Kingdom Of Heaven
Wyatt Carrell
The Kingdom of Heaven is a term that I heard often enough to be familiar with,
thought I understood it, but would have had a difficult time defining it. One day I
felt moved to explore it and a new dimension of life has opened to me.
So what is the Kingdom of Heaven? Well, let’s start with the basics of what a
kingdom is. A kingdom is simply the territory subject to a king. To have a
kingdom precludes that we must have a king. If there is no king, there may be a
territory, but there is no kingdom. This concept of kingdom is somewhat foreign
to those of us raised in a democracy. We are used to having certain “rights” and
a vote or say in those who rule over us. A kingdom does not function like that. In
a pure kingdom, the king ultimately owns all, rules all and is the undisputed
authority over all. The people within the kingdom are subject to the king and
have no personal rights not allowed them by the king. Perhaps this is why the
concept of kingdom is not more popular today.
Being totally subject to another would normally be quite restrictive and even
produce bondage. The exception to this would be serving a loving and perfect
king. This loving and perfect king would rule over a perfect and loving kingdom.
That perfect kingdom is the subject of this writing. This kingdom is important
enough that God had a public relations man and plan conceived at about the
same time as the King who would rule over this Kingdom. John the Baptist was
that P.R. man and his main role in life was to prepare the world for the
revolutionary coming of the King of Kings (1 Timothy 6:15) and His Kingdom.
John was Jesus‘ first promoter. He was an unusual man who dressed, ate and
acted differently than those around him. He was focused on one purpose and
everything else in his life was unimportant. He had one very simple sermon or
message, and preached it everywhere he went.
John’s simple, but dynamic message was, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand“ (Matthew 3:2). That’s all, repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at
hand. There must be something special contained in those nine words since that
is the totality of the advertising campaign and slogan God used to introduce
arguably the most significant time in history. The time in history that actually
defines our calendar. So let’s look at the words that make up this statement that
God uses to define this most important time and to introduce His Son.
Repent is the subject of John‘s sentence and the call to action of His message.
The word as used here has a different meaning than the way we usually think of
repentance. I used to think repentance was composed mainly of confession and
remorse. The word “repentance” here is from the Greek word “metanoeo” which
means to change one‘s mind for the better. Change is John’s main message and
admonition. He is not that interested in remorse or confession, he just wants a
virtuous change. He, like God, prefers obedience to sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).
John’s message is to simply change the way you think, change the way you look
at righteousness, change the way you act. Why? Because there is a new King in
town and He is ushering in a new kingdom, with new ways of doing things. A
kingdom where grace and mercy rule rather than legalism and performance.
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven (a new and higher kingdom) is at hand (near
and beginning now).
John’s message of truth about the Kingdom had mixed reviews. Those in power,
the Pharisees and Sadducees, resisted it and those with ears to hear accepted
it. John’s message never changes and he is thrown in prison. The Bible goes on
to tell us in Matt 3:17 that Jesus heard John was in prison, went to Capernaum
“and from that time on Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent for the
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. Jesus’ original message is the same as John’s.
Jesus is saying to change the way you look at things, change your doctrine,
there is a new King in town and He brings to you a New Kingdom. Jesus talks
about this new Kingdom thirty three times in the New Testament. God paves the
way through John, has Jesus preach the same message and then mentions the
Kingdom over and over. There must be something extraordinary about the
Kingdom so let’s dissect it to see if we can better understand and appreciate just
what it is and what it offers us.
Where is the Kingdom located? If we know where to look, we are on our way
to a better understanding of it. Let’s narrow down our search and talk about
where it is not, so we don’t waste time in our quest to find it. John 18:36 tells us
that it is “not of this world”. The Greek word for “world” used here is “Kosmos”
which means: the world, the universe, the whole circle of earthly goods, riches
endowments, advantages and pleasures. The Kingdom of Heaven is not
primarily found in things we can see, touch, feel, smell or hear. The Kingdom of
Heaven operates in a different, but very real paradigm of the Spirit. John 17
says that we are in this world or Kingdom that we see, feel, hear, etc, but that we
are not of it. This means it is not to be our ultimate source of life and fulfillment.
