THE PRIORITY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD – PART ONE

This is your Friend and Minister, Dr. Joshua Uhiara, bringing you healing word

from the Master, a program of the Master’s Vessel Ministry which lets you know

that Jesus loves you as you are, but loves you so much that He will not leave you

as you are.

Today, I’m going to speak on: The Priority of the Kingdom of God. And we are going to read from St. Matthews Gospel, Chapter 6:31-33.

Matthew 6:31-33

³¹“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

PRAYER:

Help us, dear Lord, as we reason with You in Your Word, this moment. Help us to understand. Open our hearts to be receptive; and may You bless all in radioland…in Jesus Name. Amen!

The Priority of the Kingdom of God

We need to define or explain two important concepts contained in the title of this message: ‘Priority’ and ‘the Kingdom of God’.

Priority is synonymous with prime concern, first concern, most important consideration: Priority. It means treating something as more important than others.

The priority of the Kingdom of God, therefore, is treating the Kingdom of God as of Prime Concern; treating the Kingdom of God as of First Concern; treating the Kingdom of God as the Most Important Thing. This is what Jesus implies in Matthew 6:33:

³³Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness [and with a promise], and all these things [that is, all these things that the Heathens – those who do not know God run about, bother about so much] shall be added to you.

Then the next word is Kingdom. The word, kingdom, in both Old Testament and New Testament, means primarily, rule or reign: to rule or to reign. The realm or the sphere of the rule or the realm is secondary. The Kingdom of God then means the reign or the rule of God. It refers to the exercise of God’s power, God’s dominion, or God’s sovereignty. This is implied in Psalms 22:8.

Psalms 22:28

²⁸For the kingdom is the Lord’s,

And He rules over the nations.

Kingdom! Rule! In Psalms 145:11

Psalms 145:11

¹¹They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,

And talk of Your power,

Kingdom! Power! Here, we see that the Kingdom of God speaks of the rule of God, and the exercise of God’s power. We get this idea also in part of the prayer outline that Jesus taught His disciples, in Matthew 6:10

Matthew 6:10.

¹⁰Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

The prayer is a request for God to exert His authority on Earth as in heaven in order to accomplish His purposes. I know that you have heard people define the Kingdom of God as, the domain of a king: king dom: domain. But, if you want to get the meaning of a word, the best place to go is the language in which that word or that concept is given. The Kingdom of God is the active dynamic exercise of God’s rule, God’s authority, God’s dominion, God’s power, in the world. That’s the Kingdom of God.

And this was the plan of God when He created the world and put man in charge as His representative. That was His Kingdom. But the devil tricked Adam and Eve and usurped God’s rule, God’s authority, God’s dominion and God’s power in the world. And God sent the last Adam to restore His Kingdom back to Himself. That’s why Jesus came. No wonder when John the Baptizer, the Forerunner of Jesus Christ started his ministry he declared: repent; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. God is about to restore His Kingdom, His dominion, His sovereignty, His power. He meant that God was about to restore this Kingdom through His Messiah: Jesus Christ.

And we read concerning the beginning of the Ministry of Jesus: in Mark 1:14-15

Mark 1:14-15

¹⁴Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

This explains the term, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God; that is, the Gospel about, or the Gospel concerning the Kingdom of God. One bible scholar, Martyn Lloyd Jones, draws this conclusion concerning the meaning of the Kingdom of God: “In short, the Kingdom of God is the rule of God manifested in Christ to bring redemption to the Earth.” No wonder the Kingdom is the central theme of the New Testament. Kingdom of God!

But you also hear or read in the scripture: the Kingdom of Heaven. Are they two different things? What is the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven? The Kingdom of God is the same thing as the Kingdom of Heaven, as we can see in Matthew 19:23-24

Matthew 19:23-24

²³Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

In the same statement He uses those two terms synonymously. Heaven is a Jewish euphemism for God, a way of avoiding the use of God’s name; because of the commandment that God gave them in Exodus 20:7 – not to take His Name in vain. In reverence to His Name, instead of mentioning God, they would say, Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is the same thing as the Kingdom of God.

Let us consider one other thing about the Kingdom of God before we examine its priority. The Kingdom of God is here now and also is in the future. How? God’s rule is here now to deliver men and women from the power of sin, Satan and death. That’s what Jesus came to do. That’s why Jesus said to the Jews who accused Him of casting out demon by the power of Beelzebub, in Matthew 12:28

Matthew 12:28

²⁸But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

That is, the redeeming, ruling, power of God has come upon you. So, the Kingdom of God is here now. And some people had experienced it; and a number of people are still experiencing it. As many of them as have received Jesus into their lives; for as many as received Him to them He gave the power or the authority to become Children of God. God’s Kingdom Power and authority was and is present in Jesus Christ as demonstrated by His deeds and His Words. The Jews were expecting the political and military manifestation of the Kingdom of God, as we see in the following exchange between them and Jesus, in Luke 17:20-21

Luke 17:20-21

²⁰Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’[d] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

In your midst, that is. The rule of God was in their midst, in the person of Jesus Christ; but unfortunately many of them did not know it. Isn’t this sadly true even in our day more than two thousand years later?

The Kingdom of God is also in the future. With that I will conclude. God is yet to consummate His Kingdom when He manifests His sovereign rule and authority over the kingdoms of this world. It is the reality that is best summarized in the Words of Revelation 11:15-17

Revelation 11:15-17

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

The One who is and who was and who is to come,

Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

That is the future Kingdom of God. Friend, are you in the Kingdom now? Have you received Jesus the King into your life? Do so; the sooner the better – and you will experience the dividends of citizens of the Kingdom of God.

PRAYER:

Father, we’ve come to the end of our discussion today. It is our prayer, dear Lord, that You would rule and reign in the hearts of all who have heard my voice, that they would open their hearts to You, and You would take over, and take control, and exert Your power, Your dominion, Your authority, in Jesus Name. Amen!