A friend was telling me that he could hardly wait for heaven so he could escape all that’s going on in the world. I stopped him and asked, “But what about Jesus? He said that the kingdom of God is here in the present, and therefore to repent (change your mind) and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15).
When Jesus came, He radically changed the concept of the kingdom of heaven. On the one hand, Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of the Father. This is true. On the other hand, He brought a kind of heaven to earth, calling it the kingdom of heaven. This also is true. Jesus challenges us to repent, to change our minds regarding what the kingdom of God is. He insists it is good news, the gospel, and we are to believe it. What exactly is Jesus asking us to believe? What good news have we missed?
When Jesus burst on the scene, declaring the good news of the kingdom of heaven (or “of God”) here now, He wanted us to stop waiting for the heaven that’s in the future and concentrate on being citizens of the kingdom of heaven in the present. The gospels are full of this emphasis, and you’ll find the kingdom of God in the epistles in relation to the way we behave or don’t behave.
Jesus’ main message was the kingdom. It came here with its king, Jesus. This change of thinking, that Jesus rules over the kingdom of heaven that’s on earth, will transform us to live for Him now, to taste the glories of heaven now.
In His teachings on the kingdom in the gospels, such as in the Sermon on the Mount, He is telling us what the kingdom citizen’s Spirit-led life looks like. They will not think evil of another (Matt. 5:21-22) because by the Spirit their minds will have been transformed to think like Jesus. They are not adulterous inside or out (Matt. 5:27-28) for the same reason.
All throughout the Sermon, we see the example of what happens when Jesus is the king of our lives. Jesus is the king in the kingdom. If we are living our lives as though He is ruling in our lives and directing it, then we are living in the kingdom of heaven now, and we’ll have assurance of the coming kingdom. As we are thinking of the earthly kingdom of heaven in the right terms, we are also approaching the coming kingdom in the proper terms.
If we are reading our Bibles seriously to learn of Christ that we may become like Him more and more—reading, studying, applying the Scriptures to our lives—then in practice, Jesus is Lord. When we live out the Bible by faith, confessing our inability to keep its lofty vision, and lean on the Spirit of Christ, then we are living as those who are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, right here on earth. Living a life of faith, accepting His grace for everything in humility, and walking in obedience, rejoicing in His salvation—these are kingdom citizen traits, whether here or above.
We don’t spend our times in idle busyness, waiting for heaven to come, but live for Jesus now, learning the values of the kingdom of heaven now, and therefore qualifying for heaven now on the same terms of faith, grace, and the Spirit.
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). His will is done on earth by those who know the word and apply it in obedience to His will—on earth, just like it is done by Jesus in heaven, who is submissive to the Father. We share the gospel, the good news of the kingdom come, so others will live for king Jesus. By faith in Him they will be born again into the kingdom, into the family of God.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 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.’ ” (John 3:5-7). When one believes the gospel, he is spiritually born again, and becomes a citizen of the kingdom. Then it is his responsibility to learn the ways of the kingdom of God through the Bible. Obedience to the Bible is obedience to Jesus the king. Believing the word is believing the king. This is the simplicity of the kingdom. Only when we are born again can we “see” it (John 3:3), for without being born from above, we are estranged from God and incapable of having a relationship with Him.
Not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord” will enter the kingdom (Matt. 7:21-23). Jesus clarifies this with the analogy of the house on the rock (Matt. 7:24-27). If we hear, believe, and follow through on the sayings of the Sermon on the Mount, making those values our own as the Spirit works, then our house is sure. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). The storms of life do not rock that person from the kingdom who is hearing and obeying king Jesus. Life in the kingdom is blessed by God, strengthened and protected by His Spirit and the word.
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). The kingdom, the “life,” is not entered by rituals and religious forms. It is entered by having a real relationship with Jesus, of knowing Him and responding to Him in the word of God. On the broad way are those of “religion and spirituality.” On the narrow way are those who love Jesus through faith and obedience. Beware of those who are prophets of “religion and spirituality,” for they are wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15) who do not know the Lord.
If these thoughts pique your imagination, look up the “kingdom of God” phrase in the epistles and see their context.
Let’s change our minds regarding the kingdom as Jesus said. We live for the kingdom of heaven now, and taste of the heavenly blessings now. The Lord reigns now. He has overcome the world now. This is good news!
