Are You In His Kingdom? by: Jimmy W. Cox "And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." (Luke 1:31-33). There are many prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming king, savior, and messiah. In addition, in the New Testament the word "kingdom" is used by Jesus more often than the word "church". Almost all of His parables begin with "the kingdom of heaven is like unto . . . ", so why is it that so many people believe that Jesus could not start His kingdom because the Jews rejected Him, so He started the church instead, but will come back at a later time and start His kingdom? But Jesus has "all authority in heaven and on earth." (Matt. 28:18). Just as the Jews in the days of Jesus on earth thought the Messiah would have an earthly kingdom, some today have the same false idea. In John 18:36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world; My kingdom is not of this realm." It is a spiritual kingdom. Jesus said the kingdom would have its beginning while some of His apostles were still living. "And He said to them, Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not see death till they see the kingdom of God present with power." (Mark 9:1). To Nicodemus, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." A person gets into the kingdom (the church) by a new birth. In Matt. 16:18-19, Jesus said: "I will build my church . . . – I will give you (apostles) the keys to the kingdom." In Acts chap. 2, we read of Peter using the keys to the kingdom to tell the believers how to be saved. Sometimes Christians are called citizens of the kingdom, other times they are called members of the body of Christ (church). Jesus is called "King of Kings" and "Lord of Lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). So the kingdom and the church is the same divine institution. "For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in who we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Col. 1:13-14). - Jimmy Cox lives in Sandy Hook, MS and attends the Columbia church of Christ in Columbia, MS. He may be contacted at [email protected]
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 09:20:39 +0000
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