There Is A Kingdom

Our series has been called "There is a King," so we started the first week with "Our King is invincible, unstoppable, and powerful." In the second week, we discussed how "Our King is compassionate," and last week, we explored "Our King is eternal." On Christmas Eve, we declared that "The King has come." Today, we will delve into the fact that there is a kingdom. The verse we read together, Matthew 6:33, says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." We need to understand what exactly the kingdom is. People talk about the kingdom of God all the time, and today we want to break down what the kingdom of God is. Because this is a topical message, I went back to seminary and put it in a nicely capsulized form for you; every point starts with the letter 'D,' so that'll be exciting. If you hear a 'D' word, you probably want to latch on to that.

So, who here has a priceless family treasure somewhere in your house? The thing that gets passed down from generation to generation. Okay, so in our household, I'm named after a grandfather I never met. My grandfather Carl was a career military bomber pilot who flew in World War II, Korea, and during the Cold War. He flew a lot of cool airplanes over the years: the B-24, the B-50, excuse me, B-47, the B-36 Peacemaker was one of his aircraft. That's what I know of him, but the one thing that I have of him, and it's my cherished possession, is a Japanese pearl-inlaid table that sits in our entryway. That is the cherished family heirloom that someday will get passed on, and the kids are, you know, making dibs as to who gets it. Here's the thing: that table will, at some point, rot and be gone. What we're going to talk about today is something lasting—the kingdom of heaven—and so we need to understand why the kingdom of heaven is so valuable. Why would scripture tell us that when the kingdom of heaven is found, it's worth getting rid of everything else? Here's the reason we want to understand this: because Jesus spent an awful lot of time talking about the kingdom. His original message was, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is here." So, if the kingdom is so important, we need to understand what exactly is the kingdom.

And so, we're going to begin by understanding that the kingdom is, number one, a dwelling. It is where God lives, where He engages His people. We're going to walk through scripture and get the historical perspective of God's dwelling in His interaction with mankind. So, in Genesis chapter 3, verses 8-9, we see that God dwelled with Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. Verse 8 and 9, shortly after the fall, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" So, in the beginning, God and man were in fellowship together; they would walk together, they would commune together, they would fellowship together, and when sin entered the world, that fellowship was broken. So, we see a change in how God relates to His people, beginning in Exodus chapter 40. God began to dwell within the Holy of Holies but in the midst of the people of Israel. When we look at verse 34 of Exodus chapter 40, we see this: "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out, but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day and fire was in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

So, God was in the midst of His people leading them, yet the people could not approach God one-on-one. In fact, when you read Scripture, when you read the historical portion of the Tabernacle, what you'll find is the Great High Priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies once per year to make intercession for the people. This was such an ominous task that his robe had bells around the bottom so they could hear him moving, and if the bell stopped, there was a rope around his ankle so they could pull his body out. It was an incredibly important position but a daunting position. So what the people of Israel knew of God in their midst was the cloud by day and the fire by night. They would wake up in the mornings, and if the cloud was there, they knew they were to stay put, and if the cloud was moving, it was time to go. But that was their encounter, their experience with God. But then we come into the truth of Christmas: God became flesh and dwelt among us. Emmanuel was one of His names, meaning "God with us." John chapter 1, the first five verses, and then verse 14: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Now here's the beauty of this passage, verse 14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.