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JESUS, THE GOD-MAN – 6

Bible Study, ,

THE GOD-MAN, HIS INAUGURATION

Thrirty years of obscurity, His apprenticeship accomplished, Jesus, the God-man, tested and equipped, steps into His ministry. What would be His topic, His focus, the first words of His new venture, His message to His people?

“Look at me! I have arrived! I am the Son of God! I’m here to rescue you! Listen to me! It’s all about me! Me…me…me…!” Was this His mission, to present Himself as the answer to their hopes and dreams?

Yes, and no! His ultimate purpose was to draw His people to faith in Himself as God’s provision for their deliverance, not from Rome but from their greater enslavement, sin. However, He did it, not by calling attention first, to Himself, not in the way we would have done it.

Jesus, the God-man, came from God, sent by the Father, to conduct the Father’s business on earth as a true Son. Check His first recorded words as a twelve-year-old…

Luke 2:49 NIV
[49] “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

The original Greek is obscure but does not include the word “house”. The word, “en”, translated “in”, can mean “about”, depending on the context. I think a better translation would be, “about my Father”, implying that He was about the Father’s business rather than the temple, mistranslated “the Father’s house”.

The Father sent the Son to do His (the Father’s) business, therefore, it was fitting that the Son’s first public statement would be about the kingdom because the kingdom was the Father’s business.

What would have been the people’s reaction had He announced Himself rather than the kingdom as His first public statement? Would they have believed the words of an unknown Galilean peasant? He had done nothing yet to present His credentials. What was the expectation of the people? They wanted a deliverer who would rescue them from Roman occupation and set up the rule of God as it was under David. How could they know that He was the one?

In one sentence, the God-man uttered a summary of His mission, yes, centred in Himself, the ultimate prize, heaven and earth united under God’s sovereign rule.

Matthew 4:17 NIV
[17] “From that time on, Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The disciples’ question, shortly before Jesus returned to heaven, shows where their thoughts were, despite their years with Him.

Acts 1:6 NIV
[6] “Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”…

For Jesus, it would take years of living, patient teaching and demonstration, to convince His people that He was the Son of God, and that God’s kingdom was being restored on earth and that He, the God-man, was His appointed and anointed king over that realm and the Father’s way to back to Him.

Although He came as king, the God-man had only one lone herald to announce His arrival. No entourage, no trumpets, no fanfare, no pomp and ceremony, no royal trappings! Centuries before, the prophet spoke of a single person who would go before His servant, to tell His people that the king had come. How would they identify him this herald?

Isaiah 40:3-5 NLT
[3] Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! [4] Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. [5] Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!”

A lone voice crying! Not the man, but his message, would attract their attention. John, God’s appointed herald, was the man.

Isaiah 40:3-5 NLT
[3] Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! [4] Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. [5] Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!”

John was the vehicle and the voice, a strange man, an only son, born of aging parents, living as a hermit in the wilderness, eating off the land and dressing in animal skins… not the usual kind of person chosen to herald the coming of a king!

It was his message, not strange, only riveting! “Wake up, people! God’s kingdom has finally come. If you want to be part of it, prepare to change,” that attracted attention. His message was not only riveting but different, not “Clean your houses,” but “Clean your hearts!”, for cleansed hearts would be the realm in which this king would reign.

This kingdom did not require a royal residence for its king, nor did it need a trained and equipped staff to run its affairs. This kingdom would be within the hearts and revealed in the lives of those who who were its citizens by faith.

The words of Jesus announcing the arrival of this kingdom echoed John’s words…

Matthew 3:1-2 t John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, [2] “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

…tying herald and king together into one intention, one focus, not the men but their message. John was nothing but a voice. Jesus was nothing but a servant of the message…and yet, as the story unfolded, Jesus and His message became one. He was messenger and message.

Slowly, as the weeks passed, the ministry of the herald faded, and eventually died with him. After only six months, his work was done. He had earned his stripes, the accolades of the one whose arrival he had announced.

