The Kingdom

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 3: 1-2

The Kingdom of God is an essential part of the gospel of Christ, particularly relevant for the current time. Christ teaching His disciples to pray said the following –

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Luke 11: 2.

Notable from the passage above is that the kingdom of this world/earth is distinctly different from that of Christ (hence the need for the Father’s will to be done in earth as it is in heaven and also that the Father's Kingdom come). Consequently, it is explicit that our ways of doing things and achieving results in this world is vastly different from God’s way. Infact, it can also be deduced that the things we do or aim to achieve is vastly different from what things are done and how achievements are sought in God’s Kingdom.

John the Baptist illustrates the wide gap between what humanity knows on earth to God’s Kingdom in his message preaching repentance as illustrated in Matthew 3:1-2 above. John states that the kingdom of heaven (which being of God) is at hand but it required repentance from men. John stated his message over 2,000years ago and it is still relevant today for all who would translate from the kingdom of this world to God's.

Someone might say – am I in a kingdom in this world? The bible teaches that 2 major kingdoms exists – the kingdom of light (which is God’s) and the kingdom of darkness (which belongs to the fallen angel lucifer, also known as the devil). In reality, every creation either worships God or the devil while in this world. After departure from this world the obscurity is removed – those who worship God on earth, find themselves in His Kingdom and carry on worship Him there, those who worship the devil on earth similarly find themselves in the devil’s kingdom and are made to worship the devil there.

The kingdom of God and the devil are exact opposites – while God delights in goodness and a love relationship as supports for worship, the devil greatly desires cruelty as support for worship. Ultimately, the devil wants to be worshipped with his subjects absolutely loathing the circumstance in which this is done. It is the only way the devil can have a different kingdom from God's – to be distinctly different from God. If the devil yields even slightly and embraced goodness/ love then he loses his kingdom and becomes subjected to God’s kingdom in which these are found.

And what is the devil’s motive? To be free from worship & service to God and this is exactly why the devil recruits into his kingdom often insidiously through deceit. The devil knowing faced with the truth of consequence of service to him or God, he would not be able to lead much astray instead chooses to deceive humanity through enticements and lies. In the human world the devil's enticements are in lust (which vary from sexual lusts, alcoholic lust, substance lust to even lust after power/ control) , finances and pride broadly, by attempting to focus humanity on these the devil seeks to distract from God and ultimately to himself.

God’s kingdom is based on love. God knows that humanity live in a world where darkness is prevalent and though Christ God has ushered His kingdom into this world and revealed it’s working to men. The working of the Kingdom of God starts with salvation & devotion to God’s way and progresses to service to God & others through love.

Humanity has to make a choice - whether to serve God or the devil. Convention is inclined to skew the choice to the devil but God is now reversing convention. In love He is calling all humanity into His Kingdom and His way of doing things. His call is going to completely destroy the devil's kingdom also, as God is ready to show His Kingdom to the world. In His Word He calls this the glorious appearing of the Kingdom of His Son (Titus 2:13).

He is now bringing to fore, His Kingdom and the devil's - those whom through faith in Christ choose the kingdom of God qualify to enter into the goodness and love that His Kingdom is based on, while those that reject choose the devil's kingdom. The absolute goodness of God that surpasses human conception is also being revealed while the absolute cruelty that is more than what humanity can understand is also on offer for those who choose the devil's kingdom either knowingly or deceived. The devil is also to receive what his kingdom is about - destruction.

The choice is humanity's - some call it the harvest time and others kingdom fulfilment. May we all dwell forever in Christ's Kingdom - let the doubting/ unbelieving choose it now.