I am troubled by what I see these days of Kingdom Now attitudes challenging the Church. There is a new kind of citizen, they say, on the planet, neither Jew nor Gentile, but rather Kingdom worker.
This person purportedly has been redeemed by the blood of Calvary, indwelt by the Spirit and is exercising remarkable gifts to bring to completion the agenda of Jesus. He is not looking for the imminent return of the Saviour in glory, because his community must first win the battle of correcting this world in righteousness. Use politics if necessary. Then and only then will Jesus arrive to take the reins.
At first blush the ambition of it all sounds admirable. Better to be working in obedience to Matthew 25 than to be found idle, cloud gazing on the “rapture watch”. It is flattering to think that we might literally be the hands, voice and power of Jesus bringing His Kingdom to fruition.
Sorry friends, although redeemed, we are still made of the “flesh stuff” which fell in the Garden. Our challenge is to lean more on the sweet influences of the Spirit and thereby to have our minds renewed day by day, walking out a living likeness to the Gospels.
The ultimate victory will only come as forecast in Ephesians 5: 27:
“That he (Christ) might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
This full “cleaning up of the fish” is only accomplished at the time of His miraculous gathering of His own:
1 John 3:2 - Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
I tremble when I consider the description of Jesus’ present day ministry in the mind-set of Kingdom Now. Jesus has become the mystical head of the Kingdom Now Body. They say that the only Jesus one will get to see or hear now is the sum total of the corporate members. In effect they are deputizing many little gods.
Here they are messing with the trinity, as difficult a concept as it might be. They are denying that the glorified God-Man, forever liberated from death, our wonderful High Priest is seated at the right hand of the Father, constantly making intercession for us, and preparing even now for the glorious reunion. (Mark 16: 19; Acts 7: 56; Romans 8: 34; 1 Corinthians 15: 24-26; Philippians 3: 21; Hebrews 1: 3; Hebrews 7: 24, 25; Hebrews 12: 2; Psalm 110: 1)
Beware. Without Him we can do nothing.
