The Kingdom of God

Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.

The Kingdom of God 

In loving memory of my father
Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett
July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023

Matthew 6:33 is familiar to every believer. 

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." 

To talk adequately about the kingdom of God in one message is not easy. Years ago I knew a good brother who wrote two entire volumes about the kingdom of God. Only the Lord Himself knows our hearts. But after 55 years of observation of lovely Christian folks in a large number of different churches and fellowships across at least 15 states, it appears that the "typical" charismatic believer could be described as having the following mind-set concerning our walk as believers: "I am born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, go to church regularly, give money to the church, try to live a morally good life, and when I leave this physical earth, I will go to heaven. When I was born again, I became part of the kingdom of God."

Unfortunately, it appears that few believers know the difference between being "saved" and entering the kingdom of God. Few seem to be aware of God's purpose for creating us and then for His sovereign drawing of us to Himself. In reality, after we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and have been baptized in water and baptized by Jesus in the Holy Ghost, we then enter the race for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We are then equipped to become that which God desires for us to become. We become candidates for the kingdom of God, provided that we qualify. It is not automatic.

John 1:14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

That scripture, of course, refers to Jesus, but that verse also expresses the will of the Father for us as believers in Christ. The Word must also become flesh within us ... Christ in you the hope of glory!

In this message, we will assume that the listener has been born from above. Being born from above and baptized in or with the Holy Spirit is wonderful, but that only puts us on the "race-track" toward the kingdom of God. Salvation is our starting point in our relationship with Him, but it is only a starting point. There is much more to follow. Acts 14:22 says that we must through much tribulation (or pressure) enter into the kingdom of God.

In every culture there has been an expression of an inborn feeling, "What must we do to be right with God?" That has led to all kinds of rules of behavior, rituals, and the building of temples and churches. After initial salvation the message usually shifts to a strong emphasis on good works. The burden of living the Christian life is then placed squarely on the shoulders of the believer and is based on his performance in the world. That always leads to Romans 7:24, which says, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" If we are allowed to see the Lord high and lifted up, then king self must die. That is what happened with Isaiah and Job. That is why Paul said, "I die daily." None of us can comprehend how far human nature has fallen.

The first thing a new-born baby does when he comes into the world is to try to establish his kingdom, for he believes that he is the king ... he is Number One. He believes that he is always right. As a child grows older, his coping methods and rationalizations change to fit the new needs, but king Self, the great pretender, the counterfeit, is still on the throne of his kingdom. The root cause has never disappeared. I am still right no matter how many people disagree with me.

Everything we do in the kingdom of self is partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything we do that is motivated by self is sin, which is acting independently of God, not just committing obvious evil deeds like murder, adultery, and stealing. The primary activity of the self-life is selfishness. Our biggest enemy is the kingdom of "self." The question is, who initiates what we, you and I, are doing? If we call the shots in our life, then we (not Christ) are the lord and master of our life, always taking on an external appearance of godliness, but spurning the power of God that brings true holiness.

John the Baptist preached, "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," but he did not enter in. John was born of a woman; we Christians are born of a woman and born again of the Spirit.

Jesus said, in Matthew 11:11, 

"Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

Jesus came preaching, "repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." Therefore, John the Baptist and Jesus both introduced the church age with a call to repentance in view of the arrival of the kingdom of God. Jesus later said, in Matthew 24:14, that the end of this age would be characterized by a preaching of the gospel of the kingdom in all the world as a witness to all nations. Therefore, both the beginning and the ending of this dispensation of the church age focus on the vital subject of the kingdom of God. In between that beginning and end, man has tried to help God out by our good works. Our efforts, at best, have produced a mixture.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, in John 3:3, 

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

 Then in John 3:5, Jesus said, 

 

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 

Those are necessary, but not sufficient conditions to enter the kingdom of God.

Let us turn now to Matthew 6:25-34.

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

The price of character refinement seems unreasonable to some of us. We cannot comprehend the need for such a stringent heart condition and life style. Indeed, those requirements are NOT laid on folks who aspire ONLY to the salvation of their souls. We have failed to understand the need for character refinement, and therefore have either failed or refused to submit ourselves to the searing heat required to separate ourselves from ourselves.

Although believers have trusted God for initial salvation, the sinful tendencies of the flesh still remain in us, so we continue to vacillate between the desires of the flesh and those of the Spirit. Within this battle we need to understand that we will never be satisfied until the Lord is satisfied with us!

If we were to ask 10 Christians about the kingdom of God, we might get 7 different answers. Some might respond with a blank look, revealing a lack of understanding. Others equate it with being born again or being "saved." Others might equate the kingdom to be the free and full blessings of God - peace, joy, healings, deliverances, and so forth. Then a few might see it as a means to obtain power and authority for themselves. Perhaps the majority think of a wonderful state free from sin, sickness, and death that will one day somehow arrive. Hopefully we all can come to a true, full knowledge of the kingdom of God and what that requires of us.

