The Kingdom of God, Student Workbook, SW02

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T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

* To what extent can we ask God to do the same works in and through us that he did in Jesus, if the kingdom authority is present in our midst today? * Why are so few Christians and churches experiencing the explosive authority and power of God’s rule if Jesus in some real sense ushered in God’s reign? * Christians disagree much regarding end time prophecy and doctrine. How does this teaching of the Kingdom help resolve or make even more difficult to understand the Bible’s teaching on the end times?

A Triumphant Discovery

A sincere Christian brother, after hearing the teaching that the Kingdom of God is already present, took it to mean that all of the kingdom power and blessing is available for us today. He immediately began to teach in his Sunday school class that Jesus has ushered in the Kingdom, and therefore we no longer need to experience any of the devil’s interference or jabs. Specifically, he began to teach the teens that they no longer had to get sick, or be without money, or sin, or even be emotionally discouraged. As a result of his teaching, factions broke out among the teens and their parents. Some sided with the Christian brother, while others affirmed that “in the world we will have tribulation.” Both sides have gone to the Bible and have emphasized those Scriptures which support their respective points; that we have victory in Christ, or, that we struggle and fight in this world, with the flesh, the devil, and this wicked system of temptation. With both sides mildly bruised and a little confused, they ask you to come and clarify the meaning of the “already” in the “already/not yet” Kingdom. How would you help this struggling fellowship come to understand the true meaning of the “already” and the “not yet” in regards to the Kingdom of God?

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Everything Is for Later

In sharing the teaching of this lesson with some friends in church, a visiting graduate student of a well-known seminary begins to say how this view is heretical. Believing strongly in the view that all kingdom life and power has been postponed to a future age, the graduate student begins to share how Israel was given a kingdom offer but refused it, killing the Messiah who invited them. Having rejected Jesus’ kingdom