by Aaron Davis
LIBERTY = FREEDOM
The book of Isaiah in the Old Testament and the book of Luke in the New Testament declare that Jesus would come to bring liberty to the captives. Liberty equals freedom! If liberty to the captives is why Jesus came over 2,000 years ago, it is still the why for today. Even though many may not understand what freedom looks like, how to obtain it, or how to exercise it in their own lives, it does not negate the kingdom principle of freedom being an essential part and provision of our covenant with God.
Luke 4:18–19 (NIV)
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
If we look at this particular scripture, I think it is safe to assume that there are also applicable metaphors, as well as literal interpretations. For instance, although Jesus may be referring to prisoners bound in chains, the kingdom concept for this scripture likely also includes those who are spiritual prisoners bound by sin who can experience freedom in Christ. And in addition to physically blind people, there may be those who experience spiritual blindness as a result of inaccurate teaching or even ignorance, in which case the central teaching by Jesus of the kingdom of God could open the eyes of the spiritually blind. And this is not presented as a concept that will happen after death when one goes to heaven, but actually inferred as a kingdom-of-God manifestation in this physical realm.
I don’t believe that Jesus exemplified the kingdom-of-heaven principles here on earth for when we get to heaven, but rather to show how these kingdom principles are actually established and apply here on earth as it is in heaven. For a great many Christians, heaven at death is the beginning and the end of what they believe is the kingdom of God and the manifestation of it in their lives. But as a result, they will likely never truly experience real life on earth as God intended and Jesus provided in His “kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” fulfillment of His prayer for us.
SO WHY AM I HERE?
I can’t tell you how many people have asked me, “Why am I here?”
At times, I’ve even asked myself that question.
If finding Jesus and encountering God so we can go to heaven is the only reason we are here, then I can understand why someone would feel like their life is pointless and purposeless.
But what if there is more than we have been told or experienced? What if God actually meant what He said in the Bible and all the promises that are tied to our covenant with Him are actually intended for us to walk in and experience on the earth? What if His kingdom established as Jesus prayed “on earth as it is in heaven” is actually what He intended? If that is the case and our experience is not consistently reflecting what Jesus taught and exampled to us about the kingdom of God, then where does that leave us in responsible pursuit of understanding what is available versus what is experienced? Perhaps we have work to do.
If you found out that you were left an inheritance of multiples of millions of dollars or even that there was a remote chance that you were, what would you be willing to do to try to discover the truth? I’m not trying to dilute what I am presenting, but I know that there are some who may have difficulty accepting what I am presenting as being applicable in all circumstances.
So let me ask you this: what if what has been proposed in this chapter concerning the kingdom of God was applicable even a percentage of the time (even if it were a small percentage)? What could that mean for the church or the human race as a whole? What would happen if we began to believe, see, and actually experience the greater things that Jesus promised? What if lives were changed and people were healed? What if the principles that were previously only projected as an ideal experience to be hoped for in heaven were actually accessible here on earth, and were a part of being and establishing God’s kingdom through what Jesus said and in His life exemplified?
John 14:10–14 (NIV)
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
What if Jesus actually meant what He said? It might mean that, for those who are in His kingdom, there is more than the common experience of lack, loss, and unfulfilled expectations.
WHAT DOES THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON THE EARTH LOOK LIKE?
When referring to the kingdom of God throughout the rest of this book, I will not be referring to heaven but to the establishment of God’s kingdom here on the earth, parallel to what Jesus prayed in Matthew 6. Or, in other words: what heaven’s principles established here in the earth would look like.
Scripture is very clear that we do not reach heaven by any other means than faith.
Ephesians 2:8–9 (AMP)
For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]
When I look throughout scripture, I see multiple examples of how relative our experience may be since it is directly tied to how deeply we comprehend, establish, and apply what is written. Our willingness to not only understand but implement what we are taught in scripture seems to influence how we experience fulfillment of these scriptures in our lives, subsequently also influencing how we live them out as we personally seek (or if we seek) to establish God’s kingdom on the earth. As a result, I believe that many find themselves lacking in their experience and expectation of how God should respond because they didn’t understand the application of the scriptures to begin with.
