THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND THE GLORY - Pt3

Part Three: The Glory of the Kingdom

The Fear of the Lord and the Book of Remembrance

In the third chapter of the book of Malachi, there is a passage of extraordinary encouragement for those who take God seriously in a world that does not. In a generation of spiritual indifference and casual religion, the prophet records a remarkable scene — a company of people who feared the Lord and spoke often with one another about him. And God noticed:

"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."

Malachi 3:16-17

Notice what the fear of the Lord actually means in this passage. It is not cowering before God in terror, paralysed by the size of his greatness. The fear of the Lord means that whatever God tells you, you do it — willingly, wholeheartedly, without negotiation. Whatever the word of God says, you not only say you are willing to do it; you do it. That is the beginning of wisdom. It is the posture of a person who takes God at his word and acts accordingly.

These people did two things: they feared the Lord, and they spoke positively about him. They did not talk as though God had failed them. They did not speak as though he had forgotten them or turned against them. They confessed his greatness, his goodness, his faithfulness. And God hearkened. He stooped and listened. And a book of remembrance was written before him.

There are things God will do for you that you will never even have to ask for, because he has recorded your faithfulness, and when he opens that book he will say — give it to him; he requires it. For he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20). That power is activated by meditating on his name, thinking upon him, and confessing his goodness. He goes before you and perfects all that concerns you.

Your Life Is a Gift of Trust

Your life is not your own. It was given to you by God — and given in trust. That means he expects returns. He expects dividends. He expects that what he planted in you will grow and bear fruit. And one day he will require an account.

Too many Christians have allowed the pressures and pleasures of this world to crowd out their commitment to God. Careers, entertainment, the chase of status — these things quietly eat up time and energy that belong to the kingdom. The man who could not find time for God's house when his job was going well found himself desperate at God's house when the job was gone. The man who would not release money to build a church because he was building a mansion for himself found himself weeping outside that mansion, while his daughters lay gone.

These things are for real. This walk with God is not a game. And your life is a gift of trust — God has given it to you, and he expects results. Oswald J. Smith prayed it perfectly: "Oh Lord, I have only one life to live. Help me use it right. Help me to invest it in soul winning." God had only one Son, and he made him a soul winner. If engineering were the highest calling in the world, Jesus would have been an engineer first and foremost. But he came as a soul winner — and that remains the greatest investment a human life can make.

Let God be your first priority. Not as a phrase, but as a reality in your diary, your decisions, and your resources. Prove it. Your life is a gift of trust. What will you do with it?

The Saints Shall Speak of the Glory

In Psalm 145, the psalmist gives us a glorious picture of what the saints — the people of God alive in the earth — are called to do. This is not a description of departed souls in heaven; those in heaven already see his glory. This is the assignment of the saints in Philippi, Ephesus, Lagos, London, and every city where God has a people:

"All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom."

Psalm 145:10-12

The saints shall speak of the glory of God's kingdom. The saints shall talk of his power — the Hebrew word for power here refers literally to his mighty acts, his manifest deeds of power. We are to make known to the sons of men — to the world around us — the glorious majesty of the kingdom we belong to. This is not optional. It is our divine assignment.

We are the ones charged with speaking of the glory of God's kingdom. We are to live in such a way, and declare such things, that people around us are moved to honour God. We are to produce things that give him glory — not just in worship services, but in the quality of our lives, in our excellence, in our victories, in our wisdom and prosperity, and in the manifest reality of the kingdom working in us.

What Is Glory?

But what exactly is glory? We use the word freely — "glory to God," "a glorious service," "the glory of the Lord" — yet seldom do we pause to define it precisely. What does glory actually mean?

Glory is that which inspires, produces, or causes honour. It is that quality — in an event, a person, or an act — that moves people to give honour, admiration, and reverence. When something glorious happens, people respond with worship and awe. The gathering was glorious because something happened that caused those present to honour God. Something was done or said that inspired worship. That is glory — not the feeling of it, but the cause of it.

When Jesus performed his first miracle at Cana of Galilee, turning the water into wine, the Gospel of John records the result:

"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him."

