Present in the soul of every true believer
Matthew 13:37-43
Jesus answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear."
Did you catch that?
"the good seed is the Son of Man [Jesus]"
Not the Bible, though Jesus is referred to as "The Word".
What's going on here is the good seed "stands" up for the people of God, he is their stand-in giving them standing in the kingdom of heaven. He is their shelter, like the mustard seed that "becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches." God the Father plants his son in the earth, and from these small beginnings comes shelter that is greater than all the sins of the world.
Strangely, Jesus uses another parable to explain the importance and full impact of his coming into the world. He describes his earthly purpose as levin [yeast]. Which is strange because levin in the Bible is typically used to describe sin and its influence upon the whole family for generations, or even for the entire community of all mankind.
He said...
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast"
But is he saying his purpose is sin?
No.
But he is the agent for change. And his changing properties are worked into everything until it transforms the whole.
Yeast is found everywhere in the world. It's in the soil, the rain splashes on the soil particles and the dust; and it lifts the yeast onto plant surfaces. It grows and spreads and floats on the wind. It goes everywhere.
It's like this with the kingdom of heaven. It's everywhere. It permeates everything.
Remember when Jesus said...
"Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Matthew 10:7
Okay...so it's here, very near, all around and infused into everything?
Why can't I see it, or feel it, or be there now in it and of it?
I'm not the only one who asked this.
Luke 17:20-21
Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?”
Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is within you [among you].”
Hmmm.
John Wesley commented:
“It is present in the soul of every true believer.”
Hmmm.
I feel like this understanding is highly and critically important for us to grasp fully and succinctly. I feel this way about this subject because too many are confused by the fact that we cannot see the kingdom that is among us, within us, all around us. And too many are antichrist and atheist because they cannot see and understand the kingdom. I believe we're just too damn comfortable with just keeping our faith and our understanding about the kingdom to ourselves. We've allowed our systems of religion and government to operate under a sovereign state of authority that doesn't really understand absolute supremacy. And so, we're accustomed to just going along with their authoritative agendas. We pull everyone down to our level, including the kingdom of God. And we do this because we can't really see the absolute power of God, can't truly know God's will, can't grasp his glory because we are not Him.
God is absolutely supreme, and sovereign and we can't see it. He's measured the universe, but we can't see it. He has informed all understanding, but we can't see it. He is perfectly wise, and we can't see him.
Job 42:2-3
“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know."
In his hand is power and might, sovereignty, absolute kingdom power. He rules over his kingdom. In fact, He rules over two kingdoms, spiritual and material, and we don't understand him.
God rules the external universal material kingdom by virtue of His creation. He is king of everything he has created. He wasn't elected, appointed, or born into it; he created it. And if you're truly being honest, you can see his creative genius in every single part of that creation. And thereby know God in his creation because he created it, he imagined and designed it. And he's sovereign over it. Every single molecule is his. And his creation is in rebellion against him. It is disintegrating, groaning, rebelling. Led by the demonic enemies of God, and helped by corrupted humanity, the curse is being lived out throughout the universe. And he is sovereign over them all. He created them and he cursed them.
God is also king over the internal personal kingdom, the spiritual kingdom, this includes everyone he has recreated. The kingdom of the heart, the kingdom that he created from revelation. He manifests himself in revelation written upon the heart. He can be seen there. He's not unseen, he rules not by natural revelation but by his revelation in the special power of his word. Everyone he recreated is present there...right now. Jesus Christ is lord over that spiritual kingdom. Through him all things were made, both the material and the spiritual. He rules and controls it all. He is unseen and seen. Einstein can't find him because he doesn't mediate through any human right. No human has the authority to judge God's worth. Jesus is king because Jesus is king, not because someone saw him, heard him, or were chosen to speak for him. He chooses those who will speak for him. He sends them to speak for him. He sends his Spirit to inspire their words. He does that. He has no limits except those that he determines in order to uphold his glory and holiness.
And if you've seen him [Jesus], you've seen God (John 14:9).
Because he's God he is also king. He comes near because this is all his. You are his. His enemies are his. The material and the spiritual are ALL his. And he came near to bring YOU to himself, not because he wanted to take something, it's all already his. He's already king of the universe. He came to establish his kingdom in your heart.
John 14:10
"Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?"
You'd better. Because he is already the king of everything.
And if your response is, "yes...I believe."
Then Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commands."
And if you do this, he'll send his Spirit of truth to be with you forever (John 14:16).
He said forever.
Forever.
With you forever.
His kingdom is near you, among you, within you, when His Spirit is at work in you.
The world cannot see him because they're not looking for an internal kingdom. That's why his message offends so many. It's the kind of kingdom he brings that they reject. He brings salvation and they don't think they need salvation. In their minds they're ready to be rescued from the sins of others in the world, not their own. They want signs of his plans to destroy the other sinners. They want to conquer their king so that he will fulfill their promises. They are into everything theological and philosophical. They've developed all sorts of extraordinary ideas about what his kingdom should be like. They want the kingdom of God to explode on to the scene with great ecological impact and change. And Jesus comes with this idea that the kingdom lives within your heart. The world goes on doing what it does, and they get a heart kingdom? They cry out, "when! when!" And Jesus says, the kingdom doesn't come in visible form.
Luke 13:18
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?"
It starts out small, in your heart, infused into your soul, and the soul of every believer. Then it is finally realized in the millennial age when it is revealed in all its glory and sovereignty. After this, all creation is destroyed, and recreated in the new heaven and new earth, joining both the material and spiritual, merged together into one perfection for all eternity. That's the kingdom that they all said they want...but first you have to have faith in it. And they don't want that.
And that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.
Amen. Have a nice day.
#Kingdom #JesusIsKing