Romans 12:2 confirms this by telling us not to “conform” to this world.
Alright, so if we don’t access it with our five senses, where is it and how do we
find it? Luke 17:20-21 gives us directions. This verse says, “The Kingdom of
Heaven does not come with observation….for indeed, the Kingdom is within
you.” What? You mean we have been looking all this time for something that is
within us? It reminds me of the movie, The Wizard of Oz. You remember
Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow on their tumultuous journey to
find the Wizard, to get home, to find a heart, a brain and courage. They follow
this yellow brick road of life enduring attack after attack to stop them only to find
out that the Wizard (that entity they chose to meet their needs) could not in fact
supply their needs. But at the end of the story the Wizard puts a medal around
each of their necks and reveals to them that what they were looking for was
within them all along.
We are much like Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion. We spend
our life looking for God and His Kingdom, are deceived in our journey and
ultimately find it within us. Colossians 1:26 and 27 tells us that “the mystery
revealed before the ages is Christ in us, the hope of Glory.” Christ the King lives
in us and where the King rules, His Kingdom surrounds Him. So, Christ’s
Kingdom lives in me, because He lives in me. So where I go, where you go, the
Kingdom goes, because it is within us. It reminds me of the old Verizon network
commercials where the person talks on their cell phone and they look behind
them and see a large contingent of Verizon employees with them. Hebrews 12:1
says that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. A Kingdom
surrounds us.
The Kingdom comes from within us, but is also more vast than we can
comprehend. The word “Heaven” contained in the phrase Kingdom of Heaven is
“ouranos” which translates as the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things
visible in it, or what we know as the universe. You can’t get much more vast than
that. So on a micro level, the Kingdom exists within me and on the macro level,
it exists wherever in this vast universe the King has created and rules.
A mistake I see made often is when some people section off small areas within
the Kingdom and limit it to those who worship where they do, how they do and
when they do. The true Kingdom is far too vast to be contained in man made
boundaries. There are people who live hundreds and some thousands of miles
from me that are related to me in the Kingdom. We can be apart for months, but
when we come together within the Kingdom (under the will and timing of God), it
is as if we have never been apart. I have also noticed this when meeting
someone for the first time. There is an immediate bond made because we hold
to the tenets of the same Kingdom, and thus are related. We are citizens of the
same spiritual community regardless of where we go to church or how we
worship.
How do we access this Kingdom? Luke 12: 32 says, “Fear not, little flock, for
it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” That is a great
place to start. We are given the Kingdom by the Father. We do not earn our way
in. I have watched many people expend great amounts of energy over a
significant period of time trying to earn something that is given and can only be
received. I have certainly been guilty of this. The driving force behind this
demand to earn rather than receive is pride. God will not allow us to earn this
Kingdom. Matthew 18:3 tells us that unless we are converted (to turn one’s self
from their current course) and come as little children, we will by no means enter
the Kingdom of Heaven. A little child comes expectantly, humbly and vulnerably.
When we draw near to the King like this, He and His Kingdom will draw near to
us (James 4:8). When we allow ourselves to come under the authority and
lordship of the King, we dwell in His kingdom.
John the Baptist gave us the first clue on how to enter the Kingdom and we went
over it briefly before. His first word was “repent“, which we have already
translated from “metanoeo” which means “to mean change“. To enter the
Kingdom we must change what we prioritize and value. The word “converted” in
Matthew 12:3 means “to turn or to change courses“. We enter the Kingdom of
Heaven by being willing to change courses and take only the path that leads to
the Kingdom. Matthew 7:14 tells us that “narrow is the gate (path) and difficult is
the way which leads to life“, and there are few who find it. There are few who
take this path because many refuse to change (repent), let go of control and
humble themselves.
