Christ's Kingdom and the Law
Following are two readings about the Kingdom of God. The first one from Dr. Tim jenni ngs of Come and reason Misintries and the second from Pastor Jack Sequeira.
1. This is from Dr. Jennings discussion of Sunday's lesson,
Read first paragraph, "When God…"
Any concerns about this paragraph? One minor concern, just a typographical issue, which no one would misunderstand, but we should clarify. God gave Adam dominion over all things on earth, not all things. But the bigger concern in this paragraph is the false conclusion that "ownership" of earth went to Satan.
This idea has led to all types of false conclusions about God and the plan of salvation. This is a false idea which fuels certain legal models of the atonement. The idea that Satan, after Adam's fall, had some legal claim, some "title" to earth, some actual legitimacy as ruler of earth that Jesus had to confront and get back, i.e. earn the legal right to own earth again.
Not so. The earth was never Adam's property. Adam was steward, viceroy, governor, but Christ was owner. Satan "claimed" ownership but Satan is the "father of lies." It is a lie that Satan is the owner.
Thus, when he presented himself in heaven, in the book of Job, claiming to represent earth, God rejected the claim – Not so fast, consider Job, he does not recognize you as the representative of earth.
He recognizes my ownership and true Sovereignty.
Let's think about it and see if we can figure it out, understanding God's law and the parameters upon which the universe operates.
· Could Adam create from nothing? Could Satan?
· Could Adam keep the sun, moon and stars in the sky? Could Satan?
· Could Adam control and balance all the forces of nature constantly? Could Satan?
· Then, all Adam's rule was subordinate to, under, at the behest of the One who actually uses
His power to uphold and sustain all things. So too, what Satan stole from Adam was the subordinate governorship, now ownership.
· What would happen to nature if God let's go His sustaining presence? The disintegration of life.
Here is a quote from one of our founders:
When Satan declared to Christ, The kingdom and glory of the world are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it, he stated what was true only in part, and he declared it to serve his own purpose of deception. Satan's dominion was that wrested from Adam, but Adam was the vicegerent of the Creator. His was not an independent rule. The earth is God's, and He has committed all things to His Son. Adam was to reign subject to Christ. When Adam betrayed his sovereignty into Satan's hands, Christ still remained the rightful King. Thus the Lord had said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." Daniel 4:17. Satan can exercise his usurped authority only as God permits. {DA 129.4}
When the tempter offered to Christ the kingdom and glory of the world, he was proposing that Christ should yield up the real kingship of the world, and hold dominion subject to
Satan. This was the same dominion upon which the hopes of the Jews were set. They desired the kingdom of this world. If Christ had consented to offer them such a kingdom, they would gladly have received Him. But the curse of sin, with all its woe, rested upon it. Christ declared to the tempter, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." {DA 130.1}
Thoughts? Sadly, the lesson, having accepted the false view of God's law, inadvertently present
Satan's dream, to be the owner of earth and Christ be subordinate to him.
The idea that Christ had to achieve some "legal" victory is fiction, falsehood, lies based on accepting Satan's lies:
· Every sin must meet its punishment urged Satan
· God must punish sin if God is to be just
· The earth is now owned by Satan
· Satan has legal claim to earth
Reality is that God is and always has been the owner of earth. Satan's lies have impact in the minds of intelligent beings. Thus Christ didn't have to do some legal accomplishment in His battle with Satan.
He had to defeat the lies of Satan in order to set intelligent minds free and He had to overcome the infection of selfishness in the human being in order to destroy death and restore God's design of love back into humanity.
Then, why does the Scripture, including Christ refer to Satan as either prince of this world or ruler of this world?
Because the primary operating principle of the world today is Satan's principle of selfishness, thus he is credited with being the leader or owner of:
· Lies
· Selfishness
· Coercion
· Disease
· Pain
· Suffering
· Exploitation
· Abuse
· Domination
· Death
This is Satan's kingdom and this is what God wants you to realize.
But in Christ we have a different kingdom, "my kingdom is not of this world" meaning the principles of how this world operates. Christ's kingdom is the kingdom of:
· Truth
· Love
· Freedom
· Healing
· Relief
· Restoration
· Self-sacrifice
· Protection
· Deliverance
· Life
Note the contrast.
KINGDOM OF CHRIST
· Truth
· Love
· Freedom
· Healing
· Relief
· Restoration
· Self-sacrifice
· Protection
· Deliverance
· Life
KINGDOM OF SATAN
· Lies
· Selfishness
· Coercion
· Disease
· Pain
· Suffering
· Exploitation
· Abuse
· Domination
· Death
We must stop attributing to God the very attributes of Satan and Satan's kingdom!
