The Kingdom of God: Coming or Already Here?

And while you're doing that, I'll read to you from Psalm 90. As I was sitting in the hospital most of this last week, I got to thinking about what David wrote in the 90th Psalm. He says, "As for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to strength, 80 years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow. For soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of thine anger, and thy fury, according to the fear that is due thee? So teach us to number our days that we may present to thee a heart of wisdom."

Now, there's nothing like crises in your life to make you think about the brevity of life. Life is just a breath. It's so brief. This past week — I think it was last Sunday — we were going somewhere to eat and my wife mentioned that it was someone's birthday in the church. His 50th. I won't say who it is, but it was his 50th birthday. And my daughter said, "He's 50 years old." And Judy said, "Yeah." And she said, "Boy, Dad, he looks a lot younger than you." And again, it made me think about the brevity of life. Life is so short, so brief.

And David says we ought to live life with wisdom — that when we come to the end and we present ourselves to the Lord, we present a heart to him of wisdom, that we lived our life in wisdom. You know what wisdom is revealed in? Our priorities. What are your priorities? What are the priorities of your life? They really reveal the depth of your wisdom as you live out your life here on this earth.

And the fact is that Jesus has already established the priority, the number one priority for the believer. He's the one who's told us that there is one priority in life that we must set above all others. It's found in Matthew 6:33, when he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these things" — all those things that we tend to worry about in the context there — "they'll be added unto you." That's God's priority for our life. That's Christ's priority for his disciples: to seek the kingdom of God.

Every single disciple of Jesus Christ should begin every day getting his priorities straight, by focusing his attention on this one priority of life that must always be in the forefront — the kingdom of God. Now, I know that's true because Jesus said it in Matthew 6 when he told us how to pray. He said, "This is how you are to pray," and he gave us a pattern of prayer. He said we are to pray like this: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name" — that is, may all men come to see you and recognize you as you really are — "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." You have right there in that prayer the very first priority that we are to pray about every day, because in the prayer he tells us these are to be our daily prayer. This is to be our daily pattern of prayer — that we are to pray for the kingdom of God.

Because that is when the kingdom of God comes — that's when every man on the face of this earth, every person on the face of this earth, will hallow his name, and his kingdom will be here because his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is the coming of the kingdom of God upon this earth. That's how it's described for us. Jesus said that is to be our number one priority in life.

Now, our lives are filled with all kinds of things. It's amazing how just a moment's time your pursuits can change completely. God can drop a trial into your life, a situation in your life that completely changes the course of all of your plans and your purposes. What Christ has told his disciples is this: that you are to keep this priority. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

The book of Acts that we are going to begin to look at today is a historical sketch of how his witnesses did that very thing — how they continued to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. We have here the first three decades of the church, the first three decades of the history of this body that we are all a part of, which fits into the plan of God's kingdom. This phase of his plan — I want you to notice something. Turn to the book of Acts, if you're not there, in chapter one, and listen to this introduction of the book.

Luke writes, "The first account I composed" — and that is, of course, the book of Luke — and you understand probably that the book of Acts is the second volume of one work. The first volume is Luke, the second volume is Acts. In fact, if you put these two books together, you will have a very good, concise historical account of the life, teaching, work, death, resurrection, and commission of Jesus Christ, and how he worked through his saints, his people, through the first three decades of the church. This is the second volume of that account.

He says, "I composed the former account about all that Jesus began to do and teach" — that is, in the first volume — "until the day when he was taken up, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles, whom he had chosen. To these he presented himself alive, after his suffering" — after his death on the cross, his burial in the tomb — "he says he presented himself alive to the apostles." In the 10th chapter of this book, we're going to discover that Peter tells us that God allowed Jesus to become visible not to everyone, but to those who ate and drank with him after his resurrection. And Paul tells us that was about 500 brethren total. He appeared at least nine times, perhaps ten times, that we know of, and really based on this account, he appeared continually, daily, to his apostles.

And listen to what he says. "To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days." Now imagine what it would be like to meet with Jesus over a period of 40 days after his resurrection. From the time of his resurrection until the time of his ascension back to the Father was a 40-day period, and for those 40 days he met with his apostles. What in the world would you talk to him about? I think you would listen — and listen to what he talked to them about. It says, "And he was speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God."

