***The following is an unedited auto-generated transcript and may contain serious errors and speakers other than Dallas Willard. It is included here to assist your study. Please check the original audio for an authentic record of the event.
Dallas: I thought when they started that I’d heard that song before, but by the time they got done, I thought I hadn’t. Thank you.
I’d like to read to you the one hundred and forty-fifth psalm as the scripture for this morning. Concentrating upon the theme of the kingdom or dominion of God. And this is a psalm, one of the later psalms drawn from the experience of the people of Israel in which they had revised what it meant for God to be king over all of the earth.
Psalm one hundred and forty-five. I will read the entire psalm. I will extol thee, my God, my king, and I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every day I will bless thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all of his works. All of 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. The kingdom, thy kingdom, is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all of his ways and holy in all of his works. The Lord is nigh unto all of them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him. He also will hear their cry and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him, but all of the wicked will he destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
Thank God for the blessing which is always attendant upon the thoughtful reading of his word.
My theme will be the gospel of the kingdom of God. This morning, in the time that I have available to me, and I promise I won’t keep you too late, the great fact of God’s dominion, and that’s the same thing as his kingdom.
Let’s take some texts out of the gospels, and then we will spend most of our time this morning in some passages in the Old Testament, but beginning with Matthew, the third chapter, verses one through two. This concerns the ministry of John the Baptist. John the Baptist, when he came preaching, this is what he said. Verse one of chapter three, in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Then when Jesus came, skipping now to the fourth chapter of Matthew, the seventeenth verse, John has now been cast into prison and his work is done, and Jesus opens his ministry. Verse seventeen, from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Exactly the same words that John used.
Most of Jesus’ teaching was about the kingdom of God. For example, if you look at the first beatitude in the fifth chapter of Matthew, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
When we come to the Gospel of Mark, the first chapter of Mark, we find this message is called an announcement of good news. Right at the very opening of the book of Mark, the first verse, we see the beginning of the good news. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The good news which belonged to him and which he brought.
Now what was that good news? You look at the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Mark and you see, now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came unto Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God. The Gospel of the kingdom of God. He announced the good news. What about the kingdom? Well, mainly that it was available. Many people don’t even know that it exists. And many of those who know that it exists do not think that it is available. But Jesus preached the availability of the government of God. Verse 15, and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. He’s not saying there that it is about to come. He is saying it is available to you. It is at hand. Turn or repent and believe the Gospel.
There is so much on the kingdom of God in so many passages. I’m going to be opening up, Lord willing, in the days which come. Let me just give you one more from, this time from the Apostle Paul in the first chapter of Colossians. Here is described in slightly different terms, but if you look at the 13th verse of the first chapter of Colossians, you will find what Paul says has happened to himself and his fellow Christians, and that includes you and me. Verse 13, speaking of God the Father, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
You have been translated. You know what translation is. We speak of translation from one language into another. The same message in a different embodiment. One sentence will be in Spanish, another sentence in English. Same message. And Paul is using that metaphor here to describe what has happened to people when they have obeyed the admonition of Christ and have repented and believed the gospel of the kingdom of God. To believe it is to step into it, to walk into it.
Now, so much for some scriptural basis out of the New Testament. I’m going to be returning to these, and in the days which will come, I will be speaking mainly from the gospel according to Matthew. And very specifically, if you wish to prepare for next Sunday, you should carefully study the fourth and fifth chapters of Matthew, especially that section which is called the Beatitudes in the first part of the fifth chapter. And I’m going to be dealing with the teachings of Christ, both those which are not parables and those which are, and I shall also be dealing with the ministry of Christ in his exercise of the power of the kingdom of God.
So much for what is to come. Today I simply wish to stress the great fact that God has a kingdom, that he is king over all of this earth, that there is not one bit of it which is beyond his direction in some measure and ultimately.
Now, the passage we just read from Paul mentioned the power of darkness, and it referred to the fact that there is an alternative kingdom in which you may live. An alternative kingdom in which you may live. Some things are not directly in the governance of God. They are only ultimately so. Some things are in the hand of powers which he has established and ordained, but which have gone wrong.
I want to take us to a story from the book of Daniel about a man who learned of the alternatives and who learned that the kingdom of God is ultimately over all. This is Nebuchadnezzar, and if you look in the fourth chapter of Daniel you see a story about how Nebuchadnezzar was impressed with his own strength and his own power as a king. He forgot God. He did not retain God in his knowledge, but took to himself the power of his own kingdom.
You’ll notice in the 30th verse of the fourth chapter of Daniel the king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? And while the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. They shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field. They shall eat grass like an oxen. In verse 33 we find that the same thing happened in that very hour.
Verse 34, At the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes into heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. I love this story because you see in a certain sense, a very important sense, those who do not acknowledge and live in the kingdom of God have lost their minds. Their understanding is not right.
They are like the story of the prodigal son. Finally, the scripture says, and he came to himself. He came to himself. One wonders where had he been all that time that he’s only coming to himself now. Well, you see, he had been under a mistaken impression about himself. He thought that he was running his life, that he had his choices to make, that he would decide, and of course he found out in the pigpen, that it wasn’t so. And that’s why in the pigpen he came to himself.
