The Kingdom in Jesus’ Name

I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:18-20)

Jesus is the connection between heaven and earth. Though He is now seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father, whenever even only two or three come together on earth in His name, He is present with us. This has everything to do with the kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It is, in fact, the reason given for these two statements:

• “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” To bind is to forbid; to loose is to permit. The grammatical tense concerning what is bound or loosed in heaven is that they will already have been bound or loosed in heaven. That is, whatever we bind on earth will already have been bound in heaven, and whatever we set loose on earth will already have been set loose in heaven.
• “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.” This second statement is to be taken together with the first statement, about binding and loosing, for it is about manifesting on earth whatever is happening in heaven. Whenever we come into agreement with each other about these things on earth, our Father will bring them about on earth just as they are in heaven.

The particular context of these sayings has to do with resolving disputes among believers, but their meaning and application are not limited to that. They are true in particular because they are true in general, for they are in agreement with the general prayer model which Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom, come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus authorizes to bring forth the will of God on earth just as it is being done in heaven. Not just in certain narrowly defined situations, but in everything that has to do with the heart of our Father in heaven, outside of which there is nothing good.

The authority for these things is the name of Jesus. It is only by coming together in His name that we are able to walk in these things. To come together in His name means that we are all about Him and His purposes, to ask and act on His behalf and in the way He would ask and act. It does no good if we are in agreement with each other but not with Him. It is only as we ask and act in agreement with Him that we are enabled to manifest the kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

The kingdom of Heaven on Earth is revealed when we come together in the authority of Jesus’ name.

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The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew
by Jeff Doles

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