Kingdom Government

Bear with me as we lay the foundation for this lesson. We need to establish some facts and then see how they all go together to accomplish the purpose of the Lord. We have said in previous lessons that the government of God is the Kingdom of God and that it is contained in the Holy Spirit. The last lesson established the fact that the Kingdom came in power on the day of Pentecost and fulfilled the word of the Lord when He said that some standing with Him would not taste death until they saw the Kingdom coming in power.¹

The government of the Kingdom was prophesied by Isaiah long before the Lord came.

Isaiah 9:6-7 NASB

(6) For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

(7) There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

These Scriptures make it clear that the government of God is upon the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ and that His government will continually increase.

Authority of the King

The foundation of any Kingdom is the authority of its King. Jesus received all authority from the Father and upon this authority is constituted the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 28:18 NASB

(18) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

All authority means all. There is no other authority recognized by the Father or by the Lord except the authority of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. This is original authority; anything else is delegated authority. This means that government has no inherent authority with which to operate. All governmental authority stems from the One who has authority. Therefore, in the Kingdom context, there is no inherent authority in the Church—all authority is in Christ. From this original grant of all authority by the Father stems any other authority making any other authority delegated authority.

How then does the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ get to be in the Church? The answer is through the delegate of Jesus—the one that He has appointed as His sole and absolute delegate. The authority for the establishment of the Kingdom of God upon the Earth resides completely in the delegate of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who, then, is the Delegate?

John 16:12-15 NASB

(12) "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

(13) "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

(14) "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

(15) "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

It is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who is the Delegate, the Administrator of the Lord. He does not speak by His own authority because He is speaking on the behalf of another. As Jesus' Delegate, He discloses to us the things that belong to Jesus, which are all of the things that the Father has including all authority. The Father had all authority by virtue of being the Father. And the Father, then, upon the completion of Jesus' sacrifice, exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father, the one who gave Him all authority.

So in this original grant of authority from the Father to the Son, Jesus declares, "all that the Father has is Mine." Then He says, "I am sending the Holy Spirit to you, and He will take from what is Mine and make it known unto you." That is why the Holy Spirit does not act on His own since He represents the exclusive and absolute delegation of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach the Gospel today by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is established according to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. So in this complete delegation of authority to the Holy Spirit, Jesus then gives to the Holy Spirit the right to establish His kingdom.

That is why Romans 14:17 begins by saying that the kingdom of God is not food or drink. The kingdom of God is not about the material realm or even about rules and restrictions. It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit because, in His exclusive delegation, the Holy Spirit is the only one empowered to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Illegitimate Authority

Since Jesus has been given all authority. Anyone or anything operating in any form of authority that has not been authorized by Jesus is functioning in illegal or illegitimate authority. To exercise authority one must have the right to do so. To attempt to exercise authority without having the right to do it makes it illegitimate authority and puts it in the category of the world and the principle of Satan.

Jesus will rule His Kingdom until all illegitimate authority is dealt with.

1 Corinthians 15:24-25 NASB

(24) then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

(25) For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

The enemies of the Lord operate with illegitimate authority. They do not have the right to exercise authority because they are not being led by the Spirit. His enemies are primarily demonic powers and wicked men because they are the ones who lord if over people.

Exercising Authority

Besides receiving “all authority”, Jesus also specified a particular type of authority that was given to Him.

John 17:1-2 NASB

(1) Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,

(2) even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.

Jesus is the only one who has the right to exercise authority over people. (Bear with me, this is important as we get into government). To the best that I can determine, Jesus has not delegated this aspect of authority to anyone except the Holy Spirit.

However, He has clearly delegated authority to us that is to be exercised in a particular way. Jesus gave very specific authority to the disciples:

Matthew 10:1 NASB

(1) Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

This is clear. The disciples were given authority over unclean spirits and every kind of disease and sickness. When Jesus sent them out in pairs, He, again, gave very specific authority to them.

Luke 9:1-2 NASB

(1) And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.

(2) And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.

Again, it is clear: authority over all demons and to heal disease. And, the purpose for which the authority was given is also very clear: to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to perform healing.

When Jesus sent out the seventy, they were only directed according to the plan of the Lord. They weren't sent to just anyplace but only to the places where He was coming.²

When they returned and were excited about the fact that the demons were subject to them, Jesus told them why:

Luke 10:19 NASB

(19) "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

Notice³ that in all of these cases, Jesus gave authority over spiritual things such as demons and sicknesses but never gave any of them authority over people. Likewise, Jesus has given us authority over all of the power of the enemy so that we might overcome but the scriptures say specifically that we don't wrestle with flesh and blood, that is, people⁴. It would seem to me that so many in the Church have it backwards. They want to exercise authority over people but have very little authority in spiritual matters.⁵

Putting it all Together

Now, lets see if we can put this together so that we can get a better understanding of the government of the Kingdom of God. Remember, in Isaiah it said that the government would rest on His shoulders. I believe that this is literally and spiritually true. Literally, as King, Jesus has the right to exercise all authority to govern His Kingdom. Spiritually, Jesus is the Head of His Body, which is made up of many members. I believe that it is the shoulders of the Body of Christ that governs the Kingdom of God. The question, then, would be, “Who makes up the shoulders?”

