The last three chapters dug into the truth of our righteousness in Christ—a return to the original identity declared over humanity in Genesis 1:26. In this chapter, we return to the other half of the story: the restoration of the dominion of God through humanity.
As we have already seen, this is the primary message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, as Jesus declared and demonstrated during His ministry on earth. With the story of our righteousness fresh in hand, let’s look at what the Kingdom is and how Jesus brought the return of the dominion of God through humanity.
The Essence of the Kingdom
As we turn to the subject of how Jesus introduced the Kingdom of God to us, I want to revisit a topic we discussed earlier: the nature of the word kingdom. Remember that when we talk about the Kingdom of God, we are not talking about the territory God rules; we are talking about the demonstration of God’s rule itself. The Kingdom is not primarily a noun, meaning a place or people. It is a verb, meaning God’s way of interacting with creation. It is the act of God being king.
This distinction is different from how I tend to process that term by default. When reading that Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God being at hand, I automatically interpret it through the lens of a noun—that God is about to start His nation, the Church, on earth.
But that is not how the first-century Jews heard that phrase. They heard Jesus telling them, “God is about to prove Himself God in your life. Are you ready to experience it?”
This is why the message of the Kingdom is so often linked with signs and wonders. What does God’s rule look like? It looks like the sick being healed and the demonized being set free.1 It looks like our lives coming into the pattern God designed and that we see reflected in heaven.
Look at the language Jesus used when He sent the twelve disciples out to preach:
“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 10:7–8
I used to read these verses and hear this: “Go preach the Gospel; then do these signs to prove it, so people believe you.” That misses the point, though. The message and the medium are the same. The Kingdom is not present in some abstract way that is borne witness by signs and wonders. The signs and wonders are the Kingdom. They are God’s authority in action.
Jesus was saying to go and see the Kingdom at work, then proclaim where it is acting. Go and see the Kingdom at work among the sick. Tell them the Kingdom is drawing near to them as they are healed. As you deliver the demonized, point out that the Kingdom of God is delivering them in that moment. In other words, Jesus was telling the disciples to proclaim where the Kingdom is working: “You—you’re sick, but the Kingdom is drawing near to you right now in this moment. Be healed. You have been demonized, but the Kingdom is at hand, and you are being freed from demonic bondage.”
It is more than the announcement of a possibility. It is the declaration of a new reality.
When it comes to the Kingdom of God, Scripture is referring to the overthrow of Satan’s work and God’s active intervention in the lives of the people present. Again we see it demonstrated in Matthew’s gospel:
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
Matthew 4:23
Jesus came not only as the redeeming Messiah, but also as the conquering King. He came bringing His Kingdom, and He introduced His Kingdom to this world. His life, death and resurrection overthrew the rule of Satan and introduced a new trajectory for history: the path of the Kingdom of God.
The Story of Jesus’ Life
For a while, I wondered why the gospels spend so much time on the life of Jesus, rather than the death and resurrection of Jesus. In terms of importance, the ratio seemed skewed. Jesus’ death and resurrection are of paramount importance to us. Why, in that case, do the gospel accounts focus so much on His life and ministry?
In the gospel of Luke, 21 chapters focus on what Jesus did and taught. Only the last three chapters focus on His death and resurrection. Even John, who dedicates the most attention to the Passion, spends seventeen chapters on Jesus’ life and teaching before depicting His death and resurrection in the last four.
Why this lopsided treatment? Why did the writers take so much time to share what Jesus “began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1)? These questions are merited if we do not understand that the Gospel includes the message of the Kingdom every bit as much as it does the message of our redemption.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God holds equal weight with the message of our personal salvation. And while Jesus’ death and resurrection tell the story of our righteousness, Jesus’ life and ministry tell the story of how the Kingdom of God began to take hold and spread throughout all creation. The book of Acts is the story of that Kingdom work being continued in the early Church and spreading to the nations throughout the Roman Empire.
God’s rule landed on planet earth in the Person of Jesus, and this is the cause into which we are all drafted. Righteousness describes who we are as we are saved; the Kingdom describes the purpose we have, now that we are saved. It is our mission statement: to extend God’s rule over a creation that is out of alignment with God’s original design.
What we see in the life of Jesus is what the Kingdom looks like in action. We see in Jesus that the Kingdom rules over the power of sin, as forgiveness is issued and the destructive effects of sin are overthrown as Jesus brings people to wholeness. We see the Kingdom intersects nature, as well, as water can be turned into wine or walked upon, and five loaves can be multiplied to feed a crowd. The Kingdom overcomes the power of the demonic, as countless demonized people are set free and restored to normal lives. The Kingdom overcomes the realm of sickness, as the blind see and the lame walk. The Kingdom overcomes prejudice and stigma, as we see lepers and the lame restored to functional roles in society. The Kingdom even overcomes the power of death, first as Jesus resurrects the dead and then as He enters the realm of the dead and overthrows its leader.
