|
The Kingdom of God is Certain
The Bible speaks with absolute certainty of the coming of the
Kingdom. From beginning to end it is packed full of promises that
the Kingdom will be established.
I can only give a brief survey of
the Lord’s promises.
Genesis 3:15.
Even at the time of the fall, God warned Satan that one day he
would be destroyed by the seed of the woman, who is Jesus. All his
power and authority will be crushed.
Genesis 22:17,18
gives a promise that the whole world will be blessed through
Abraham’s descendants.
Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their
enemies, and through your descendants, offspring all nations on
earth will be blessed.
God repeated this promise to Abraham a number of times. It has
not yet been fulfilled. Because God is faithful, we can be certain
that the time will come when Christians will take possession of
the strongholds of their enemies. They will then be a blessing to
all the nations of the earth.
Numbers 14:21
speaks of the day when the whole world will be filled with the
glory of the Lord. This is as certain as the fact that the Lord
lives.
Psalm 2 describes
the victory of the Lord. The nations may rage for a while, and the
kings may take their stand, but God, who has established his Son
at his right hand in heaven, scoffs at them. He has decreed that
his Son shall have authority over all the nations. He has already
been installed as King by the creator of the universe, so all
nations will have to submit to him.
Psalm 22:27,28
declares that the Lord has dominion over all the nations. In time,
all the families of nations, right to the end of the earth, will
bow before him. His authority will extend to the utmost parts of
the earth.
Psalm 47.
God is the king of all the earth. He reigns over the nations with
awesome authority. He will subdue the nations under the feet of his
people (v.3). As they claim their inheritance, all nations
will submit to the Lord.
Psalm 86:6-8.
There is no god like our God in all the earth. No other plans can
be compared with his. Because he alone is God, and because his
deeds are marvellous all nations will eventually acknowledge his
glory and authority.
Psalm 110
describes a conversation between God and Jesus.
The Lord says to my Lord; Sit at my right hand until I make
your enemies a footstool for your feet.
Jesus must remain in heaven until all his enemies are defeated.
The mention of a footstool gives a picture of a victorious soldier
with his foot on the neck of him enemy. This shows the extent of
the victory that Jesus will have. And that victory is certain
because God has promised Jesus that he will do it. God would not
break a promise to his Son. It is repeated 13 times in the New
Testament so it is certain.
The Psalm also tells how this victory will come about. God will
prepare an army that can reign in the midst of its enemies (v.2).
It will be an army that is willing and ready for battle (v.3).
This is a description of a church that willingly follows Jesus
until victory is won. All the kings of the earth will be crushed
before this mighty army (v.5). This victory is certain, because
the Lord has sworn, and he cannot change his mind. It will take
place while Jesus is at the right hand of God in heaven.
Isaiah 2:2-4. In
the latter days the mountain of the Lord will be chief among the
mountains. The mountains represent the nations and the mountain of
the Lord is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God will be greater
than all the nations. All nations will stream into the Kingdom,
and begin to walk in the ways of the Lord.
Isaiah 9:6-7.
This is a prophecy predicting the birth of Jesus. It says that he
will reign on David’s throne to establish justice and
righteousness. He will be called the Prince of peace. His
government begins at the time of his ministry on earth and its
"increase will have no end". The promise is that his Kingdom on
earth will continue to expand and grow until it covers the whole
earth. The zeal of the Lord will accomplish it.
Isaiah 49:6,7.
The salvation of the Lord will go out to the very ends of the
earth. This will happen at a time when Israel becomes an
instrument for the propagation of the gospel. All the kings of the
earth will then submit to the Lord.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
declares that God will establish a new covenant with the people of
Israel. The law of the Lord will be written on their hearts. This
will be followed by a great time of evangelism. The time will come
when there is no one left to evangelise. A man will no longer have
to teach his neighbour, or tell his brother to seek the Lord,
because they will all know the Lord. The Lord declares that all
people from the least to the greatest will know the Lord, and have
their sins forgiven.
Ezekiel 47:1-5
describes the flow of God’s Spirit out into the world. At the
beginning it is only ankle deep, but it grows into a might river.
The outpouring of the Spirit in the Book of Acts was only ankle
deep. The outpouring of the Spirit after the calling of the Jews
will be like a mighty flood in comparison. It will bring healing
to all the nations. The river did not reach it full depth until
4000 cubits had been measured off. It may take 4000 years from the
time of Jesus for the moving of the Spirit to reach its climax.