I think that the answer is given in Ephesians chapter four. In verse eight, Paul says that when Jesus ascended He gave gifts to men and then in verse eleven, he names the gifts.

Ephesians 4:11 NASB

(11) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

These are not gifts of abilities, not even supernatural abilities as are the gifts of the Spirit.⁶ These are gifts of men from Jesus to His people. Each of these gifts is Jesus working through a person in the appropriate functional capacity; for example, Jesus as the Apostle works through a man as an apostle, Jesus as the Prophet, works through a man as a prophet, and so on through the other gifts. All of these gifts, popularly known as the five-fold ministry, are closely related to the Head and are an extension of the Head's ministry in the earth. (That is why I consider the 5 main ministries as part of the “shoulders” upon which the government rests.)

We have traditionally called these Ephesian Ministries offices and given them some form of inherent authority as positions in the Church. This is simply not true. It is natural thinking applied to spiritual truth and will not work according to the plan of the Lord. As we have seen previously in this lesson, there is no inherent authority—only that which Jesus delegates. Since the Holy Spirit is His Delegate in this, only those who are operating in the Spirit have any authority at all. This shows us that authority cannot reside in an office or position, but only in a person who is walking in the Spirit.

The 5-fold ministry is gifts of men who are functionaries in the Kingdom of God. Each of these fulfill a function of the Lord in the earth as He operates His Body. Each function is required to be operative in order to accomplish the purpose of the Lord. Their job description is given in the next verse.

Ephesians 4:12 NASB

(12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

The job of the 5-fold ministry is two-fold:

1. Equipping the saints. Equipping means providing the necessary protective gear, tools, and other accessories that are needed for the people to do their job. For example: if your job is to weld something together, to equip you to do this, I would have to provide an arc welder, a welding rod, face and eye protective gear, asbestos gloves and training on how to do a proper weld that will hold under stress. The jobs of the saints are the work of service, for which they have to be spiritually equipped by the 5-fold ministry.

2. Building up. This is a construction term. The Body of Christ is also the Temple of the Spirit built of living stones.⁷ A construction team builds a building by laying a foundation and then building on it with the appropriate materials in the appropriate order and in the appropriate way, that is, according to the architect's plans. The 5-fold ministries follow the Architect's plans for His Temple and help the living stones to be shaped to their purpose and to be properly built together in a proper order so that they might become a habitation of God through the Spirit.

The job functions of the 5-fold ministries are necessary and will continue until the time shown by the next verse.

Ephesians 4:13 NASB

(13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Until all not some reach a certain place in spiritual maturity.

1. Until all attain to the unity of the faith. This is not doctrine but the unity of the Spirit, which we are to endeavor to keep.

2. Until all attain to the knowledge of the Son of God.

3. Until all attain to a mature man.

4. Until all attain to the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ.

It can certainly be said that not all have reached this place of spiritual maturity today; therefore, the 5-fold equipping ministries of the Lord are needed now so that their job can be completed in the earth.

When we allow the equipping ministries given to us by Jesus to do their job, there are tremendous results that are accomplished in the people of God as shown in the next three verses.

Ephesians 4:14-16 NASB

(14) As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

(15) but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

(16) from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

We do not remain children, unstable in doctrine and gullible to trickery and deceit, but instead we grow up into Him. As we grow up into the Head, we become fitted together and bound to each other by the supply of the joints and the proper working of the individual parts. We grow together as a body as we love one another. This is all a result of the people of God receiving the work of the 5-fold equipping ministries that are given by the Lord for just this purpose.

The King's Government

As we have seen, the Lord has received all authority and when He ascended He gave His people gifts of men who would continue His work among His people. These equipping ministries have authority because the Lord has made them responsible for the work listed above and they are accountable to Him on how well they accomplished the work.

The equipping ministries are to take the children and help them to mature spiritually and help them to find and function in their place in the Body. We have so over emphasized our identity as sons that we forget that a son has to grow up in order to function properly as a son.

Galatians 4:1-2 NASB

(1) Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything,

(2) but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.

The Equipping Ministries function as the “under guardians and managers” of the “heirs of salvation” until they come of age and function as sons. Paul speaks of this when he speaks of the authority given to him to fulfill his equipping role.

2 Corinthians 10:8 NASB

(8) For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame,

2 Corinthians 13:10 NASB

(10) For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.

So, we see that when it comes to people, even Paul's authority was limited to the specific purposes of his equipping role that he was given by the Lord. This had to do with the apostolic work of the Kingdom and Paul's function as a “master builder”. We are given spiritual authority to fulfill the function of our calling and to accomplish the work that the Lord has assigned.

As we saw in Isaiah, the government of the King is manifested as righteousness and peace. Any who would walk in the government of the Lord must also express righteousness and peace. Any who function in the government of the Lord as under managers are typified by their relationship with the Lord that results in righteousness and peace.

In our next several lessons, we will look at the governmental functions
of each of the equipping ministries beginning with apostles.

FOOTNOTES