My Kingdom is Not of This World

Yeshua answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (Jn 18:36)

When our Lord Yeshua was questioned by Pilate during His trial, He asserted two things:

• His Kingdom IS NOT of and from THIS world.
• His servants WOULD NOT fight to preserve an earthly kingdom under Him.

The Two Swords: Church and State

Just as Pilate did not understand this truth (Jn 18:38), so many since then also do not understand that God’s Kingdom has nothing to do nor can it be merged with earthly political kingdoms. However, since the days of the demise of the Kingdom of Israel and her exile, God’s people had always sought to bring together the two swords, Church and State, which He had since separated:

• The Jews in Yeshua’s days wanted to make Him a king that would deliver them from the Roman colonizers and restore a political Davidic kingdom again in Israel (Jn 6:15).
• The early church went into apostasy precisely because they married the church and the state, which corrupted them with unbridled power, riches, status and lust.
• The early Reformers came out of the apostate church when they divorced salvation by grace through faith from the bondage of works, but then remarry themselves to the state, and paved the way for many so-called “Christian” nations to be even more corrupted than their apostate parents.

In the last three decades, many proponents of prayer movements, who hold the Preterist and Partial Preterist view of eschatology, have been preaching a reworked doctrine of this age old error, now variously called “Kingdom Now” or “Dominionism”. Basically, they teach that most end time prophecies, like those in Matthew 24, were already fulfilled in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army. They believe that since that time, we have been living in the “millennial” age that finally will see the church transforming and ruling the nations of the earth BEFORE the return of Yeshua. Almost two thousand years of history of increasing corruptions and perversions in the world, in “Christian” nations and in the “church” had already proven this doctrine false. However, the earthly church, like ancient Israel, is always repeating her sad history.

All of the above mentioned are but examples of the ancient misconception and mis-expectation of merging or confusing the Kingdom of God with the kingdom of this world. When believers take the truths of the Kingdom of God and apply them in and to the flesh, they are on a dead-end journey at best, but at worst, traveling down a slippery road to deception and apostasy.

What is the Kingdom of God?

What IS the Kingdom of God? Simply put, as the word “king-dom” indicates, it is the domain where God is King. It is the realm where God rules continually and supremely and His Word or Law is in perfect operation. This Kingdom is above all kingdoms and has been in existent from eternity and will forever exist. This Kingdom and its King have NEVER been overthrown or can ever be. It is a heavenly kingdom, not earthly or of this world, as God’s Word testified.

The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven (Ps 11:4)…Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me nd where is the place of My rest? (Ps 66:1)… The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all (Ps 103:19).

Our Lord Yeshua Himself also declared emphatically from the beginning the heavenliness of His Kingdom:

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 4:17)

Furthermore, the Kingdom of God is not only eternal and heavenly, but it is also spiritual, that is, in and of the Spirit and therefore, invisible. Thus, Yeshua said:

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Lk 17:21)

Friends, think about it! The Kingdom of God is already in us! We are already citizens of Heaven (Phil. 3:20), the invisible, spiritual, heavenly and eternal Kingdom where our God reigns supremely! And if this does not awe us, the Word of God crowns those of faith in Christ with this: we have been adopted and made sons of God and coheirs with Christ, the Son of God!

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name (Jn 1:14)…⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons…⁷ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Gal 4:5-7)

While we know that there are more to understand, yet God has promised that He will reveal the mysteries of His Kingdom to those who have the heart and ear to hear. Are you hearing?...

Yeshua preached only the Kingdom of God, from the beginning and throughout His ministry, and even after His resurrection!

²³ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people (Mt 4:23)… ³ to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).

Knowing what the reality of His Kingdom can do in people, Yeshua commanded us not to worry about the earthly things, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Mt 6:33). The Apostle Paul also preached the Kingdom of God right to the end of his life and ministry. He counseled and warned us against covetousness and those who preached the love of this world, and that having food and clothing, with these we shall be content (1Tim 6:8). Why? Because the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17).

³⁰ Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, ³¹ preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him (Acts 28:30-31)

Friends, what you, your countrymen and the world need is not more freedom, justice, equality and material comforts, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, which can only be experienced in the Kingdom of God. Those who have these already are contented, and they no more complain, whine, desire or fight for more of the worldly and material rights, things and comforts that they do not have, but instead are always thankful and grateful to God for whatever they have, including free air and sunshine and freedom to worship God!

Do not be deceived. Man without God is fleshly and flesh can never be satisfied but will always remain the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Eph 4:22). The more you feed the cravings of the flesh, the more it will demand to be satisfied.

