Glory and groaning

Thursday 2nd

Mark 1 & 2

Why is there suffering if God is all powerful? How does healing work out? How do we practically live out our Christian lives? The message of the KINGDOM of God answers these and other big questions. Therefore we we need to understanding what the Kingdom of God is.

In Mark 1:14-15 we hear Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God as the message of the Gospel:

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (ESV)

I think that we get a simple definition of the Kingdom from a phrase in the the Lord's Prayer where we are taught to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 ESV). From this we made deduce that the Kingdom of God is God ruling so as to get His will done on earth (as it is in heaven).

John Wimber’s definition of the kingdom of God was, ‘the dynamic Reign of God: the assertion of God’s authority over the evil one and his deeds.’ This definition of the Kingdom is illustrated in the ministry of Jesus in Mark 1 and 2 where Jesus’ heals and drives out demons to asserting His kingdom authority. 

Note the repetition of the word "authority" in Mark 1and 2:

Mark 1:22 ESV "And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes."

Mark 1:27 ESV "And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."

Mark 2:10-12 ESV

[10] But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"-he said to the paralytic- [11] "I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home." [12] And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

The New Testament teaches that the kingdom of God has already come to earth in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28) and that the kingdom of God has not yet fully taken over everything (Matthew 6:10, 1 Corinthians 15:24-25). This already but not yet tension of the kingdom affects the ministry of healing. Because the kingdom has already come, substantial healing can occur (Acts 28:8-9). Because the kingdom has not yet fully taken over everything, perfect wholeness (for everyone, all the time) is 'not yet’ available (Galatians 4:13-14; 2 Timothy 4:20).

In our lives today we also experience this tension of the kingdom in that already "in Christ” we are "a new creation’ because the “the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But we also still experience "the sufferings of this present time" (Romans 8:18). Our lives as believers in Jesus are a tension of both glory and groaning.