The Kingdom of God

Rev. Mark C. Alvis, Union Congregational Church — Easter V, May 6, 2007

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Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them (Acts 18:7-17 NIV).

A very important passage describing God’s kingdom is Isaiah 35:1-8. We will look at that text later in this message, since it captures and summarizes many of the truths we will speak about this morning. What is the Kingdom of God? In its broadest sense, God’s kingdom exists wherever God’s will is treasured and carried out. Our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I think we are all aware that God’s will is not always treasured on this earth and at times it is directly attacked. Some people find what I am about to say shocking; but God’s will on earth includes judging wickedness. When God does so, it demonstrates His rule and authority, which are part of His glory.

For example, in Psalm 2 we read, “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’ The One enthroned in heaven . . . scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath.” When king Nebuchadnezzar became arrogant and prideful he was told by Daniel (4:25), “You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle . . . Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.”

God’s judgment against wickedness is a blessing because it keeps wickedness in check. However, God’s ultimate plans have always been to bless the peoples of the earth (Genesis 12:3); and He even states that He will do this through the descendants of Abraham — believers in Christ (see Galatians 3:6-8). God wants people on earth to know Him, love Him and delight to do His will. And this is what Jesus Christ, God the Son, came to earth to accomplish. It is why all the Old Testament prophets longed for the coming of the Messiah (Acts 3:24-25).

Four hundred years after the Old Testament was completed, John the Baptist came bursting onto the pages of the New Testament. In Matthew 3:1-3, we read, “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”’”

On the very heels of John, the Lord Jesus told the Jews, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Of all the peoples of the earth, the Jews knew about the kingdom of God because they had been redeemed out of Egypt and formed into a nation in order to be a prototype of God’s kingdom on earth. Listen to Exodus 19:5-6: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Did Israel as a nation obey God fully and keep his covenant agreements? There was always a remnant of Jews who did, but as a nation they failed miserably. For that reason God promised that He would one day make a New Covenant — a better covenant with Israel, a covenant where God would put his laws upon their hearts and would remember their sins no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Question: Who was the One who ushered in the New Covenant? The Lord Jesus (I Corinthians 11:25; II Corinthians 3:6-12). We will be reminded of that as we observe the Lord’s Table this morning. Did all Israel embrace Christ and enter into the New Covenant? A remnant of Jews did, but as a nation Israel did not. For that reason our Lord Jesus solemnly warned the Jews of His day, in Matthew 21:43, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” The people who will produce the fruit of God’s kingdom are all genuine believers in Christ. As Christians, we have Christ as our king. Because we are in the New Covenant, His laws have been written on our hearts. If we are not living as good citizens in God’s kingdom, then we must ask ourselves, “Is Christ really my king?”

Question: Have the Jews permanently lost the privilege of being in God’s kingdom? No. Listen to Acts 1:3-7:

After his suffering, he [the resurrected Lord Jesus] showed himself to these men [His Jewish disciples] and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” [after all, the Holy Spirit was to be poured out in Jerusalem and all of Christ’s followers were Jewish when they asked this question]. He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

I believe a time is coming when perhaps the majority of Jews will embrace the Lord Jesus as their King and Savior. According to Romans 11:11 the key that will trigger a fullness of Jews coming to Christ is when Gentile believers make them jealous. Christians, are we living in such a way that Jewish people want what we have?

There is another truth about God’s kingdom we need to understand. The ultimate expression of God’s kingdom on earth will not come about until the Lord Jesus returns to earth to raise the dead and usher in the Eternal State. According to I Corinthians 15:50-54, no one in flesh and blood bodies can enter into that expression of God’s kingdom. And so there is a “now and not yet” to God’s kingdom. The “now” of God’s kingdom needs to grow upon the earth. The “not yet” of God’s kingdom is the great hope of the Church. With all this in mind, let’s read our passage for today, which is Acts 19:8-12,

Paul entered the synagogue [at Ephesus] and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate [don’t confuse me with the facts]; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia [modern day Turkey] heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Verse 8 explains that Paul spoke boldly at the synagogue in Ephesus. The reason Paul could speak boldly was because the Lord helped him and he had the Old Testament Scriptures to back up everything he said. I like the way the English Standard Version puts verse 8. It says that Paul was “reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.” Orthodox Christianity has always presented itself through reason and persuasion.

