The Kingdom, Part 2

In Part 1, we barely started talking about the "kingdom of God," also known as "the kingdom of heaven" or just "the kingdom" in scripture. But I asserted that understanding Jesus' ministry on earth (and our continuation of that ministry) needs to begin with understanding the kingdom. So let's begin.

Part 2: What is the Kingdom?

In the world today, we have almost 200 nations. Each nation has different laws that its people follow. And if you travel from your nation to a different nation, you have to follow their laws while you are visiting.

In the past, most nations were kingdoms, and the laws of that kingdom were set by the ruling king (or queen). If a king decreed a law, the kingdom obeyed. (Which is why people always hoped for a good king, so that the laws would be good as well.)

So to be a part of a kingdom, you had to obey the laws of the king. You had to recognize that the ultimate authority in your life was not yourself, but the king. As long as you lived within the borders of the kingdom, you were under the king's authority.

Sometimes, kings would try to expand their borders. They would war against other kings and kingdoms, taking land by force, expanding their authority. If a king defeated another king in battle, the losing king was given a choice: place themselves under the authority of the victorious king...or die. So two kingdoms became one kingdom, under one king.

The kingdom of God, then, is where God reigns. It's the space where God has authority, and where God exercises that authority. (This is an important detail. If a king fails to enforce his law, is it really his kingdom?) The kingdom of God is where God is in charge, no questions asked.

This is why the kingdom of God is often called the "kingdom of heaven" in scripture. In heaven, God is in charge, no questions asked. The borders of God's kingdom extend throughout heaven; all of heaven is under God's reign.

But God's kingdom is growing. It's growing beyond the borders of the heavenly realms into the borders of the earth. God has big plans for the earth, for the creation that has become broken. The King is coming, and the King is going to make things right again. The King is going to establish his kingdom on the earth, to rule once again over a land that had rebelled against God's authority. Heaven and earth, together, will become the kingdom of God.

Matthew 4:23 refers to this as "good news of the kingdom." And for most of us, it is good news! If you are tired of a broken world full of pain and sin and cruelty and death, then you can't wait for the kingdom to come.

There's a catch, of course. And the catch is that you can't be king anymore. In your life, for God to reign, you have to place yourself under God's authority. We can no longer be kings and queens of our own lives; we give up our crowns to the King.

When we give up our crowns, we invite God's kingdom into our lives. That's why Jesus teaches his followers to pray "Your kingdom come. Your will be done." If God's will is done, then God's kingdom has come, at least for us.

And one day, God's kingdom will come fully. (We'll talk more about that later.) But in the meantime, we have a choice: are we going to submit ourselves to God's authority, or are we going to keep living in our little kingdoms?

To be continued in Part 3