Now, turn with me to chapter 8, verse 12, and notice how throughout this book — let's just look at a couple of examples. Chapter 8, verse 12. This is the account of Philip going to Samaria. The first verse of the first chapter tells us that this account is an account of how the witnesses of Christ, first of all, witnessed of him in Jerusalem, and then in Judea and Samaria, and then finally to the uttermost parts of the world. It says in verse 12 of chapter 8, as Philip is witnessing to these Samaritans, it says, "And 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." Preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.

Now, notice chapter 19, at Ephesus, when Paul is at Ephesus — and now we're getting into the uttermost parts of the world, going out beyond Samaria and Judea. And in chapter 19, in verse 8, it says, "And Paul entered into the synagogue at Ephesus, and he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God."

Now, notice in the last chapter of the book of Acts — turn there. The very last chapter. And this is Paul in Rome as a prisoner. When he first gets to Rome, they put him in a house; he was under house arrest. And he calls for the leaders of the Jews in Rome to come and to speak to him, so that he can explain why he is there. And notice in verse 23 — rather, verse 23 — "And when they had set a day for him" — that is, the leaders of the Israelites who were living in Rome — "when they set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers, and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening." And of course the majority of them reject him and reject the message.

And then notice, he turns to the Gentiles, and he begins — in verse 30 — notice what happens after the Jews at Rome turn down this message. The majority of them do; only a few of them believe it. It says in verse 30, "And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters under house arrest, and was welcoming all who came to him" — and in the context he's talking about all those Gentiles who then would come to him — "and notice, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered."

The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God — just the phrase itself — is mentioned 101 times in the New Testament. It's one of the most important doctrines of the New Testament, the kingdom of God. Now in the book of Matthew, it's called the kingdom of heaven. It's the very same thing. The only reason that in the book of Matthew it appears as the kingdom of heaven is that it's a book written to Jews, and the Jews instead of saying "God" would say "heaven" out of reverence for God. Instead of uttering his name, they would say the word "heaven" in place of the word "God." And so it was a common expression among the Jews when they talked about the kingdom of God to refer to it as the kingdom of heaven.

So this is obviously an important truth in the New Testament — the kingdom of God. And in fact, Jesus said this ought to be our priority in life as disciples of Jesus Christ: that is, seeking, pursuing with everything that we have, the kingdom of God. And you need to ask yourself, is that your priority in life? If you were to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ right now, could you offer to him a heart of wisdom and say, "I've been living my life in pursuit of the kingdom of God"? Well, many of you may be doing that and you don't even know it, because many of us don't know what the kingdom of God is.

What is the kingdom of God? Well, let's take a look. I want to spend a little time this morning simply looking at this one thing — the kingdom of God. Whenever you get a blank sheet in the bulletin, that means that we were behind schedule in preparing. I can tell you, I have been behind schedule this week. So I'm going to give you a little outline on this overhead.

The kingdom of God — and that's what I want to really talk about this morning — is simply this: what does the Bible teach about the kingdom of God? What do you need to know about the kingdom of God? The meaning of the kingdom of God is simply this. The word "kingdom" means reign, regal power, or kingly authority. The emphasis of the word "kingdom," every time you see it in the Bible, is this: it is emphasizing the king's majesty and authority.

Now, out of that comes some other things that are included, and usually this is what we think of. When we hear the word "kingdom," we think of subjects, and we think of a domain, a territory over which someone reigns. But in the New Testament, the emphasis is this: it is the king's majesty and authority. So the kingdom of God is God's majesty and his authority, his sovereign rule. But out of that comes also the concepts of subjects and domain. But when you see this phrase, "the kingdom of God," the basic thing that's being emphasized is the reign of God, or the rule of God as king.

And throughout the Bible, we have this emphasis on the kingdom, or the rule, or the reign of God over his kingdom, over his creation. Now, there is a sense in which God is always and everywhere king. For example, in Psalm 47:2, it says, "For the Lord most high is terrible." Now that phrase means God is awesome. God is terrible. He is a great king over all the earth. Or Psalm 103:19: "The Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all." Everything in this creation is a part of the kingdom of God. God is king over his entire creation. Because he is creator, he's sovereign, he rules, and he reigns.

But according to the scripture, God, when he created man in his own image, decided and determined to make man — to put man in the place of a mediatorial king over that which he created. Turn with me back to the book of Genesis for just a second. Genesis, chapter 1, at the creation account. Notice what he does when he creates man, and where he puts him. Genesis, chapter 1, verse 19 — and that's not the verse I want, but let me find it. Verse 27.

"And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" In other words, God has given him a domain. He has made man king. He created Adam, and then he says, "Now I want you to bring this earth that I have created for you, bring it under your dominion."