Jesus not only taught He was the Son of God, but He gave many proofs of it as well. How many of you have heard that Christians must stop being so prideful and narrow as to think that Christ is the only way for people to be made right with God? Those who question the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus demonstrate that they do not believe Christ is God the Son — because if He is God the Son, the creator of heaven and earth, then it is the silliest of notions to think that He would condescend to come to earth and die a horrible death on a cross so He could be one of many ways to heaven!

I hope you also noticed, in verse 8, that Christianity spreads through persuasion, not bloody Jihad. Suicide bombing is only practiced by people who have no goods to deliver. They cannot persuade people with a reasonable faith, so they resort to violence and bloodshed. Does anyone here find those tactics attractive or reasonable?

The job of the church is make disciples for Christ. We do it through reason and persuasion. If people don’t want to hear God’s Word, then Christians don’t force it. We read in Acts 19:9 that when the Jews maligned the Way, Paul left them and went to people who wanted to hear the truth of the gospel.

The truths and way of living that Paul taught are referred to as “the Way” in Acts 19:9. This is not the first time followers of Christ have been called that (see Acts 9:2). Jesus did say in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” But where did Jesus get that terminology? Probably from Isaiah 35:1-8.

Let’s quickly work our way through this prophecy. Isaiah declares, “The desert and parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.” What can make a desert blossom? Water. I grew up in the largest and most fertile valley in the world, the San Joaquin Valley. It is nothing but a desert that man has watered. Did God write Isaiah 35:1 because He is just a farmer at heart? No. The desert in Isaiah 35:1 speaks of unregenerate mankind, which is a desert of unbelief. The water of God that can make unbelievers blossom with spiritual life is the gospel empowered by the Holy Spirit (John 4:10-14). What is the gospel going to do in the lives of unregenerate people? Isaiah immediately goes on to say in verses 2-7, “They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God . . . Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like deer . . . Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.”

Friends, it was not a coincidence that John the Baptist went into the desert to preach God’s Word. In John’s day Israel was a desert of unbelief and desperately needed the water of life. It was from the life-giving ministry of John and Christ that followers of the Way came into being. Listen to Isaiah 35:8, “And a highway will be there [where the water of life has come]; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.”

All genuine believers are on that highway. Only the gospel empowered by the Holy Spirit can transform fallen people into a Way of Holiness. In Acts 2:4 on the Day of Pentecost, we read that the disciples of Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit, like a cup is filled with water. In Acts 2:17 Peter describes what happened as the Holy Spirit being “poured out” upon the earth. The Bible deliberately uses the imagery of water because water is what gives life. The book of Acts refers to believers in Christ as the Way, because it is connecting the coming of the Holy Spirit and birth of Christ’s Church to the prophecy of Isaiah 35.

In the Book of Revelation we read about poisoned water. This is referring to false prophets who speak lies rather than life giving truth. The people who listen to false prophets drink poisoned water and die.

Notice with me, in Acts 19:10, how the water of God’s Word spread out in the area Asia, “This went on for two years [Paul’s teaching of God’s Word], so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” All who were thirsty could drink.

Let’s not overlook the fact that the blessings Isaiah describes speak of the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, and the lame walking. This was happening in two different ways through Paul’s ministry. Spiritually blind people were given spiritual sight, but verses 11-12 also describe physical healing: “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”

All of this was evidence that the Kingdom of God had broken out upon the earth through the life-transforming work of the gospel and blessings of the New Covenant. It is this kingdom and this New Covenant that Christians have entered into by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Let’s pray.

Sermon text ©2007 Mark C. Alvis
Bible text © as applicable