Near

The kingdom of heaven is near, but it is not here. The will of God is not always done on earth; this is seen in the Lord's Prayer.

"Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven."
Matthew 6:10

In heaven, the will of God is done; heaven is part of His kingdom. But earth was given to man to rule.

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that crawls on the earth.'" Genesis 1:26

Man has been given rule over the earth; what God gave He has not taken back. He has not gone back on His word.

But the ruler of the earth has become a slave. God spoke to Cain concerning what was in his heart.

"Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.'" Genesis 4:6-7

Sin has crouched at the door of mankind, like a lion waiting for an opportunity to devour its prey. Like Cain, we have not mastered the lion.

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." I Peter 5:8

In a continuous process of lies and deception the devil builds his kingdom in this world. His kingdom is built by means of darkness; his agents work continuously to secure his hold on mankind.

"Put on the full armour of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:11-12

The devil has constructed fortifications against the light, to keep his possessions safe. The light destroys the works of the devil.

"...The Son of God has appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil." I John 3:8

This is the struggle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. The kingdom of darkness has fortified itself heavily against any inroad by the light. Just as Hitler fortified the continent against Allied armies, the kingdom of darkness has prepared itself to resist the light.

The kingdom of God can only draw near where there is an opening in the darkness. Someone must create a beachhead.

Repent

The message that Jesus preached began with this word, "repent". Our English word "repent" carries the implication of feeling sorrow or regret for what one has done. But the word in the Greek text carries a different meaning. The word is "metanoeo", which means to change the mind. Our word "repent" does not imply a change of thinking. But the message of Jesus began with a call to make a change in thinking.

The paradigm for the Jews was the kingdom of David. It is the example of all that they hoped for. David ruled as king over the earthly kingdom of Israel; Israel subdued the nations around it. All of their thinking was based on their paradigm: the Messiah would restore the earthly kingdom.

Their assumptions kept them from understanding what Jesus taught; they needed first a change in thinking. They needed a completely different understanding of the world.

Their worldview had them in the center. They were the descendants of Abraham; they were the heirs of the covenant of blessing. This was the foundation of their worldview. One of their rabbis had taught that it is better in the eyes of God to be a evil Jew than a righteous Gentile.

But John the Baptist had told the religious leaders who came to him:

"...do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." Matthew 3:9

Their thinking was based on their birth, not on their actions. John the Baptist implied that a statue of stone might look also look like a descendant of Abraham, but it does nothing either. Actions are required.

"And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Matthew 3:10

All of the people went out to John to hear this wild man; they all were baptized in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. They were Jews; they had a religion already. But they listened to a man from the wilderness who told them to make ready for the kingdom of God.

John the Baptist preached a new thought: "what you do really is significant to God". This is what is inherent in repentance. This is the beginning of the message of Jesus.

The expected kingdom

Jesus knew that those who listened did not understand what He meant by the kingdom of heaven. But it is the nature of all languages that they must be learned from context. Little children learn to understand speech and speak effectively, long before they can grasp the rules and definitions of their language. Jesus preached in the context of an outward demonstration of power. Even if those who listened could not concisely define the kingdom of heaven, they saw what the kingdom being near was like. Things happened; things that no one could make happen happened. Something was at work that they could not see, nor could they explain. But these things happened around the person of Jesus. Those who were near Him were healed; those who were near Him were set free from bondages. This is what Jesus used to explain what He meant by the kingdom of God.

But those who listened hoped for an earthly kingdom. Israel had a great king at one time: David the king had expanded the authority of his kingdom over all of the nations around Israel. But the kings of Israel were gone; the Gentile nations had dominated them for centuries. For a time, the kingdom of Israel had been restored under the Maccabees. A family of high priests descended from the Maccabees had ruled as kings for years. But through many internal conflicts the nation had become subject to the Roman Empire; the Roman emperor held authority over the land. Those who reigned or governed that region did so under the authority of Caesar.

For those who listened to Jesus, their kingdom of heaven could only be realized in the person of a king, a king like David. This king would lead them in war against the nations that had dominated them. This is what they had been taught; this was their hope. Their Messiah would lead them against their enemies.

But Jesus used "kingdom of heaven" in a far different way.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3

A kingdom must have soldiers, yet Jesus implied that those who are weak are the ones who own the kingdom of heaven. How can the weak stand against the Roman legions?