Matthew 5:3 gives us further instruction on how, or who enters the Kingdom of
Heaven. This verse tells us that the Kingdom belongs to those who are “poor in
spirit” or who are familiar with brokenness and humility. James 4:6 tells us that
“God resists the proud, but gives His grace to the humble”. We enter the
Kingdom through humility and brokenness. This can be confusing because we
succeed in the kingdom of this world by very different means of performance,
strength, wealth and self esteem.
The next instruction on how to enter the kingdom is similar. Acts 14:22 tells us
that “we must, through many tribulations, (oppression, affliction, distress) enter
the Kingdom of Heaven.” This may explain why many are not familiar with
Kingdom living and/or do not continue to dwell in it. Anything of great value has
a correspondingly great cost. The Kingdom of Heaven is of the greatest value,
so, inherently, it has the greatest of cost. If we insist on conforming to and being
accepted by this world we live in, we will not inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven.
I have found this to be true and Matthew 11:12 tells us why. This verse says that
from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers
violence and the violent take it by force. The Kingdom is extremely valuable and
when we dwell there, we honor God and who He created us to be. There are
competing paradigms that will resolutely resists us from living in the Kingdom of
Heaven. Romans 14:17 tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The attack by the thief will come to kill, steal
and destroy (John 10:10) this righteousness, this peace and this joy that is ours
in the Kingdom.
Before I was committed to the Kingdom of Heaven , I was little threat to the
kingdom of darkness and suffered little spiritual resistance. Once I began to
allow God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done within me, the resistance
intensified. At this point, I had to become more forceful in my pursuit of the
Kingdom. According to 2 Corinthians 10:4, this “strong force” that we use to take
the Kingdom is a spiritual, not a physical force. That verse says, “For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal ( relating to physical or sensual appetite) ,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”
These spiritual weapons of our warfare have become for me the big three
mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13: 13, which are faith, hope and love, with the
greatest of these being love. I am convinced that there is no greater power in the
universe than love. 1 John 4:18 tells us that “perfect love casts out fear”. Since
fear is our adversary’s biggest weapon, then with love, we are able to overcome
spiritual violence and “take the Kingdom by force.”
How do we recognize the Kingdom? I love the way Jesus makes the complex
simple by using basic illustrations that relate to daily life. These illustrations
prove that the profound lives within the simple. One of the best examples of this
are Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:17-20 where He talks about recognizing a tree by
its fruit. A fig tree produces figs, a grape vine - grapes and a thorn bush -
thorns. You don’t have to do chemical analysis of roots and trunks and branches
to determine what type of tree you have. All that is needed is to examine the
fruit. The same instruction holds true in identifying which Kingdom we are in at
any particular time.
Galatians 5:22 identifies the fruit of the spirit which are produced by the
Kingdom. When you see and taste these fruits you are experiencing Kingdom
living and are dwelling in the Kingdom. The fruit that identify this Kingdom are
listed as love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness and self control. I
could have saved myself a whole lot of frustration over the years by focusing on
these fruit rather than listening to words. Our world greatly rewards marketing
and it has permeated into all facets of our society. I have been involved in
churches, businesses and ministries that promote themselves as producing fruit
far different than that which they actually produce. I am amazed at the people
that will allow themselves to be deceived so they can maintain favor within the
culture they live, work, socialize or worship.
I used to hold the leadership of these organizations primary responsible for the
deceptions they promote. One day, however, God gently, but directly corrected
me by speaking 2 Chronicles 7:14 to my heart. This verse says, “If My people,
which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My
face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and heal their
land, or grant their prayer.” This interaction with God clearly taught me that we
are ultimately responsible for the fruit that we eat. Blaming our sore stomach or
unpleasant circumstances on the tree does not impress nor sway God. He will
hold the tree (organization) responsible for its fruit, but He will hold us
responsible for what we eat. Adam would have had little justification to blame the
tree for the fruit which he ate.
