When Kingdoms Collide

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Most of us can quote it in our sleep. Whether it was something that we recited in school assemblies or at weddings, or even something that we muttered as we were falling asleep at the end of a boring sermon. Everyone knows the drill. Thy will be done… Wait! What does that mean? This short book is a must read for people who are ready to go to the next level in their Christian lives. Watch what happens as your perspective changes, as you understand what the Kingdom of God really is, and how it can come into your life in a powerful way.

The Centrality and Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Experience what can happen when you apply these life enabling principles and from your heart cry out, Thy Kingdom Come! You need this book. In this book you will learn biblical principles that are rarely preached from a pulpit but will bring you closer to God as you understand his Kingdom Plan. Read more Read less. Thousands of books are eligible, including current and former best sellers. Look for the Kindle MatchBook icon on print and Kindle book detail pages of qualifying books. Print edition must be purchased new and sold by Amazon.

Gifting of the Kindle edition at the Kindle MatchBook price is not available. Learn more about Kindle MatchBook. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. How to Preach the Gospel with Power: How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit. The Missing Link of Meditation. Product details File Size: August 22, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. This becomes clear as we see Jesus refuse to simply feed the people and ease their temporary suffering. And when he did do these things, he called them into the Kingdom of God.

Is Jesus going to swoop in and gain the approval of the religious establishment? He very easily could have removed all doubt to who he was. A grand entrance would certainly gain recognition that he was indeed the Messiah. Yet, he resists the temptation to gain approval of those religious folk. And there would be no better way to convince them of his true identity. But Jesus chooses not to parachute in and remove all doubt. He will make his presence known in the Temple, but right after he drives out those making a profit off of God. This is quite different than the entrance he was tempted with by the devil.

Jesus storms in to the heart of Jewish religion, and turns it upside-down. For the Spirit of God has come to dwell in men. There is now something greater than the Temple. Immanuel, God with us. Again, to understand this temptation, we must read it in light of what has already been presented. The devil challenges Jesus, as Messiah, to confront the economic issues of the world in keeping with the expected provision of a savior. And now… he tempts Jesus to embrace institutional religion. He rejects the secular concept of Messiah in both the way he confronts social injustices and the way he deals with religion.

This was totally unexpected and intolerable. Jesus does not come in and paint the heroes as villains and get away with it. This idea is not only opposed by the religious leaders, they demand its death. Now Jesus faces his most difficult challenge yet. Jesus is taken to a high mountain. Mountains were seen as places where deities come to earth. And this final temptation should be seen as an offer of divine importance.

This one has always puzzled me in the past. Is the temptation here to worship the devil? Well, feed the people! You are aware of their suffering and their deep need to eat. You feel their hunger even now. What are you going to do about it? Christ chooses the Messianic secret and opposes them instead. Jesus is faced with three major social institutions: Christ is shown all the kingdoms of the world. The devil has power over them, which Jesus does not deny. The Messiah will crush these kingdoms as Daniel prophesied. But how will he crush them? Will he take the world by force and use violence?

Will he succumb to the way of the present evil age, and the prince of the air, by putting his hand to the plow of political power? Will he be an Alexander, an Augustus, or better yet… a King David? This would not be the last time he is faced with this temptation Matt. Christ redefines power in his rejection of earthly kingship.

He rejects the avenue of earthly politics to advance the Kingdom of God. He is not simply choosing power-under because it was the nice thing to do or it was the only way people could see love. By no means, the methods of Christ represent the very character of God. Do not pass by this temptation and miss the foolishness of the Kingdom of God, for therein is power that we have not known in our day. If we desire to follow Christ, we must embrace the suffering Messiah.

He knowingly is choosing the way of the cross. And his choosing to resist the temptations are not for the sole purpose of dying a horrible death for the sins of the world. This is a presentation of the Kingdom of God. For those that want to be baptized into this Kingdom you must count the cost and undergo the same trial of Jesus. If we are not willing to reject what Christ rejects, we are enemies of the cross. For it is written: Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. The Kingdom of God is here; but instead of making changes in the external, political order of things, it is making changes in the spiritual order and in the lives of men and women.

The doctrine of the two kingdoms reveals to us that they are contrary in nature. Paul has written of this contrast in Romans 12 and I want to focus in on the contrary nature of the two kingdoms by looking specifically at the worldly kingdoms i. It is from this system that all other power-over systems flow.

The kingdoms of the world represent a mock Kingdom of God. This is why Jesus chose to not utilize the avenues of politics and power to build his Kingdom. These kingdoms of the world, no matter what form of government exists, stand in opposition to the upside-down Kingdom of Christ. When Jesus surveyed the landscape of the worldly kingdoms from that high mountain, there he saw all worldly kingdoms past, present, and future. I have made a spectacle of them by triumphing over them by the way of usurping their methods of power and domination.

