The Kingdom of Heaven message preached before the death of Christ must not be confused with the dispensation of Grace inaugurated after Christ's death.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were inspired by the Holy Spirit to record the historical account of Jesus' life and ministry. Their records reveal that Christ kept every precept of the Law of Moses. He was called a "Rabbi" because He taught the Law; He was without sin and He kept the Law perfectly. Therefore, we understand these events occurred during the dispensation of the first covenant.
Everything Christ did was according to the Law of Moses.
Made of a woman, made under Law...Gal 4:4...God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law
Circumcised according to the Law...Luke 2:21...And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS,
Mary offer sacrifice according to the Law...Luke 2:22-24...And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
Jesus lived under Law, and taught the Law
Jesus preached Judaism, not Christianity!
Jesus dealt with the Law of Moses and the Kingdom promise to the Hebrew nation.
All of Jesus' sermons were preached to the Jew only, not the Gentile...John 4:22...for salvation is of the Jews.
Here's Matthew's record of Jesus' command to the 12,
Matt 10:5-7...These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Christ reconciled both Jew and Gentile into one body on the cross.
Eph 2:11-16...Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
The Church came into existence after Christ purchased it with His own blood and sat down at the right hand of the Father,
Acts 20:28...to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood
Your utmost attention is called to these facts so that you won't confuse the purpose of the authority given to the disciples to confirm the Messianic message. Misunderstanding this will lead to deception in your life. You may perhaps go out into the world commanding the Devil to step aside, taking a useless claim of authority over the Devil when he has no authority on earth. You may perhaps claim authority over the Devil and every problem of life that you face. Some never recognize the fact that the problems of life actually stem from the sin of Adam.
Remember, Adam lost power and authority to rule in earth, and since then, man has not regained complete dominion. Regardless of man's right standing with God he is unable to control the affairs of the world. Unpleasant things are going to happen to man and he will have no explanation for them. Man is unable to know why these things happen. If a man goes around attempting to exercise authority without having any authority; he is not only claiming something fictitious and contrary to the Word but also ignoring the true authority.
Many people ask, "What about the passage in Mark 16 that says?"
Mark 16:15-17...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe
Here the language of the Bible says that signs will follow the believer. Nothing is said about the believer having authority! It is the Gospel they believe that produces the signs, casting out Devils, healing the sick, and speaking with new tongues. These signs and wonders are produced when the Gospel is preached and believed. All these signs are going to follow if you are a believer, not because you commanded it saying, "In the name of Jesus".
In Mark we read about the fullness of our Lord's ascension as He works and confirms the Word with signs. Note how these signs follow the believer,
Mark 16:19-20...So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
The doctrine of "positive confession" which claims that every time a man confesses something he will receive it, is contrary to the Word of God! It is only during the future Kingdom that you can say to a mountain, "Be thou removed" and it shall come to pass.
Matt 21:21...ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
For believers today "to confess gain" is contrary to the Word of God. James states that rejoicing in this type of boasting is sinful. Why? It's a form of arrogance:
James 4:13-17...Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
For those who refuse to admit, or confess sickness, "This is not faith but foolishness". Read James where he states,
James 5:14...Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
It is true that during the Millennium, one can say to a mountain, "Be thou removed" and it will be, but we are not in the Millennium yet! Therefore to "confess" or "claim" things such as wealth or authority is wrong. In fact, any boasting of what we will do, have, or obtain is declared to be sinful in James 4:13-17.
Some even teach that merely to admit you have a problem is a "negative confession", a sign of weak faith. Ironically in truth, if we do not confess our need or weakness, we cannot Biblically receive the help and healing we do need.
James 5:16...Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
Once again, mountains can only be removed through speaking, after man regains control of the earth in the millennial reign of Christ. During that period of time, all man has to do is speak, and it will happen. People are going around today confessing various things without assurance and without certainty. Paul said,
2 Cor 4:13...as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
Notice you first have to believe before you speak. The problem with many people is that they think they are going to "build their faith up" by speaking and confessing, and confessing and confessing. They go around confessing everything under the sun and still don't have one ounce of faith. Faith does not come by confession according to Romans.
Rom 10:17...So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
A believer does not receive things by confession. If he hasn't received it by faith, or in reality - he should not confess it. We only confess what we believe. You must believe first.
Since Romans 10:17 states that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God; it means that you don't confess Christ as your Savior, until He has saved you. If you have not been saved, then you don't go around confessing Jesus in order to believe. This is contrary to the language of the Bible. The modern day confession in order to have faith is contrary to the Scriptures!
It's important to know that when people claim "to take authority over the Devil", they miss Jesus. Man does not need any authority if he believes and knows Jesus has all authority. To accept any other authority is to focus faith on something, or someone else. This is dangerous. A believer must totally rely on the authority of Christ.
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