Power and the Kingdom of God

We learn about the Kingdom of God from God’s Son, Jesus. Many of Jesus’ parables began with the phrase “the Kingdom of God is like . . .”, or “the Kingdom of Heaven is like . . .“ The other night the Lord asked me how many parables were about power. Though the power of God is evident as one walks in the Kingdom, I could find no parables that were about the power of God. They were about the outward life that becomes evident after the inner transformation, or change, once we believe Jesus is the Son of God.


Jesus spoke about this change to Nicodemus when He said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (Jn 3:3) Being born of the Spirit (verse 5) is what enables us to walk in the Kingdom. During the days that Jesus taught, the Holy Spirit had not yet been released to men. However, Jesus spoke to them about the Kingdom, in parables.

Speaking in parables was prophesied by King David (Ps 78:2), but why Jesus spoke in parables was explained by Him to His disciples, and was prophesied by Isaiah. “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing , they may not understand.’”(Lk 8:10). Isaiah’s prophecy tells us that the reason the people would not hear nor understand is that their hearts were calloused (Is 6:9-10).

Jesus spoke in parables because His Father was not going to give the information about the Kingdom of God to a stubborn people who did not care about His ways. The people of God did not want to change in their hearts; they liked the way they were. God understands that men will try to follow the popular or seemingly “right” thing to do, by their own willpower . . . but it is an insincere effort at trying something new, and wanting to look good. Yet we see that Jesus explained the parables to His disciples. This was because His followers believed on Him and were changed. They were “blessed” to understand His lessons on the Kingdom of God (Mt 13:16; see also Mt 11:27).

Accepting Jesus as the Son of God was necessary to be born again, and it was the process of being born again that gave all men everywhere the ability to understand Jesus’ sayings. The Holy Spirit teaches all believers (Jn 14:26). We no longer have Jesus on this earth to explain parables and other scriptures that we do not understand. But we have His Holy Spirit to explain all things to us. When we are born again by God’s Spirit “all things become new.” (Eph 4:22-24). Through understanding, we begin to partake of God’s nature as He works inside of us to become holy, as He is (see Paul’s prayer in Eph 1:17-19).

What about the power of God? Where does it enter into the believer’s life? First, through the Spirit of Holiness, Jesus was declared with power to be God’s Son by the resurrection from the dead (Rm 1:4). He had the power of God residing in His life because the life He led was incorruptible, and because He followed God’s will, even to the cross. This is not something a man could do by his own willpower. Jesus had the right heart, and applied the understanding He had in the right way. Paul wrote “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3:10). Both Jesus and Paul had this in common; the power in their lives came from the sincere desire to follow God’s will, though it mean suffering and death. Power, in the Kingdom of God, comes from having a sincere heart, willing to change, and from the sovereign will of God concerning that change taking place in us.

I believe the Lord wanted me to write on the subject of power and of its evidence in the Kingdom of God because some are teaching that power is the evidence in our lives that we walk in the Kingdom. The truth is that power is the evidence of one who understands God’s Kingdom (he has the Holy Spirit) and that he follows/applies what he understands with a sincere heart (showing the process of inner transformation, or being born again). We cannot “pull the Kingdom down around us.” His Kingdom must be formed inside us first, and then sovereignly, as God wills, His power will work through us. Paul describes power as an "Incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand . . .” (Eph 1:19-20). It is the power of the Spirit of Holiness, working in us since the day we were born again by Him. We are given the understanding of God’s Kingdom, and the enabling power to walk in His Kingdom. It is all from Him.  Amen.