The Kingdom of
God!
Chapter 10
Our
God is a God of law because of His integrity. Numbers 23:19 says,
"God is not a man, that that He
should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: has he said, and
shall he not do it? Or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
Jer. 1:12,
"You have seen well: for I will hasten my
word to perform it."
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of law and
order. The reason for this is that when God, who is all powerful, speaks and
declares, His word becomes law. He will not break His laws! In the beginning,
God made a covenant with Adam. The covenant was both spiritual and natural.
When Adam broke that covenant, He sold his spiritual rights to rule and reign
spiritually on earth and he and all of his posterity became subject to death
and sin reigned over mankind. Because he chose to obey Satan and not God, he
became subject to the wiles of the devil.
Paul said in Rom. 6:16,
"Know you not, that to whom you yield
yourselves servants to obey,
his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness?"
He also said in Rom. 7:14,
"For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal,
sold under sin."
A covenant of works was the constitution under which
Adam was placed at his creation. In this covenant, the contracting parties were
(a.) God the moral Governor, and (b.) Adam, a free moral agent, and
representative of all his natural posterity (Rom. 5:12-19). (2.) The promise
was "life" (Matt. 19:16, 17; Gal. 3:12). (3.) The condition was
perfect obedience to the law, the test in this case being abstaining from
eating the fruit of the "tree of knowledge," etc. (4.) The penalty was death
(Gen. 2:16, 17). This covenant is also called a covenant of nature, as
made with man in his natural or unfallen state; a covenant of life, because
"life" was the promise attached to obedience; and a legal covenant, because it
demanded perfect obedience to the law. The "tree of life" was the outward sign
and seal of that life which was promised in the covenant, and hence it is
usually called the seal of that covenant.
As you read through the Bible, you will find that God
loves to make covenants with mankind. We, in the United States, formed a
constitution which outlines the bases of our rights and liberties. The Left,
and forces of evil, are drastically trying to change and distort our
constitution. If they succeed, they can change forever the foundations that our
nation was built upon.
The courts of Heaven have rules and regulations that
must be followed. We must learn how to approach the throne of Grace in order to
get our prayers answered. If we go before the Lord with unforgiveness in our
hearts nothing will happen because Jesus said in Mark 11:25-26,
"And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have
something against anyone: so that your Father also which is in heaven may
forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive,
neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
When you come before the throne of Grace, you must
repent of any known sin and any unknown sin, and then the blood of Jesus
cleanses you and you are righteousness in the sight of the Lord. Now, Satan has
no legal ground to accuse you. This is the reason we can come boldly before our
Father because we are righteous in His eyes because of what Jesus did for us.
Heb. 4:14-15 says," (NIV)
"Therefore, since we have a
great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us
hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted
in every way, just as we are; yet he did not sin. Let us
then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
We have a great High Priest, who is Jesus,
who is before the throne of Grace on our behalf. The position of High Priest is
a legal position. Aaron was a High Priest and he offered up sacrifices on
behalf of Israel so God had the legal right to bless Israel. This is what Jesus
is doing as our High Priest now. He is before this throne of Grace offering His
own blood so God has a legal right to bless us! We Don't have to be afraid to
come before this throne, because of the position Jesus has won as our High
Priest right to bless us instead of curse us!
Notice also, that Jesus has passed through
the heavens. The powers of darkness that occupy these spiritual dimensions
called the heavens could not stop Jesus from taking His legal place as High
Priest because of His absolute obedience to the Father and the blood that He
shed. They have no legal right, or power, to keep Him from His place. The
result is that these principalities have now lost their legal right to rule.
Jesus has legally overthrown these powers of darkness.
However, it is our job, as the Church, to
execute and administrate this judgment on the Earth. Paul said in Col. 2:13-15,
"When you were dead in your
sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having
canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and
condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having
disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross."
We must understand that the cross of Jesus
was a legal transaction. We are here to execute the legalities that this
transaction put into place. A legal transaction has no power if it is not
executed. For instance, a judge can issue a decree of judgment in a court, but
if there is no one to enforce that judgment, it will have no power! When Jesus
died on the cross, He legally provided atonement for all of mankind for all
ages. Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:18-19,
"And all things are of God, who has reconciled us
to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has
committed unto us the word of reconciliation."
