What Is The Kingdom

George Eldon Ladd wrote an excellent book a number of years ago called “The Gospel of the Kingdom,” which combined theological scholarship with a prophetic edge that allowed him to both teach and preach about the nature of the kingdom of God.  I’ll quote him extensively over the next few weeks.  Our first question to ask is “What is the kingdom of God.”  Ladd gives us a great answer that will help our understanding:

     We must ask the fundamental question: What is the meaning of “kingdom.”  The modern answer to this question looses the key meaning to this ancient biblical truth.  In our western [understanding], a kingdom is primarily a realm over which a king exercises his authority. We typically think of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the original group of countries that recognize the queen as their sovereign.  

     The second meaning of a kingdom is the people belonging to a given realm.  The Kingdom of Great Britain may be thought of as the citizens over whom the Queen exercises her rule, the subjects of her kingdom.  

     The exclusive application of either of these two ideas to the Biblical teaching of the Kingdom leads us astray from a correct understanding of biblical truth.  We must set aside our modern [understanding] if we are to understand Biblical terminology.  Webster’s dictionary provides us with a clue when it gives as its first definition: “The rank, quality, state, or attributes of a king; royal authority; dominion; monarchy; kingship.”  [This] is precisely [what is] necessary to understand the ancient Biblical teaching.

     The primary meaning of both the Hebrew word malkuth in the Old Testament and basileia in the New Testament is the rank, authority and sovereignty exercised by a king.  A basileia may indeed be a realm over which a sovereign exercises his authority; and it may be the people who belong to that realm and over whom authority is exercised; but these are secondary and derived meanings.  First of all, a kingdom is the authority to rule, the sovereignty of a king.

     When the word refers to God’s kingdom, it always refers to His reign, His rule, or His sovereignty, and not to the realm in which it is exercised.  We read in Luke 19:11-12, “As they heard these things, He proceeded to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.  He said therefore, ‘A nobleman went into a far country to receive a basileia and then return.’”  The nobleman did not go away to get a realm, an area over which to rule.  The realm over which he wanted to reign was at hand.  The territory over which he was to rule was this place he left.  The problem was that he was no king.  He needed authority, the right to rule.  He went off to get a “kingdom” i.e., kingship, authority.  The Revised Standard has therefore translated the word “kingly power.”

The kingdom of God is His kingship, His rule, his authority.  When this is once realized, we can go throughout the New Testament and find passage after passage where this meaning is evident, where the kingdom is not a realm or a people but God’s reign.  Jesus said that we must “receive the kingdom of God” as little children (Mark 10:15).  What is received?  The Church? Heaven?  What is received is God’s rule.  In order to enter the future realm of kingdom, one must submit himself in perfect trust to God’s rule here and now.  

The Kingdom and the Resurrection

Over the last couple of weeks the Lord has been stirring my heart to begin writing about the kingdom of God and its implications for the church and the earth at large.  As I was contemplating doing that last night, I remembered that Jesus spent forty days after the resurrection teaching the apostles about the kingdom and I just felt stirred to spend the next forty days looking into the kingdom of God.  What is it?  Why is it important? How does it relate to the church?  What are the principles by which it operates?  These are questions that I think we don’t really search out in a deep way, and I want begin to tackle these and more in this next little season.

I think it’s appropriate, though, to begin with this realization—the apostles were being taught about the kingdom of God by a man who had been raised from the dead.  I’ve just been hashing over that thought for a bit, and the implications are stunning.  The very resurrection of His body was a whole discourse to these men about the nature of the kingdom.  We handle the kingdom like it’s a normal thing that everyone has access to.  But the disciples spent forty days discussing the implications of kingdom life with their king who still had nail piercings through His hands.  Even after forty days of teaching by this resurrected king the apostles had not realized that Christ had no plans of taking over the Roman Empire.  They had not realized what Christ told Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this realm,” (John 18:36).  This seems like an elementary statement but most of church history is full of us confusing the two realms.

This kingdom that we’ve been called to partake of is one of another order.  Though it will resemble kingdoms we’ve seen it will be totally different.  Speaking of the resurrected body that Jesus received and we will receive in the age to come, Paul says, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory,” (1 Corinthians 15:39-41).  The point of all of this is that the kingdom we will receive will have a different type of glory than anything we can imagine on earth.  In order to rightly usher in and pray down the kingdom of God into the earth we must begin to understand what it looks like when it operates in our lives and breaks into the lives of the lost and dying.
          
I want us to begin to pursue the reality of the kingdom in our lives. But I want us to pursue it knowing that it will be incredibly different than anything else we’ve ever experienced.  It will be of a supernatural order above anything we’ve ever experienced.   Let’s not just get the words in our vocabulary.  Let’s begin to experience the reality of the kingdom in our every day life.  Let’s live life before a king who conquered death for us.  Let’s pursue the supernatural aspect of the kingdom that is available to us.  We’ll look more at what it looks like in the next few weeks—but our resurrected king has a promise for us—“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom,” (Luke 12:32).

One Hundred Fold Obedience

I’ve been reading lately from this great book called “The Fire Within.” The author uses the lives of Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross as road maps to growing in deep prayer and intimacy with God. One of the ideas that has struck me about the book is the way in which the author connects what I have come to describe as “hundred-fold obedience” with those that are growing in their knowledge of God and prayer. The question that immediately jumped into my heart as I kept reading and re-reading that phrase was “Do I know what ‘hundred-fold obedience’ looks like in my life?”

