THE KINGDOM OF GOD 4
THE KINGDOM OF GOD 4
There are several different aspects
from which we should view the introduction of the Kingdom
and the Kingdom appeal to the Jews.
There is a personal appeal in the Kingdom message
that we ought never to overlook.
As John the Baptist came preaching to the people, he said,
Repent ye for the Kingdom is at hand.
That was a personal appeal.
Another place it says,
Every one of you repent.
It was an individual matter.
It was a personal matter
that the people were to repent and accept the terms of the Kingdom,
but the Kingdom appeal was also a national appeal.
I suppose that is the right way to say it.
It was an appeal to the Jews as a religious body.
Here is the way it occurs to me to illustrate it.
Way down in the ministry of Jesus we read this:
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples
that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
at the hands of the chief priests, the Scribes and the elders
and be killed and rise again the third day.
The group mentioned, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders,
constituted the religious authorities of the Jewish nation.
They were the body who spoke and acted officially
in matters of religion for the Jewish people.
It was that group as such, who actually crucified Jesus,
the Messiah of Israel.
That crime, that great sin,
was not reckoned so much against the individuals
who participated in it,
as it was reckoned against that system.
What I tried to point out is that John the Baptist and Jesus
did not only make the Kingdom appeals to the individuals of the nation.
Jesus made also this official appeal
to the Jewish religious authorities in Jerusalem.
There is one other appeal
which I believe will come out in our scanning of the Scriptures.
After it has become evident
that the official religious group in Jerusalem
were going to ultimately reject Christ as the Messiah,
then Jesus, especially through His apostles
in His sending them out in twos and threes,
made an appeal to the various cities, social and political groups
around the country.
The people were to accept or reject Christ as the Messiah by household,
by cities, and perhaps by other political groups.
In a broad, general way, I think
that is the official appeal to the message of the people
as opposed to the appeal
to that group of religious leaders down at Jerusalem.
I wanted to try to set that forth – the various angles
from which Jesus made the Kingdom appeal.
I believe we have already indicated
the manner of Jesus’ approach to the people.
The manner of His appeal depended largely on what had gone on before.
The “Mystery Parables” teach the details of the Kingdom
in and through the church throughout the church age.
The revelation of the church was a very gradual thing
that came out more and more clearly as Jesus advanced His ministry.
This is about the middle of His public ministry in time.
There is a gradual departure
from that appeal to the religious leaders in Jerusalem,
and more and more of an approach to the masses of the people
and a gradual revelation of the fact
that those of other nations were to be brought into this Kingdom economy.
Somewhere down the line Jesus visited the city of Samaria
and preached the Kingdom to them.
They confessed Him as the Savior of this world.
we did not quite finish with
- 51 Jesus saith unto them,
- Have ye understood all these things?
- They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
- 52 Then said he unto them,
- Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven
- is like unto a man that is an householder,
- which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
I suppose that He is there telling them (the Jews),
that the law dispensation is about to come to an end.
There are some good things in connection with that law dispensation
which they are to hold to,
but there is a new store house of treasure being opened unto them.
They are to draw mainly from this.
We go next to
- 35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages,
- teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
- and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
- 36 But when he saw the multitudes,
- he was moved with compassion on them,
- because they fainted, and were scattered abroad,
- as sheep having no shepherd.
- 37 Then saith he unto his disciples,
- The harvest truly is plenteous,
- but the labourers are few;
- 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
- that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
There are several things of interest in that passage
that we want to note briefly.
First, Jesus went preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.
He healed every sickness and disease among the people.
He fed the people when they were hungry.
He ministered to their material needs. Why?
In order to demonstrate what the Kingdom would be like
when it should be established in its fullness.
The Kingdom is not established in its fullness today
because the Christian people and even the most faithful
have a pretty much common lot in life in material things
right along with the unsaved and unfaithful world.
That would not be true if Christ were the God of the world,
and His faithful people had come into the fullness of the Kingdom.
Then, all our material needs and desires would be ministered
as our spiritual needs are ministered.
beholding the crowds, the masses of the people,
He was moved with compassion toward them
because they were torn and made desolate,
just as sheep not having a shepherd.
The picture there is of sheep out yonder in the fields and the woods
wandering about, no shepherd to guide them,
no shepherd to lead them to green pastures,
nor to protect them from the beasts of the forest.
They are helpless victims of the situation in which they live.
