Birth of the Kingdom of God

John the Baptist's first proclamation was "Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Jesus's first proclamation was, "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Although they used the same words, their message was quite different. John the Baptist taught repentance or turning away from sin, and Jesus taught us to allow our minds to be transformed or renewed. He was concerned about the erroneous religious teachings of the leaders of that day, so His message was, I have brought you a kingdom called heaven, God's government on earth. We must allow God to revolutionize our thinking to enter the Kingdom of God.

Luke 13:3 KJV (3) I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Jesus tells us that we shall perish if we do not change our thinking to agree with God's.

Romans 12:2 KJV (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I counted the times He actively spoke of it to show the importance Jesus placed on God's kingdom on earth. Sixty-two times Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God; 30 times, the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus did not teach any subject other than the kingdom nor directed any of His followers to instruct on anything other than God's kingdom. When asked how we should pray, Jesus replied,

Matthew 6:10 KJV (10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Isaiah describes God's kingdom as a government, not a religion. The world has followed this example and formed external governments like the Kingdom of God, although lacking righteousness.

England is one such example and has done much to turn people's opinions against all forms of kingdom governments, including righteous ones. God did not, nor does He ask our opinion of the type of government we are to have. God is Lord of all, and if we are to be part of His plans, we must submit ourselves to His kingdom.

Fifty days after the death and resurrection of Jesus was the day of Pentecost. On this day, God fulfilled His promise of the arrival of the Holy Spirit. One of the pieces of evidence of the spirit's presence was the formation and manifestation of the Ekklesia, or what we call the church. However, if we look at this as the Holy Spirit's main purpose, we underrate and miss the main plan of God. On this day, God delivered the government called the Kingdom of God into the hearts of His people. The church was just one manifestation of successful kingdom rule from within man's heart.

God's plan was for this to be the age of kingdom development and rule; however, religion has successfully eliminated any relevance of that rule to the world. God's dream of a family government is all but invisible on the earth today, powerless and without influence.

Today, the Ekklesia has adopted an identity for themselves as Christians and its destiny but have refused to use the identity God has given them as children of God. Children of Father God are born into citizenship in His kingdom and enjoy the righteousness, power, protection, privileges, and wealth of that position. Children always live with their Father in the Kingdom of God and are guaranteed by blood covenant agreement to receive supervision, training, knowledge, and wisdom to act as their Father in every way. Christianity is an identity without promises from God or even recognition as part of the Kingdom of God.

Rather than spending many unproductive hours dreaming of escaping the earth and leaving the problems man created behind for God to solve, the Ekklesia needs to do as Jesus instructed. Seek the Kingdom of God first and pray that God will establish it in your heart. We struggle against God when we try to get into heaven when He is trying to bring heaven down to us and into our hearts.