 To gain a better understanding of the Lord God’s Kingdom concept, we will look back to the Roman Empire in Jesus' time on earth. Earlier empires, such as the Assyrians, Babylonians and Medo-Persians empires, conquered new territories and expanded through a process of invasion, destruction and enslavement. Their invading armies would sweep into a region, destroy its army, lay waste to its cities, tear down its infrastructure and slaughter its people. Most of those who were not killed outright were enslaved and taken away from their own country to the home territory of the conquering power. This is exactly what happened to the Northern Kingdom of Israel when it fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. and to the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 587 B.C. when the Babylonians invaded. But Rome followed a different kingdom expansion strategy. Instead of wreaking widespread destruction and slaughter in a newly conquered territory, the Romans recognized the wisdom and value of preserving the people and leaving their infrastructure intact. While the Roman occupation army maintained order, Roman citizens and government officials were sent in to establish Roman government in the new territory. Their job was to reproduce the culture and society of Rome and teach the conquered people to think, act and live like Romans. The Roman Empire was the first human kingdom to practice colonization to any significant degree. Remember, in doing so, it also became the first manmade kingdom and culture to illustrate by example the process by which the Lord God would reproduce the Kingdom and culture of His heavenly Government throughout this earth. Keep in mind that the Lord Jesus Himself certainly acknowledged the legitimacy of Rome’s authority in mankind’s government. There was a day when Jesus’ enemies tried to trap Him with a religious and politically motivated question. They asked Him whether it was correct to pay taxes to Caesar. His answer surprised them: Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which He could be arrested. They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with Him. “Teacher,” they said, “We know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” He said. “Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show Me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed Him a Roman coin, He asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. “Well, then,” He said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” His reply amazed them, and they went away. Matthew 22:15-22 NLT Everything Jesus said and did while here on earth was done to teach His citizens what life in God’s Kingdom looks like. God’s Kingdom didn’t come to rebel against or dismantle the earthly government. To do that, would lower the Kingdom of God to an earthly kingdom. His Kingdom has come to change individuals, thus changing the culture around us. We represent our Lord and King. When the world sees us, they see our Kingdom’s culture. When the Lord Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, he asked Jesus if He was a king. Throughout His public ministry, the Lord Jesus never plainly referred to Himself as King because He knew the people, as a whole, would misunderstand. But when He was asked if He was a king by Pilate, He never denied it. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If My Kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My Kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. John 18:33-40 Keep in mind, the Lord God waited to send His Son to the earth until an earthly kingdom, however imperfect, appeared that modeled His Kingdom. When the Lord Jesus preached about His Kingdom, everyone would know what He was speaking about. It was a model of how God’s Kingdom operated. The Lord Jesus came at the right time, into the right setting, the correct culture, and correct earthly kingdom to frame His Kingdom message. He was teaching exactly what was happening at that time in the world under the Roman Empire. The Lord God’s timing is always perfect and will perform exactly as He has ordained that it would! But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5 When we see and understand how the Roman government colonized new territories—keeping the people in their home land while changing the culture into the Roman culture—we gain a better perspective of the workings of God’s Kingdom colonization. It also helps us to understand how we live in this world without becoming like this world, while not striving to take over this world’s system. We must have a clear picture of how God’s Kingdom government works and what it is to be an ambassador in a foreign land, representing our Lord and King. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 Remember, your greatest asset is your faith in the Lord God’s Word. All scriptures are NKJV unless noted W.R. Luchie www.kingdomcitizens.org |
