“And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize–a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].” (Matt 11:12 AMP).
Wherever God’s rule exists, you have the kingdom of God there. For, as the Blackabys wrote in their book “Spiritual Leadership”, “the kingdom of God is the rule of God in every area of life, including the church, home, workplace and neighbourhood.” It is clear then that the Church is not necessarily synonymous with the kingdom of God. Any church, regardless of its size or popularity, where Jesus is not lord, does not have the rule of God. In other words, the kingdom of God does not exist there. Such a church (if it merits the designation) is nothing short of a glorified gathering of like-minded people, who lack the active presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Church as a corporate entity should not merely profess the reality of the kingdom of God, but embody it and by every means possible impart its reality to her members, who should be encouraged to spread it to other areas of human contact and endeavour, such as the home, workplace, school, neighbourhood etc. This is one of the possible, contemporary applications of Isaiah 60:1-3 which says, “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.” The world is waiting for the Church to shine, before it can see Jesus and the kingdom He personifies, and then come to Him for salvation.
However, as our main scriptural text, Matthew 11:12, above implies, it is only a militant Church that can do the foregoing. The Church cannot shine with the glory of God, until it arises in prevailing prayer and faith. This is why Jesus speaks of the gates of Hades as being incapable of prevailing against the Church He builds (Matthew 16:18). Gates in this context represents Satan’s power to deny the Church access to the stolen property in his possession. Satan does not intend to lose any ground to the Church for whatever reason. He is the strong man who intends to keep his ill-gotten goods intact. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils” (Lk 11:21-22). Thankfully, Jesus, who is the stronger Man, has defeated and disarmed the strong man (Satan), and has commissioned His Church to enforce His victory over the strong man (Satan) and his demons: “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt 18:18-20).
Wherever and whenever the victory of Calvary is challenged, the Church must arise in earnest prayer and confront the situation head on, until it has subdued it. The Church must advance as a militant body to roll back the frontiers of hell and reclaim lost ground for the kingdom of God. What God told Joshua many centuries ago is true of the Church today: “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.” (Josh 1:3). When Herod had James killed and discovered it had pleased the Jews, he was emboldened to have Peter arrested, with the intention to have him tried publicly and possibly executed. Satan will not stop until he is stopped. Things seemed to have been going well for Herod and his fellow enemies of the Church, until the Church arose and intercepted the ugly trend: “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (Acts 12:5). The result was that God, in response to the earnest prayer of the Church, overruled Herod and had Peter supernaturally released from prison. Arise O Church and enforce God’s kingdom and His will on earth as it is in heaven. Shalom.
