Manifesto - A Radical Declaration of Political Revolution
A Study of Matthew Chapter 4 and the Gospel of the Kingdom
A Christian Manifesto - “a manifesto is a public and radical declaration of political intent that drastically deviates from the normal political aims of a nation.”
Mark 1:14 - Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Matthew 4:23 - And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom
The American Church has nursed you on the teat of the gospel of forgiveness, but it has neglected to strengthen you on the meat of the Gospel of the Kingdom. In calling you to repentance we have informed you very well of what you are turning from (sin and condemnation), but we haven’t adequately prepared you for what you are turning towards (to rule and reign with Christ on the earth at his coming - Revelation 5:9-10). Walk with me, verse by verse, through the 4th chapter of The Gospel of Matthew. There is a not so subtle and radical political message being communicated.
What does the term “gospel” mean?
There are two separate paths to understanding the biblical term “gospel”:
The Old Testament - It is the news of the reality of God’s powerful return to Zion to restore Israel (Isaiah 40:1-11). Isaiah sums up this good news as “Here is your God!” and “Your God reigns!” (40:9, 52:7). Isaiah looks ahead to the establishment of God’s kingdom in this world.
The Roman Empire - An inscription that heralds the supposedly benevolent reign of Caesar Augustus (27 BC-AD 14) reads: “…the birthday of the god [Augustus] was the beginning of the good news that came through him to the world.” In our contemporary context of a separation of church and state, it can be easy to assign this claim for Caesar to the political realm and to identify Jesus’ kingdom announcement as spiritual. Yet no person in that era would have conceived of such a separation. Instead, this inscription claims that Augustus was ordained as supreme ruler.
“The Kingdom of God is the only thing he (Jesus) called the good news -- the "gospel of the Kingdom." He sent forth his disciples to preach the "gospel of the Kingdom." It meant nothing less than replacing this present unworkable world order, based on greed and selfishness, with God's order. That is radicalism, beneficent, blessed radicalism.” – "A Song of Ascents: A Spiritual Autobiography" by E. Stanley Jones
We begin in Matthew chapter 4 with Jesus going out into the wilderness primarily to be tempted with political power. Included in this temptation are the power to indulge in pleasure and forgo delayed gratification by eating immediately, that is the temptation to get what I want when I want it on my own terms. Then power to be exalted in the eyes of others by making a dramatic public display by being thrown down from the temple in front of everyone. And lastly to obtain the power to rule the nations. These are toxic, corrupting temptations for humans. It was a real temptation for Jesus to deviate from his God ordained mission to suffer and die in service to others as opposed to himself being served by others (Matthew 20:28).
Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Matthew 4:8-10 - Satan is here identified as possessing the kingdoms of this world. Which isn’t wrong. Even after the resurrection and formation of the Church, the Apostle Paul identifies Satan as the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Satan offers Jesus the “kingdoms of this world” in all of their glory, if Jesus will only bow down and worship him.
This is precisely what the kings of this current world order do, in one form or another, to obtain power. Somewhere along the line they sell out. This is why at the highest levels of power in this world, there is usually a lot of corruption. Satan isn’t in control, but he is in charge, and he only promotes his own.
Jesus refuses Satan’s offer. Satan’s offer represents a shortcut to Jesus receiving His true destiny without having to pay the price of the cross. Accepting the offer would mean inheriting and maintaining a satanic system as opposed to building a heavenly one from scratch. This represents choosing the hard road vs. the easy road of Matthew 7:13-14.
There are two predominate Satanic systems at play in the world right now
One is called “Capitalism”. In an oversimplified way, this represents maintaining a system of both social and economic freedom which a minority of strong people manipulate for their own selfish advantage. It is a system that rewards greed and selfishness. In this system, massive amounts of wealth are accumulated into the hands of a very few people. Wealth which they use primarily to indulge themselves in their own pleasures, promote their own interests, and preserve their status in society. While this system parades itself as an angel of light, it is in reality a system that makes life good for a very few people/nations, but it makes life a miserable and exhausting rat race for most. It is subtly satanic.
