I’ve been teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven lately. It is a central concept in the New Testament but I believe it is a very misunderstood concept among most Christians today. As you begin to browse the gospels, the Kingdom of Heaven (synonymous with the Kingdom of God) is introduced very early. It is the central theme in both the preaching of John the Baptist as well as the teaching of Jesus. “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Mt.3:1-2) and, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 4:17). All in all, the phrases kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God show up in the New Testament about a hundred times.
During the period that Jesus continued to roam the earth after his resurrection, we are told, “After his suffering he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Jesus began and ended his public ministry declaring that the Kingdom of God had come to earth.
Most believers think about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God as something the faithful will experience after the funeral. In their minds it is a very abstract concept, out there somewhere, with little relevance to our lives on planet earth. But both John the Baptist and Jesus declared that the kingdom of heaven was near. They did not mean that it was coming soon but rather that it was within reach of those who believe. They were teaching that by faith, a man might just reach out and take hold of the kingdom. Jesus clearly taught that there was a concrete expression of the kingdom of heaven on the earth available to those who had faith to grasp it. To doubting Jews, Jesus said, “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you (Lk.11:20).
The first thing we need to understand is that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of power. Paul put it this way. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Cor.4:20). We can understand from Paul’s statement that the kingdom includes an expression of heavenly power on the earth – supernatural power. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” A strict definition of the coming of God’s kingdom on the earth is the will of God being done on earth just as it is in heaven. Whenever Jesus or those who followed him preached the kingdom, they followed with a demonstration of the kingdom of God on earth – healings, deliverance, resurrections, miracles, etc.
There is no sickness in heaven because perfect health is God’s will for his children. Healing on earth is an extension of God’s will from heaven to earth. There is no demonic oppression in heaven for God’s will prohibits the presence of the enemy there. Deliverance is a concrete extension of God’s heavenly will on the earth. Love is the atmosphere of heaven. On the earth, the Spirit of God enables believers to love one another as Christ loves us and even to love our enemies. The kingdom of God on earth is the manifestation on earth of the same things that God desires for his children in heaven.
Jesus drew on the power and provision of heaven so that God’s will could be expressed on the dusty roads and hillsides of Palestine. That power is made available to those who believe and through those who believe. Paul made this power a point of prayer for the church at Ephesus. “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead…(Eph.1:18-20). That power is for us and works within us. Paul also said, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Col.1:29).
The good news of the kingdom of God is that the power, provision, protection, and atmosphere of heaven can be displayed on the earth through God’s people whose primary citizenship was transferred from earth to heaven when they were born again and added to the family of God. In Philippians 3:20, Paul declares that our citizenship is in heaven (now) and in another place declares that we are currently seated with Christ in heavenly realms (Eph.2:6). As believers, our reference point for life should not be the earthly, natural realm but the heavenly realm as members of the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus had mastery over disease, demons, storms, loaves and fishes, and even death because he lived as a citizen of heaven, representing God’s glory and will on the earth. Many of us live as if there is no power in our faith. We live as if we must simply survive until the return of Jesus. But we are commanded to go into all the world and make disciples of nations before the return of the Lord. If we have been taught to pray, “Thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth…” then God wants his will done here and now, not later. Jesus established the Kingdom on earth and then gave us the mission of expanding that kingdom as we push back the borders of the enemy.
That expansion of the kingdom takes power, supernatural power to overcome the strongholds of the enemy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that through his death, burial, and resurrection he has once again launched the kingdom of heaven on earth and has ransomed us so that we are participants in that kingdom. If we believe that, it changes everything.
If I believe in my heart that the kingdom has come in concrete ways and that I am a citizen of heaven, then I know that the resources of heaven are available to me so that I might complete his mission. When crisis comes, I no longer draw on my weakness, but God’s strength. When provision is needed, I no longer consider my lack but God’s abundance. When tragedy arises, I no longer look at my brokenness but God’s enabling grace. There is no lack in heaven, no weakness in heaven, and no one ever feels overwhelmed there. God’s presence makes the difference and his presence is in us. When I know that, and face every situation from my seat in heaven rather than from my inadequacy on the earth, life changes. It is the remedy to fear, depression, lack, insignificance and the rest of what ails us all. Welcome to the kingdom!
