What is
“inaugurated Kingdom” and what are the characteristics of this age?
This is the
topic we intend to study in this message.
Daniel’s prophecy
Over
2,500 years ago, God gave a Jewish prophet named Daniel, special understanding
of future world governments.
While
serving in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, God revealed to
Daniel that throughout the course of human history there would be three more
world ruling empires following the Babylonian empire-the Persian, Greek and
Roman empires.
God
then inspired Daniel to write:
Daniel 2:44 "And in the days of these kings the God
of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all
these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (NKJV)
Later,
Daniel added that the saints would possess this fifth world-ruling God’s
Kingdom, and that it would stand forever (Daniel 7:18, 22, 27).
Daniel 7:18 'But the saints of the Most High shall receive the
kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.' (NKJV)
Daniel 7:27 Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the
kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of
the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall
serve and obey Him.' (NKJV)
From
Daniel’s writings, we see that the Kingdom of God will be set up on earth and
after it is established, all earthly kingdoms will eventually come to an end.
So
this prophesied Kingdom is not simply a philosophical movement or limited to a
way of thinking that only resides in the minds of people.
Instead,
in its fullest sense it is a literal kingdom, a kingdom with territory, a
ruler, laws and subjects, that will rule over all the nations on the earth.
Approximately
600 years after Daniel’s prophecy, Christ came to earth preaching “the gospel
of the kingdom of God”:
Mark 1: 14, 15
14 Now after John was put in prison,
Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of
the kingdom of God,
15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (NKJV)
When Jesus
came to earth, the world-ruling empires prophesied by Daniel had not yet run
their course.
The Roman
Empire was in power.
It was not
yet time for God’s Kingdom to replace all human governments on earth.
On trial
before Pilate, Jesus said:
John 18:36 Jesus
answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this
world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews;
but now My
kingdom is not from here." (NKJV)
Kingdom theology
What is
Kingdom theology?
Kingdom
theology is simply the area of theology that studies the Kingdom of God.
Basically,
kingdom theology divides human history into two broad periods of time:
1. the “present evil age”
2. the “age to come.”
The first
started with the fall of man and will last until the Second Coming of Christ.
The “present
evil age” is marked by sin, sickness, death, disease, war, and poverty.
In it Satan
is seen as the ruler of the world (Ephesians 2:2
and 6:12), although his
rule is limited.
The “age to
come” is when the Kingdom of God rules, providing eternal life and freedom from
sin, sickness, and suffering.
It is a time
of universal peace on earth and God’s sovereign reign over all of creation.
The
kingdom of God is God's rule over God's people in God's place.
We
see that right at the start of the Bible in Genesis 1 and 2 where God's
people, Adam and Eve, are in a relationship with God, God is the ruler, and
they are in God's place in the Garden of Eden.
Then,
through sin, that's messed up, but God reconstitutes his kingdom, first through
Abraham and then Abraham's descendants, and then finally through Moses after
the exodus with the nation of Israel.
This
is God's rule over God's people Israel and ultimately in God's place,
the land of Canaan.
In the New Testament we see that
the kingdom of God exists now through the reign of Christ over his people from
every tribe, nation and language, scattered throughout the world.
So, Kingdom of God is the rule and
reign of God according to His sovereign will.
The kingdom is a realm of people
in which God's reign may be experienced.
It is a kingdom where God's
appointed King, Jesus, is presently reigning in and through the lives of His
people, accomplishing His will "on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).
Throughout
the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7),
Jesus descriptively shows what kingdom living in a fallen world looks like, as
the kingdom shapes our experience here and now.
The Kingdom has come
1. The kingdom of God is at hand
The opening
chapter of Mark portrays Jesus re-playing the early journey of Israel from
Egypt to the Promised Land.
Mark portrays
Jesus going through the waters of baptism, as the Israelites passed through the
waters in the Exodus.
And then by
wandering in the wilderness for forty days, Mark again presents a parallel to the
Israelites wandering in the wilderness for forty years.