Nebuchadnezzar wandering out in the hillsides. In those days when a person lost their mind, they didn’t bottle them up somewhere. They left them alone. They thought that God had his hand especially upon such people. And consequently, when he went out of his mind, they left him to wander the streets. They left him alone. And at some point, as he wandered, we see at the end of the days, that I lifted up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding returned unto me. He came to himself. He saw himself for what he was. He understood that some slight turn inside his brain or his mind could turn him in to a beast eating grass from the field. And that thought undercut all of his arrogance, all of his independence, all of his pride.
And you know that’s true of you and me. If you approach it from a physical point of view, the shifting of a few molecules in your brain can turn you into a raving maniac or into a corpse. You see, man goes on in his pride. He stands as a nation or as a group or as an individual and says, I will decide what will be done. I will build this city. I will fight this war. I will amass wealth. I will do this person in. And James says, What is your life? It is even a vapor that appear for a little while and then vanish away. Ever watch a steam kettle? You put the fire under it. It begins to steam. And you can see the steam come out of the spout of the kettle. It only lasts a foot or two and it disappears. And that’s what James is saying. That’s what Nebuchadnezzar realized.
His understanding returned to him. And note what he says now that his understanding returns. And I bless the Most High. And I praised and honored him that liveth forever and ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all of the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of the heavens. Thinking of all of the natural order of things, the stars and the planet, the sun and the moon, the army of the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can say his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?
Now with this understanding, Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity returns fully to him. And he says, At the same time my reason returned unto me. And for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me. And my counselors and my lords sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom and excellent majesty was added unto me.
What did he gain? What did he lose? Nebuchadnezzar came to understand the simple fact that God runs this world, period. This is God’s world. He came to understand and because of that understanding, it was possible for the very Jewish nation itself to come to a new apprehension of what the kingdom of God was.
You know, they did not always understand. If you look in Exodus, the 19th chapter, you see the place at which God calls the people of Israel on the plains of Sinai before he gives his ten commandments, the law of God. And here he tells them something about the basis of his relationship to them and what they were called to be. They’re standing here in a desert by a mountain. Moses in the third verse goes up into the mountain and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle’s wings and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and deed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.
A peculiar treasure. That’s what you’re called to be, you see. That’s what we are called together to be is a peculiar treasure unto God among all people. Now note the basis of the claim. For all the earth is mine.
As we come to understand the kingdom of God, we see the constant reference to the natural order in the psalm which I read to you a moment ago and which I will return to in just a minute. We see that the pious writer of these words had come to understand the stars and the natural processes of the water and animal life and human life, every bit of that, as the law of God. God is the one who makes that happen.
Translated in our terms, perhaps we seldom ever see the sky or the stars living where we do, at least we don’t see them clearly, but we drive automobiles, we work with computers, we work with other people, and in all of those areas there are the laws of God at work. Why do you think when you press the pedal on your automobile, the brake pedal, it stops normally? There are a set of physical laws which make that happen. Suppose there were not laws like that. You wouldn’t be able to count on anything. God has established an order.
Now for the people who lived in the time of the Bible, the most obvious order was the natural order of earth and stars, and it is very natural for them to base the understanding of their God simply upon that direct fact as it is expressed here. All of the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And that is what we’re to be, you see.
In the natural order, there is a social order. There is a relationship of God to a group of people, and God called out the Jewish nation. The descendants of Abraham were called out precisely to show what kind of life this was to be when it is lived under the direct governance of God.
You will remember that they did not have kings. You will remember that for quite some time after they came into the promised land, the nation of Israel did not have a political entity which we would call a government. And you must understand that that is not an incidental fact. That is fundamental to the relationship which God ordained in his peculiar people.
You will recall that they had what was called judges. You know there’s a book of judges. Let me tell you what a judge is. A judge, the parallel to a judge in the Old Testament is the apostle in the New Testament. The judge in the Old Testament didn’t get elected, didn’t get paid, had no position. The only thing that judge had was power so long as God gave it. And he governed with the power God gave him so long as God gave him that power.
You see, we today think of power in terms of a position. But God called the people of Israel to be, notice the wording, a kingdom of priests. Every one of them was to be a priest. A kingdom of priests. And what is a priest? A priest is one who deals directly with God. A priest is one who has not a series of religious bureaucracies to get through before he gets to God, but he has direct access to God.
In the New Testament it is the apostle, which you see in the book of Acts and elsewhere, who has the power without any particular position. He has the power to accomplish God’s work. He has direct contact with it. And he makes it happen. But he does not make it happen by having a position.
It took centuries to jar a small group of Jewish people out of their misunderstanding of the government of God sufficiently that they were ready to receive this fact. When Jesus was here, what was the constellate hassling going on among the apostles about? Who would get to be at his right hand and who at his left? Do you understand what that argument is about? That argument is about power. Do you understand that right hand and left hand are positions of authority? We today are not familiar with this way of thinking, but the right hand and the left hand, we speak today of someone being my right hand man, you know. All the folks who are left handed would have to say, of course, they’re left hand man. So we have this in our language. But the apostles were jockeying for position so that they could have power.
