The Kingdom of God Among You (Luke 11:14-28) from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Aside from its use in the Bible, we likely don’t think about “kingdom” very often. We studied ancient kingdoms such as the Babylonians and Persians at some point in school. We hear of modern kingdoms such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Monaco. We may not hold a very high opinion of any geo-political entity still ruled in modern times by one person. So, too, our understanding of kingdom could be colored by the despotic rule in some modern kingdoms and the ruthless kings in the past.

But you are part of a kingdom.

Everyone is part of one of two kingdoms. We’re either part of the kingdom of this world (Rev 11:15) or we’re part of the kingdom of God. The first is also known as the kingdom (dominion) of darkness (Col 1:13) or the kingdom of Satan (Luke 11:18). One enters it by natural birth and becomes a citizen without exercise of the will. Citizens of this world have no vote or voice about the direction the kingdom should take. Nor would they likely do much different that its ruler desires. For they live “in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), whose despotic reign seeks to use, oppress, manipulate, and steer its citizens to oppose everything that pleases the living God. This ruler shapes his citizens to defy God the Creator and His Law.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s description in 1865 cannot be improved upon.

He [the devil] has a way of making the worse appear the better reason; he can put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter—make men believe that it is to their own advantage to do that which is causing their everlasting ruin. He can make men carry coals of fire in their bosoms, and dream that they shall not be burned; he can make them dance upon the brink of hell as though they were on the verge of heaven. Alas! fools that we are, how readily do his lies prevail against us! [Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1865, p. 75]

But there is another kingdom far, far different—one that has no comparisons but only contrasts with the kingdom of darkness. That, of course, is the kingdom of God, also called the kingdom of heaven (especially in Matthew’s Gospel), the kingdom of Jesus (Luke 22:29–30), the kingdom of God’s Beloved Son (Col 1:13), the kingdom which cannot be shaken (Heb 12:28), the kingdom which God promised to those who love Him (James 2:5), and the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 1:11).

This kingdom—God’s kingdom—cannot be understood by the kingdom of this world. One cannot enter it at will nor does he or she desire to apart from the supernatural work of God’s grace regenerating the stony mind and hardened heart to believe the good news of the kingdom (John 3:1–8; Mark 1:15). Jesus redeems through His bloody death the one held captive by the kingdom of darkness, to bring him into God’s kingdom (Col 1:12–14). Such a kingdom as Christ’s kingdom is not about eating and drinking, as Paul told us, but about “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). Its citizens have a new character mirroring the image of Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29). Once focused on self, now its citizens seek to live holy lives like their King (Heb 12:14) and to walk in love with their brothers and sisters as imitators of God (Eph 5:1–2). One day they will see their King face-to-face, but until that time, they live with hope fixed on Him and the faithfulness of His saving work (1 John 3:1–3).

This kingdom is present, real, experiential, spiritual, and with tangible evidence. Yet this kingdom is also future, awaiting the day of the appearing of Jesus Christ, where all of the promises of God for His people come to fruition in eternal glory (Titus 2:11–14). As kingdom citizens we live in the now and the not yet. The now gives us tastes of future glory. The King has come to liberate and transform a people for His kingdom. Yet many reject Christ’s kingship and kingdom. What do they misperceive about the King and His kingdom? Let’s [...]