Rev. David G. Bostick
03-15-09
We are looking at the characteristics of the consummation of the Kingdom of God.
The first characteristic is hope and it has seven aspects.
The second characteristic is joy and it has three aspects.
The third characteristic of the consummation of the Kingdom of God is victory. But what is victory?
On March 09, 2009 Philip Elliott of the Associated Press said, "President Obama's announcement today that he is overturning his predecessor's policies toward embryonic stem cell also will include a broad declaration that science - not political ideology - would guide his administration.
"Obama planned to reverse President Bush's limits on federally funded stem cell research and direct the National
Institutes of Health to put in place safeguards so science is protected from political interference..." (Arizona Daily Star, front page, March 9, 2009)
Many thought that a great victory had been won when President Bush placed limits on federal funding of stem cell research. But in fact this was only a temporary victory. History teaches us that when an administration, with different ideologies, comes to power, they will do all they can to reverse the policies of the previous administration, especially those policies that do not meet their own ideological point of view. You see we like to think that having leadership that shares our ideologies is the safeguard to our beliefs, but when leadership changes so can ideologies. The problem is that our country is divided and any ideological victory is only temporary because there is no absolute authority that everyone acknowledges. This is the inevitable consequence of our political system.
So we come to the realization that what we thought was victory was only a temporary and subject to change. That brings us back to our original question. "What is victory?".
Last week we left the leaders and priests of Israel standing in the middle of the Jordan river as the children of Israel crossed over to the other side. This crossing of the Jordan river is only the first step in the ultimate victory that would come many years later when Israel will have conquered all of the promised land, and will finally have peace. From the river they head toward the town of Jericho. At Jericho a great battle will take place, one of many battles in the quest to poses the promised land. It is important to remember that victory implies a battle, before there can be victory there must be a battle or struggle of some kind. The same is true in our lives, before we can have victory of any kind there must be a battle or struggle of some kind. Look at the dictionary definition of victory.
Victory 1: the overcoming of an enemy or antagonist 2: achievement of mastery or success in a struggle or endeavor against odds or difficulties. (Merriam-Webster)
This miracle at the crossing of the Jordan river, to go in and poses the promised land, served two purposes.
Let's go back to the book of Joshua.
Joshua 4:18 (NIV)
[18] And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.
It was no coincidence that when the Ark left the river it returned to flood stage. Had it not done so the people could have said that the river drying up was not a miracle but might have came about by natural causes. ~ Victory erases all doubt. There is no room for rumors. There can be no doubt that God has worked here to show them that He is going before them to assure their victory.
You and I can have this same assurance. We need not wander through life wondering if the victory we had today will be undone tomorrow. We need not worry about the final victory when we cross over from this life into eternity, because God goes before His children today preparing the way just as He did in Joshua's day. Yes, the victory we had today may be undone tomorrow but in the end, when all the skirmishes of life are over and the final skirmish is finished, we can be assured that we will have final and complete victory if we follow Christ. We all have the opportunity to have eternal peace.
Joshua 4:23-24 (NIV)
[23] For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.
[24] He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.
Now I don't know about you but this miracle would have given me a great amount of confidence in God's ability to help me in the battle that lay ahead. I think I would have had a smile on my face as I headed toward the city of Jericho. If fact we have this story, preserved in the pasges of God's Word, so that you and I today might believe that God goes before us to make sure we come into His eternal kingdom.
Joshua 5:1 (NIV)
[1] Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.
Always remember this, just as victory is
preceded by confidence, defeat is preceded by a lack of courage and fear.
If we live our lives in fear and doubt we set ourselves up for defeat. The only confidence the Canaanite people had was a confidence in their own abilities. They knew their gods could do nothing for them. Their fear was a fear that they could not defeat this God that Israel served. In the face of the adversities of life and in the heat of the spiritual battles we face, our hearts will melt and our courage will drain away from us, if we are trusting in our own confidence and abilities. God wanted Israel to remember what He had done to defeat the nation of Egypt 40 years earlier so they would have confidence in God's ability to fight for them. They must set aside any confidence they had in their own abilities and trust God. They must set aside all their doubts and fears and march forward in the confidence that God's power went before them working in their behalf.
Joshua 6:12-16 (NIV)
[12] Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
[13] The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding.
[14] So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
[15] On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.
[16] The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
Joshua 6:20 (NIV)
[20] When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.
As the walls of Jericho crumbled before the children of Israel, so will all the obstacles that stand between us and our relationship with God. One day, sickness, pain, sin, failure, shortcomings, weakness, personality, attitude, and a million other things that we can think of will crumble away like dust. Paul expressed this spiritual victory in his letter to the church at Rome.
Paul wants us to know that the ultimate victory is spiritual victory. That spiritual victory is not possible in our own strength and power. It is only possible as God helps us. Look at what Paul said to the church at Rome...
Romans 8:26-39 (NIV)
[26] In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
[27] And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
[28] And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
[29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
[30] And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
[31] What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
[32] He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
[33] Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
[34] Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
This one verse contains a review of the work of Christ in our behalf.
~ He died for us.
~ He was raised to life for us.
~ He sits in the presence of God interceding for us.
As God went before Israel to stop the flood waters of the Jordan river, Christ goes before us to prepare the way for us to enter God's eternal kingdom.
[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
[36] As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
[38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
[39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As God crumbled the walls of Jericho so that Israel could walk straight into the city, so He crumbles all the obstacles that would hinder us from living our lives for Him every day. He will also crumble all the obstacles that would hinder us from coming into His eternal kingdom. There is only one thing we must do. As the children of Israel stepped into the dry river bed of the Jordan, and as they went forward into the city of Jericho, we must step forward toward the Kingdom of God by our own choice and fee will. We can only go into the eternal kingdom of God if we choose to do so, and then act on that choice to step forward. And remember this, His eternal kingdom is not something we enter in the future, it is now. When we confess, believe, and commit to Christ we enter His Kingdom right then.
In the last few moments of the Superbowl this year all of Arizona thought that the Cardinals had won a great victory when they pass the Steelers. Then just before time was gone the Steelers scored and won the final victory and the Superbowl title.
Today the battle - Tomorrow...
Eschatology is where all of us are headed.
CWS-NT - Complete Word Study of the New Testament. CWS-OT - Complete Word Study of the Old Testament. - Both the CWS-NT and the CWS-OT are parts of the AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary - Based on the lexicon of Edward Robinson (as revised by Alexander Negris and John Duncan), with constant reference to and citations from the works of John Parkhurst and Hermann Cremer.
Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster 11th collegiate Dictionary. 2003
Morris, Henry M. III. 5 Reasons to Believe in Recent Creation. Dallas: Institute for Creation Research, 2008.
NIV - The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV). Cedar Rapids: Laridian, 2003.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The NIV Center-Column Reference System, copyright © 1984 by Zondervan.
NIV – The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV). Grand Rapids: 1984
Vine, W.E., Unger, Merrill F., White, William Jr. Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, © 1984, 1996.