When Jesus died on the cross, God reconciled Himself
back to the world legally. Every legal issue that separated God and man was
taken out of the way through the cross. Notice what Paul said; we have to be
reconciled back to God! We have to legally take hold of what Jesus did and make
it our own! Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:20,
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God."
Heb. 6:18 says,
"That by two immutable things, in which it
was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us!
We must legally take hold of what Jesus legally
provided for us. The Apostle John said in 1 John 1:9,
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God is faithful and just. Being faithful
speaks of His covenant keeping nature. He will be true to the covenant He made
with us through the blood and body of Jesus. A covenant is a legal entity. When
we meet the legal requirements of confession, God is freed to legally forgive
us of our sins. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, God can now
legally forgive and cleanse us when we meet the legal requirement of confession
and repentance.
Our repentance gives God the legal right
to display and show His mercy. Even though it is legally ours, we can only get
it when we execute into place what is ours, by confessing our sins and
repenting. This is why we can come boldly before His throne of grace even if we
have sin in our lives. However, when we approach His throne, we need to
immediately repent of any known sin or any unknown sin with the full assurance
that the blood of Jesus will cleanse us and make us righteous in the eyes of
the Lord! The devil will then have nothing to accuse us of in order to stop us
from carrying out the Lord's will in our lives.
Everything is a legal matter in the
Kingdom of God which is a spiritual Kingdom! Because God gave us the freedom of
choice, He can do nothing unless we give Him the legal right! The devil also
cannot do anything unless people of the earth give him permission to do so by
what they declare with their mouths. Jesus said in Matt. 16:18-19, (NIV)
"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on
this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome
it. I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
The word 'Ecclesia' is the Greek word
which means Church. This word means the judicial, legislative and governmental
people of God! It speaks of a people that have been granted legal positions on
Earth and before the Lord. We have been given the right to get things legally
in place so that God's will can come into the earth realm.
The words bind and loose are actually
legal terms at the root. The word bind speaks of getting a binding contract
into place, while the word loose speaks of dissolving an existing contract.
Jesus was saying that the Church has a judicial responsibility to establish
binding contracts with Heaven that allow God the legal right to invade and
impact the earth. The Church also has the job of legally dissolving contracts
with the devil that allow him to operate in the earth.
We have an example of this in Luke
22:31-32 where Jesus said to Peter,
"Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for
you, that he might sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your
faith should not fail!"
The words asked for in the Greek actually
says demanded for trial. Satan came and demanded that Peter be put on
trial in the courts of Heaven. Satan had developed evidence against Peter to
try and thwart what was written in the books of Heaven about him. In Daniel
7:10 when the court was seated, the books were opened. The devil understood
something of what was in Peter's book because of what Jesus had said to Peter
about giving him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Matt. 16:18-19,
"That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will
give unto thee the keys of The
Kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven."
Remember, The Kingdom of Heaven is where
God is and The Kingdom of God is universal! Satan realized that Peter was
destine by Jesus to have a radical and dramatic effect in the Kingdom of God.
If the devil didn't stop him, Peter would do massive damage to his empire and
establish The Kingdom of God here on this earth. Satan's plan was to bring
Peter before the courts of Heaven and put him on trial. If Satan could
disqualify Peter legally from what was written in his book in court, he would
stop the agenda of God for the earth.
You must realize that Satan is an accuser.
In Rev 12:10-11 John said,
"Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of
our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down, which accused them
before our God day and night."
Satan is before the throne of God seeking
to present evidence in the courts as to why we are disqualified from what God
wrote in our book about His purpose for us! He wants to stop us at any cost,
from stepping into the destinies written about us in our books.
If you would like a present-day example of
this, just look at what he has done to our President, Donald J. Trump! Never
before has a President of the United States been opposed like Donald Trump. No
matter whether you like Trump or dislike him, you have to admit that he has
been opposed by the left of the Democratic Party and the press, like no other
President in the history of our nation!
We, as the Church, must go before the
courts of Heaven and put a stop to this activity of Satan. God always has a
remnant that will carry out His will in matters like this. There are saints
that have learned to operate in the courts of Heaven today who are presenting
Trump's case before the Lord and are in agreement with the Lord that His will
and purpose for raising up Trump at this time in our nation's history will be
done in our nation.
I will continue on this subject in the next chapter. Meditate on this chapter because this is an important revelation that we must understand!