The King is Here! // Kingdom Come
Jesus came to usher in the Kingdom of God. But it was not the kind of Kingdom anyone expected. Or for that matter, it wasn’t what the religious people wanted. They had in mind the kind of Kingdom and the kind of King they wanted, and this wasn’t it. But God loves us and knows exactly what we need, and Jesus embodied all of it. As he announced the Kingdom of God, it angered powerful people and he ended up dying a sacrificial death on the cross. But in three days he fulfilled his own prediction—he came back to life under his own power, and declared death and sin defeated! He proved that his Kingdom HAS come, and it is an everlasting Kingdom that knows no end. YOU are invited to belong. The Kingdom has come for you.
Jesus showed his power over everything in his life and death—this is when the disciples truly “left everything and followed.”
Message Notes
That first Easter morning was not anticipated or celebratory.
Messiahs don’t die, so they had to have been mistaken.
But he still was their dearly loved friend, the best person they had ever known.
So, they went to honor him.
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
Mark 16:1-3
The thought that he had resurrected and was alive sounded like nonsense.
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.
Luke 24:10-11
Even when they saw the empty tomb they didn’t believe.
Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.
Luke 24:12
Then Jesus appeared!
They saw with their own eyes something they could never have imagined.
That Sunday evening the disciples were hiding behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.
John 20:19But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet. Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.
Luke 24:36-43
The Resurrection created their faith and ours.
Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things.
Luke 24: 44-48
They didn’t believe because they had a Bible, they believed because they were eyewitnesses.
That is the only way we know any human history—eyewitnesses.
The disciples all eventually died willingly—not for what they believed but what they knew.
As an old man, Peter wrote:
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
I Peter 1:1-4
The best news today and every day:
Jesus is alive and God is FOR US. He is for the whole world!
The Power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in us!
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
Romans 8:11 NLT
Bottom Line
Jesus’ death and resurrection ushered in the new kingdom that will never end.
Action Steps
Make Jesus your King!
Live in the confidence that he has power overall.