Kingdom power in the earth
Given the love that God has for the world, and the exceedingly great interest of Christ in the creating of His Bride, the truly extraordinary situation would be if Christ did not intervene in nature. The fact is, however, He does intervene constantly for one reason or another.
We are surrounded by miracles. The angel of the Lord bears us up in his hands all the day. Any person who believes that the creation moves solely by the power and guidance of physical principles is as blind as Elisha’s servant (II Kings 6:17).
Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. Here is a picture of what it is like in the Kingdom of God; not of what it will be like but what it is like in the Kingdom, as far as Christ, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John are concerned.
The transfiguration took place many hundreds of years ago. How much more are Christ and these five men interested in the development of the Body of Christ in the earth today, as we approach the overthrow of the forces of darkness (Hebrews 12:1)?
We already have come to the gathering of multitudes of angels and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect (Hebrews 12:22,23). The saints of God are all alive and much interested in what the Spirit of God currently is accomplishing in the earth.
As the power of the Kingdom Age increases in our midst we will come to a greater awareness of Mount Zion and its inhabitants. Remember, the saints in glory will go before us in the resurrection (I Thessalonians 4:15; Hebrews 12:1).
We all are one army (Ezekiel 37:10). Perhaps Christ’s soldiers now in Heaven are as interested in the Kingdom as we. Jesus always lives in awareness of both the spiritual and the physical domains of His Kingdom, and so shall we as we press into Him.
Notice how Paul charged Timothy before Christ and the elect angels, although neither Christ nor the angels were visible at the time. However, Christ and the angels were present in Paul’s consciousness.
I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. (I Timothy 5:21)
What profit is it to consider the elect angels, the spiritual domain of the Kingdom of God? Much. The touch of Heaven on our consciousness lifts us above the world now and will help us to stand as we enter the days of trouble that are just ahead.
The vision of Heaven continues to broaden our spirit, relieving us of the grubbing competition that causes us to forget that the values in life are not material possessions but our relationship with God and with our fellow pilgrims.
Our one regret as we pass from the bondage of our flesh, after we have made our peace with God, will be that we were not kinder, gentler, more patient with other people—especially with those close to us.
The touch of Heaven on our consciousness while we still are at home in the appetites of the flesh permits us to maintain a better perspective concerning our relationships with people, as we become aware of the gentle good will and kindliness that permeate the social atmosphere of Heaven.
Speaking of the deeds of Jesus that He accomplished while He was here on earth, John wrote: "There are also many other things that Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen" (John 21:25). The Kingdom-Age glory was in Christ while He was on earth.
He was with the wild animals in the desert without harm to himself (Mark 1:13). He passed through the midst of people, and through doors with the same ease (Luke 4:30; John 20:26). He was ministered to by angels (Matthew 4:11; Luke 22:43). No man took the Life of Christ from Him. He laid His body down and then took it up again (John 10:18). He ascended into the clouds in full view of His followers (Acts 1:9).
He cannot be contained by the barriers to which people ordinarily are subject. He is Christ, the Redeemer, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jacob’s Ladder reaching from earth to Heaven (Genesis 28:12).
He is the Resurrection. He is the Life. He is the Jubilee. In Him and through Him all the creation will obtain release into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The only creatures who will not be brought into liberty are those who resist the will of Christ.
There were many examples in the early Church of the exercise of Kingdom authority and power. One example, comparable to Jesus walking on the water, was that of Philip travelling in the Spirit to Azotus (Acts 8:39,40). Philip was used as an angel (messenger) of the Lord in this instance.
Ananias and Sapphira were pierced through by the Sword (Word) of the Lord (Acts 5:1-10) exactly as evildoers will be slain during the period in which Christ and His army impose the Kingdom Age on the earth.
Another demonstration of Kingdom power occurred when Paul shook off the beast (viper) into the fire and felt no harm (Acts 28:3-6). This incident not only is a foreshadowing of the Day when the deadliest and most vicious of the animals become playmates for toddlers, but also is symbolic of the coming of the Day of the Lord.
The Church, through the authority and power of Christ, will "shake off" the power of sin and death into the fire of God’s wrath. When the people of the world see this happen they will change their mind about Christ and say He is God (Acts 28:6).
The full authority and power of the thousand-year Kingdom Age awaits the maturing of the Body of Christ. However, many works of power of that age are available to each Christian today. What an hour in which to be living! Like Paul, we must lay aside every distraction and press on toward the fullness of resurrection life, not worrying too much about a little suffering along the way.
During the thousand-year Kingdom Age the tame and wild beasts will be reconciled and the destructive nature will be removed from ferocious animals.
And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ [viper’s] den. (Isaiah 11:7,8)
There will be marvellous rejoicing when sin has been removed from the earth and the Spirit of God is able to have free course among the nations!
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)
The peoples of the earth no longer will work from dark to dark seven days a week because of fear of not obtaining the necessities of life. They will recognize that the world-spirit (Satan) by deception and for his own interests kept them grinding away in slavery to the acquiring of material goods or for fame, power, or some other elusive, joyless goal.
God will feed us and clothe us as Jesus promised. The rest is vanity. How easily we are deceived into turning away from God! We spend our life in the dark, pursuing temporal goals that never can satisfy us. Jesus brings light, blessing, an easy yoke, a light burden. Why shouldn’t we love and serve Him.
And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon (Satan operating through man-directed, institutional Christianity), and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! (Isaiah 14:3,4)
With all evildoers gone, the earth will be a glorious place in which to live.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. (Isaiah 14:7)