The Baptism of Jesus by John is the formal ceremonial moment marking the
inauguration of his rule as the Anointed One, the Messianic King.
John the Baptist’s preaching is identified as the “voice of one crying in
the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
He warns the “children of Abraham” not to take their ethnic heritage for
granted, but rather challenges them to be prepared spiritually and morally for
the coming of “he who is mightier than I”, the Messiah Jesus.
With the descent of the Holy Spirit “coming to rest on him” and divine
voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”, the
reign of Jesus as Messianic King is inaugurated.
Jesus is
officially and divinely established as the Son of God, the promised heir of
David’s throne
After
baptism, Jesus was led to the desert by the Holy Spirit to be tested by Satan.
Unlike the
Israelites, Jesus overcame Satan’s temptation perfectly, proving himself to be
the long awaited king.
On
the heels of these events, Jesus declared:
Mark
1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (NKJV)
What
does Jesus mean by “the kingdom of God is at hand“?
Jesus
was announcing that the kingdom of God had been inaugurated. It had come.
Hence,
Jesus continued by saying, “Repent and believe in the gospel!”
The
reason to “repent and believe” is that “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom
of God is at hand.”
In Jesus’
person and coming, the kingdom has become a present reality.
With the arrival of King Jesus to
earth, God's kingdom was inaugurated "on earth as it is in heaven."
To be sure, Jesus had always been
Lord over all creation.
Since the dawn of time, there has
never been a moment when the Lord hasn't reigned over all that He has made.
But God's reign and rule were
demonstrated in new and dramatic ways when Jesus brought it from heaven to
earth in a paradigm-shattering manner.
The time had come; God's kingdom
was here with us. Here was God's kingdom earthed.
Through his words, Jesus explains
the kingdom and invites people to enter into it.
Luke summarizes Jesus’ ministry as
“proclaiming and bringing the good news of the
kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1).
Jesus
transforms the kingdom
Israel’s messianic hopes focused
on the coming of a military conqueror who would rescue them from their
geo-political enemies.
But Jesus re-orients their vision
by declaring, “but now My kingdom is not from here." (John 18:36).
Jesus transforms the kingdom,
showing it is holistic in its nature, redemptive in its mission, and cosmic in
its scope.
Although not
yet here in its consummate form, these inaugural events show that Christ’s
kingdom has indeed already broken into this world.
This means
that the Great Commission is not a call to invite people into a future kingdom.
Rather, we
are ambassadors sent to proclaim a present worldwide kingdom (2 Cor. 5:20) whose king
is already reigning (Eph. 1:20-21).
And we are to
make disciples in every nation who will submit to the lordship of Jesus by the
grace of God, through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.
All of Jesus' ministry, His words
and the miracles and signs, showed there was a new order: God's order.
With Christ's first coming, God
began the process of reversing the curse of sin and redeeming all things. In
Christ.
When Jesus healed the diseased,
raised the dead, and forgave the desperate, He did so to show that with the
arrival of God in the flesh came the restoration of the way God intended things
to be.
Christ's miracles
were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural
order. They were a reminder of what once was prior to the fall and a
preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again - a world of
peace and justice, without death, disease, or conflict.
The inauguration of God's kingdom
through Jesus began the "great reversal"- repealing the curse of sin
and death, ensuring that God had begun the process of recreating all things.
First,
Jesus begins to correct a misunderstanding of
the kingdom—namely, that it would come with such observable signs
that it would be unmistakable: Rome would be overturned, Israel would be
vindicated, and an earthly kingdom would be established.
Jesus
said, "No, it is not coming in a way that can be observed like that.
There
is a mystery about the coming of the kingdom.
It
is here in your midst without those kinds of observable signs. It is here
because I am here.
I
am the arrival of the kingdom, even though I will not overturn the Romans or
set up an earthly kingdom now.”
Jesus bound the strong man
Among the
miracles Jesus repeatedly performed was casting out demons.
Through his works, Jesus shows the
power of the kingdom and his authority over the prince of darkness.
