The Kingdom of Heaven Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” –John 18:36 What is the kingdom of God/Heaven? Is it just about going to Heaven when you die? Is it just about the day Jesus will physically rule the world from Jerusalem? Let’s first understand what the Bible means when it mentions the word kingdom. In the OT the main Hebrew word used to describe kingdom is mamlakah. It simply means dominion whether abstractly or concretely In the NT the only Greek word used is basileia. It means royalty or abstractly or concretely a realm. Finally WordWeb dictionary defines it as: • A domain in which something is dominant • A country with a king as head of state • The domain ruled by a king or queen The reason why many Christians don’t understand kingdom of God/Heaven is because they don’t really know what a kingdom is. They wrongly think the kingdom of God/Heaven is a democracy and fail to understand that Christianity is about being a slave for Jesus Christ, the King. We have not seen a kingdom because we grew up seeing democracies and so we fail to truly see what Jesus meant when He said kingdom of God/ Heaven. In a democracy the people’s ideas and words become the constitution but in a kingdom the king’s ideas and words become the constitution. In a democracy people vote to elect leaders but in a kingdom no one votes the king elects who he wants. In a democracy the people create laws but in a kingdom the king creates the law. A slave has no rights and the citizens of a genuine kingdom have no rights. Rights only exist in democracies. That is why the Bible says that as a Christian, you cannot do whatever you want. It instead says do the will of God, the Sovereign King because as a Christian you are His subject. God is not and will not force you to be a part of His kingdom. If Jesus is your Lord (owner) you are led by the Holy Spirit and are a subject of His Kingdom. But if you are your own master (god, lord) then you do your own will and are not a subject of the Kingdom. To spend eternity in God’s presence in Heaven you need to receive Jesus as your Lord (owner) and Saviour, you have to be a subject of His. Praise God for He is generous. He did not just die on the cross so that we would become His subjects but He has delegated some of His power to us. We have the power to move mountains (obstacles in our life) by speaking to them (Matt. 21:21), we can cast out demons, perform miracles, etc. The main reason God has delegated to us is because we are His ambassadors in this world (2 Cor. 5:20) knowing the terror of God, trying to reconcile the world to God (2 Cor. 5: 11). As God’s representatives in this world how are we meant to represent Him? We must not be conformed to the world but we must instead influence the culture with morality etc. We should be lights in a dark and dying world. The dominion God gave to mankind (Gen. 1:26) was lost after the fall. Jesus came to restore. So as kings in His Kingdom we should not take our begging bowl to God in prayer but should pray to God with the consciousness that we are kings. We should ask less in prayer and spend more time communing with God telling Him what’s on our mind and thanking Him.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 07:31:05 +0000
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