And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.
Do you ever find The Lord’s Prayer just a bit curious? Jesus said, “When you pray, say, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” Isn’t it just a bit curious that Jesus teaches us to pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done? Are we not told God is in control? If you’re like me, you’ve struggled with this concept. If you’re like me, this has troubled you greatly.
In Matthew 11:11, Jesus said, “Of those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John, howbeit, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” From this statement we learn John did not live in the kingdom of heaven. He lived in a different kingdom. All kingdoms are established by law. When Europeans came to this land and established a ruling charter, they also established a country and kingdom. If the citizens of a country do not keep the law of that country, it is called anarchy, and if not stopped, will result in the destruction of the kingdom.
In Mark 7, Jesus entered into a rather heated discourse with the Pharisees. The Pharisees accused Jesus of not keeping the law of their kingdom. You see, when God established a covenant with the Children of Israel, a covenant is a charter and that charter established a kingdom on earth, the kingdom of God. However, for that kingdom to exist as chartered, its subjects needed to keep the charter. Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that they had long ago quit keeping the old covenant law and were now keeping their interpretation of God’s law. And in fact, that was the reason the Jews were being ruled by the Romans. The kingdom of Rome had annexed the kingdom of God because the Jews no longer kept their charter. They kept some version of the law, a version of their own making.
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Think not that I have come to destroy the law.” Now, again, the law was the charter of the kingdom of God. Jesus is in the middle of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is a far cry from old covenant law. So, within the sermon, Jesus points out He has not come to destroy the law because He is obviously talking about a new covenant. He goes on to confirm this new covenant by saying, “I came not to destroy but to fulfill.”
Now, the result is the same. Either way, the law passes out of authority. To destroy is to see the law reach a violent end; but to fulfill brings the law to a peaceful end. Both require the chartering of a new covenant and Jesus did this in Acts 1. He stood before His followers and issued one commandment with a caveat. The commandment was to wait for the promise of the Father, which He went on to identify as a baptism with the Spirit. However, He also brought up John the Baptist, who was devoted to the ministry God had called him to, so devoted in fact, it consumed his life.
Now, in John 3:16, we are told the Father sent His Son to earth that we earthlings might receive everlasting life. This would require a new charter. The charter of the kingdom of God did not promise eternal life to its citizens. In Ephesians 2:8, we are told salvation, i.e. eternal life, is the gift of God, and in Acts 2, the promise of the Father is identified as the Holy Spirit.
Jesus fulfilled the old covenant charter by living it perfectly; then dying as one who had transgressed it fully. Jesus gives this perfect keeping to the whole human race in fulfillment of His Father’s wishes. This makes all mankind citizens of a new kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. All citizens of the kingdom of heaven receive a gift of the Holy Spirit and have the option of receiving a baptism with the Spirit. So all mankind are born in the kingdom of heaven. However, in order to remain in the kingdom of heaven, mankind must remain saturated with the Holy Spirit.
When God created mankind, He imbued mankind with free will. In order to retain the integrity of free will, Jesus had to give mankind an ability to opt out of eternal life. In other words, all mankind are born citizens of the kingdom of heaven and have the ability to leave the kingdom of heaven by simply ignoring Jesus’ commandment. It is a brilliant design. 2Corinthians 4:4 informs us Satan is the God of this world. To opt out of the kingdom of heaven is to dwell in Satan’s kingdom. There are only two kingdoms.
So, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructs us to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” because Jesus came to fulfill His Father’s charter. That dissolved the kingdom of God but Jesus would establish a new kingdom that would make all mankind citizens of a new kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. This would bring back the Garden of Eden to all mankind. However, the disciples had a chronic hardness of heart and could not hear Jesus’ words or perceive what was happening.
Notice Mark 6. In Mark 6 Jesus was teaching a multitude and as it got over close to evening the disciples became concerned for the welfare of the people because there was nothing to eat. When they said something to Jesus, Jesus said, “You feed them,” and this is where we find the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes. After this great miracle of feeding about five thousand people with fives loaves of bread and two fishes, twelve baskets full of food was gathered up from the leftovers.
Now, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a boat to go over the Sea of Galilee and Jesus went off on His own to pray. Toward morning on the next day, Jesus noticed the wind was against the disciples, who were still trying to row across the sea. Jesus came to them walking across the water and the disciples all freaked out and literally came unglued. And Mark 6:52 says “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”
This hardening of the heart followed the disciples to the cross, after which Jesus walked through a wall to the room they were all in and they thought they were seeing a ghost. The same idea is presented in Mark 6:49 as it says, “When they saw Him walking on the sea they supposed it was a spirit and cried out.” The disciples were acutely afraid of ghosts and were unable to accept that Jesus was able to work miracles, even though they witnessed Him do them over and over and over again.
