Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus and The Kingdom of Heaven

"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Jesus spoke these words, in teachings called the Beatitudes, as He taught His disciples how to pray to Father God (Matthew Chapters 5,6,7). God's Kingdom was often spoken of by Jesus, more than 70 times in the Bible. He called it both "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Kingdom of God". The first mention was by John the Baptist when he was proclaiming that Jesus was coming:  "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news" (Mark 1:15). I've always understood the words "at hand" to mean that if you can put your hand on it then it is actually here. Truly good news!

It was Jesus Himself announcing the Kingdom that caught my attention; Him being here on Earth is what brought the Kingdom to us. Since I learned about being "born again" (John 3:3), this has always been associated, to me, with the Kingdom of Heaven, (John 3:3), and with the knowledge that that was the moment when Jesus came into my heart, by His Holy Spirit, and began to dwell with me. We are told that we are "new creations" (2 Corinthians 5:17), "citizens of Heaven" (Philippians 3:20), and no longer "of this world" (Colossians 2:20, Romans 12:2).

The intimacy of this relationship is exciting. No other faith or religion has a god who is in intimate relationship with his (or her) people. Most gods are very distant and untouchable (and often angry), and many demand much sacrifice and absolute obedience to their defined religious practice. The rock and roll group Abba sang: "The gods may throw a dice, their hearts as cold as ice" (Abba: Winner Takes It All); I feel that many regard all gods like this.

But Christianity is not like that at all; it is intimately relational and voluntary, we are brought into God's family as sons and daughters; God becomes our Abba Daddy, and Jesus becomes our brother! We all behave differently with our natural family than we do with even the best of our friends; God wants us to be like that with Him. Most Christian practice is required by the different denominations or local church congregations, and these rules are not supported by the New Testament. Religion offended Jesus (Matthew 23, Luke 3:7). Christians have been set free so they can be free (Galatians 5:1)!

In Jesus

The many "in Jesus" and "in Christ" scriptures have long been a huge help to me; they show that we're included in Jesus' Kingdom and His life. I try to work hard at being a good person but know that I only partly succeed. It was once prophesied over me that I "march to the beat of a different drum", I don't fit in very well and won't accept what I feel is not right. And I've always been upset by injustice (and there is always a lot of that about). But knowing that Jesus lives in me helps enormously; He is such a lovely person and a wonderful brother!

Here are some of the "in Jesus" scriptures I've come to love:

"In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me" (John 15:4).

"My prayer is .. that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me" (John 17:20-21).

"I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me" (John 17:23).

" .. you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)

" .. For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people" (2 Corinthians 6:16).

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession " (Ephesians 1:13-14).

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.  For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:6,10).

"And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).

"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

As Jesus taught about the Kingdom of Heaven He often spoke in parables. He told stories beginning “the kingdom of heaven is like .. ". Invariably the stories revealed fairness, truth, freshness, justice and consistency. There are not fads there or trends which change over the years. Heaven is ruled by the same Triune God who created our amazing bodies and families and ecosystem and universe. Many times Jesus tells His hearers that the Kingdom of Heaven is near; also that "the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3) and "those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake" (Matthew 5:10), and those who are "born again" (John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23) already belong there, it's our spiritual home!

There have been times when Jesus in me, or in Trish, has been just so apparent. Things will happen and words will be spoken which, in the natural world, would not happen or not be said. People who were woodenly against God's intervention in their lives will suddenly relax and see a whole new world-view; this does not happen by the force of our personality or by the wisdom of our words, we know that it is supernatural, spiritual. John 7:38 says: "out of [our] belly shall flow rivers of living water", the living water comes from the life of Jesus within us. We are operating beyond the physical or the "spirit of this world" (1 John 5:4) and in line with our new citizenship with Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven (Ephesians 2:19, Philippians 3:20).

One time, when I was on a mission trip to India, our team visited a remote village. We had been warned to be very careful as many of the men of this village were devout Hindus and may respond to our presence with violence (in India there have been many attacks against Christians in recent years, even Western visitors). Well, we had to walk past a number of these men several times, they were in an open air temple right by the road. 