John 2:11

They saw what he did, they were amazed, they revered him, and they believed in him. The miracle produced honour toward him. That is glory. And the Bible says the saints shall speak of the glory of his kingdom — meaning we are to produce the things, do the things, and declare the things that will cause people to honour God. We are the generators of his glory in the earth. We are to bring him glory.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Ephesians:

"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, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20-21

Glory in the church. Glory through us. Glory by means of the body of Christ, in the earth, throughout all ages. We are not spectators of God's glory — we are the vehicles of it.

The Glory of the Kingdom: A People Without Defeat

Consider the kind of people that God's kingdom produces. Think about what God declared over Israel under the old covenant — a nation set apart to demonstrate the reality of his kingdom in the earth. He said to them: one of you shall chase a thousand, and two of you shall put ten thousand to flight. He blessed their bread and their water, and promised to take sickness from their midst. He declared that none of the diseases that fell upon Egypt would come upon them, for he was the Lord their healer. He said they would be the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. He promised to satisfy them with long life and to give them houses they did not build, wells they did not dig, and fields they did not plant.

What a people! A nation without defeat. A nation where poverty did not rule and sickness did not dominate. A nation above and not beneath — an exhibit of God's glory to the surrounding world.

And now, as a born-again believer under a better covenant, established upon better promises (Hebrews 8:6), how much more is available to you? The Bible declares concerning the kingdom: "The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick" (Isaiah 33:24). Sickness is not a part of this kingdom. Defeat is not a part of this kingdom. There is a realm of kingdom life in which you walk above spiritual oppression — in which you are master over the works of the enemy, in which you operate with an authority that has been given to you as a child of the king. Jesus himself declared:

"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Luke 10:19

We have an excellent Spirit dwelling in us. The Spirit of excellence lives in us. But he will not produce excellence in us until we act, until we put ourselves to the test, until we begin to step out and do. God said to Moses, "What is that in thine hand?" He said, a rod. And with that rod, he ruled over kings. It is what you have that matters — and you have the Spirit of the living God within you.

Faith and Knowledge: A Vital Distinction

At the heart of understanding how the kingdom operates is a distinction that must be grasped clearly. There is a difference between faith and knowledge.

Faith is based on a promise. Knowledge — specifically, revelation knowledge — is based on information that has been received, internalised, and made applicable in life. Under the new covenant, God is not primarily trying to persuade us to have faith. He declares that we already have it: "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Romans 12:3). He instructs us to build it, strengthen it, and exercise it — but the foundation is already laid when we are born again.

When David walked out to face Goliath without a sword in his hand, it was not the result of straining and struggling to work up enough faith for the impossible. David acted from knowledge — the knowledge of the covenant. He knew what his circumcision meant. He knew what had been promised to the covenant sons of God. And so when he stood before the giant, he did not speak the language of hope; he spoke the language of certainty:

"Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

1 Samuel 17:26

David was not expressing a faith that none of us possess. He was expressing the knowledge of a covenant son — the settled understanding that an uncircumcised man simply could not prevail against a people who stood in covenant with the living God. It was done knowledge. Settled knowledge. And when you know something — truly know it in your spirit, as a lived reality — you do not need to consciously summon faith. The knowledge carries the faith in it.

This is the difference between Moses' generation and Joshua's generation. Moses' generation came out of Egypt knowing how Egypt worked. They had to fight against their previous information at every step — because manna from heaven, water from a rock, and clothes that never wore out were unnatural and foreign to everything they had ever known. Many of them could not be persuaded. The Bible says they could not enter in because of unbelief.

But Joshua's generation grew up watching manna fall every morning. They saw the Red Sea split before they were old enough to ask why. They watched their fathers strike a rock and water pour out. They did not fight unbelief — they had knowledge. Everything supernatural was simply normal to them. And when Joshua brought them to the Jordan, the priests stepped in and the river parted. They crossed on dry ground. They came to Jericho and its walls fell. They came to battle after battle and they won, not because they were working up heroic faith, but because they knew who they were and what had been promised to them.

Give adequate time to the things of the Spirit. Meditate on the Word. Study the Scriptures. Say it again and again until it stays. The more you study it, the more you become it. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. And the more the Word of God fills you, the more you operate by knowledge rather than striving.