Matthew 11:11 NLT
[11] “I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!”

Yet, John, the last of the dispensation of the Old Covenant prophets, was only the bridge, the greatest of the Old in his own right but yet, never as great as the lowliest of the New. He had to move on to make room for the chief player on the stage of history.

Jesus, the God-man, now unrivalled and alone, was left to fulfil the ministry His herald had announced, to prove to the world He was the worthy, sovereign ruler of God’s kingdom. He would be enthroned on a cross, crowned with thorns, garbed in a robe of His own blood, dead and buried in a borrowed tomb, only to rise in glory to take His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of lords.

To be continued…

IN HIM WAS LIFE…

Christian Life, ,

What is life?

We humans have many differing ideas about the meaning of life.

To some, life means still breathing on this planet regardless of circumstances. If I emerge from a serious accident still breathing, I am glad to be alive!

To others, really living means enjoying every possible pleasure, good or bad, filling their days and hours. “Living it up” is pure indulgence!

Still others are alive if they can do what they enjoy doing. For the rest of their time, they are only existing.

Life, for most people, means living and breathing on the earth, doing the best they can with what they have, and keeping on going until they stop breathing….then what?

Jesus made a startling statement to people to whom life was mostly a drag. The Jews lived under Roman occupation, often cruel and unjust, …and under the oppressive religious system of their religious overlords.

But Jesus said,

John 10:7-10 NLT
[7]… “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. [8] All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. [9] Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. [10] The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

Whaaat! “A rich and satisfying life” in this place, here, where I live, under this oppressive government that has bungled its mandate and made life intolerable? Is this possible?

Yes, it is!

Let’s look at life from a different perspective. What makes life intolerable? Is it our circumstances, or is it the way we interpret our circumstances? It depends on whether we live from the outside in, or from the inside out.

What do I mean?

Living from the outside in means that people and circumstances dictate my emotions and responses. Not only that but my response to people and circumstances are random, depending on whether they please me or not. Worse than that, my responses compound my feelings of fear, guilt, and shame when I react badly to whom or to what happens to cross me.

My circumstances often lead to depression because “poor me” becomes the trap to keep me “under the circumstances”. It’s all a vicious circle.

So, how can we escape this “inside out” mechanism?

First, of which we might be not be aware, there are two opposing realms in which we can live. The first is the realm of this world,  according to its systems and its principles, in which we live to satisfy ourselves as best we can. We judge and react to everyone and everything in the world by our standards, and how they affect us.

Despite God’s law written on my conscience, I do as I please because I want to do as I please. When my conscience hurts me, I feel bad, so I take it out on others, punishing them for my feelings.

When everyone living under the world system behaves this way to some degree, the outcome is conflict and chaos.

There is another realm which Jesus came to reinstate after sin had set the course for disaster.

Mark 1:14-15 NIV
[14] “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. [15] “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Who was John and why was he put in prison?

According to ancient protocol, John was appointed to announce the arrival of a great king. Although Jesus came to earth as a king, He was disguised and functioned as a servant, Isaiah’s “Ebed Yahweh”, the servant of Yahweh to carry out the Father’s will on earth.

John 1:19, 23 NIV
[19] Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was…
[23] John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”

“According to the New Testament, Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee under the Roman Empire, had imprisoned John the Baptist because he had publicly reproved Herod for divorcing his first wife and unlawfully taking his sister-in-law (his brother’s wife) as his second wife, Herodias. He then ordered him to be killed by beheading.”
(https://en.wikipedia.org)

So, with John’s task complete, Jesus took centre stage to announce the restoration of God’s kingdom on earth. He came as the king to restore estranged mankind to God through His death for sin, and to set up God’s reign of righteousness and peace in the hearts of those who believe in Him.

Two kingdoms…seen and unseen, that rule over the inhabitants of earth.

The world’s kingdom is ruled by a usurper who had designs on Jesus’ position as Lord.

