Kingdom Come- initiation

Kingdom Come • Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago

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Based on what we looked at last week, you know that people would already suspect that there was something different about Jesus. However, I am not sure any of the disciples, or His family, or those around Him could anticipate just how much of an upheaval the arrival of the Kingdom and the King would cause.

After He is baptized, Jesus is tempted in the desert and when He returns, victorious over all that the Enemy has thrown at Him up to this point, He initiates His public ministry.

The passage we are going to look at today is Luke 4:14-44 and I have chosen this, for a couple of reasons. First, as I mentioned last week, it is a passage written by Luke- who did the deep research into the historicity of what Jesus did and said incorporating the earliest Gospels into his work and adding his own first hand accounts. Second, this passage shows the breadth and depth of what the Kingdom was going to be about in a few verses.

So turn with me there and let’s read.

(14-21)

The first thing we see here with Jesus is He is going to teach and bring the scriptures to life. His Kingdom’s arrival means we can hear from God, be taught by Him, and not have to go thru an intermediary.

Luke Comments

Having been anointed at his baptism by the Spirit “in bodily form” (3:22, only Luke), being “full of the Spirit” (4:1, only Luke), and having been led by the Spirit to do battle and defeat Satan, Jesus “in the power of the Spirit” (4:14, only Luke) returned to Galilee to begin his ministry. His ministry, like the church’s later ministry, was marked by the Spirit’s power.

The teaching ministry of Jesus in His time on earth is replicated by the work of the Holy Spirit after His resurrection and ascension. We have not lost the ability to hear from God in regards to what His word says, in fact, we are even more capable because Jesus, in His incarnational form, was limited by time and space. The Holy Spirit is not!

And what scripture does He read? It is a prophecy from Isaiah about the Messiah and what He will do- proclaim good news, free captives, heal people, end oppression, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. All things Jesus is going to do, has done, and continues to do today.

Luke Comments

this is Scripture and thus for Luke and his readers infallibly reveals the purpose of Jesus’ ministry. Finally, Luke pointed out that Jesus himself chose this passage and described his ministry as aimed at its fulfillment.

Which is why in verse 21 He says the words He has read are fulfilled in their hearing. He is the fulfillment of these words in flesh and blood.

So what is the reaction from those who hear Him. (Read 22-30)

Initially, they are complimentary. They know Jesus. He grew up here and they know His family. But they are also, in some way, wanting to claim Him for themselves. He is their hometown hero. He is going to come and fix everything, and they may say this because of what He has claimed to be, or because they have heard of other things He has already done, but that is not what He is going to do.

Jesus starts to tell them that in the same way that OT prophets were sent to other places and people, He is not going to be bound to this town or to one region, or even, ultimately, to the nation of Israel. He has come for the world.

And this makes them angry.

Luke Comments

For Jesus these examples demonstrated that Nazareth could not make exclusivistic claims on him; and since Nazareth had in fact rejected him, he would go elsewhere. Nazareth may have rejected him, but others would receive him gladly. For Luke these examples showed that the Jewish people had no exclusivistic claims on Jesus, and since they rejected him, the gospel of 4:18–21 has been offered to the Gentiles. And just as Elijah and Elisha were better received outside of Israel, so the gospel message would receive a better hearing among the Gentiles.

The initiation of the Kingdom work almost ends before it starts, because they are so mad they try to rush Jesus off a cliff.

The Word of God is going to make some people mad. The Kingdom is a rival to the kingdoms of others and Jesus will have no rivals. He is not going to be usurped or threatened by anyone. So the Kingdom has arrived but it is not unopposed.

And that opposition is about to show itself in the very town Jesus just name checked in his hometown- Capernaum. (Read 31-37)

Again here, Jesus goes to the synagogue and reads, and people marvel at His teaching, but this time opposition comes not from people, but in the spiritual realm.

Jesus deals with demonic entities several times in His ministry. He has already dealt with Satan himself in the wilderness, but now here is a minion who is trying to oppose Jesus and also hurt His beloved creation- a human being.

So Jesus shows that the Kingdom is not only not going to be opposed by people, it will also not b opposed spiritually. He deals with this demon in short order, and sets the man free.

Luke Comments

Jesus said sternly. “Said sternly” is literally rebuked. This involves not simply a moral censure or rebuke but rather an act of authority and power in which Jesus controlled and judged the demon.

Came out without injuring him. Luke added this statement to the account in order to enhance the miracle and to emphasize that despite the demon’s throwing the man down, Jesus’ healing was positive in nature

Why is He able to do this? Because the Kingdom is not just about teaching, or confronting, it is also about authority. Jesus brings the authority of the Kingdom to earth. We are not subject, when we are in His Kingdom, to evil. We are free and we can resist. Jesus brings that power to earth and we have that in Him.

And finally, He has come for one final purpose- to heal. (38-41)

Remember when we talked about heaven a couple of weeks ago and how the arrival of heaven on earth would see an end to sickness and death? Well Jesus brought that with Him as well. For a season, we have a taste of the Kingdom of heaven on earth. Jesus is healing people and not just one, but it says all who were brought to Him. They were being set free.

Luke Comments

So he … rebuked the fever. This is the only account in Luke where Jesus addressed his healing words to the disease rather than the person. The fever was rebuked as the demon was in Luke 4:35, 41. Does this imply that Luke associated this illness with Satan (cf. 13:16)? Although Satan is often associated with illness (Acts 10:38; cf. Testament of Solomon 18:20, 23), we will see in the next two verses that Luke did differentiate between illness and demon possession. See comments on 7:21.

She got up at once and began to wait on them. This indicates that the healing was instantaneous (“at once” is found in Luke) and complete (see comments on 18:43), and it also serves to emphasize that God’s grace is to be followed by gratitude and service (cf. Luke 17:11–19). Luke was fond of pointing out the role of women in service to Jesus, although her service was not directed just to Jesus, as in Matt 8:15, but to the entire group. The term “serve” (diēkonei), although not a technical term, is used elsewhere for service for Christ.

Church, that is what the Kingdom proclaims. We are people who God wants to set free. He wants to invite us into His Kingdom where we are no longer controlled by things that want to kill us, but a God who wants what is best for us!

(Gospel presentation here)

And when we are in the Kingdom, we all have one united job, which is the same one Jesus had (42-44)

Luke Comments

Two important differences exist between the Lukan and Markan accounts of this summary. Luke added the expression “preach the good news” and the reference to being “sent.” In so doing he tied this summary closely to the Isaiah quotation in Luke 4:18

We are to preach the Good News of the Kingdom. Church someone has to tell them…and we are that someone.

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