It’s been said that knowledge is not power, but rather the application of knowledge is power. So how does this application of knowledge apply to experiencing the kingdom of heaven on earth? These scriptures below (my emphasis added) may give us some insight.
Romans 14:17 (AMP)
[After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
I Corinthians 6:9–10 (AMP)
Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality, Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:21 (AMP)
Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Matthew 12:28 (KJV)
But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
Luke 9:2 (NIV)
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
Luke 9:11 (KJV)
And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.
Luke 11:20 (KJV)
But if I with the finger of God cast out dev
ils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
Luke 10:9 (KJV)
And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
John 3:3 (KJV)
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So, looking at the list of things in I Corinthians 6:9–10 and Galatians 5:21 that seem to indicate choices that would alienate most believers from experiencing the kingdom of God, one might ask, “Then who qualifies?” The answer to that is easier than one might assume—all of us can!
Here is the thing about these scriptures: they are not referring to mistakes, nor are they labeling those who have made mistakes as defined by their sin. They are rather addressing lifestyle choices that, when grafted into our lives and cultivated by our repeated choices and actions without being uprooted, produce fruit in our lives that competes with, steals resources from, or even stands in the way of experiencing the fullness of God’s kingdom. Like weeds in a garden, those that are permitted to live and take root unrestrained have the capacity to limit, if not choke out, the healthy or desired fruit.
It is vitally important to realize that traditionally people have assumed that scriptures on the kingdom of God were specifically talking about “getting to heaven,” but the question and position I propose and even subscribe to myself is, “What if they were actually talking about the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth?” What if when I Corinthians 6:10 said, “the drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God,” it was not necessarily referring to going to heaven, but actually experiencing the benefits of heaven here on earth in the established kingdom of God because they were, in their lifestyle and choices, committed to the establishment of a different kingdom that stands in direct opposition to the manifestation of the kingdom of God in their lives? I’m not saying that this is absolutely the case in every scenario, but what if it has significant application and we have never been privy to the perspective?
What the kingdom of God on the earth looks like can easily be defined by what was originally promised to man by God in Genesis and what was directly exampled by Jesus in the Gospels?
ADVANCING THE KINGDOM
Let’s think about advancing the kingdom of God. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). All we need to do is go back to Genesis 1 to be reminded of God’s original purpose for creation. After creating everything else in five days, He created humans on the sixth. He told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and then He informed them that they were supposed to take dominion over what He had just created (see Gen. 1:28).
Although this was God’s plan, it was hijacked by Satan’s success in tempting Adam and Eve to disobey God. The result was that Satan usurped the authority that Adam was supposed to have over the creation and went on to become a god of this age and the prince of the power of the air (see Eph. 6:12).
From the time of the Fall and the very first sin, Satan virtually had his way over the human race until Jesus came. Jesus was called the last Adam because, through His death and resurrection, He turned things back around (see I Cor. 15:20–28, 45). He came to seek and to save that which was lost. What was lost? Dominion over creation was lost because Adam forfeited it in the Garden of Eden.
Jesus brought a new kingdom, the kingdom of God, which was to replace the perverse kingdom that Satan had established. He came to reconcile the world back to himself, and He assigned the ministry of reconciliation to us (see II Cor. 5:18). Since then, it has been the responsibility of the people of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to regain the dominion that Adam was originally supposed to have.”27
From the very beginning, we were created by God with the intention to exercise authority and establish the principles of God’s kingdom in this physical realm.
