The Kingdom of God

Overview

The kingdom of God is an understanding of God’s sovereignty and care over all time and all things: God rules and cannot be dethroned. In this teaching, Rev. Rico Magnelli traces that truth from Isaiah 57 and Hezekiah’s prayer in 2 Kings 19, through David’s blessing in 1 Chronicles 29, into the first occurrence of the phrase in Matthew 6, and on to Luke, Mark, Acts, Ephesians and Hebrews. Fear, he shows, is a perception of harm or of not having your need met, and it is an affront to the living God, as if He cannot handle the situation. Seeking first the kingdom of God means bowing to nothing on this earth but God.

Transcript

The God Who Inhabits Eternity

Isaiah 57, please. We’re going to take a little time and consider the kingdom of God. God is truly exalted above all in heaven and in earth, and to truly recognize this in the heart, meaning who he truly is, is a humbling truth that alters one’s heart to bow to no other but he who inhabits eternity.

The answers to the challenges we face today begins with humility, to recognize who the Lord our God truly is. In Isaiah 57, in verse 15, is this truth. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity. He’s so huge that he has to put it in those terms. Whose name is holy, meaning he is sanctified. He’s not touched by the issues in a negative sense that go on on the earth.

I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. The word contrite here in the Hebrew means crushed, like something gets crushed. The world can do that to people. It can crush their aspirations. It can crush their sense of being and purpose. It can crush the soul of a man or a woman to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones, those that have been crushed.

But it starts with recognizing that he is the one that inhabiteth eternity. It’s not a humility to necessarily rehearse for God our sins. It starts with his majesty.

Hezekiah, Assyria, and Fear That Comes Only From Words

Look at 2 Kings, please. 2 Kings. Now Isaiah was a contemporary of the king of Judah, Hezekiah, in a very challenging time. During this time, the king of Assyria had taken Israel and wanted Judah and had besieged Jerusalem for a long period of time. And the king of Assyria sends messengers to speak to Judah and call out Hezekiah. And the whole idea is to make them afraid.

Yet not one arrow is fired. All they’re doing is speaking words and then eventually sending letters to make them afraid. See, fear is a perception of harm or a perception of not having your need met.

Nothing actually needs to happen to you. But just the threat of something is enough to cause people to get afraid. And often it’s done with words.

It’s done with words because the words alter people’s perception. And we want to have a clear perception of who God is. It always has to start there.

Hezekiah Spreads the Letter Before the Lord

In 2 Kings 19, Hezekiah, the king of Judah, is going to respond to all these words. Verse 14, And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

So he shows the words to God. Do you think God already knew what those words were? Sure he did. But look at the heart of this man.

Here, Lord, look at what they’re saying. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, Jehovah Elohim of Israel, which dwelleth between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear and hear.

Fear Is an Affront to the Living God

Open, Lord, thine eyes and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib, that’s the king of Assyria, which hath sent him, watch this, to reproach the living God. The fear that is prevalent in our day is an assault, an affront to the living God.

And when you and I get to that point where we see it as an affront to God, has nothing to do with you or me, has nothing to do with your job or the economy, has nothing to do with any type of item that people are moving. When you see it as an affront to God, that’s a good thing. Because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

Praying So That All the Kingdoms of the Earth May Know

Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands. So Hezekiah is recognizing, yeah, there’s issues that we’re dealing with. There’s real challenges.

He’s not saying or turning a blind eye to common sense or wisdom. He tells God, yeah, these guys, the king of Assyria has destroyed all these kings and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods but the work of men’s hands. Wood and stone, therefore, they have destroyed them.

Now therefore, O Lord, our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only. Look at his heart. Why does he want to be saved? Why does he want deliverance for his people? So God can be magnified.

So the whole world can know it’s God. That’s the right heart. And it takes humility to do that. Most people want to hold on to their stuff. It’s not about stuff. It’s not about anything physical. It’s about God.

And when people get afraid in these types of settings, like you read here, and even in our current situation, it’s an affront to God, as if he cannot handle the situation or he’s not aware of it or doesn’t care. And none of that’s true.

God’s Answer Through Isaiah: I Will Defend This City

Then Isaiah, there’s Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, verse 20, saying, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, that which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard. And God has heard our prayer as well. He’s heard it.

He’s already moving it. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion, you know what that’s a reference to? It’s not talking about a woman.

It’s talking about the lack of idolatry. Oftentimes, a virgin, in reference to Israel, is referring that they would not commit adultery with other gods. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? In other words, she’s not taking it. Those that do not bow before anything but the Lord our God, they don’t put up with this stuff.

