The earth was created to mirror God. Everything about the earth strives to reproduce bountifully. Every other planet is marked by bareness but the earth stands in stark contrast to these other planets in that it produces life and life more abundantly. This is the reason Satan chose the earth to set up his kingdom. He thought that by wiping out the incredible lushness of earth, he could demonstrate his power over God.
Although Satan usurped authority over earth to be called the god of this world, his usurpation of earth was not challenged by God, which gave Satan’s takeover of earth credibility, and now, in order to reassert His rightful place in earth, God must overthrow Satan’s authority from earth. He must overthrow Satan’s kingdom from inside Satan’s kingdom.
This is the reason God has always sought to convert mankind from following Satan to following Himself. Of course God foresaw mankind’s failure in the Garden of Eden, but being the eternal optimist, God has always believed in the inherent goodness of mankind and mankind’s ability to choose good over evil, even to a fault. Thus we now have 6,000 years of the struggle.
Satan must be careful not to overplay his hand where mankind is concerned. If Satan were to reveal his true heart, mankind would reject his rule summarily, but as it is, Satan rules incrementally. The problem is; with each disaster Satan is able to orchestrate, the earth inherently brings forth more life.
This was the promise of Jesus in John 14:21. “He that believes on me will do the works I have done and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father.” The King James translators saw a truth in the scripture that has not been widely understood. There is a difference between believing in Jesus and believing on Jesus. The King James Version of the New Testament uses the phrases, believe in, and. believe on, interchangeably but most Christians do not see or recognize a difference in the words. I, myself, have only come to understand the difference recently.
The secret is found in the definition of the two words. The word in means to be placed inside, whereas the word on means a place arrived. It is through belief in Jesus that we are placed within Jesus’ death on the cross, washed clean of our sin, and made new creations, but through this belief we arrive at Jesus’ resurrection. To believe on Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is to believe He was transformed from Saviour to Lord; it is to believe He was granted all power in heaven and earth, and it is to believe He issued new commandments with a new covenant. To believe on Jesus is to obey His commandments.
These are therefore two drastically different beliefs concerning Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross it was as a complete fulfillment of the old covenant law. This leaves nothing but belief necessary for mankind to receive the blessings of this fulfillment. It is as Ephesians 2:8-9 says: “For by grace are you saved (from the law) through faith, it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast.” The point is no man can save himself from sin; only God can do that, which He has done through His Son Jesus Christ. This leaves the new covenant to be negotiated however.
All of the promises of the New Testament have obedience of Jesus’ commandments as their foundation. If you strip away the foundation, it is very difficult to receive the promises provided by the foundation. This is the reason there are so few Christians doing the works of Jesus. There are few Christians who understand that in order to abide in Jesus’ love, they must keep Jesus’ commandments, Jn15:10.
You see, the first commandment Jesus issued that was unique to Him (Acts 1:4-5) was interpreted by the context in which it was spoken. It was deemed to be personal to eleven men and being perfectly executed by those men it was deemed fulfilled; this left the rest of Christianity exempt from obedience. This interpretation of Jesus’ first commandment of the new covenant distorted the understanding of the new covenant and the gospel that was preached as a result was the gospel of the fulfillment of the old covenant.
Every covenant is founded on obedience and the interpretation of the first commandment of the new covenant caused disobedience of it by the Church and subsequently the disobedience of the whole covenant, causing the kingdom of heaven on earth to collapse. Mankind has dwelled in Satan’s kingdom for 2,000 years with no covenant with God because mankind practices disobedience. Satan has played his hand very well as Christians are oblivious in spite of being plagued by every curse described by the law.
Instead of being interpreted by immediate context, Acts 1:4-5 should be understood by subject. If mankind can only abide in Jesus’ love by keeping His commandments, as stated by Jesus in John 15:10, who Jesus commanded and what they did is immaterial. The only question is: “Is this a commandment of Jesus?” If so, Christians must keep it in order to abide in Jesus’ love.
It should be understood that Jesus’ fulfillment of the law is like the outer courts of the tabernacle. There is the bronze laver for washing and the brazen altar for sacrifice but there is another inner court and the Holy of Holies. While churches all around the world laud Jesus as Lord of All, His commandments are ignored. He cannot be Lord in reality as long as no one obeys His statutes or keeps His precepts. All the lip service of the world cannot make Jesus Lord, but obedience can. It is a matter of enforcing the covenant. The old covenant must be viewed as fulfilled and the new covenant recognized.
