The vehicle through which the Kingdom of God advances is the people of God. The Lord as one of his final commandments to us says, “Go therefore into all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey all that I have commanded you. Know that I am with you until the very end of time.” Here, in what we call the “great commission” Jesus gives us the commandment to go out in his name and begin the progressive reconquering of the nations of the world in to the Kingdom of God.
This fact is nothing unique to the New Testament, in fact the Kingdom has always been advanced through people in the Old and New Testament. But why? Where is God in this process, why is it not He himself who comes into the lives of his creation to take back the Kingdom? See, God was there in the beginning, with man in Eden. The Kingdom was perfection and God walked with man. Adam Sinned and God removed Himself from the Kingdom he intended to make the world into. I believe God hides himself from humanity in effect to protect us because he is perfection and we are sinners. But see, God tries all through history to be with humans. He is with us in the beginning, we sinned. He speaks to the people at Sinai and they are afraid of his voice, they ask Moses to be the mediator between them and God. He establishes new mediators in the Judges and speaks through them, but the people are not satisfied with God being their king, they want a man a visible form of the invisible source of authority. So gives them the land but they have to take it by force from the Canaanites it is through war that Joshua advances the kingdom. When the Judges are not enough God gives them a king for their kingdom. He gives them Saul, Saul goes his own way so He gives them David. David pleases the Lord and it is through His line that God promises the one person who will advance the kingdom more than any man.
And after a long time of the earthly kingdom Israel messes up and it gets taken away time and time again. So we come to that ultimate king that God promised would come through David. This time God the Son himself comes in the form of a man. He made the ultimate compromise in our desire to have a man as our mediator between He and us, He willing became a subject of creation… Jesus main message is for readiness of the coming Kingdom of God. And what do we do? We hear his teachings and that is too radical for us, so we crucify Him and He rises from the dead.
One cannot help but feel that in Jesus words of the great commission God finally has reached his wits end and can no longer reach out to tell us of the great Kingdom He is making out of the earth. He says to the handful of people who did comprehend the message, “You got it, now take it and go forth. Give it to the rest of the world.” But because God knows our weakness He did not just leave us to spread the Kingdom without His power. So the third person of the Trinity also comes to us, and in yet another compromise He does not live in the splendid palace of the temple that He had once called home in the Kingdom of Israel. No, this time his home becomes the hearts of dirty man, cleansed by the blood of Christ out vessel is capable of holding the image of deity which the third person holds. We can be home to the Spirit without exploding from His holiness. And so the promise is given that as we go forth acting in place of Christ to spread the Kingdom to our fellow man it will not be us, but Him in us preaching, teaching and performing all forms of signs. Indeed the main act-or of the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit with Christians as His vehicle.
And so, it is said that the major vehicle for the advancement of the Kingdom is the people of God. Those who the Spirit lives within are capable of bringing forth the Kingdom by being in a witness to the entire world of the truth of the Gospel. Now, our warfare is spiritual, prayer and fasting is the weapons we use to take territory the same way Joshua did; through brutal war against the things that stand between us and the fresh territory of our neighbors, friends, relatives and so on.
So, ask yourself… what territory have you captured for the Kingdom? If you have the Spirit in you, are you being a good vehicle for Him? Who in your life can you share the Gospel with today and maybe change their life and advance the Kingdom of God? Remember that if it is He driving your car, you cannot fail in your attempts to extend the Kingdom.
Thanks for reading.
God bless you
-PX