The word "kingdom" is translated from a word that properly means "royalty." Royalty seems to convey the same thought that the overcomers are a church within a church, and that the difference is a difference in the heart condition of those involved. The word royalty seems to "put a handle" on the subject of the kingdom of God, and helps to understand that the kingdom is in our midst today. Some Christians are in it, while hopefully other Christians are moving toward it.

The Greek word for kingdom is "basileia," which means the dominion or the domain of a king - that place where the king has dominion. The kingdom of God is where God rules. "Kingdom" speaks of sovereignty rather than a territory.

The ruler of a kingdom is a king. If there is no king then there is no kingdom. The existence of a kingdom implies that the king has entities in his kingdom which are subject to the authority, power, rule, and headship of the king. That implies that the king must make known his rules or his will to his subjects. In the Old Testament, we read of many different kings, not only of Israel and Judah, but of a multitude of other nations. The first mention of the word, "kingdom," is in Genesis 10:10, when Nimrod founded the kingdom of Babel, or Babylon, which means "confusion." Today the title of "king" has diminished greatly although there are still a few people in the world who hold the title of king, queen or the equivalent. These rulers are called "monarchs," but there are still many who function in the same manner as a king. Some have been called emperors, presidents, or some other title. However, we are concerned with only three kingdoms ... the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Satan, and the kingdom of self. The Bible records the true story of those three kingdoms and the struggle among the three until time is no more.

The phrase, "kingdom of heaven," occurs 32 times in the Gospel according to Matthew but nowhere else in the Bible. The phrase, "kingdom of God," occurs 69 times in the Bible, five of which are also in the Book of Matthew. Some people have tried to explain that the two phrases mean different things. I believe they are one and the same. "Heaven" is frequently put for "God," Who dwells there.

"They set their mouth against the heavens" (Psalm73:9); 

i.e., against God, Who dwells there. A few other examples are,

2 Chronicles 32:20. And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.

John 3:27. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

There is no explicit definition of the kingdom of God in the Gospels. Perhaps the closest definition is found in Romans 14:17. 

"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

A true understanding of righteousness and peace and joy cannot be found in worldly definitions. Righteousness is an essential attribute of the character of God. We are not righteous because of our doing righteousness; we are righteous because of the life of Christ within us. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost the reality of a righteousness that comes from the life of God, and they immediately turned to their own works hoping to salvage righteousness by their actions.

Our righteousness is totally dependent upon what God has already done! To the best of my knowledge Christianity is the only religion that proclaims the truth of a righteousness that comes from God and does not depend on a man's actions or what we do. The outward expression of that inner righteousness is still a work in progress, but our inner righteousness is complete in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

The issue of who is in control is vital to kingdom peace. Complete peace of mind is not something that we have to strive after but something we appropriate by faith. From the time that Jesus came into the world the vision of that kingdom prepared for the Father was the source of His joy, by which He pressed through every circumstance, including the cross, until the vision was fulfilled.

In essence, the kingdom of God is where the will of God is always done. That has been done and can be done in only one place ... in Christ Jesus. Since the 1,000-year kingdom on earth (millennium) is initially given to Jesus, it is also called the kingdom of Christ. 

Ephesians 5:5. "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." 

Few professing Christians would dispute the fact that the kingdom of God is the central message of the New Testament. However, it is also true that the kingdom of God is the central message of the Old Testament. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Over the centuries the fullness of what Jesus proclaimed and the life and vitality expressed by the early church as recorded in the Book of Acts have been buried under a mountain of man-made doctrines and traditions.

The parables of Jesus pertain to the kingdom of God and NOT to salvation. Those are two different subjects - separate and distinct from one another. Salvation is free; kingdom stature is very costly ... it costs us our self-life. Jesus many times said that the kingdom of God (or the kingdom of heaven) is like a ... grain of mustard seed or a treasure hidden in a field, or like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

Like leaven, this character refinement will not stop until it has touched, and changed, every aspect of our lives. Jesus also said, 

"My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).

Luke 16:16. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

We are not required to press into salvation. It is free for the accepting.

The kingdom of God is NOT the same as the Church. We inherit the kingdom, but not the Church. We receive the kingdom, but not the Church. The kingdom, not the Church, is the one great subject of prophecy. Salvation is absolutely free, with no strings attached. It requires ONLY that we call on the name of the LORD, asking Him to save our soul from what awaits after physical death.

