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KINGDOM OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ of Nazareth stood before the people of this world; and began to preach, saying "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Mathew 4/17)

Before Jesus began His ministry, there was one, who came to prepare the way of the Lord. He is John the Baptist, who came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Mathew 3/2)

It is very important to note that both Jesus and John began to preach under the Anointing of the Holy Spirit. John; is said to have come in the Spirit and power of Elijah, who was an anointed prophet (Luke 1/17). Jesus came, and was baptized in the river Jordan. The Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. (Mathew 3/16). And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." " (Luke 4/16-21)

Anyone, studying the scriptures, with an open heart and mind, will immediately be led by the Holy Spirit into the truth, that, the whole plan of God in creation, was to have, a Kingdom People, filled with Kingdom Power, and Kingdom Authority; who will manifest Kingdom Love on this earth. For that purpose; that purpose alone, God created us IN CHRIST JESUS (Eph 1/4). And God prepared beforehand, kingdom work for us to be done IN CHRIST JESUS (Eph 2/10). There was no religion in God's plan. There were no thousands of denominational churches in God's plan. There was only the Kingdom of God in God's plan. And that Kingdom would manifest all the characteristics of God; such as, love, Joy, peace, unity, power and authority. For this purpose, God created us in His image and Likeness. The greek word used here, when translated, gives us the message; that God duplicated Himself. We are supposed to be the duplicates of God! HALLELUJAH! He went so far as to call us gods. (Psalm 82/6, John 10/34-35)

Unfortunately, the plan of God was temporarily hindered, due to the disobedience of the first parents. The entire human race stands before God as the sons of disobedience, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in them (Eph. 2/2). As children of disobedience, the human race is deceived, by the enemy of God - Satan, who is known as the deceiver of the whole world (Rev. 12/9). Because; anyone who is not in Christ, has been led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Him. (2 Corinthians 11/3). The deceived; not knowing that they are deceived, try to stand before God through their own effort; just as the first parents did; when they, sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3/7). This was the first time, when man invented religion. And it was unacceptable to God, because God replaced those aprons with a blood covered skin of an animal, promising a saviour who would come to fulfil this action. (Genesis 3/15,21). God was not satisfied with religion. He wanted to see a Kingdom people, with Kingdom Power and Kingdom Authority. That would be possible only if the human beings He created in His Image and likeness (His duplicates, His representatives) were to have an unbroken, undivided, affectionate relationship with Him. The moment the relationship between man and God was broken, that plan was shattered. We are the offspring of those unfaithful, disobedient parents. Today the human race has invented religions that does not help them; that cannot enable them to have this unbroken, undivided affectionate relationship with God. Because, the whole plan of God; which consists of creating us in His image and likeness; giving us His kingdom Power, Kingdom Authority, Kingdom Love and all the resources of the Kingdom, is centered on Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, there is no Kingdom, there is no Power nor Authority, nor any meaning to Life. The deceived man sincerely tries to get all of these apart from Christ Jesus. And the deceived continue to deceive others by leading them into a pious, holy life apart from Christ. This is the religion man has made to satisfy himself and to become self-righteous. To make things worse, even those who call themselves Christians have founded different denominational churches, which give no importance to the undivided, unbroken, affectionate relationship to Christ Jesus, who alone is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation; for in Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. He is the Head of the Body, the Church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything, He might be pre-eminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1/15-20)

And today the deceived Christians are calling themselves the church, without a relationship with Jesus Christ. The head has nothing to do with the Body. Can the body exist without the head? Without a continuous undivided, unbroken, affectionate relationship? And yet; that is the present, unfortunate, frightening situation that is facing this generation and the coming generations; if the real church, (a body of believers who have an unbroken, undivided relationship with the head who is Christ Jesus), does not stand up to proclaim the Kingdom of God for which she exists in the world. The mandate given by Christ Jesus to His church is to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Anything else the so called Christians proclaim, anything else they hold so dearly, such as customs and traditions, rituals and ceremonies, sacrifices and feasts become just an empty religion and unacceptable before God - Just as the fig leaves apron, the first parents had; because Jesus Christ is nowhere in the picture.

Into this hopeless situation comes Jesus Christ saying "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mathew 4/17)

Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13/8), speaks the same message to us as He spoke 2000 years ago. For He is not a Historical religious leader, who came 2000 years ago, died and gone; He is the Risen Christ, The living God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, THE GREAT I AM, who stands before us in all His Glory and Power and Authority, speaking to us - "I have come that you may have life and life in all its abundance" (John 10/10). The life that He offers is Kingdom life, Kingdom Power, Kingdom Authority and Kingdom Love. It is a life of quality. It cannot be possessed by anyone who refuses to accept His invitation. In order to possess the Kingdom, one needs to possess Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the Kingdom of God. In the Bible, different terms are used to describe the Kingdom. They are "Kingdom of Heaven" "Eternal Life" and "Kingdom of God". In 1John 5/11-12 it is written " and this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life (Kingdom of God), and this life (Kingdom) is in His Son (Jesus Christ). He who possesses Jesus Christ possesses the Kingdom of God; he who does not posses Jesus Christ, does not possess the Kingdom."

