Week 2 - Day 1
THE STORY
Long Story Short
The Story of the Bible isn’t short. That’s why it’s going to take us nine weeks to unpack it. So before we dive into the bigger story, let’s get a quick overview of where things are going. So to speak, let’s start with a Reader’s Digest or CliffsNotes version of the Good News of the Bible. Then starting next week, we’ll begin breaking The Story down into its key chapters. But first … long story short.
Mark 1:14-15 (NIV)
After John [the Baptist] was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
The time the Old Testament prophets had predicted and the Jewish people had longed for had finally come. Through the person and ministry of Jesus, God’s Kingdom was at hand. So Jesus calls people to turn their lives around and trust this Good News.
What is God’s Kingdom? Good question. Before we address that, though, let’s answer another question: What kingdom is God’s Kingdom replacing?
Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT)
For [God the Father] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
From what has God rescued us?
To what has God transferred us?
What has brought about this rescue?
Why is repentance and faith the way into God’s Kingdom?
Jesus, the King of God’s Kingdom, has come to set the captives free. Those who turn from their sins and trust in Him are rescued from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of God.
Today we’ll look at the kingdom of darkness and tomorrow we’ll look at the Kingdom of God.
THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS
The kingdom of darkness started way back in the Beginning. God had created our First Parents Adam and Eve to have a loving relationship with Him and a caretaking relationship with the world. In other words, God gave them authority to rule the world on His behalf. Satan, however, tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God’s authority. And when they fell for Satan’s lie and disobeyed God’s command, their sinful rebellion handed this world over to Satan. This is when the world became the kingdom of darkness. The point is, if you’re not going to follow God’s will, you’ll end up following Satan’s will. So Satan now has authority over the people, the structures and the systems of our world. In fact, Jesus goes so far as to say that Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31).
We’ll get into more of the details of how Satan acquired authority over the kingdoms of the world in a couple of weeks. So stay tuned for that.
Once again, Jesus came to reclaim the world as His Kingdom and the lost as His people. Satan, however, tried his best to deflect Jesus from His mission of bringing God’s Kingdom and setting captives free. For example, during Satan’s temptation of Jesus, we read …
Luke 4:5-8 (NIV)
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’
To whom do the kingdoms of the world belong?
Why was this a temptation for Jesus?
Once again, Jesus came to reestablish God’s Kingdom on earth. Or as the Apostle John put it, The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8). The way Jesus would bring God’s Kingdom and destroy the devil’s work, though, would be through dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead.
Satan, however, offers Jesus a shortcut. “Since the kingdoms of the world belong to me, if you bow down to me, I’ll just give them to you. How easy is that?!” That, of course, would have given the kingdoms of the world back to Jesus, but then Satan would still be in charge and we would still be his captives. Praise God, Jesus said, “No deal! I’m going to worship the Lord God and do things His way.”
The following passage gives a comprehensive description of what “life” is like in the kingdom of darkness.
Ephesians 2:1-3 (NIV)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
That is a sobering description of what life is like in the kingdom of darkness.
How would you put this passage in your own words?
How have you seen the kingdom of darkness around you? In you?
The question, then, is: Who’s in the kingdom of darkness?
The Apostle John puts it this way.
1 John 5:19 (GNT)
We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.
Who’s under the rule of the Evil One or Satan?
We would like to think that even though we haven’t committed our lives fully to God and so we don’t really belong to Him yet, at least we’re not under the rule of Satan. Or even though we’re not in the Kingdom of Light, at least we’re not in the kingdom of darkness. We see ourselves as somewhere in between. We’re just doing our own thing. But according to this passage, to do our own thing or to be our own king actually means Satan is our ruler and we are captives of his kingdom. And this is everyone’s default. Everyone is born into the kingdom of darkness. As the Apostle John says, The whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.
In light of what you have discovered through the Bible readings and your personal reflections, how will you respond? Finish this sentence: I will …
That’s the bad news of the kingdom of darkness. Tomorrow we’ll look at the Good News of the Kingdom of God.