The Kingdom of God What is the Kingdom of God? Is it Heaven, is it somewhere over the rainbow, or is it right here among us. Has it been in the past, will it be in the future, or are we in it now?
Let us start, as we usually do, by finding out what the words mean individually. The Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary tenth edition copyright 1996 ISBN 0-87779-711-0 defines kingdom as follows: king-dom n 1 archaic: KINGSHIP 2: a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen 3 often cap a: the eternal kingship of God b :the realm in which God's will is fulfilled 4 a: a realm or region in which something is dominant b: an area or sphere in which one holds a preeminent position. Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words copyright 1996 ISBN 0-7852-1160-8 defines kingdom (strong's # 932) as an abstract noun, denoting "sovereignty, royal power, dominion".
For the sake of time, I am going to operate on the assumption that you have a fairly good idea of who God is. So the meaning of the phrase "the kingdom of God" could be captured by the following ways four sentences:
The place where God's will is fulfilled.
The place where God's will is of primary concern.
The place where God is in control.
The place where God is dominant.
There are examples of kingdoms all through the history of man. Kingdoms, empires, dynasties, where a land's government was overthrown and dominated by the ruler of the victorious domain. The apostle Paul wrote a letter to a group of people in the city of Colosse who had accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savoir. Today that letter is called the book of Colossians. In the first chapter Paul had something to say about the kingdom of God that I think you might be interested in. Colossians 1:13 says "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves." (NIV) The Amplified version reads "[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." There is a strange thing in these verses that really caught my attention. It is the word "has". Has is a past tense verb which means something is already done, not in the process of being done, not to be completed in the future. God HAS transferred you from the control, power, and dominance that Satan had in your life before you knew Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and HAS moved you into the place where God can control, influence and move in your life in ways that you can't even imagine. The Father sent Jesus to the cross to pay the price for you to have the very best in THIS life and in the life to come. If God had wanted you beaten, wounded, and broken down all He would have had to do was let Satan have his way, left you in his kingdom, and Satan would have ripped you to shreds.
The power of a given kingdom can extend beyond its given political borders. My favorite example, of this type of kingdom, is the British Empire. This empire, at one time or another, has had colonies on every continent in the world. The king of England could pass laws that effected people on the other side of the globe, and those people had to live by the laws passed by their king. All of the laws and orders of the previous leader were null and void, he had been removed from power. I have a question; was the king of England more powerful than God? Let me give you a hint, the answer is NO! People, good Christian people, live their lives every day under the laws of Satan when they don't have to. Look at the following passage of scripture: Colossians 2:13-15 When you were dead in your sins and in the circumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Folks the power of Satan over our lives has been broken, we live in a new kingdom, by new rules. The sad thing about it is that in order to play a game you must know the rules, and most Christians spend too much time watching TV and not enough time studying the rule book.
Despite what has already been said there will probably be some who say, "Well, My (granny, father, friend, pastor) fill in the blank says that this is all hog wash. All of this stuff you saying can't be true." The truth is simple. God's word is true. I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm not asking you to throw rocks at anyone who doesn't agree with what was just said. All I'm asking you to do is pull out your bible, read it, study it, ask God for help in understanding what He's saying and make up your own mind.
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