The other is called “Socialism”. This is also a system that rewards greed and selfishness. But it is the greed and selfishness of the have nots. The oppressed people of the world want to acquire, by political and legal force, that which they neither worked for, nor earned, nor deserve. They are those who produce nothing but a toxic sense of envy, entitlement, and privilege in the minds and hearts of the weak and vulnerable, and who want to take from those who are effective at producing. It is a very few people in political power who are the haves. This system has produced evil empires over the course of the 1900’s that have resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of millions of innocent people. It is overtly satanic. Read the poetry of its founder Karl Marx such as “The Fiddler” and “Invocation of One In Despair”.
Jesus Christ refuses to inherit either one of these systems from satan. The price he must pay for his true destiny to rule the world is the cross. It is proof that Jesus came to make life good for everyone, not just himself. Jesus’ system, which will be outlined in the following chapters of Matthew known as “The Sermon on the Mount”, will be a system motivated by love, sacrifice, service, and consequently uncoerced giving. There is no alternative to the cross and there are no shortcuts. That is also true for every believer and disciple of Jesus Christ (Mark 8:34-38).
Next in Matthew 4:12-17, he quotes from Isaiah 9:1-7, which is a Messianic passage. Matthew is intending to point us to the political messaging found there:
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
In order to form his own heavenly system, Jesus begins constructing his initial leadership team to whom he will later promise 12 thrones (Representing the right to rule the earth with him, Matthew 19:28). It is no coincidence that Jesus finalizes his team at 12 disciples, since the Old Testament kingdom of God is based upon 12 tribes, which were based upon 12 patriarchs. The initial foundational building blocks of Jesus new kingdom, formed through the ministry of the church, would be based upon the lives of these 12 men.
Lastly in Matthew 4:23-25, Jesus goes throughout the cities of Galilee preaching the message of The Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus demonstrates his authority to claim his messianic identity by performing great signs and wonders. He is on a recruiting tour, or better yet, a political campaign tour to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Israel to repent and believe in him as messiah (a political title).
“Messiah comes from the Hebrew word, Mashiach, meaning “the anointed one,”
or “the chosen one.”” (See Matthew 3:16-17)
“In Old Testament times, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed by oil when they were set apart for these positions of responsibility. The anointing was a sign that God had chosen them and consecrated them for the work He had given them to do.”1
Matthew 4:23 - And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.
We are promised that this message of the Gospel of the Kingdom will be consummated at the return of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation:
Revelation 5:6 - And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain (servant nature), with seven horns (perfect power to enforce compliance) and with seven eyes (perfect wisdom and insight to know how to make life good for everyone), which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll (the title deed to planet earth) from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
The rest of scripture reveals God’s plan to inaugurate this kingdom, that is presently in the process of formation through the ministry and training offered by the Church.
Jesus Christ will return to the earth (Acts 1:9-11) in order to inaugurate an earthly kingdom of which there will be no end (Isaiah 9:1-7).
Believers will be resurrected from the dead to take a role in participating both in the forming and in the managing of this government (Revelation 20; Luke 19:11-27)
We will receive our reward - At the judgement seat of Christ, every person’s life will be graded. There will be a wide spectrum of positions granted in the new system Jesus is preparing, ranging from what scripture calls from “great” to “least”. (Matthew 5:19; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
Your life is about training in Godliness here and now based upon the measuring rod of Matthew 5-7, The Sermon on the Mount, in order to determine where you will fit in to this Kingdom. The mind and character that you build here and now through reading and understanding scripture as well as participating in the life of the church will determine your rewards in the coming kingdom. (1 Corinthians 15:35-42; Revelation 22:12)
For further reflection on this topic, consider Psalm 2
The Reign of the Lord's Anointed
1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
For further study on the doctrine of rewards:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/what-does-messiah-mean