Jesus Christ, who is the Kingdom of God, is a gift from God so that, the human race, the children of disobedience trying to please God with religion and with so called churches which have become like religion, may be saved from eternal damnation. The gift does not become a gift to anyone who does not accept it in humility. No one can earn it; for, a gift cannot be earned. It can only be received, like a child. Jesus said, "unless you become like a child, you will not enter the Kingdom of God." (Mathew 18/3-4)

Jesus Christ was a threat to the Pharisees, the scribes, the priests and to the religious leaders of His time. They could not accept His teachings because it did not fit in with their outlook. They wanted to hold on to their customs and traditions. They wanted to be the leaders of the people. They wanted the respect of the people. They wanted their positions of authority. They loved to go about in their long robes in the market places loving the praises of men. (Luke 11/43). And so, Jesus was a threat to them. He challenged them. When Jesus spoke, He spoke with authority and not as the scribes. Hence the devils came out screaming, healing took place, every one who heard him were astonished. On the contrary, when these religious leaders spoke; nothing happened. And so they were jealous of Him and, they wanted to throw him down the cliff. (Mark 1/21-28, Luke 4/29). History repeats itself. Unless, and until Jesus Christ is given His due place in the hearts of people, in the lives of people and in the life of the church; they will fail to be the Kingdom of God. They will become empty, lifeless religion with meaningless rituals, filled with lifeless prayers and sacrifices, looking for social acceptance. And like Saul of Tarsus they will find themselves persecuting Jesus Christ and Kicking at him. (Acts 26/14-15) And yet they are convinced, that they are living for Christ. WHAT A DECEPTION? Until and unless the Christians come out of their blindness, the world will be in perpetual darkness.

It is note worthy that Jesus Christ preached ONLY the Kingdom of God (Mathew 4/17, Mark 1/15). During His ministry on earth, he spoke in parables concerning the Kingdom. These can be read from the 13th chapter of Mathew. Mathew 5/3, Mathew 18/4, Mathew 5/19-20, Mathew 23/13, Mathew 19/14, Luke 9/2, Luke 14/15-24 are also passages where Jesus speaks only of the Kingdom. Jesus, who came in to this world, bringing His Kingdom, invited many people to be his disciples, in order to be in His Kingdom. And to those, who were prepared to receive Him, to accept Him and to become His disciples, He gave the Kingdom. "The father is pleased to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12/32). To these He gave power and authority to cast out demons and to heal the sick, while they went about preaching that the Kingdom of God is at hand. (Mark 3/13-15, Mathew 10/7-8, mark 16/15-18, Luke 10/3-9)

Just as Jesus and John the Baptist began to preach the Kingdom of God after they had been Anointed by the Holy Spirit; the disciples (The First Church), also began to preach the Kingdom of God after they received the Holy Spirit. Nobody, and no church can preach the Kingdom of God unless they themselves are in the Kingdom now. And if they are in the Kingdom now, they will have the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, with the same mandate given to the first church - "go and preach that the Kingdom of God is at hand." Anybody who does not do that, belongs not to the body of Christ (The Church), but to an organization, called, by the name church, when actually, it is only an empty religion severed from Christ. "You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace." (Galatians 5/4).

Such people become busy bodies, trying to uplift society, when God's word says, "The Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking" (Romans 14/17). They try to have money power, influence and politics, endeavoring to bring Justice into this world, through human resources, when the word of God says, "The Kingdom of God does not consist of talk but in POWER." (1Corinthians 4/20). "Not by might nor by power, but by my SPIRIT says the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4/6)

The Kingdom of God is a spiritual Kingdom consisting of people who have consciously and purposely place themselves under the Kingship of Christ Jesus, by obeying every word he has spoken in the Bible. Jesus, in turn, seals them with his divine power, the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1/13). And they in turn, go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit to preach the Kingdom of God, to proclaim release to the captives and to set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4/18); doing exactly what their Lord and master Jesus did as seen in (John 14/12). These can look at all the problems of life today and speak with authority just as David who was Anointed by the Spirit, looked at Goliath and said - "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled." "And that all these assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lords." (1 Samuel 17/45,47). These are the Kingdom people This was the first church about whom it is written, "these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." (Acts 17/6). Where is this church Today? Unless we are in Christ Jesus, there is no Kingdom, there is no Power, there is no Church that Jesus Christ recognizes. Will His verdict to the present setup be - "I never know you; depart from me, you evildoers." (Mathew 7/23)

Let us preach not religion, not theology, not philosophy, not an organization called the church; but let us preach Jesus Christ, The Risen Lord and the Power of His Resurrection; and let us pray together for the Kingdom of God to come. His Kingdom comes in to the lives of people who are in Christ Jesus for, the Kingdom of God is in Christ Jesus.

The Covenant People
P.O. Box: 20, Kanjirapally
Kottayam District, Kerala - India


Messages of Jose Anathanam and the Covenant Ministries from THE UPPER ROOM, built on a beautiful small hill named after Mount Zion, where the Lord Jesus Christ manifests His presence in a mighty way.