The parables of the Lord Jesus reveal that the Kingdom of God is something that is born in us, that grows in us.
After we are born again we are not to wait to go to another place. After a baby is born is does not wait to go to another place. It begins to grow.
After we are born again we are to begin to grow. If we are to grow in Christ we must pray every day, read our Bible every day, turn away from the malice and wickedness that are in the world, meet with fervent believers (if we can find any), seek the Lord for a place of service in His Kingdom, give of our means as we are able, and do all else associated with wholesome Christian living.
Each day we will be presented with problems. Each day we will be given Divine grace to enable us to overcome those problems through Christ.
When we continue to make our decisions according to our fleshly desires and understanding we remain an adamic creation. We remain unchanged. No salvation has taken place. The Kingdom has not prevailed in our life.
When we turn away from our fleshly desires and understanding and look to Jesus for our decisions we are changed. Adam dies. Christ is formed in us. Another living stone in the eternal Temple of God comes closer to completion.
The process of salvation, of entering the Kingdom of God, takes place hour by hour, line upon line, command upon command, here a little and there a little. We are the flesh being made the Word, as Christ is formed in us. This is the Kingdom of God.
Matthew tells us that in the last days the angels will come and gather out of His Kingdom all that offends God. The angels will not gather out of Heaven all that offends God but out of the Kingdom, according to the Scripture.
Today the Spirit of God has come to the Christian churches, which are the Kingdom of God on the earth, to gather out all that is offensive to God. We are being required as never before to turn away from the pursuit of the world and receive Christ into our personality.
The Lord Jesus is standing before your heart and my heart today. He is asking to be admitted.
If we permit the Lord to really take control of our life as He desires, we shall be able to stand in the days to come. In fact, we shall not only stand but help others to stand. We will become a tree of life, a tree planted by the waters of the Spirit of God.
But if we continue in the traditional American Christian way, holding our ticket to Heaven, trying to do what is right but failing more often than succeeding, neglecting to have a strong time of prayer with the Lord Jesus each day, not taking time to meditate in the Scriptures, waiting for an unscriptural “rapture” to save us from the trouble that everyone can see is upon us, we certainly shall not be able to stand in the pressures and deceptions of the future. Neither shall we be able to help anyone else stand in peace and joy throughout the age of moral horrors.
The recent (March 1999) uproar among Christians concerning the computer glitches predicted for the change of millennium, is indicative of the state of American Christianity. The believers appear to care little for Christ’s opinion of the problem. They are concerned only with taking care of their food and customary comforts. There is no thought of repentance, only of material survival.
What then will be their reaction when some of our major cities are vaporized by nuclear devices smuggled into the country and activated by terrorists? The Christians will be screaming in terror and of no help to their unsaved neighbors. Why is this? It is because they are living in the flesh and trusting in the flesh.
Why are they living in the flesh and trusting in the flesh? It is because of unscriptural teaching. They have been taught that they have their ticket to Heaven and any moment they are going to be caught away from the horrors of the twenty-first century.
But those believers who patiently, moment by moment, have been entering the Kingdom of God, have little fear of their own death or the death of their loved ones. They are not living in the flesh or trusting in the flesh. They are living in Christ and trusting in Christ.
They know full well that over all of the perils of earth there sits enthroned the Lord Jesus Christ. He has control of the whole world. He is well able to protect all who have been serving Him patiently as His Kingdom is being formed in them.
One of the prophets said recently, in the name of the Lord, that while God dearly loves His people they are not His pets. They have not been serving Him and so they shall experience pain and suffering in the days to come.
This is true. Furthermore, God indeed shall watch over and protect those who truly are living in Him and for Him—those whose life He is becoming.
God, Christ, the saints, and the holy angels are now in Heaven as far as we know. When the trumpet sounds, the Lord Jesus Christ and His saints and angels will return and establish their Kingdom on the earth. This means God through Christ through the saints will govern the nations of the earth. Then peace and justice shall flow like a mighty river throughout the land.
In that day, those who are Christians in name only will be terrified. The sinners in Zion shall indeed tremble when God roars through His true saints.
The Lord shall return with thousands of His saints to execute judgment on the fornicators in the churches, those who have gone in the way of Cain (the malice and wickedness of the world); of Balaam (the love of money); and of Korah (self-will and rebellion).
How about you? Are you willing to take the time to search the New Testament and find out if the emphasis is on going to Heaven, or if the emphasis is on taking our place on the cross with the Lord Jesus and rising with Him to walk in newness of life? Are you willing to do this, or are you going to continue in the vain traditions of our day?
You will find that Christ and His Apostles stressed our change from sinful behavior to righteous behavior. This transformation is accomplished as each day we nourish the new Divine Life that has been born in us, and with the help of the Spirit of God turn away from the ways of the fleshly lusts and passions.
If we really serve the Lord in this manner, bringing each aspect of our life, all of our decisions, to the Lord Jesus, the Kingdom of God will be formed in us.
But if we hold our ticket and wait to go to Heaven we will discover we missed the plan of salvation, which was to change us from our old sinful nature to the moral image of Jesus Christ.
The mere fact of being in Heaven will not of itself make any change in us. There is no scriptural basis for the concept that being in Heaven will change us from wickedness to righteousness. After all, sin began in Heaven around the Throne of God.
If we desire to rule with the Lord Jesus in His Kingdom, then we must begin right now to learn through Him how to govern our own personality.
The Kingdom is within us, if we have received Christ. Now our task is to follow the Holy Spirit until we are in the Kingdom that is within us, so to speak. This we do by looking constantly to the Lord Jesus so He may make us a new righteous creation in Himself.
How do you feel about this?