Kingdom

(This article originally appeared on One Flew Over the Church)

"The Kingdom of God is like unto a church sanctuary, filled with the souls of all the people who came forward to the altar during the invitation and recited the 'sinner's prayer' with the assistance of an altar counselor. They are all gathered together in one big church service forever and ever, singing and glorifying God".

Notice that there is no Scriptural citation with that verse. It seems that this can be found nowhere in Scripture and yet you can hear this description of Heaven in churches throughout the United States every Sunday morning. Try sharing that description of Heaven with a person on the street and see if they are ready to sign up for your brand of Christianity. I would hurl a resounding "NO" in your direction before brushing you off.

And what is it about our understanding of "Heaven"? Ask your average Christian and you might get an answer like "The place where God lives". So I have to ask, where exactly does an omnipresent God live? Jesus offered an answer of sorts to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”.

Jesus wanted Pilate to know that His Kingdom was unlike any kingdom that he had ever seen. It was a completely new concept. Jesus and John the Baptizer had already heralded this new Kingdom about three years earlier and informed the people that would (or could) listen that it was "at hand". If this Kingdom was present. yet different than any other, maybe we have misunderstood the Kingdom entirely.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, He shared with them a template, constructed in the form of Old Testament style poetry where one line is modified by the next line. He taught them to pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven". It seems as if He was telling us that His Kingdom comes any time His will is done on this Earth. And if part of His will is to redeem us and reconcile us with Himself, then that is a manifestation of the Kingdom.

With that in mind, look at what Peter had to say about the people of God - the "citizens of the Kingdom", if you will:

I Peter 2:4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“ Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

⁷ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“ The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”

⁸ and
“ A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

As Jesus said in Luke 17: "²⁰ Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” So each and every one of us is a block that is used to construct the home of God, the Kingdom. We are the Kingdom, not made of physical brick and mortar but of something a little more real than that. We once were not a people. We were murderers, homosexuals, adulterers, worshipers of idols. We were drunkards, thieves, liars. We were everything that is wrong with this fallen world. The only difference now is the grace provided by Jesus Christ that has made us "the righteousness of God".

And still the natural eye still shows no evidence that we are "a people". We are African, European, Asian, Australian and from the Americas. We are unbelievably rich and helplessly poor. We are tall, short, thin and fat.

And were are everything in between.

Jesus explained to Nicodemus that you have to look past the natural: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” We make up the Kingdom and we are like the wind - therefore, so is the Kingdom. You can't see the wind - the trees rustle and objects move but no one can see what is causing it all. So it is with the Kingdom - the sick are healed, the hungry are fed, the low are uplifted, the widows and orphans are cared for, the lost are reconciled but it is not immediately apparent why. You can see the effects, but not the cause.

And just as the rock, cut out without hands, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the Kingdom started small - one man and his insignificant band of ruffians - and has grown. Although there is still much darkness and much world to do, this Kingdom is slowly, but surely, consuming the Earth. Not with armies with weapons and flags but with truth, peace and love. The Kingdom began on the hillsides of Judea and has spread to every corner of the Earth. We can be found in Times Square, Trafalgar Square, Red Square and Tienamen Square. This Kingdom will contiune to grow and flourish, unseen and yet coexisting with the kingdoms of men until the stone becomes "a great mountain and fills the whole earth".

The Kingdom is at hand. It isn't the natural revolt against the government that the Zealots wished for. It isn't the culture war victory the Pharisees wished for. We can't go hide in some secluded compound like the Essenes. We have to do His will on Earth as it is in Heaven. We have to seek the Kingdom first and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. We have to stop looking forward to Jesus establishing His Kingdom and notice the wind blowing all around us.