Kingdom

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 1:1, 10-20, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 and Luke 12:32-40.

If the Bible came out today, any good publishing company would probably split it into 2 books, as they split the Bible-length Lord of the Rings into 3 books. And the marketing department would never name them the Old Testament and the New Testament. Those titles wouldn't move them off the shelves. They'd probably name them “God” and the sequel “Son of God.” Fair enough. But there is an alternate way to title them: “The Rise and Fall of the Kingdoms of Men” and the sequel “The Rise of the Kingdom of God.” Because if you look at the Old Testament it really is about how the tribes of Israel come together as one people, eventually become a kingdom under David, then split into 2 kingdoms after his son and successor Solomon dies and the decline and fall of, first, the kingdom of Israel and then the kingdom of Judah. Even when they return from exile and rebuild Jerusalem, the Jews never attain the splendor they once had. The Old Testament also records the rise and fall of surrounding empires like the Assyrians and the Babylonians as well as smaller kingdoms. When the New Testament begins the Jewish lands are occupied by the Roman Empire and the people are chaffing under its oppression. And then Jesus comes preaching the kingdom of God. Some rally to him expecting he will throw off the yoke of the Romans and once again establish a Jewish political kingdom. But it becomes apparent that that is not what Jesus has in mind.

Why not? Wasn't the kingdom of Israel the fulfillment of God's plan? Not exactly. Yes, it is prophesied in the Torah that the people will one day have a king (Genesis 49:10; Numbers 24:17) but even then it is seen as coming from the people and fraught with temptations (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) So the elders come to Samuel, the last of the charismatic leaders or judges whom God called to lead the people when needed, and ask for a king like other nations. Samuel is angry but God tells him, “Do everything the people request of you. For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king. Just as they have done from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and served other gods. This is what they are doing to you. So now do as they say. But seriously warn them and make them aware of the policies of the king who will rule over them.” (1 Samuel 8:7-9)

So Samuel tells them, “Here are the policies of the king who will rule over you: He will conscript your sons and put them in his chariot forces and in his cavalry; they will run in front of his chariot. He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment. He will take your daughters to be ointment makers, cooks, and bakers. He will take your best fields and vineyards and give them to his own servants. He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators and his servants. He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and donkeys, and assign them for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants. In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won't answer you in that day.” (1 Samuel 8:11-18)

Now some of this is just the normal and necessary infrastructure of any nation: a standing army, administrators and the taxes that support it all. But some, like taking the best of everything regardless of whose it is, are the expected abuses that come with giving someone that much power. Back in Deuteronomy God says of the future king, “...he must not accumulate horses for himself...Furthermore he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold.” (Deuteronomy 17:16-17) He is to read God's law daily and keep it with him. “Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or to the left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:20) And sure enough Solomon, despite his wisdom, succumbs to all these things and after his death, 10 of the tribes secede and form their own kingdom in the north.

The problem is that any external government, while it might keep order, cannot change human nature. Yet people, including many Christians, keep thinking that a strong leader and certain laws will bring about the kingdom of God on earth. And the Old Testament shows over and over that it doesn't. A physical, political kingdom isn't God's Plan A.

Jesus knows that. He knows the scriptures. The book Jesus quotes most often, after Psalms and Deuteronomy, is Isaiah. And in our reading from it we see why any earthly kingdom fails when it tries to be the kingdom of God. Isaiah's ministry as a prophet spanned the reign of 4 kings, 3 of which we are told “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” (2 Kings 15:34; 18:3; cf. 16:2) So you would think that would make the kingdom of Judah, ruled by descendants of David, a righteous nation. But, as we see in today's passage, despite their outward observances of religion, God says, “...even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” As we said last week, the people were violating both of the 2 great commandments: they weren't really loving God and they certainly weren't loving their neighbors as themselves. It didn't matter who was ruling over their kingdom, good or bad. The people's hearts were ruled by their own plans and passions.

Jesus refers to the kingdom of God more than 100 times. At least 16 of the 40 parables recorded in the gospels are explicitly about the kingdom. A key difference between kingdoms ruled by men and the kingdom of God preached by Jesus is that the latter wasn't physical. It can't be seen with the eyes. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21) Jesus is echoing Ezekiel, where God says that what we really need is a new heart and a new spirit to move us to follow God. (Ezekiel 36:26-27) And Jeremiah, where God says his new covenant will be written in the hearts of his people. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) God must reign in our hearts.

Paul, in dealing with a dispute about external matters, specifically what Christians could or could not eat, said, “...the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17) He had come out of strict Pharisaic Judaism, which emphasized specific practices that served mainly as signs of their distinctive religion. But Paul knew, as Isaiah did, that people could do those rituals and observe those rules without any real devotion to God or love for other people. What is essential is what is going on internally. In Ephesians Paul wrote, “I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 4:16-19) The kingdom of God is not a political entity or a geographical region. The kingdom of God is the Spirit of the God who is love, revealed in Jesus Christ, living in and ruling in our hearts.