Ephesians 2:1-3 NIV
[1] “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, [2] in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. [3] All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”

“Satan is called a prince because he is a ruler and possesses power to manifest evil in the world through influencing people and commanding demons.”
(https://www.gotquestions.org)

We are all born into this realm, held prisoner to its ways, and we live it out by gratifying our own sinful desires. Our circumstances dictate our responses and leave us unhappy and tormented by our guilt.

In the realm over which Jesus rules as king, our sin is forgiven, guilt removed, ad selfish domination is broken. We are free to do life together with fellow believers in unity and peace through unselfish service and mutual submission.

God’s peace monitors our responses and is only disturbed when we act towards others contrary to the kingdom’s constitution of love. We can respond from our inner freedom from guilt and shame; God’s love gives us complete confidence to trust Him in all circumstances; His sovereignty keeps us steady in times of trouble; His peace acts as the buffer against worry and anxiety.

Living from the inside out is God’s intention for us. Through our trust in His love, we can respond to whatever life in a hostile and uncertain world brings across our pathway instead of reacting in anger or fear to every circumstance.

Jesus called this way of living, “a rich and satisfying life.”

What makes the difference between living in the world and living in God’s kingdom in the world? 0ne simple response to Jesus.

Turn away from sin by trusting in Jesus as Supreme Authority over your life.

Mark 1:15 NIV
[15] “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

TWO VOICES

Christian Life, ,

TWO VOICES

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’ Matthew 3:1-3.

When you read the newspaper or secular magazines, or watch TV or listen to the radio, it seems as though God is not important or does not even exist in the world today. Many people display their beauty or their talents through these media, but they do not acknowledge that their gifts or their good looks come from God. It is a silent voice that is telling the world that God is absent, irrelevant, or indifferent to the world He has created.

This is a lie that the devil is passing on to the people in the world. Satan is a liar, and he wants us to believe that he is in charge and that he controls the things that go on around us, and even our lives if we believe him. When we choose to believe him, we open the door for him to bring destruction and even premature death to us and our families.

For four hundred years the Jewish people had not heard a single word from God. There was no prophet to tell them what God was doing or what He was going to do. They must have thought that God had forgotten them or that He didn’t care about them any more. Many of them tried to please God by obeying all the laws in the Torah (the five books of Moses) as well as all the laws their religious leaders had made up to protect the law of Moses. Nothing they did made any difference. God was silent.

Then John the Baptist began to preach in the desert, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” What was he saying? “Change your mind about God. You have been thinking that He’s not here any more. He is here. He has always been here. He is still in charge of your lives. He wants you to believe in Him. He is coming Himself to be with you and show you how to live.”

This message must have shaken the people because they had been thinking the devil’s way and not God’s way for a long time. They began to listen to John and to be baptised by him as a way of saying, “We want to be a part of this new life you are telling us about.”

There are still two voices speaking today. There is the silent voice of the world that says, “God’s not here,” or “God doesn’t care, “or “God’s not interested in you.” There is also the voice of the Word of God that says, “God is here, God is good, and God is in charge.” We can choose which voice we want to hear, and which voice will lead us to death or to eternal life.

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM – CONTINUED

Christian Life, ,

4. THE GOLDEN KEY – ROOTED IN GOD’S LOVE

Paul recorded many of his prayers in his letters to the churches. These prayers reveal his heart for God’s people and his partnership with the Holy Spirit in opening the doors of understanding and participation into God’s kingdom.

However, I see his prayer in Ephesians 3:15ff as the Golden Key to everything that has ever been revealed about our lives in God’s Kingdom.

Jesus had something important to say to the Ephesian church, the same church to which Paul penned his letter, which makes it even more important for us to understand this key.

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

Revelation 2:4-5 NIV

What is this “first love” which the Ephesian Church had forsaken?

It was not the warm, fuzzy excitement we felt when we first believed in Jesus, as many have preached. In fact, it isn’t our love for Jesus at all. Our love, at best, is feeble, frail, and fickle, and often crumbles under pressure.

