HE SHALL REIGN
12th Dec 2018
Sometime over the Christmas season you may well hear “The Messiah”, Handel’s masterpiece telling of the birth of Christ, mainly through the Old Testament prophecies leading up to His first coming.
There is a refrain which includes these words: “The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God, and He shall reign for ever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” The words come from Revelation 11:15, where John describes the events he has seen in heaven which will take place on earth in the future.
Pondering this, we as yet do not see the Kingdom of God established on earth, but little by little it is being established in the hearts of those who love Jesus and live under His Kingly rule. As citizens of the Kingdom of God we come under His authority and carry the Heavenly Kingdom into our daily life and sphere of influence. So we love rather than hate, have mercy instead of judgement, spread light instead of darkness, and so on.
In John 12:31, Jesus declares that the prince of this world will be defeated at Calvary, and the process of liberating captives begun. People who walk in great darkness can be brought into the Kingdom of light, love, liberty, and under the protection and care of Jesus, the victor over the devil and all his works.
We need to understand that in a war the enemy can be defeated, but the liberation of prisoners is an ongoing operation. There are verified reports of isolated people who did not know of the demise and defeat of Hitler for a long time after the fall of the Third Reich, still living in fear and hiding.
Similarly there are many of our friends and families who need to hear the good news - Satan has been defeated by Jesus on Calvary. Liberation has begun on an individual basis, and one day we will see the nations, this world’s system and its rulers bow before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
We will sing Hallelujah! then, but we can sing it now both in anticipation of that time and in thanksgiving for Calvary’s, complete, irrevocable and eternal victory!
by Joyce Sibthorpe
