GOD's Kingdom Has Come

During His earthly ministry Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father who is in Heaven, holy is Your name. Let your Kingdom come and let Your Will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily needs. Forgive us today our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Yours’ are the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen!”

We do not have any problem understanding this prayer and how it applies to our life as Christians, we know that it has been fulfilled even if we struggle in our life at some points. The Bible is full of examples of GOD’s faithfulness as the True and Living GOD who is worthy of the praise and worship of all creation. That He provides for all living creatures and maintains all creation. That He forgives ours sins because of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and that He requires us to forgive as we are forgiven. That Jesus defeated all evil and has given us His victory, authority and power over all works of the devil. That Jesus is enthroned at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning over all creation for eternity. Truth!

But I think we do not fully understand the phrases, “Let Your Kingdom come and Your Will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven…For Yours’ are the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever.” So this is what I have been coming to understand, the Kingdom of Heaven has come to the earth and we are the ones who are supposed to manifest it through our lives as believers and as the Church, the Body of Christ. This is neither a new or profound revelation but in the Western Church to a large extent I do not see it being practiced.

First we do not truly understand a simple question Paul asked the Church in 1Corinthians 3.

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the LORD gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but GOD gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but GOD who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are GOD’s fellow workers; you are GOD’s field, you are GOD’s building. According to the grace of GOD which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of GOD and that the Spirit of GOD dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of GOD, GOD will destroy him. For the temple of GOD is holy, which temple you are. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with GOD. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’ Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours.  And you are Christ’s, and Christ is GOD’s.” NKJV

There are several things that Paul said that need to be reapplied to the Church today.

I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like unsaved men? For when one says, “I am a Baptist,” and another, “I am Pentecostal,” are you not carnal? Who then are Methodists, and who are Charismatics, but ministries through whom you believed, as the LORD gave to each one? For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with GOD. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’ Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether charismatic or apostolic or orthodox the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours.  And you are Christ’s, and Christ is GOD’s.

The Church today is not unified; the Church today is divided by interpretation of doctrine, by politics, by social standards, by race and color. The things that divide the world should divide the Church from the world not from each other! The Western Church has been praying for revival for decades, what we should be praying for is forgiveness and unity! The reason we do not pray for them is twofold; for one we think we are right; for the other we know that true repentance and unity come out of persecution.

I planted, Apollos watered, but GOD gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but GOD who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor (Matthew 13:-30, 36-43). For we are GOD’s fellow workers; you are GOD’s field, you are GOD’s building (1 Peter 2:1-10). According to the grace of GOD which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (Isaiah 16-17, Ephesians 2 :19-22). This is foundational.

Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, (storing up treasures in Heaven Matthew 6:19-21); wood, hay, straw, (mammon Matthew 6:24); each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, (of the heart Proverbs 17:3); of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. This seems self explanatory.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with GOD. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness;’(Job 5:13) and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’ (Psalm 94:11) Therefore let no one boast in men. (Jeremiah 9:23-24) Again self explanatory.

This is the part that I started this paper for. Do you not know that you are the temple of GOD and that the Spirit of GOD (Holy Spirit) dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of GOD, GOD will destroy him. For the temple of GOD is holy, which temple you are. This is amazingly great and it is amazingly scary.

Bad news first Jesus said, “’Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemes they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation’–because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’” Mark 3:28-30 NKJV, this is the sin that leads to death. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” 1 John 5:14-17 NKJV. It is clear that Jesus gave us the answer to the question, “What is the unforgiveable sin that leads to death?” Denying or rejecting the Holy Spirit and saying that His works and gifts are of the devil.

Good news when Jesus walked the earth He taught that the Kingdom of GOD sometimes called the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. He gave parables teaching about the Kingdom, He even told a couple of people they were close to the Kingdom. He chastised the religious leaders for not knowing and recognizing the Kingdom. Later He came to John and gave him the revelation of things to come which included the culmination of the mortal realm with the judgment of all who rejected Him and His eternal Kingdom. If some or all of this does not sound familiar to you then you should read the four gospels and Revelations 1-5 & 19-22.

I think that the thing most of us have missed is the significance of the fact that His Kingdom has come on the earth as it is in Heaven. When the Father sent Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to indwell the believers and send the Church into the world with the great commission we became the Temples of GOD in the earth. The Spirit of GOD, Holy Spirit lives in us! We are His living temples in the earth! That is why we are admonished by every epistle of the Apostles to live a holy life before GOD. To live sin free, to resist the devil, to flee fleshly lusts, to discipline our mortal bodies, to be conformed to the image of Christ, to have the mind of Christ.

When we are born again by the Blood of the Lamb through our profession of sin and asking of forgiveness we are baptized into salvation in Christ, we are a new creation. The Holy Spirit comes into our life when we are born again and we receive His power to live and serve the call GOD placed in us in our mother’s womb. When we are baptized in water as a public profession of faith and a good conscience we are baptized into His death and resurrected with Christ to be seated at the right hand of GOD our Heavenly Father. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit we receive His gifts and He produces Kingdom fruit in our life so that we know the fellowship of Christ’s suffering and we are conformed to His death.

This is His Kingdom come in the earth as it is in Heaven and all we have to do is seek it before anything else and everything else is provided so that we can serve Him and His Kingdom in the earth and through all eternity. It is all premised on the words Jesus spoke in the Garden of Gethsemane, that we also must speak from our heart; “Father, not My Will but Yours be done!”

This is the hard part, for the last 3 paragraphs I have not included any scriptures, if you want to know this truth you must search the scriptures to see if these things are true like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-13). This is the process of learning, understanding and applying the truth to our lives.