It is truly a pitiful and terrible condition
when we see the spiritual import of it.
The oracles of God in the Old Testament Scriptures
had been given to this nation.
The leaders had not been faithful
to trust that which was committed to them.
They had perverted the law of Moses and were offering to the people
a religion that did not meet the needs of the people.
Thus, the masses of the people
were largely victims of religious circumstances
over which they did not have much decision or control.
You can look at the world today
and see exactly the same conditions prevailing.
You can see the great masses of the people depending on human leaders
and trusting humanly devised religious systems,
not having the capabilities and the care to look in
and try to search out matters for themselves.
They believe whatever the preacher, the religious leaders tell them,
being content with as best they may.
These religious leaders, the humanly devised religious creeds and systems
often not only failing to minister to their real spiritual needs
as they go down the way of life,
but point them down to a devil’s hell in the matter of salvation itself.
Essentially, that is exactly, what Jesus looked upon
and saw that the harvest was great, the workers were few,
and that the disciples pray, or intercede with the Lord
that He might send forth laborers into the harvest.
For our overall picture how that the Kingdom appeal
was directed by Jesus to different groups and to the individual, also.
Here, we have Jesus turning His attention away
from that official religious group,
which seems to ultimately have decided the religious fate of the nation
He began turning His attention away from them
and turning it to the masses of the people.
The appeal was to that official group first,
then the appeal to the masses of the people after that.
- 1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples,
- he gave them power against unclean spirits,
- to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
- 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these;
- The first, Simon, who is called Peter,
- and Andrew his brother;
- James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
- 3 Philip, and Bartholomew;
- Thomas, and Matthew the publican;
- James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
- 4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
- 5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying,
- Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
- and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
- 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
- 7 And as ye go, preach, saying,
- The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
- 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:
- freely ye have received, freely give.
- 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
- 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves:
- for the workman is worthy of his meat.
- 11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy;
- and there abide till ye go thence.
- 12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.
- 13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it:
- but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
- 14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,
- when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
- 15 Verily I say unto you,
- It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment,
- than for that city.
- 16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves:
- be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
These twelve are sent forth and
they are strictly cautioned not to go to the nations at large,
not to go to the Samaritans.
They are to go to the lost or perishing sheep of the house of Israel.
He was saying Israel is a special people unto me,
chosen unto God in the Abrahamic Covenant.
Behold, I send you forth as a sheep in the midst of wolves.
Be ye therefore wise as the serpent and guileless as the dove.
These more or less ignorant and inexperienced apostles
in matters of religion had to combat
the religious authorities in Jerusalem and traditions of the fathers
all their lives.
Then, they must get up against the various heresies
that were among the people.
They had to cope with various political setups,
and this, that and the other thing.
Viewed from that standpoint,
it was truly a hard and discouraging task that was set before them.
It has ever been so with the true people of God.
By way of illustration we seem to have quite a proposition
in the matter of keeping our local missionary on the field
just at this time.
We all know we can do that,
and if we really want to as far as that is concerned.
We look about us, we say that the other folks have the wealth.
They could do this thing and never hurt them.
It hurts us to bear the burdens of this thing.
I insist again that it is the way it has always been
with the true and faithful of God.
There is a definite goal and purpose in it,
in that the faithful people of God
are not to trust in the world and its resources,
including our own strength and financial resources, education, etc.
We are to look ultimately to God for all things.
- 1 Then he called his twelve disciples together,
- and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
- 2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
gives Luke’s parallel account
Calling together the twelve, He gave them power and authority
over all the demons and to heal infirmities.
This says He gave them two things – power, the actual ability,
and authority, the lawful right to do things.
He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal.
The Kingdom message and the healing of the ills of the people,
teaching us once again that the fullness of the Kingdom
will come only when Christ is enthroned
as the God and King of this world in the millennium.
Peace and righteousness shall be the working principle
as opposed to sin and death,
which now reigns while the devil is the god of this world.
- 10 And the apostles, when they were returned,
- told him all that they had done.
- And he took them, and went aside privately
- into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
- 11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him:
- and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God,
- and healed them that had need of healing.
And men, therefore, beholding what sign He did said,
this is truly the prophet who is come into the world.
Jesus, therefore knowing that they were about to come in and seize Him
in order that they might make Him a King,
flees into the mountain, Himself alone.
There is a peculiar situation.
He had come to claim Him a Kingdom,
and Himself as the King.