If you are in a culture or kingdom that is promoting itself as Christian or
honoring God, but produces the fruit of envy, strife, anger or some of the things
listed in Galatians 5:19-21, you are not experiencing Kingdom living. This is true
no matter what the mission statement, newsletter, plaque on the wall or sign out
front may say. Do not allow yourself to be deceived and drawn into another
kingdom. A tree is known by its fruit.
When does this Kingdom exist? Because the Kingdom of Heaven is spiritual it
is eternal, meaning it has no beginning or end. Ironically, things not measured
by time, have their significance in the now. Let’s go back to the fruit of the Spirit,
that are the indicator of the presence of the Spirit. When does love manifest
itself? Only in the present. I can not love you yesterday or tomorrow, I can only
activate love now. The same is true for joy, peace, patience, gentleness,
kindness and self control. The Kingdom is continually being either exhibited or
denied. It doesn’t matter how many times my heart beat a year ago, it is
important that it gets in a required number of beats this minute. Now is when we
receive or deny the Kingdom. Yesterday and tomorrow can become distractions
to Kingdom living.
Hopefully all that we have talked about is leading us to a logical understanding
of why the Kingdom is so important. Let me finish this writing by listing a few of
the things I have found as attributes of the Kingdom.
Why should we pursue the Kingdom? Living in the Kingdom gives us great
status, prominence and importance. In Matthew 11:11, Jesus says, “ I say to you
among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the
Baptist: but he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” Now
hang on just a second! When I first read this, I thought there must be some
mistake. The more I learn about John the Baptist, the more this continues to
amaze me. He who is least in the Kingdom is greater than John the Baptist. Are
you kidding me? How can this be?
John was living at the very end of a distinct period of history. A period where the
Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, but had not yet come. Because he preceded
the finished work of the cross, he had not been translated into the Kingdom of
God’s Son (Colossians 1:13). Another significant benefit we have simply
because we were born under the new covenant is that the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death (or a performance based
relationship with God) (Romans 8:2). John met Jesus only once face to face.
When we embrace the Kingdom we have constant access to the Godhead in the
person of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7), Jesus, who dwells in us (Colossians 1:27)
and open admittance to the throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16). Thanks to John’s
obedience and dedication to his call to pave the way for the Kingdom, we have
benefits he never had and are considered “greater than John the Baptist.” This
is very humbling. What an amazing legacy you and I have been given. We have
great honor available to us as we accept the fullness of the King and dwell in His
Kingdom.
Matthew 6:33 shows another incredible attribute of seeking the Kingdom. This
single verse has had a very deep impact on my life for the last 20 years and
prominently hangs in my foyer to this day. This verse tells us that if we “seek first
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things shall be added unto
you“. Over the years God has broken this verse down for me and proven that if I
do my part by prioritizing my focus on Him and His Kingdom, He will be faithful in
supplying all of my important human needs. This has been an amazing stress
reliever and confidence builder. I no longer have to be concerned about housing,
clothing, groceries or even paying for my children’s college. All I have to do is
keep my focus on His Kingdom and all these things are added to me.
With little to no savings, declining incomes and no outside help, Nancy and I
were able to put all three of our children through good universities with no
financial stress. From an accounting standpoint, it made no sense, but each
month the funds were there and we never decreased our standard of living.
Years before that, we had a period with no income and God miraculously used
others (without us ever requesting it or even making it known) to provide food
just as the refrigerator was empty and funds just as other basic needs looked to
be ending. Things have improved greatly over the years and we have great
confidence in God’s unwavering commitment to graciously provide in all
circumstances. Seek the Kingdom foremost and you can leave your worries with
Him.
So, there you have it, the basics of the Kingdom. What it is, how we identify it
and enter into it and why it should be of such interest to us. The Kingdom is
God’s preferred residence for us, but until we truly appreciate it and learn how to
access it, we will deny its attributes of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit as defined in Romans 14:17 and live in the kingdom of this world which
operates through performance, stress and striving. My prayer is that you and I
continue to choose the Kingdom of God and dwell under the leadership of King
Jesus.