“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20 (ESV) When God promised his coming kingdom in the Old Testament he promised deliverance from enemies. Here we see Jesus casting out demons, demonstrating the power of God and delivering people from the Enemy of all enemies. Then he makes the most astonishing declaration that a Jew could make: the kingdom of God is here. Devout Jews had waited hundreds of years for the coming of God’s perfect kingdom. Jesus was saying that it had arrived! This was so monumental that it is hard to know what the people thought.
We know that Jesus only began the inauguration of the kingdom and it wouldn’t be completed until he left and returned again. But the fact remains that the kingdom of God is here now. We are living in the first phase of the age of God’s kingdom, when God gives his Holy Spirit to all who believe in his Son. “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16, NIV). Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit” (John 15:5, NIV). Let us always remember that the kingdom of God is here now, and let us live in the kingdom in Christ, through his Spirit. God’s power for overcoming barriers and for transformation is available now.