They knew who we were. I could see them looking at me as I passed and saw respect in their faces. In their culture they were highly regarded as men of god. I saw that they were looking at me, also a man of God, though not of one of the many Hindu gods, but of the God Jesus, who is often seen in India as a God of love and of healing. Christ in me could be seen by these spiritually aware men. Instead of a kingdom clash there was an acceptance of Jesus, King of Kings, and His Kingdom, and of me, Jesus' ambassador (Ephesians 6:19-20). I felt perfectly safe there; we saw miracles of healing.

Our Destiny

It is really lovely to know that our destiny includes eternity in Heaven. If you are a born again Christian and are asked: "if you die tonight while you sleep, will you go to heaven?" you can confidently answer "yes"! We live in a certain hope because of Jesus' life and work.

Today you may have many troubles. I am horrified when I think of the Christians in those places where ISIS is causing such devastation .. (Who gives them all their guns and bullets? Can't their supplies at least be cut, captured or stopped?) These Christians are people of the promise (Ephesians 2:12-16), just like us, yet their lives right now are perilous and painful. We may say "God is good" when we are comfortable and safe, they can only say it by faith. It is so inspiring to hear or read testimonies of those who have been in dire circumstances; Jesus is very present to those whose faith is in Him when trouble is near.

In our family there are a number of problems which Trish and I do not know how to solve. We only know to pray for revelation or a way forward and to persevere in Jesus by His Spirit (1 Timothy 4:16, Hebrews 10:36). We know that we are Kingdom citizens.

I've heard so many testimonies of people in very difficult circumstances who have said that knowing that they belonged to Jesus, and that somehow he was "at bat" for them and "watching their back", made all the difference between total despair and being able to press on despite everything. Trish and I have talked about this and we feel the same way. Every day there are moments or events which bring God's peace to our hearts, which fill us with the certainty that Jesus is still ruling and reigning in the world.

Besides, we've read the last page of the Bible, and know the ultimate outcome, it is glorious and we're already part of it!

"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come'! And let the one who hears say, 'Come'! Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17).

"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen" (Revelation 22:21).

Yes. Amen! Praise you Jesus!

Permalink

https://www.psalmsofjohn.com/2015/10/kingdom-of-heaven.html

Amen.

Kingdom of Heaven: History

A Different Kind Of Post

This is different from my other PsalmsOfJohn.com posts in that it’s more an opinion piece about the world and its history in my 73 year lifetime, than it is about Jesus and how blessed all Christians are to be included with Him in His Kingdom.

I was inspired to write about The Kingdom of Heaven, then felt very strongly to write this too as a companion piece. I am a volunteer for two conservative politicians, members of our State and Federal Parliaments; my positions on many matters are carefully thought out and represent me as a septuagenarian husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather and Christian. But.

Trish, my lovely wife of 35 years, says that when I start talking current affairs and world history I just rattle on with all my pet stuff. So, if you don't like history, or if you disagree with my approach or my conclusions, or if you find it all boring, then please 'click' onto something else .. you are very welcome to not read it. I don't really want to seem controversial or boring ..

I find it painful to watch the news (because I feel that not much of it has value as news, and that much of what is presented is terribly biased). I see the world we live in as being in a mess with most in authority focusing on side issues:

§    The wealth of the world is being concentrated into a tiny minority (between 1% and 8% of the world's people (depending how you count it), and this is quickly growing worse. Democracy is supposed to work in the opposite direction!

§    Middle class people almost everywhere are losing their economic stability and position; their ability to buy houses, educate their children, have adequate health care and retire comfortably. Most of the unions which used to protect the workers have had their teeth pulled and are largely ineffective, those remaining strong tend to lean far to the left and cause damage to their societies.

§    Criminals, particularly in the drugs, arms-dealing and slavery industries, seem to have almost total immunity from detection and prosecution.

§    The finance industry is still being run by the same group of known criminals who caused the Financial Crisis of 2008, when millions and millions of people lost 25% or more of their pension funds and worse. These executives and administrators are supported from the highest levels of their governments. They make millions, even billions, while ordinary people are no longer able to reliably save for retirement. We are warned that similar crashes are now likely to occur from time-to-time.

§    Terrorism is increasing throughout the world despite big efforts by western nations, where previously-impossible-to-imagine reductions in civil liberties are being implemented.

