Salvation is Just the Beginning
Salvation (being born again) is just the inception point of the journey with Jesus although, sadly, many Christians stall at this point because the gospel of the Kingdom has not been preached. The next step after choosing to follow Jesus is to receive the Holy Spirit by being baptized. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit, we bring heaven to earth, moment by moment, day by day.
Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God and Jesus is the door into His Kingdom. His blood paid the price and established the new covenant. You have moved from the kingdom of this world (darkness) to the Kingdom of God. You are in the world but no longer of the world.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God
Jesus began His public ministry with the words, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
To repent is to turn away from sin and toward Jesus. Ultimately, repentance leads to changing the way we think which changes the way we behave. Jesus came to bring the news that His Kingdom has arrived. It is Jesus who rules over the Kingdom of God which will radically change everything in your life. The Kingdom of God has come to earth once again and we have been restored as children of God, recovering all that was lost in Adam. As God originally intended before the fall, we can once again assume dominion to rule and reign as ambassadors of Jesus on the earth, citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are now God’s family, sons and daughters and heirs of Jesus, the King of kings, royalty.
Just like Jesus, we are to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God which is far beyond salvation. This is the Kingdom ruled by God and, as His sons and daughters, we have legal rights, privileges and responsibilities as ambassadors of His government. This is our inheritance as citizens of heaven, His Kingdom that was prepared for us and lost in the fall, restored on the earth.
We must remember, “the earth is the Lord’s, the fulness thereof, and all that dwell within it” (Psalm 24:1). The earth is His already so there is nothing to conquer as in traditional kingdom invasions and expansions of physical territory. God also set up the earth to work through people when He said “let them have dominion over…all the earth,” (Genesis 1:26, ESV) transferring His authority to man. This is why God must partner with us to bring heaven to earth.
A New Way of Life
The mission of Jesus is about transforming hearts and minds to establish His Kingdom within the hearts of people. This is how God establishes His kingdom from the invisible realm into the physical realm. We have access to His Kingdom to fulfill our destiny on the earth.
The Bible is the constitution of God’s Kingdom. His Word is law. His will is absolute as He is King. We are to know the will of the King and carry out His will on earth as it is in heaven just as Jesus did by only doing what He saw the Father doing and saying what He heard the Father saying. There is a maturity process, renewing our minds to this Kingdom reality so we can live rightly, surrendering to the power of the Holy Spirit to flow through us. This is the Kingdom of Heaven, where God’s Kingdom has full authority, in and through us, on earth as it is in heaven.
Transformed people transform people. When the Kingdom of God has taken over our hearts, it allows us to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to our families, workplaces, church, neighborhoods, and our spheres of influence. It is an entirely new way of life, coming back to original intent, to exercise dominion and authority over the earth under the Kingship of Jesus. We have been reestablished as rulers over the physical realm.
Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-19, proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
This is our mission and call, to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God as the Lord has already empowered and equipped us to do through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Reflection Questions:
- Are you following the mission of Jesus to preach the gospel of the Kingdom? What step can you take in alignment with this call on your life?
- How does this perspective on the gospel change the way you look at Christianity?