In fact, we're told in the New Testament that God created angels in order to serve man as he served in the place of king over God's creation — that angels were actually created to be servants of men in order to fulfill their obligation before Almighty God. God decided to reign through a mediator in his creation, and that mediator was Adam.

Now, there is a need for a restoration of God's kingdom, because man fell. Because Adam, being placed in this position, given dominion over all of creation, ended up succumbing to temptation, and he rebelled against God. Now when we read the account in Genesis of man's fall, sometimes I think we're puzzled by it. What is so bad about Adam eating of this fruit of the tree that God forbade him to eat of? What was so bad about it was that as the ruler over the creation under God, he rebelled against God. He refused to submit to the authority of Almighty God. And when he did that, we are told that he led the entire creation over which he was appointed as a ruler into revolt against God. He actually revolted against God, and he led the entire creation into this. He submitted to the authority of Satan rather than the authority of God.

And so the entire creation is plunged into a horrible situation. In fact, as we read through the Old Testament, what we see pictured there is a world that's described like this. In fact, let me read from a book — "The Kingdom of God" by James — [inaudible] — listen to this description of how the Old Testament pictures the world after the fall. "It is a world in revolt, turned aside from God's, sunk and ever sinking deeper in unrighteousness, abandoned to idolatry and to the lusts and corruption which are the natural fruit of apostasy from a creator, a world in rebellion against the holiness of God, judged as guilty and justly exposed to the divine anger."

And it's a picture — if you don't read much of the Old Testament, you probably are not aware of how starkly real the Old Testament is in its description of sin and man's corruption and his fall. The Bible describes man as completely corrupted, totally corrupted, radically corrupted, and his culture radically corrupted because of his fall and his abandonment of God. The earth and the creation is in a horrible situation. In fact, the description is so vivid. There are those who say the Bible should be banned from the libraries of public schools because it depicts the sinful condition of man in such a realistic, stark kind of way. You see, the Bible's never gratuitous. It's never romanticized sin. It never sensationalizes sin. It simply shows us just how fallen we are and just how desperate our situation is as we have abandoned Almighty God.

Now in Daniel 7, we have, against this perspective of the entire earth being led into rebellion and revolt against God, depicted for us in Daniel 7, God working to restore his godly reign over his creation. And look with me in Daniel 7 for just a moment. Daniel 7 — what you have in the early verses of this chapter are four world powers pictured in the form of these vicious beasts that come before Daniel in this vision that he's having, this dream that he's having. And these four successive world powers come up. They are descriptive, of course, of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Greece, and then of Rome. And if you look at world history, you'll see that there have only been those four powers that have ruled the entire known world in their day.

In fact, the reason that Bible students believe that there is going to be a revived Roman Empire is because those are the only four world empires that have ever been mentioned in Scripture. And we are told that this fourth empire — the empire of Rome, that ruled the earth — is going to be in power when Jesus Christ comes back to this earth. So there is this understanding, from a biblical perspective, if you believe in Bible prophecy, that there is going to be a revived Roman Empire. And we think we see the seeds of this in the European community as it's coming together. And when it does come together and exerts authority over this entire earth, it's going to be a revival of this fourth kingdom that's mentioned here.

But in this prophecy, the dominion of these kingdoms are crushed when something takes place. Notice in verse 7: "After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong, and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them. Three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it, and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts."

And I kept looking — now remember what he's picturing here is man and his rebellion against God, ruling the creation in apostasy from God, in his own power and his own authority. And he says, "I kept looking until thrones were set up" — and this is a picture in this context of Almighty God — "and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His vesture was like white snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was falling and coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands were attending him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before him. The court sat and the books were opened."

"Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their domain was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the Ancient of Days and he was presented before him, and notice — to him, to the son of man, was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom — a reign, a majesty of a king — that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Here we have a prophetic picture of the coming of the kingdom of God upon the earth, a restoration of the righteous rule of God through the son of man. And that is significant — this is the son of man. If you read through the gospels, you will discover that Jesus Christ calls himself the son of man more than any other title. That was his favorite title for himself. He was the son of man. And in this context, we see that there's coming a day in which the son of man is going to come and he's going to restore the righteous reign of God upon the earth, so that every single person living on the face of this globe is going to submit to the righteous authority of God mediated through the son of man.

