THE KING AND A KINGDOM

The more I go further in the faith, the more I believe that Christ didn’t really so much come to establish a religion as he came to capture the hearts and show them a new way of thinking. He wanted people who believed in him to have a new perspective about certain issues. The question then is, what did Jesus want us to think differently about? Going the Gospels, Jesus spoke a lot about the “kingdom of heaven”. In fact, he spoke so much about the kingdom that his disciples and all those who heard him thought that he was going to establish a physical kingdom. In the book of Acts in the first chapter, we are told how he kept on talking about the kingdom till he ascended to heaven. At that point, his disciples asked him if he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel.

I do not believe he was talking about heaven where God dwells and is reserved for God alone. However I do believe he was referring to a place here on earth where we could get heaven and earth to meet and where heaven’s laws would displace those of the earth. Jesus did this regularly by feeding multitudes with practically nothing, walking on water, opening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, making the lame to walk and generally being a blessing. He brought heaven to earth on a regular basis with the help of the Holy Spirit. And according to him, greater works than he did we would do. Going through the Gospels, Jesus rarely referred to himself as the Son of God. His favourite way of referring to himself was as the Son of Man. I believe he did this to show to us that he had no greater advantage than we did. That if he as a man was able to do the things he did, then we too could do them. Not as a one-off but on a regular basis.

The question then is, why are we not doing the things Jesus told us we would do? The fact is, Jesus never said raising people from the dead or healing the sick was for preachers alone. I believe the sad fact is that we have not relied on the Holy Spirit as much as we should. I also believe we have not taken him literally at his word as we should. Rather we prefer to quibble and argue about whether the words are figurative, literal, allegorical, or parables. If only we all realised that we are ambassadors of a great kingdom on this earth and that kingdom wants to find expression through us to this world. Not only through our words but also through our actions. God, the king of our kingdom, wants to show forth the power, the glory, the awesomeness of his kingdom through us. If only we would allow him.   

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a novel about politics and persecution. DECEPTIO is published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers and is available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a novel about love, rejection, loss and redemption. LOST, BUT FOUND is available here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