A KINGDOM THAT IS PREACHED -- Monday:
"Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:60)
Unlike the kingdoms of men, God's Kingdom is proclaimed, or announced. It exists independently and apart from human effort. Even if there were no righteous people, the kingdom of God is still in place. It is announced in order that men may participate in it. Praise the Lord!
When the "day of salvation" drew near, God sent the harbinger, John the Baptist, to announce the kingdom was coming -- that it was "at hand" (Matt 3:2). Following His baptism and wilderness temptation, Jesus immediately began preaching "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt 4;17). When Jesus sent out the seventy, He instructed them to preach, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt 10:7). Here is a subject that dominated the preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus, and His disciples! We do well to give attendance to it.
After Jesus had ascended into heaven, the kingdom of God continued to be proclaimed. "But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike" (Acts 8:12 NASB). Philip preached about Divine dominion and a Sovereign Savior. His was not a message of worldly solutions or institutional fervor! He proclaimed what God was doing, and how He was doing it!
Notice that the Person of Jesus was immediately associated with this kingdom. He is the Head of it, and under His auspices it is currently spreading. Philip did not preach the church at Jerusalem to the people of Samaria, but the kingdom of God under the reign of Jesus!
The activities of Paul the Apostle were also associated with this kingdom. While dwelling "two full years in his own rented quarters," he was "preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered" (Acts 28:31 NASB). Notice again, he proclaimed the kingdom of God, and taught concerning Jesus Christ. I cannot help but observe the remarkable absence of these two matters in much contemporary preaching. It is a tragic commentary on the general departure from the faith that is all about us. Few people hear regularly about the reign of God or the Person of Christ. There is a prevailing ignorance about the nature of Christ's rule that is alarming, and it exists within the professed church!
The kingdom belongs to God, but it is administered by Jesus Christ. The purpose is the Father's, the implementation is accomplished by the Son! This is why the kingdom is identified with both the Father and the Son. "For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God" (Eph 5:5 NASB). In a most remarkable word, the Spirit tells of the time of "the end," when the Son will deliver the kingdom back to the Father, that He may be all in all (1 Cor 15:24-25). Salvation is designed to prepare us for that moment. By it we are being prepared to be figures in that Kingdom -- reigning together with Christ as His "joint heirs" (Rom 8:17). As it is written, "But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever . . . and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom . . . And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High" (Dan 7:18,22,27). Get ready, child of God! get ready!
PRAYER POINT: Father, I live in a world of distraction and delusion. In the name of Jesus, I ask for insight to see through all of this and perceive Your kingdom, then strength to enter into it and stay there.