On that last day that Jesus was present on the earth just before his ascension as they walked along, the disciples said to him, Lord will thou at this time restore the kingdom unto Israel. They were talking about positions. You see, humanity identifies power with position. And so they create positions and then they don’t know what to do with the people who are in them. They create positions and give power on the basis of position and say as long as you hold that position, you have the power.
That is not God’s way. God’s way is to give power for his purposes in the direct interface between him and his people. And there are no positions in the fundamental sense. There are no positions in the kingdom of God.
Jesus said to them, It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, but ye shall receive power, power without position. And that’s exactly what you had with the apostles. That’s exactly what you had with the judges in the Old Testament.
And I want to take you to one of the most crucial passages in the Old Testament. And this is the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel. In the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, we have the rejection of theocracy. We have the rejection of the governance of God through men and women empowered directly by God to accomplish his purposes.
1 Samuel 8. The wording here is extremely significant. In fact, the issue arose because Samuel’s sons were not very nice people. The Bible is filthy lucre. They turned after money. They liked money and they took bribes and they perverted judgment.
The elders came together and they said in the fifth verse, Behold, thou art whole, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. You see the fundamental misunderstanding? They were looking to Samuel. They were not looking to God. And they were trying to take Samuel’s sons because they were his sons and follow them and let them be judges instead of dealing directly with God.
So they say to him, Make us a king to judge us like all of the nations. Now those are the fatal words. Make us a king to judge us like all of the nations. You see, the Israelites here are asking not to be a peculiar people. What’s peculiar? Peculiar is odd, strange, different, not like everyone else. And God had called them to be a peculiar people specifically on this point of being governed by God. And they tried it, or they thought they had tried it. And after a while they said, We want to be just like everyone else. We want a king.
So the kingdom is going to be handed into the hands of men. And from beginning to end it is going to be nothing but trouble. In verse 6 we see that the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them.
You see, what we have in the way of a nation state, political government as we know it, is hopeless. Sometimes it works well for a while, and there are many times in which you’ll find one form that works better than another. But it is a hopeless enterprise. God’s intention for man was that men and women would walk with him, that they would be in direct contact with him, that they would not trust in the arm of the flesh or in other men, but that they would immediately and directly, day by day, get their direction and their strength from the things which he had appointed in the way of natural laws and social laws and direct interchange and contact with him.
That’s God’s intention. You go back into the first chapters of the Old Testament and you see that Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the evening. You see, that was the custom, was that man should walk with God. When we look at Enoch, as you recall the words, we’re told that Enoch walked with God. And finally it says again that Enoch walked with God and Enoch was not because God took him. The walk was so intimate that Enoch just disappeared. And later on, Noah walked with God. That is what the intention of the Creator was, that there should be the direct governance of God over all of the earth.
Now, I hope with that in the back of your minds you understand something more of what Jesus said than what John the Baptist said when they came to preach. You see, they found men and women, boys and girls going in this direction. They found the world organized in a system of de facto rebellion and isolation from God. And seeing them going in this direction, which we might call the power of darkness or the kingdom of darkness, they say to them very simply, turn away from that and step into the kingdom of God, the dominion of God.
The experience of the Jewish nation through centuries of grinding pain and suffering had brought the people to the point to where the time was ready. The message was possible. It could be received. It could be understood. And now that message goes to you and me today.
Do you believe in the government of God? Do you believe that whatever happens in this world is in his power? And that the natural ordinances, which we call physical laws, are God’s laws? In the 119th Psalm, the psalmist says, Thy word, O Lord, is settled in the heavens. In the 19th Psalm, we read that the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Do you believe all of that? Do you believe that God not only has the order of nature at the tips of his fingers, but also the order of your life?
Now, you see, when you come into a church today and you speak this way, it may sound strange. Because we have not been in recent years taught these things. We have been taught many good things. But in general, there is not set forth the gospel of the kingdom of God. People are not invited. They are not told that it is not explained that this is available to them, that wherever they are, as you sit there in your seat today and as you walk about, as you drive, as you work and as you play, it is your privilege to live in the kingdom of God if you will simply turn to it. And all of the loneliness and heartache, the sickness and suffering and sorrow, which we go through, can be gone through with God and in a large measure can be escaped from through God, if we will but have it so.
Do you believe in the kingdom of God? Have you turned from the kingdom of man? That is the great fact with which we’re faced. That is what Jesus presents us with. What life is like in the kingdom of God, he explains. He shows forth by his teachings and he shows forth by his action. The simple question this morning is, do you know it as a reality?
Let us pray. Lord, we are so thankful for the scriptures which you have left that when we forget, when we neglect, still it is here written upon the page that the kingdom of God is here. We thank you for its presence and we ask by the power of your word to incite faith and draw us forth every one so that we live in constant contact with it day by day, moment by moment. And we pray also, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. We pray not only for the presence and thank you for the presence of your kingdom, but pray for its prevalence over all of the earth. Use us every one to that end, both today and as we go through our lives. For thy glory and in Jesus’ name we pray it. Amen.