Thy Kingdom Come

Kings and kingdoms aren’t part of my everyday experience. I live in a country that operates under a different style of government. I’ve never even been to a kingdom, excepting Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

Most of what I know about kingdoms comes from reading tales of King Arthur and his gallant knights or stories by the Brothers Grimm. With this background, the word kingdom serves up romantic notions of princesses in flowing gowns.

On the less fanciful side of kingdoms, my understanding comes from history books. Good kings, bad kings, mediocre kings. Kings judged by their constituents, their supporters, their adversaries, their successors. Growing kingdoms, benevolent kingdoms, malignant kingdoms, fallen kingdoms.

And there are kingdoms of other sorts. A kingdom can refer to any sphere of influence across which a designated condition reaches. For example, a kingdom of cuteness might exist on a webpage where pictures of baby animals predominate. A kingdom of bliss might have no borders, existing anywhere lovers meet. A kingdom of animosity might be established when rivals on opposing sides of a topic vent their fury.

A kingdom can also refer to a domain of nature. The animal kingdom. The plant kingdom. The mineral kingdom.

Irrespective of the details, what makes a kingdom a kingdom, seems to be some piece of commonality, a shared characteristic or identifying trait, that categorizes constituents as the same kind of something. Biological characteristics. Chemical composition. Emotions. Citizenship. Spiritual allegiance.

I can imagine all sorts of kingdoms, but when it comes time to contemplate God as King and consider his jurisdiction as a kingdom in the governmental sense, I simply lack the life experience to appreciate what the concepts meant to people millennia ago. I’m missing the kind of first-hand involvement that would help me perceive even the most basic concepts.

Consider the very notion of a king. A king is a person who functions as a sovereign, preeminent, independent, autonomous, supreme, absolute ruler over lands and subjects. I have lived my entire life in a nation and during an era where no person or institution holds analogous power. The government of my nation comprises three separate branches that (at least theoretically) hold each other accountable. None reigns supreme. Leaders rise to power through election, and to maintain authority they must be reelected.

Kings are not elected. People living in kingdoms typically do not choose the king, although the king does need their support — or at least the support of some of them — to make things run efficiently.

A kingdom ruled by a king can incorporate a single community, constrained territory, or broader realm. Its borders are defined by the reach of the king’s authority and power. Territories beyond the reach of the king or the influence of the king’s subjects belong to other kingdoms. Sometimes kingdoms are subordinated to higher structures called empires. In this situation, a king holds a lower status than an emperor. And sometimes lesser kings hold their positions under the oversight of a greater king, a king of kings so to speak. Earthly kings usually ascended to power by virtue of inheriting or winning the position (through assassination, conquest, competition, or promotion).

There are several ways to become a citizen of an earthly kingdom. A person can be born into it. Depending on jurisdictional alignments, a person can voluntarily elect to become part of it (although various types of coercion sometimes masquerade as choices freely made). A person can be conscripted by subjugation, imprisonment, or enslavement, either individually or as part of a conquest.

Being a citizen within a kingdom often confers privileges and responsibilities. Some advantages include protections from miscreants and foes. There may also be communal benefits, such as the maintenance of infrastructure, an efficient division of labor, and a stable monetary system. The costs of these privileges may include surrendering freedoms and taking on responsibilities through swearing allegiance, paying taxes, and obeying laws. Often the benefits and risks associated with being part of a kingdom are directly related to the king’s competence and benevolence. Earthly kingdoms aren’t permanent, and when kings prove to be inept or malicious their actions tend to sow the seeds of their eventual undoing.

When Jesus described God’s realm as a kingdom, he created an analogy to something with which his disciples were familiar. They had an intuitive, personal, hands-on understanding of what it meant to live in a kingdom, albeit one ruled by flawed humans. God stands as the absolute ruler of God’s kingdom by his divine authority to be the one in charge. Citizens of God’s kingdom enjoy heavenly wonders. They also consent to shoulder obligations.

Certain attributes identify the citizens of God’s kingdom and describe its boundaries. Jesus mentions several, including humility, actions, fruit (results), and love. Concerning humility, he told his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3–4). About actions, Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). Regarding the results generated, he said, “Every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17). And, with respect to love, he instructed, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

Although the kingdom of God is the realm in which God’s jurisdiction is recognized, it doesn’t mean that every citizen obeys God perfectly. As with earthly kingdoms, there are factions within the kingdom. There are groups who interpret God’s laws in various ways, and some who seek to enforce their viewpoint on others who understand things differently. There are warring intertribal blocs, riots of the self-proclaimed righteous, and mutinies by the oppressed. There are insurgencies led by heretics who are later honored as prophets, and there are uprisings led by prophets who are later condemned as heretics. If history is an indication, human attempts to establish a specific interpretation of God’s kingdom typically end with dreadful results.

Nevertheless, according to Jesus, there is a kingdom where God reigns. And God doesn’t need our help to establish it. He wants us to enter it. According to Jesus’s words, access is granted to any person, “who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 8:21). This kingdom of God is extended every time a person decides to become an instrument through whom the kingdom reaches the earth.

Regarding the coming of God’s kingdom, the words Jesus taught his disciples seem somewhat ambiguous to me. Did Jesus mean them as a declaration, a recognition: “Your kingdom has come!” Or were the words intended as a request: “Please, extend your heavenly kingdom to the realms of earth.” Or, perhaps more personally, “Please, extend your heavenly kingdom to the realm of my heart.”

When I open my eyes to spiritual possibilities, I realize that these possibilities occur simultaneously. When my Father God extends his kingdom in my heart, I become a princess, a daughter of the king. This means I bring God’s kingdom with me everywhere I go. When I walk humbly and love others as I practice doing the work God has instructed me to do, I bear fruit. When the fruit is good, I see God’s kingdom being made manifest. Thy kingdom come!