Jesus not only declares the
kingdom in his words but also demonstrates the kingdom in his works.
Matthew
depicts such an occasion, in which the Pharisees accuse him of working through
the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.
In response,
Jesus says:
Matthew
12: 28, 29
28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit
of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 "Or
how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first
binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. (NKJV)
Additionally,
when Jesus sent out the 72 in Luke 10,
he instructed them to heal the sick and tell them that, the kingdom of God has
come near to you.
When they
returned to Jesus they were ecstatic, and said to him: “Lord, even the
demons are subject to us in your name!”
And Jesus
replied:
Luke 10: 19 "Behold,
I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (NKJV)
The kingdom
of God is a kingdom of conquest.
The foes of Jesus
are Satan, sin, and death.
In the
dislodgment of Satan, the kingdom of God comes and exerts its inherent power of
conquest.
Miracles of Jesus represented the
blessings of the kingdom that Jesus brought to earth.
Jesus' miracles were temporary
foretastes of kingdom blessings that God's people would enjoy forever in the
age to come.
Beyond this, Jesus' attention to
social justice for the poor, the needy, and those who suffered at the hands of
others also represented important blessings of the kingdom.
But the greatest blessing in the
inauguration of God's kingdom was the gift of eternal salvation that Christ
gave to all who believed in him.
Good news of victory
To understand the inauguration of
the Kingdom better, let us learn the meaning of “good news”?
The
“good news” is the announcement that "the King has come"; the
lordship and the kingship of Jesus has been declared.
His
death and His resurrection have confirmed His kingship.
So,
the good news is a declaration of something that has happened already.
In Luke 4:43, Jesus summarized the purpose of his ministry
in this way:
Luke 4:43 but He said
to them, "I must preach the
kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been
sent." (NKJV)
Luke
4:43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the
other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (NIV)
The phrase "good news"
comes from the Greek noun euangelion,
a term that occurs some 76 times in
the New Testament.
It means, a "good announcement,"
or a "good message."
But notice that in this verse
Jesus also said he "must proclaim the good news."
The Greek verb translated,
"proclaim" is euangelizo
(yoo-ang-ghel-id'-zo).
It appears some 54 times in the New Testament.
The whole phrase means that, Jesus
came "to proclaim or to announce good news."
Many Evangelicals today think of
the good news, or gospel, as an explanation of the steps an individual must
take to find salvation in Christ.
We should share to people how to become
followers of Christ and lead them to Christ.
But this wasn't the idea that
Jesus had in mind, when he said “I
must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of
God” (NIV)
The good news in the Scriptures is
about something much more significant.
The gospel is the
good news of victory for the kingdom
of God.
In the Greek translation of the
Old Testament, the Septuagint uses the verb euangelizo, some 20 times.
This word translated the Hebrew
verb basar (baw-sar' - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon Number - 01319), meaning "to bring or announce good news."
When these words were used in
reference to kings and kingdoms, they signified the
good news of victory in battle. (1 Samuel 31:9 and 2 Samuel 18:19 )
And so the "good news"
in the New Testament is so often associated with victory for God's kingdom.
So we may actually translate Luke 4:43 along
these lines:
I
must proclaim the good news of [victory for] the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43).
The basic concept of the good news
or gospel in the New Testament is the good news "of [victory for]"
the kingdom of God.
Historical background
Israel's Failures
After sin brought creation and the
human race under a curse, God chose Abraham and his descendants to fulfill the
kingdom commission he had first given to Adam and Eve.
God promised to multiply the
family of Abraham.
And he gave Abraham's descendants
the Promised Land as the starting point for spreading God's blessings
throughout the world.
In the days of Moses and Joshua,
God furthered the Israelites' privileges and responsibilities by giving them
victory over the Canaanites and over the satanic spirits the Canaanites served.
Later on, David, Solomon and a few
other kings of Israel and Judah had significant successes in extending God's
kingdom to other nations.
In fact, at the height of
Solomon's reign, Israel was one of the world's most glorious empires.
