The late Dr. Myles Munroe once said ” The most important introduction in your life is not to God, he knows who he is, but to yourself. This is the result of a mature Christian“. How true are those words in this day and time! We do not know who we are as children of God. As the prodigal son ‘came to himself’, discovering who he was as the son of his father. I pray this blog would affect you the same and open your eyes to who you truly are as a child of God. He is a King with a seen and unseen Kingdom, as his children that would make us royalty. This section will help you intersect the King’s desire to redeem his colony (earth) and rule over his creation, to the word of God and the role we play as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.
In the bible Christ made numerous references to the Kingdom of God. His entire ministry was centered around bringing awareness to the Kingdom of God which was at hand. He gave parables related to royalty or Kingship when describing the characteristics of the Kingdom. Christ even called himself a King when confronted by Pilate in John 18:37 which is repeated in the other gospels; Matt 27, Mark 15 amd Luke 23. In John 18:37 Christ not only calls himself King, but he states his entire purpose for being born into the world as a King, to bear witness to the truth. If we are to understand this truth of Christ, we need to first become Kingdom minded on everything the word says.
STEP 1 RENEWED LOOK AT BEING BORN AGAIN:
Jesus Christ by admission and execution, declared he was a King and exhibited his power over everything here on earth. Therefore Christ can be never compared to a prophet or teacher as some religous organizations tend to, in an attempt to down play his Diety. As a King he has the authority to transfer power and prestige by birth right. That is how all Kingdoms, transfer rulership and power, through birth right. This translates to us when Christ says we need to be born again in Christ to inherit the Kingdom of God. That new birth represents our birth into the royal family of God. This is why the Angels in the court of the King of Kings celebrate when someone is born again through Christ, it is considered a royal birth. The same as in any Kingdom when a child is born they are celebrated regardless of their royal status.
It is important to note as a born again Christian your status as royalty is permanent. When you are born into royalty through Christ you can’t be stripped of it, its your birth right. This is not like a democracy where your position is based on the will of the masses and the flow of their emotions. The power of Christ’s blood covering you, erases your sin and makes you a new creature in Christ Jesus. Why are you a new creature? Because the Holy Spirit now resides in you. You are no longer apart of the first Adam’s generation that are cursed, but have been reborn under the covenant of the second Adam Jesus Christ. Your spirit is now alive and you’ve been reconnected to God our creator and source of life. Redeemed and reconnected to the vine which is Christ, we can now receive the supernatural provisions available for us in the Kingdom of God, through his Son. The same provisions Christ came to be a witness to by healing, restoring, providing etc in miraculous ways. What you need to remember is being born again is about birth right, blood and ties. That’s how monarch’s rule and as a King of Kings God rules in the same way.
Blood trumps everything in royalty and the closer a relative you are to the King, the higher up your royal status. This is another reason the Son of God was sent on our behalf to die in our place. His blood not only covers our sin, but provides the royal blood of a Son of the King, for us to be born again under. That makes us sons of God as well. If proximity to the throne was a factor on the amount of access and authority provided to you, then our proximity is insane as the sons of God, brothers of Christ. The accessibility to God’s throne room is mind blowing as a child of God. This is supported by Jesus’s words;
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therfore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
This is why the arguement of ‘Im a good person‘ is not sufficient to be accepted by God. The works you do is not enough to enter the Kingdom of God. It is a matter of birth right when it comes to entering the Kingdom of God and partaking of its supernatural provisions. Becoming a born again Christian is unavoidable. His royal blood covers us and is the backing to our claim of royalty to enter into the Kingdom of God as childern of God. This is why the bible says to “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and everything else will be added unto you“.
Matthew 11:27
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son will to reveal Him.”