The life of Jesus is meant to be more for us than proof that He was God. It is a case study in the Kingdom coming, and even in how it comes. It gives us glimpses of what the task at hand looks like lived out. Now that we have been made righteous and tasked with the work of the Kingdom, what do we do? Look no further than the life of Jesus to see an example of the Kingdom lived out perfectly.
The Mission of the Church
Jesus Himself mentions the Church in only two passages. Here is the first use in all of Scripture:
[Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:15–19, emphasis mine
In the middle of a discussion about Jesus’ identity, Simon asserts something remarkable: He believes Jesus is the Messiah. To you or me, that may seem obvious, but remember Jesus went around calling Himself the “Son of man” and not saying He was the Messiah. Simon believes he knows who Jesus is, and when he announces his opinion, Jesus gets excited. He is excited because He knows Simon did not think this answer up himself; rather, it came as revelation from God. The Father showed Simon Jesus’ true identity. This is a signature moment, because Jesus is beginning to see that His disciples are hearing from His Father—that all the teaching and pouring into them He has done is beginning to pay off.
In response to Simon’s revelation, Jesus turns around and says two things. First, He renames Simon to be called Peter. Simon sees Jesus for who He is, so Jesus does the same for him. He shows Simon he really is Peter.
More relevant for this conversation is the next portion. Jesus mentions that on the rock of the revelation of Jesus’ true identity, He will build a Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. His followers will be given keys to the Kingdom and will bind and loose things in relationship to earth and heaven.
Now, imagine this. The disciples have never envisioned a church. This idea has never crossed their mind. They cannot see into the 21st century and visualize people gathering in buildings and drinking coffee on Sunday mornings. All they know is that Jesus is talking about a community (the Greek word means “gathering”) they have never heard of before. This gathering is a group of people that Jesus Himself is assembling, a group of people who know Jesus’ true identity. The group will be so powerful that hell itself cannot stand against the onslaught the group brings. The community is granted permission to access the things of the Kingdom and to connect the will of heaven to the cry of earth, just as Jesus told His disciples to pray: His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
This is the image of the Church that Jesus gives, a group born of the revelation of Jesus, continuing to release the work of the Kingdom until hell itself caves under the power the Lord has granted them to carry.
I think Peter remembered this message and took it to heart. On the Day of Pentecost, the sermon he preaches carries a flavor reminiscent of the above passage. After connecting the events of Pentecost to a prophecy given in Joel 2, he explains it is proof Jesus was the Messiah. David prophesied of someone who would not be held down by the power of death. That person would receive the promise of the Holy Spirit and is the person David quoted in a rather confusing psalm. As Peter quotes it:
“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”’”
Acts 2:34–35
Much of Peter’s sermon hangs on this passage, but it can be hard to follow. Allow me to clarify a few things. Here are Peter’s words again, with my commentary in brackets:
“‘The Lord [God the Father] said to my Lord [Jesus], “Sit at my right hand [Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father], until I make your enemies your footstool [through the Spirit being poured out on the Church].”’”
Peter is saying the Spirit is being poured out on believers because they are following Jesus. That is proof Jesus is the Messiah and that He received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father to pour out on all flesh. Now that the Spirit is being poured out on the Church, the Church is expected to continue the work of the Kingdom until every one of Jesus’ enemies is brought into full submission to Him.2
Both in the initial description of the Church that Jesus gives in Matthew and at the conception of the Church that happened on the Day of Pentecost, the Kingdom—the mission of the Church—is brought to the forefront. The Church and the Kingdom are interlinked. There is no other mission for the Church—at least, not the Church Jesus described.
We can easily get the means and the ends confused. The Church does not exist to evangelize, to care for the poor or to study Scripture. The Kingdom can come through any of those means, but those means are not the Kingdom itself. Our assessment of effectiveness in the Church is nothing other than how much territory we have taken from the enemy.
The Commission of the Kingdom
In light of all we are talking about, the significance of the Great Commission becomes a lot clearer. Before Jesus came and brought the message and reality of the Kingdom of God, as we have already seen, the planet was under the reign of Satan. When Adam and Eve submitted their choices to Satan’s input, they granted him a place of authority over them on planet earth. He snatched the keys to this planet and began to inflict his cruel will on all of creation. This is the reason Jesus referred to Satan as “the ruler of this world” (see John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11)—when Jesus was ministering on the earth, Satan’s authority included the realm of the earth.