Acts 2:21. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

The kingdom of God has God for the Ruler; is in the heavens, over the earth; is universal; is eternal in duration; and is the special subject of Old Testament prophecy. The kingdom is a theocracy instead of a democracy or a monarchy, and we qualify according to His standards. The kingdom of God that Jesus taught about is a nurtured condition of our heart in its relationship to the Word and Spirit of God. It is the strait (difficult) gate and the narrow way that comparatively few souls will find.

Mark 9:1 And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

What did they see? Jesus had taken three of them to the top of a mountain, where He was transfigured before them. They experienced His Glory. The humanity of Peter expressed a desire to always be in the presence of the Glory, but he had too much baggage in his soul yet for that to be realized. "Baggage" blocks our vision of the glory of God.

We are NOT dealing with rules and regulations. We are dealing with the Holy Spirit of God. He, not our neighbor and not our pastor or elder, is the refiner and the purifier. Even the disciples before Pentecost had difficulty separating salvation and the Kingdom.

Matthew 19:23-25. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Earthly possessions are of no value to help us enter into Kingdom stature. In fact, they CAN be a hindrance.

Mark 10:23-24. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

1 Corinthians 15:50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Galatians 5:19-21 tells us that they who continue in the works of the flesh shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The early disciples had forsaken (or made secondary) their earthly ways to follow Jesus in His ministry. If our mind is cluttered up with the affairs of this earthly life, we are not very apt to hear the secrets of the Lord.

Luke 18:29-30, "And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." 

Sophistication CAN be a detriment to spiritual understanding.

Luke 18:16-17, "But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." 

Acts 1:3. To whom also He showed himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

The word "speaking" denotes a systematic laying out of instructions, rather than a simple, casual statement. Jesus gave some specific instructions about the conduct of the Apostles after He would be taken back into the heavens. Certain things must be done, whether they were understood or not.

The degree of lordship is part of the criteria denoting the difference between Christian and Christian. We have no certain way to detect the degree of lordship Jesus occupies in the heart of our Christian friends, but there are no questions in the mind of God. He knows precisely, at all times, the exact condition of our heart and spirit.

There are two aspects to the kingdom of God. There is the present reality of the kingdom that we need to walk in and exercise. This kingdom is spiritual and is within and among us (Luke 17:20-21). The kingdom of God is presently within those who are making Jesus the LORD of their lives - the royalty of God. There is also the establishing of the literal kingdom of God on earth when Christ returns (Luke 22:28-30). It consists of a qualified people who have continued with Him.

The Jewish religion was "works-based," which made it very difficult for a person to relate to a new method of approach to God and salvation. Jesus introduced a new relationship to God, whether the people were ready for it or not.

Several names are put on the process, such as "sonship," "maturity," and "overcoming." It takes place within the inmost part of the heart of the individual believer and is observable only by the positive change of the life. It is worth striving for. It is available only to believers after they have established a relationship with Jesus. We can be a Christian without progressing on to attain to the kingdom of God stature, but "WHY?" It will be worth it all, in the end!

The kingdom of God is a condition entirely within the heart of every individual believer. We must forget about anything that resembles our earthly governments. It is nothing like any government we see in the world today. It is something that each individual Christian has or does not have, depending entirely upon what the Lord sees in our life. We either meet His requirements, or we don't. It has nothing to do with obtaining or maintaining salvation. That is free!

Let's look at a few of the requirements for attaining to kingdom stature.

Almost all of the New Testament is dedicated to instructions and qualifications for entrance into the Kingdom of God, rather than to salvation.

The Sermon on the Mount could be called "the constitution of the kingdom," because it is primarily instructions about how to conduct our lives AFTER we are saved.

The successful life of a Christian is NOT a set of rules and regulations - "do's and don'ts," but a life of following the teaching of the Holy Ghost in His work of defining the will of God to each individual. The kingdom requires effort on our part - a decision; no one just slides into the kingdom. But it is the Word of God (the Seed) that produces the increase in our lives. He performs the miracle of turning dust into fruit.

Jesus died so that we could leave the kingdom of self and live in the kingdom of life. The "self-life" will cry out for, and insist on having, the things that satisfy it, thus robbing the individual of the blessings of God's kingdom. The question is: Do we really want to follow Jesus? If so, we must be willing to "deny our self" - we must "surrender our self-life." Our old self-life must be put off, denied, rejected, crucified. It must die because it cannot be reformed and will not die of its own accord.