You Are a New Creation: Born Into Marvellous Light

One of the most liberating truths of the new covenant is this: when you were born again, you were not simply transferred from one ownership to another. That is the entry-level understanding — taken from Satan's hands and placed in God's. But the deeper revelation is this: the man who was in darkness died with Christ. A new man was born from the dead. You are not the old man, cleaned up and repositioned. You are a new creation:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

2 Corinthians 5:17

When God raised Jesus from the dead, he did not say, "This day have I raised thee." He said, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee" (Psalm 2:7). It was not a resuscitation of something old. It was a birth of something entirely new. Jesus was not the old Jesus raised back to life; he was the firstborn from the dead, born out of death into resurrection life — a new kind of man, the first of a new race.

And we are born of that same life. When you were born again, you were born into his marvellous light — not transferred out of darkness, but born fresh, born new, in the light. As Peter writes:

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

1 Peter 2:9

Under the Pauline revelation, the still-deeper truth emerges: we were not called out of darkness — we were born into his marvellous light. The man who was in darkness died with Christ. The person you are now has no history in darkness. You are a new creation. You are what Peter calls a living stone — not the stones that perished in the wilderness, not the stones buried in the Jordan as a symbol of the dying generation, but the twelve stones that Joshua took up out of the Jordan and planted on the far shore. Stones raised out of death, planted in life, placed at the entry point of the promised land. We are living stones, built up into a spiritual house, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5).

Renew your mind. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Stop thinking in terms of the old man and the old limitations. Stop saying you carry diseases and failures that belong to the person who died. He died. You are new. Renew your mind, and begin to function as what you actually are.

The Government Is Upon His Shoulder: Ruling in the Midst of Enemies

In Isaiah 9:6, the prophecy concerning the coming Messiah does not say "the government shall be upon his head." It says "the government shall be upon his shoulder." The head directs; the shoulder carries. Jesus is the head of the body — but the government of his kingdom is carried by the body. The body is the church. We carry the government.

Psalm 110 declares this with unmistakable clarity:

"The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning."

Psalm 110:2-3

This is not ruling in heaven. It is ruling from Zion — the church — in the midst of enemies. It is present-tense, earth-realm dominion, exercised through the body of Christ. And 1 Corinthians 15 confirms it:

"For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

1 Corinthians 15:25-26

He must reign — and he is reigning, right now. Legally, according to Ephesians 1, God has already placed all things under his feet and given him to be the head over all things for the benefit of the church. But the manifestation of that reign is worked out through us — through his body, in the earth. We are the agents of his rule. We are the ones through whom he puts his enemies under his feet, one victory at a time, one soul at a time, one city at a time.

Even if you were the smallest, most obscure member of his body — even a toe — you are still above all principalities and powers, for all things are placed under his feet, and you are in his feet. Every part of his body shares in the authority of the whole. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Possessing the Nations: The Hour Is Now

This is the hour. This is the generation that will see the glory of the kingdom manifested in the earth in unprecedented ways. In these last days, the children of the kingdom shall arise like never before. They shall take the arms of faith and be strengthened in the knowledge of God. When they speak, it shall come to pass. They shall possess nations, companies, banks, industries, and establishments.

The Bible declares that the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous (Proverbs 13:22). God gives to the one who is good before him the travail of the one who has gathered unjustly. He makes the wise in heart the ones who inherit what the wicked have accumulated. In these last days, major companies shall be possessed by the children of the kingdom. Banks shall be owned by the children of the kingdom. Nations shall be influenced by the children of the kingdom. Not because we are greedy or power-hungry, but because the kingdom must advance, and every resource belongs to the King.

We are not small. We are not behind. We are not defeated. We belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken, governed by a King who cannot be stopped, empowered by a Spirit who cannot be resisted. We are learning his Word to know how to take what belongs to us and use it for the kingdom. We are being equipped with wisdom, with knowledge of the covenant, with understanding of our identity as new creations and living stones and royal priests.

Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Your strength goes forth out of Zion. Your people are willing in the day of your power. The hour is coming — and now is — when the true worshippers shall possess the nations.

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Confess this: I am not small. I am built for God. He will use my mind. He will use my body. Therefore I stay in health and remain sound, and I walk in the glory of God. The Word of God dominates my mind and controls my thinking. The Word of God fills my spirit and comes out of my mouth. I meditate on the Word and I speak the Word. I am a new creation. I am a living stone. I am a citizen of heaven. I am a member of a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory — forever. Amen.