Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

LESSON 4 | THE NT WITNESS TO CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM: THE MESSIAH OPPOSED / 167

4. How do Christ’s healings and exorcisms demonstrate that the promise of the Kingdom of God have actually come to pass in Jesus’ own day? 5. Jesus’ confrontation with the powers of the enemy reveal his authority in this world. How does his conflict help us to understand the ministry of Messiah in the world today? 6. If the Kingdom has come in Jesus, then why haven’t all evil forces and influences been utterly destroyed? Is there a future dimension to Jesus’ consummation of the Kingdom, and if so, what is it? 7. Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the kingdom promise, and therefore as Messiah opposes the effects of the curse and the works of the kingdom of darkness. How do we apply this kingdom authority in our own ministries and lives, here in the inner city? This lesson focuses upon the opposition our Lord received, not only from his contemporaries in the nation of Israel, but those larger spiritual forces of the curse, the devil, and moral evil at work in the world. Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the kingdom promise of God, reasserting the rule of God in the earth, and demonstrating tangibly in his person and work God’s victory over sin, Satan, and death. • The Jewish concept of the Kingdom of God at the time of Jesus, influenced as it was by their oppression from political powers, included their belief that the Kingdom of God would come in power, restoring the material universe and saving humankind from the control of Satan. • Jesus’ view of the Kingdom conflicted with his contemporaries in that Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom to be present in his very person and works of power, demonstrated in his healings and exorcisms. • As the true albeit unexpected Messiah, Jesus opposed those underlying spiritual powers which have held the world and humanity captive since the fall. • Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the kingdom promise, and therefore as Messiah opposes the effects of the curse and the works of the kingdom of darkness.

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Summary of Key Concepts

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