Three Kingdoms

Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you.” --Matthew 21:31

There are three kingdoms to which one can belong, the kingdom of good, the kingdom of evil, and the kingdom of God.The kingdoms of good and evilhave much in common. Both are fortresses with folks inside attempting to get out and others outside attempting to get in. Inhabitants are kept inside through threats, punishment, intimidation, and the fear of death. Wars are mounted and men enlisted to expand both. The comparisons are endless, for they come from the same tree.Interestingly, a good kingdom delivered Europe from an evil kingdom, and when it was all over, Europe became post-Christian. Conversely, think of all the pockets of the Kingdom of God that can be found in countries long ruled by evil kingdoms, where no good kingdom stepped in to deliver the people. Both the kingdom of good and the kingdom of evil are enemies of the Kingdom of God. Good is the enemy of the best, and though moralism is an enemy of Christianity, many persist in seeing Christianity merely as the kingdom of good as they exert effort toward changing the world system to agree with it. We are all suffering fatigue from the world’s presentation of what it portrays as compassion. Pictures are shown of some injustice somewhere in the world from dolphins in tuna nets to stolen aid for the hungry. Unfortunately, such images only stir up those who would never do such things to begin with; they do nothing to change the behavior of the people who participate in the atrocities. It could be concluded that “good” people only point out the behavior of bad people to make themselves look and feel better. “Good” people feel they have done something by throwing words at a problem; they want to project to others an image of doing something valuable to resolve the world’s problems, to raise money for the organization that discovered the bad thing, or to blindly assist in the way they think is right.

Is it not interesting that Jesus, in the midst of the Roman system, said nothing about it? In the midst of slavery, abortion, taxation, the annihilation of cultures, and unjust government, He said nothing. Instead, He emphasized the Kingdom of God. He was not fighting evil with good. In fact, He equally resisted evil and good (Pharaseeism) with the Kingdom of God. We must decide how we will live, and that, in turn, will determine that to which we will respond and make our life's goal. We can live in the evil kingdom and return good with evil. We can live in the good kingdom and make sure evil is punished with evil, or we can live in the Kingdom of God, returning evil with good. 

Jesus could see clearly the Invisible Kingdom, and He has given us the capacity to see the same. When we see what He sees, our priorities change. We cannot be bothered by (if it is true) the depleting ozone layer to the extent that it would take us from our mission that has eternal significance. It can be annoying to turn on the television and be told by the unbelieving world what needs to be of utmost significance to us, when their whole outlook revolves around such things as gun control, freedom of speech, freedom from religion, equality, expressions of discrimination, whales, and more. Then there are the methods that are guaranteed to fix all the problems: education, understanding, ribbons, walks, and money. Well, amen. It is said that earth is as close to hell as a believer will ever come and as close to heaven as an unbeliever will ever come. This has caused me to change my attitude and lower my frustration, for this world is all the unbelievers have. If they want to keep it nice, improve it to suit themselves, and throw their lives into working for what is ineffective, they should. I was told of a South American politician who stole one billion dollars. I responded, “Is that all? Since he is going to hell anyway, he really should have taken more!” Jesus is the issue, and everything else is a non-issue, for it will cease to exist on the day that every knee bows.Nothing else will matter. However, we are not to be frustrated with the world when it loves the world; the world loves itself and its own, and that is all the world has, for the world has nothing in Him nor He in it.

- Mike Wells