The Kingdom Of God; Luke 17:20-21

The Kingdom of God!

Did Jesus, Peter, Paul or any other New Testament writer put off the kingdom some 2000 or more years?

Lk. 17:20-21 Amplified Text

20. When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied to them by saying, “The kingdom of God does not come with signs to be observed or with visible display,

21. Nor will people say, Look! Here [it is]! Or, See, [it is] there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you].”

The kingdom of God is not coming

With Outward signs to be observed!

It will not be some spectacular Event

To be viewed by all.

In fact Jesus told His listeners

The kingdom was already there In Their Midst. Where the King is there you’ll find the Kingdom.

Graciously, the Father has chosen to give us not only the Holy Spirit but in doing so He gives us the Kingdom of God. Plain and simple God is a Giver, He gives us the Spirit and the Kingdom. We can’t earn them and we definitely can’t take by force what the Father so freely gives those who receive His Son.

Lk. 12: 31-32 Amplified Text

31. Only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also.

32. Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom!

NOTE: We are told here and in Matthew’s Gospel to seek the Kingdom and that the Father’s good pleasure is to give us the Kingdom but where as many teach does Jesus or any other New Testament writer tell us we must take the Kingdom by force? It just ain’t there!

Paul the great apostolic writer said something in Rom. 14:17 that many of us have not caught. He tells us where the Kingdom is to be found and what is the evidence of the Kingdom in the lives of those who believe. If we grasp what Paul is saying then we’ll not get caught up in so much Kingdom speculation as to the timing or the place of the Kingdom, and we’ll gain a greater understanding of the evidence of Life of the Spirit in the lives of those who believe. Quite simply Life IN the Kingdom is Living Life in the Spirit.

Rom.14:17 Amplified Text

17. [After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Rom. 14:17 NKJ

17. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

We find much teaching in New Testament Scripture concerning the Comforter who was to come, but somehow we’ve not all seem to grasp the Kingdom in Light of the Indwelling Spirit. We put the Kingdom off to someday way off in the future and have never realized all that God has already given us, how much He has blessed us with by the Indwelling Spirit of Christ our Lord and Savior. Both Peter and Paul in their writing made very clear that the inauguration of the Kingdom and the Resurrection were part of the same event. Peter not only quoted from David (Acts 2:22-35) as to the timing of the Kingdom he boldly declared that: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ“ (Acts 2:36).

Paul in Rom. 1:4 declared Jesus to be the “Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead!” Jesus’ own words to His disciples in Matt. 28:18; And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Consider this; if ALL AUTHORITY has already been given to Christ, how can He receive more or greater authority in some make believe future Kingdom, His Kingdom is now, His authority is now, not someday.

Paul also told us that their message the word they preached was “The Good News of the promises made to the fathers.” He goes on to say that; “God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the 2nd Psalm, ‘You are My Son; Today I have begotten You’“ (Acts 13:32-33). If you read the 2nd Psalm you’ll find a sequence of events that unfold right up to the Enthronement of the Christ, God’s King His Anointed One; in verse six, and then in verse seven we see when it happened just as Paul revealed to his 1st Century readers by a revelation of the Spirit, at Christ’s resurrection. The 1st Century apostolic writers knew that the outpouring on the Day of Pentecost was the sign of the Kingdom, yet today many of our apostolic and prophetic writers want to put the Kingdom off till His 2nd coming. How can we possibly call Him the King of kings and the Lord of lords IF we put His Kingdom off to some future date?

If you’ve followed Peter’s apostolic mandate in Acts 2:38 and repented, being baptized for the remission of your sins then as promised in Scripture you’ve received the promised gift of the Spirit and you are a part of the Kingdom of God!

“Unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 4:3)

Let’s continue with some more of Peter’s understanding of the kingdom in a remark he made concerning the Church in 1 Peter 2:9. In verses 6-8 of this chapter Peter quotes from the words of Christ in Matt. 21:42;44 then in verse 9 Peter calls the believers “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” This promise was given the nation of Israel in Exodus 19:5-6 on the condition they “indeed obey His voice and keep His Covenant.” When Peter was quoting the words of Christ from Matt. 21:42 he did not continue with the words of Christ in verse 43 that was spoken to the religious leaders of the nation that “The Kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.” But Peter equated the Church to that people Jesus spoke of in Matt. 21:43; we are that chosen race a people for God’s own possession who will produce the fruit that God so desires.

How can those who put off the Kingdom deny Paul’s clear declaration to the Church at Colossae? Speaking of what God the Father has already accomplished for us IN Christ; “For he has rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the Kingdom of His Beloved Son“ (Col. 1:13). Paul wrote this to 1st Century believers and it was past tense for them over 2000 years ago and it is still past tense for us today; done deal! To finish up let’s look at what John the Revelator had to say to seven churches of his day, and again John was writing to churches over 2000 years ago, and when you read these verse note the tense that he’s writing in:

“And He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father–to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:6).

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Rev. 5:9-10).

Church Paul taught us that “Those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ“ (Rom. 5:17). Everything God has given us is by grace through faith, if we’ll simply receive the fact of the Now Indwelling Kingdom of God that is ours IN Christ, how radically different our lives will be. How tragic to live in the Kingdom of our Lord and Christ and not even know what has already been accomplished for us by His finished work!

This is audio at http://www.himwepreach.podomatic.com/

Blessings In Christ <><

Ginowan777