Tag: Jesus is God

March 26 2021

How Jesus Revealed His Kingdom

A. Scott Ingram Christian Life, Christian Life and Gospel Leadership, Gospel Leadership, Jesus & The Gospel, Kingdom of God Christian, Christian Life, deliverance, God's Kingdom, Gospel, gospel of the Kingdom, Jesus is God, Jesus is king, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven 1

When Jesus showed up on the earth, bringing His new kingdom into existence, it was evident that everything changed. The devil’s authority was overthrown (Colossians 2:15, Matthew 28:18). The penalty for the fall of man into sin was paid in full. There was now an offer to every person for salvation, healing, and deliverance, as we choose to follow this new King!

In this post, I want us to fix our attention on how Jesus revealed this new reality during His time on earth. This is especially necessary as there are many Christians who hold to a theological belief that, although Jesus launched His kingdom at His first coming, the benefits of this new kingdom cannot be experienced until His second coming. This view, however, twists or completely overlooks major portions of the gospel narrative! His kingdom is here, now, even if not yet fully realized. The question is not if we can experience it; but how much of His kingdom can we experience now, before He comes again?

Kingdom Revealed

The first thing Jesus did as He entered the public ministry, was to declare to Israel that the fulfillment of God’s promise of a new king — a Messiah — was coming to pass in front of their eyes.

According to Luke, after Jesus was baptized (Luke 3:21-22) he spent time in the wilderness overcoming the enemy’s temptations (Luke 4:1-13) and being empowered by the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14). Then, in His first act of ministry, He went into the synagogue at Nazareth and revealed Himself as the promised Messiah!

First, he stands up to read from the scriptures. He chooses to read one of the most well-known prophetic promises about the King-to-come from Isaiah 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
^{Luke 4:18-19}

He then puts away the scroll, and takes his seat to teach the congregation regarding the scripture. However, instead of giving an exegetical explanation of the passage, Jesus looks at the hopeful Jews and says, essentially, “Ta-da! I’m the one!” The bible says:

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
^{Luke 4:20-21 (emphasis mine)}

For anyone who says, “Jesus never claimed to be God.” They are wrong. Over and over again, Jesus claims to be one with the Father, and the fulfillment of all the promises. For example, Jesus said:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
^{Matthew 5:17 (emphasis mine)}

He also said

…the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
^{John 5:37-40 (emphasis mine)}

It is clear that Jesus revealed Himself as the King and Messiah of God.

Kingdom Proclaimed

From this first introduction as God’s coming King, Jesus proceeded to spend His entire earthly ministry proclaiming the good news of this new kingdom. Everywhere He went, this was His only message: the kingdom of God has come.

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom…
^{Matthew 4:23}

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom…
Matthew 9:35

Remember, a “gospel” is the “good news” concerning a victory which has taken place. The “good news” Jesus proclaimed, is that the Kingdom of God is here, now, replacing the kingdom of darkness which has reigned since the fall:

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
^{Luke 17:20-21 (emphasis mine)}

In other words, the kingdom of God is right here, within your reach. Don’t miss it!

Kingdom Explained

Beyond His public proclamations, we also see that in every teaching, Jesus had one central message: life in the kingdom of God.

He continually taught the disciples what life in the Kingdom looks like. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 has been called by some scholars, “the Kingdom manifesto,” because Jesus is demonstrating the cultural and lifestyle differences between His kingdom and the kingdoms of men.

In almost every parable, Jesus begins by saying, “the kingdom of God is like…” and “the kingdom of heaven is like…” Just read through Matthew 13 for a number of examples.

It was not enough for His disciples to know that the kingdom was present in Him. He wanted them to understand the new reality which they were being called to live in, themselves. They were being set free from the world’s rules and expectations, and must learn to see their lives through the eyes of God’s kingdom culture.

Up until His final teaching at the last supper, Jesus was explaining how life in His kingdom is different:

And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you…”
^{Luke 22:25-26a}

Kingdom Demonstrated

Although the message of God’s kingdom was a continual theme in Jewish writings and teachings, in hearing it from Jesus, it was different. For the first time, the words being spoken came with authority and demonstrations of power to back them up!