Jesus calls for the demise of the never-ending cycle of violence Matt. He represents a Kingdom that advances by serving people in love without strings attached He does not rely upon or even address the social injustices of his day as being the responsibility of the state. This is not his concern. There is another way. This way is in sacrificial living. If you want to be successful in this life, you must prepare for the one to come. The way of the cross submits itself to human law where it can, but rises above it and surpasses it in peaceful living.

Jesus lived the Kingdom in power and he was fully connected to reality. We should not think that what appears as silence on certain matters of the state means we have the freedom to pick up the sword. If we look closely, we will see him tearing down the kingdoms of the world and rejecting their methods of restraining evil. Was Jesus a terrorist? It depends on how you look at it I guess. One thing is very clear, he did not resort to violence or any method of the state to advance the Kingdom of God. In fact, he kept a healthy distance from it. Recently, I was engaged in a discussion on these matters.

This is partly why the gate is narrow that leads to life. If worldly politics are an acceptable way to advance the Kingdom of God, then every believer should be striving for power. Be done with trying to keep a foot in both kingdoms! Pragmatism has pervaded the church in more ways than one. It has based a great deal of its decisions on human reasoning that is represented in the question above. Consider for a moment what we communicate when we say these things. We say Christ does not show us how to live and the Sermon on the Mount Matt.

We then do what we can to follow Jesus where it does not conflict with our own cultural crusading. We compartmentalize our faith and push Jesus off into the corner. It is no wonder that Ghandi rejected Christ. The Christians he saw made no attempt to live like their Christ.

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Ghandi learned a few things from Christians alright, how to manipulate the teachings of Jesus in order to change the politics of his day. I want to end this final section with a challenge to rethink the two kingdoms. The problem is just that we have a hard time hearing it. Here is another story that must be read with the Kingdom of God in mind. Do you remember what the demon told Jesus when he asked him for his name? Now, if you see this from a Kingdom perspective, there is more going on here than meets the eye.

Well, I am not satisfied with the idea that this was just some random name this naked demon-possessed man came up with during his stay in the nearby tombs. This episode represents what the Kingdom of God is doing now. It speaks to what we should be doing now. Our concern is the spiritual order of things—bringing life to those who have empty souls—souls so empty the demons come in to set up house and stay a while. What happens after this exorcism? This reminds me of Pharaoh and his legions.

They were swallowed up in the sea. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. John was exiled to the island of Patmos due to his radical views.

And the only way to write a final word of encouragement to Christians with the vision he received was to write in code. Rome represents the power of the kingdoms of the world in every generation. Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons… for all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries… Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

At last, how will we respond? The people in Luke 8 were fearful. Why were they so fearful? Jesus had performed many exorcisms and miracles before, none of them freaked out the people as much as this group of country bumpkins. Could it be that they understood this action but we have missed it?

Who did they fear here? Maybe they connected the dots. The Kingdom of God had come to town. It is the Gospel message. Before he ever chose any of his disciples or set out to preaching and healing people, Jesus defined his Kingdom and settled, at least in his own heart and mind, that the Kingdom of God would come in two stages: This calls for lives marked by estrangement and great patience in the face of social injustices.

Christ will crush all the kingdoms of the world and he will, as N. In the meantime, we trust in the power of the upside-down Kingdom. We come alongside those who are suffering and we suffer with them.

About David D. Flowers

We make sure we are overcoming evil with good and not suppressing evil with more evil. Our safeguard against this temptation to pick up the sword, is Christ himself. I think there is a fundamental incompatibility between the kingdoms of man in this world — which includes all the cultural, political, economics, philosophical manifestations and systems — and the kingdom of God. For example the very notion of success, wealth, career, knowledge, etc. However the church today have become much like the world, eg measuring success in terms of numbers and collections, even if not having political ambitions.

And I think, if you are a true citizen of the kingdom of world, the collisions of kingdom will be a very real thing and not just a conceptual one: In the parable of the sower, one of the things that stifled the seed, the message of the kingdom, was the deceitfulness of wealth. This has been my experience as well. I believe this ought to be the journey of every believer. Insightful post and much appreciated. I write regularly to my five children about Kingdom living.

You have pointed out much I believe is useful for those wanting to grow in an understanding the two kingdoms. I will share your post with them, for sure. Near the end of the post, you wrote The Kingdom of God is not something man can reveal to man. Kingdom living is a journey of discovery.

