Kings, kingdoms, and Parables
What Is the Kingdom of God and Where Is It?
To understand, you must revisit and dissect the words and parables of Christ
The Kingdom of God Begins in The Heart
Jesus spoke in parables because he believed it was the best way to teach. His disciples asked him why he speaks in parables and he replied, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given to you, but not to them. Though seeing they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (Matthew 13).
What Jesus was saying was that some spiritual truths are not easy to understand by all. Here are some parables Jesus spoke regarding the kingdom of God:
“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself, the soil produces grain — first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26–29).
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”
Again, he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Luke 13:18–21).
What did you make of these parables?
Here’s what I make of them: The parables explain how small the kingdom of God starts and how big it grows to become. It starts as a seed or yeast in flour and grows to become something way bigger.
So is Jesus saying that the kingdom of God grows? In our hearts, maybe?
Some truths require parables because some truths are not meant for all to understand. If you understand, it’s time.
The Kingdom Is in Our Midst but It’s Not Here
“Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Pilate asked Jesus after the Jewish leaders brought him to the palace.
When Jesus heard Pilate say ‘your own people’ he replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:35–36)
Jesus said in the passage above that the kingdom of God is in another place, but he said differently in another passage where the Pharisees asked Him when the Kingdom of God would come. He replied, “The coming of the Kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
If the kingdom of God isn’t something that can be pointed to, then what exactly is it? Would it then be true that it begins to grow in our hearts, yet it is established someplace else?
Physically, the Kingdom of God is not on earth. It isn’t the church, a mosque, or any other holy place. Spiritually, the Kingdom of God begins to grow in us. Like a seed, it grows in our hearts. Like yeast in flour, it gets bigger.
The kingdom of God is the place within us where God — the Holy Spirit — lives.
In the kingdom of God, God’s authority is recognized, and his will is done.
The Way to the Kingdom of God
Christians believe the church is the way to the Kingdom of God and I agree that the church can lead a person to the kingdom of God, but the church isn’t the only way and the church doesn't always lead to the kingdom of God.
When Jesus said goodbye to his disciples, he told them not to worry for he's going and would come back. “Do not be troubled. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas didn’t know the way, so he asked, “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:1–6).
Jesus tells us here that we must go through him to enter the Kingdom of God. While the church can lead us to Jesus and ultimately to the Kingdom of God, simply going to church is not enough. Believing in Jesus and obeying God leads a person to the Kingdom of God.
The church can lead you to the Kingdom of God when it helps you establish a Kingdom within yourself for the Spirit of God to dwell.
Going to church alone is not enough for one to grow/inherit the kingdom of God.
Seek the Kingdom of God First
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1–2).
God established his throne in his kingdom in the heavens, so to inherit it, we must set our minds and hearts on things above. We must store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moths can’t destroy, and where thieves can’t break in and steal.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be.”
If your treasure is gold and silver, you are focused on earthly things. If your treasures are in heaven somewhere beyond the blue skies, you are focused on the right things.
A man once went to Jesus and asked what he could do to get eternal life. Jesus said he must keep the commandments. The man asked which ones? Jesus gave a list of commandments. The man said he had kept all those commandments, so what was he lacking? Jesus told him to go and sell his riches and give to the poor, and then he’ll have treasures in heaven. The man was very rich and was, therefore, very sad.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23–24).
I can see how that man would feel sad. How can we live on earth without money? How would we survive? It’s hard to live on earth and not worry about earthly things, but Jesus said worry is absolutely pointless.
“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds in the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
Jesus tells us that worrying, especially about earthly things, is futile. It does absolutely nothing to help. I remember all those times I stayed up into the darkness of the night worrying about how I would pay my rent. I tossed, and I turned and I cried. I woke up the next morning and guess what? The rent was still past due! Worrying about money did not bring me any money. It brought me a headache the next morning.
“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Jesus says look at the fields filled with the most beautiful flowers. See how they grow. They don’t labor or spin, yet not even the richest man of all the land has the splendor of the flowers. If God clothes the flowers of the field with splendor and feeds the birds of the sky, then why wouldn’t he clothe and feed you if you were obedient to him?
Instead of worrying about earthly things, Jesus has better advice:
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). This doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t know or care about our troubles. He does. In fact, he said that today has enough troubles of its own and that’s why we must not worry about tomorrow. He cares about our troubles, but he wants us to worry about more important things.
Jesus wants you to worry about what you can do today to inherit the kingdom of God tomorrow. Instead of worrying about things on this earth, secure a spot for your soul first.
Instead of going after the treasures of the earth, seek the Kingdom of God and all the other earthly things will be added unto you.
