ACD Hebrew Roots Feature

 

Back to Basics – Part I

 

by Brian Knowles

 

t this stage in my life, I am no longer trying to solve the world’s knottiest theological problems. I’ll leave that to younger, more confident people who truly believe they can accomplish what theologians have not been able to achieve for the last two millennia. These days I’m into basics.

            Of course I realize that one man’s basics are another man’s heresy. The point is; I have to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). I am accountable to the Lord for what I believe, conclude, teach and practice. When I stand before the judgment seat of God, I’ll be alone. I won’t be able to take “the Eichmann clause” – i.e. “I vas only followink orders.” I’ll be utterly on my own; hence the fear and trembling.

            My Bible tells me that the first thing I ought to be doing is seeking the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness – whatever that means (Matthew 6:33). Dr. Roy Blizzard and David Bivin, teachers in whom I have confidence, write “the concept of ‘kingdom’ is perhaps the most important spiritual concept in the New Testament.’[i] If it’s that important, and if the Lord said I ought to be seeking it first, I’d better learn what it means.

 

“Kingdom” in Jesus’ Usage

As the same authors also write, “In English or Greek, ‘kingdom’ is never verbal. It is something static, something to do with territory” (ibid.) That’s what I long believed. I was always taught that there were four prerequisites for a kingdom: a king, subjects, laws and territory. Since Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” I believed that the absence of territory meant that the kingdom was exclusively future. Only when Messiah takes over the kingdoms of this world will the kingdom be here on earth. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Kingdom is both now and future.

            Bivin and Blizzard continue to explain: “…in Hebrew, ‘kingdom’ is active, it is action. It is God ruling in the lives of men. Those who are ruled by God are the Kingdom of God” (ibid.).

            They continue: “’Kingdom’ is also the demonstration of God’s rule through miracles, signs, and wonders. Wherever the power of God is demonstrated, there is His ‘Kingdom.’ ‘Kingdom’ as the demonstration of God’s power is echoed every week in the Sabbath prayers in the synagogue: ‘Your sons saw Your Kingdom as You split the Red Sea before Moses.’ How can one see God’s Kingdom? It is only possible when ‘kingdom’ is correctly understood as something which is verbal and not static. We see God’s Kingdom when we see him in action. In the same way, people saw the Kingdom when they saw Jesus in action. This is what Jesus meant when he said: ‘But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you’ (Luke 11:20)”(ibid.).

            To place the Kingdom of God exclusively in the future is to miss utterly the point of many of Jesus’ teachings. It is a fundamental theological error. Jesus used the term “kingdom” to describe those who followed him. Jesus taught His talmidim (disciples) to demonstrate the kingdom wherever they ministered. He instructed, “Whenever you enter a town and you are accepted…heal the sick of that town and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is here!’ (Luke 10:8-9).”

            Bivin and Blizzard continue to explain: “It is necessary to paraphrase the disciples’ proclamation (just three words in Hebrew) in order to maintain its force in English: ‘You have seen God in action. Through us God is now ruling here. Satan has been defeated. The miracles you have just witnessed are proof of it.’ The disciples words were verified by the miracles God performed” (ibid. pp. 54-65).

            When we understand the Kingdom of God as something that is manifested in the present as well as in the future, many of the teachings of Jesus are cast in a different light. His “kingdom parables,” of which there are many, must be viewed in the light of Hebraic, rather than English or Greek, usage. After all, Jesus was a Jew who spoke Hebrew to his disciples. And while there is a futuristic element to the Kingdom, the main thrust concerns the present. For the Church, the Kingdom is now. That’s why the author of Hebrews could talk about the Church experiencing in the present the “powers of the coming age” now (Hebrews 6:5).

            That’s also why Paul could write, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (I Corinthians 2:4). Paul didn’t just throw words at people; he demonstrated the reality of the Kingdom of God by doing the same things Jesus did when he preached the Gospel. That’s why it was sometimes called “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.” When the Gospel, truly preached, breaks into the darkness of this world it sets up a power encounter with opposing spiritual forces. The Gospel is the antidote to the spiritual poison that is sickening this “present evil world.” Satan doesn’t appreciate the administration of that “medicine.” He fights back. When a soul is won for the Kingdom of God, it is lost to his kingdom. Paul puts it vividly when he writes of the Church, “For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13).

            We are now subjects of that divine Kingdom. That’s why we can be called “ambassadors for Christ” (II Corinthians 5:20). We represent his Kingdom in the midst of the present darkness. We go forth into a world overcome by spiritual sickness armed with his message, his power, and his love. We are part of the God’s “kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:12). As the “light of the world” we find ourselves engaging the forces of darkness. It is these “power encounters” that result in miraculous healings, deliverances and even occasional resurrections. As kingdom subjects, we are helping our King, Jesus Christ, redeem the world. We are his assistants in preaching the Gospel, healing the sick and evicting the demons that have established strongholds in people’s lives. We are light, driving back the darkness that engulfs this world.

            To preach the true Gospel is to set up a clash of kingdoms. It is to lift the veil of deception that Satan has cast over the world (Revelation 12:9). It is to say to a hopeless world, lost in sin, “There is hope. God is here for you. God loves you. God wishes to make you whole, and to heal all of the damage that Satan has done. God has no desire that anyone should ultimately perish or that any should remain sick. He has made a way to save you and that way is Jesus Christ. Accept him, and your life will turn around. Accept and obey him and you’ll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent of your old way of life and turn to a new one – a godly one.”

            In turning to God, we may discover that we were more entangled in the Satanic web than we had realized. Like a fly trying to escape the deadly grip of a spider’s web, we may realize that we need access to supernatural power to break free. Such power is available in the form of God’s Holy Spirit. When we seek to obey God, God grants us his Spirit as empowerment to do so (Acts 5:32). The early Church was filled with such power (Acts 1:8). The modern Church is a mixed bag. Because we have not understood the nature of the Kingdom of God, we have not always had access to the power that manifests it. We have preached a powerless Gospel. Instead of operating in Kingdom power, we have pushed the Kingdom far into the future. It is time that the Church came to understand the truth about the Kingdom of God.