¹⁹As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man. ²⁰Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied (Prov 27:19-20).

Adam in the Garden of Eden was the perfect manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Man and creation under the absolute rule of God and His Word had righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. But when Adam rebelled against God’s rule, man and the entire creation fell out of the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of satan to be ruled by the god of this world. Though hard to believe, the entire world (with all its beauty, allure, wealth, men and nice sounding philosophies of men) lies under the sway of the wicked one (1Jn 5:19) and walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2). This visible, temporal and earthly world (Gen 3:17) and in fact the whole created material universe had already been cursed, judged and condemned since the fall. They are destined for ultimate annihilation by fire (2Pet 3:10-12), which will pave the way for a new, redeemed, glorified heaven and earth (Rom 8:20-22, Rev 21:1).

Therefore, we can confidently say without any doubt that there is nothing that God desires anymore in this fallen and increasingly corrupt earth and universe except for one thing: the souls of men! This ought to give us the right perspective in how to rightly live our lives for the remaining of our time on earth. We must know and accept that the most precious, valuable, beautiful and powerful things of the kingdoms of this world- wealth, power and fame included-had absolutely no value in the sight of God because they are either founded in or defiled by the earthly, sensual and demonic wisdom of the world. For anything that is fallen is temporal and rejected by God and cannot survive the redemptive fire of God. This is the world we see with our eyes and experience with our senses today which God commanded us not to love (1Jn2:15-16).

However, those who walk by faith see and experience the Kingdom of God in the spiritual realm. Salvation is to be delivered from the power (and kingdom) of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col 1:13). It is to be born again of incorruptible seed and clothed with immortality and eternality. Our physical body then is just a temporal, inconvenient but necessary housing waiting for the day of our final redemption and glorification (Rom 8:30). Therefore, as the world, humanity and the demonic kingdom hurl towards their ultimate judgment and destruction, God is urgently saving the souls of men because He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2Pet 3:9). Now, do you know what the priority of your life is? Yes, the salvation of the heathens!

The New Testament Church

The church in the New Testament was NEVER involved in the politics of the Roman Empire that ruled over them. Why? Because they had such a revelation and reality of their heavenly citizenship (Phil 3:20) and life in the Kingdom of God so that even the best that the earthly kingdoms could offer them were but as dung to them (Phil 3:8)! Church history will tell you that no modern despotic ruler or government has ever reached the level of corruption, immorality, wickedness and depravity of some of the rulers of the ancient empires that reigned over God’s people, from the Babylonians to the Romans. And no other church in history had ever surpassed the spiritual power and influence of the early apostolic church. Yet, that New Testament church never engaged in political or social activism with the hope of transforming their society and nation into the Kingdom of God itself, or even into the likeness of it. They only had one single focus and agenda in life and ministry: to bring the nations (races) into the Kingdom of God!

Yes, undoubtedly there was much corruption, abuse of power, injustice, social and racial prejudice, and neglect and exploitation of the poor and powerless in the Roman Empire. However, the church never did remonstrate, demonstrate, criticize, politicize or complain against the perpetrators or powers that be. Instead the church became salt and light, and met the needs and made up for the lack in their societies. They seized the opportunities given by an increasingly decadent world and busied themselves in demonstrating the righteousness of the Kingdom of God by preaching and sharing the gospel of the Kingdom, healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting those who are in prison, housing the homeless and discipling the believers in house churches. These loving and generous deeds from a supposedly poor and despised class of people, as the Christians were considered to be, not only earned admiring acknowledgement from the establishment and historians alike, but resulted in multitudes being brought into the Kingdom of God (Acts 4:32, 5:14, 8:6, 14:1, 17:4)! Within a short time, Jerusalem was filled with their teaching (Acts 5:26). Even Paul could boast that he (and his network of house church planters) had fully preached the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum (Rom 15:19), which was a stretch of about 1200 miles! And all these were done in a despotic empire that had outlawed Christianity and that constantly persecuted the followers of Yeshua even to the point of martyrdom!

Israel

Israel under King David was a type of the heavenly Kingdom of God, of which she was to manifest to the world around her. The fortune of Israel and her people rose and fell according to the degree of their obedience to the Law of God. To the degree that Israel obeys the Law, to that degree they could demonstrate the power and authority of the Kingdom of God. The end of Israel as a kingdom and nation is a sobering reminder that no man, church or nation can disregard the Law of God and still find themselves in the Kingdom of God! In the Kingdom of God, the Law of God is absolute because the Kingdom is the manifestation of the Law of the King!