Jesus spoke in their language, but in new ways. He spoke about a kingdom far different than the kingdom of David. The more He spoke, the more they probably realized they did not understand Him.

The kingdom of heaven was at work in front of them, but they were looking for something else. Even John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah because of this.

"Now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, 'Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?'" Matthew 11:2-3

John the Baptist had himself preached that the kingdom of heaven is near, but he did not recognize it when he heard of it. He expected something else.

The kingdom of heaven is near

The central idea in what Jesus preached is that this kingdom is near. It is not far, nor is it here; the kingdom is near.

Of all that Jesus could have focused on, this is what He did preach. This is what John the Baptist preached. This is what He told His apostles to preach. All the end of the book of Acts, when Paul is in Rome, after having written many of his epistles, he is still preaching the kingdom of God.

"And he stayed in his own rented quarters, and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, with all openness, unhindered." Acts 28:30-31

Now almost two thousand years later, the kingdom of God is still not here. But this was never a statement of when Jesus will return; it is a statement about the work of God. The kingdom of God is near in distance; the word rendered "near" has to do with space, not time.

Jesus pointed out to those who were watching what He meant by "near".

"But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Matthew 12:28

This was an evidence that this kingdom is near, very near.

Kingdom of heaven?

The message of Jesus Christ is just what He preached.

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

He spoke directly to the essential need of mankind, though those who heard did not understand it.

They thought He was saying that the physical kingdom of David would soon be restored; they wanted to see the Romans driven out and a Jewish nation reestablished. This hope was strongly embedded in their culture; even His disciples thought that He was referring to this.

But as Jesus taught, He often spoke of the kingdom of heaven in ways that did not make sense in their cultural understanding. As His disciples listened, they must have continued to be struck by the incongruity between what He said and what they assumed He meant. But even after His resurrection, at the time when He was going to ascend into heaven, His disciples asked Him if He was restoring the kingdom to Israel at that time. After three years, they did not understand what He meant.

Western civilization has looked at the kingdom of heaven in a similar way. We have taken the message of the kingdom of heaven in terms of the physical world. The Jews looked for a restoration of the kingdom to Israel; we have looked for the outward rule of Christianity in our cultures. We have looked for the institutions of Christianity to be the work of God in our world. We have looked for the kingdom of heaven in the church or in law or in culture.

But the kingdom of heaven is not found in the physical institutions of this world. At one point when the religious leaders were questioning Him about the kingdom of God, He answered them in a way that rejected their assumptions about the kingdom of heaven.

"Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or "There it is!' For behold the kingdom of God is in your midst." Luke 17:20-21

The kingdom of God is not seen in the outward. As Jesus Christ stood in their midst, the kingdom of God was in their midst. The kingdom of God is realized in a person, not in the outward.

His message

Jesus, who emptied Himself to be born as a human child, learned what no one else has learned. He actually learned to obey His Father in everything. He was tempted in all things, and yet was without sin.

In spite of what we say about obeying our Father, we don't. We do not know how to not sin. We try harder, and still fail. We do not know how to live as humans. We have good theories about how someone who is not human should live. Our myths would be good for robots, incapable of choice. But we do not know how a finite human could walk in this life, in our weakness, and yet obey His Father in everything.

Jesus did learn to obey His Father in everything. At the age of thirty, He began to teach what He had learned. His message is summarized in one simple statement.

"From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Matthew 4:17

This is what Jesus had learned as a man. Jesus was not faster, stronger, or smarter than humans. As a human, He had found what actually works. What He preached can work in us, because it worked in Him.

The Man

The basic element of Christianity is that Jesus was a man: He was fully human.

He is also the visible expression of the invisible God. He is the Word made flesh. He is the Son of God; He is One with the Father.

But the most profound thing in Christianity is that Jesus was fully human. If we were not human, this would not be important. But we are human, and so Christianity has something to say to us. God can express Himself in a human. God accurately expressed Himself in the man Christ Jesus. God can do something in me even though I am weak.

The basic experience of Christianity is just what Jesus experienced. He was fully man; He had to learn how to do what was right.

"Although He was a Son, he learned obedience from the things He suffered. And having been made perfect, he became to those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." Hebrews 5:8-9

True Christianity is about being truly human; true Christianity is not about idealizations. Jesus emptied Himself to be made a man; He was just as weak as me.

Yet He learned to obey His Father, even though He was just as weak as me. He learned what no one else has ever learned.

The basic message of Christianity is what the man Christ Jesus learned.