“Adam was commissioned by God to rule the earth and establish the kingdom of God to the manifested glory of God in the world. Although Adam’s position was compromised, he was still responsible to God for his leadership in priestly, kingly, and fatherly duty, but he was also open to satanic temptation in a new way. He now had an internal sympathy with Satan’s sinful rebellion against God. Therefore, for Adam to stand with God meant a lifelong war with Satan and a war against the sin in his own heart. From this time, Adam’s work included the fight to reclaim for God what Satan had stolen. For Adam to have authority in a fallen world meant that he must fight, either for God or against Him. Authority also included the pain of perseverance in a sin-cursed world.”28
I’m convinced that the sin of Adam interrupted what God intended to teach him Himself. The knowledge gained from eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was something God likely intended to teach Adam Himself at the proper time. My personal theory is that God’s desire was to teach Adam (man) the intricate ways of establishing, cultivating, and dominating all that God had given to him with heaven’s principles, but sin interrupted the process before the prerequisites were established in order to operate in the fullness of it. I find myself wondering if the Knowledge of Good and Evil wouldn’t have had the potential to influence or corrupt man’s dominion at all if God had been given the opportunity to teach Adam the necessary prerequisites first. Like giving a child a firearm before teaching them how to use it, or connecting a circuit board to a power source before all the necessary resistors, capacitors, fuses, and interconnected circuits are made, if certain liberties were given before the necessary teaching of how to properly utilize them, perhaps that power could destroy what was intended before it could ever be used properly. And Adam short-circuited the process by jumping ahead and keeping God from being able to teach him all that he would have known had he stayed in direct communion with Him.
In spite of Adam, Matthew 18:11 states that “Jesus came to redeem that which was lost.” I think it’s valuable to consider the use of the words that which instead of those who were lost as some translations may insinuate. I think it is probable that this scripture is actually speaking of the ability to establish the kingdom of God (Christ’s central message) free from the separating and tainting influence of the kingdom of sin. If so, “that which was lost” in the fall of man would be our freedom from sin and dominion to establish and walk in the promises and authority as ambassadors of the kingdom of God.
Romans 5:17 NIV
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! [emphasis mine]
According to author Allan Smith, “Adam had aligned himself with Satan’s rebellion against God, placing the world under satanic authority, not in a proper sense (de jure), but practically speaking (de facto). From this point on, Satan is called ‘the prince of this world’ (John 12:31). Adam was under Satan until he repudiated him. Adam’s children, too, were open to Satanic influence and attack.”29
So, once again, if Jesus came to save that which was lost, could it be that this is a reference to the authority that man gave to Satan through sin and the establishment of the kingdom of sin in the world?
In the Bible, we see Israel (the chosen people of God) was given the land of Canaan as her inheritance, but she had to fight to make it her own. When, therefore, the Church of Jesus Christ has been given the world as her inheritance, she, too, must fight the spiritual warfare of the Gospel to bring the world into subjection to her Master (Matt. 28:18–20; Eph. 6:10–18; Rev. 19:11–16). The whole world is under Jesus’ dominion (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20–23; etc.), but the whole world does not yet love and obey Him. By her own obedience to God, by prayer and preaching the Gospel, the Church of Christ will subdue the world so that a redeemed world will be able to fulfill the original commission that God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden. God’s glory will be seen in all the world, and man’s God
-given purpose will be fulfilled.30
IT IS FINISHED
If Jesus came to restore that which was lost, then the last words that Jesus spoke before dying on the cross, “It is finished,” were likely indicative of that restoration and He was speaking of so much more than just the traditional interpretation of salvation with heaven as the culmination of a long, weary, and defeat-filled road of life. If when Jesus came to save that which was lost, the that which He was referring to was restoring man’s authority to implement the manifested kingdom of God in the earth! From this perspective, I wonder if it’s possible that every example, parable, and display of power He conveyed in His lifetime was intended to teach the disciples, and subsequently all who followed, the instruction of the Great Commission, which states:
Matthew 28:18–20 (AMP)
Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).
When Jesus said “all authority” in heaven and earth was given to Him and then He told the disciples to teach the rest of the world “to observe everything that I have commanded you”—what if that observance of everything included the implementation of the miraculous because? After all, when He ascended to heaven, He was going to send them the Holy Spirit who would be with them until the very “end of the age.” I wonder if it is possible that the same power of the Holy Spirit that rested upon Jesus at His baptism and was with Him, leading Him and empowering Him in everything that He did in His public ministry, was made available to man at Pentecost, including the same power source that Jesus was tapped into and walked in on the earth.