Again, the Jews under the rule of Babylon were also a type of the citizens of the Kingdom of God living under earthly governmental authority. Those in Jerusalem were told: “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you” (2Ki 25:24). Similarly, those exiled in Babylon were also exhorted to,

5Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶ Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. ⁷ And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. ⁸ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. ⁹ For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. (Jer 29:5-9)

In effect, they were told to submit to their heathen authority for their own good as they wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises to restore them back to their own land again after seventy years of exile.

¹⁰For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. (Jer 29:10-14)

The Daniel Company

Daniel and his friends lived and served literally as slaves from a conquered nation under a number of despotic “trigger-happy” kings who ruled over the largest empires of their times. Although surrounded by extreme and vile idolatries, they never were idolatrous nor compromised their faith and loyalty to Yahweh. They submitted completely to the laws of God and man, which quite often were contradictory. How did they do that? Whenever they were commanded by the law and decree of man to disobey the Law of God, they reverently disobeyed but willingly submitted themselves to be punished for their disobedience. This they did WITHOUT rebelling against the rulers whom they understood to be vested with divine authority by God (Rom 13:1-2). Why they were able to disobey and yet submit without rebelling? Because they knew, "That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men" (Dan 4:17, 25, 32; 5:21). Thus, regardless of who the human ruler is, Yahweh sovereignly rules over all and He turns the hearts of kings to serve His glorious purposes for Israel (Prov 21:1)! Hebrews 11 tells us that these men of faith already knew they belong to another kingdom, that is, the Kingdom of Heaven, and they could serenely submit without striving for the things and kingdoms of this world. Their faith and submission to God and earthly authorities earned them continual favor with God and man, and even brought the kings and their subjects to their knees to worship the God of Israel on numerous occasions (Dan2:46-49, 3:28-30, 4:34-36, 6:25-27)!

We today, who live in spiritual Babylons, how we need to be like Daniel and his friends! So many Christians today have unwisely received another gospel similar to the “Kingdom Now” error, that is, the deceptive social gospel, by which we think we are called of God to engage in social and political activism. Many take part in resistance and rebellion, fighting for so called “equal rights, freedom, justice, transformation and nation-building”. Scriptures tell us that it is only in Christ we have equality (“ONE”), true freedom and justice and transformation. Outside of Christ, the Word of God had already declared 2000 years ago that evil men in the world and impostors in the church will grow worse and worse (2Tim 3:13), the unregenerate flesh will grow more and more corrupt (Eph 4:22), lawlessness will abound, false prophets will multiply, the love of many believers will grow cold (Mt 24:11-12) and more and more “Christians” will apostatize (1Tim 4:1, 2Tim 3:1-5, 2Thess 2:1-4) in the midst of an increasingly crooked and perverse world. Only the deceived who feed on ashes think they can transform our society and world through social and political efforts. Like the Daniel company, we are to be in the world and not of the world through unwavering faith in God and reverent submission to His appointed authorities. The adherents of the “Kingdom Now” and social gospels are seeking to make Babylon the Kingdom of God but will only succeed in bringing Babylon into their daily existence, as is so evidenced today. Many have already sidetracked unknowingly but naturally into the gospels of prosperity and cheap grace. No wonder God has to issue a command to His people in the end time to come out of Babylon lest they be judged with her (Rev 18:4)!

Paul

Paul was probably the most persecuted believer in the New Testament, by Romans, Jews and Christians alike (2Cor 11:22-28). In his day, Christianity was an outlawed religion and the church was continually persecuted, locally and (or) empire-wide. You would think that under such unjust circumstances, Paul would be the first to propagate political or social activism. However, what he advised was truly shocking and contrary to what many worldly-wise Christians would do today, who have little revelation of the Kingdom of God!

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. (Rom 13:1-2)

Like Jeremiah, Paul also similarly exhorts those of us who are spiritual Jews in exile:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Tim 2:1-4)

Paul was just imitating Yeshua in living the Kingdom lifestyle because he also knew that the Kingdom of God is not of this world!

Thy Kingdom Come

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 4:17)

At the start of His ministry, Yeshua announced the coming of the heavenly Kingdom of God (Mt 4:17). After His resurrection at Pentecost, He opened the door of His Kingdom for those of faith to enter in (Acts 2:1-4). For in receiving the Holy Spirit, they were in fact baptized and taken into the heavenly, spirit realm of the Kingdom of God (1Cor 12:13). Ever since then, men and women of faith saw the kingdom of this world for what it really is: crucified, dead, useless and destined for eternal destruction. Similarly the world saw the true disciples of Yeshua Christ for what they really are: crucified, dead and useless to them, but unbeknownst to them, destined for glory!