So, when Jesus stood before them in Acts 1 to issue the new covenant, the disciples were unable to grasp that He had been given all power in heaven and earth, was made ruler over all principalities and powers, made King of Kings and Lord of Lords, was the blessed only Potentate and only wise God and had chartered a new covenant. When the day of Pentecost had fully come and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues, the experience did not impact them as it should and Peter went out preaching the message of John the Baptist along with the message Jesus commanded. In other words, Peter did not respect the new covenant charter.
Jesus said, “For John truly baptized with water; but you.” Now, remember Mark 7? The command of the kingdom of God was “Honor your father and mother.” This command, along with the rest, established the charter of the kingdom of God and as long as the commandments were kept, God promised to protect the Nation of Israel from outside forces. The Pharisees, who were the leaders of the Jews, reasoned that if a man were to give His life to God as a living sacrifice, that act would preempt God’s commandment to honor father and mother and would be a higher act of worship toward God. This led to the Jews keeping interpretations of their law and the loss of their nation.
When Peter went out preaching John’s message, He did the same to the kingdom of heaven. Peter’s preaching of John’s message at Pentecost was no anomaly. Sometime later the Lord called Peter to go down to Cornelius’ house to preach. Before Peter could get the words out of his mouth, the Holy Spirit had baptized these people and they were speaking in tongues. Peter, however, was looking for water to baptize them with John’s baptism. This mixing of old covenant law and new covenant law continued for a time but eventually the charter of the new covenant and kingdom of heaven was replaced with a new charter, one not of Jesus’ making, and the kingdom of heaven on earth ceased to exist.
Revelation 11:15, “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ,” tells us Jesus’ kingdom will be reestablished. Right now, there are two few people keeping the charter of the new covenant to establish a kingdom of heaven on earth. However, if by some miracle, enough people could be found to keep the charter of the kingdom, the kingdom would be reestablished and if enough people preached the new covenant charter and shared it with enough people and enough people kept it, then the whole world could become the kingdom of heaven and Satan’s kingdom could be overthrown and Satan could be bound.
In fact, Jesus attempted to launch a new kingdom on earth with one hundred and twenty people. It seems like way too few but the truth is, Jesus promised, “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.” He said, “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and shall be witnesses of me.” Now make no mistake about it, Jesus is no longer the mild mannered, meek, gentile man of the four gospels. He has been exalted above all principalities and powers and rules His kingdom with a rod of iron. He sets on the throne of heaven and wields absolute power. To witness of the resurrected Jesus is much different from witnessing of the Jesus that went to the cross.
If we could find 120 people today who would commit themselves to a ministry of baptism with the Spirit with the same fervor John the Baptist gave to his ministry, we could establish a kingdom of heaven on earth. Remember, a kingdom is established by charter, in which the citizens all keep the same law. In Acts 1, Jesus issued one commandment, to wait for a baptism with the Holy Spirit, but that commandment morphs into three when John the Baptist is considered. John preached baptism with water but also discipled his followers in baptism with water.
To keep Jesus' commandment demands a constant waiting for baptism, preaching of baptism, and discipling in baptism. It demands a constant flow of tongues or repentance for failure to do so. In the kingdom of heaven, repentance is counted as obedience. To believe on Jesus is to believe on His resurrection with power to enact a covenant.
We can reestablish a kingdom of heaven on earth and put Jesus back on His throne. Remember, Jesus said, “Wait for the promise of the Father.” The promise of the Father is eternal life and Jesus went on to say, “For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Because of mankind’s free will, God could not give all mankind eternal life without giving mankind a way to choose life for itself. The command to wait for a baptism is God’s way of providing choice.
Remember Ephesians 2:8? We are saved by grace, that's God's unmerited favor giving Eternal life to all mankind, and through faith, that's faith in Jesus' authority to enact a new covenant and rule over it. Those who believe keep the commandments.
Remember, Jesus said, "Pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done." God's kingdom cannot come on earth without obedience of its law. Jesus said, I came to fulfill the old covenant law and we know a new covenant was established with mankind, we just need people to keep it. It's not enough to pray in tongues. Its not enough to speak with tongues; we must keep the commandment.
If we had the kind of power Jesus promised, with the kind of fervor John the Baptist exhibited and the promise of Jesus to do whatever we asked, this gospel could go around the world three times in short order.