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This is the first article in a series on the Kingdom of God.

The “Lord’s Prayer” contains a beautiful expression of our desire for revival, both in our lives and in the church, when it says, “Thy kingdom come.” Revival is simply the time when we enter the kingdom of God, and revival continues as we continue to live in the kingdom. “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” The Pharisees hoped for a physical kingdom, a visible realm with government and territory. But Jesus explained that the true kingdom would not come this way. It would not be seen, but would consist of people whose lives God had quickened, people who had found revival.

The phrase “kingdom of God” occurs in sixty-nine verses in the King James Version of the Bible. The phrase “kingdom of heaven” occurs in thirty-two. Both use the word “kingdom,” which shows us that there is a ruler, God, and also subjects, those who obey the commands of God. Where “kingdom of God” is used, the focus tends to be on the present aspect of the kingdom, our service to God on earth, and when “kingdom of heaven” is used, the focus tends to be on the future aspect, our service to God in heaven.

However, these distinctions are not always clear; sometimes “kingdom of God” refers to the future aspect, and sometimes “kingdom of heaven” refers to our lives here. Hebrews 6:4 helps to explain this when it tells us of saved people who “tasted of the heavenly gift[.]” When we serve God, we become partakers of eternal life. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) We have the basic element of heaven, closeness to God, on earth. When we start to lose our relationship with God, we are on the road to losing heaven, because heaven is inseparable from closeness to God. When we focus on our benefit in the Christian life, we lose the Biblical focus. “Eternal life,” “life eternal,” “everlasting life,” and “life everlasting,” all together, occur in only forty-five verses. This means that “kingdom of God” alone appears in twenty-four more verses than all of these put together. The Bible spends a lot of time talking about God’s place of authority over us, and it’s a fundamental doctrine both in the Old and New Testaments (how it works out is different, as I hope to discuss in a second article in this series. But the concept of authority is there in both Testaments). The Old Testament says, “A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.” (Deuteronomy 11:27-28) The New Testament says, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

Without obedience to God, we cannot be in His kingdom.

Note: the discussion in this series about “Christian” politics has been basically replaced the more thorough, more recent article, New Testament Political Involvement. I recommend reading that article instead to learn more about that topic. Information here may be useful for other studies, however.