And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lift up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah is saying the same thing. This is an affront to the Holy One of Israel. And those that have remained out of idolatry, they say the same thing.

Look at verse 32. Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return. And shall not come into this city, saith the Lord, for I will defend this city to save it. For mine own sake and for my servant David’s sake.

Look at 1 Chronicles, please. Fantastic. See, in the time of Israel, when things were very difficult, they turned to God. And the response was the same. This is an affront to the Lord our God. And God will and has stood up for his people and protected them. And he hears our prayer. He’s already heard it. It’s already moving. Deliverance is already moving.

Thine Is the Kingdom: David’s Humility in 1 Chronicles 29

Look at 1 Chronicles. Here, David understood that God was sovereign. In 1 Chronicles 29, towards the end of his life, he declares in verse 10, wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation. He wasn’t shy about it. He let people know.

And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God, Jehovah Elohim of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.

David had this kind of humility that recognized God’s sovereignty and care over all things.

The Kingdom of God Is His Sovereignty and Care Over All Things

Look at Matthew 6, please. This is a theme for the people of God over the thousands of years, that in time of trouble and challenge and being surrounded by fear and apprehension and confusion, we turn to the Lord God with humility. And it’s not about you or me or what you did or didn’t do. The humility is to recognize who he is.

Matthew 6. See, the kingdom of God is an understanding of his sovereignty and care over all time and all things. God rules and cannot be dethroned. There’s nothing that can happen on this earth, nothing that can happen in heaven that can move God off his mountain.

Here’s the first occurrence of the kingdom of God, the phrase, and it’s spoken by our Lord, Jesus Christ, as he’s teaching his disciples to rely on God for their needs.

Behold the Fowls of the Air and Consider the Lilies of the Field

Matthew chapter 6, verse 25. Therefore, I say unto you, Jesus says, take no thought for your life, meaning no anxious thought, what you shall eat or what you shall drink or where you’re going to get this item or that item, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they?

In the next week or so, walk outside and look at a bird. Just look at a bird and see if it’s anxious. And if it’s anxious, give me a call. Send me an email that you found an anxious bird. I want to know. Why do they get it and we don’t get it? Because we listen to words that are not from God. That’s why.

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take you thought or anxious thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin.

Go look at a flower. It does the flower thing beautifully without any issue and has nothing to do with what’s happening in any city or on any social media or anything. It still responds.

And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Faith is to believe God. That’s all it is.

Your Heavenly Father Knows What You Need

Therefore take no thought, no anxious thought, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed or how am I going to get along with this? How am I going to get along with that? What am I going to do here? What am I going to do? Look, God has got this and it comes to a point where either you and I are going to bow to something other than God or we’re not. And we bow when we attribute any cause, anything, any person, any issue unresolvable before the Lord our God. He is God.

Sure it may take time. That’s okay. It doesn’t matter. We don’t change our confession. During the time of the besieging of Jerusalem, that wasn’t a week or two. It was a number of years. It’s over a period of time.

Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. The Gentiles were those that were not of Israel, the nations speaking about. For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.

So does he know what you need? Does he know what you need tomorrow? Does he know what you need next week? Well, if he does, he does. And if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. But you got to make up your mind. I got to make up my mind. Here it is.

What “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God” Actually Means

But seek ye first the kingdom of God. What does that mean? People have taught this as if it’s talking about just a future reference. Sure it embodies the future. Absolutely. You can’t talk about God without his provision for our future, which is sealed in Christ Jesus.

But it’s talking about seek ye first the sovereignty and care of God above everything else. Don’t bow to anything on this earth but to God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow, no anxious thought. Don’t worry about it. Go to sleep and have a great night’s sleep. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. And there’s plenty of evil going around. Plenty of it.

One Moment Can Change the Tide

Look at Luke. Luke 16. Do you know the situation in the present day and in any day can change in one day? It can change in one day. There can be a moment, an action that changes the tide.

Let me give you an illustration from sports. I’ve played sports all my life. I’ve seen it and perhaps you’ve seen it in a competitive contest. Soccer, basketball, baseball, football. The tide is moving in the favor of one team and then one person steps up, makes an interception, makes a steal, makes a tackle, scores a goal. One thing changes and then the whole momentum changes.

Everybody’s in despair for their team and yet when that one event happens, everything moves in another direction. That’s it. We can be those courageous ones in our spheres of influence that change the tide.

Every Man Presseth Into It: Forcing the Things of God

Luke 16 in verse 14. And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him, meaning they were after money, the Pharisees. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

What men esteem on this earth is an abomination to God. There’s only one God. And the law and the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it.