That's going to be a glorious day. Righteousness is going to reign upon the earth. We have become so saturated with the unrighteousness of our day and our culture that it no longer shocks us. It no longer impacts us like it did a few years ago. And it's going to be the same way in 10 more years. We get acclimatized to unrighteousness. But it's going to be a glorious day when righteousness is going to reign upon this earth. It's going to cover the earth like the oceans.

Now, to the New Testament perspective — you have a world society in absolute rebellion against God. And the emphasis in the New Testament is that this world society is subservient to Satan, that Satan is the god of this age. And in fact, the first encounter that Jesus Christ has in his ministry is with the god of this age, the prince of the power of the air, the one who has taken the rule away from Adam and is ruling over this earth. In fact, if you'll turn to Luke chapter 4, you see this encounter that Jesus has with Satan when he goes into the wilderness. The Spirit leads him into the wilderness for this encounter, this temptation, when he meets Satan. And Satan approaches him with these particular temptations — and all the temptations are to get the son of man to submit to the authority of Satan, as Adam had, as the first man had.

And notice in verse 5: "And he was led up and shown" — that is, Satan leads him up and shows him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. "And the devil said to him, 'I will give you all this domain, this authority, this kingly authority and its glory. I'll let you be the ruler of this world and rule over the nations of the earth, for it has been handed over to me, and I will give it to whomever I wish.'" Now Satan is a liar. However, the Bible clearly calls him — based upon the inspired word of God — the god of this world, that he is the authority moving behind the nations of the world. And he says in verse 7, "Therefore, if you worship me before me, it shall all be yours."

So long as Satan's influence over the kingdoms of men continues, God's righteous reign will not be established upon the earth. Satan must be removed in order for the reign, the righteous reign of God — the kingdom of God — to come again upon the earth. So therefore, when the New Testament speaks about the kingdom of God, it refers to the sovereign rule of God putting down the reign of Satan, overthrowing Satan, the creation of a people who will be the subjects in this kingdom, and the recapturing of the creation as the realm in which God is going to reign through man, in the person of the son of man.

Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2, where the writer of Hebrews spells this out to us so clearly, and notice how this whole flow of events takes place. Hebrews chapter 2. He's talking about how Christ is superior to the angels in this context. And notice what he says in verse 5 of Hebrews 2: "For he did not subject to angels the age to come" — and "the age to come," I believe, is talking about eternity ultimately, that is the eternal age. "He did not subject to angels the age to come concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere saying, 'What is man, that thou rememberest him, or the son of man, that thou art concerned about him?'" — and he's talking not here about Christ, but he's talking about man, about Adam and his descendants. "'Thou hast made him'" — that is, Adam and his descendants — "'for a little while lower than the angels. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast appointed him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.'"

"For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him." And the psalmist says, "Why has God done this? When I look at man and the condition of man, I can't figure out why has God put man in this position, to reign over his creation, to rule as God's king over the creation." But notice what he goes on to say in this passage: "But now, at this point in time, we do not yet see all things subjected to him." Man is not reigning. In fact, Satan is reigning.

"But notice what he says in verse 9: 'But we do see him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels — namely Jesus — because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren.'"

This passage tells us that God created the universe, and at the center of that universe — and I know this sounds archaic to the scientific world, but from God's perspective — the center of his creation is this earth. This is the place where Jesus Christ came. This is the place where God became incarnate, and who is saving all of creation from the effects of the fall. Colossians chapter 1 says that when Christ died on the cross, he was in effect reconciling the entire universe back into a right relationship with God.

But man, because of the fall, does not have all things subjected to his authority, because he has succumbed and he is in rebellion. He is in revolt against Almighty God. But the writer of Hebrews says, "But we do see him who is made for a little while lower than the angels" — that is, Jesus Christ — who went to the cross, who suffered on the cross, in order to pave the way to bring this universe back into a right relationship with Almighty God.

So the kingdom of God is the restoration of the effectual sovereignty of God over man through a mediator. That is what the kingdom of God is. And you know that that is exactly what God is up to today. God is in the process of restoring his righteous rule over this earth, and he is going to do it through a mediator, through the son of man, a man in the person of Jesus Christ, who is going to bring this entire universe back under the authority and perfect submission to Almighty God. This is why Jesus says to us, every single day of my life I ought to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This has to be the priority of our life. Everything else, Jesus said, must be subservient to this one thing. This is the big issue of life, fellow disciples of Jesus Christ — that's what separates you from everybody else on the face of the earth — that you have come under the reign and rule of Christ as he is working to bring this entire universe back under the authority of Almighty God.

