Hi, I am Joseph Mattera, welcome to God Today. Today I want to speak about the Kingdom of God and the fact that all believers are already in the Kingdom of God. I know that might be a shocking statement to some, because so much of the preaching today is about getting your sins forgiven and waiting to go to Heaven or waiting to get raptured.
But Jesus said, “If you believe in me you will have eternal life.” As a matter of fact, John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes would not perish, but have eternal life.” That is to say, eternal life begins now. We are already in eternity. Not only that, but we are already participating in His new Kingdom. It tells us in Colossians 1 that, “we give thanks to the Father who has enabled us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Verse 13 chapter 1 says, “He delivered us,” that is past tense, “from the powers of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” He transferred us already from the kingdom of darkness. That is to say the spirit of this present age, the values of this present age, the unbelief, and the disregard for God, for God’s will and His ways, that we see so prevalent and pervasive in culture. He took us out of that kingdom, that systematic kingdom of disobedience. He took us out of that. He transferred us already once we were born again, and He has already placed us in the Kingdom of His dear Son. Meaning, we are already participating in His reign.
Eventually, Jesus is going to come back, He is going to make a totally new Heaven and new Earth, where His presence is going to walk among us where there will be no more crying, sorrow, or pain. Before that happens, we are already in the Kingdom as prophetic people, showing the world the antithesis of what is going on today and the new hope of eternal life that people could have even now. That is why He says in verse 12, “We have been enabled to participate in the inheritance of the saints.” What is the inheritance of the saints? It tells us in Ephesians 1 that we have been given an inheritance. In chapter 1:11 it says, “In whom we have received an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
What is that inheritance? In the context of that inheritance, it is in verse 10, the verse before, it says “God’s plan has now been revealed. In the fullness of time, He is going to unite all things in Christ which are in heaven and on earth.” Meaning everything life, everything we see, material things, spiritual things we experience, science, art, music, entertainment, everything is going to be united under the Lordship of Christ eventually. That is our inheritance. It is not just going to Heaven, it is not changing our geographical position. It is not just going from physical to a spirit being, but the fact is that our inheritance is to inherit all things. And eventually Jesus said we are going to rule and reign with Him.
Paul says that we are actually going to rule over angels, in 1 Corinthians 6. Whatever we do in this world is setting us up for the next world. God has called us as a Church to collectively steward and influence the whole earth. Whether it is through our prayers, that can influence nations, actually bring peace so the Gospel can go forth, that is what 1 Timothy 2:1-4 teaches us. Or whether it is preaching the Gospel, getting other people in the Kingdom. Or whether it is being salt and light so we can influence public policy and we can influence our neighborhood and see neighborhoods transformed. Whatever it is, we are already acting out our role as a prophetic people, participating in God’s renewal of all things now, even before we die and go to Heaven. We don’t have to wait until we go to Heaven. Right now we are already in the Kingdom, walking out the reign of Christ. I am so excited you are a part of that as a believer. I am a part of it, and today we are going to do great things together as a part of His Kingdom. This is Joseph Mattera, signing off with God Today.