Despite these privileges, every
generation of Abraham's descendants failed God in one way or another.
But God showed patience and
enabled them to move forward despite their sins.
Sadly, once God's people became
their own kingdom, with a royal dynasty and a temple in the capital city,
Israel's failures became so flagrant that God turned in judgment against them.
He called for the evil empires of
Assyria and Babylon to conquer Israel in war.
These severe defeats finally
removed the house of David, decimated the temple, destroyed Jerusalem and sent
most Israelites into exile.
The Promised Land was left in
ruins.
And at the end of the Old
Testament, the accomplishments of God's kingdom seemed to have all but
disappeared.
By the time of the New Testament,
God's kingdom in Israel had suffered under the tyranny of Gentile nations, for
more than 500 years.
Israel's Hopes
In the Old Testament, God spoke
through his prophets to warn Israel of their impending defeat and exile because
of their unfaithfulness.
But, in his mercy, he also
inspired the prophets to call those in exile to repent in hopes of a great
victory.
So Israel hoped for the time when
God would defeat his enemies and deliver his people into the blessings of his
glorious, worldwide kingdom.
We can see these hopes many places
in Old Testament prophecy:
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him
who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims
salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" (NKJV)
This verse is important for us
because it explicitly mentions the good news of victory for God's kingdom.
First, Isaiah said that messengers would "bring good news"
and "bring good tidings" to Zion.
Both of these phrases translate
the Hebrew verb basar, which the Septuagint translates with euangelizo.
As we saw earlier, this same
terminology is used in the New Testament for the good news of victory for God's
kingdom in Christ.
Second, we see Isaiah 52:7 quoted
in Romans 10:15.
Here, Paul indicated that
Christian preaching fulfilled Isaiah's prediction of messengers announcing good
news at the end of Israel's exile.
Romans 10:15 And how shall
they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the
feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good
things!" (NKJV)
Third, Isaiah predicted that the good news would be a proclamation of
"peace" and "salvation." In Ephesians 6:15, Paul referred to the Christian
"gospel of peace" and in Ephesians
1:13 he mentioned "the
gospel of your salvation."
And fourth,
the last line of this verse summarizes the good news when it declares, "Your God reigns!" This message forms the
basis of the gospel that Jesus and the New Testament authors repeatedly
referred to as "the good news of the kingdom", or the reign of God.
Israel's subjection to Gentile
nations weighed heavily on the minds of Jews in the first century.
When the New Testament was
written, the defeat of God's kingdom troubled Jesus' followers.
First century Jews wondered, was
the exile the end of God's visible kingdom?
Was there any hopeful good news
for the kingdom of God?
But all was not lost. Jesus of
Nazareth proclaimed the good news of victory.
It is the proclamation of God's
victorious kingdom that would be established throughout the world in Jesus Christ.
Nothing was more important to them
than their belief that God's kingdom would rise to unprecedented victory in
Jesus.
Inaugurated Kingdom
On the whole, it helps to think of
the New Testament outlook on the coming of God's kingdom as a threefold
victory.
The victory of God's kingdom comes
in the inauguration, continuation, and consummation
of Jesus' messianic work.
Testament authors drew upon the
fact that the defeat of God's enemies and the deliverance of God's people had
begun in Christ's first advent.
These events would continue
throughout church history.
In the continuation, Jesus
advanced the victory of God's kingdom from his throne in heaven.
And Jesus will continue to further
the kingdom throughout the history of the church.
And Jesus will bring the
consummation of the kingdom when he returns in glory.
This is the final victory of God's
kingdom when all evil will be destroyed and God's glorious kingdom will extend
everywhere in the world.
Already and not yet
One of the
biggest questions related to the kingdom of God when Jesus announces the
kingdom of God is, is it a present reality?
Has
it come in His words and deeds, or is it still a future entity?
The Old Testament does not clearly separate the two comings
of Christ.
It sees one great day of the Lord coming when God would deal
finally with sin and defeat his enemies and gather his people into a kingdom of
peace and righteousness and joy and make the earth and the heavens new and
glorious with the Messiah ruling forever and ever.