There are basically three phases that are revealed to us in the New Testament about the kingdom of God that leads to this coming of the ultimate glory, when God's reign is going to cover the earth. Three basic phases.

The first phase came in the person of Jesus Christ. When he came to this earth and fulfilled his ministry for those 33 and a half years — especially the last three and a half years — Jesus Christ came into this world and, in the person of Christ, the kingdom of God drew near. Now, we are told in the book of Matthew that when John the Baptist began to preach, he was announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. And he told the people of Israel that they were to prepare their hearts, to be baptized, and to submit to the authority of God, to prepare their hearts for the coming of God's king, God's Messiah.

This coming of the kingdom was also anticipated by many — rather, a small remnant — in the nation of Israel. In fact, we're told that Joseph of Arimathea, the one who went in and got the body of Christ and put him in his tomb, that that man Joseph of Arimathea was waiting for the kingdom of God to come. And there were many in Israel, a remnant in Israel, who were waiting for the kingdom of God to come. They knew that the righteous rule of God was not upon the earth at that time, that the nation of Israel was in a situation, in a condition, where they were not seeing the reign and rule of God — not only in the world, but even in their nation itself. And so there were those who were waiting.

But when Jesus comes, he does not only say the kingdom of God is coming, but he said the kingdom of God is right here. It was brought near by the Lord Jesus Christ. How did he do that? How did Jesus Christ bring the kingdom of God near? Turn with me to Matthew chapter 12. Let's look at a couple of incidents. Matthew chapter 12, verse 22.

"Then there was brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb. He could not hear, he could not speak, and he could not see. And he healed him so that the dumb man spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed, and they began to say, 'This man cannot be the son of David, can he? Could this be the Messiah that the prophet spoke about?' But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, 'This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.' And knowing their thoughts, he said to them, 'Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then shall his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebul'" — and that is, from the Jews' perspective, this was the chief of the demons and a reference to Satan himself — "'if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently, they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then has the kingdom of God come upon you.'"

It's right here before your face — if I am casting these demons out by the power of God. Jesus Christ demonstrated the authority of God as the son of man by casting out demons, by showing his authority over Satan and Satan's demons.

Notice back just in the chapter right before, chapter 11, in verse 12. Here's a strange verse you've probably read before. It says, "And from the days of John the Baptist, until now" — this is Jesus speaking — "the kingdom of heaven" — that is, the kingdom of God — "suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." Now, if you'd notice in my margin, it says this — it gets an alternate reading. It says, "And from the days of John the Baptist, until now, the kingdom of heaven forcibly enters, and those who enter it seize it for themselves."

The reason for the difficulty in translation is that this word can either mean the kingdom of heaven is coming with force, or it can mean the kingdom of heaven is experiencing force put upon it. I believe without a doubt, in my mind, that what he is saying here is that the kingdom of heaven is coming with great force. It's translated "violence" because it's a very picturesque word. It's coming into the realm of humanity with great power and authority. And those who enter it — those who snatch it and hang on to it, those who enter into it — do it forcibly, because their eyes are opened and they rush into the kingdom of God. He says, "That's the response."

Now, remember in John when it says that God the Son came unto his own — that is, into his own people, or his own things, his own creation and his own people — his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them he gave the authority to become children of God. When the kingdom of God came upon this earth in the person of Christ — that is, when Christ came into this world and began in his 30th year to display his authority as God's viceroy, God's king upon this earth — they saw right before their eyes the demonstration of the power and authority of the son of man. It was forcibly coming upon them.

Now, you have to understand — I think it's hard for us when we read the New Testament Gospels. It's hard for us to imagine the kind of atmosphere in which Jesus came. I think it's hard for us to imagine what it would be like to live in a culture where Satan is using these kinds of devices to control people — of demonic oppression and possession, of demons controlling men's lives, controlling their physical health, making them blind and deaf, taking their life away from them, causing them to live in continual fear of his authority, living in darkness, spiritual darkness and blackness. And Jesus, the light, invades that darkness and he manifests the almighty power of the living God. And it was a forceful entrance when Jesus came, a forceful intrusion of the kingdom of God into this earth in the person of Jesus Christ.

Another way that he demonstrated the fact that the kingdom of God was right there before their eyes — that is, the reign and rule of God in the person of Christ — was when he forgave sins. Remember in Mark 2, they brought the paralytic. Jesus was in a house teaching a bunch of people; the place was packed to the gills, and there were people on the outside looking in. And these men bring — four men bring this paralytic. This man has been paralyzed and they want Jesus to pray for him and heal him. But they can't get to him because the crowd is so thick. And so they go up on the roof and they begin to pull the tiles off the roof and they lower this man right down before Jesus. Jesus is standing there teaching and all of a sudden out of the ceiling comes this man on his bed of affliction. They put him right down there before Jesus.