§    There are now millions and millions of refugees (many of whom are really economic migrants), mostly from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Many are fleeing through countries where they could find refuge, to totally different cultures in Europe and the West, that most plan never to assimilate into, and where they know there is generosity of heart and lots of money. Until recently, people immigrating to a new country willingly became culturally aligned with it (without losing their unique ethnic flavour). Often now the immigrants want to re-make the society they've moved to, to be like where they're from.

§    We see potential destruction of the traditional family with a father, mother and children; these social changes are coming to more and more countries and are always accompanied with losses of freedom-of-speech and freedom-of-religion (despite promises to the contrary).

§    World-wide, there are continuing increases In Anti-Semitism and Anti-Christian rhetoric, persecution and violence, these events are rarely reported, and the perpetrators almost never prosecuted.

§    Widespread and pervasive political correctness seems to dominate the media (and they have the microphones, cameras and printing presses!) where lies are spoken as truth and those who disagree are ridiculed, excluded from debate and, increasingly, are being criminalised. Now is a time where people are sent to jail for having a belief, or speaking objective truth; it's like Soviet Russia and East Germany in the 1950s and 60s! And it's here in our lovely Western, erstwhile Christian countries. This is utterly anti-God-of-the-Bible!

Note:

As I was working on this piece our Prime Minister was deposed and replaced by one of his senior ministers. It was a knife-in-the-back takeover, which even some journalists regard as disgraceful. This happened in a conservative Australian Government! I feel completely gutted and am still unsure about how I should respond.

You can see why Trish gets tired of my talking about this. It's all so depressing. She's been hearing me for years as my understanding becomes clearer. But praise Jesus who has already come to save us, and to bring healing, joy and fullness to our lives! He’s the author and finisher of our faith, the source of our certain hope in the future.

Me As A Child

When I was at school we did lots of British history, and Commonwealth history too because we are in the British Commonwealth. I quickly learned that kings and lords, dukes, barons, earls and squires had almost limitless authority and were tough, hard men; many had gained their lands and position by violence or craftiness, or their father or grandfather did. They spent most of the year in their fiefdom looking after their properties and fortunes with no-one looking over their shoulder. They could tell the parents of a young person that their child must come and work here or there; or that they must marry such and such a person, regardless of the young person's feelings. At will they could order young men into their military forces. Tough, hard men; willful, greedy.

My early church memories were coloured by these history lessons; all the scriptures which talk of "King" and "Lord" reminded me of English kings and lords .. tough, hard men. It took a while and a few miracles and deep expressions of love from Christian people before I could see that Jesus' Kingdom is radically different from all the others!

Heroes In Battle

Another thing. My Dad was a war hero in World War II. He and two of his brothers went off to fight. My Dad was a navigator on bombers, so he guided his pilot to the place to be bombed and he pulled the bomb release trigger (we have one of these amongst his treasures). After many bomb runs his airplane came down in France. The crew were all captured by the Germans and were being sent off to POW camp when he saw an opportunity and escaped, running flat out through the local French crowd. The French Underground helped him get back to England; it took many months, he had to learn the language fluently and fit in where-ever he was. Dad observed some German installations which he ultimately reported to the Allied Command; this proved to be very valuable for the planning of the invasion of France and saved many, many lives. Dad was given an MBE medal by King George, a very high honour.

When I would compare this with Jesus' trial and execution, I could see that His Father God had made a big sacrifice; but my grandfather did too, he could have lost three sons! It took me years to see the big difference between Dad's and Grandpop's sacrifice and Jesus'.

Hope Crushed

When John Kennedy was President of the USA he brought fresh and massive hope to the world, especially among my (then) younger generation. His assassination was like a huge sand-bag falling on all our heads. What is now known as a cover-up over his death was strongly suspected then and we felt a devastating loss of confidence in the world leaders who were left, who let this happen, and who had previously presided over so many terrible world events. We believed that JFK was going to get the world moving forward in a more fair and honest way.