Read second paragraph, "What happened…" thoughts? Given what we have just discussed how to you analyze this paragraph?
Is it true Christ could only win earth by His perfect life and sacrificial death? Why? Why was His death necessary? Who needed it?
What did Christ come to take back? He came to reclaim the love, devotion, loyalty, trust of human beings, while securing unfallen beings in their loyalty. Can Christ get this love and loyalty by force or coercion? No, love awakens love, the only way to achieve His goals was to expose the lies with truth and demonstrate God's perfect character and design of love, while simultaneously eradicating the infection of fear and selfishness from the humanity He assumed upon Himself.
Thus as the Scripture says His death was necessary to:
· Destroy him who holds the power of death Heb 2:14
· Destroy death 2Tim 1:9,10
· Destroy the devil's work. 1Jn 3:8 And the devil's work which was to efface the image of God
in man and put Satan's image where God's should be.
2. This next reading is an edited portion from Pastor Jack's sermon on the hidden treasure:
To appreciate this short parable, notice the key phrase Jesus introduces the parable with: the kingdom of heaven. To understand this parable and the other parables of Christ, it is important that we realize what the importance of that phrase is.
What did Jesus mean by that phrase? To answer this, to understand it, we have to go back to Creation. As you are fully aware that when God created our first parents – Adam and Eve – the Godhead said in Genesis 1:26: Let us make man in our image and let him have dominion over all this earth. So while this earth belongs to God He gave us human beings dominion over everything that God had created. Unfortunately, when Adam sinned, Not only did he come under condemnation, but he handed over this world and everything that is in it to Satan, who then became the prince of this World. I want you to notice how Satan spoke to Jesus in the temptation of the wilderness. In Luke 4, Jesus was taken to a very high mountain, listen to what Satan said to Jesus in Luke 4: 5, 6.
Luke4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Luke4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
Luke4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
The Devil is saying to Jesus, "if you bow down to me and I will give to you this world with all its power or authority, glory or splendor. For it has been delivered to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to." In other words, Satan was claiming that he was the ruler of this world. And, Jesus did not question that. In fact, in many instances Jesus referred to Satan as the prince of this world, which means the lord of this world.
It is into this doomed world under Satan that you and I were born. And, there is nothing we could do or can do to escape this predicament, nothing! It is for this reason that Jesus came to this world: to rescue us from this situation. He came to deliver us from the kingdoms of this world under Satan and introduce in exchange the kingdom of Heaven, which he wants us to join. This is of course what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about.
This is part and parcel of the good news of the Gospel. Jesus came to establish His own Kingdom on this earth, and he wants you and me to join it. That is why, because of the Gospel, this human race that we belong to, is divided into two camps, and only two. Oh, yes, we human being have divided into all kind of nations, and cultures, and political camps – but in God's eyes, ultimately there will be only two groups of people: those who are for Christ and those who are against Christ: those who have been crucified with Christ and those who crucify Him.
Please, turn with me to 1 John 5:19, to see how the Apostle John divides these two groups. Because, it's important that we understand this situation in order to understand this parable that we are going to study this morning. 1 John 5:19
1Jn5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
John is addressing believers, those who accepted Christ as their Savior, He says, "we believers know that we are of God." And the rest of the World is under the control of the evil one. So here you have two groups: one group under the banner of Satan – the kingdom of this world. And, one group under the banner of Jesus Christ – the God of heaven, and of course our Lord and Master. Now, the Bible tells us that one day all the kingdoms of the world will brought to an end. This was especially revealed to the prophet Daniel. In Daniel 2:34 We see that the stone came and hit the feet of the statue, which represents the kingdom's of this world. Let us read from Daniel 2:44, the conclusion of the interpretation of this great image that Nebuchadnezzer saw. Let's see what happened to the kingdoms of this world when that great event takes place.
Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings (that is the divided kingdoms – by the feet of the statue) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed:
So that is one of the major distinctions: the kingdom of heaven will last forever and the kingdoms of this world, under Satan, will be destroyed. In fact, if you turn a few pages to Chapter 7 of Daniel – the chapter on the judgment, you will notice what verse 26 and 27 says,
Dan7:26 But the judgment shall (stand) sit, and they shall take away his dominion, (the little horn – the kingdom of Satan) to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
Dan7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
We as Christians belong to the Kingdom of heaven.
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com