Jesus looks at him and he says, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And all of a sudden the scribes begin — it says they were saying this in their heart — they were saying, "Who does he think he is that he can forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins." And then Jesus said, "Why are you troubled in your heart? Why are you thinking these things in your heart? What's harder to say — 'Be healed, take up your bed and walk,' or 'Your sins are forgiven'?" He said, "But so that you might know that the son of man has the authority to forgive sins upon the earth, that's why I said it." He demonstrated the authority that only God's emissary could have — to forgive sins. He proved that he was king right before their eyes, and then he tells the man, "Take up your bed and walk." And they saw physical evidence right before their eyes that he exerted authority over Satan in his dominion, and they could know for certain that his sins had been forgiven.

Another way that Jesus demonstrated his power was when he sent his disciples out and he gave them authority. He delegated authority to his apostles. And he says — he did this twice: once with the 12 and then once with the 70, later on at the end of his Galilean ministry. And as he's going through the land through Galilee, the crowds are coming out and they're listening to him, and there are multitudes of people coming. And so he sends his disciples out before him. He says, "I want you to go into every town. I want you to go into the town; I want you to cast out demons. I want you to heal the sick and raise the dead. I want you to exert and demonstrate the power of the kingdom of God — that this is the kingdom of God that has come." And he says those that accept you are blessed. Those that reject you, he says, "Kick the dust of the town off your feet and walk out," and the judgment is going to be upon that city because they have rejected the kingdom of God when it has come into their midst.

This was a powerful demonstration of the authority of Almighty God in the person of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God coming upon this earth in the person of Christ. But it didn't come in its fullness. The majority rejected. And Jesus did not force the majority to submit to his authority. He demonstrated before their eyes that he truly was the king, the Messiah, the son of man sent from God, and yet the nation rejected him and crucified him, treated him as a felon instead of as the sovereign ruler of God's kingdom.

We next see the next phase of the kingdom: the kingdom in the church of Christ. After Jesus Christ died on the cross and he was buried and rose again, the Bible tells us that he ascended next to the Father, and he has taken a seat of authority over this universe. And in this period of time from the ascension of Christ until his return — what's called the Parousia in the New Testament, the coming back of Jesus Christ upon this earth and reigning here upon the earth — this period of time, 1,960 years or so, so far. It may be another two years, another two days, another millennium. We don't know. Every generation of Christians have believed that Christ was coming in their lifetime. I believe Christ is coming in my lifetime, but he may not come for a thousand years.

But during this period of time, Jesus Christ has been seated on the right hand of the Father, a place of authority, and we are told that he is bringing all of his enemies under his feet. And ultimately, Philippians 2 says, every tongue will confess, every knee is going to bow to Jesus Christ. So what's happening in this phase of the kingdom of God, as the church grows — and that's what we have described for us here in the book of Acts, these first three decades of the life of the church — during this period of time, we are told — in fact, most of what the New Testament says about the kingdom of God in the New Testament epistles written to the church — we are told that the kingdom of God is something that's coming in the future. The fullness of the kingdom of God will come at the personal arrival of Jesus Christ. But we are also told that there is a real sense in which we are experiencing the kingdom of God at this very moment.

In fact, look at Colossians 1, verse 13. Notice this. This is written to believers, those who have bowed to the authority of Christ. They have believed with their heart and confessed with their mouth. They have believed that God has raised Christ from the dead, and they have confessed that he is Lord. The basic confession of the Christian is "Jesus is Lord." This is what Paul says: "For he delivered us from the domain of darkness" — that is, the domain, the dominion of Satan — "and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son."

The New Testament is clear. We are living in a time when individuals, by faith, by submitting to the authority of Jesus Christ — God's assigned king, God's appointed ruler over the kingdom of God that's going to come upon this earth in the future — those who personally bow to his authority now, enter into the kingdom of God. And so while our feet are upon this earth, our lives have entered into the kingdom of God. That's why Jesus told Nicodemus, "Unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God and you cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Because we are living in a time when the kingdom of God is invisible to the physical eye, but it's experiential in the life of the believer in Jesus Christ.