Our response of love for Jesus depends entirely on His love for us. It is the fruit of the root which feeds and produces the fruit.

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God…. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

1 John 4:7, 9-10 NLT

If we remove God’s love from our experience of His rule and control of our lives, especially when stuff happens that makes no sense, we end up with being nothing but pawns in God’s hands.

God’s love gives colour, meaning, sense, and hope to all our life experiences, good and bad. Since God is love and, since God is utterly reliable and trustworthy, we can commit ourselves unconditionally to His love in everything because we know that He works in all things for our good. We also know that He has a plan… to restore the image of His Son in us.

I have come to realise that God has used even those times when I, as a believer, have trespassed into sin, for my good. I’ve learned the meaning of true repentance and learned to hate the sin I was involved in.

Even more than that, the precious Holy Spirit has revealed to me that my pursuit of love led me to drink at the wrong fountain. Like the woman at the well, I tried to quench my thirst at the fountain of human love only to be betrayed by human failure. Only when I realised that Jesus alone is the pure fountain of perfect love was my thirst quenched and fully satisfied.

So, to grow roots deeply into God’s love for us is to anchor our lives in the most secure place to be held fast and kept steady as we navigate all the ups and downs of our lives.

Without the awareness of the greatness of God’s love for us, living in His kingdom would be just another set of rules to obey. This love of God binds our hearts to Him in a powerful union of trust, submission and obedience which are the hallmarks of a true son.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.”

John 15:9 NLT

“But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.”

Jude 1:20-21 NLT

Can you see how important it is that we understand that all we experience as believers in Jesus must be filtered through this love of God? His love underpins everything that has happened and will happen to us because He is “passing by”, to reveal Himself to us, in each situation, according to our need.

To put our trust in and root our lives in God’s love means that NOTHING can get between His love and us. Paul assures us, based on everything God did for us through Jesus…

“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39 NLT

God’s love for us didn’t begin when we came to faith in Jesus. God loved us before He made the world.

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”

Ephesians 1:4 NLT

God was watching and intimately supervising the formation of the unborn child and setting out the days of its life before it came into the world.

“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Psalms 139:15-16 NLT

He loved us even when we were living in sin in our unregenerate days.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Romans 5:8 NLT

The Old Covenant was an interim covenant given to Israel to teach them that God is holy and that sin separates sinners from a holy God and is punishable by consequences. To apply the consequences of sin, which Jesus atoned for by His death, to believers in Jesus in the New Covenant is to cancel what Jesus did on the cross.

This is the reason that any teaching and practice regarding “generational curses” in the New Covenant context, are utterly false. Believers cannot be rooted in God’s love and be subject to generational curses at the same time.

Isaiah prophesied that Messiah would set His people free…

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the broken-hearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.”

Isaiah 61:1 NLT

Jesus confirmed that He was the Anointed One…

“The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Luke 4:17-21 NLT

… and that it was His role to set captives free.

Free from what?

Free from the lies Satan sows in our minds about God, us, and sin and all its effects.

Jesus is passionate about setting His people free from everything that opposes, contradicts, or attempts to replace God’s grace and that has any control over them other than the Holy Spirit. God gives His grace freely to those who realise they are nothing and depend on Him for everything that enables them to live free… from sin, and from self – effort.

Jesus sets us free when we realise that real freedom us living in the absolute confidence of God’s love for us revealed and confirmed in the death of Jesus.

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”

Romans 8:31-32 NLT

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

Can you now see how important it is that any ministry in the name of Jesus must teach people how to live rooted in the love of God. This IS the golden key to the whole of life here and now, in this fallen world.

Jesus mirrors for us the pinnacle of our lives rooted in God’s love in His example as He suffered and died at the hands of ruthless murderers.

“For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God…. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, HE ENTRUSTED HIMSELF TO HIM WHO JUDGES JUSTLY. “

1 Peter 2:19, 21-23 NIV

When we are rooted in God’s love, we, will interpret everything that happens to us through the lens of that love. We can then entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly.

