Where is the Kingdom of God? Wherever God is King, there is His Kingdom. In the Old Testament God’s throne (or the physical representation of His Kingdom) was in the Temple in Jerusalem. In the New Testament where is God’s throne? It is still in His Temple. Where is His Temple now? It is you and me! Wherever the Body-of-Christ is, the children of God, or any believer, there is God’s Kingdom of earth. We carry Christ’s reign, rule, and authority within us. We “represent” that Kingdom from above wherever we go. As “Ambassadors” of that Kingdom. So, we are born “from above”. We are “citizens” of Heaven. We are “in” Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God. We dwell in Christ, and He dwells in us. We are in the Kingdom of God now. The Kingdom of God is in us now. Now for a question: Why does it not “appear” like we are “most of the time”, if ever?
Because, Christ’s rule, or authority, can only be expressed through our willingness to submit our flesh to His authority and power. Or through our “co-operation” with the Holy Spirit who dwells inside us. The more we allow God’s Spirit to have His way in our lives…the more the Kingdom of God is visible to the world around us. And when you have a whole community of believers living under the rule and authority of Christ within them, there is a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God. NOW, I am not saying “heaven is literally on earth now”. I am saying the Holy Spirit’s “witness” (on earth) to the true heaven from above is expressed through and testified to, through us when we obey God. Then we are being, as Jesus put it to the disciples, “witnesses to His Kingdom”. And the World around us gets to see in visible form, the invisible Kingdom from above and can then choose to “join” or to “reject” the message of the Kingdom, or in other words the “Gospel of God”. Therefore, it is so important that we “grow in maturity, or grow in our faith, or grow up into the Head, being Christ,” all terms Paul uses to express the urgency for the Christian community to “grow up in God” to fully and maturely express Jesus Christ on earth.
So, the more we align our daily lives in obedience to the Word of God through the Spirit of God within each of us, the more Jesus prayer of, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven” becomes a reality. And if all the children of the Kingdom were walking in obedience to the King of kings, I suppose it would look a whole lot different here than it does now. But again, remember, we are simply witnesses of that perfect Kingdom, or “testifiers” of it to the world. But when Christ returns in the fullness of His glory, then those who are faithful will reign and rule with Him on earth and God’s Kingdom will officially rule over the earth. But until that day, may we “present our bodies to God as living, and holy sacrifices. Being transformed increasingly into the image of Christ through the renewing of our minds with the truth, the Word of God by the Spirit of God!
Aletheia: Truth in the Darkness 