The Son is the gate keeper to the Kingdom of God that we all seek to enter and become citizens. The bible is clear that no one is able to truly know the Father unless the Son wills to reveal Him to them. In other words our obedience and surrender to the Son’s will, places us in the position to know the Father our God, creator and King. Christ’s will was to be obedient to God, God’s will was to sacrifice Jesus, his Son, as the lamb given for the sin of the world. Their will has been expressed, its left up to us to surrender and accept Christ as our way to salvation, our savior. There are no other exceptions.
STEP 2 HOW DOES BEING BORN AGAIN RELATE TO GOD’S KINGDOM RULE ON EARTH:
Why does God want us to be born again, seems like a stupid question after explaining in the above point, that very reason. Remember God is a King and his Kingdom is in heaven (untangible) and earth is his colony (tangible). He gave men dominion over the earth and his declaration cannot be recinded. This was proven when God sent Christ as a man, to strip death of its power, eradicate sin and restore men to God. He did not intervene directly as a Spirit, but has always used men to enact his will on the earth, in compliance with his initial declaration in the garden of Eden. How does this relate to us? Well the understanding stems from the Lord’s prayer, given to us by Jesus.
Matthew 6:9-13
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
The key message in this prayer Christ gave us while he was on the earth is the following; “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” Christ reveals the will of the King of Kings, is to rule in earth as he is in heaven. Since men have dominion on earth, the path to expressing his will in earth is through men. In order to rule anything, a ruler needs to be qualified and have the power to rule. This is the reason why we need to be born again. Christ’s salvation makes us royalty, satisfying the qualification to being a ruler. The other aspect is, having the Spirit living in us. It is the source to power, that will allow us to express dominion in the earth. This is why we can express dominion on earth as Christ did, with miracles, signs and wonders. Don’t believe me? Read the following verse from the bible that describes the expression of dominion, Christ has bestowed on those whose names are written in the book of life in heaven;
Luke 10:19-20
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
We were given the power to change circumstances here on earth, as Christ did in supernatural ways. This is the sign of those that believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. The question of why isn’t the church operating in that capacity today, is a topic for another blog. The key point to remember here is, God’s goal is not trying to get us to heaven. God is trying to come live in the hearts of man here on earth. His Kingdom come, his will be done on earth. Dieing and spiritually ascending to heaven is a by product of God’s promise of everlasting life. His goal is spreading his kingdom rule in the hearts of men on earth. It is important to remember the end goal is earth.This is why when he returns we will be caught up in the air and given new bodies. Uncorrupted flesh that our redeemed spirits can reside in, restoring us to the pre-Adamic man. God made it clear in the word, that he intended to eventually relocate from heaven and live with men on earth. Read the words of John in the following verses;
Revelation 21:1-3
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
The King of Kings has all intentions to return to earth to rule over his creation. Can you see the correlation with an earthly King stomping out a rebellion in one of its colonies, by going to war, winning the battle and re-establishing their rule in the colony. That was the purpose of Jesus coming to earth. To restore a Kingdom and deliver a people from rebellion(disobedience). Jesus came to restore man to his dominion and rulership on earth, salvation. This is what is playing out now in the hearts of men. Prior to God bringing the new earth, spoken of in the above verse, he has to re-establish his rule as King in the hearts of men. What does that mean? Well if the Kingdom of God is established in the hearts of men, they have surrendered to God once again dependant on his wisdom and obedient to his word. A return to the posture of man in the garden of Eden prior to Adam’s fall. That is the posture or requirement to live in the new earth with God as King. Right now we live in a time of grace where God has given us the opportunity to choose his kingdom over the kingdom of darkness and rebellion. Whose rule will we sit under? When the King returns there will be no second chances, if you are not with the King you will be against him. I am sure we can all deduce what happens to usurpers in rebellions. The wages of sin(rebellion) is death.
The next post will be the final post on this topic on the Kingdom of God and its King. I intend to pull together all the concepts I have found in the bible and lay them bare as evidence to what I am trying to convey in this long blog. The bible is about a King and his Kingdom. It is a documentation of the will of a King and it embodies the constitution for the citizens in the Kingdom.