Turn with me to Matthew 13. In Matthew 13, Jesus gives us a series of parables in which he unveils the mysteries of the kingdom. A mystery in Scripture is something, some truth that has been hidden in the past but has been revealed now at this period of time. What Jesus is telling us in these parables are some things that have been hidden in regards to the kingdom of God before the coming of Christ, but are now through Christ being unveiled to us. And the things that he reveals are things that the Jews did not anticipate concerning the kingdom of God.

Here's what the Jews anticipated. The nation of Israel expected that the Messiah would come, that he would overcome all the enemies of Christ, all the enemies of Israel, and that Israel would be set in the primary place upon the earth, and all the kingdoms of the earth would bow to their authority. They thought that would happen just like that, at the personal coming of Messiah. Jesus begins to unveil in these parables that that is not what's going to happen, because there are some mysteries, some secrets that they did not know about the kingdom, that he now begins to unveil.

I'm not going to read through all these, obviously, but let me just mention these familiar parables and what they are revealing about the kingdom. There are seven parables here, and they all reveal secrets about the kingdom of God. The gospel of the kingdom is what's being talked about here, and the result of entering into the kingdom. He says in the first two parables — the parable of the soils and the parable of the wheat and tares — he unveils this new truth, or this newly unveiled truth that they had not known before: that the gospel of the kingdom will not be universally received.

There is a period of time when the good news of the kingdom of God goes out, and many are going to reject it. The parable of the soils is that the kingdom of God is coming upon men not forcibly, but it has to be received by faith. Just like soil has to embrace a seed, the individuals in this world, when they hear the message — the gospel of the kingdom, the good news that God has assigned a king to come and to bring righteousness upon the earth — they must receive it by faith. And there are going to be many — in fact, three of the four soils reject the seed — many who hear the gospel of the kingdom are going to reject it.

You would think that in our country, living in the conditions we are living in, with the problems that we have, if we could tell the world that there is a king who's coming to this earth to solve all of man's problems — that there will be no child abuse when he reigns, there will be no adultery, no immorality, there will be no murder, there will be no crime, there will be no wars when he reigns — you would think if we got that message out to the inhabitants of this nation that they would say, "We will gladly come under the authority of this king." But Jesus reveals a secret about this kingdom, and that is that the message of the kingdom is going to be rejected by many and received by a few. And the few that receive it — it will be obvious that they have truly received it because of the fruit that their lives bear.

The parable of the wheat and tares is that the kingdom is not now coming in catastrophic manifestation of judgment, which the Jews expected, but rather it is coming gradually over a long period of time. The sons of the kingdom are going to live in a period of time when the sons of Satan are going to be living right next to them — the wheat and the tares living together during this period, this phase of the kingdom.

The second two parables — the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven — tell us that the kingdom will ultimately succeed in an all-encompassing way. It's going to cover the entire earth. Every single individual living upon the face of this earth is going to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ, God's king, ultimately. And then the parable of the weeds tells us that the real difference between the members of the kingdom and those who are not is going to be apparent until the final day of judgment, when God separates the righteous from the unrighteous. Jesus tells us here, and over and over again, that within the community of faith itself, as well as in the world, it's going to be hard to tell at times the difference between those who submitted to the authority of the king and those who are in rebellion.

And then the last two parables — the parable of the treasure and the pearl — is that the kingdom is the most valuable thing in life. I want to express this as best I can. You can tell I have a half-baked sermon here. I can tell it's half-baked because I'm about halfway through and I can't already get off this treadmill to finish. And I wanted so much for this message to penetrate your heart. Listen to the emphasis of this parable — the parable of the treasure and the pearl of great price. The kingdom is the most valuable treasure in the world, and you want to seek it at all costs. And if you don't see it, if you don't understand its value, if you don't understand that the kingdom of God is so valuable that you would gladly give up everything in life to possess this kingdom, to be a part of this kingdom, then your eyes have not been opened — or they're glazed over — and you don't really see what God wants you to see.

And then finally, the dragnet. The last parable is that the final separation between the good and the bad, the sons of the kingdom and the sons of darkness, the sons of this age, is going to be delayed until Christ comes back and separates them. The main emphasis throughout this unfolding of the kingdom of God is that it's going to have an insignificant beginning, but it's going to be very significant in its culmination. That throughout this phase of the kingdom of God, men are going to look at it as being something that has no importance at all, and yet this is the most important work in all of the universe. It's an amazing phenomenon we're seeing in this country — we are seeing a country that is coming to believe that Christianity, that the kingdom of God, is of no value at all. In fact, it may even be a threat. That's exactly what Jesus said would happen.

