THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (part 2)

In part 1 of this series we established from scripture several truths about the kingdom of Heaven. They are:

1.     The kingdom of heaven exists today, as it always has, in the heavenly region where God dwells, but will someday be established as a physical kingdom on this earth.  "Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth,  as it is in heaven."  (Matthew 6:10).  The Jews missed the prophecies concerning Christ's passion, death, and resurrection and thought, instead, that the Messiah would set up an earthly kingdom at His first appearing. 

2.     The gospel of the kingdom was not introduced (though it was prophesied) until the New Testament when John the Baptist announced that, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  (Matthew 3:2).  Afterwards, Jesus preached the same message to Israel (Matthew 4:17), making it clear that God was beginning a new dispensation, and a new covenant, with mankind.  “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”  (Luke 16:16).  This was a spiritual kingdom established in the hearts of believers.  "...the kingdom of God is within you.”  (Luke 17:21).

3.     This kingdom was to be an invisible kingdom.  The world would not acknowledge or recognize it, but it would become very real to those whose spiritual eyes were opened by means of the new birth.  “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  (John 3:3a)  (Luke 17:20a,21).  Everyone who is born again has been translated into God's kingdom and is, therefore, a citizen.  (Colossians 1:13). 

4.     In fulfillment of Jesus' words, the kingdom of God came with power on Pentecost as the believers were assembled together in Jerusalem.  The Spirit was poured out upon them and they were all baptized in the Holy Spirit.   "And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."  (Mark 9:1).  Many of those who heard these words of Jesus were, in fact, still alive and present when the Spirit was poured out upon them.  (Acts 1:5; 2:1-4). 

5.     We, who are Christians, now owe our allegiance to this new kingdom.  We are now subject to its' laws and principles, and are servants to the one, true King.  Our primary loyalties are with our new kingdom, not with the kingdoms of this world.  We are ruled by the law of love, and our lives belong to the Master.  "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."  (Romans 14:17). 

6.     Standing in opposition to the kingdom of Heaven, is the kingdom of this world.  It is ruled by Satan, who in the beginning was given dominion over the earth when he was Lucifer, the angel of light; but he has been condemned by God, and is merely awaiting his final sentence.  When we touch the world, we touch the carnal, the fleshly, and the temporal.  We must tread lightly there, or else we may find ourselves ignorantly serving God's enemy as Peter did when he rebuked the Lord concerning His passion.  (Matthew 16:21-23).  "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."  (Matthew 6:24). 

The story of Noah reveals an important principle about God's kingdom and its relationship to the world.  We cannot overstate the corrupting effect that the world has on the children of God, nor on the insidious ways in which it presents itself to them.  The world often comes to us dressed in its finest clothes, and with its best of intentions; and we are often duped by such a masquerade.  We should not be surprised, "... for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."  (2 Corinthians 11:14).  Paul warns us not to be conformed to this world but, instead, to be transformed in Christ.  (Romans 12:2).

The whole world had become so corrupted in Noah's day that God determined to destroy everything. Man's condition was so vile that God was grieved, and He regretted making man.  "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth."  (Genesis 6:5-7a).  The Hebrew word "yetser" that is translated "imagination" in this verse, also refers to the purposes, desires, and even the very framework of man's thoughts.  In other words, it wasn't just what man did that was evil: his very thoughts, purposes, and desires were corrupt at a foundational level.    "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."  (Psalms 51:5).  Because Adam sinned, all of mankind became sinners.  Even before they committed their first sin, they were already sinners because of their heritage.  As man increased on the earth, so did his sins.  Man's sensitivity to God died when he chose to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil rather than to eat of the Tree of Llife.  God had warned Adam and Eve that this would happen, but they broke the only commandment that God had given them at that time, and their descendants have suffered the consequences of it ever since. 

When the flood waters eventually came, they covered everything, right up to the tops of the mountains.  Not only was man destroyed, but all the works of man were destroyed as well.  His cities, his palaces, his monuments, his temples, and all his good works, along with his bad, were washed away by the waters.  Nothing was salvageable, nothing was redeemable, it was all under the curse, and therefore, had to be destroyed lest it corrupt the new world that Noah and his family would step into after the flood. 

To many, this may seem harsh and not the act of a loving God, but then we read the next verse.  "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."   (Genesis 6:8)  Grace is always God's answer to judgment.  It not only forgives, but it also empowers.  Scripture tells us that Noah was not just a boat builder: he was also a preacher of righteousness.  (2 Peter 2:5).  If Noah was preaching righteousness to the people of his time, then it naturally follows that the intent of his preaching was that they repent, and had they repented, then God would have made room on the ark for them.  There was a way out of this judgment, but sadly, no one accepted God's mercy except Noah and his family. 

The principle that God wants us to be keenly aware of in this story is this: that God has placed the whole world under judgment.  Things are no better today than they were in Noah's day; in fact, they are probably far worse.  All those who are outside of Christ are thundering toward God's final judgment, and even many who name the name of Christ may find themselves so entangled by the world that they find it impossible to extricate themselves, and wind up like Lot's wife who still longed after the world even when she knew it was being destroyed. 

God has provided us with a place of safety from the impending storm.  Through the cross of Christ we find deliverance from the world and all its snares.  "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."  (Galatians 6:14).  Just as Noah and his family passed from death to life onboard the ark, so too must we pass through death to life by means of our baptism into Christ's death and resurrection.  After the floods subsided, Noah and his family stepped into a brand new world that was no longer tainted by sin and evil.  In the same way, we have stepped into a whole new world, and a whole new life in Christ Jesus.  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

We must all decide, under the Holy Spirit's tutelage, where we may touch the world, and where we may not.  We are in this world, but must learn to be not of it.  We have help with this task.  The Holy Spirit has been given to us to lead us into all truth, and to convict us of those things that will cause us to suffer spiritual loss.  " And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment... I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John 16:8,12-14).  This is what Paul describes in Romans 8 as "walking in the Spirit."  Every Christian must learn to walk in the spirit, and refrain from walking in the flesh.  We walk in the flesh when we allow ourselves to live according to our old carnal nature, rather than according to the new nature that we have in Christ.  None of us can do this in our own strength or will power.  We must believe in the transforming power of the Spirit to change us from the inside out.  Faith is the victory that overcomes the world!  (1John 5:4).