When Jesus stands before His disciples and commands them to wait for a baptism with the Holy Spirit, it should be viewed as a commandment of Jesus and obedience sought by whatever means. When the Christian fails to receive the above anything you can think or ask promised in Ephesians 3:20, or finds they cannot duplicate Jesus’ works or do greater works, an honest evaluation of what they believe should follow.
Even though God could have come to earth and just kicked Satan out, He chose to create man and establish a beachhead by faith. One would think mankind would be a huge disappointment to God but somehow God continues to believe in mankind and love His creation and provide every opportunity for success. He continues to extend mercy and grace. Eternal life was never promised with any of God’s previous covenants with mankind and is only attainable now because Jesus has completely satisfied His Father’s demand for righteousness. Through the new covenant, Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” The key to obtaining eternal life is keeping Jesus’ commandments.
In Galatians 5:6, Paul writes, “For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything; but faith which works by love.” 1John 5:3 defines love as obedience, “This is the love of God that we keep His commandments,” Jesus said, “if you love me, keep my commandments,” and in John 15:10, Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love.” Most of Jesus' teachings are on obedience and a little known secret is that faith will not work without obedience. It has to be understood that Jesus established a new covenant after He fulfilled the old covenant. The only way to live in covenant with Jesus is to keep His commandments and faith only works when it has the foundation of obedience.
It is foolish for any man to think he can receive a provision of the new covenant without living his life in a way that is compatible with the new covenant. Just like every covenant before it, the promises of the new covenant depend on the keeping of its commandments. Faith works by love. Which is why faith has not worked the way it was taught for the vast majority of believers. Faith works by obedience.
So one might ask the question: “If the covenant works by obedience, what is the purpose of faith?” We know from the scriptures the promises of the covenant are enforced by obedience of the commandments of the covenant. In Deuteronomy 28 Moses stands before the Children of Israel and emphatically states, “If you will keep these commandments I give to you this day, God will cause all these blessings to come upon you and over take you,” so why would the promises of the new covenant need faith to be enforced in our lives?
We live in Satan’s kingdom. The new covenant is not just about God giving us safety and protection from Satan and blessing our lives. The new covenant is about a violent overthrow of the kingdom of Satan. In Matthew 16:17, Jesus said, “I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” What Jesus describes is not a passive Church that is seeking God’s hand of favor. Jesus does not describe a soul winning Church. Jesus describes a violent overthrow of Satan’s kingdom.
When Jesus asks His disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” again, He is instructing a violent overthrow of the kingdom that is here now; a kingdom that is drastically different from the kingdom of heaven. That is the reason for faith. It is faith founded on obedience that enforces the kingdom of heaven in the earth. It is not enough that we live our lives blessed; Jesus wants to take back earth for His purposes; He wants to use us to do it.
When God made covenant with Adam, it was for safety and protection. When God made covenant with Abraham, it was for safety and protection. When God made covenant with the Children of Israel, it was for safety and protection, but when Jesus made covenant with the Sons of God, it was for a conquering army that would walk up to the gates of hell and throw them down.
Jesus said, “He that believes on me will do the works I have done, and greater works than these shall he do because I go to my Father,” but what is the significance of Jesus going to His Father? Philippians 2 describes how Jesus laid aside His Godhood as a man might lay aside his coat to come to earth as a man but when the Father raised Jesus from the dead, it was not His Godhood that was given back to Him. Jesus was given all power in heaven and earth. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. This means the Father and Holy Spirit stripped themselves of their Godhood to place on Jesus the complete Godhood, which is why Paul calls Jesus the blessed only Potentate and Jude calls Him the only wise God. He wields a power not seen before.
It is why those who are careful to keep themselves saturated with the Holy Spirit will disturb Satan’s kingdom as Jesus did and utterly destroy it in the end. Today, Satan is not afraid of God’s Church; he has it in the palm of his hand as the Church follows his gospel and ignores the commandments of Jesus. He plays with its members as a cat plays with a mouse, letting the mouse run and think it has escaped only to be caught again and each time the teeth are thrust in a little deeper till the mouse finally succumbs.