When our Lord taught us to pray that the Kingdom of God come and His will be done on the earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10), it is firstly for the evangelizing of the lost people from the world into the Kingdom of God. Secondly, it is for the future restoration of the Davidic Kingdom in Jerusalem. Yeshua Himself, the Greater David, will reign over this restored Kingdom with the resurrected and raptured saints over all the nations of the world for a thousand years (Rev 20:1-6). Furthermore, it is the Lord Himself, not the church, Who will bring the still-unsaved nations under His rule when He returns. During this time, the Law of Yahweh will be the absolute Law of the world and will go forth from Jerusalem to the nations of the earth (Isa 2:3). It is sobering to note the fact that the nations will be deceived again by satan after the millennium (Rev 20:7-10). This means that ALL the political nations of the world will be heathen and unsaved until the Day of Judgment (Rev 20:11-15)! So much for “Kingdom Now”, “advancing the kingdom” and the vain vision of transforming the society and nations that are being propagated in the churches today.

When will our King Yeshua return in power and glory, gather up His faithful saints and materialize His Kingdom in Jerusalem? The Lord Himself tells us that it will be “immediately after the tribulation”!

²⁹ “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mt 24:29-31)

This means that everything that the Lord prophesied before verse 29 in Matthew 24 has yet to take place and must still take place before He returns. These include wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, the rise of false teachers, the great apostasy of the church, the coming of the anti-Christ and the great tribulation upon the true Church and Israel. These have yet to be fulfilled, contrary to what is falsely claimed by so many today. What happened in AD 70 was yet another type of what will ultimately happen in the end time.

Does it really matter if you believe wrongly about the Kingdom of God? Isn’t the Lord greater than our innocent errors, and gracious? Yes, He is indeed greater than and gracious about our errors, but only to those who are still “innocent” when He comes. And many will not be. Let me tell you that the “Kingdom Now” doctrine is not just an error or minor aberration from the Word of God; it is in fact a destructive heresy!

⁷ It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. ⁸ All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:7-8)

The Book of Revelation tells us that the anti-Christ will rule over the true saints and the nations of the world before Christ return to rule. Do you see that those who mistakenly think that the church will rule the nations before Christ’s return will in fact be deceived into siding and ruling with the anti-Christ? That’s why Paul tells us that the church (temple of God) will be deceived into welcoming the anti-Christ as Christ and God!

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.³Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2Thess 2:1-4)

Sadly, those who are deceived into receiving and worshipping the anti-Christ will be tormented with him in the lake of fire. Beware beloved, you have been forewarned, lest you like so many today ALSO fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the errors of the wicked (2Pet 3:17)!

⁹ Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (Rev 13:9-10)

In the world and not of the world

God gives us only one way of living triumphantly as citizens of the Kingdom of God in the world, and yet not belong to or be of the world. When our Lord Yeshua was unjustly accused and condemned by the Jews and Pilate, He submitted without defending, resisting or rebelling, even to the point of death, and death by the most horrible instrument- the Cross! This was His victory. The Cross. Not political power, wealth or status. Not social or political activism or transformation. And this is our victory too. The Cross!

The Cross speaks of daily dying to self and self life. The Cross speaks of faith in God, the only Just One and Justifier of our faith. The Cross is suffering, even unjustly and wrongly. The Cross means washing the feet of others, serving God and man as a bond slave without any right in the world. The Cross exhorts us to recognize ALL authority as divine and submit to them without rebelling. The Cross beckons us to die daily, and moment by moment. The Cross means going the extra mile, turning the other cheek. There Cross is the only way to resurrection. The Cross is the only hope for glory. This was Christ’s victory and is also our victory- eternally. The Cross!

Let us close with the exhortation of another apostle who also went to the Cross:

¹⁸ Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. ¹⁹ For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ²²“Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; ²³who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; ²⁴ who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed. ²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1Pet 3:18-25)

My friend, may the Lord grant you mercy on that Day, and may He preserve you blameless in holiness until the coming of our Lord Yeshua Christ with all His saints. Shalom of Elohim be unto you!

If you have any comment or query, or if you want to know how you can be saved and have a personal relationship with your Creator God through Yeshua Christ, please write to thekingdompeople@yahoo.com. It will be my pleasure to help you to know God personally. All sincere inquiries will be responded to.