The word presseth means to force like you do it your own way. You try to force life to go where you want it to go without God’s involvement. That’s what that’s talking about because the context is the Pharisees. They were trying to force the things of God. That’s why it doesn’t work.

You and I have to allow God to do what he does by recognizing that he’s the almighty and nothing on this earth can change that. When people try to force life and they try to force those around them, it never works.

Receive the Kingdom of God as a Little Child

Look at Mark chapter 10, please. The kingdom of God cannot be forced. In other words, there’s none of us that can force each other to put the kingdom of God, his overall care and sovereignty over all things in your heart or my heart. That’s something we have to do. Mark chapter 10. We have to do that ourselves.

Mark chapter 10 verse 15. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

What is Jesus saying here? He’s using a child and the humility and the vulnerability and the receptivity of a child. Children are imitators and we have to receive the kingdom of God like little children. We can’t think we know it all or try to do it our own way. It won’t work.

You know, for a child, everything’s new. You ever notice that? You ever see them? They see something they’ve never seen before. It’s like, oh, everything like it’s a perpetual state of awe. You know, that’s how we can be with God every day. It’s a walk in newness of life.

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven in Luke 13

Look at Luke 13, please. We’re considering the kingdom of God from the old to the new testament and the recognition that those that believed God had for God’s care and sovereignty over all things. Luke 13 in verse 18.

Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? Jesus is teaching. And whereunto shall I resemble it? How can I describe it? How can I illustrate it for you? It’s like a grain of a mustard seed, which is very small, which a man took and cast into his garden, like the garden of the mind, where we water those things that God has planted. And it grew and waxed a great tree and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

So what does that tell you? That our understanding of God’s care and sovereignty can grow. If you water that seed in your heart, in the garden of your soul, it’s going to grow. And again, he said, whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven.

Leaven is a thin strip of dough that’s put in the lump of dough that permeates the entire loaf. So it affects the entire lump. It’s like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.

In other words, the leaven affects the entire loaf. That’s what he’s saying an understanding of the kingdom of God is like. When you plant that seed, when you put a little bit in your heart, it will grow and saturate. And then you and I will walk as if we’re sons of God with all that authority.

The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Look at Luke 17, please. Luke 17, verse 20. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, the Pharisees were demanding from Jesus, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, whoa, whoa, whoa, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. In other words, you can’t see it. It’s not physical.

Neither shall you say, lo, here or lo, there. For behold, the kingdom of God is what? Within you. It’s an understanding. It cannot be observed from the senses. And this is such a significant concept.

Acts Closes with Paul Preaching the Kingdom of God

Look at Acts. This is such a significant concept that God closes the transition of the work of Christ, which is in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, to an understanding, an explanation of the work of Christ, Romans to Thessalonians, the book of Acts. He closes that transition, which is the book of Acts, with this statement in verse 31 of Acts 28, summarizing the apostle Paul’s efforts. Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

He was preaching the kingdom of God. He was preaching God’s sovereignty, God’s care, which includes his foreknowledge and his preparation for anything that you and I are going to face. That’s right.

Sovereignty in Ephesians 1: The Working of His Mighty Power

Look at Ephesians chapter 1. That’s how the book of Acts closes. And that’s where we need to pick it up. Preaching the kingdom of God, which is his overall care and sovereignty over all things. Nothing gets past him.

Ephesians chapter 1. Here you will not see the phrase kingdom of God, but you’ll see references to his sovereignty. And that sovereignty is expressed in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Ephesians chapter 1 verse 16. Cease not to give thanks for you, Paul writes, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which God, he, God, wrought in Christ when he, God, raised him from the dead.

Well, how do you raise somebody from the dead to live eternally? You’ve got to have some power. You’ve got to have some authority. That’s the kingdom of God in evidence right here.

If God Has a Throne, Then He Is the King

And set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Well, where did he seat? On a park bench in heaven? No, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. If God has a throne, then he’s the king.

That’s right. We’re right next to the throne of authority of God at his right hand. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.

And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And chapter 2, verse 6, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Well, where are you seated? At the right hand of the throne of God. How does God have a throne? Because it’s the kingdom of God and he rules from that throne.

Hebrews 12:2 and the Authority That Comes From God’s Throne

Look at Hebrews chapter 12, please. Jesus Christ is the purest expression of the authority of God to man. And it was his accomplished works that made it all possible.

Hebrews chapter 12 in verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher or the founder and perfecter of faith, believing God, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Look at that.