History today may look on those Kennedy years with a jaundiced eye, (we now know things which we did not know then, and today's morality is much different). Our perceived reality was that the two big world wars and the Great Depression were over and the countries most affected by the second conflict were recovering well, even booming. Science, which was learned during the wars, was being applied in industry with many new materials and products. Economic theories in vogue in Western governments (really, the opposite of today’s supply-side economics and globalisation), were aiding the expansion of those countries and their middle classes. Free or affordable education was available to virtually everybody, and there were heaps of jobs. Young people could persue the career of their choice, (where now, many kids seem to study what is most available to them, then take whatever job they can get); I see vastly less job satisfaction among workers today, and greater burnout and unemployment.

Character

Just a couple of generations ago, character in a person was regarded as one of his or her greatest assets. When you applied for a job or a University place you would get a character reference from the most important person you knew; this made a real difference in your application.

When leaders proved to be of weak or of poor character, (mostly by taking what was not theirs, or lying, or cheating, or taking bribes, or by sexual misbehaviour), they would resign from their position, embarrassed; they were recognised as having failed because they showed poor character, that they could not live to a high standard.  

Now people say, "O that's my private life, it has nothing to do with my work". Not true. We are now largely governed and managed by people who believe that greed is good, and power at any cost is good; an iPad in one hand and a dagger in the other! Morality in business and government has fallen low, (and in sport too).

Times Of Change

My parents' generation did things differently than their parents, and were thought to be quite radical. But my wartime-babies-generation picked up and flew with so many new ideas; these were largely fueled by the concepts of teen-agers being a separate socio-economic group, and the arrival of the birth control pill. The (fast-growing) advertising industry discovered that teens and young adults had their own tastes and spending power; this opened up huge new markets which were dictated by ever-changing fashions and trends. The introduction of the birth control pill (which was probably intended for married women), meant that suddenly there was unprecedented sexual freedom for singles. All this was world changing for us, in every way.

Earthly Kingdoms

Our earthly kingdoms looked pretty good in those times of rising affluence, education and social freedom. The Church meantime was bogged down with middle- and upper-class (often hypocritical) expressions of morality and behaviour from two and three generations previously; its leadership presented a lifeless picture of church life, and they clearly disapproved of young people's freedom with money, with their clothes and fashions, with their music and dance, and especially with their sexuality!

We strongly felt this disapproval! My perception as a young person then, and now as an older Christian family man, is that the Church largely dropped the ball since the early 20th Century. Christians are to be salt and light in their communities; I did not learn this until the 1980s (Matthew 5:13-14).

From a solid and respected position of spiritual, social and moral leadership, (such as we see in the New Testament), the Church became an afterthought to national and world affairs; most Western people forgot that human beings are spiritual first, then body and soul.

Many scientists are also in such a place of denial about this, they do not recognise the spiritual world at all. For decades many, many denominations and independent Churches seem to have been inward-looking, just going their own way; this despite Jesus’ strong admonition for us to be in unity (John 17:23) and to look outwards.

And too, the failure of churches to deal with pedophilia and other sexual sins among their ministers and leaders is an ongoing international disgrace, today many people hold the church in disrepute, or regard us as totally irrelevant.

Today

Now the world seems to all want to follow in the lifestyles of entertainers, sports stars and celebrities; the media encourage this at every turn. Much of the church has followed the world and has become corporate, highly focused on money and success, with glossy presentations indistinguishable from media events and entirely led from the front, with a growing awe of celebrity.

At the same time governments now seem to limit their interest to finances, entertainment, sports, celebrities, and wars; but not much to us, the ordinary people, us folk.

Good News

Not withstanding all this bad news, Jesus’ church is growing, in some countries it’s growing very fast (particularly in Iran, China and some South American and African countries, despite heavy persecution). Here in Australia, I see many young Christians leading sincere and committed lives, quite out of step with their peers. Christian radio stations are booming, both in total audience and in number of broadcast points! Typical Sunday church attendance is much greater than all attendances at all the football codes on any weekend! Many ecumenical Christian groups and events are forging unity across cities and the world. There are many, many people seeking our God, Jesus, and finding him in His people, and following Him!

Hallelujah! Praise Jesus.

"[Jesus'] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with perseverance, and perseverance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:3-8).

Praise Jesus that He always brings hope. Amen

Permalink

https://www.psalmsofjohn.com/2015/10/kingdom-of-heaven-history.html

Amen.