In John 18 it is recorded that Jesus declared to Pilot that “my Kingdom is not of this world.” If we can hear it, Jesus was taken by the Kingdoms of the World to be crucified. He was taken by the Jewish nation and crucified by Rome. The Kingdom of Judah operated to physically overthrow Jesus as it was threatened by His teaching, and demonstration of power through the Holy Ghost. Consider that during the taking of Jesus by the High Priest and the Jewish soldiers that He did a notable miracle. Peter cut off the High Priest servants’ ear, Jesus healed the ear. Can we for a moment consider this. As they were taking Jesus to kill Him, a man’s ear was cut off and Jesus healed him. You would think that with a miracle like this that they would have turned their hearts to receive Him, but they refused Him.
In the taking a Jesus, as recorded in John 18 and other gospels, we can see the Kingdom of the world in operation, and the Kingdom of God in operation. The hardness of the Jews hearts when they took Jesus, and He healed the man in front of them expressed the kingdom of the world. Peter taking out his sword and cutting off the High Priest servants’ ear expressed the kingdom of the world. Jesus healing Malchus’ ear expressed the Kingdom of God. While they were going to kill Jesus, He was expressing the nature of love and mercy in the healing of Malchus. Also, He gave Himself up to them that had come to take Him, in order that the disciples with Him could go free. The expression of the Kingdom is laying down our lives, that the nature of God comes through. This is the nature Jesus had, He gave His life as a ransom for the world.
In Isaiah 2, the Prophet speaks of a day when men would beat their swords into plows. Many are looking for that day to come somewhere out in the future. If we look closely by the Spirit of God, we will see that both Peter and Paul beat their swords into plows. As we considered Peter above in John 18, He was a man of the sword. When He was filled with the Holy Ghost, as recorded in Acts 2 He became a man who began to sow the SEED of God into men’s hearts, taking the plow of God and God’s pruning knife to bring forth fruit unto the Father. The same can be said of the Apostle Paul. Paul is transformed from Saul of Tarsus, where he was murdering Christians to a man who is harvesting with the Lord. Paul writes in I Corinthians that he is a fellow worker with God in God’s field.
I Corinthians 3:5-9 “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
Let us allow the Spirit of God to beat our swords into plows and pruning knives to work in God’s field to bring forth fruit unto our Father. Let the Word and Spirit of God work within us that we are would become transformed and seek the production of God’s fruit in ourselves and in our neighbor. God’s Kingdom is simply the rule and reign of Christ Jesus our Lord IN our hearts and minds. This rule and reign will put down everything in us that exalts itself against the power and authority of the Lord. May it fully come and be manifested through the saints of the Most High!
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