On a number of occasions it seems that a great enthusiasm,
or perhaps a mob spirit seized on the masses of the people.
It was usually in connection
with some physical demonstration of healing or something like that.
The masses of people sought to seize on Him
and crown Him as the King of the Jews.
Since that was what He had come for,
why did He always elude them,
and refuse to be crowned as their King?
Simply because they were not accepting Him in the right spirit.
What the Jews actually wanted was such a King as David had been,
a great warrior who would defeat all his enemies in battle.
A great statesman and economic authority
would give to them wealth and a great material prosperity.
There is one thing for sure and certain,
that God cannot loose the reigns
and give out blessings bountifully on people
unless those people have been made right spiritually.
I think beyond a doubt that one reason why the true people of God
do not have more of the material wealth of the world than we have
is that God allows us to have what we can stand
without hindering our looking unto God.
We are dependent on Him for all the things that we require in life.
the Jews were trying to seize Jesus
and make Him a great and glorious worldly King.
What they were wanting was Antichrist instead of Christ.
The appeal came to Jesus to do what Antichrist will do in the last days.
If He had only come and reacted as Antichrist,
the Jews would have received Him with open arms.
That is one of the facts that makes me believe so strongly
that the Jewish nation as a group,
probably a political group also,
will receive Antichrist,
the imitation of Christ when he makes his appearance on the world scene.
He will appeal to humanity, and especially to the Jewish people.
Jesus fled away from them and would not be crowned as King
because the hearts of the people
have to be made right first by the new birth.
Made right secondly in committing our lives to walk by faith in God
before we are capable
of having much wealth and/or authority committed into our hands.
You say,
“If that is so, why is it that an atheist often becomes a millionaire?”
My way of seeing that is he is on the outside
claiming whatever blessing the world has to offer,
more or less at random.
God is not particularly dealing with him, either for or against.
That being true, he can get away with a lot of things
a child of God cannot get away with.
- 13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi,
- he asked his disciples, saying,
- Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
- 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist:
- some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
- 15 He saith unto them,
- But whom say ye that I am?
- 16 And Simon Peter answered and said,
- Thou art the Christ,
- the Son of the living God.
- 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him,
- Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona:
- for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
- but my Father which is in heaven.
- 18 And I say also unto thee,
- That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
- and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
- 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:
- and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:
- and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
What do we have there, anyway?
I have just suggested that likely the opposition of the people
who had the religious fate of that nation in their hands in Jerusalem,
their opposition was so violent against Him that He dared not go to Jerusalem for fear of His life.
With that situation existing down at Jerusalem,
it being evident by now, that the official group is on going
to accept Him as the Messiah of Israel,
they are ultimately going to reject Him,
church truth begins to come more prominently into the picture.
We will say it this way –
now it is not the chief priests, the scribes and the elders
who have insight into the truth of God,
it is the disciples of the Lord Jesus.
- 27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels;
- and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
- 28 Verily I say unto you,
- There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death,
- till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
We repeat that statement in
- 1 And he said unto them,
- Verily I say unto you,
- That there be some of them that stand here,
- which shall not taste of death,
- till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
The thing that comes up next is a week later.
He took Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain top,
there was transfigured in their presence and Jesus
was changed over to His glorified heavenly body
and there came Moses and Elijah.
The disciples, like us, stood and looked on while these heavenly figures,
Jesus, Moses, and Elijah talked among themselves
about the suffering and death and the resurrection
about to be accomplished in Jerusalem.
That was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to them
that they should not taste of death
until they should see the Kingdom coming in power.
The Kingdom is one thing,
the Kingdom coming in dynamic power is quite another thing.
The Kingdom came with the first coming of Jesus into the world.
The Kingdom will come in that dynamic power when He comes back
to set up His thousand year reign upon this earth.
- 1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying,
- Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
- 2 And Jesus called a little child unto him,
- and set him in the midst of them,
- 3 And said, Verily I say unto you,
- Except ye be converted, and become as little children,
- ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
- 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
- the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
- 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
There are two points here:
In the first place, there is the question, of course,
who is going to be the greatest,
who is going to be the bell wager, enjoy the first seat.
Adam is still in those disciples,
just like us. Jesus said first,
Except ye be converted and become as a little child,
you are not going to enter the Kingdom in the first place.
Then, He said the next step is
after you have entered the Kingdom by the new birth,
when you humble yourselves as a little child,
then you are going to be greater in the Kingdom.
