By Matthew 6:10-13:
“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
The above are red letters from a prayer that the majority of Christians are familiar with. Jesus’ instructions on how and what to pray. I had this memorized at an early age, somewhere between 8 and 10, and would gleam with pride when it was time in the service for the entire congregation to declare this prayer. I had no idea the magnitude of verse 10, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 4:17: “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 10:7: “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Acts 1:3: “to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
These three scriptures refer to the most important message that Jesus proclaimed, the kingdom of God/Heaven. After I became a believer and began reading the written, or logos, word of God, I would come to these scriptures and think “Hm, Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God. I don’t really understand what this means. What exactly is the Kingdom of God that Jesus is speaking of? I’m sure I will find out eventually” and left it at that. I was a new believer and mostly concerned with just reading His word and learning as much as I could as fast as I could. I thought I only needed to have a basic understanding of what the preacher was talking about during church.
Over time I settled into this western idea that the Old Testament didn’t really pertain to us New Covenant Gentile believers and it wasn’t that important to study, but maybe read it occasionally to know the stories. What I didn’t seem to understand at the time is that the Bible is a Jewish book, WHO KNEW! The old testament is loaded with prophetic words and confirmations pertaining to this KINGDOM OF GOD.
The restoration of Israel or the “new kingdom” was so important to the Jewish people that Jesus went about and preached to His people “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”(Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:17, Luke 4:19) This was the message John the Baptist proclaimed as well (Matthew 2:1). When Jesus sent out His disciples (Luke 9:2) He instructed them to go out and preach the kingdom of God, and during the 40 days He appeared after He resurrected before His ascension to heaven, He went out and preached this exact message. (Acts 1:3)
So if Jesus went about and preached about the kingdom of Heaven, where did it begin?
Genesis 3:14-15
So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
What does this passage have to do with the kingdom of God? This is the first declarative statement from the Father that there will be victory over satan. The first “gospel” which translates as “good news.” There will be victory over satan and there will be restoration of all things.
Isaiah 51:3
For the LORD will comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
He will make her wilderness like Eden
and her desert like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and melodious song.
Acts 3:21: “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”
Reading this passage we see in verse 21 how important this time of restoration is that GOD SPOKE it by mouth of all His holy prophets since the world BEGAN. The time of restoration is the kingdom of Heaven that Jesus instructs us to pray for in Matthew 6:10. As believers THIS is where our focus should be, on the kingdom of Heaven that is at hand. If you read in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 each of those chapters have a section about the End of the Age. It was significant enough for 3 out of 4 gospels to have it recorded.
The disciples were VERY concerned with this “End of the Age” because our Bible is Jewish and this message was proclaimed often throughout the early writings! Even so, when Jesus had been resurrected and returned to His disciples they were still very concerned with this kingdom to come, they asked Him yet again.
Acts 1:6: Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
So who is the king to reign in this kingdom that is at hand?
Revelation 19:11-16: Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.
It’s JESUS!!! He is the King! Hallelujah!
The famous sermon of The Beatitudes Matthew 5:3-11
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.”
This teaching from Jesus shows us the kingdom of Heaven will be a kingdom of: comfort, peace, justice, righteousness, and pure perfection. We will suffer persecution on this earth, but we are to keep focus on the kingdom to come! This lifetime is only a moment in God’s time. This pain and suffering is but only a moment in comparison to our inheritance!
We will have dominion over the serpent, the cursed land, and our sin. There is a kingdom to come where there will no longer have suffering, sickness, poverty, starvation, or sadness. Jesus will come back to reign and restore the earth. We will live in the garden again and have eternal life! This is the kingdom of God that Jesus went about and preached!
So repent, get water baptized, receive the Holy Spirit so that you may also enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5, Acts 2:38). Then go out and preach the kingdom of Heaven to the lost! Do as Jesus instructed us and we will see the return of His kingdom!
Matthew 24:14: And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Hello my name is Adrianna Lindsey. I am a child of the most high God, a disciple of Jesus Christ, a wife and a mother. I devote much time to individual ministry dedicated to revealing biblical truth and helping to set the captives free. I have two wonderful young children that I try to immerse into the instructions left by Jesus for his disciples. The Lord has blessed me abundantly but it has not come without some suffering and testing for the sake of Christ. I have a house fellowship called Rivers of Life House and I supremely enjoy historical homes as I live in one as well in Sistersville, West Virginia. My future goals are to continue bringing in the harvest, equipping the army of the Lord, and helping people prepare for the return of our savior Jesus Christ.
by leaps and bounds 