The goodness and grace of God is the source of every spiritual blessing that is bestowed upon sinners. Because God is infinitely good, why do we continue to embrace the "self-life"? Jesus said 

"It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:23-24 

He said, "No man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24) - one will inevitably take precedence in his loyalty and obedience. Ultimately, a choice must be made as to whom we will serve; either we will put God first and reject the rule of materialism or we will live for temporal things and refuse God's claim on our lives. It is impossible to love the world and love God at the same time, so a man of the world cannot be a truly spiritual man. Our supreme affections can be fixed on only one object - God or self - and we only serve that which we love the most.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21). Whether we are conscious of it or not, our words and actions are always an attempt to get what we value - what controls our heart will control our behavior. The treasures, or things that have risen to levels of importance in our hearts that rule the thoughts and desires of our heart will ultimately control the things we do. The war between the kingdom of self and the kingdom of God is not just a war of behavior, but a war for the heart. If we lose this deeper war, we will never gain ground in the arena of our thoughts, words and actions. Either we have attached our inner life and sense of well-being to the earth-bound treasures of the kingdom of self, or to the heavenly treasures of the kingdom of God.

We are strengthened with power through God's Spirit in the inner man. The Holy Spirit has been given to us for the purpose of providing us with the power to do what God calls us to do. The God-life is not the result of human ability and power, but of God's supernatural power working in and through us (Ephesians 1:18-19). It is all done by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit that has been released into our lives.

Although we may do the planting and the watering, God causes the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). As believers, we have the responsibility to walk by faith, obey God's directives, deny ourselves, and follow Him. When we do our part, God does His part. In order to live a God-centered life, the number one priority in our life must be that of cultivating an intimate walk with Christ.

John 1:12-13. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Colossians 1:12-14. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

When Jesus died and rose again and ascended into heaven the kingdom which had always been real in the unseen realm now became available to all men.

You cannot have a kingdom without principles. These are laws that govern the kingdom. Without laws there would be anarchy and chaos. God's principles are designed both to make us free and to bring us to the place of spiritual usefulness and abundant life. A principle is that which is built within a person that governs his life, conduct, behavior, and course of action.

There are many kingdom principles, such as humility, meekness, purity of heart, faithfulness, obedience, fruit-bearing, dependence on God and His ability and provision, denying self, holy and godly living. All of God's principles must be worked within us as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. 

Philippians 2:5-10 says, "Let this mind be in you ..." 

He humbled Himself. Humility is a quality of the mind and of our will. "Humble in the Greek means "low-lying, base, low in situation.: Jesus said, in Matthew 11:29, 

"I am meek and lowly in heart." 

"Lowly in heart" means humble. Peter, in 1 Peter 5:6-7, said, 

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." 

Many different verses emphasize the need for us to humble ourselves. For example, 2 Chronicles 7:14, 

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 

Humility is also the first quality mentioned in the Beatitudes, in Matthew, chapter 5. That is a decision that we must make daily.

The third quality or principle mentioned in the Beatitudes is meekness. 

"Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." 

Some think that humility and meekness are synonymous, but they are different in quality. Meekness is a quality of our spirit. As a good brother and very close friend of ours once said, "Meekness is the spirit in which all the fight has been taken out - no more retaliation, self-defensiveness or revenge. We are not born meek. We have to be divinely processed."

The second Beatitude is "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." David wrote seven psalms called Pentecostal Psalms or psalms of repentance. Repentance is not a one-and-done event. We must walk in a spirit of repentance. The word "mourn" in Greek means "mourning for the dead" where for us it means mourning for those who are physically alive but spiritually dead. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the mourning" (Psalm 30:5).

One more of the principles or Beatitudes is the sixth one, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Psalm 24:3-5 asks the question, 

"Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."

Of course, we could amplify on all of God's principles for a long time, but suffice it to say that by the power of the Holy Spirit working within us, we can all attain to kingdom stature. I still have quite a number of books written by a good brother who lives in Australia. They are free for the asking. His book is titled "The Keys to Living in the Kingdom."

There is a difference between principle and law. Law is outward or external demands; principles motivate, inform, and restrain from within. The principles Jesus taught in Matthew 5-7 are the measuring rod by which we judge our spiritual growth in Christ. These principles can only be implemented by the Holy Spirit in response to our obedience. Guided by the principles of the sermon on the mount and enabled by the Holy Spirit, we are to become sons of the kingdom of God. We are to be a kingdom people, prepared and qualified to live and walk in His kingdom.

Our burden must be the appropriation of kingdom substance and reality into our lives. It is to see the church rise up out of its carnality and earth-bound condition and to fulfill its call to kingdom status, so that a proper impact can be made on the nations and on the powers that rule them. God is preparing to do something fresh and we must be ready. We cannot overemphasize the importance of preparation.

The Lord's desire is that we might be consumed with a passion to perceive and to participate in His kingdom. The vision of a kingdom prepared for Jesus to deliver to the Father must become the central reality in our lives. Lord, work within us that which is well-pleasing in your sight.

Amen.