Written
By: Kirk Peterson
Intro
Recently God has put on my heart to study about His
heavenly kingdom and what His truth tells us is to come….
My prayer, as a humble follower of Christ, is to write
about The Kingdom of God in such a way, that those who are lost, blind and
trapped in the ways of the world can come to know the good news of Jesus, of God’s
spirit, His heavenly kingdom and that of Christ. Also, to those who are feeling far away from
God, to let my words help turn them back to God in such a way that they can feel
the power of the living God once again in their life. Amen!
Kingdom
Not of This World
36Jesus
answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would
fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom
is not of this world.” (John 18:36, NLT)
[John
The Baptist speaking about The Messiah] Anyone who accepts his testimony can
affirm that God is true. For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God
gives him the Spirit without limit. (John 3:33, 34 NLT)
Jesus tells us that His Kingdom and The Kingdom of God are
not of this world. The world we live in
now is not only filled with Faith, Hope & Love but is also filled with
darkness, greed, anger & hate. Our
life here in flesh is bound by good & evil and these are spiritual forces
that are alive and well in the life we live here on earth. I believe the Kingdom of Christ and of Our
Heavenly Father God are of spirit. John
the Baptist, who was called to prepare the way for The Messiah, tell us that we
can accept Jesus’s testimony as True and from God. Jesus’s power comes from the Father and He
has the “spirit without limit”, and that is something that we all can
take heart in knowing about the one who is our way, truth and life to God and His
eternal Kingdom.
Born
of the Spirit
Jesus
replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born
of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5, NLT)
27I
tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see
the Kingdom of God.”
The
Transfiguration
28About
eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray.
29And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his
clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared
and began talking with Jesus. 31They were glorious to see. And they were
speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in
Jerusalem. 32Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they
saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him. 33As Moses and Elijah were
starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out,
“Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as
memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 34But even as he was
saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud
covered them. 35Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen
One. Listen to him.” 36When the voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They
didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen. (Luke 9:27-36, NLT)
Recently our church did something amazing. 22 believers were baptized and what a reason
to celebrate! Each and every person
pronouncing their faith publicly through baptism shared their personal story of
salvation that was videotaped and played it back to the entire church. So many of them where lost and trapped in the
cold and dark places we all can find ourselves in…and I can't tell you how
amazing it was to see those people's hearts changed and see what only God ‘The
Shaper of the Universe’ could do in their lives…well, all I can say to that is HALLEUJAH!
The Messiah tells us in Luke that some of those standing
there with Him right then would not die before they see the Kingdom of
God. The scripture then immediately goes
on to tell us of The Transfiguration. Interesting….I
believe that Jesus was speaking about Peter, John and James who would get the
awesome privilege of seeing Jesus’s majestic power shown to them there on top
of the mountain. Can you imagine what
that would do to your own faith seeing the glorious power of God revealed to
you in such a way? I believe it was all
part of God’s perfect plan to help build an unshakeable foundation in the faith
of the disciples to encourage and strengthen them for the work that God would
call them to do in spreading the good news of Jesus to the world.
The
Law & the Good News
16“Until
John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your
guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone
is eager to get in. 17But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It
is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of
God’s law to be overturned. (Luke 16:16-17, NLT)
I am certainly not a bible scholar, but everything I have
studied in the Old Testament about the Law of Moses and the messages of the
prophets only works together for everything that was to be revealed to all of
us later with the birth of Jesus and in the good news of Christ and of the
Kingdom of God. In what I’ve studied,
the Old Testament did speak of the Kingdom of God, but referred to it as the
Kingdom of the Lord.
[David
speaking] 4“Yet the Lord, the God of Israel, has chosen me from among all my
father’s family to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen the tribe of
Judah to rule, and from among the families of Judah he chose my father’s
family. And from among my father’s sons the Lord was pleased to make me king
over all Israel. 5And from among my sons—for the Lord has given me many—he
chose Solomon to succeed me on the throne of Israel and to rule over the Lord’s
kingdom. …7And if he continues to obey my commands and regulations as he does
now, I will make his kingdom last forever. (1 Chronicles 28:4-5; 7. NLT)
Kingdom
of Heaven is Spirit
20One
day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” Jesus replied,
“The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. 21You won’t be able to
say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already
among you.” 22Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will
long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it. (Luke
17:20-22, NLT)
I believe that the Kingdom of God is of spirit and when
Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God as “already among them” that he was speaking
of Himself, the son of God in flesh. So
maybe Jesus, though He was God in flesh and subjected to all the hardships of
life as a mortal man, was also endowed with all the glory & power of the
spirit without limit and was of the Kingdom of God as well.
The disciple Paul tells us of Jesus being the life-giving
spirit and of His origins from heaven in 1 Corinthians.
45The
Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last
Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit….47Adam, the first man, was made
from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.(1
Corinthians 15:45; 47. NLT)
The
Coming of the Kingdom of Christ & of God
At the end of the Age, when the Son of Man returns and
the Day of Judgment is upon us, Christ will return in all his glory from the
clouds of heaven and His Kingdom will come.
The book of revelation tells us of those times but I think Paul does a
great job of simplifying it for us.
Christ, having fulfilled the prophesy and all that God has promised us, will
turn over the Kingdom to God where He will live among His people in a new
heaven and new earth that he creates.
…Christ
was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be
raised when he comes back. 24After that the end will come, when he will turn
the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority
and power. 25For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his
feet. 26And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For the Scriptures say,
“God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all
things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave
Christ his authority.) 28Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son
will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority
over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.(1
Corinthians 15:23-28, NLT)
Ephesians
5:5 (NLT) You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will
inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater,
worshiping the things of this world.
Revelation
11:15 (NLT) Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices
shouting in heaven: “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of
his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”
Seek
the Kingdom of the Living God
Faith is something that defines Christians. Though God may seem to be invisible and far
away, his power has been shown to us time and time again throughout the
ages. I tell people that I am a believer
in miracles for I know that Our God can do anything. Seek out His Kingdom with everything you do
and I pray that you keep the unfailing, innocent hope of children in your heart
as you turn toward God.
20For
the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. (1
Corinthians 4:20, NLT)
Seek
the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you
everything you need. (Matthew 6:33, NLT)
[Jesus
speaking] 31Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you
everything you need. 32“So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your
Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12:31-32, NLT)
My 4 year old son Brody just went through hurting his
knee from playing too hard. We had plans
to go to the waterpark that we set up a week before and now would not be able
to go because of his hurt knee. My heart
was broken and I felt saddened to not share the fun of the waterpark with my
two young children…and that is when Brody said, “Oh, It’s okay Dad, you can
just carry me like a baby and we can still have fun”.
Oh how amazing is the innocent hope of Children!
1About
that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the
Kingdom of Heaven?” 2Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among
them. 3Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and
become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4So
anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the
Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 18:1-3, NLT)
See
Video Here [Sidewalk Prophets – Help me find it]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsjZ94K7UQs
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