Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 3:3-5
He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:3
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
1 Corinthians 4:20
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
The people of God, the Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham, we looking forward to the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, they had a misapprehension of the Kingdom of God. But then, one day, the time arrived. What they had awaited showed up. His name was John, and he was baptizing repentant people who were longing for the Kingdom. The problem was that most of them were anticipating a military/political/spiritual deliverer. Instead, they got Jesus.
The Kingdom is imperceptible to the naked eye. If you know what to look for, you can see it when you encounter it. But there is a prerequisite. Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” If you’re not born again, you can’t see it, and you can’t enter it. It is a spiritual Kingdom. It can’t be forced from the outside. It’s not a political movement, and it’s not a religious movement that can be pressed by human religious effort. Proper legislation won’t introduce the Kingdom of God to nations as good as proper legislation is.
The Kingdom comes as people submit to the King and acknowledge him as the Lord of their lives and everything else. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. In other words, he is the head of all government and every King, prince, governor, school board member, chief of police, and other “civil servant.” He is “the boss of me!”
The Kingdom of God is a big deal. Jesus spoke of it constantly, even telling several parables that describe its nature. After the resurrection, Jesus spent forty days teaching his followers. Think about it. Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, knew his time in person with his followers was very limited. If you wanted to start a movement and you knew you only had a few days to reinforce the principles of your movement, and then you would be gone for good, wouldn’t you focus on the most important topic? Jesus focused his attention on the Kingdom of God. During his final forty days before his ascension, he reinforced his main topic during his ministry.
So, what does this Kingdom look like? I could say a lot about that, but I believe that Paul made one of the more profound descriptions. “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Paul gives three essential criteria, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Righteousness: the Kingdom of God is an ethical kingdom. Christian theology understands at least two aspects of righteousness. The most commonly taught aspect is justification, which is a matter of grace alone, by faith alone in Christ alone and imputes to us the righteousness of Jesus. We don’t earn it and can’t pay for it. It is a gift. The other aspect has to do with what some call practical righteousness. Theologically it is called sanctification. It is the process of a believer being conformed to the life of Jesus. We learn to live righteously as Jesus did. We are admonished to be holy because God is holy. That is a high standard, and God’s Kingdom is characterized by the increasing holiness of God’s people.
Since it is an ethical kingdom, some things are excluded. That’s the nature of ethics. Some things are acceptable, and some things are not. What is not? “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.” How does this exclusion work? First, how does the Kingdom work? A mystery about the Kingdom is that it is now and not yet both simultaneously. The perfection of the Kingdom is not yet even though the Kingdom is now.
The ethics of the not-yet-Kingdom. If I understand it correctly, the not-yet Kingdom refers to the consummation when this world is wrapped up, and we enter the new heavens and new earth. It is the final deal. Those who have made it a habit to live like those referred to above will not be admitted to the new heaven and new earth. They will have forfeited their inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Ethics counts.
When it comes to the Kingdom now, these ethics still count. The Kingdom of God comes not with words but with power. The power of the Kingdom can be seen in various ways. For everyone in the Kingdom, an increase in righteousness is the power of life in Christ. Jesus said that he cast out demons, and in so doing, the Kingdom has come upon those involved. The power of the Kingdom heals the sick, delivers from the evil one, and drives out unrighteous conduct. When people confess Jesus as Lord and ostensibly enter the Kingdom of God, they should “inherit” the Kingdom and all its power. When we “enter the Kingdom” and fail to trust God for the power of the Kingdom and continue in our sinful, unrighteous lives, we do not experience the Kingdom now. Personally, I think this is a major in the church in the West. We have the words of the Kingdom but not the power. For we who are “in the Kingdom” and are not experiencing the transformed life of the Kingdom, I am concerned that maybe we aren’t really in the Kingdom, and in the end, we will also not inherit the new heavens and new earth.
A few major spiritual battles are going on in the church today, both in the West and in the rest of the world. These battles involve the spirit of the age and the truth of God’s word. They are challenging the power of the Kingdom.
One of those battles involves the LGBT+ community and is assaulting on several levels. Scripture is clear (1 Cor. 6:9-10) that those participating in homosexuality and other sexual immorality will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Now, ordained ministers in some denominations pursue an active homosexual lifestyle and advocate it for others. This advocacy is currently being referred to as “Side A homosexuality.” “Side B homosexuality” affirms the indelible nature of homosexuality (God made me this way, and I can’t change) and practices ordained homosexual ministers who live a celibate lifestyle. They say it is Okay to lust after other men as long as you don’t act on your lust. Jesus, however, taught that if a man lusts after a woman in his heart, he has already committed adultery. Isn’t this the same thing in the homosexual world? A man lusts after another man but doesn’t act on his lust. The irrefutable logic of Jesus’ illustration is that the homosexual man is guilty of homosexual sin just as the heterosexual man is guilty of adultery. Those who affirm Side B homosexuality have the words of the Kingdom but not the power. The power of the Holy Spirit is more than enough to sanctify the life of any person who repents and pursues Jesus head-on.
The same lack of Kingdom power manifests in the “woke” church following Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT alleges that a white racist cannot not be racist. There is no redemption in these churches from the sin of racism. There are several doctrines of CRT that contradict the teaching of Scripture, and most importantly, CRT denies the power of the Kingdom to resolve the human sin problem. As a black friend of mine says, “We don’t have a skin problem. We have a sin problem.” And, the power of the work of the cross and the present power of the Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of cleansing anyone of all of our sin problems.
The Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
