The Kingdom of God is inward, attitudinal with occasional
and too infrequent bursts of power, but one day, perhaps sooner than we know
that will change. Why? Because Jesus Christ is coming again and then
the Kingdom of God will be outward, with an unquestionable attitude, and no
limits to its power.
I can hear it now, “What right has He got to come and rain
on my parade?” Could it be God has His
own agenda and timetable? That God and
man have different agendas has been the problem from near the beginning of
God’s relationship with man. It seems
God has this novel notion that since He created all things, including man, He
holds the “trump” cards—all of them. But
out of this position of strength, God has actually wanted to share everything He
has with mankind, with only one restriction!—to not partake of the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
How perverse is it that this one restriction, rather than
all the available possibilities, should consume the attention of the first man
and woman? But that’s what happened and
continues to happen. It boils down to
this, each person wants his or her own way (the basis of sin). However benign such a notion appears, its
consequences are frightful—actually leading to much heartache and ultimately
death. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of
death” (Proverbs 16:25). This takes us back to the different
agenda scenario.
In time, with plenty of warning revealed by all kinds of
signs on the earth, in the heavens and among men, God is going to shut down
this present order of things before man blows it up. It’s critical we understand man’s penchant
for evil. One of the learnings from the
Noahic flood, with its catastrophic loss of life for all of mankind, save those
aboard the ark, was this assessment of mankind, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”
(Genesis 6:5).
This situation with the evil of man’s heart is coming full
circle as indicated by Jesus prophetic assessment, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of
the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26). Jesus
continued, “For then there will be great
tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this
time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless
those days were shortened no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake (the
“chosen ones”, both Jew and Gentile) those
days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21 & 22).
All this follows a mighty preaching of a magnificent Gospel,
a “full” Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom—here’s the way Jesus put it, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end
will come” (Matthew 24:14). Perhaps
with this the last convert, the last disciple will have been made; then God
will shut down this phase of history.
Next, God will start building His Kingdom upon the earth,
featuring King Jesus upon a throne in Jerusalem with King Jesus’
representatives governing throughout the world.
He will have exactly 1,000 years to see what He can do, reigning as a
Jewish King under Jewish law. For most
it will be a blest time.
Man has had ample time to try it without God and has amply
demonstrated in every place and in every way, it just doesn’t work. God is calling you to have a part in His
kingdom on His terms—are you in?
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