So discipleship then becomes working to facilitate others becoming open to learning from Jesus within, no? It strikes me, one must be a wolf anyway to go off alone. Rather the truth of which you speak is a core ingredient of true community. It drives home the point of the need for community. Honest feed-back from ones we love and trust are a tremendous aid in sorting the influence even impact of the spirit of the world within our hearts. The community response helps us develop humility, a key to hearing the Lord. I think a more correct view of authority is in recognizing that group-think is not required.

The Holy spirit is very able to bring about a shared life. Those in authority need to walk in a deep love of God which focuses on bringing forth authentic being of an individual renewed in Jesus and living through Jesus. I agree that we should be guiding people to learn from Jesus. It grieves me that the majority of churches have no clue as to what that means. We have a difficult time entrusting people to the care of Jesus. We would much rather disciple them according to our own journey instead of teaching them how to journey with Christ. I have written several blog posts leading up to this one if you are interested.

Blessings to you and your family, brother. Its comments like yours that make the journey more enjoyable.

When Kingdoms Collide

Some questions in this area: It is clear Jesus was not a terrorist. I think your answer to that is also, no. What does this look like in real life? This is something I am definitely willing to discuss. I have given my perspective on Romans 13 already. We must read Rom.

In the past… we have not read these two chapters in context. Paul is not saying that we should participate in government. He is saying we ought not to rebel against it. The previous chapter does not allow it. In fact, the end of ch. This is what I meant. If we understand the subversive nature of the upside-down Kingdom of God… then, I believe, we can see Jesus as a terrorist on the kingdom of hell. Again, I intentionally used this word to evoke a new thought.

CD: When Kingdoms Collide

I am aware many will not be comfortable with it. Jesus did not have in his mind a mission to alleviate all human suffering on earth… not in this life anyway. We need to think about this for more than five minutes. The problem s that people will encounter with this message… is to rush to make up their mind before they have given significant time to let Jesus speak to their heart and open their eyes to the greatness of his Kingdom.

Many Christians are not willing to wrestle with these issues. They would rather have simple and easy answers. Our entire journey is about the questions you are asking. I am convinced the Christian journey is not about having all the answers and telling everyone what to believe. I believe the Christian life is all about the fight of faith. It is about being formed into the image of Christ daily. We should steer clear of rules and the unhealthy desire to chisel in stone what the Kingdom looks like in every situation. Finally, I have set out to proclaim what we CAN observe and conclude with certainty: You have invited us into discussion, I think as a means of building fellowship and thereby building the Kingdom of God.

There were several points in my original comment and in your response. For the time being I have picked out one point in your response that I would like to take further with you. Jesus did not have in his mind a mission to alleviate all human suffering on earth. God has not written off his creation that, at the beginning of Genesis, He found to be good. At the end of Revelation John describes the restoration of the world with the arrival of the New Jerusalem and the definitive coming of the Kingdom. And it is the mission of believers to be continuing the spread of the Kingdom and one of the features of the spread of the Kingdom is alleviation of suffering, both by sacrificial good works done in the natural by the believers and miracles done through the believers by the power of the Spirit.

Which brings us back to the social sorry again for the bad word aspects of the Gospel. I did not make this up. And I guess there are other sources e. I think we are in agreement more than you think. My concern is that we confront those concerns in the manner of Christ and nothing more or less.

The way Christ communicated this was by choosing to suffer with folks as well as meet their needs when it served the Kingdom. I take issue with those who confront social ills with methods of the world. THIS communicates a confusion about the Gospel. We are to be serving the Kingdom of God in the manner of the cross, not the sword. Because in the end, picking up the sword and using government something Christ never did only suppresses evil, it does not overcome it as we are called to do in Romans It operates off the idea that there is a real chance we can rid the world of injustice in the here and now.

Christians operate off an entirely different mindset. We know that we represent a completely different Kingdom… a Kingdom that is here, but yet to come. Therefore, we embrace suffering instead of taking up power-over people.

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Suffering with those who suffer is the distinctive nature of the Kingdom of God. Christ brings the Kingdom of God. And he brings it through serving and through suffering via our own lives. It is the upside-down nature of the Kingdom of God and the way of the cross.

I agree with N. I would only differ where he sees the Christian can operate in avenues that Christ rejected e. Kingdoms of the world do not operate off of the Gospel given in the Sermon on the Mount. And according to Romans 13… they are not obligated by the teachings of Jesus. The kingdoms of the world resist evil doers and are agents of wrath, nothing more.

They use methods contrary to the Kingdom of God. I do believe that this understanding was much plainer to those early Christians than it is to us today.

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