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, testified to Jesus:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
^{John 3:2 (emphasis mine)}

Returning to the verses already quoted above, not only did Jesus go around “proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom…” but they go on to say,

…proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
^{Matthew 4:23}

…proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
^{Matthew 9:35}

Matthew 8:16 says, “they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.” Matthew 12:15 says that, “many followed him, and he healed them all.”

The point is that Jesus didn’t just do a few miracles, signs, and wonders. Everywhere He went He was healing the sick, casting out demons, and demonstrating God’s kingdom. The culture of His kingdom was different, and it was evident! In fact, responding to a challenge by the Pharisees, He declares that all of these signs prove the Kingdom of God is present!

…if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
^{Matthew 12:28}

In another place, He says that the physical manifestations also prove His ability to forgive sin, something only God can do (See Matthew 9:1-8)!

This is why the Apostle Paul, later declares,

For the kingdom realm of God comes with power, not simply impressive words.
^{1 Corinthians 4:20 (The Passion Translation)}

Kingdom Sought After

Jesus not only proclaimed the kingdom with word and demonstrated it with power in His own life; He also tells the disciples that their prayers should be seeking a greater demonstration of this power in the earth as a whole! When he taught them “the Lord’s prayer,” He instructs them to pray and ask God to manifest the Kingdom:

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
^{Matthew 6:10}

As long as we live in this world, our desire and prayers must be focused on His kingdom being manifested around us!

Kingdom Commissioned

Finally, after revealing, proclaiming, teaching, demonstrating, and telling the disciples to seek the kingdom, He commissioned His followers to join Him in bringing this kingdom to the world.

It began with the 12:

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction… These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
^{Matthew 10:1, 5-8}

Later, the same commission was given to 72 other disciples:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. (And He said to them) Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
^{Luke 10:1, 8-9}

As Jesus began to prepare for His departure from the earth, He made this incredible promise:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
^{John 14:12 (emphasis mine)}

And in His final commission before His ascension, He commissioned the entire church, throughout future generations, to continue proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God, until He returns.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
^{Matthew 28:18-20 (emphasis mine)}

Mark’s gospel shares this same commission this way:

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
^{Mark 16:15-18 (emphasis mine)}

And that is exactly what happened!

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
^{Mark 16:19-20 (emphasis mine)}

The Kingdom Is The Point

When we look at all that Jesus taught and did, it becomes clear that He had one mission while on earth, and that was to launch His kingdom among men, ushering us into the rule and reign of God.

As we will see in the next post, to limit Jesus’ gospel to simply the salvation of our souls at the end of time is a big mistake. His Kingdom came then, it is here now, and it will increase for all eternity (Isaiah 9:7). As believers, we must join Him on this mission of revealing His kingdom to the lost world, until the day He comes again (Matthew 24:14).

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March 9 2021

When Heaven Came Down

A. Scott Ingram Christian Life, Christian Life and Gospel Leadership, Gospel Leadership, Jesus & The Gospel, Kingdom of God Heaven, heaven came down, Is Jesus god?, Jesus & The Gospel, jesus christ, Jesus fulfilled prophecy, Jesus is God, Jesus is the messiah, messiah, prophecy fulfilled, Savior, son of God 2

Over the past few weeks, we have taken a close look at what happened when mankind fell into sin, the curse came upon creation, and heaven’s presence departed from the earth. We have seen the promise of heaven’s return, given through many pictures and metaphors, yet we have also seen the devastating reality of human life in the absence of heaven. However, 2000 years ago, in a moment unnoticed by almost all humanity, heaven returned to the earth, and since that day, nothing has been the same!

One of the biggest prayers in the Old Testament was “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). As we will see, today, God did just that.

An Unlikely King

We all know the Christmas story; how the angel came to Mary and told her she would miraculously conceive a child, though she was a virgin. The angel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

This would not be the first son of a god in the world. There had been many before; men who had been born in great palaces, rulers of empires and conquerors of nations, who had taken that title for themselves. When Israel lived in Egypt, they served the Pharaoh, who would be called the son of Amun-Ra (the Egyptian creator-god). Later, the Jews would live in exile under the rule of Babylonian and Assyrian kings, who also took the title, “son of god” for themselves. Even at the moment of Mary’s conception, Israel was living under the authority of Caesar, who was declared the “son of god” and worshipped as divine throughout the Greco-Roman world.