He’s at God’s right hand. This is the kingdom of God, but now God is magnifying and emphasizing the authority that comes from his throne that is overall faith. Fantastic.

The work of Christ gives us access to the throne of God. Therefore, his kingdom for our care and the care of others, we have complete and unhindered access to. We should not bow to anyone or anything other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Boldness and Access by the Faith of Jesus Christ

Ephesians chapter 3. If we succumb to the fear, it’s like bowing to whatever is causing it. And it’s only a perception, like I said. Fear is a perception of harm or of not having your need met. And that’s an impossibility in the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God resides within us.

Ephesians chapter 3 verse 12. In whom? In Jesus Christ. In whom? Christ Jesus our Lord. We have boldness, that’s a fearlessness, and access with confidence by the faith of him, by his accomplished work, by the faith of Jesus Christ, we have boldness, confidence, and access.

Wherefore, I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the example we want to follow.

Now, he’s not literally saying he bowed his knees. You want to bow physically, that’s okay. But in his heart, he showed the humility necessary to allow that seed to be watered in his heart of what it means to know him who has care and sovereignty over all things.

Able to Do Exceeding Abundantly Above All That We Ask or Think

Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. Look at this. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That’s how it happens. By the faith of Jesus Christ.

That you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. That you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.

This should be our theme. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. That’s right. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end. Amen.

Through the accomplished work of Christ we have access to his majestic glory in our day and in our time and it doesn’t matter what’s going on. But what we can say firmly I will not bow to that. I will bow to my God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s a little bit on the kingdom of God.

Key Takeaways

• The kingdom of God is an understanding of God’s sovereignty and care over all time and all things: God rules and cannot be dethroned, and nothing in heaven or earth can move Him off His mountain.
• Fear is a perception of harm or a perception of not having your need met; nothing actually has to happen to you, and it is usually delivered with words, exactly as Assyria besieged Jerusalem without firing one arrow.
• Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord and asked for deliverance so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that God alone is God, which is the right heart and takes humility.
• Seek ye first the kingdom of God is not only a future reference: it means seek first the sovereignty and care of God above everything else, and bow to nothing on this earth but God and His righteousness.
• The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; it is within you, an understanding that cannot be observed from the senses, and it grows like a mustard seed and permeates like leaven when it is watered in the heart.
• The work of Christ gives complete and unhindered access to the throne of God, so we should not bow to anyone or anything other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “seek ye first the kingdom of God” mean?

Rico Magnelli says people have taught it as if it were only a future reference. It does embody the future, since you cannot talk about God without His provision for our future, which is sealed in Christ Jesus. But the phrase means seek ye first the sovereignty and care of God above everything else, and do not bow to anything on this earth but to God and His righteousness. Then all these things shall be added unto you.

What does it mean that the kingdom of God is within you?

In Luke 17 the Pharisees demanded to know when the kingdom of God should come, and Jesus answered that it cometh not with observation. It is not physical and cannot be observed from the senses. It is an understanding that resides within us, of God’s care and sovereignty over all things, and like a mustard seed planted in the garden of the soul it grows and saturates when it is watered in the heart.

Why is fear called an affront to the living God?

Because fear is only a perception of harm or of not having your need met, and to succumb to it is like bowing to whatever is causing it. When Hezekiah prayed, he told God that Sennacherib had sent his messengers to reproach the living God. Getting afraid treats God as if He cannot handle the situation, or is not aware of it, or does not care, and none of that is true.

Scripture References

Isaiah 57:15; 2 Kings 19:14; 2 Kings 19:15; 2 Kings 19:16; 2 Kings 19:17; 2 Kings 19:18; 2 Kings 19:19; 2 Kings 19:20; 2 Kings 19:21; 2 Kings 19:22; 2 Kings 19:32; 2 Kings 19:33; 2 Kings 19:34; 1 Chronicles 29:10; 1 Chronicles 29:11; Matthew 6:25; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:27; Matthew 6:28; Matthew 6:29; Matthew 6:30; Matthew 6:31; Matthew 6:32; Matthew 6:33; Matthew 6:34; Luke 16:14; Luke 16:15; Luke 16:16; Mark 10:15; Luke 13:18; Luke 13:19; Luke 13:20; Luke 13:21; Luke 17:20; Luke 17:21; Acts 28:31; Ephesians 1:16; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 2:6; Hebrews 12:2; Ephesians 3:12; Ephesians 3:13; Ephesians 3:14; Ephesians 3:15; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 3:17; Ephesians 3:18; Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 3:20; Ephesians 3:21

This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.