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Articles 2021-2023
Just prior to His time of prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus opened His heart to His Father in the presence of His eleven disciples in what has been called His high priestly prayer (John 17).
For us today, one key element in discipling others is that like Jesus, we also commune with God together with them. In those moments, they will get to see our heart both for the Lord and for them as well.
As He prayed with them listening, Jesus asked that His disciples could be with Him where He was so that they could see his glory (John 17:24) – not simply that they could be with Him where He would be later when He went to heaven. He also wanted them to be where He was at that moment, when He was praying. Here is our calling – to pursue the place of intimacy with God that Jesus lived in here on earth.
For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself (Greek, PROSKALEO – to call toward oneself, to summon).
We have been called, invited, bidden to come and draw near to Him. Jesus walked in perfect intimacy with His Father and became for us Heaven’s flawless standard. Today, the Church must recognize and follow His example.
In reading the New Testament writings of Paul, it is obvious that in some significant measure, he experienced those realms of intimacy with God. I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8). How he loved his Lord; how he wanted to gain more of Him in his life.
In Gethsemane, when Judas, along with Roman soldiers and Jewish religious leaders came to arrest Him, Jesus did not shrink back, but went toward them identifying Himself as the I AM of scripture. And when He did, they drew back and fell to the ground (John 18:1 - 6). Whenever I read this passage, I am reminded of how the priests could not stand to minister in the temple because of the manifest glory of the Lord (2Chronicles 5:14).
So, what Jesus had just asked for – that His disciples could be with Him and behold His glory – the Father had now answered in an introductory way. While three of them had seen His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, now the whole group was given a taste as well. And like in Paul’s life, God’s call to know the glory of Christ would now consume the rest of their lives.
In order to shepherd/protect His disciples, Jesus then asked those arresting Him to let His followers leave (John 18:8). But Peter, seemingly out to prove something, went on the offensive. While the disciples only had two swords among them, Peter had made sure that he got one of them. But what were they doing with swords in their midst?
When Jesus had previously sent them out to minister without money bags and extra baggage, God had cared for them and they had not lacked anything. But then He told them it was now time to take these things with them and to even take swords (Luke 22:35 - 36). Why?
”For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.” They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
Jesus was not saying that His kingdom would now expand through the force of arms. Rather, He was simply fulfilling scripture. If as Isaiah had prophesied, He was going to be numbered or accounted as a criminal transgressor, then there ought to be at least a few swords in their midst. In fact, all they needed was two. And when Jesus’ then healed the one who Peter had wounded, He confirmed the true nature of His kingdom – it would not be advanced by the sword but through the power of love and servanthood.
After his initial show of bravado, Peter’s sense of helplessness quickly surfaced in light of what was happening to His Lord. And after denying three times that he was Jesus’ disciple he went out and wept bitterly. His world was falling apart. It seemed that after all Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God, even those closest to Him had not yet accurately perceived it. The Kingdom had indeed broken into human history but it just did not look like anyone expected. And here was Pontius Pilate’s main concern in questioning Jesus. “Are You Israel’s king? What did you do that has so angered these leaders of your people?” Jesus’ response is enlightening. My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:33 - 36).
Israel wanted God’s kingdom but on their terms. At one point, many had even tried to take Jesus by force to make Him their king (John 6:15). But He would not submit to their ways, their thinking, or their priorities. What He was offering was just so different from what they wanted. A kingdom that is illustrated by a farmer sowing seed into different kinds of soil with different results. Or hidden leaven permeating over time a lump of dough. A kingdom so veiled that one must be born of the Spirit to even see it. No. It could not be. But Jesus’ words were clear.
”The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
(Luke 17:20 - 21 ESV)
The King had come and was in their midst. The will of God was being done on earth in one man just like it was in heaven.
But certainly, God’s realm of dominion had to be observable with a visibly perceptible throne accompanied by armed men to defend it. Right? Again, Jesus’ words to Pilate were unmistakable.
”My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
As then, so today. Until He physically returns in glory, it will take discernment and humility to recognize Heaven’s King, to experience His glory, and to participate in His rule among men.
And Pilate simply would not let it go. When addressing the people, he repeatedly referred to Jesus as their king. Until, finally in exasperation, the chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). Here was the second time that Israel had explicitly rejected God as their king.
Some have suggested that in the Old Testament era, the Kingdom of God on earth was revealed as kings ruled in Israel from Jerusalem. But God’s perspective was that this arrangement expressed His people’s rejection of Him as their king (1Samuel 8:7). In fact, they were trying to be like the surrounding nations who did not know Him. And while it is true that God could never lose His identity as Israel’s king, and even promised that the coming Messiah would arise through the lineage of David their greatest earthly king, yet something of the purity of His expressed kingship among them had been lost.
But certainly, the time prior to their having a king, the time of the judges was too chaotic to be considered the better way. Right? Wrong. It is true that on the surface, functioning like the nations around them did seem more stable, orderly, and consistent. But while God’s ways are different from ours, they are also better. And it takes faith to walk in them. His approach is that in His kingdom, everyone depends on Him. And since we do that so imperfectly, His work among us can sometimes look a bit messy.
During the time of the judges, Israel had no standing army, no palace for a king, and no idea where the next judge/leader would come from. And when they walked in obedience, God blessed them and protected them from their enemies. But when they turned from Him in their hearts, everything began to disintegrate. Enemies began to encroach the nation. Oppression and subjugation followed. Then when they cried out in repentance to Him, He would again raise up someone to rally and to lead them against their oppressors.
It was not that Israel wanted to do away with God using judges among them. They just wanted it all to happen on their own terms – that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles (1Samuel 8:20).
They wanted to stabilize, make more predictable, and establish organizationally what God had designed to be spontaneous and prophetic with Himself as the coordinator from heaven. But with the resurrection of Christ, God has become king again; the time of the judges has returned. God is again raising up both anointed men and women to put the prophetic trumpet to their mouths and to sound forth among us His heart and His strategy for assaulting the powers of darkness in our nation – all under the oversight of godly men called to be elders in His house. The prophet Isaiah looked ahead and saw these days.
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns (Hebrew, MALAK – has ascended the throne, has become king)!”
Here, in its simplest form is the gospel of the kingdom.
Donald Rumble – March 2022
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