“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So, we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”

1 John 4:16-18 NLT

There are other keys that are of great value and influence in our lives as we live in God’s kingdom in the darkness of this world.

We are always going to be affected by the sin that attracts the old nature in us. Ungodly people affect us by their attitudes and behaviour. We often act and retaliate out of our own old, ungodly nature, adding our sin to theirs and compounding the rifts between us.

Living in union with our fellow believers also sometimes brings out the worst in us. In our eagerness to defend, protect, or vindicate ourselves, we forget God’s instruction to trust in Him to be our defence.

So, God has given us…

JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Christian Life, ,

JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14-15

Jesus spoke repeatedly of the arrival of God’s kingdom, both present and future as “good news”. What did He mean by “good news”? What was the good news He announced by His coming? When the Romans arrived on the scene in the already-occupied-by-Greece land of Israel, for the Jews it was bad news. The presence of the Roman authorities was not only an affront to their sovereignty as a nation and their freedom as a people, but it also brought with it many forms of suffering.

They could never forget that they were an occupied nation. The Romans were everywhere, waiting to clamp down on them and quell any signs of rebellion. The people were subjected to severe taxation which left many of them impoverished and resentful of their overlords and those of their own people who worked for them. What’s more, their religious hierarchy were in cahoots with Rome, benefitting handsomely from applying whatever pressure was necessary to keep the peace.

Jesus’s announcement of good news might have sent His disciples’ pulses racing but for one thing – He made no attempt to deal with the Romans. In fact He practised and taught the opposite; He healed people indiscriminately, in response to their faith and not according to their race; He taught His disciples to love their enemies, and to submit to their overlords. That did not sit well with the religious zealots who were more than eager to get rid of the Romans by whatever means it took.

So, if the good news was not about ridding Israel of Roman occupation and re-establishing the glory of the Davidic kingdom, what was it about? To understand His message, we must go back to the Old Testament. Isaiah prophesied of a day that was to come when Jerusalem would be restored after the devastation of captivity. He offered good news to the people of Zion.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say in Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. (Isa. 52:7-8)

“Your God reigns!” That was the good news but what did it mean and when would this happen? God would finally dealt with their core problem – sin – and deliver them once for all from the ravages of sin through His Suffering Servant. Isaiah graphically described, in fifteen verses (Isa 52:13- 53: 12) the nature of this deliverance – the sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty so that the guilty may be forgiven and be reconciled to God.

Inherent in Jesus’s message of good news was the restoration of God’s authority over His people when their sin was atoned for and removed once for all. This was not about Rome. This was about an occupation far more sinister and far-reaching than Rome’s. Their hearts were occupied by a usurper whose power over them had to be destroyed by exposing his deception and breaking his hold over them so that they could return to the God who had called them into a covenant with Him.

Jesus announced that the time had come for this to be accomplished. God was at hand to establish His reign in their hearts once again. Through them, He would extend it into every corner of society and every part of the globe until Jesus returns to dispose of the devil and establish His eternal kingdom on earth.

Adam and Eve sold out to the deceiver who aspired to usurp God’s place as Lord! Over the millennia, the devil has done everything in his power to own and keep this title by enslaving the human race through the sin, sorrow and suffering that came with their disobedience. The good news Jesus brought was truly “good news”. God said, “Enough is enough! Satan has had his day and now the time for deliverance has come.”

God’s reign is intended to restore righteousness and justice in the earth where evil reigns and destroys. When Jesus is acknowledged as Lord by every person who has ever lived and every angelic being, good or evil, Satan and all evil will finally be disposed of to the place where he belongs. All creation will know that Jesus is Lord and not the devil or any of the false gods he has hidden behind from the beginning of time.

The new era of the kingdom of God was ushered in when Jesus came, which He demonstrated by His words and works. The kingdom of God is among us now, but not yet in its fullness. It will only come fully when Jesus returns to reign over His redeemed people and a renewed and restored earth.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.