Sadly, many Christians are focusing on religion and on themselves, drawing on humanism to shape a ‘Jesus’ and a ‘church’ that the world can accept.
In this process, values that are alien to the Kingdom of God are embraced in some churches and even protected in the name of eclecticism, relativism, ecumenism and many other harmful ‘isms’.
At times, the church seems more concerned with encouraging its ‘members’ to find happiness and success than with preparing ‘disciples of Jesus’ for ministry and building up the body of Christ (see Eph 4:12) in accordance with the needs of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In doing so, many Christians often lose sight of the fact that it is not about them, but about God and his Kingdom – just as Jesus himself affirmed when he said that we are called to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and that everything else we need will be given to us by the Father as well.
And so, as the world falls apart and evil spreads ever more violently, Christianity is rapidly in danger of becoming just one of the many religions that humanity offers people to make them feel better.
The fact is that we are witnessing the culmination of the universal conflict that began openly 2,000 years ago between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, the latter also known as the devil.
In a war, as we know, there is no time to figure out how to be happy. What matters is which side we are on, how well prepared we are to fight such a battle, how ready we are to face whatever difficulties we may encounter, and what we are doing to advance the Kingdom of God.
To put it mildly, the rest is just philosophy.
Jesus explained that this conflict is very much real, and the New Testament offers us some principles on the matter:
– God has His Kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Heaven and of God, over which He reigns as absolute sovereign and whose very nature is justice, peace and joy, manifested in the Holy Spirit who dwells on earth in all those who are faithfully devoted to Jesus. In the Kingdom of God there is no place for rebellion against the Spirit of the King (Mt 12:31).
– Satan, too, rules his kingdom—which is called ‘this world’ (John 12:31)—as a prince. He does so through spiritual powers which, in turn, operate by making use of various orders of other spiritual powers that are hierarchically and functionally subordinate to them. This kingdom of darkness is at work in all those who are proud and rebellious against God.
– Therefore, there are two kingdoms in conflict: the devil is a powerful prince, but Jesus is the sovereign King who is stronger than him, and people can choose who to be ruled by—Satan or God—and whose side to take during their time on earth.
Having explained these general points, the Lord revealed his strategy: ‘I have come to attack Satan and defeat him; he is a powerful ruler, but I am stronger than he is. I strip him of the armour in which he trusts and divide the spoils of war. I do this by casting out demons (evil spiritual entities from the realm of darkness) from people through the Spirit of God. It is the Holy Spirit who does this through me.”
The satanic kingdom retreats when it loses territory – that is, control over individuals, ethnic groups and geographical areas – due to the conquering action of the strongest and sovereign authority and power of King Yeshua (cf. Mt 12:25–29), which advances through its holy representatives on earth. Just as in war, when a contested territory is liberated from the enemy, it is then occupied by the advancing Kingdom of God.
In other words, God came among us as a man, defeated the enemy, transferred those who are faithful to him into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col 1:13), and has gladly granted them the Kingdom (cf. Lk 12:32). God has promised that He will soon crush Satan under their feet (Rom 16:20) and that the earth will be entrusted forever to the rule of His saints (2 Tim 2:12; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:6; Rev 22:5), upon which—made new in a new universe—they will reign for ever together with Jesus, their King and God.
Jesus has become the life of his faithful and lives in them through his Spirit, who continues to do good, to heal all those oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38) and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Let us therefore consider how, in this conflict:
There is no room for neutrality:
The Lord has made it clear that whoever is not with him is against him, and whoever does not gather with him scatters (cf. Mt 12:30).
There is no room for passivity:
The Messiah has clearly commanded us:
– to GO and REACH out to all peoples and make them disciples (Matthew 28).
– as we go, to PREACH the good news of the Kingdom of God to every person (Mark 16).
– to SERVE and LOVE one another as He loved us (John 13–15).
– to wait until we have been BAPTISED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT before setting out, because that is how the Holy Spirit fills us with himself, empowering us as ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven to bear witness to Jesus (Luke 24 and Acts 1) and thus advance the Kingdom of God on earth.
There is no room for fear:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the risen Messiah, Yeshua, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He did something extraordinary: by becoming like one of us, descendants of Adam, he put the sinner out of the way—that is, the old man with his corrupt, proud and rebellious human nature (the document of our debt)—by nailing him to the cross. In doing so, he disarmed all the spiritual powers of the kingdom of darkness and put them to shame, triumphing over them in himself, that is, on the cross (Col 2:14–15).
There is no room for defensive strategies:
Jesus assured his disciples that the powers of darkness (the devil’s organised spiritual realm) would not be able to withstand their advance, for he would give them his authority (the keys to his Kingdom) and the power to resolve any spiritual matter on earth (to open and shut/to permit and forbid/to bind and loose) according to the will of their King (cf. Mt 16:18).
The devil and all his evil spiritual forces (the rulers and powers of the present darkness, demons, human agents and so on) cannot withstand the advance of the Messiah’s church. Every saint of the Most High God is a bearer of His Kingdom, indwelt by the Holy Spirit who ever dissolves the kingdom of darkness as He advances triumphantly. Since He is the Spirit of Truth, the father of lies cannot resist the Truth, just as darkness is dispelled by the Light.
Jesus is alive. He is reigning and has already triumphed. Yet he wants his faithful disciples to go out and offer everyone, everywhere, the opportunity to choose to be ruled by him and to stand on his side – the side of the victor.
In conclusion, God intends that it should be precisely those individuals who have been immersed in his Spirit who continue to carry out Jesus’ mission on earth until his return, and who will then reign physically on the planet together with him. In the meantime, they are called to reign in life (Rom 5:17).
Therefore, for his glory, let us act in accordance with the instruction we have received, let us advance boldly against the powers of darkness, and let us see Jesus reigning in the midst of his enemies (Ps 110:2) during this earthly climax of the universal conflict currently unfolding.
The King lives! The King has won! Glory to the King!
Maurizio Tiezzi
Article published in English in the magazine “Thy Kingdom Carriers”