The Kingdom of God

“Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say. ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Luke 17:20-21


The major theme of Jesus teachings was not His death on a cross, but the presence of His kingdom among us now. What was Jesus talking about? What is a kingdom? Our immediate inclination may be the place we call heaven, but that is not it. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual realm. It is a realm of influence that is completely submitted to one thing: the will of God. One author puts it this way, “The Kingdom of God is where what God wants done is done.1” With the coming of Jesus comes this new presence, this new reality that begins to be the home of the student of Jesus. We derive resources for inner-transformation from the grace of this kingdom. We begin to orient our entire lives around this Kingdom. We seek it always. We seek to be in it, we seek to be changed by it; we seek to wield the power of it. And one of the first things Jesus teaches us is that it is different than any other kingdom on earth. The weapons and tools we use are not guns, bombs, but, joy, peace, sacrificial-love, discipline, goodness, trust, and patience. Plainly speaking this kingdom is not of this world.

Israel was so desperately wanting a kingdom. It was the promise of God to set their descendants up as a nation or kingdom. Their power of being a nation was stripped from them by the Babylonians and Assyrians as they were forced to leave their country and live in subjection to a different kingdom. Once they were released some years later they were able to move back to their land but soon they were under a new kingdom: Rome. Ultimately they did not have dominion, but were basically ruled by the Romans. Every Jew of that day so despised the Romans for their occupation of their home land. So the Jews were looking for a new kingdom. But they could not see the kingdom Jesus was establishing. It was not a physical kingdom, but it was a spiritual kingdom. It was common knowledge that the Messiah would establish a new kingdom among Israel, but very few would understand what Jesus was doing as He went along establishing beachheads of the kingdom of God. Places where His students could come and learn and go out and make more students of Jesus.

Rabbi

Jesus was a Rabbi. You need to know that. If we are going to take Jesus seriously again we are going to have to see Him as a Teacher or Rabbi. As students of Jesus we must commit ourselves to understanding the Jewish culture of Palestine during His time. This acknowledgement and knowledge will give us the ability to read the teachings of Jesus with new lenses. Lenses make all the difference. With the correct lenses we see the details. Details are so important. At the age of thirteen I received my first pair of glasses. As I left the optometrist at our local mall, I remember remarking to my mom, “Look at the leaves on the trees!” Evidently for some years my vision had slowly been detioritating and I was losing my focus to see details. But because it was occurring slowly I was not able to detect a change. Apparently I thought trees were big oblong blocks of green. Weird, huh? To be honest, before I knew about Jesus being a Rabbi, I felt like the red words I read in the gospels were more like red oblong blurs than mysterious life giving teachings. This new feeling of seeing details gave me a new perspective on life and my surroundings. I now loved to look at intricate things and marvel at the complexity. It was almost like I was seeing things for the first time.

This can happen with Jesus.

Knowing Jesus was a Rabbi gives you the same attention to detail we need as His students. It is at this point that we begin to understand His teachings and in His words, we have “eyes to see, and ears to hear.” We read, we listen, and we apply everything Jesus says. Thus we apprentice ourselves to the Master.

Synthesis

We need synthesis desperately. I have now been journeying with Jesus for 2 years. And the further I go the more synthesis I get. Synthesis basically means the combination and composition of a set of ideas that form a larger system of thought. I am hesitant to use a word like system because we really have had a lot of talk about systems and systematic theologies, but what I want to offer here is not really a system at all. What I offer here is a sketch of a human beings role in the Great Reversal. The redemption of humanity and the full coming of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven. You will find no formula, no 7-step, no how-tos. What you will hopefully find is a synthesis of New Testament ideas. Ideas that ultimately find their root in the words, teaching, and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. We need to see them, read them, memorize them, and live them.

The majority of the Western Church now makes little to no practical application to Jesus. We have no idea how to relate to this man who walked among us. Jesus is our ticket into heaven and out of hell. He is our hope for the after life, but not this life. But John tells us that in this man was life, light, and love. Jesus has life, really good life.