16: God’s Strategy For Civil Conquest 5 of 7 - KINGDOM

What Kingdom are we talking about? Not some Kingdom just in heaven. Not some Kingdom just in the future. No, God’s Kingdom is with us here and now! We know this to be true because Jesus commanded this for us here and now (Matt. 6:33):“But seek first the Kingdom of God!”Jesus is not talking about serving the church. Jesus is not talking about serving other Christians. Jesus is not talking about preaching the gospel. Jesus is not talking about serving Him in general. Jesus is very specific here. Jesus is talking about one thing - the establishment of a nation, a nation with a king - God’s Nation – a nation with God’s Law and God’s Son Jesus as King!How do we know that Jesus is commanding us to “seek first the Kingdom of God” for here on earth now? And if that’s true - that is revolutionary! Here are five reasons why we know Jesus is commanding this for here on earth now:* The verse itself is present tense.* What proceeds the verse - the first word in Matthew 6:33 is the word “But.” The word “but” is there in context to demand the opposite of what non-believers are seeking right now here on earth – “money … food … and clothes” (Matt. 6:24-32):“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money… So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. But seek first the Kingdom of God.”* The second half of the verse - Matthew 6:33:“But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”In context “all these things” were the material things mentioned right above this verse that all the unsaved are seeking here and now.* What follows the verse - the first word that follows Matthew 6:33 is the word “Therefore,” verses 34:“Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”We are to “seek first the Kingdom of God” literally TODAY and not to even “be anxious about tomorrow!”* The chapter beginning – earlier in the chapter Jesus tells us what to pray for “on earth,” here and now (Matt. 6:9-10):“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”This too is in the present tense - “on earth” - now. Furthermore, the next sentence tells us to pray for what is here and now:“Give us this day our daily bread.”One Bible translation of Matthew 6:33 reads: “Seek first the nation of God.” The word “Kingdom” is more correct. However, using the word “nation” might enlighten some who miss the point that Jesus is making. Jesus is commanding us to seek first for having a specific nation here on earth - God’s nation - which is to be God’s Kingdom with King Jesus and His Law.What Jesus is commanding us to do today is exactly what Jesus is going to do when He returns. That is NOT a reason for us to not seek first His Kingdom today, but only further confirms God’s will for us today. There is no time that we should not work to do what Jesus would do. But today is our time and our opportunity - to disciple nations - according to God’s Kingdom.In the Gospels, Jesus referred to His church 2 times. Jesus referred to His Kingdom over 120 times! This is not to minimize the church, but it’s Jesus confirming His mission for the church – His Kingdom. Yes, it is to get the gospel to the nations, but it is far more than that – it’s to establish Jesus’s “all authority … on earth … in all nations!” (Matt. 28:18-20).The Apostles confirmed Jesus’s mandate by continuing to teach the Kingdom of God over 40 separate times after the church started. Here are only five examples in Acts alone:* “But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12).* Then Paul went to the synagogue and preached boldly for the next three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8).* “And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again” (Acts 20:25).* “Paul witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 28:23).* “For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:30-31).Moreover, Jesus’s Great Commission was and is a civil mandate (Matt. 28:18-20). Most evangelicals misuse this verse to declare the gospel to all nations, but this verse says nothing about the gospel! Plenty of other verses do, however. The Great Commission is not understood and thus not obeyed by most evangelicals today, unlike most of Christendom (albeit it some good and some bad) understood and pursued it for the first 1800 years from the time of Christ. The Great Commission in essence declares 5 teachings (for theological confirmation on all 5 points read Jesus’s Civil Mandate):* Jesus has been given all authority on earth (includes civil government authority).* Jesus mandates Christians to teach nations (not church or disciples but civil governments).* Jesus mandates Christians to immerse nations in the authority of the whole Godhead (not water baptism).* Jesus mandates Christians to teach all nations to obey all Jesus commanded (God’s civil Law).* Jesus promises to be with Christians to fulfill His national/civil mandate today (nations ruled under King Jesus and God’s Law).The Apostle Peter declared what the Christian race is and what Christian mission is (1 Peter 2:9):“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”What did the Apostle Peter say Christians are:* A chosen race.* A royal priesthood.* A holy nation.* For God’s possession.* To proclaim His excellencies.What is “a royal priesthood” – those representing a king on earth today – King Jesus.What is “a holy nation” - a nation today under God’s holy civil Law - God’s Ten Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments.What is it “to proclaim His excellencies” – to proclaim to our nation today about the greatness of our King – King Jesus.What did the Apostle John say to all the churches for today (Rev. 1:4-6):“This letter is from John to the seven churches … Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ who is … the ruler of all the kings of the world… He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God His Father. All glory and dominion to Him forever and ever! Amen.”Why did the Apostle Paul say Christians are to be civil judges for today? Because Christians are going to eventually be judges for all the world and even angels (1 Cor. 6:1-3). The Apostle John also confirmed what God wants for His people - to be rulers on the earth (Rev. 5:10):“And You have caused God’s people to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign (rule) on the earth.”The Apostle Peter was martyred for what he was proclaiming. What He wrote was seditious to the Roman Empire even as Paul’s letters were and still are seditious for every nation today that does not honor Jesus as King and God’s Law as their civil law. But we are God’s “chosen race” to reign today as a “holy nation.” Until we establish the nation we are living in to be a “holy nation” under God’s Law - Christians are to function as a shadow government - a “holy nation” within a nation.* Jesus mandated what Law for Christians to follow today (Matt. 5:17-19).* Paul mandated what judges for Christians to follow today (1 Cor. 6:1-5).