Let me start by saying something that may be more acceptable to say now. The kingdoms of this world belong to the devil. Now, that doesn’t mean that people in power are puppets. They can serve the devil if they choose to chase money in this world. Or they can be servants of God if they choose to listen to the words of God. But no matter what leaders choose to follow, they are all subject to the power and influence of the devil’s devices. The Bible says he is the god of this world. When the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted, Satan showed him the kingdoms of this world like in a commercial where people are laughing and drinking and making money and partying, and Satan offered the kingdoms of this world to Jesus Christ. The Lord didn’t say, sorry, those are mine already. Because they aren’t, not yet. This world belongs to the devil. All that is in the world the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life is not of God.
God’s kingdom has come in spirit
- Jesus Christ is the vessel through which God’s kingdom has come in spirit.
- Matthew 12:28
- Luke 17:20-21 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
- Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
- Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
- Prince of the power of the air, Satan, the Devil, the spirit already at work as the god of this world is now confronted by a mightier Spirit
- Luke 11:17-22
- Satan is the strong man and the Spirit of God is the stronger man.
- The devil’s work is what Christ is destroying as he shows the glad tidings of the kingdom and gives the nation of Israel a taste of the powers of the world to come.
- God’s kingdom is coming when God’s King returns.
- You’re supposed to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
- The coming kingdom has come in spirit first (Romans 14:17).
- Jesus told his disciples to pray thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
- God’s kingdom is eternal.
- Inheritance in the kingdom is conditioned on whether your sins are forgiven. See Ephesians 5:5. And by the way the kingdom is not only for Israelites. All nations are told to look for the coming King and his kingdom
- Colossians 1:13, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, 2 Timothy 4:1, 18
Jesus is leaving his ambassadors in a hostile kingdom (the world)
- The hostile kingdom is the world. The world is composed of the kingdoms that belong to Satan right now.
- Religious men are antagonistic to the Spirit of God. Devils are subject to the Lord Jesus Christ, but men aren’t.
- Matthew 10:16-25, in verse 17 he says But beware of men, not devils, men.
- Master is called Beelzebub then so will the followers be called devils.
- Acts 14:21-22, 2 Thessalonians 1:3-5
Gospel of the kingdom of God
- Jesus is teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing. Three things.
- Teaching seems to happen within the walls of what we’d call churches – teaching in their synagogues.
- Preaching seems to happen outside those walls.
- And the healing that accompanies this taste of the kingdom to come will go on until the gospel has been confirmed to every creature.
- It is glad tidings of the remission of sins. See how Mark describes the gospel in Mark 1:1-4 and as it relates to the coming kingdom in 1:14-15.
- Accompanied by removing the curse and giving the hearers a taste of the powers of the world to come.
- Healings and miraculous signs would confirm the word until the gospel had reached every creature. See Mark 16:15-20. By Paul’s day, Paul says the gospel has gone to every creature.