Jesus came, though, not in the line of fallen Adam but as the beginning of a new line of humanity. Paul refers to Jesus as the last Adam—a reset for humanity (see 1 Corinthians 15:45; Romans 5:12–21). Because Jesus was the only human being who did not come from the fallen line of Adam, the dominion of God that had been spoken over humanity with Adam was still applicable to Jesus. He carried the dominion of God, and, unlike Adam, He never submitted to the devil’s temptations or gave that authority away. Instead, Jesus used the dominion of the Kingdom of God to challenge the rule of the devil:
“But 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
Jesus brought a challenge to the authority of the devil and defeated him at every turn. In the final attempt to end the threat Jesus presented, Satan wound up sabotaging his own kingdom and welcoming God Himself into his kingdom of death. After completing His victory over death, Jesus sent the disciples out with a new commission:
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
All authority on heaven and earth has been given to Jesus. The authority Satan did have over the earth, Jesus now has. As a result, we are commissioned to go and reconcile everything—right up to the nations themselves—bringing all things into alignment with the Kingdom of God and into everything Jesus has now made available. The Kingdom is what we are saved to. This is our mission on earth.
The Reality of Power
Hold on, you may be thinking. Multiply food? Heal the sick? Cast out demons? I can’t do that . . .
When we see what the Kingdom looks like lived out, it calls us to a new level of responsibility. The target is no longer to be a “good Christian” and occasionally share our faith. Rather, each one of us is now an empowered force for God’s redemption in this world. We are agents of mission, releasing God’s activity on the earth through our lives.
This can be both inspiring and intimidating. What if we cannot do the things we see written in Scripture?
I see this reaction often. People believe the supernatural ministry of Jesus—healing, deliverance and so forth—is for a gifted few. You may think, I don’t have that gift. I’m not gifted to heal the sick, to prophesy or to do whatever else, and come to the conclusion, Others can do that. It’s not for me.
If that is what you believe, you are in good company. Jesus says the same thing about Himself! It is shared in John’s gospel:
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”
John 5:18–19
The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus because they believed He was saying He was on par with God. But Jesus, in effect, said, “Guys, I’m not healing the sick with My own superpowers. I don’t have some amazing gift that heals the sick. This isn’t Me! The miracles I work come out of cooperation with the Father. We do them together. I see what He is doing, and I join Him in His work.”
For a long time, the emphasis has been on gifting. But Jesus says that anyone who believes in Him can do the same and even greater works that He did (see John 14:12). He did not say the gifted people will do the same and greater works; He said anyone who believes in Him will do the same and greater works. This is an invitation to all, not something reserved for a special few. This means we are all invited into the same dynamic and the same supernatural ministry He had.
Many of us draw the conclusion that we are not gifted because we have tried to do these things and it has not worked. We have prayed for the sick, and they were not healed. Or we tried to hear God for others and missed it. Thus, we draw the conclusion we are not gifted, and we shelve this kind of ministry for others. Since we have no control over our gifting, we step to the back of the line and see supernatural ministry as a calling for others.
The problem is that this response leaves what Jesus says in the dust! Surely it is not the right response. But how are we to make sense of this when it happens?
My experience is that we have understood the situation from the wrong starting point. An inability to heal the sick or prophesy does not indicate a lack of gifting. Rather, it indicates a growth curve in the area of learning to see what the Father is doing. The lack is not one of gifting but of the ability to cooperate well.
The good news is that you can learn to cooperate more effectively. If ministering in the supernatural is a gifting and we do not have that gift, we are out of luck. If, instead, it is a matter of cooperating with what God is doing, we can all learn to recognize and cooperate with God more effectively.
This is exciting news! This means the supernatural ministry of Jesus is on the table for everyone. In fact, as we learn to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, which is how the Father leads us, every gift of the Spirit is available to us—and to all believers. We just need to learn how to cooperate and do what we see the Father doing.
A few years ago, we started a class at the Vineyard Church in Urbana, Illinois, called School of Kingdom Ministry (abbreviated SoKM), in order to teach ordinary people how to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. In that class, we teach about the Kingdom, but more than that, we break down how to see what God is doing and how to cooperate with Him—and then we practice it. Since we launched the class in 2011, it has grown and spread out to train thousands of believers across the country and around the world how to operate in supernatural ministry. We have taught teenagers and retirees how to heal the sick. Soccer moms and CEOs have learned to prophesy. People of all ages and walks of life are learning to see themselves as Jesus created them. From there, they are trained how to see what the Father is doing and to cooperate with the Spirit in the miraculous.
All around the world, I have heard this same story: “It’s not for me. I don’t have the gift.” I cannot think of a single case where we have not been able to teach people to see what the Father is doing and to cooperate with Him in the ministry of the Spirit. Some people pick it up more quickly than others,3 but, as Jesus said, it is on the table for all.
