Not of this world.
Let’s get this straight. Jesus said:
‘My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.’ (John 18:36)
The kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is not of this world. No political party is needed to build it, no political party fully represents it, and no political party can tear it down. No army can build it, and no army can destroy it. It cannot be built with bullets, and it cannot be shot down with bullets.
If ever there was a case for a political kingdom movement, or an armed resistance for the kingdom, it would have been in Jesus’ earthly days in Israel. The very promised land itself (though the true promised land is beyond this world also) was under the oppressive, heathen occupation of the Romans. Jesus did not lift one finger against them. Ultimately they crucified him. That did not destroy the kingdom – it laid the very foundation stone of it, built on the complete, perfect sacrifice of Jesus himself.
Neither did Jesus make any attempt to muzzle the deceptive, evil voices to which his own fledgling flock were continually exposed. He simply added his own voice of perfect truth.
The scribes and Pharisees, whom Jesus even acknowledged held legitimate office before God (though they did not exercise their office rightly) were in the disciples’ ears all the time. ‘Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?’, ‘Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread’, ‘This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils’, etc.
The enemy even had his own mouthpiece among the twelve.
‘Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.’ (John 12:4-6)
We don’t read much in the Bible about what Judas Iscariot said. But it seems he was not shy to speak up, and would have been a constant voice of disruption, misrepresentation and deception, obscuring the truth spoken by Jesus which the disciples were already straining and often failing to comprehend.
But Jesus said, speaking of himself, the ‘good shepherd’:
‘And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.’ (John 10:4-5)
And how many times Jesus said, ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.’ (e.g. Mark 4:23)
‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ (John 6:37)
Jesus had no need to silence the opposition. Neither do we, if we serve him.
Jesus knew that the work of the Spirit in every believer proceeds from the Father, and no lies, and no earthly weapon can stop it. Everyone to whom it is given to believe, believes. It is our privilege – not God’s necessity – that we should be instruments of his work.
That is not to say Jesus was a fatalist, and saw no way to help anyone or change anything. Jesus literally changed everything. He made the great difference, more than anything we could ask or think. Jesus gave us life for evermore, to all who call upon his name, and no one can take it from us. And he did not do that by sitting back. His own life was the greatest of struggles, yet he knew his struggle was in the hands of the Father. He did not fret over the outcome; he got on with it.
Jesus also intervened specifically in situations, and for certain people. The difference is, Jesus intervened first and foremost in prayer to the Father, for he knew ultimately the Father would decide all things and nothing could be done without him.
‘And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.’ (Luke 22:31-32)
Let us not fear the enemy, for he is overcome.
God can and will save his people. He is not struggling to try to save us, or to save more. ‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.’ I believe that number is far greater than it may appear, or that most of us realise. That is my personal belief, which I take liberty to believe on grounds that ‘charity … believeth all things, hopeth all things’ (1 Corinthians 13:7).
But whatever the works of God, I cannot add to them, though it may be my privilege and is my hope to take part in them; and none can prevent them in even the smallest part.
The battle belongs to the Lord. Let us not be deceived into fighting for the enemy, for all worldly force and violence is of that type.
In time past God called his people Israel to fight physical battles. Only Israel, and only in time past. For they were the nation in preparation to receive Jesus in the flesh. And the Holy Spirit was not given to dwell in every believer as he is today. As Jesus said:
‘The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.’ (Luke 16:16)
But now:
‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ (Ephesians 6:12)
A fight against human foes is no fight for God’s people today. Such a fight does not serve our God, nor his kingdom, because his kingdom is not of this world.
‘Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.’ (1 Timothy 1:17)
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