But it didn't make clear that this day of the Lord—the coming
of the kingdom—would happen in two stages: first, with Jesus coming as a
suffering servant to atone for sin, and second, with Jesus coming in the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory.
But
many Biblical scholars believe that the Kingdom of God is both present and
future.
They
call the present as the “inaugurated Kingdom” and the future as “Consummated
Kingdom”.
The kingdom of God began at the first coming of Jesus and is now here,
although it will not be fully consummated until His second coming.
With the kingdom of God having been inaugurated by Jesus, the church
has access to the kingdom promises right now.
The continuation
stage of the kingdom of God is
the stage we are in now - living in between Christ's first and second coming.
It's a stage marked by tension
between present and future.
This period in the redemptive
history of humanity is often referred to as "already
and not yet": the kingdom is already here in true form, but not
yet in full form.
Kingdom of God is present in its
beginnings, but still future in its fullness.
We are “already” in the kingdom, but we do “not yet” see it in its
glory.
The kingdom, then, is described in Scripture both as a realm presently
entered and as one entered in the future.
1 John 3: 2 Beloved, now we
are children of God; and it has not
yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is
revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (NKJV)
Romans 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also
called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these
He also glorified. (NKJV)
Ephesians 2: 5, 6
5 even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (NKJV)
The above verses say that, we are the children of God, we are
glorified and that we are seated with Christ “in the heavenly realms” as if
these were completed acts.
But, in fact, we don’t feel very “glorified”, and our surroundings do
not much resemble “heavenly realms.”
That’s because the present spiritual reality does not yet match up
with the future, physical reality.
It has “not yet been revealed what we
shall be”.
In this stage, we embrace the
reality that while we're not yet what we will be, we're also no longer
what we used to be.
We're like Israel during her
wilderness wanderings—we've left Egypt, but haven't yet entered the
Promised Land.
One day, these two will be in synchronization.
So, there is a biblical basis for the “already but not yet” system of
interpretation.
So, while the
Kingdom of God is already begun (inaugurated by Christ) and Christ is already
ruling from heaven, the full benefits of the Kingdom have not yet been
realized, and we still suffer the effects of the fall.
He's also
reigning in our hearts. And so the kingdom has come, it's "already,"
but it is still “not yet”.
We
still live in these bodies; we still live in this fallen world, yet the kingdom
has come because Christ is reigning at the right hand of the Father.
Many
of its blessings are here to be enjoyed now; but many of them are not yet here.
Some
of its power is available now but not all of it.
Some
of the curse and misery of this old age can be overcome now by the presence of
the kingdom. But some of it cannot be.
The
decisive battle against sin and Satan and sickness and death has been fought
and won by the King in his death and resurrection, but the war is not over.
Sin
must be fought, Satan must be resisted, and sickness must be prayed over and
groaned under (Romans 8:23), and
death must be endured until the second coming of the King and the consummation
of the kingdom.
Because the
Kingdom of God is still “not yet” here in all of its glory and power,
Christians still suffer sickness and death.
Jesus’ parables of the kingdom picture it as yeast in dough and a tree
growing.
In other words,
the kingdom is slowly working toward an ultimate fulfillment.
According to inaugurated eschatology, all the promises of the kingdom
can be fulfilled in the church today.
For example, Isaiah 35:5 makes the promise that, in the kingdom, “the
eyes of the blind [will] be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.”
This promise can be claimed today, say promoters of the “already but
not yet” concept, if we have faith to make the kingdom “break through” into our
world.
The reasoning is thus: Jesus is the King on the throne in heaven, and
His kingdom has already been established, so the blind should see and the deaf
should hear.
The Kingdom's consummation
The final and complete defeat of
God's enemies will happen with the consummation of God’s kingdom.
A dramatic change will occur in
Jesus' strategy at the consummation.
In the continuation stage of the
Kingdom, Jesus fought with evil spiritual enemies
and extended mercy to human enemies.