This would be 2000 years for the times of the Gentiles and 2000
years for the times of the Kingdom. These numbers would only be
approximate.
Daniel 2:44.
God promises to set up a kingdom that will crush all other
kingdoms and will endure forever. It was begun at the time when
Jesus ascended into heaven. It will eventually become a reality on
the earth.
Joel 2:28,29,32.
In the last days the Spirit will be poured out on all people. They
will all experience the gifts of the Spirit. All who call on the
Lord will be saved. This promise has not yet been fully
fulfilled, as the majority of people on the earth have not
experienced such a powerful moving of the Spirit. We can look
forward to a time when the Spirit will be poured out on all the
people of the earth. This will have a tremendous impact on the way
people live.
Micah 4:3,4.
The prophet Micah spoke of the glory of the kingdom of God. He
described it as a time of great blessing.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their
spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword
against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every
man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has
spoken.
The coming of the Kingdom will bring peace to the whole earth.
Men will not even need to prepare or plan for war. Every person
will have an abundance of the fruit of the earth. No one will be
poor, and there will be no need to fear. This will truly be a
golden age, a time of great blessing on the earth.
Habakkuk 2:19
speaks for itself.
The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Zechariah 14:9
describes a time when the Lord will be king over the whole earth.
On that day there will be one Lord, and his name will be the only
name in which men trust. All people will call on the Lord and
trust in his name.
Matthew 5:5
is a promise for the people of God.
The meek shall inherit the earth.
The meek are those who humbly submit to Jesus. They will
eventually inherit the earth.
Our inheritance is the earth not heaven. We need to know what
to do with the earth, when we inherit it.
Matthew 13:31-33,
The parable of the mustard seed tells us that the Kingdom will
gradually grow until it fills the whole earth. In the parable of
the leaven, Jesus says that the influence of the Kingdom will
gradually be mixed through the whole world.
Matthew 22:8-10
is the parable of the wedding banquet. The whole banquet hall was
filled up. We can expect that God will fill up the whole of his
Kingdom.
Matthew 28:18-20.
Jesus has commissioned the church to go and make disciples of all
nations. He would not command us to do something that is
impossible. He has promised to be with those who are working at
this task right to the end of the age.
John 12:30-32.
Jesus has destroyed the power of the Devil, and cast him out. When
Jesus is lifted up by the church, he will draw all men to himself.
The time will come when all people on earth will have been drawn
to the Lord.
In John 16:33
Jesus said,
In this world you will have trouble! But take heart! I have
overcome the world.
Jesus has overcome the world, so we can expect his body to
overcome the world too.
Acts 15:16,17.
The Lord will
rebuild and restore his church. In that day all the
gentiles will bear the name of Lord. The Lord himself will
accomplish these things.
Romans 16:20
contains a great promise of victory for the people of the Lord.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
This victory will come quite soon. Satan will be crushed by a
victorious church.
Philippians 2:9-11
promises great victory for the church. God has exalted Jesus to
the highest place that every knee should bow before his name.
Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. This will happen
while Jesus is exalted in the highest place in heaven, not when he
returns to the earth. The church will accomplish this victory for
him.
Hebrews 2:5-9.
God has subjected all things to Jesus. It is not something
that happens in the future, but had already taken place when the
letter to the Hebrews was written. We do not see all things
subjected to Jesus now, but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and
honour. This is a sure sign that all things will eventually be
subjected to him. We can work to bring all things into subjection
to him.
1 John 4:4.
The one who is in the church is greater than he who is in the
world. The power of the Holy Spirit is much greater than that of
the devil. The devil is just a fallen angel, whereas the Spirit is
divine, and has infinite power. The church, when it moves in the
power of the Spirit, can easily overcome Satan.
Revelation.
The whole of this book abounds in promises that God will establish
victory for his people, and bring in the Kingdom.
On the basis of all these Scriptures, we are fully justified in
looking for a golden age upon the earth. We can look for the
coming of the Kingdom with confidence. Christ is reigning in
heaven and will reign there until all enemies have been trampled
under his feet. His church will go on conquering until all the
kingdoms of the world have become the Kingdom of our Lord and his
Christ. The victory of the Kingdom is assured.
The Bible speaks with absolute certainty of the coming of the
Kingdom. From beginning to end it is packed full of promises that
the Kingdom will be established.
|