Listen to one person’s story that shows this is true.
Jim Warner is not a pastor or a major leader in our church. He is a normal guy who works on his family’s farm. Like many of us, Jim doubted it was possible for him to step into a lifestyle of miracles. He was skeptical and thought this was stuff reserved for a special, gifted few. Here is how he recounts his journey:
About six years ago, my wife, Jo, started taking School of Kingdom Ministry. I was unable to participate with her because I worked a full-time job and helped my dad on the family farm.
A few years later, the company I had worked at for 38 years downsized, and I was given a package to “retire” at the age of 57. I was happy about this because the farm was too much to handle with a full-time job, and I had seen such a change in my wife that I also wanted what she had received at School of Kingdom Ministry!
That fall, I sunk my teeth into Putty’s school, and my world changed. My identity changed. The way I saw God changed. As I began to explore prayer, miracles began to happen as I prayed for people.
In my world before SoKM, praying for people consisted of, Jesus, please heal X and take care of X so they can feel better. I did this with the expectation that nothing would happen because I was unqualified. I felt powerless, even though I had witnessed healing that I thought others in our church had the gift for. I clearly did not have the “gift of healing.” I would just hope someone more qualified would come along. This was from the enemy. As I began to learn my identity, my prayers began to have results!
On a recent mission trip to China, my wife and I were asked to pray for people in front of the class. We were to teach them that they could pray for healing, cast out demons and prophesy. We were praying for a lady who had some demons, and she ran to the restroom. She had to throw up. We finished up with her, and she left skipping down the street! One of the pastors later informed us that he could smell the demons on her and confirmed they were gone. (Months later, I learned what demons smell like, too.) That is but one example on that trip. There were many!
I didn’t realize it before, but God had been giving me information about things and people all my life. Now I began to realize that was God speaking, and I was able to cooperate with Him as He directed me.
Now that we’ve graduated from the class, Jo and I have continued to seek out opportunities to pray for and minister to others. We are currently participating in a prayer ministry for pastors struggling with burnout, where we regularly see restoration, physical healings and deliverances. We have also begun participating in missions and have traveled across the world to pray and minister.
I’m not a pastor, nor do I even work for the church. I still work on the farm, and in every way, I’m a normal guy. It’s just that I’ve learned who I am in Jesus. I was a resentful skeptic. Now I truly believe Jesus is in me, and this has become my new normal.
So, if we are all able to move in the supernatural power of the Spirit, are we all supposed to do that, then? Is that the purpose of Christianity, to have everyone prophesying and casting out demons all the time? What if you feel called to something else?
The message of the Kingdom of God applies to all aspects of society. The Kingdom is bigger than healing, deliverance or prophecy. It includes financial breakthrough and social equality. It involves people growing in the wisdom of God and finding innovative solutions to the problems of society. It includes people coming into relationship with Jesus and broken families and relationships being made whole.
However, while the Kingdom is certainly broad, we also need to keep in mind that Jesus spent His time healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead—and He sent His disciples out to do the same. This is the starting point that leads to social and societal transformation. The first link in the chain is the miraculous, and the miraculous is meant to be woven through all facets of the Kingdom of God, redefining our world.
The Kingdom of God directs us toward many causes worth pursuing. But as we pursue the various causes of personal and social redemption and restoration, we need to remember that the method of the Kingdom is power. When Jesus rescued a bride and groom from the social embarrassment of running out of wine at their wedding, He did so with power. When Jesus fed the crowds—twice—it was with miracles, not just good organization. When He restored lepers to a functional place in society, He did this by healing them.
Jesus modeled a power-infused ministry in every realm of society. This “method of the Kingdom” is important to keep in mind as we pursue whatever cause to which we feel specifically called. As Paul says:
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
1 Corinthians 4:20
If you feel called to heal the sick and cast out demons, that is great! Pursue that with the power of God. If you feel called to combat the evils of prejudice, that is fantastic. Do so with the means of the Kingdom; may God prophetically guide you in how to go about it, and may His power manifest so you can tear down strongholds in people. If you feel called to the realm of business, that is wonderful! I pray God speaks to your innovations and strategies, that your business would be a light in the darkness and that God would supernaturally generate wealth through you for Kingdom purposes.
Of course, in whatever sphere we operate, may we all be equipped to pray for those around us who have needs and to offer the Lord’s healing touch and prophetic insight.
This is the call we all share: that we would be an active part of God’s Kingdom working redemptively on this planet. Jesus has purchased a new heaven and a new earth, and now He looks to you and me, the Church, to partner with the Holy Spirit to bring every enemy of His to bow as a footstool under His rule.
THINKING LIKE JESUS