a handle on the presence and future of the Kingdom of God, it will add or increase our faith. Strengthen our relationship with Christ, maybe even perform signs. But it definitely give us the power to suffer at the cross of grief and pain. Col. 1:11 Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. And trust me after the year my wife and I have had I am able to attest to the power God granted me during the most trying times of my life.
Let us look at 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 with something observable; no one will say, ‘See here! ’ or ‘There! ’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst”.
You see when we look at verse 21 what is Jesus claiming? He is trying to clear up the massive misunderstanding of the return of the Messiah. You in that time the Israelites believe that the Messiah would come in and overthrow Rome. That the people of God would finally be vindicated and the physical kingdom set up.
So here Christ is saying the Kingdom is among them. He Christ the ruler of our Kingdom was in their midst. But yet the prophecy of the old testament mostly spoke of him coming in this triumphant grandeur entrance to rule them and all the World. That we would place all their enemies under his foot. So this creates what Jesus calls the mystery of the Gospel or mystery of the Kingdom.
1st Cor. 4:1 the apostle Paul says “a person should think of us in this way as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God.
Col. 1:26 “The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
Ephesians 3:3 Paul says “the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
So the mystery was the fact that he was there, and he would leave and then come back which is the 2nd coming. He explains this in a parable in Luke 19:11 in the parable of the 10 minas. Here Jesus Christ explains how he had to come but leave to gain the authority to be King. But everyone hated him and he would return to see how his servants had done.
Jesus was here left and now he is coming back. So right now where we sit reading this, is the Kingdom of God with us. If Christ told the Pharisees that the Kingdom was in their midst because he was standing with them. Then if he is in us wouldn’t that make the Kingdom in our midst as well? Well let’s look at what Jesus Christ had to say about this mystery then we can decide.
Starting in Matthew 13 Jesus begins to give several parables describing the Kingdom. So for time sake I will just give the scripture then what in means to me.
Matthew 13 1-9 the parable of the sower. Now there are 4 things that happens when sowing seeds. 1. Satan can snatch it 2. Heat from trouble will burn it up 3. It will get tangled and lost in the cares of the world. 4. Good soil produces good fruit. what is sad about this is we only win a 1/4 of the time. Those are not the odds of a betting man but by the glory of God aI am no longer a betting man.
Matthew 13 24-30 The parable of the wheat. This one is kinda scary because this one is focused on the Church. Weeds grow with the Wheat and you can tell sometimes which is which. So a wake up to the church watch how you are following. Just because the read a bible and go to church does not mean they are Christian. People get lost in religion just as much as people get lost in the world.. IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP!!
Matthew 13 The parable of the mustard seed. Again he is speaking of the church. WOW what a mustard seed can do. 1 teacher and 12 students 2000 years ago had faith and believed so much they died for it. And look where the Body of Christ is now. It amazes me what a little faith of a mustard seed can truly do.
You see as he taught about the Kingdom they were in the midst of the Kingdom. Our God Reigns Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion “YOUR GOD REIGNS”. And he does reign on earth as it is in Heaven. He sits at the right hand of the Father. John Piper said it best “The kingdom is present yet future. It is fulfilled but not consummated.”
We are in his presence we are in his Kingdom… I think we should start acting like it.
God Bless Grace of the King
Grace of The King 