From the very beginning, with Adam, the first man, and throughout human history, our Heavenly Father has been more than incredibly patient with us. His plan all along was to bring us into His family through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now that He’s done that through the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, we are witnessing the unfathomable nature of His power as He brings everything under Christ. Colossians 2:10(NLT) says, “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Before our union through Christ and because of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden, we were made incomplete; but now, because of what God has accomplished through our powerful Savior, Ephesians 1:11 says that we have received an inheritance from God. He chose us to be His very own. He has a great plan for us, and He makes everything work out according to His plan. This is Good News indeed!
It is important for us to remember that God has been making everything work out according to His plan for a very, very, very long time. Nothing that occurs is random, and that includes our individual lives. Ephesians 1:4(NLT) says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” Our Heavenly Father is an ‘on purpose’ God, and He has made us an ‘on purpose’ people. We must be clear that He has a reason and a purpose for everything He does.
In John 17, God allowed us a window to witness the intimate conversation that Jesus Christ had with Him about the disciples. Jesus dearly loved them, and he taught them the Word of God. He said in John 17:14-17(NKJV), “13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
Our blessed Lord gave the disciples the Word, and this is the aspect of his example that cannot be overlooked. Their mission was to be a witness of the Gospel to others so that they would follow him, and this is our mission as well. As Jesus prayed for the disciples, he did not pray for the Father to take them out of the world, because that would deny them the preparation for heaven that our earth experience affords. He prayed that God would protect them from satan, so that they would not yield to temptation but be strengthened in faith and grace.
Jesus also prayed in John 17:24(NKJV),“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” This verse beautifully shows us the love relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and this love existed from the very beginning, as far back in the beginning as eternity can go. From this, we can know with overwhelming confidence that there was never a time that God didn’t love and there was never a time in which God was not love.
God wanted us to be His very own, but He didn’t rush us. First, He gave us His Laws through Moses, and then He worked with His people, teaching them about His nature and love, but the law could not save them, and the law could not save us. Only the blood of Jesus could do that. Romans 8:3(NLT) tells us, “The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.” Our Heavenly Father sent our Master Jesus to the earth to redeem us, and our Savior was fully aware of who he was and what he came to earth to do.
Matthew 3:2 tells us that he began his ministry on earth over two thousand years ago by preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He healed the sick and diseased, casted out demons, gave sight to the blind, and restored hearing to those that were deaf. He did this and many more miracles, signs, and wonders. Through his miraculous works, he revealed God’s Kingdom. He demonstrated the Kingdom’s culture of faith, gratitude, joy, peace and total wholeness. In heaven, there is no sickness, disease, death, or despair, and our precious and powerful Savior was preparing those who believed in him during that time for what was soon to come.
The Kingdom of God is where our Heavenly Father lives, and He sent His Son to earth to expand His Kingdom, to include us, His children. John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ by preaching in the wilderness and proclaiming, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand means that the Kingdom of Heaven was near, and indeed it was. God’s Son left the throne and came to earth, and he accomplished all that God sent him to do. He made the Holy Spirit, God’s Seed, available to us. Now, because of what God has done through Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven is here! Through Jesus Christ, God has made us His Kingdom people, and we will dwell with Him through Christ forever more. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“The Kingdom of God Is Near”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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