* Jesus mandated Christians to teach our nation today to obey all His commands/laws (Matt. 28:18-20).* Jesus promised He would be with us today to fulfill His national mandate (Matt. 28:18-20).In the past, with the authority and power of Jesus, Christians established many cities and nations for the Kingdom of God with God’s Law and Jesus as King. It is now our responsibility to our King Jesus and in His Name to do the same in our generation (Heb. 11:33):“Through faith to conquer nations!”To obey what Jesus mandated:“Seek first the Kingdom of God!”I want to conclude with an article of Ted Weiland, a biblical scholar, who wrote on the Lord’s Eternal Kingdom. Weiland references “Lord” with the Hebrew word, “Yahweh”:Yahweh’s Eternal KingdomYahweh’s kingdom is eternal: it exists yesterday, today, and forever. It is definitive in that it has always been and always will be in existence (Psalm 145:13). It is progressive in that He intends it to fill the entire earth (Isaiah 9:6-7, Daniel 2:35, Zechariah 9:9-10, Matthew 13:31-33) …Because Yahweh is the creator of the universe, He is sovereign over the universe, time without end:His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:3)Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17)Yahweh never abdicated His throne. He is as much King now as He was at the beginning of creation. As perpetual King, the kingdom He rules over is perpetual.Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. (Psalm 145:13)To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. (Jude 1:25)Many Christians reject these inescapable facts of Yahweh’s sovereignty, believing He has no kingdom at present or that His kingdom is limited to heaven. They lift their favorite proof text from John 18:Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (John 18:36)The exact same Greek phrase ek toú kósmou, translated “not of this world,” is used several times and is explained in the preceding chapter:I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world .... As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. (John 17:14-18)Clearly ek toú kósmou does not mean Yahweh’s kingdom exists only in heaven. Although it is certainly true that His kingdom is not of this world, this does not mean that He does not intend for it to be in this world. His statement in John 18 is better understood to mean that His kingdom is nothing like the other kingdoms in this world. As someone once said, “The only kingdom that will prevail in this world is the kingdom that is not of this world.” Martin Luther correctly taught John 18:36:Christ came in order to begin the kingdom of God and to establish it in the world. This is why he said before Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world, but whoever belongs to the truth hears my voice,” and why throughout the Gospel he announces the kingdom of God, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand;” and again: “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.” And indeed he calls the Gospel a gospel of the kingdom of God, in that it teaches, governs and preserves the kingdom of God.The teaching that Yahweh’s kingdom does not exist on earth or that Yahweh has abandoned the earth to His enemies is not new to this age:Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, YHWH sees us not; YHWH hath forsaken the earth. (Ezekiel 8:12)Christians who reject Yahweh’s extant kingdom here on earth are looking for a future king and a future kingdom. This erroneous theology has all but destroyed Yahweh’s kingdom, at least in practice, here on earth. It is certainly one of the principal reasons why the antichrists and non-Christians rule today. This anti-kingdom theology has also been one of the prime contributors to today’s fulfillment of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 5:You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its flavor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)This is a fulfillment of Yahweh’s curse in Deuteronomy 28:But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of YHWH thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee ... The stranger that is within thee shall get up above you very high; and thou shalt come down very low ... Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which YHWH shall send against thee. (Deuteronomy 28:15, 43-48)One cannot get any lower than beneath the feet of those who rule over you. Rejecting Yahweh, His kingdom, and His laws has always been prime cause of His people’s calamities. By rejecting Yahweh’s laws, Christians abdicate dominion and relinquish Yahweh’s earthly kingdom to His enemies:And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12)Then spoke Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.... But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither allow them that are entering to go in. (Matthew 23:1-13)Neither of these passages can be referring to the kingdom in heaven. Instead, they refer to the kingdom of heaven here on earth. The only difference between what was occurring in Jesus’ day and what has occurred in modern times is that Yahweh’s enemies have not needed to take the kingdom by force. Because Christianity is glutted with doctrines proclaiming that Yahweh’s laws are irrelevant under the New Covenant, that Christians are obligated to keep all of man’s laws, and that the kingdom is yet to come or that it is found exclusively in heaven, the kingdom has been handed over to Yahweh’s enemies without a struggle… When Yahweh’s subjects are diligent to observe His law, Yahweh promises His people dominion rather than servitude:And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of YHWH thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that YHWH thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. (Deuteronomy 28:1)____________________________________________________________________________________________Jesus’s Kingdom “is not of this world,” from this world or like this world, but it is most definitely to be IN this world and Jesus as its KING! But when Jesus was heading to the cross that was not the time for Jesus’s servants to fight and resist Jesus going to the cross. Jesus came into the world to die for the sins of the world. But after Jesus rose from the dead He said, “all authority has been given unto Me … on earth” and then He mandated His disciples to now go and “teach all nations … His commands” (Matt. 28:18-20).Today, Christians are mandated to go out and fight to capture their nation for the Kingdom of God using the “sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:17) – to establish Christian nations. Once Christians are civil rulers then they can and must use the physical sword to maintain God’s Law (Rom. 13:4). Never forget what Jesus prioritized for Christians to pursue today here on earth “first” - God’s Kingdom: “Seek first the kingdom of God.” Get full access to Jim McCotter LIVE at jimmccotter.substack.com/subscribe