The Coming of the Kingdom
Matthew 12:15-29
The third sermon in the series Authority to heal is entitled “The Coming of the Kingdom”. Click here to listen to the sermon (right-click to save it to disc, or ctrl-click on the Mac). Next sermon
Notes
Last week, as we began to explore some of the causes of sickness and disease we saw that the environment in which we live, though created perfect by God, is now seriously flawed as a result of human rebellion against God's authority. Though God listed responsibility for the world to the human race, we have abdicated that responsibility and, through the Fall, power over this world has been snatched by Satan, God's enemy. Hence the mess in which we find ourselves.
Luke 4:6: Satan claims to have authority over the world.
John 12:31: Jesus refers to Satan as prince/ruler of this world (cf 2 Cor 4:4)
Jesus describes him as a murderer and the Father of lies (John 8). He opposes the redemptive purposes of God and sows sickness, disorder and disease, bondage and oppression.
Throughout the OT hope grows that one day God will act to destroy his enemies once and for all, finally establishing his reign on earth and establishing his people, that The Day of the Lord will one day arrive.
Three key events define Israel's expectation of the way in which God would work:
Exodus: deliverance from evil and oppression
Conquest and settlement of Canaan: displacing those who are hostile to God's purposes
Davidic monarchy (Messiah): one who enacts God's reign on earth
Messianic expectation and hope fuelled by experience of life under successive oppressive regimes.
Central message of Jesus is that these hopes and longings are fulfilled in him. He speaks not of the day of the Lord, but of the Kingdom (literally 'rule' or 'authority') of God. That which people have longed for, and which belongs to the future, has dawned ahead of time in Jesus.
Luke 4:16-19: These things have come about today
Mark 1:14-15: The arrival of God's Kingdom (Day of the Lord) now
Ladd: "Modern scholarship is quite unanimous in the opinion that the Kingdom of God was the central message of Jesus."
The Kingdom of God
So what is Jesus on about when he talks of the Kingdom of God?
Essentially the rule and authority of God
Future breaking into the present; the future universal reign of God breaking into our present world. 'Near at hand' (Mk 1:14-15)
Rather as on D Day, the decisive battle of WW2 was won and the outcome was no longer in doubt, though fierce fighting and struggle lay ahead until the final destruction of the Nazi regime. So with the arrival of the Kingdom with Jesus, the final outcome is no longer in doubt, the decisive battle has been won, a bridgehead has been established on enemy territory and the work of liberation is now taking
Jesus himself as Messiah, inaugurator of God's new age
The Holy Spirit as enactor of new age.
The Spirit is seen as hallmark of end-time Kingdom. Now poured out on Jesus and then on church to equip and energise for service and life. Cf Acts 1:6-8; Eph 1:14
When does it come in?
In ministry of Christ (Matt 12:28)
Through death of Chist (Col 2:15, Heb 2:14-15)
By Resurrection of Christ (Jesus is Lord)
Completed at Return of Christ (1 Cor 15:25-6)
Signs of the Kingdom
Authority of the King. Mk 1:22, recognition of a new type of authority cf. Matt 12:28.
Demons recognise the authority of Jesus (Mk 1).
Jesus demonstrates his authority over disease, death, demonic, nature and chaos (Mark 4 & 5).
We minister with the same authority today, not with our own strength but that of Christ.
Jesus really does have authority over all these things. Nothing is beyond his power.
Confrontation with the enemy
Matt 12:28-29, binding the strong man
Final destruction of Satan awaits the end of this age. But he is now bound and his power and influence turned back.
Exorcism of demons was one of most characteristic features of Jesus' ministry, proof that the Kingdom of God had come.
There will be power encounters today, see Wimber Power Evangelism p29
Liberation of captives
v29 Robbing the strong man cf. Luke 4
We are called to minister the freedom of Christ to those in bondage of any kind.
Sickness, addiction, hurt etc.
Proclamation of Good News
Firstly by Jesus then by the Church.
Place of a herald in the ancient world, representative of a ruler and speaking on his behalf the very word of the ruler. The word became an event, binding because of the authority behind it. cf. Matt 11:2-6.
We are called to proclaim the presence of the kingdom in word and deed in such a way that people understand the new possibilities God brings to us.
The empowering of others
Luke 9 & 10
Jesus commissions 12 then 72 to continue the work he himself has begun and thus extends the scope of his work. Central to the call of these people is the charge to proclaim the Kingdom of God, to heal the sick and to deliver the demonised.
The triumph of suffering service
This is not an exercise of raw power. Jesus does not simply outdo Satan at his own game. Rather the power and authority which Jesus exercises is what one author has described as 'Crucified power', the power of the Cross.
Matt 12:18-21
It is humility, love and obedience that disarm the powers of darkness, cf. Harry Potter, who cannot be harmed by his deadly foe, as the latter is disempowered by the fact that Harry's mother sacrificed her life for her son.
We are not called to be latter-day spiritual Rambos but rather disciples of Christ, walking in the way of the Cross.
The vital importance of true obedience.
Longing for fulfilment
We live with the experience of frustration and incompleteness, with the tension of having tasted the powers of the new age but waiting for its fulfilment cf. Parable of wheat and tares.
This gives us a framework or context in which to minister to those who are sick.
Derek Morphew: “We should be aware that we five in a pregnant present overshadowed by an ultimate future.”
Sermons on healing
The Coming of the Kingdom (this sermon)
See also
