Living in the Kingdom of God Now

We have been discussing the Kingdom of God and living for the Kingdom.  Today I want to continue discussing these concepts and further develop our understanding of the reality of the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is here now.  We Christians are citizens of the Kingdom of God, and we are entitled to live in all of its benefits and blessings.  We are also called to seek the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness above all else.  The more you understand the Kingdom of God, the more you will begin to walk in the supernatural, the more you will see God’s will manifest in your life. 

Remember this verse, which is so very important, “For [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” (Colossians 1:13 NIV)

Every one of us was under the dominion of darkness.  Every one of us was under the devil’s jurisdiction.  We were influenced and blinded by the devil.  Look back at some of my posts and podcasts if you need to learn more about that.  But thank God, when we got saved we were removed from the devil’s dominion and brought into the Kingdom of God.  We are in the Kingdom of God now.  So we need to start living like it. 

Jesus provided us with an example of someone totally connected to, and living from, the Kingdom of God.  When you see His authority, His ability, His ministry, these were directly tied to the Kingdom of God.  Our lives can flow from the Kingdom of God in the same way. 

Notice the first recorded ministry words of John the Baptist.  “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:1-2 KJV)

Now notice the first recorded ministry words of Jesus. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 KJV)

Both John the Baptist and Jesus started their ministry by telling people to turn from their ways and look to God, for the Kingdom of God was at hand.  The phrase “at hand” in the Greek means physically or temporally very close.  It means right next to you or imminently about to happen.

First we should notice the importance both John and Jesus place on the Kingdom of God.  Their message was not simply that salvation from sin was going to be available soon.  Their message was that the Kingdom of God was there.   

Look at this statement from Jesus.  “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” (Matthew 12:28 KJV)

That verse doesn’t include the Greek phrase which they translated “at hand”.  In this verse Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God has arrived.  This is such an extremely important verse.  When Jesus came, the Kingdom of God came with Him.  The Kingdom of God has complete authority over the dominion of darkness.  So when we see Jesus casting out demons, we see the Kingdom of God in manifestation. 

Note again the verse from Colossians which tells us we were delivered from the dominion of darkness.  Every single person that has been born since Adam and Eve has been born into the dominion of darkness, except for Jesus.  The rest of us are born under the devil’s jurisdiction because of original sin which is passed down through the male line.  But Jesus was not tainted by original sin.  He is perfect.  He came from God, and the Kingdom of God came with Him.  This is why He had complete authority over unclean spirits.  Read those passages again for yourselves.  The demons had no question about His authority over them.  They knew He was the Son of God, and they knew His authority.  He said that authority was a manifestation of the Kingdom of God.

Let me also quickly say that the Kingdom of God doesn’t just have authority over unclean spirits.  We see Jesus exercise the authority of the Kingdom over sickness.  We also see Jesus exercise authority over the natural elements of this earth.  I’m still studying the reaches of this authority, but for now let’s just say the Kingdom of God has significant authority over many areas of life, probably only limited by the free will and rights of other human beings. 

So the Kingdom of God was with Jesus, and Jesus was manifesting the Kingdom of God when He took authority over uncleans spirits and sickness.  Now we need to see how that Kingdom of God authority translates to us, how it is transferred to us. 

“Then he (Jesus) called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1-2 KJV)

Jesus had power and authority over the unclean spirits and sickness.  Furthermore, He had the right to delegate that authority to other humans.  Look at these next two fascinating passages on this subject. 

“The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places He planned to visit. These were His instructions to them: "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.  . . Heal the sick, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.'”  (Luke 10:1-2, 9 NLT)

“When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to Him, "Lord, even the demons obey us when we use Your name!" "Yes," He told them, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you." (Luke 10:17-219 NLT)

Jesus first delegated His power and authority over unclean spirits and sickness to the 12 disciples.  Then Jesus did the same with another 72 disciples.  That’s 84 other people who participated in the ministry of Jesus.  To put it another way, that’s 84 other people who walked the earth with the same Kingdom of God authority over the dominion of darkness and sickness.  And those 84 people were told to preach the same message as John the Baptist and Jesus preached, the Kingdom of God is at hand. 

We should also notice Jesus’ point about satan falling from Heaven like lightening.  The devil was booted out of Heaven.  The devil and his realm of authority has no position in the Kingdom of God, it has no position in the authority structure of Heaven.  Therefore, the Kingdom of God has complete authority over the devil and his dominion.  You, Christian, have complete authority over the devil and his dominion.

Before we continue and even expand on our understanding of our authority in the Kingdom of God.  I want to show you one more passage to make it crystal clear that the same authority Jesus delegated to the disciples is with us today.  Remember again from our first verse, we were under the dominion of darkness, but now we are in the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is with us now the same way it was with Jesus during His earthly ministry. 

These are the last words of Jesus which are recorded in the book of Mark.

“He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." (Mark 16:15-18 NIV)

We see here some of the same issues of Kingdom of God authority now being applied to those who would believe through the Apostles’ preaching.  That group of people includes you and me.  We are those who believe.  And now we, as citizens and children of the Kingdom of God, can walk in this authority.  We have authority over sickness and disease straight from the Kingdom of God.  We have authority over unclean spirits straight from the Kingdom of God.  As the Disciples did during Jesus’ earthly ministry, we exercise the authority in the Name of Jesus.

My brothers and sisters, it is far passed time that we all begin walking in our Kingdom Authority.  And truthfully it’s beyond just sickness and disease.  Look at again Jesus’ words to the 72 in Luke chapter 10.  Jesus said that we have authority over all the enemy’s power, all the enemy’s ability.  It’s time that we rise up and start taking authority over the enemy regardless of what he is trying to do or where he is trying to do it.  Let’s look at this next very powerful passage.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."” (Matthew 16:13-19 NIV)

Jesus did not mean He would build His church on Peter.  The word for “rock” is different in the Greek.  Jesus was saying that His Church (His ecclesia, His group of people called out to rule for the Kingdom) would be built on the revelation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  Look at what Jesus has given His Church.  He has given us the very keys to the Kingdom of God.  We now have an authority tied to the Kingdom of God to bind and loose according to the will of God. 

This helps us understand the words, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.”  We are supposed to enforce God’s Will and the Kingdom of God’s jurisdiction now in the earth.  Whenever you see the enemy at work in someone’s life, through oppression, sickness or any other means, it’s time to bind the devil and all his unclean spirits.  We command them in Jesus’ name to stop their activities and to leave that person’s life.  We need to be doing this in our lives, in the lives of our friends and family.  We need to start praying big, bold prayers along these lines, even binding the enemy and forbidding his activities over nations and throughout the world.

We also need to start loosing the Kingdom of God in the earth.  We need to pray for laborers to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.  We need to start loosing the fruits of the Spirit and the very Spirit of God to have free reign in the earth.  We have had such an incorrect idea about the sovereignty of God and what God does in the earth today.  We need to take our place for the Kingdom and we need to start exercising the tremendous authority we have been given.

So please understand and carry these truths with you for the rest of your life.  Jesus was not subject to the dominion of darkness.  When Jesus came to earth He brought the Kingdom of God with Him.  He then demonstrated the Kingdom of God’s complete and total authority over the devil and all of his unclean spirits and all of his abilities.  We too were under the dominion of darkness, but Jesus has set us free.  We are now in the Kingdom of God, and we now have the same authority as Jesus over the dominion of darkness.  It’s time that we use it and take our place for the Kingdom.

 “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” (1 Corinthians 4:20 KJV)