God’s Kingdom

“May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 NLT)

What comes to mind when you think of a kingdom? It stands to reason that if you have a kingdom, you’d have a king. Having a king implies rulership, authority, subjection, dominance, and laws. Kings have subjects who are obedient or punished, compelled to be compliant, under judgment and restrictive rules. A kingdom is built on the backs of its subjects, but all honor, fame, and recognition go only to the king, not to those who did the work of building said kingdom.

Aren’t you glad King Jesus views Himself and His Kingdom much differently? His idea of what His Kingdom should look like is diametrically opposed to traditional views. Francis Schaeffer said it well when he wrote: “We are not building God’s kingdom. He is building his kingdom, and we are praying for the privilege of being involved.” 

In Matthew 6 Jesus taught us a prayer in which He helps us understand His Kingdom is past, present, and future. He is an eternal King whose reign has no beginning and will have no end. The coming Kingdom is one that has always existed in a spiritual sense and one in which we share once we yield our life and allegiance to Jesus.

The plot thickens when we recognize that there is another eternal kingdom whose lord is Satan, but while he gives his subjects the trinkets of the earth, what awaits them is only darkness and misery. To those of us who have chosen King Jesus it’s a no-brainer. Jesus always tells the truth, indeed is the embodiment of all Truth, but His adversary is unable to tell any truth, as he only knows how to lie.

Think of the differences from which we choose. Our choice is between Light and darkness; love and hate; Truth and lies; being cherished and being used; eternal life that begins the moment we receive Christ’s gift of new life in Him and eternal death; a Savior that walks every step with us while on this earth and a demonic adversary who seeks to trip us up and cause us to fall.

In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Why are these prophetic words, written hundreds of years before the Lord was born on earth, so vitally important?

There are many reasons, but the two most obvious are first, Jesus is declaring and identifying Himself as the long-awaited Messiah. But implicit in that declaration is the answer to the question: “Why were we poor, in captivity, blind, and oppressed?” Primarily because the only option prior to Jesus’ coming was religion or Satan, both of which left the responsibility of getting to God or having a relationship with Him on our shoulders.

Jesus came not only to show us the way, but to literally BE THE WAY! The Kingdom of God is now available to all who will open their heart and mind to King Jesus, not to keep us in bondage, but to give us freedom from sin, death, and the grave.

My purpose is never to be critical, but if people only knew who Jesus is and what He accomplished on our behalf we would never ask: “What’s in it for me?” That’s the wrong question. The right question is: “How can I be a part of what King Jesus is doing on earth?” Jesus has started a liberation movement that frees people who will place their trust in Him, to be all they were created to be.

So, my only question for you is: “To whose kingdom do you belong? And if it’s not the Kingdom of God, what are you waiting for?”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