Satan is deathly afraid of obedience however, and will do all in his power to keep the Church from realizing its mistake, which is why 2Corinthians 4:4 states “The god of this world has blinded the hearts of the unbelievers lest they come to the knowledge of the truth.” It is entirely possible to believe in Jesus yet fail to believe on Jesus.
The promise of John 14:21. “He that believes on me will do the works I have done and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father,” is enforced by faith through obedience because Jesus’ intention is to destroy Satan’s kingdom. Likewise, the promise of Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power to witness of me after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” is enforced by faith through obedience. It is because we believe the words of Jesus that we act. It is as Paul stated, “We believe therefore we speak.”
The gift of tongues flows out of our mouths as rivers because we believe Jesus was given all power in heaven and earth by His Father and issued commandments that must be obeyed. “We believe therefore we speak.” “Now faith is the foundation of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” “We believe therefore we speak.” “Whatsoever things you hope for, believe you receive them, and you shall have them.” We believe therefore we speak.” What is your confession but the gift of tongues flowing out of your heart?
On and on and on, the New Testament promises are unlimited by obedience. “He that believes on me will do the works I have done and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father.” The new covenant is enforced by obedience and destroyed by disobedience and Satan’s kingdom is destroyed by obedience and built up by disobedience. Jesus tells a parable in Luke 19:12 in which a man called his servants to him and gave each of them talents and said, Occupy till I come. The word, occupy, means, to conduct business. The problem is: the business of the Lord is the violent overthrow of Satan’s kingdom. The talent He leaves His servants is the Holy Spirit and it is by use of the Holy Spirit that we conduct the Lord’s business and overthrow Satan’s kingdom.
A similar parable is told in Matthew 25:14. Again something of value is given to the servants and by trading the servants multiply what was given. The Holy Spirit is the treasure given to each believer and He resides in each believer’s heart but by obedience through faith of Jesus’ commandment, each believer has the ability to multiply the amount of the Holy Spirit given and cause Him to flow out as rivers. Jesus rebuked the servant who hid his gift and didn’t use it and commanded that he be cast into outer darkness.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is a precious gift given to mankind to be used by mankind for the Lord’s purpose. Christians are not called to be good stewards of money; the streets of heaven are paved with pure gold. Jesus does not give money to His followers, telling them to make good use of it. Jesus gives His Spirit to mankind and commands mankind to use His Spirit to saturate themselves constantly.
In Luke 19, the story is about a prince who leaves to be made king. The story turns dark when the servants refuse to have the prince to rule over them and rebel against his authority. All who refuse to keep Jesus’ commandments are doing the same thing; they are refusing Jesus as Lord and will be left out of His Kingdom. They are effectually saying, “We will not have this man to rule over us.”
Most Christians fail to realize the Father made Jesus Lord, raised Him up above all principalities and powers, and gave Him the name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in heaven and in earth. If every knee in heaven bows to Jesus’ name, does that not mean the Father will bow to the Son? Most Christians continue to serve the Father, keep the Father’s commandments, and will not yield to Jesus’ commandments, but the kingdom of heaven is not found in the increase of money.
Every other covenant of God promised an increase in financial well being but Jesus promised to cover the earth with the glory of God. Jesus promised power to throw down the gates of hell, power to duplicate the works He had done and power to do greater works. Jesus promised an ability to reveal His resurrection from the dead. In John 14:13, He said, “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” and verse 14 He said, “If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” No other covenant has had these open ended promises. The new covenant is a drastically different covenant just as Jesus is drastically different from His Father.
We do not live under the kingdom of God. We live in the kingdom of heaven. Obedience of Jesus’ commandments enforces the kingdom of heaven but disobedience tears it down. In Luke 11:1, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. The second line is, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” but why were the disciples instructed to pray, “thy kingdom come,” if it was already here? What is it that brought the kingdom of God to earth, prayer or obedience? When the Israelites kept the commandments of their covenant, the kingdom of God was strong in their midst and God did everything He promised to do. If we want the kingdom of heaven to be strong with us, if we want to see Jesus do what He has promised, including doing whatever we ask, we must keep Jesus’ commandments.