But the advocate of humans during
the “inaugurated Kingdom” changes His position to the Judge of righteousness.
When Christ returns, he will no
longer extend mercy to God's human enemies.
Instead, Christ will lead in
battle against God's spiritual and human enemies to bring
about their utter defeat, their elimination from the earth, and their eternal
judgment.
Revelation 19: 13 - 15
13
He was clothed with a robe dipped in
blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
14 And
the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on
white horses.
15 Now
out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.
And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (NKJV)
In a similar way, Revelation 20:10 depicts
Christ's glorious return as the time of final judgment against evil spirits and
Satan:
Revelation
20:10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented
day and night forever and ever. (NKJV)
That means, when Christ returns,
both human and spiritual enemies will come under the eternal judgment of God.
These emphases confirm that the
defeat of God's enemies is a crucial feature of New Testament.
The
kingdom has started, it is here, but it is still wending its way, forging its
way until the consummation.
But Scripture teaches that the
complete deliverance of God's people into the blessings of God's kingdom won't
be accomplished until the final consummation of the kingdom.
In the consummation, God's people
will fully experience all the promised blessings of the kingdom.
When Christ returns, the kingdom
of the world will be completely replaced with the victorious kingdom of God.
In the consummation, God's people
will be delivered to become "a kingdom [of] priests," and "they
will reign on the earth."
The kingdom's consummation, will
take place when Jesus comes back and the process of reversing the curse of sin
and recreating all things is completed.
When our King returns there'll be
no more sickness, death, tears, division, or tension.
The "peace on earth"
which the angels announced the night Christ was born will become a universal
actuality.
God's cosmic rescue mission will
be complete.
Everything and everyone will live
in perfect harmony.
Shalom will rule.
For the pardoned children of God,
there will be complete harmony when Jesus comes back.
We'll work and worship in a
perfectly renewed earth without the interference of sin.
We who believe the gospel will
enjoy sinless hearts and minds along with disease-free bodies.
All that causes us pain and
discomfort will be destroyed, and we will live forever.
Until then, the resistance
remains; the combat carries on.
But we can press on faithfully
knowing that for citizens of God's Kingdom, the best is yet to come.
Repent and believe
What
should we do in the present stage of the Kingdom?
We
should respond to the good news regarding the Kingdom: “Repent, and
believe in the
gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Sadly,
this important instruction is widely ignored or, at best, only partially
explained.
Some
say that all you have to do is “believe on Jesus.”
Too
often, this popular explanation has blurred the understanding of the true
gospel.
It
is a mistaken idea that all people have to do to receive eternal life in the
Kingdom of God is to simply believe that Jesus is their Savior and that He
lived a righteous life for us.
But
according to the Bible, we have to repent and believe in order to inherit the
Kingdom of God.
Repentance includes two important parts.
First, repentance is a gift of God.
Because
God has to open a person’s mind and draw him or her to Himself, this aspect of
repentance must come from God.
Is
God who leads people to repentance.
Romans 2: 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and
longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (NKJV)
Without
God’s involvement, true biblical repentance is impossible.
Second, repentance also includes a sustained decision by the person to
change his or her life from doing whatever pleases to that person.
He
or she should decide to obey God’s commands thereafter.
In
response to God mercifully removing the veil of spiritual blindness and thereby
allowing the person to understand, God expects him or her to stop sinning and
begin living as He commands.
Conclusion
And finally the encouragement: the kingdom really has arrived.
The King has come. The King has dealt with sin once for all in the sacrifice
of himself.
The King sits at the Father's right hand and reigns now until all his
enemies are under his feet.
The King's righteousness is now already ours by faith.
The King's Spirit is now already dwelling in us.
The King's holiness is now already being produced in us.
The King's joy and peace have now already been given to us.
The King's victory over Satan is now already ours.
The King's power to witness is now already available to us.
And the King's gifts—the gifts of his Spirit—are now already available for
ministry.
Let me conclude this short message.
May God bless you all! Amen!
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