It starts in our hearts but it is not to stay there. If God is ruling our lives, it will affect how we think, speak and act. The internet comic strip Coffee with Jesus features people chatting with Christ over a cup of coffee. In one a man says, “Should I add a little fish symbol to the corner of my landscaping company logo, Jesus?” Jesus says, “To what end, Carl?” Carl says, “Obviously so people will know they're dealing with a Christian company.” Jesus replies, “Let's leave it off and see if they can figure that out by your workmanship, work ethic and honesty instead.” Precisely. We have enough people who say they are Christians while acting like they are not. It's a better witness to Jesus to act out of his love towards others and let them ask why you behave that way. As it says in 1 Peter, “But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)

In the Lord's Prayer we ask that God's kingdom comes and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's an example of the parallelism we see in Hebrew poetry. Those two sentences mean the same thing. Where God rules his will is done. And since we are citizens of his kingdom and we are on earth, we are the ones doing his will here.

I think the biggest problem that some have with the kingdom of God is that they think it is supposed to be like an earthly kingdom or nation. But it isn't. For instance, it doesn't have borders, nor border guards. Because Jesus isn't interested in keeping people out but inviting them in.

It doesn't have an army either. Jesus explicitly said that those who live by the sword will die by the sword. (Matthew 26:52) And I'm sure he meant to prohibit any other way of inflicting harm, since he told us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek, which he demonstrated when he was arrested. (Matthew 5:39, 44) Even when Paul uses the metaphor of the armor of God, the only weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) We are to use God's words, not man's weapons. And in all of the passages about the end of the world, Christians are never depicted as or called to be warriors but witnesses, and if need be, martyrs. (Matthew 24:9-14; Mark 13:9-12; Luke 21:12-15; Revelation 20:4)

Nor does the kingdom of God have the apparatus of an earthly nation, like a senate or parliament or departments of state or justice or anything like that. Because the word for kingdom in Greek means more than just a place or government over which a king rules. It also means the extent of his royal power and reign. So a citizen of a kingdom is still under the authority of their kingdom wherever they go. If you are outside the US, that doesn't mean you are free to betray your country. You are still subject to its laws.

But since the kingdom of God is not a physical country on earth, we are, as the author of Hebrews says, “foreigners on earth.” When abroad you are mindful of the laws of whatever country you are in and do not seek to create disorder or chaos there. But your ultimate loyalty is to your own country. Like Paul said, we are ambassadors for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20) We represent, as it says in Hebrews, “a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” Heaven is where God's will is done and we are to bring a bit of heaven to wherever we are. We are to sow seeds, the word of God and his kingdom, wherever we go. (Matthew 13:18-23) We are to cast a wide net to bring in everyone. We are to invite them in, not decide who's saved or not. That's not our job. (Matthew 13:47-49)

Jesus said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For by the standard you judge you will be judged...” (Matthew 7:1-2) And we tend to be harsh in our judgments and the verdicts we pass on others. There are people today who are condemning Abraham Lincoln because he was not as enlightened about race as they are. We usually judge others on the results of what they do and ourselves on our intentions. “We didn't intend for that to happen,” we say, letting ourselves off the hook. But, weirdly, in the case of Lincoln people are judging him not for what he did, which is free the slaves, for which he was assassinated, but for what he thought. Lincoln wasn't perfect. Neither are we.

And it is precisely when people try to set up a physical kingdom of God and then pass judgment on others that they dishonor Jesus rather than honor him. How many officially “Christian” kingdoms and nations have persecuted others in the name of Jesus, including other Christians who believed a bit differently than those in power? We've seen the prosecution and execution of Jews and heretics under the Spanish Inquisition, of Catholics under Henry VIII and of Protestants under his daughter Mary and of Catholics once again under his other daughter Elizabeth, plus Christians on both sides killing each other in the Thirty Years War. All because some people thought they were the physical fulfillment of the kingdom of God, skipping the justice, mercy and grace part and going right to the part we think of as “playing God,” namely executing judgment on others.

Passing verdicts on others is not our job. Fortunately the one who will judge the world is Jesus. He is both God and man. He lived under a government that thought its rulers were gods and he was unjustly executed by it. Jesus is just which should give us pause lest we think we are morally blameless. As Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 5:20) But he is merciful, too, forgiving even one who was crucified beside him but who admitted he deserved his punishment. (Luke 23:39-43) That criminal is the only person we know for sure is with Jesus because Jesus says so.

Oddly enough, the way to enter the kingdom of God starts with confessing that you are not worthy of it, like the tax collector who could not even look up to heaven but prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13) We are to be humble, to be honest and to trust not in our own righteousness but in God's mercy and grace. And then let the Spirit of the God who is love into your heart and let Jesus reign supreme in your life. The way to make a country reflect God's kingdom is not to let Christians rule it but for Christians to let Jesus rule in their lives. Because the kingdom of God is within you.