“The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in
the gospel.”(Mark 1:15 NKJV)
The
kingdom of God comes to those who receive it by faith. Repentance and faith
constitute the key drivers of the kingdom of God on earth. Our Lord attested to
this truth when He declared at the onset of His earthly ministry, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”(Mark 1:15 NKJV). The
goal of repentance is to free us from wrong beliefs that weaken us and leave us
at the mercy of the devil. Repentance is refusing to fashion our lives
according to the lies of the devil but rather deciding to live according to the
promises of God. Believing the lies of the devil is what sin is all about. Adam
and Eve sinned when they believed the lie of the devil instead of the promise
of God. Majority of the standards of this world are constructed from the lies
of the enemy in his determined effort to undermine the love of God for people. Repentance
is clearly implicated in the demand of the Scripture that we renew our mind and
not be conformed to this world, so we can prove the will of God (Romans 12:2).
We renew our minds by replacing the lies we have believed about God and
ourselves with the truth of God’s word as the Holy Spirit illuminates them for
us.
If
God can get us to believe, nothing will be impossible for us. A man brought his
demon-possessed son to Jesus seeking for deliverance. “Jesus said to him, “if you can believe, all things are possible to him
who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with
tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”(Mark 9:23-24 NKJV). Our Lord
had earlier challenged the Pharisees that if they could believe that He cast
out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon
them(Matthew 12:28). Hence, the kingdom of God comes by right believing. Unbelief prevents us from experiencing the
kingdom of God in reality. When Jairus daughter died, his servants came to
inform him so he would no longer bother bringing Jesus home to pray for her. On
hearing the bad news of Jairus daughter’s death, our Lord said to him, “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Mark 5:36
NKJV). Only believe! Jairus did not require any other credential to
experience the reality of the kingdom.
God
does not require anything more than belief to deliver on His kingdom promises.
He blesses us according to His grace and not according to our right conducts. Right
conduct is important as a witness to changed life but it cannot deliver on the
privileges of the kingdom without belief. Zachariah, the revered father of John
the Baptist was blameless as far as conduct was concerned but could not believe
the word of God brought to him by the Angel Gabriel about the impending birth
of John. His failure to believe the
promise of God earned him punishment from God –He was cursed to be dumb for a season
(Luke 1:20). Unbelief, in spite of right conduct, brings a curse instead of
kingdom blessing. Good conduct and grace are not in conflict if we understand
their relative positions in our relationship with God. God blesses us only on
the basis of His unearned grace. Right conduct is a testimony of God’s grace at
work in our lives. Good conduct does not produce miracle, grace does that
through faith (Galatians 3:5). Good Christians who fail to believe the promises
of God for blessings, will die and go to heaven but they would have denied themselves
of opportunities of happier life on earth. It is not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but by His grace, He saved us (Titus 3:5). Mark this truth,
the kingdom of God comes and advances as we believingly appropriate the
promises of God for our good.
People
receive the power to become children of God only by believing (John 1:12).
Unbelief brings divine condemnation (John 3:18). Those who believe in Jesus and
not in their works receive everlasting life but those who do not believe Him
are already condemned (John 3:36). When our Lord was asked what doing the work
of God entailed, He gave an answer that was disarming in its simplicity and yet
unfathomable in its profundity, saying, “This
is the work of God, that you BELIEVE
in Him whom He sent.”(John 6:29). Believe the promises of God and claim them as
yours, and you will experience the kingdom of God and its power. Only believe,
for all things are possible if you believe. Again, I say BELIEVE and it shall be well with you in Jesus’ Name.