Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” What do you think that phrase means? Is it referring to the here and now? Is it a prophetic statement pointing to something in the future? Well, one thing I suspect we can all agree on is this bold statement: the pathetic state of the world and our culture today confirms that His will has certainly eluded the masses. If you doubt that, just look at the anger, hatred, despair, frustration, hopelessness, guilt, shame, remorse, addictions, divorces, and suicides that plague our daily lives, and capture the local and national headlines. Without a doubt, there is another reigning force at work behind the scenes, and the puppeteer pulling the strings is none other than the Father of Lies, the Prince of Darkness, and the god of the dark domain…satan himself! So, if this is the case, how can His will be done?
Let me begin by going back to the Garden of Eden. When God created Man (us), He created us in His image, and He created us for a relationship with Himself. The first inhabitants, Adam and Eve, were spiritually connected to God. He communed with them; they lived in paradise; He provided for all their needs, and He gave them dominion over the earth. But all of that ended with the fateful encounter with the serpent, satan. As soon as Eve and Adam were deceived by the Father of Lies, that all-important spiritual connection was severed and they were banished from the Garden. Consequently, every generation, right up to the present time, has been born spiritually separated from God. That means that from infancy on, we learn to live in a way that satisfies “self”, and unless we do something to re-establish that spiritual connection with God, our life can be defined as “living in Sin.” We don’t necessarily know that we’re living in Sin; we’re just doing what comes naturally. (The Biblical definition of this hopeless state is yielding to our “sin-nature”.)
Let me be very clear about the word “Sin”. When it is capitalized, it is a noun; it is a way of life. As such, it means we are living “separated from God; it means we are living to pleasure and exalt self rather than God, and that is contrary to the First Commandment. When the term “sin” is lower-case, it is a verb, and is the resultant behavior of being separated from God. Another way of saying that is “sinning is what Sinners do.”
The original Sin was the end result of Man’s choice to be disobedient to God’s directive, “You may freely eat any fruit in the Garden except fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:16) From that point forward, specifically, until the coming of Jesus Christ, God let Man struggle with the issue of Sin through his own best effort. The results, as you will see below, were dismal. Sin was, and still is, the chasm that separates Man from God. But with the coming of Jesus Christ, EVERYTHING changed. Jesus was/is God’s answer to Man’s dilemma.
Ephesians 1:10 tells us: “At just the right time, He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.” So, what was “just the right time?” Roman’s 5:6 gives us the answer: “When we were utterly helpless (How’s that for an indictment?), Christ came at just the right time, and died for us sinners.” Obviously “just the right time” was when we proved ourselves “utterly helpless” to save ourselves. God’s plan, even before He created the world (and us), was to provide a Redeemer to do for us what we would prove, without a shadow of a doubt, we were incapable of doing for ourselves.
This is a background that should give clarity to what it means for the Kingdom to come, and His will be done. Jesus’ primary reason for coming to earth was to be the sacrificial lamb to pay the ransom for the sins of Mankind. But there were other reasons for His coming: to be the Word incarnate; to live a life that demonstrated the Truth of God’s Word. John 1:14 tells us, “The Word (Truth) became flesh and dwelt among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.” He came to shine the light on the shortcomings and hypocrisy of religion; He came to destroy the works of satan by championing over them. He cast out demons; He healed the sick; He raised the dead, and He destroyed the curse of death by walking out of the tomb on Easter Sunday morning.
Satan IS a defeated foe! He doesn’t want you to know that, but the truth is, when Jesus overcame death, SO DID ALL CHRIST-FOLLOWERS. Satan no longer can snatch us from the arms of Jesus. Romans 6:23 makes that very clear: “For the wages of sin is death, BUT THE FREE GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!!
But one other very important reason for Jesus’ coming was to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. Remember, He came when we proved ourselves “utterly helpless” to overcome our sin-nature. The result of Man’s pathetic, helpless state was a world that was turned upside down because the teaching of Man was exalted over the Word of God. More blatantly, Man was wollering in a state of disobedience…just like today. Jesus’ Kingdom message was intended to compare the fallen state of the world with the truth of Kingdom principles.
Quite a few times in the first three Gospels of the Bible, Jesus proclaimed, “The Kingdom is at hand!”; “The Kingdom has come!”, or “Today these prophecies have been fulfilled before your very eyes!” In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven is now on earth in the person of Jesus. Everything about His behavior and His teaching represents God’s love and His standards. Let’s look at a few examples. (I mentioned this in last week’s blog, but it is worth repeating here.) Take, for instance, the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; they will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven”. (Hum?) Blessed are the meek; they will inherit the earth. (What??) or Forgive those who have wronged you, or Love your enemies…. (Are you kidding me?? That’s not the way of the world!) That very statement is why it was so difficult for people then, and for people now, to grasp a message wrapped in His love. Why? Because His love is “agape love”, which means self-sacrificial love, and that in itself is 180 degrees upside down from the ways of the world, which are rooted in self-aggrandizement.
Now let’s look at Jesus’ teaching. He told His disciples in John 8:32: “If you follow My teaching, you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” Notice that He was very specific about the teaching He was referencing. It was “My teaching”, not the teachings, the philosophies, or the revelations of the world. “So, what did Jesus teach”, you might ask? He taught about love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, compassion and acceptance; He taught about our Father, and He taught about being of service to our fellow man. Can you find objection to any of these principles?
Jesus told His disciples to “watch and listen”. He told them to be discerning about the newest, latest and greatest teachings and revelations found in other messages that claimed to be “the truth.” As we are told in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will last forever.” In other words, His Words (the Truth) are timeless! Therefore, we are called to compare all other claims and doctrines against the Truth of God’s Word. Jesus was very emphatic about this when He warned about the coming apostasy. (Ref. Matthew 24:4-14)
So, not only did the Kingdom come in the form of Jesus Christ, but as Christ-followers, we too are equipped to further His Kingdom… right here, right now. 2 Peter 1:3-4 explains this clearly: “The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, His divine power (the Holy Spirit) gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive His own glory and goodness…and we will share in His divine nature.” So, when He said “…fear not, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), the good news for us in that statement is…SO HAVE WE, because we have the Spirit of Christ living in us. (Ref. Romans 8:10-20)
The more we realize the incredible inheritance that comes from being in Christ, the more our peace, serenity, courage, confidence and strength grows. But when the power that comes from Christ being in us takes root, that is when we – each one of us – becomes a formidable force for advancing His Kingdom. That, my Dear Friends, is the only way we can experience His will being done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Next week I will write about the transformation process that must take place in each one of us so we can become effective Kingdom builders. The foundational Scripture for this is Romans 12:2.
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May God Bless You,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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