So I began a journey back through the scriptures. I reread Matthew 13 to find out what stalls believers in their pursuit of one hundred fold obedience. I came upon a couple of interesting conclusions. First of all, 95% of what we learn from this parable is how to not let the word be choked out of our lives. This is good; we shouldn’t want the word to get choked out in our lives. But after the word takes root in our hearts and begins to grow, there is this whole other phase of producing fruit that we must consider. Some of us produce a 30 fold harvest. Some of us produce 60. Others of us (and I suspect very few) produce 100-fold harvest of what the Lord has sown into our lives. So I began to ask the Lord, “How do I get beyond simply trying to aviod choking the seed in my life to a place where I produce a hundred fold harvest?”

The following is a list of partial answers. I post them, not because they are complete or profound, but because I hope they are a roadmap for others out there. I hope these qualities of heart ignite other questions about our lives lived in this agnostic culture. My hope is it will spur us to ask how we can best cultivate that seed which the Lord has sowed in our lives. I also hope it spurs conversation about changes that need to be made in my life personally and the lives of those who are reading with an open heart.

• “Intimacy with the Godhead” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Matthew 22:37, Philippians 3:8-14, Ephesians 3:19, Ephesians 4:1) One hundred fold obedience is primarily found in loving God with everything. Society will tell me that there is one reality—self—and that one reality must be loved over every other thing. But God calls us out of our blindness and declares to us there is a great reality called God that deserves to be loved above anything else. Intimacy with God is both the primary means and the end of one hundred fold obedience. It will be the measure by which all else is judged. Paul, the greatest missionary apostle, was consumed by this desire above all other things. Every other goal must become secondary to this goal. This quest will result in full possession and attaining the true fullness of God.


• “Zeal Corresponding To Knowledge” (Romans 10:2, Psalm 69:9, John 2:17, Luke 16:16) Those who pursue anything with zeal, especially things which are unseen, are shunned by society. But God loves the zeal that burns with fire from His altar. Zeal for God’s house (His dominion and authority over His people and the earth) must remain a constant priority over every other desire. Zeal, however, has the unfortunate side affect of producing zealots who seek religion or another kingdom but miss Jesus. I must contend for zeal that is born in the heart of God. I desire to know and be zealous for those things He is zealous for.


• “A Great Commission Commitment” (Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 10:7-8, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:29, Acts 1:8, John 20:21-22, John 14:12-15, Isaiah 6) The great commission must be a priority. While society in general shuns true evangelism and the church seems to create a culture that makes new believers less effective in sharing their faith, I must grow in my ability to bring Jesus with power and authority to the world. I must grow in my ability to articulate, proclaim, and herald the coming Kingdom with kindness, authority, and power. Those I come into contact with must be gripped with the reality of sin, the majesty of God, and the sacrifice of Christ through the spoken word, the demonstrations of power, and kindness that transcends agnostic understanding.


• “The Sacrificial Life” (Matthew 16:24, John 6:9-11, 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, Acts 9:16) Because society promotes the good of the individual over the good of the people and the good of God, I desire to live a sacrificial lifestyle given over to service. I must learn to both take up my cross daily and walk the narrow way. The source of strength God gives to the believer to walk this road comes from discovering something of what eye has not seen nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love Him.


• “The Increase of Virtue” (Galatians 5:16, 22-24, 2 Peter 1:5-10, Matthew 5:2-10) Growth in kingdom-virtues is undervalued in our culture. We enjoy facades of character while decaying from within. A greater yielding to God and His purposes will produce spontaneous reactions of the heart that resemble His. The goal is not to practice these virtues, but in abiding with God, see these virtues mature and grow.


• “The Battle Against Greed” (Matthew 13:22, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 6:22-24, 1 Timothy 3:3) There will be a constant drive because of the culture we live in (including our Christian subculture) to always want more money, more stuff, and to be entertained more. When the desire for more comes to my soul, I must resist the need for prestige, security, and entertainment by capturing thoughts of “need” and redirecting them toward seeking first the Kingdom.


• “Revelation and Understanding” (Matthew 13:19, Ephesians 1:17-19, Colossians 1:9-12, Mark 4:24-25) Failure to understand the word that is given will allow the enemy to come and snatch the word from our hearts. Our society frequently writes off that which it does not understand or comprehend. I must contend for a true understanding of the written word of God, of His spoken word, of any and all encounters and visitation, and His heart towards me. Understanding that what is given leads to increased understanding in time.


• “Endurance Through Hardship” (Matthew 13:20-21, Matthew 10:22, Matthew 11:6, 1 Peter 4) Suffering for the cause of the Gospel is a necessary and important part of the Christian walk. Our culture glorifies suffering from the enemy (sickness, shame) and despises suffering that comes to purify believers (persecution). My pursuit of obedience must include girding myself to suffer in such a way that I endure and bring glory to God. I must endure hardship and find my heart free from offense at God.


• “Consecrated and Committed Relationships” (Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 10:23-25, Acts 2:44-47, 1 Samuel 23:16) We live in a world that defines men as strong when they are able to live alone and aloof from others. True purity, however, only comes as we allow our lives to be seen for what they really are by those closest to us. My pursuit of God must include a band of men (and their wives) who are committed to Jesus, who will spur me forward in the things of God. They must be those who will confront me on issues of sin and walk me through the restoration process.