The Kingdom of Heaven
The Message of Christ
What did Jesus Christ preach while on earth? What is the gospel of Christ? He didn’t preach His death and resurrection … so what was it?
Luke 4:43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”
He preached about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. It’s this reality we are to seek first and above all else because it is the way to eternal and abundant life now.
Matthew 6:33 But SEEK FIRSTthe kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
What is the kingdom of heaven?
Luke 17:21 For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
It’s God’s spirit powering our souls and no longer our spirit of death. It’s God’s spirit dwelling in us. It’s being a part of the divine nature. It’s being a part of God’s living temple where His spirit dwells. When God is in us, we have eternal life as He is eternal. We abide with Him in unity, truth, and love for we are a part of Him as His children for we intimately know Him. John 17:3
Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory
Those who are a part of the kingdom of heaven have: 1. Repented; fully turning from their ways to God’s ways and truth (we have to know His ways to turn to them which comes from diligently abiding in the Word of Truth), 2. Become God’s workmanship being crafted and remade in their souls by God’s truth and are being filled with God’s spirit.
Repentance
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Repentance (dying to self, crucifying self) comes when at our deepest core we fully turn from following our self-will and seek to walk in unity with God’s will in all areas. We no longer play jugde; we seek God’s counsel. We no longer are in control of our lives; we surrender our creative self-will to God’s sovereignty. We can’t follow our will and God’s will at the same time unless they are the same. Repentance is a crucial step toward the kingdom of heaven, because it’s leaving our ways behind to embrace God’s. 2 Corin 5:17
Repentance is giving up all of our self-will to gain God’s. When you learn through the Word of Truth and your life lessons that God’s will is truly far better and much more desireous, then you want His will in ALL areas.
Matthew 13: 44 the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Matt 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Remade in Truth and Filled with God’s Spirit
Next, the kingdom reigns in our souls when God’s truth, The Word of God (Christ), abides in us. Being a part of God means our truth is God’s truth. If we are walking in our own truths and ways, we aren’t in unity but opposition. The path to gaining His truth is one of diligently seeking truth and learning from God Himself. In unity, we enter a complete rest as God works through us always and in all things. Hebrews 4:10-11.
The souls fashioned by God in the truths of the prophets, apostles, and Christ become a part of His living temple made without hands. Ephesians 2:19-22 Being molded in truth by the Holy Spirit, not by ourselves or another, prepares our spirits to be in unity with God’s thus filled with His Spirit. 1 John 2:27, Hebrews 8:10
As we seek and abide in the truth of God being taught by Him, His Spirit begins to fill every aspect of our souls. The spirit of God starts small and as we diligently seek it spreads to take over every area of our lives in tremendous power, truth and love. When powered by God’s spirit there is no limit to what God can do in and through us. John 14:12, Eph 3:20
Matthew 13:31 The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Matt 13:33 The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Like a new day dawning, the spirit of God dawns in our souls transforming us glory unto glory. 2 Corin 3:18 It continues until like Christ, we hold the fullness of God, Eph 4:13, 3:19. This filling of God’s spirit in us is the kingdom of heaven.
2 Peter 1:19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
For those who repent, diligently seek God’s ways to be remade in truth, and are transformed by the power of His spirit within them, they become the temple of God, the kingdom of heaven. Yet in this life many won’t partake in this glorious kingdom. Many are called but few are chosen Matthew 22:14, because narrow is the path Matthew 7:14 and few find it. The depth of repentance and diligent seeking of truth are done by few as many are consumed with the cares of this world and not of God. Matthew 13:3-9
Matthew 13:47 the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.
Fervently seek God in truth and spirit that you may partake in the glorious eternal kingdom of heaven with Christ now.
Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Living Light 