In this phase of the kingdom of God — one last thing — and that is the kingdom in the Parousia of Christ. The reason I put that word "Parousia" there is not to impress you. It's that there's no English word that can translate that word effectively. The Greek word "Parousia" has a bunch of things wrapped up in it. It's sometimes translated "the coming of Christ" or "the presence of Christ," because it has built into it — this word has the concept of the arrival and the residence of Jesus Christ upon this earth. When Jesus Christ comes back to this earth and he takes up residence upon this globe and begins to reign over this world, we are going to see the kingdom of God coming in its fullness upon the face of the earth.

For a thousand years, Christ is going to reign in history upon this earth over the nations of the world. There are still going to be nations intact who are going to submit to the authority of Christ. And for this thousand years, the power and authority of Christ is going to be exerted over this earth until every last enemy of God is eliminated from this kingdom. And then 1 Corinthians 15 says he will ultimately hand it over to the Father. When he hands it over to the Father, then we will know — the prayer that we pray every day of our lives, if we follow the orders of Christ, is finally answered: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I want to ask you, are you living for the kingdom? Are you seeking the kingdom? Is that your main pursuit in life? If it isn't, I want you to know that you are living in direct disobedience to Jesus Christ. He is the one who has set this priority for our lives — that whatever else we do in life, and there are many things we must do, but whatever else we do in life, we are told that we must seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. That is the obedience of God, and all these other things will be added unto us.

How do we do that? The Psalm that I read you said, "So teach us to number our days that we may present to thee a heart of wisdom, O God." Well, how do we seek the kingdom of God? Two ways.

First of all, you submit to the reign of Jesus Christ. If you're here and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, there's only one way you can do that, and that is to bow your knee to Christ — the only one who can save you from your sin and your alienation from God. You put your trust in him and him alone, come under his authority, and he's promised to save you and bring you into a right relationship with God.

If you are a Christian, you've been brought under the rule of Christ. But according to 1 Peter — in fact, why don't you look at this with me. 1 Peter, chapter 3, verse 15. Peter says, "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts." That expression means set Jesus Christ apart as the only Lord, the only sovereign, the only one who has ultimate authority in your life. The way you seek the kingdom of God is first of all by submitting, bowing to the authority of Jesus Christ. Here is his revealed will. And I want to tell you, you have no right — if you are submitting to the authority of Christ — to either not discover what his will is (which some people think is the best way to live, because "what I don't know won't hurt me") — you have no right not to discover what his revealed will is. It's right here, written to you, believer. And secondly, you have no right, once you learn it, not to obey it.

We seek the kingdom by bowing to his authority. And secondly, we seek the kingdom by proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom — by proclaiming to men and women, people that God brings into our lives, this good news about the kingdom, that God has appointed a man, the son of man, Jesus Christ, to have authority over the living and the dead, that every person is going to have to come before this king, Jesus Christ, and be judged by him. And those who trust him, those who put their faith in him, can receive forgiveness of sins. He has authority, and we are supposed to proclaim that truth to this world. Why don't you stand with me as we pray.

Our Father, we are grateful that you care enough about us, your people, those that you have set your heart on before the foundation of the world, that you would give your Son to rescue your people from our sins, and to bring us out of the kingdom of darkness and the domain of Satan and into the kingdom of your dear Son. And you were so willing to save us that you sent your Son to die in our place and to raise him from the dead, and then to seat him in a place of authority at your right side. We thank you, Father, for the great work of redemption that you have accomplished in Christ. And all I pray today is that the Spirit of God would impress upon our hearts that there is no other logical response that we could possibly have — that when we discover this truth, that you have redeemed us through the work of Christ, you brought us back out of the hold of Satan and back into the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ — there's no other sane response than that we should seek your kingdom and your righteousness with all of our hearts and souls and minds and strength.

I do pray today, as we begin to look through the book of Acts, that the Spirit of God would use the word to penetrate the very depths of our hearts, to change our orientation, to open our eyes, to stir us up, to bring revival in our hearts, to bring reformation in our minds, that we would come to believe the truth and to practice the truth. Father, receive glory from our lives today, we pray. We ask you to energize us and to woo us and to push us along, that we would live out this kingdom kind of living that Jesus has called us to in the midst of this world that's in darkness and in bondage. We pray that we could be those who proclaim the good news that there is deliverance to those who will put their trust in Christ. Please use us in that way. We pray in Christ's name and for his glory. Amen.