Yet for the child born to Mary, this title was not self-proclaimed. Although He was not born in a palace or to a wealthy family, the testimony of His birth reveals His true nature. Not only did the angel appear to Mary, but on the day of Jesus’ birth, angelic choirs sang of His coming to the shepherds in the field (Luke 2:8-21). At his dedication in the temple, His identity was proclaimed by Simeon, through the Holy Spirit’s revelation (Luke 2:25-35), followed by the prophetic declarations of His arrival by the prophetess, Anna (Luke 2:36-40). If all of that was not enough, later, at His baptism in the Jordan River, the voice of God was heard by the crowds, “this is My beloved Son, in whom I AM well pleased” (see Luke 3:22).

Though many Kings had called themselves the “son of God,” this was different. God Himself was revealing His Son to the world, and giving Him the title of King!

Prophecies Fulfilled

As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, there were many prophetic pictures given, pointing to Heaven’s return. Though many of them were masked in mystery, the New Testament goes out of it’s way to show how Jesus fulfilled them all!

He Was the Seed of Abraham

We previously discussed how in Genesis 12:2-3 God promised Abraham a son, who would lead to a global blessing. This promise, however, was not fulfilled in Isaac, nor any of Abraham’s immediate descendants. Instead, it looked forward to Jesus, as the New Testament proclaims.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
^{Galatians 3:16}

Jesus was the child of Abraham who would bless all nations.

He Was a Priest Like Melchizedek

From the days of Moses, the tribe of Levi was appointed to be the priests of the nation of Israel. This would create a problem for Jesus, who was to be born of the tribe of Judah, according to prophetic promises. However, God uses the Old Testament Priest, Melchizedek to point to Christ, who was not a priest according to the law, but according to the Spirit of God.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
^{Hebrews 5:7-10}

Although He was not a Levite, Jesus fulfilled God’s calling and design for a human priesthood, serving as mediator between God and man.

He Was God’s True Tabernacle and Temple

As we have already seen, God used various geographic locations as home to His presence among men. First, He dwelt in the Garden of Eden, where heaven literally dwelt on earth. Later, His presence came down and dwelt among Israel in the Tabernacle in the wilderness, then the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet, even these we imperfect pictures of what was to come in Christ.

Jesus made clear that His appearance marked a change in God’s relationship to humanity.

Luke writes in the book of Acts,

“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands…
^{Acts 7:44-48 (emphasis mine)}

This is written to demonstrate that God had other plans for how to house His Spirit in the earth, and it all began with Jesus!

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
^{John 2:18-22}

Jesus was the Temple for God’s Spirit — His presence and His glory — on the earth!

He was the Final Passover Lamb

Not only was Jesus God in the flesh, the Great High Priest and Promised King, but He was also given by God to be the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. Over and over again, all throughout the law and sacrificial system, God makes it clear that there must be a sacrifice to cover the sin of humanity and demonstrate their full faith in God.

Even Abraham prophetically declared to Isaac, when taking him to be sacrificed on the mountain, that “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8).

What we see when Jesus is killed on the cross over the passover weekend is that He truly was the Lamb of God, just as John the Baptist had spoken over Him in the wilderness (John 1:29). The night before He went to His death, He spoke to the disciples about this eternity-defining event:

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
^{Luke 22:14-20 (emphasis mine)}

He was Declared King and Messiah

As you read through all the Old Testament’s predictions about the One who is to Come, and then look at the life of Jesus, it is undeniable that He fulfilled them all. This was not only done in word, but His actions, which astonished both the crowds and the religious elite, proved that his was a sort of man, never seen before.

At one of His first public readings of scripture, Jesus declares Himself the Messiah:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
^{Luke 4:16-21}

After revealing who He was, Jesus lived the life to prove it:

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
^{Matthew 11:2-5}

Heaven Has Returned

In Jesus, Heaven made its return to the world in power and glory, and since that day, nothing has been the same. Prophecy revealed Him to all who were looking! All of the things the Old Testament used to demonstrate Heaven’s return to earth were pointing to a future reality which was fulfilled in Jesus, and He became the Savior of the World! And that is where we will turn our attention next.

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